DiscernmentUzorak

Rights of the Environment

Whether it was the rationing of the office stationery or his insistence in turning off all electrical devices when not in use, our manager was vocal in the optimal use of the company’s resources. He was passionate in conserving and preserving the resources of the company. He exhibited a mature civic behaviour and shunned practices that encouraged litter and polluted the environment. Even before ‘reduce, recycle and reuse’ would be propagated by conservationists, he was an ardent proponent of the 3 R’s. Any decision he took in running the business, always had the welfare of the environment in perspective.

Though I lacked the insight then as a young employee, to appreciate the efforts that my boss took in contributing towards the upkeep of the environment, I now understand the wisdom that he possessed in prudently using resources which relieves the environment of the burden caused due to wastages. He was indeed a steward of the environment, a call that we find in the Scriptures, as given in the verses above.

Discernment in environmental issues is particularly of relevance in today’s society that is facing epidemic scales of abuse. Through consumerism and sheer greed, we are destroying our environment with little regard to the consequences. For as Margaret Mead, the American cultural anthropologist said, ‘We won't have a society, if we destroy the environment’.

Wise managers recognise that just as promoting and protecting the rights of their employees and customers are essential to the progress of their business, the rights of the environment also need attention. To such managers, protecting and caring for the environment is as important as any other factor of production, in the pursuit of the accomplishment of their business goals.

It is precisely with this truth in mind that Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous President said, ‘Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the earth has rights, too − to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans’.

Lord, instill in me the wisdom to do my part in preserving this wonderful planet You have created.