Thomas Jefferson said, ‘the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.’ That is very true in terms of politics and it is very true also in terms of protecting the environment. In Vandana Shiva’s article “What Is Biodiversity and Why Is It So Important”, she states that biodiversity and cultural diversity hold the key to sustaining alternate solutions for human health and nutrition; something people are always looking for. However, at the same time, people are eliminating there alternating solutions by industrialization, economic globalization, and new technologies such as genetic engineering. That would eventually limiting our choices and affecting our alternate solutions for human health.
Vandana states that ‘mankind is one among millions of other species. It does not have a right to push other species to extinction or to manipulate them…without concern for their wellbeing’ However, same as human, millions of other species try their best to make their lives better and without concern for others wellbeing. Beavers use tree sticks to build their home, while homo sapiens use concrete to build their houses. Humankind’s activities are merely one of the millions of cultures of animals, insect, microorganism and plants. Modern medicine, genetic engineering and commercial farming are part of nature culture which brings a better quality of lives of mankind.
However, it does not mean mankind can do whatever they want. Uncle Ben said, ‘with great power, comes great responsibility.’ With no power, comes no responsibility. Mankind has the greatest power among all the species. However, it is necessary to realize that the power of mankind is not great enough to overcome the consequence of changing the environment by them.
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