Exploring nature's wonders and warnings in Ranjit Lal's latest book

Filled with data, insights, and anecdotes, and accompanied by colourful illustrations, Ranjit Lal shines a light on how endangered nature is

Our Potpourri Planet

Author: Ranjit Lal

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages:  285

Price: Rs 599

  In his latest book, Delhi-based author Ranjit Lal talks about his one big regret about living in metropolitan cities, such as Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi, all his life:  “Unfortunately, living in cities and towns divorces us from nature.” Despite an urban upbringing, Mr Lal managed to spend a lot of time outdoors during his childhood, climbing trees, biking through wild gardens or walking along beaches. He describes holidays to national parks and hill stations, where he encountered many varieties of flora and fauna.

 

Sadly, the more Mr Lal got to know nature and its ways, the more he realised how endangered it is — as are all of us. “The more of this treasure trove of a planet you become aware of, discover and explore, the more likely you are to be horrified by what we’re doing to it,” he writes. India is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide after the United States and China. A 2018 study revealed that given its geographic location, India would be among the world’s worst sufferers from the consequences of climate change, global warming and extreme weather. Nature gives us many warnings from time to time in the form of floods, avalanches, cloudbursts, wildfires, droughts, tornadoes, storms, heatwaves, landslides and erosion, he explains. “When nature goes berserk, she does so on a magnum scale,” he warns.

 

Over the course of the book, Mr Lal goes on to share interesting statistics that emphasise the value of our environment. There are around 1,200 species of birds in India, 182 of which are endangered. Further, every year, human beings dump some eight million tonnes of garbage into the oceans. As a result of this, 90 per cent of seabirds have plastic debris in their gut, which kill an estimated one million of them every year. One third of the food we consume is pollinated by insects and mammals, mainly honeybees. Mr Lal also points out that more than 25 per cent of all drugs manufactured are plant based. “Alas, destroying plants (and trees) is what we’re doing on a monumental scale, and impairing not only our own well-being but that of every living creature on the planet,” he writes.

 

“Around 90 per cent of all animal life consists of insects, 10 per cent of which feed off one another,” he explains. He shares other little-known trivia about the creepy-crawlies around us, such as the fact that dragonflies have around 30,000 lenses in each eye, and the bead-like eyes of the praying mantis can see in 3D. Few people may know that the dung of bats makes excellent fertiliser, for which it is harvested. Bats are also great pest-controllers, pollinators and seed dispensers, and salamanders can regrow lost body parts, such as legs and tails, which they shed from time to time.

 

According to Mr Lal, 90 per cent of the world’s population breathes dirty air emanating directly from fossil fuel usage, which kills an estimated 3.61 million people every year. The late Gerald Durrell thought of nature as a massive web. “If one of the strands were to snap, it would cause the web to tremble a little, and maybe make the adjacent strand tremble and eventually snap,” Mr Lal explains. The chain reaction would eventually destroy the whole web.

 

Unfortunately, development and progress come at the cost of the environment more often than not. Crocodiles are one example. For instance, about 300 crocodiles were extradited from the site where the Statue of Unity was put up; another 300-500 are due to be removed from the site of the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada. Further, while there were 5,000 to 10,000 gharials around the time of Independence, there are just about 235 to 800 today. “By removing apex predators from their habitat, we are unbalancing the entire ecosystem of the place and may be giving free rein to other species that may well lead to its complete ruination,” he points out

 

On an optimistic note, Mr Lal also dedicates a chapter to the “whistleblowers and gatekeepers” of the environment, including NGOs, institutions, think tanks, activists, scholars, guardian angels (such as Jane Goodall, Dr Salim Ali, Sunderlal Bahuguna, Greta Thunberg, Sonam Wangchuk and Rachel Carson), students and ordinary people. Mr Lal also notes that environmental studies as a subject is now being taught in schools too, which is a positive step towards building awareness. There are also many examples around us of projects, such as the Save Animals Initiative, the Yamuna Biodiversity Park and the Aravalli Biodiversity Park, which have worked in favour of the environment.

 

Mr Lal ends the book with what we personally can do as individuals to save our environment — cutting our carbon footprint, segregating our waste, using public transport wherever possible, checking our food sources, avoiding plastics and so on. Through well-researched insights and anecdotes, accompanied with colourful illustrations by Anushua Sinha, the book evokes nature at its best. It is an urgent plea set against the realities of climate change and global warming. “Our sins of omission and commission have been many and varied, and it’s high time we started making good and trying to repair the dreadful damage we have done,” he concludes.

 

The reviewer is a New Delhi-based freelance writer