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Progress normally means improvement, that is, a movement towards something
better than what is. It is undoubted that progress does make living easier
for mankind. It is also undoubted that we have to pay a price for progress.
Thus progress has its benefits as well as its undesirable companion, harm.
Progress for us has to be paid with a terrible price. The price of this is
the loss of the hills and forests, and together with it the natural habitat
of the flora and fauna that cannot say
anything in protest. So a benefit for human beings results in harm to the
natural environment. Which is more important, human benefit or natural
preservation ? I really cannot answer that.
This trend of progress whereby it is beneficial to man and harmful to the
environment is evident everywhere. The likelihood is that this trend will
continue and probably get more intense.
Look anywhere in the world where man has chosen to make progress and the
evidence of environment destruction is plain to see.
For instance, the construction of super highways is definitely necessary
for the old system of roads simply cannot cope with the number of vehicles
using them. These highways are of great benefit and convenience to human
beings. To the environment, however, the highways are like great dividing
lines that cut the land into many sections. No animal, and for that matter,
human being, is allowed to cross from one side of the road to the other. In
other words, physical contact between both sides of the road is restricted.
An animal cannot go from one side to the other without the risk of being run
over. Carcasses of such creatures can be seen daily on these highways. These
dumb creatures do not know any traffic rule. So they get killed needlessly.
So the factories and other human constructions continue to
eat into the natural environment. If the
day comes when we have exhausted our natural resources, then the Earth would
not be able sustain us anymore. Our progress, which made things better for
us, would have eventually destroyed us. |
