Need a firm stand on protecting protected national assets

By Renton de Alwis

Written and published in August 2011, my intent was to examine the many frailties one sees in the manner in which we handle matters to do with protecting our national assets. The area of heritage and environment management seems to be most vulnerable in the affairs of governance. If one observes carefully, these are areas where ministers change most frequently, and most controversy generated. What prompted me to write this at that time is upon observing an event held in Colombo to discuss matters connected with the protection of the environment. As I observe herein it was like a dealer convention of a corporate entity. It gave all the wrong messages on how to reduce waste and live simple, non opulent lives. It created negative vibes on the mindsets of our environmental affairs. What was so sad is that no one noticed, were taking it all for granted. It was taken to be the norm, until I raised the issue. I wonder if that helped change all of this even for the future. For now there will be a new set of players managing the affairs of administration.   

I have chosen to only go down to Colombo once a month for a few days. With no offence meant to any of the full-blooded ‘Colombans’ I know, I must say that I do not miss much of what’s happening out there or the rest of the world by not being there. Out here in the village, you let your mind wander, while taking time to ‘listen and see’ and not merely ‘hear or look’.

With the power of info-communications, I could keep myself busy and be engaged in what to me seem rewarding pursuits while being away from the frills of city life, like the ‘small talk’ on the cocktail circuit and other lush social events. Since I am into a self-imposed ‘mathata titha’ for over a half decade now, I do not miss even the intoxicating stuff that is served out by the hosts at these events.

Learn and wander

Here, I can productively connect to be kept informed and continue to learn and wander.  I now have the ‘luxury’ of the most scarce and non-renewable resource of ‘time’ to read ‘what I always wanted to, but never got down to it’ stuff, watch the various satellite channels of my choice, browse through daily news-wires, engage the various groups on Facebook, Twitter and WAYN and most importantly, carefully listen to those voices, without merely hearing them. I have time now to dissect what I see on what some call the ‘idiot box’ or on the ‘have it as we dish it’ newswire stories, or comments of those who haul party-lines and make my own judgment. As for the intoxication, I serve myself a dose of Arishta, a wine made with many different herbal sources before a meal. A certain enhancement of the imported wines served at the social functions, made just of one fruit or a few of them or the stronger ones that have a malt base.  

The past few days were spent on observing the civic movement of Anna Hazari gaining rapid ground on their campaign against corruption in governance, politics and business in India. He seems determined to have the Jana Lok Pal bill in place sooner than later and to have the prime minister and the Judiciary also under the watchful eye of the Lok Pal, on matters involving wrongdoing. It is claimed that more than 150 members of Parliament in India will have to face charges brought by the ‘Lok Pal’ against them, if the Jana Lok Pal bill is made an act of Parliament. Some incentive it is, for those in power to pass the bill as demanded by Anna-ji and his civil society followers.

Lessons to learn there for us in not waiting till it all gets to you, but to take solid and serious action to curb and end corruption before its dark shadows come haunting you.

Interesting developments

I also observed how Colonel Gadaffi and his loyals’ were battling it out to resist the attacks of NATO forces. The opposition forces claimed they captured Gadaffi’s son Saif and Obama was quick to express support to an interim administration even before one was firmly in place. All were very interesting developments, one no better than the other we have seen before, where everyone was interfering with everyone else’s affairs without taking action to resolve their own.  

I also had time to watch our cricketers riding the see-saw against Australia, to loose a series, when we had what it takes to win it. Two of the games were played just 25 minutes from where I live. But I opted to stay home and watch it on television for I would miss the close-ups and the replays of the shots played or the wickets that fell. As a commentator rightly said “Sri Lanka lacked consistency and were not determined enough”.

Well, that was on the cricket field. Away from it, we had news of a large portion of the Somawathiya national park land being allocated for a banana Plantation, an elephant count which those who entered the data at the university claimed was error free, news of a baby tusker breaking its tusks when being forcibly taken away from her adopted home of the Ath athuru sevena, announcements by tourism promoters that there will be face lifts to the wild life parks with more tourist friendly accommodation and other facilities being built within the buffer zones, and new roads being built around the only natural world heritage we posses of the Sinharaja.

 

Other side of the fence

What we did not consider or perhaps ignored examining is that the parent company of the banana venture and its subsidiary a chemical fertiliser production company were respondents in a 2007 multi million dollar lawsuit in Nicaragua. Sued by six workers for making them sterile as a result of the use of a pesticide banned in the US for banana farming, first convicted by a jury verdict, it was later turned in favour of the company and led to the alleged closing of the plantation venture in that country.

That the elephant count was carried out by the armed forces for it had to be a rapid response and with little scientific method behind its conduct. That elephants that were meant to be sent back to its habitats after being looked after, were now to be ‘gifted’ to be domesticated within temples and when not dressing up for pageants to be used for hard labour.

That tourist accommodation too close to the national parks or within them can lead to a further infringement of the habitat of the animals which would lead to the destruction of the very resources that visitors come to see and that it should be our responsibility by the generations yet to be born to protect this rare natural heritage of a virgin rain forest without turning it into a playground for a few.    

Sustainability

It is in this backdrop that I agreed to make a presentation at the invitation of the Institute of Environmental Professionals at their Annual Convention and AGM on ‘Sustainable Tourism in development of Sri Lanka’. Since the date fitted well with my monthly visit to the city and it was the ‘environmental professionals’ I was to meet, I accepted that invitation with some enthusiasm. Also since I do not like the idea of placing adjectives before tourism such as ‘eco’ or ‘sustainable’, I made my own addendum to it to read ‘Thoughts and proposals on social profitability and higher yields’.

I updated a paper I had prepared at the request of the Minister of Economic Development in mid 2010 on my thoughts on the way forward for Sri Lanka’s tourism to be shared with the audience in soft-copy form, all thirty pages of it. I also prepared a power point presentation where I could discuss some salient points within it and all equipped, set out for the venue.

 

Substance or style

I had been to many such discussions for over forty years now on the various aspects of the environment at venues such as the Sri Lanka Association of the Advancement of Science (SLAAS), the Natural Resources and Science Authority (NARESA), the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and other more modest low carbon and low resource waste venues. With likes of John Diandas, Ray Wijewardena, Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, these were sessions where substance was placed above style. On this occasion, I was in dismay to enter a hall at the ‘Water’s Edge’ set up for more like a dealer convention of a company selling consumables, than that suited for a serious discussion session of a group of environmental professionals. Perhaps I am wrong, for today affairs of the ‘environment’ have taken the same directions of the economy where ‘we either sell or get sold’ with carbon trading markets, offset support funding schemes and rare plant and other species gene trading markets coming into operation,     

During my presentation when I was asked a question as to how Sri Lanka could reduce its foreign exchange leakages in tourism, I told them that we should not be poor imitators of who and what our tourists were, but be proud presenters of what is our own, use our own resources as much as we can, involve our communities in the pursuit and also seek to become a truly Haritha Sri Lankawak to form the backdrop. I also urged the environmental professionals not to fall prey to the dominant culture’s gimmicks of ‘carbon off sets funds’ or ‘bio-diversity valuations’ in placing our natural assets on false-bottom share markets.

 

Without compromise

It is from among the environmental professionals that opinions are called upon to make assessments on the impact we make on our natural world, in the course of our seeking economic and social development. One of the tools they have at the initial development investment decision making process is the environmental impact assessment report or the EIA. For larger projects and activities there is also the process of public hearings, where professionals as well as any other persons are allowed to make observations sharing their thoughts on the impact and the value base of natural and cultural resources we have.

These are important tools and processes and compromising on them will only lead to creating ill health for our nation as a whole. Although the short term may look lucrative, long term damage could be irreversible. As a leadership that cares and loves our motherland, the need of the hour is for them to allow the professionals to act professionally without compromise. It is up to the professionals as well to act with sheer professionalism and maintain their integrity to the fullest.  

   

Pix credit: Self

Dreaming, dream packaging and selling

By Renton de Alwis

This story began in early August 2011 and is still alive and I wrote about it in middle of that month. It is a story of grit and determination of a simple villager, who had a dream. A dream, that is very different to that most other villagers of his age have. A story I love to tell again and again in celebration of this man’s effort. I m sure you will enjoy meeting our hero, farmer Somapala.

 

Two weeks ago on a Sunday morning, I had a surprise visitor. I may have seen him before on the road, at the village temple, at the pola (fair) or at various other events, but never had the opportunity to meet, greet or talk with him. Patabendi Maddumage Somapala told me that he lived close to my house on the road to the Kalametiya Bird Sanctuary and that his children were members of the ‘Kiula Kiyawana Gunaya’ mobile library, a free book sharing service we operate every Saturday afternoon, on a three wheeler.

He had a child like excitement in his voice and that got me equally excited to find out why he had come to see me. He was carrying a pile of papers with him and told me “I want you to please look at these”. It was 53 foolscap pages of an essay that was written in large ‘bola’ (well-rounded) Sinhala letters. The papers were carefully numbered at the top of each page and he held it together in his hand placed in a brown paper bag. I sat with him and had a cursory first glance at it. It got me curious and interested and I wanted him to leave it with me and come back again the next morning to talk more about it.

 

 

Lot to share

His was a dream he said, before he left. He yearned to write a novel, like the one’s his sons and daughters were reading. He thought he owed it to others to share his life’s experiences with them. He was seventy two and certainly had a lot to share.

I read in full what he had written. There were no full-stops, commas or separation of ideas in paragraphs. The tenses were mixed up and some sentences were not in its rightful place. Yet, his story held me spell bound. It was a story of a simple village family in the immediate aftermath of Independent Ceylon spilling over to the time of the rule of the Bandaranaike clan. 

He had little political or social commentary but more accounts of incidents that he had witnessed or heard from others. He had juxtaposed the story of the family to that of the times quite well. There were references to the human-elephant conflict as was at the time, how the independent day celebrations were held in the nearby town of Hungama, in the early 1950s with the participation of the then prime minister and how the left movement mobilised support in villages, through the introduction of alcoholic beverages. His characters had been named in an interesting way to depict the mood of the times. He had Challi Nona, Pilli Mahatthaya and Caesar for the ‘bad’ and Sangasena, Dhammi, Maggie and Dingi Mahatthaya for the ‘good’. The incidents of drunkenness, the might of the powerful, political corruption and good doses of hypocrisy, were all there but in cursory references. In the main, his characters were either ‘black’ or ‘white’. And he later told me also with a smile that, that was how life was at the time with only little ‘grey’ in these characters he could talk about.

Accomplished farmer

Please do not get me wrong, I am not for a minute reviewing a novel or a creative work that needs to meet the attention of critics of literature, but am only describing the simple expressions of a villager who had a dream of telling a story he had stored in his head for sometime.         

The next morning Somapala went on to tell me of how he had to drop out of school at the ‘hodiaya panthiya’ (1^st standard) after engaging the son of the Vidane Mahatthya (village chieftain) in a naughty fisticuff. The School principal, a close friend of the chieftain saw to it that school was hell for Somapala, and he in his childlike arrogance decided to drop out. Thereafter, he has helped his father look after the heard of buffalos (they were a key supplier of curd for the village) and cultivate the paddy fields. That later made him an accomplished farmer himself.

During times of leisure he had written each letter of the alphabet and numbers on the sand, like he had seen his friends do in school on their slates. That, in later life he said helped him keep up with educating his children. He said that he had learned some lessons from them too.

Style and form

Others in the village told me that he is a good flutist. When I asked him about this he smiled and said “I need to go to Matara to get new flute, I broke the one I had”.  That was the same smile he had on his face when I first told him that the characters in his novel, were either black or white. And to me, the innocence of that smile said it all.

His ‘novel’ did not have a title or name. We spoke about it and decided to call it ‘Ea Kale Kathawak’ (a story of that time). I worked with him to place the full stops, commas, make the paragraphs and adjust some of the tenses, but did not dare to tinker at all with his original text when it came to style and form. I took it upon myself to have Somapala’s work lithographed and we will have fifty copies of it to circulate within the village readership audience. The same is done with others in this village who are encouraged to write poetry and prose by publishing them monthly in a few lithographed pages (Kiula Wimansa Athwela) for circulation when the mobile library operates on Saturday.

 

Business of dreams

When I hear of the mad scramble among youth to migrate to Korea or to other lands looking for jobs or those sixty odd thousands who gather each year at stadiums or hotels, to become super stars on television or to become fashion designers or beauty queens, all I see are dreams. Then there are others more privileged whose dreams are made for them by their parents; the tuition classes, cricket coaching schools, drama classes, elocution classes, dancing classes, the little stars etc.

Some dreams are made, packaged and sold by yet others. That is done so effectively making it a ‘business’ all of its own. These ‘dream sellers’ venture to make hoards of money, for themselves, using a myriad of ways and means to do it. We see this in the likes of the media, advertising industry, fashion industry, entertainment industry, wellness industry etc.

For those in governance too, dream selling becomes an important endeavour. When youth dream of becoming stars in hordes of hundreds of thousands that allows those charged with providing them other productive opportunities to postpone dealing with the issues on hand. What we forget is that these are prototype models of attempts at social engineering, we have duplicated from failed economies and systems that now seem to be getting into a struggling mode. Given the ethos we profess to inculcate and the need we have to be focussing on more productive occupations such as reconciliation of our nation, growing more food, conserving our environment, meeting other key social needs and nurturing our exports, it may serve us well to take a re-look at them in the context of their contribution and productivity in serving our society and its development. 

 

Lessons to learn

I wondered why I was so taken by Somapala’s dream of being a writer at the age of seventy two. I realise that it was because he taught me a lesson. He made a success of his life, meeting all odds and lived through to a ripe age to realise his dream. He did not venture to hurry things up but fulfilled his obligations, before he took on to realise his dream.

The lesson I guess is that while dreams and dreaming is good, making a business of packaging and selling any which one of them, may not augur well for us. Dreams shared by the likes of our Somapala Govi Mahathaya need be personal and not be rushed or forced upon. Such dreams are for sure not for packaging or for sale.

Packaging and selling ‘unreal’ dreams in attractive forms and formats may do us all more harm than good and it may serve well for those in policy making to take a re-look at this social phenomenon.

His two novelettes can be read in Sinhala at the following links:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6xx6_E157dVcUNWTFdOTGxseUE/edit

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6xx6_E157dVTFUxZzkzTFRveUk/edit

 

It’s been a nice week so far

Renton de Alwis

The rains we had last week has eased. More help is offered to those affected by the flood waters. Investigations to determine the impact, extent and the future dangers of the landslides in several areas are being carried out. The chessboard of Sri Lankan politics has seen a minor move of a cabinet reshuffle. Watch three different television channels and you will be left thinking we live in different countries. Each depicts a different ‘truth’, and we all know that there can not be more than one truth. Much of all of this is grey, only of different shades.

I wrote this column and published it in late June 2011. Not much has changed. Only the specifics of the events are different. The shades of grey and the ‘truth’ as told, is laid before us and we must subject it to our critical examination. One thing is for sure, the glasses most wear of different shades will make them see them in different ways. The challenges are many. Much work remains to be done.

Yesterday’s news of school children in Kaudulla, getting out of school, on to the road to demonstrate against the new principal appointee is most disturbing. Politics in education, whether of the ‘party kind’ or personal, should not involve children. They are our future, please do not let them loose faith. Well that was not a good beginning for my week, but I never give up hope and I urge you, please don’t, for when the weeks come and go, hope is the thread we have left, to weave it all together.    

How lovely it is when there is not much news that is bad floating around. This week has been relatively quiet and how wonderful it will be, if all year round, and year after year, we heard little of the negatives and only highlighted the positives, letting the world around us beam with joy. Don’t get me wrong; there is much that is wrong and we must always seek to fix that what is wrong. We must indeed strive hard to minimise inequalities, ease pain, empower the powerless, cure the sick, help the needy and the poor, douse fears of those in doubt and give our all to make a fair-play field for the living. Yet, it does not have to be a picture of hopelessness, petty divisive opposing, doom or gloom. The human spirit is strong and our leaders, our media, and each of us must venture to harness that to fix what is wrong and bring out the best in each and every one of us.  

 

Our own doing

I know I am taking a chance when I state here, that it has been a good week this far, for I am writing this on a preceding Sunday morning for today. But, I would rather take that chance and hope the rest of the week will be good, than live in anticipated fear that it may turn out to be bad. If it does, so be it for I have the satisfaction that I was not expecting it to be so. Most of the bad news we hear and see and learn of is of course, made by men and women like you and I.

Even natural disasters we endure in most instances are the wrath of nature we have brought upon ourselves. The rest is made by our leaders of nations or people like us, for we have been senseless, uncaring and/or callous. Some even lack the sense and sensitivity to understand that we have been the cause of the very situations and conflicts we dwell in, while yet others thrive in conflict, often benefiting from the fallouts. Manufacture and sale of weapons, continuance of wars, miscommunication and exploitation of the fearful and weak and imposition of other instruments of destruction are examples. More often, conflict and mayhem is needlessly created, when they could have been avoided if we were able to act with a bit of selflessness, dignity, tact, care and wisdom.

 

Have the tools

It is interesting that we have all the tools needed to stay out of conflict. The Buddha Dhamma, Christian, Hindu and Islamic teachings and ways of solid peacemakers the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. Each year Noble peace awards are made, but very few lessons are learnt from the work or the lives of those on whom, the awards are bestowed.     

Wars or attacks against other nations are waged because there was little or no ethical dealing among them in the first place. Greedy designs for seeking ownership and access to resources had bred mistrust and intolerance. Many accidents happen and lives are lost of children, budding youth, men and women, for some among us are selfish, resentful, indignant or ruthless. Here I mean not only the reckless drivers on the roads, but mind-drivers, slave-drivers and drivers of hatred who operate around ‘leaders’/decision makers, drivers of crooked deals and even drivers of peace deals.

Turning back to the week, the Channel 4 ‘Killing Fields’ episode got us to reflect that we needed to be united and act with resolve, to overcome such accusations. The lesson to be learnt is that as a nation we have to be morally strong, respect the rule of law, pay due regard to ensuring dignity for all citizens regardless of race, cast or creed, and respect the principle of meritocracy. Like was sung by the chorus upon the famous judgment rendered by Judge Azdak in Bertolt Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle, “what there is shall belong to those who are good for it”. The famous line from the same play used to describe the dilemma faced by Grusha, the maid who takes on to care for the baby prince left behind by the queen and being pursued by solders of the revolution, is the same dilemma faced by many among us today; “terrible is the temptation to do good”.

 

The wonder

When we get some of that right, there is not a chance for the likes of the producers of Channel 4, their sponsors and others with vested motives, to even dare bring such accusation against us. With that episode behind and knowing that it in no way signals the end of such attempts to bring us down, we now have an opportunity to take a strong look at our selves. We need to take an almost back to basics view at our systems of governance, evaluate mistakes of the past to learn from them, refrain from being autocratic, be willing to give and take, set in place processes of widespread consultation and move on to create the wonder of the nation, we desire to be.  

In our neighbouring India, we heard a great story of six sailors who have been captives of Somali pirates being released last week. Being at sea as prisoners for the last ten months, their release was apparently made possible through the efforts of a Pakistani NGO and the Pakistani navy. The Indian sailors were full of praise for the good work done by their Pakistani brethren and their renderings were the best testimonies we had seen for sometime for creating amity and understanding between these two nations. It could not have come at a better time than when the Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao was visiting her counterpart in Islamabad. What impressed me most was that after a long time, I saw a key Indian television station run, rolling-news-clips that referred to Pakistan as ‘Pakistan’ and not the usual ‘Pak’ as they did on almost all instances before. How I hope that this positive step will be for all time and will augur well for those two nations and for us all in the South Asian region.

 

Nervous breakdowns

I also saw this week, an interesting ‘You Tube’ clip of a speech delivered recently by ‘the bright new star of Pakistan’s political dynasty’, poet and writer Fatima Bhutto at the Sydney Writer’s Festival. She had been given the topic, as she made us believe; “Pakistan: Nation on the verge of a nervous breakdown”. She in a witty and light-hearted presentation made-out that nervous breakdowns for nations come in many forms and it is injustice, disrespect for the rule of law, state sponsored violence and wide-spread corruption that caused them. She suggested  that it was not only Pakistan that had such breakdown, pointing to several powerful nations of the world and suggested that that they needed to go through solid sessions of therapy, to overcome them.

 

True bondage

 

On Monday this week, I was witness to how nine students from Jaffna and their three teachers were having fun singing and dancing at ‘Ape Pettuw’, a school for special children in Hambantota. They later joined fifteen prefects and a few teachers of the Kiula Junior School to visit the Agro-Technical Park at Bata Atha to break-bread together, take-on a learning experience and interact with each other to the fullest. Observing the enthusiasm, joy and camaraderie among them, one realized that such intimate interaction was a key way-forward strategy to ensure true reconciliation and bondage between the people of our nation.    

It is mid-year now and my mind takes me back to a unique greeting in poem, my friend Jaydeep Nath Sur from India sent me at the dawn of 2011. I want to share the concluding lines of that poem with you when I yearn to have, not only nice weeks ahead, but nicer months and years and more years, months, weeks and days ahead.

“Can we all evangelise & shatter the myth

and mirage of elusive inclusive growth

in most parts of this beautiful world

and help make this planet

A better place

 

A smaller place to live in

bringing a smile on every face

like the effervescence

in an early morning blossoming 'lotus'

on an ethnic, unkempt pond

in the middle of a thousand unrealised dreams

looking us into our eyes...”

 

 

PIx credit: Self

 

 

Thoughts on arsenic and Kaththankudi on Poson Poya

Renton de Alwis

 

The Duruthu Poya day was celebrated by all Buddhists last Saturday. The significance of that day is the recall of the first visit of the Buddha, the enlightened one, to our land. Prior to his arrival he had resolved a conflict between two powerful brothers through rational intervention. While here, the Yakkas and Nagas had the benefit of his wisdom, but it is said that their understanding of the Buddha word was not up to the mark.

This article written during the Poson Poya period in July 2011is significant for Poson signifies the celebration of the introduction of Buddhism to this blessed land of ours. Both events were important, for they were about peace, goodwill, substance and above all about wisdom.

I chose to repost this article today, for there are uncalled for and unfortunate inciting by a section of our society, against another. Social media is being used to spread hate campaigns. Whereas, the call of our times should be to spread words of wisdom and peace, the Buddha and the Dhamma bestowed on us. The need is to avoid conflict and to promote better understanding and brotherhood among the different racial groups and communities.

Efforts of the likes of the good customs officer who had taken on to query and investigate the poison in our food, through the pesticides and insecticides we import, the sustenance of our love of Mother Nature and the exemplary life styles of our Muslim brethren in Kaththankudi were written about, during the Poson Poya day of 2011.

 

It was to serve as a reminder to us, that there are other more important issues and lessons that we must focus on, than those that some with devious intentions choose to take on.  We can not as a nation afford to let these evil forces raise their ugly heads once again to poison and destroy our nation.        

     

Today is Poson Poya. Many millions of coconut oil lamps, wax candles and electric bulbs will be lit to signify this day when Arahath Mahinda Thera first met King Devanampiyatissa. The Thera brought with him the gift of the wisdom of the Buddha Dhamma and engaged the King in an interactive dialogue, upon which Davanampiyatissa, sought the way of the Dhamma. We shall hear many a sermon reminding us of this significant incidence, observe the eight precepts, set-up dansala’s, make contributions to erect pandols, sing Bhakthi geetha and perform Bodhi-puja.

Mihintala Pawwa will glitter with light and will remind us that it is here, that the idea of setting up the world’s first wild-life and nature sanctuary germinated. This day then, goes to serve as a gentle reminder of the deep symbiotic relationship we humans have, with Mother Nature and that it should be an integral part of our Buddhist way life.

Giving all

In my quest to present my column to you today, I thought of this day and its significance. Strangely, there surfaced two thoughts which happen to be on opposite poles. Yet they were to me, significant, for they stood for things deeply relevant that I believe we must set our minds to, on days like this resolving to take strong action, as we move on with our lives.

First was a recent feat of my young friend Samantha Gunasekara of the Customs Department. I first got to know Samantha and his friend Jagath Gunawardana, environmental activist and lawyer, as two young school boys. They are placed firm in my memory for they were active members of the founding group of the Young Zoologists Association of Sri Lanka (YZA for short) in the 1970’s.  Both were then and still are committed students of and activists for nature. Under the then director, Late Lyn de Alwis’s visionary guidance, they formed and ran an active outfit of the YZASL at the Dehiwela Zoo, giving their all to build the organisation to be the success it has become now.

I remember the active research studies and campaigning they took-on to get the Bellanwila marsh declared a sanctuary and several other such pursuits. Their early campaigning, joining hands with the likes of Professor Sarath Kotagama, activist Iranganie Serasinghe and members of the Wild Life Nature Protection Society saw the birth of new environment legislation and related statutory organisations.

 

No compromises

They fought against wounds we inflicted on Mother Nature then, and continue to do so now. They are a two-some, like some other exceptional individuals I know, who have incorporated their passion into their daily and professional lives. No compromises are made for they know that ‘deals can not be cut’ with Mother Nature and her good health. That ‘Off set Funds’ and ‘Trust funds with share options on public goods’ i.e. assessing the pecuniary value of the air we breathe, the water we drink or the forests that give us these as capital, are not options for us to consider. These are some of the ‘innovations’ that the financial ‘wizards’ pursuing the dominant Western model propose that we in the ‘developing’ world take-on. A further discussion of this phenomenon must be on our agenda, but I shall leave it for another occasion.

Jagath has created a Facebook Group called ‘Nature’ and feeds it with many wonderfully detailed information of what happens in the natural world around us. Once in a while, he takes on his usual activist role to feature wrong-doings and the recent story on arsenic in the pesticides in use in Sri Lanka, was a stunner.

Slow killers

Forensic and clinical research done by a joint Keleniya and Rajarata Universities’ scientific team had found a significant number of the dead in the North Central province to have traces of arsenic in their bodies. This was then traced to the possibility of pesticides imported for use in Sri Lanka containing arsenic. Arsenic is a sure-killer and its intake in small doses, even through secondary means, could be a sure slow-killer. The ‘soft’ introduction of arsenic in pesticides will mean that we as a nation are violating the first precept of the Buddhist way of ‘Panathipatha’ (taking a life i.e. killing or murder). We are told that more research needs to be done to firmly determine the correlation prior to banning the import of these substances and urge the Pesticides Registration Authority to hasten these and move into fast, firm, affirmative action.  

 

Stand by them

Samantha, now the deputy director of customs in-charge of Protection of Bio-Diversity and National Heritage is quoted to have said that his and his team’s lives have been threatened, for they moved to seize consignments of pesticides on suspicion of containing banned substances. The said consignment contained some 400 packages of toxic substances containing banned chemicals such as arsenic and mercury. The shipment had been imported as insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides, bacteriacides and fungicides by six multinational agrochemical companies operating in the country. While it will be desirable if the names of the companies and the countries of origin of these imports can be published for the common good, we must vehemently condemn the actions of those who attempt to scare off public officials who are honest and sincere. We must indeed stand by these officials in support. Let us hope that ‘authorities’ will venture to take action on these culprits, for we are talking here of taking away innocent lives of our own people.

We all know that pesticides and insecticides to be  ‘big business’ in Sri Lanka for almost a half century and has been a major inflictor of threats on reducing our bio-diversity and powers of natural resistance. We have for far too long being having a ‘love affair’ with imported high yielding stains of seeds and plants and fallen for the trap of receiving the accompanying ‘poison’ that are needed to sustain them. The likes of Late innovator, engineer cum farmer Ray Wijewardene, proved beyond any doubt through eight long years of hard-demonstration at his coconut ‘farm’ in Kakkapalliya, that staying away from the use of fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides could in fact, result in enhanced productivity and yields in our agriculture.

Local and strong

My next Poson Day thought also takes me to back to my youth, when we enjoyed wearing those then famous Kattankudy branded sarongs. They had a reputation for quality and durability and were considered by all, as one of the best local products around. Beyond 1977, with the advent of the free economic policies, we saw cheap imports of many brands and varieties of sarongs flood our markets signaling a slow and painful death of the sarong industry of Kattankudi. What we got was a cheaper choice of a variety of sarongs, loosing out on the availability of a more durable, quality product of our own.

Today, most will remember Kattankudi for the massacre LTTE terrorists carried out in 1990, killing 147 of her innocent Muslim inhabitants at their prayer sessions at four mosques. It was murder most foul and damaged the core psyche of this oasis of a prosperous town, located a few kilo meters from Batticaloa on the Eastern Coastal belt.

Fine blend

I first visited the area in the 1970’s and 80’s for work associated with coast conservation, passed through several times thereafter and then spent some time there again on a research initiative on youth unemployment in the mid 2000’s. I was impressed on how the people of Kattankudi, comprising over 90% Muslims had recovered from that shock of the massacre and were moving on with their lives with resolve. Perhaps the hurt still rages on, but there is very little to show its impact on the community at large. While there, I was curious how this area of a few square kilo-meters had achieved such quality of life. Everyone there seemed content and happy. There was a fine blend seen between spirituality and material success.

Right practice

On inquiry, an elderly resident of Kattankudy related a story that said it all and I must share it with you on this Poson Day. He told me that a high ranking officer from the IPKF that operated in the area in the late 1980’s had asked some of them of the secret of the success of Kattankudi as a social and economic hub, compared with the relative backwardness of areas adjacent and around it. Their answer at the time had been “since you have just arrived in the area, you should come back again after some time, observing the happenings in Kattankudi for some time”. About three months later, the officer had returned to meet them to brief them of his findings. He observed that it was the deep sense of spirituality among the community, their general financial acumen and the ethic of hard work.

The Kattankudy elders had responded with a ‘but these did not come to us with ease, you must also observe that we reinforce our spiritual beliefs on a day to day basis, always help each other and practice the precepts without exception. Did you notice that we do not have a single bar or liquor store or a cinema in the whole of Kattankudi?”

When we observe this Poson Poya especially during this year of the Sambuddahtwa Jayantiya, the examples of Samantha, Jagath and elder residents of Kattankudy, present us with solid examples of how we could take on determined action for “piliwethin pelagasseema” giving that resolution potent expression.  

 

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The importance of living within means

by Renton de Alwis

Written at the peak of the Global financial crisis in August 2011, the column examined the causes and the effects of bloating up both individual and national economies with over consumption, imprudent investment and credit schemes. Although that crisis is now seemingly behind us, what caused it and its core fault-lines still remain as they were. Most wonder if indeed it is over and claim that we are on to a stage of self denial and complacency. The so called ‘first world’ and its dominant ways still go on regardless with only minor adjustments made. Issues such as poverty, pressure on basic resources, global warming, causes for creation of the phenomenon of terrorism and the sound health of our natural environment are laid on the back burners. They only surface once in a while for discussion, and for making resolutions. When the need is for a resolve to take solid action to change the ways of the past, we seem to go on with the same processes, hoping that technological innovation will provide us much of the solutions.

My contention is that there are many lessons to be learnt and the wisdom laid before us by the Buddha word offers us solutions. The need is, for it to be examined rationally. Indeed a good beginning could be from our own land, which boasts of several visits by the Enlightened One and consist of a majority who claim to practise its ways. Prudent consumption, a focus on basic needs, creation of wealth with a conscience through solid investment, curbing corruption reaching beyond our greedy and wasteful ways, will enable us to offer even the world at large, those solutions they need. Strong resolve and solid honest action is what it takes from us as individuals and as a nation to enable us to do that.      

 

I wondered why, when I was watching coverage of the unfolding of the events that led to the debt crisis faced by Europe and the US on television, the Sri Lankan literary classic work of the ‘Lowada Sangarawa’ (Towards a better world) came to my mind. Perhaps it is the stanzas;

“Lipa gini molowana thek diya saliye 

Sapayak yayi Kakuluwa Diya Keliye”

meaning “until the fire is lit, the live crabs in the pot on that fire go on making merry, unaware of the danger that is to befall them. The other two stanzas refer to the meaningless pursuit of our seeking sensual pleasures without seeking true purpose and meaning in life.

Confidence drop

For the first time in the history of the modern world, the US dollar was de-graded of its confidence rating this week, by the prime rating agency Standard & Poor, from its perennial top AAA to AA+. It must be said that Fitch and Moody, the other twosome in the rating business have done no such thing. It could also be assumed that they have not had ‘reason’ to yet do it.

For several weeks now, major sections of the US lawmakers, backed by extreme conservatives such as the ‘Tea Party’, have been at loggerheads with the Executive President of United States of America, on how to avert the nation’s debt crisis. On Sunday last, they struck a deal to allow President Obama some leverage to avert a crisis. The popular view of most is that it was grossly inadequate and the worst is yet to come. Some also feel that the real impact of the crisis will unfold in Europe, before it hits the US again.

 

Huge debt

 

The facts are that the US as a nation owes a huge US $ 14, 300,000,000,000 (14.3 trillion dollars), both within the country, to institutions elsewhere and to other nations in the form of debt. As is pointed out by many, this is a crisis created for US and the rest of the world for they/we have been living beyond their/our means for far too long. Greece and Ireland owe US$ 367 billion and 865 billion respectively to other European nations, while Spain and Italy owe one trillion each to France, Briton and Germany. Portugal, whose countrymen brought us our ‘Baila culture’, is another example. That country has defaulted on its national debt five times since the year 1800.

 

According to the US treasury figures the nation is said to have a shortfall of US $ 5.656 trillion to support the Bills and Bonds issued by the Federal Reserve to banks, a $ 1.404 trillion to meet the obligations of the savings bonds issued to its citizens through the banks, $ 1.16 trillion to China as a buyer of Treasury debt, $ 882.3 billion to Japan, $ 801.7 billion in Pension Fund investments, $ 636.4 billion in Mutual Funds, $ 519.8 billion to States and cities within the US, $ 315.7 billion to depository Institutions, $ 271.6 billion to the United Kingdom, $ 253 billion to insurance companies, $ 211.9 billion to oil exporters, $ 186.1 billion to Brazil, $ 155.1 billion to Taiwan, $ 168.1 billion to Caribbean banking centers and $ 151 billion to Russia.

 

Wealth without conscience

 

Today, we live in a world with a dominant culture dictating to us that greed is good. Consumerism based on unlimited availability of choice form a corner stone of this economic system’s architecture. There is scant regard for thriftiness, austerity or real saving. The system encourages spending on ‘useless’ goods and services and making payments for them with funds that are non-existent. Speculative spending is encouraged and is portrayed as a sign of smart maneuvering. Undue risk taking is encouraged and bubbles of schemes are created to facilitate the availability of ‘funds’ for these. ‘Playing’ the stock market is made to look like a gaming pursuit, where easy gains are sought with little or no productive effort put into it.

Choice has replaced need and the young are wooed to take on activities that are far from creating beneficial or useful wealth like production of food and/or such essentials. Although technology has made it possible to make many goods in a rapid manner, the pressure it places on energy and other resources have been severe. 

 

Only planet

 

The poor are often marginalized without access to even the basic resources. World’s Population is ageing and the need for welfare and healthcare is increasing. There are less and less opportunities for young people to be productive in useful work for ‘convenient’ and ‘smart’ work has replaced ethical hard work. Today we communicate, entertain and indulge in luxurious pursuits than contributing solid hard work to make what we need in sustainable ways. Our planning horizons have shrunk to be very short-term and most of us live without realizing the finiteness of the natural resource base on this only planet we have for ourselves and other living species. Climate change, desertification and sea level rise have become real issues and scarcity of water is posing huge problems with famine and disease still impacting on some areas.      

 

During the last weekend, I was referred to a doomsday type, ‘You Tube’ posting of a film by a Face Book friend.  It came with the comment “Frightening”. Produced by ‘New America Now’ productions, this phenomenon was called an “Economic Collapse: A mathematical certainty” and pointed to five places in the world where one must not be at the time, for they would feel the brunt of the crisis most. They were Israel, Southern California, England, New York City and Washington D.C. in that order (Refer www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3-vwYJiD8g). Another similar film used a humorous approach to demonstrate the nature of the crisis and was titled “World Collapse Explained in 3 Minutes”. That can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOzR3UAyXao&feature=related.

 

What they say

 

Newspaper headlines in the US, Canada, European and Asian capitals said many different things. Some examples are; “Our financial system has become a madhouse. We need radical change” (The Guardian of the UK on Saturday) adding the by-line “As a new global crisis looms, and political paralysis worsens, genuinely bold solutions are required to overcome the malaise”, “The real U.S. debt crisis is still to come” (The Vancouver Sun on Sunday), “Trust becomes a rare commodity when credit ratings go on sale”(Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald on Friday), “China: U.S. Debt Crisis Is Giving Democracy A Bad Name” (The Huffignton Post of the US on Saturday, quoting views of Chinese officials and academics) and “Asian stock markets sink after US credit downgrade” (Associated Press on Monday last).

Right Effort

In conclusion, I would like to leave you to ponder on two very different and interesting points of view. The first is an article contributed by David Nichtern, a senior Shambhala Buddhist teacher based in the US in ‘The Huffington Post’, titled “The Debt Ceiling and The Law of Karma”. In his analysis, he says that there has to be right thought (Samma Sankalpa) and right effort (Samma Vayama) and goes on to elaborate “In Buddhism, the law of karma describes how causes and effects interact in our world. The point of understanding how karma works is to see the nature of things as they are, beyond any kind of delusion or wishful thinking”.

“What does the law of karma have to do with the current economic crisis? Maybe our national economic policy could use a good healthy dose of seeing "things as they are”, and adds “In our individual meditation practice, there is no magic bullet, no fantasy transformation, no gimmicks -- we have to work through our karma, brick by brick -- it is manual labour”.

“With meditation practice, we can see how our mind works -- what creates positive karma (compassion and wisdom), and what creates negative karma (aggression, attachment and ignorance). That is how we get clarity about how certain causes, create certain conditions -- how did we get to where we are and what we can do about it”.

Debt to nature

 

The other is a recent article published in UK’s ‘The Guardian’ by Ros Coward titled “America's other debt crisis: Amid the war of words taking place in Congress, nothing is said of the environmental cost of over-consumption”. Her position was that “Long before the current cuts, austerity was making a comeback here in the UK, associated with the environmental issues of recycling, cutting consumption and reducing our carbon footprint”.

“Indeed, the New Economics Foundation recently launched the New Home Front, arguing that wartime lifestyles are positive models for reducing our environmental impact. When we think growing our own vegetables, taking staycations rather than vacations, cycling rather than driving, it has a fashionable appeal” she claimed.


“Not so in the US” she says. “In the five months I spent there earlier this year, I never heard the word austerity in political discussion. The Republican discourse is all about how the government is spending too much. The government must tighten its belt. There was nothing about individuals living beyond their means and no suggestion that individuals have a role to play in the solution”.

“Yet the US deficit is founded on over-consumption, made possible by too much consumer credit and, less well recognised, too much environmental credit. In the current war of words in Congress, there are no references to the immoral lending that encouraged people who could not afford it, to invest in the American dream. That's what led to the property crash and the financial crisis. That has disappeared totally from political argument”.

Lessons indeed for all humans and for those of us living in blessed environments the likes of ours, where our natural and cultural endowment is still not exhausted beyond hope and where words of wisdom of great teachers have shown us the way. What is left in our hands is to heed, without falling prey to the wild calls of the dominant ways.

 

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