The idea of ‘Environment of Kindness’ is not new – this is as old as human existence on the planet Earth is. The idea of kindness to all in our surrounding is the integral part of our personalities as innate relationship with nature. We may forget such relationship for some time but as soon as we recall it, we just recognize it available to us.
In order to develop ‘Environment of Kindness’ we have to make choices, often initially difficult choices about our lifestyles. Habits have to change.
It seems convenient to see humans in fractions of gender, race and background traditions. In reality all humans belong to one human family raised by a single pair of humans some two hundred thousand years ago. Taking our beautiful planet as our home, the ecosystems as our partners and all humans as part of one family bestows us a realistic vision and inspires us to develop an Environment of Kindness. To develop and maintain such environment we have to adapt a responsible lifestyle.
For example, it’s much easier to drive to the stores rather than taking a bike or using public transport, so why should you do anything else? Because your car is pumping lethal gases into the atmosphere, into other people’s lungs, because people are dying prematurely partly from this pollution, not to mention what it does to our plants and animals.
We are human beings with the ability to make ethical choices and one is looking out for you. This is especially important in countries like Pakistan, where population growth is critical and natural or financial resources are limited. It all depends on whether we adapt a responsible lifestyle or not. Do you look away and pursue your own interests, or do you make the difficult decision and choose a positive choice for the world around you?
‘Environment of Kindness (EK)’ is a way to recognize human natural relation of kindness with the entire nature. And recognizing this relation means restoring and preserving the integrity of one-humanity with the ecological systems and natural processes that sustain life on Earth.
First, we don’t need to become a society of followers, we need to be a society of leaders, educate yourself, analyze the situation, be satisfied (if you are not already) that there is overwhelming evidence of the destruction of our environment. In doing so, you will identify the most significant situations that need your kindness, the ones you connect with, whether human or animal cruelty, global warming, animal habitat, overfishing, water pollution, air pollution, urban pollution, soil erosion, pesticide misuse, deforestation, desertification, flooding, salinity or anything else.
At times you may feel overwhelmed by the immensity of the problems before us, but this should validate your choice and show how important and meaningful the choice you made is. We don’t have to fix everything, but it’s important that each of us do what we can. Remember that all the great developments in the world were made with a single voice raised for a noble cause and a single step taken in a positive direction. The effort of a single person has often developed into a global caravan of unified humanity. So it’s always better to light a candle than to curse the darkness!
The concept of Environment of kindness (EK) has been an integral part of our Environmental Education strategies for all segments of society. This vision develops from our understanding that human existence on the planet must be the means of peace, unity and environmental solidarity, not separation and environmental degradation. Under this unified vision, we carry out a series of activities from the Kindness Pakistan platform to emphasize our innate relationship of unity that weaves together all of humanity and all components of nature.