Save Elephants with economics, not emotions
It was Humour Noir at its best on August 12, when MoEFCC [Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change] wished us ‘Happy World Elephant Day’ and urged us to live in harmony with elephants! People went bonkers and flooded their social media feed with ‘elephant murderer’, ‘double faced liar’ kind of responses, and I sent in some juicy ones as well. Hot-headed responses to an empty-headed post. Dehing Patkai in Assam, is not only home to the Asian Elephant but also a number of globally endangered species, and a high density of wild cats. When Coal mining is allowed in such a rich biodiversity zone, tempers are bound to fly. Which is of zero help.
Instead of flying off the [social media] handle, sitting back to crunch some numbers, would be so much more helpful. Let’s work out the profits from coal, along with all incidental economic value created vs the damage to one of the oldest bio-reserves in the world. The viability of coal, in a world where even blast furnaces are looking at 20% more efficient energy usage, not to mention the decreasing cost and increasing demand, of renewables. Batteries are cheaper than ever before making storage of already-low-priced solar and wind, an easy option. The world is looking at us to meet our 2030 CO2 emission targets which we can’t, with coal mines operating and newer ones springing up. Let’s calculate the opportunities in alternate industries, for those employed in Coal India Limited and account for reduction in health bills, due to cleaner work environment. Look at Loss of tourism in Assam — a state with increasing number of eco-tourists. Not to mention the tremendous cost of pollution-related health issues and as proved now beyond doubt, zoonotic diseases due to biodiversity loss. The list is endless and I will be delighted to add to it, one-one with any of you.
So when the youth that I work with, many of them in my ‘Business Sustainability’ class, get ready to jump aboard the Rainbow Warrior, I humbly appeal to them to go back to their economics and statistics books instead. And throw graphs and figures at policy makers and their future employers, rather than impassioned moral pleas.
