AS the world celebrated World Environment Day on June 5, mainstream media the world over were agog over the raging destruction of the environment through man's recklessness and greed.
Under the 2015 United Nations-sanctioned Paris Agreement, nations committed to collectively prevent the rise in global average temperature to well below 2ºC (and preferably 1.5ºC) above pre-industrial levels to contain the negative risks of climate change.
Alas, the response of the G7, a group of rich democracies, at its recent summit in mid-June, did not hew to the urgency of the issue. Echoing a vow made more than a decade ago, the G7 leaders promised to shunt US$100 billion annually to poor countries to fight climate change.
Sadly, too, there was no roadmap accompanying this pledge. And the rhetoric of shifting to renewable energy was bereft of any targets.
The reliance on fossil fuels (the world depends on these for four-fifths of its energy needs) remains a serious impediment to achieving the lofty environmental targets.
Notwithstanding, there is hope. Nations accounting for more than 70 per cent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) have advocated net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. China says it will achieve that target by 2060.
At the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, Malaysia, too, committed to reducing by 2030 its carbon emission per unit of GDP by 45 per cent from the level in 2005.
In line with this target, the soon-to-be announced 12th Malaysia Plan and future development plans should ensure the preservation of fragile ecosystems and prioritise renewable energy.
Justice theories buttress such serious commitments. For example, in his 1971 book, A Theory of Justice, John Rawls, the late Harvard professor, argued that present generations owed a duty to future generations in preserving institutions.
By virtue of this intergenerational justice, we have a moral obligation to preserve the environment and its resources for posterity.
How can we as individuals contribute to these national and global aspirations?
FIRST, we need to think intergenerationally.
We need to constantly ask, "Am I doing the right thing for the environment and for the future of my children and their children? What kind of a world do I want to bequeath to them?"
SECOND, we must consider environmental protection as a sacred duty. And we must inculcate this value in our children and grandchildren.
In his 1971 book, The Unforeseen Wilderness, Wendell Berry, an influential environmental activist, stresses: "[T]he world is not given (to man) by his fathers, but borrowed from his children." We preserve the environment in trust for the wellbeing of our children.
Afroz Shah, a lawyer, exemplifies this trust. Growing up in Mumbai, Afroz Shah used to play on an unspoiled beach. However, in 2015, all that was left was not the gleaming sand that he was accustomed to.
Rather, a sea of plastics littered along the shore. Fear that the rubbish would soon be washed into the ocean and eventually find its way into the food chain gripped him.
He felt that he had to return the favour to nature for all the joy the beach had given him during his childhood. So he took it upon himself to clean up the beach. Alone and every weekend, he would pick up the rubbish.
Afroz Shah cajoled others to join him. They came in droves with tractors, lorries and containers. After two years of a labour of love and nine million kilogrammes of garbage harvest, the beachfront was back to its pristine self.
Afroz Shah continues to educate the coastal communities on waste separation and disposal. When people ask him how long he would journey on, he replies that the day people consider the ocean theirs, that would be the day he considered his mission accomplished.
One man's journey to connect with nature bore fruit. Like Afroz Shah, we, too, need to take ownership of the environment, or pay the price for its wanton destruction.
The writer is is the AIMST University's Vice-Chancellor