Nature is not an open storehouse from where we can forever pick what we like, for our need and our greed. It is a very complex natural organisation of soil, water, air, plants, animals and humans, and what happens in one part sooner or later affects many or all other parts. There are many reasons to conserve nature – being moral, being generous, being selfish, being realistic, being arty – so which one is right? And is any one of them wrong? The truth about nature is that it is all around us.
An even more important truth about nature is that without it we would in all probability die as individuals and as a species. For me in particular, an equally important truth is that the treasure chest of nature’s bounties is so varied and generous that I can spend my entire life exploring it in wonderment. It is much, much more exciting than shopping malls or movie theatres, food courts or playgrounds.
I have walked the forests of six continents and have worked as a conservationist with tigers and elephants, rhinos and endangered birds. The seeds of this journey of exploration were planted in me in high school. The Yadavindra Public School in Chandigarh in the 1970s believed in taking the children every year for long camping trips and treks in the Himalayas.
For a school nestled in the Shivaliks, at the foothills of the Himalayan mountain range, this was but natural. What was unique, especially if you compare it with today’s school excursions, was that the group spent a couple o.