World Environment Day on 5th June 2025- Mr Vijay Paranjpe

On 5th June 2025, our college auditorium reverberated with concern, urgency, and hope during a session on World Environment Day. As an MBA student adjusting to B-school life, I attended the event with moderate expectations. But the talk, led by Mr. Vijay Paranjpe, made a lasting impact, far beyond classroom discussions.

Mr. Paranjpe began by reflecting on how human progress has come at a high environmental cost. He reminded us of the 1972 Stockholm Conference, when the world acknowledged the two-way relationship between humans and nature-how we shape the Earth, and how it shapes us. This, he noted, is the essence of environmental science.

What struck me most was his honesty about our mistakes. "We've made our lives unnecessarily complex,"he said, emphasizing that economic development often leads to environmental degradation. He described the Stockholm Conference as a "day of remembrance," urging us to reflect on both our achievements and failures.

The theme of a "sustainable story" emerged as central to the session. Mr. Paranjpe highlighted the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, which popularized the slogan "Think Global, Act Local." The summit aimed to align human development with ecological harmony. Yet, decades later, issues like plastic pollution, harmful gases, and fossil fuel dependency still prevail, results of unchecked growth. He compared rivers to complex systems that reflect the environment's health, urging us to approach these challenges analytically.

A critical point of the session was the ethical dimension of natural resource management. Since the 18th century, we have shifted from viewing nature as sacred to exploiting it for economic gain. Forests, once considered useless, were cleared for agriculture, leading to irreversible damage. Today, per capita forest availability is shrinking, and human-animal coexistence is increasingly threatened.

With the human population growing exponentially, and land remaining constant, we are on a perilous path. Mr. Paranjpe noted that in 1920, 3.2 million hectares of land were covered by forests-a number that has since drastically declined. This scarcity will worsen in the coming decades unless urgent action is taken.

In conclusion, the message was clear: we can no longer be passive observers. As future managers and leaders, we must take responsibility. Whether it's managing freshwater, ensuring clean air, or changing our consumption habits, the time to act is now.

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