Dear Readers,

A recent UNICEF report quoted, “This is the first time a global generation of children will grow up in a world made far more dangerous and uncertain, as a result of a changing climate and degraded environment.” It is rather unfair and sad that our next gen – our children, who are the least responsible for climate change, which is borne of environmental abuse, will be the ones having to face the horrid consequences and the greatest burden of its impact, which directly threatens growth and survival.

Across the world, we are witnessing Nature’s reaction to our abuse of its elements, in the form of fires and floods, extreme weather events like cyclones and heatwaves increasing in regularity and severity, changing global rainfall patterns leading to crop failures, destroying lives and livelihoods and infrastructure; and causing global conflicts.

The current state of the world is perhaps even more distressing to us Zoroastrians, as we worship the elements of Nature, which single-handedly comprise the most integral part of our religion. In the words of Er. Zarrir Bhandara, “Today, what we know as ecology, was taught by our prophet Zarathushtra, thousands of years ago! In order to achieve success in preserving, healing and sustaining our environment for the benefit of our current and future generations, we need to come together and use our good minds to form a collective consciousness.”

It is indeed imperative to address and mitigate the impact of environmental abuse with our ‘good minds’ and a ‘collective conscience’. As a tiny and closely knit community with an alarmingly decreasing population, it is equally important to extend our ‘good minds and collective conscience’ in doing all we can to ensure both – the longevity and prosperity of our community. And for this, we would need to once again, address and mitigate factors like indifference in community affairs and incompetent leadership. Let’s consciously take time to reflect and ensure we do not repeat our mistakes this time around. Not only would this go a long way in setting right our wrongs, it will also set the right precedent for our current and next gens to not take for granted, much less abuse, the glorious privilege and responsibility of being Parsi.

Have a good weekend!

– Anahita