What Science Can and Should Do: Rabindranath Tagore and a Vision for our Planet
Professor Charles H. Townes’s keynote speech at the 2012 Townes and Tagore Seminar on the Global Water Crisis, from the seminar pamphlet.
I am very pleased to be here today, and I praise the International Institute of the Bengal and Himalayan Basins, Dr. Rashbihari Ghosh, and the IIBHB volunteers for holding this yearly seminar on a topic that is of immense importance to all of us — water¹.
In 1999 I became the recipient of India’s Rabindranath Tagore Award. This honor was perhaps appropriate in that the vision and values of Tagore are in many ways similar to mine. Mr. Tagore was, of course, a poet whose significance was acknowledged by the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature. But any acknowledgement of his genius would be incomplete if it did not include his standing as a philosopher, religious thinker, student of modern science, and environmentalist. However, to put Mr. Tagore’s accomplishments into a perspective appropriate for a discussion of the environmental crises that increasingly threaten our world, we should note that his pursuits always reflected his appreciation and respect for the beauty and goodness of nature and also in his unceasing advocacy of the health, happiness, and equitable treatment of the people of India and everyone else on our planet. All of these values are crucial for the mission that is before us—that is, to find and implement solutions to the water crisis. But let us start at the beginning before there was a water crisis.
The Bhagavad Gita, the “Song of God,” begins with the waters of the Ganges. Similarly, in the Kurma Purana, the initial state of things is said to have been a limitless cosmic ocean, and its waters, like those of the Ganges, are sacred. The waters of this ocean are in fact an incarnation of Vishnu, the Sustainer, prior to the creation of our world, and as such they are the origin of all subsequent life. Thus, for Indian thought, water is a fundamental reality of life in much the same way that for modern science it is the basis of all life on earth.
A century ago in Bengal, Tagore observed the cosmos directly and felt it in the beating of his heart. Today, laser gravitational wave observatories stretch for miles across the landscape seeking to measure in the beating of pulsars the dilation and contraction of time itself. Likewise, our telescopes orbit the earth, we calibrate them with lasers, and they send back the story of the early universe. Much has changed about the way we view the cosmos. Much of what Tagore felt in his heart, we now measure with lasers. The beauty and the majesty of the universe are in no way diminished for us by the increasing difficulty and complexity of the theories we use to describe nature. Nor is our wonder abated by technologies that remove the observation of the universe ever further from our actual senses. The invention of laser technology 60 years ago broke the ground for many scientific revolutions, and we have as a consequence a much better understanding of our place in the cosmos, a renewed wonder, an expanded sense of mystery, a greater awareness of the fragility of life on earth, and a recognition that we are not doing enough to protect our environment and our water resources.
To be at home in our universe, we must do the same things that allowed Tagore to be at home in his: we must respect the blue planet that gives us life, we must fight for its environment, and we must take the necessary steps to achieve the happiness and wellbeing of other members of our species.
The Global Water Crisis
Like all other life on this planet, we consist mainly of water, and the maintenance of life requires access to adequate quantities of water free from toxins and other hazards. Yet, over the past century, what we have done to the environment has degraded the suitability of our planet for life. The manifestations of climate change and sea level rise make the preservation of our fresh water resources ever more crucial, yet we have done much less than we should or could have done in this regard. As evidenced by our rush towards fracking and tar-sands exploitation, we are exacerbating the water crisis in many ways: by expanding our carbon footprint, by wasting precious water resources on dirty energy, and through the poisoning of our drinking water. As sea levels rise, the availability of fresh water in low-lying nations such as Bangladesh, will markedly diminish; and as the available water decreases, famine and waterborne disease will increase, especially in the developing world. There is no equity, no humanity, no decency, and certainly no story worthy of song in what amounts to decisions by affluent nations to export death and disease to those who are less fortunate and more vulnerable through their contributions to climate change and the aggravation of the water crisis.
The Mission of the IIBHB
The water in the universe may be measured in trillions or even quadrillions of our oceans², But on earth there will be no refills. There is no water crisis in the universe, and there should not be one here. Over the past two centuries, unwise agricultural and industrial practices have seriously depleted our planet’s aquifers, these processes are becoming more prevalent, and their damage is increasing.
If our species is to survive in the new millennium, we must support the efforts of Rash Ghosh, the IIBHB, and others to develop and implement practical, long-term, large-scale, and cost-effective solutions for the preservation of pure ground and surface waters and for the remediation of the damage that has already been done. And we must be sure to benefit all people. An equitable distribution of water will not succeed without addressing through sustainable development the special social and economic needs of the disadvantaged, including women, minorities, and the poor.
The Big Picture
The big picture includes the entirety of creation, but it also includes the least of us. The magnificence of nature means very little if we do not respect it in ways that include a concern for the health and happiness of all members of our species and a caring for the planet that sustains us. May our revolutions in cosmology and physics lead to revolutions in ecology, in equity, and in understandings between peoples. This is what science can and should do, what technology can and should do, and what we all can and should do—and it is up to all of us to see that it happens. Our sense of the goodness and majesty of the cosmos will be greatest, when, like Tagore, we allow it to open our hearts. Only then will we find in the heavens the full extent of our own humanity. When this happens, our hope will grow larger than our fear, and our resolve will overcome everything else that stands in our way.
The Water Crisis in India
Some important aspects of the current status of the water crisis affecting 2 billion people on the Indian subcontinent include the following seven points. Doctors. Rashbihari Ghosh and Sterling Bunnell will provide further elaboration.
- Aquifer drawdown. Groundwater depletion and surface water contamination of the subcontinent’s water systems are very serious and require immediate attention.
- China’s Brahmaputra dam project is on hold for now. This massive dam will be several times larger than its Three Gorges Dam and will divert water from the hydrologies and ecologies of India and Bangladesh.
- Pollution by agriculture, mining, industry, and sewage are worldwide problems with local variations. These problems are more extreme on the Indian subcontinent and in other parts of the developing world.
- The privatization of water is working against social equity in Asia and throughout the world.
- Climate change: the melting of the Himalayan glaciers is a reality and a cause of great concern.
- Deforestation leads to the destruction of watersheds as well as the destruction of the beautiful Sundarbans forest on the Bay of Bengal, the largest Mangrove tract in the world.
- Dealing with water crisis in this region requires the good will and cooperation of society as a whole.
A Call to Help Dr. Ghosh and the IIBHB
I would like to mention here that the IIBHB’s work was disrupted by the closure of its facility at 1700 Dwight Way by the City of Berkeley about 5 years ago, and I made all the efforts I could to help. Please see the poster³ that summarizes the events and how the city took over the property and sold it for 1/6 of its value plus the more than $200K which had been deposited for repair. This repair fund was used to close escrow rather than for actual repairs. I appeal and encourage all of you to stand behind Dr. Ghosh to fight this injustice and support him as best you can. Dr. Ghosh is a man of honesty, integrity, courage, and vision, and his dedication and sincerity are beyond question. Despite having lost his two properties and his $200K cash deposit, he is still here to continue his mission of over 3 decades to improve the lives of millions. He deserves our support.
Thank you, and we look forward to a productive seminar.
Afterword by Dr. Townes
I should also mention that the soundness, practicality, and science of Dr. Ghosh’s approach to the remediation of toxics in surface and ground waters has been endorsed by the many highly qualified scientists, engineers, public health professionals, and medical doctors who have supported him and attended his seminars in the past. These have included the Nobel Laureates Linus Pauling, Glenn Seaborg, Arno Penzias, Martin Perl, Douglas Osheroff, and me, as well as Professor Richard Wilson of the Harvard Physics Department, who has a special interest in the arsenic toxicity of the ground and surface waters in Bengal. Additionally, Dr. Ghosh has secured the support and participation of many other highly qualified and educated scholars and professionals in other fields. Please refer to the IIBHB.org web site for further information about Dr. Ghosh, his life’s work, which is the work of our institute, and about the injustices he is suffering at the hands of city officials.
CHT, 2012/08/07
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For further information about Dr. Townes’ talk or the Townes and Tagore Seminar, please contact:
- IIBHB
510-870-4988
director@iibhb.org - UC Berkeley School of Public Health
Michael Broder
mbroder@berkeley.edu
- Press coverage and conference photos can be found online at the following URLs:
http://www.indiawest.com/news/5983-time-running-out-in-global-water-crisis-researchers.html
http://www.indiaabroad-digital.com/indiaabroad/20120810?pg=41#pg41 - These figures refer to the water recently discovered around Quasar APM 08279+5255, which is estimated at approximately140 trillion times the volume all of our oceans combined. The figures cited are conservative estimates of the water in the cosmos.
- The poster mentioned by Dr. Townes was on display outside the auditorium where he delivered his keynote address. The poster contained a copy an open letter by Dr. Townes to the citizens of California and the world for their support of Rash Ghosh’s attempts to prevent the unjust seizure of his property by the City of Berkeley. The poster was published in a number of San Francisco Bay Area newspapers and is reproduced on the final page of this pamphlet.
