In the world of technological advancement, the race to become the strongest and the biggest economies of the world, we have entirely forgotten that we are living on a planet, a planet that is alive.
Planet Earth is one of the most unique in the solar system as it is the only planet that supports life, it has the building blocks, and with millions of years of evolution, we have reached where we are today.
However, while the earth is a living planet, we are in our way, making it devoid of the building blocks that support life – our life.
The forests are being plundered for selfish profit, the rivers and other water bodies are polluted, even the seas and the oceans are not free from human interference.
The result is, the delicate ecosystem is not in balance, and we have been getting glimpses of mass destruction, whether in the form of wild forest fires that have been plundering significant portions of land in several countries, large glaciers breaking off and melting into oceans, hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones warnings that have been far more than in any decade before.
And now news comes of Beijing being hit with a massive sandstorm, so severe that flights have been called off, several people are feared missing, and many have also said that it” looks like it is the end of the world.”
Following the sandstorm that has engulfed Beijing, the authorities have sounded a yellow alert, going ahead and canceling more than 400 flights, as sand particles billowing in the wind have brought visibility down to zero.
Schools have been asked to cancel all outdoor activities, and to keep the students inside, the air quality index touched the maximum level of 500.
The visibility is so bad that even the skyscrapers seem to have disappeared, several people have been reported missing, the sandstorm has engulfed and spread to 12 provinces in China.
People have been forced to wear masks once again; this is a sign that humans are tiny compared to nature, and despite all the technological advancement and the ideology that humans can take over is proved wrong time and time again.
The Chinese authorities have called it the giant sandstorm of the decade. Even though sandstorms are a regular feature in Beijing, especially in the months of March and April, this time, however, the severity of the same is much than in previous years.
Experts have pointed out that the reason for the severity is large-scale deforestation and soil erosion.
China sees the might of nature.
China in the last few years has seen an explosion when it comes to expanding cities, its focus on industries, and even land reclamation that has given China a large landmass, but all this development has come at a cost, and Chinese environmentalists are now worried that China through its reckless plans has very well invited the deadliest sandstorm to its cities in a decade.
Even though China has tried to preserve the ecological balance in recent years, but clearly, none of that has worked.
As the sandstorm intensifies its grip, it has spread to at least 12 Chinese provinces, which form the major part of China in terms of distance.
For now, as the people of these provinces battle it out in one of the worst sandstorms, perhaps we have turned the wheel of time to a place from where coming back may require some serious effort on the part of each nation and each person.
