Wither The Toxin-Free Nation
By Asoka Abeygunawardana –October 22, 2016
Asoka Abeygunawardana
The “Toxin-Free Nation” is a serious and path-breaking policy decision of the government with wide repercussions for the country, its citizens and its economic and social development thinking. It is aimed at righting the entire agrarian sector which has hitherto been stood on its head by reductionist, poisonous, nation debilitating reductionist methods. It is important, nay, critical that a thoughtful and thought provoking national dialogue is initiated as to whether this move will guide us to global glory or if it will set us off on a road to doom. It is important to note that some media organizations have not only provide wide exposure to the topic but have also been highly critical of these efforts on the part of the government. However, it is clear by the various features that have appeared in some newspapers that most of the detractors seem not to have even read the strategy document despite it being freely and widely available in all three languages. Therefore, I believe that it is my duty as one of the formulators of this strategy to clarify the various issues that have come up.
A toxin-free world
In some articles, it has been articulated that this program has been formulated by a group of traditionalist, nationalist, island trapped frogs-in-the-well with no clue on what modern science says about the subject. The fact of the matter is that this strategy is rapidly being mainstreamed across the planet to ensure the sustainable continuity of the whole of human civilization. It is common knowledge that the industrial revolution 200 years ago completely changed the development direction of mankind as well as changed thinking on what is good and what is bad, what is growth and what is stunting of nations and peoples. The speed of change escalated rapidly, people started to believe that economic development and social environments were the only factors worth considering and that everything that had gone on before was not only dumb but retroactive to the future of the world. Wearing pink tinted spectacles, the world careened onwards towards… paradise? Of course not! Civilization went straight from heaven to hell and the planet when from self-sustenance to self-destruction and is currently teetering on the brink of complete annihilation. Who says this? Traditionalists? No! Scientists! Freeing the world of this mad drive to doom and setting ourselves on the path of righteous, equitable development of people and nations should have occurred about 5 decades ago. However, we became the victims of capital and multination corporations pawned mankind’s future for a brief burst of profit today.
This destructive paradigm has not resulted in irreversible damage to some sectors critical for the continuance of life. Two of these that have been subject to much discussion are the destruction of biodiversity and the advent of rapid climate change. Loss of biodiversity is directly bound to agriculture and climate change is equally firmly tied into the burning of fossil fuels. Even now, the planet has warmed up by an average of 1 degree Celsius. Mankind cannot now prevent it rising by a further degree.
