Faux greenery won’t save us: The real crisis of Dhaka's urban landscape

With a lot on the plates of Bangladesh as a country, it is imperative to focus more on the reforms of the judiciary, constitutional development, and financial discourse. Yet, as we sit back with our legs crossed sipping our afternoon tea while our fingers scroll away news posts and we share them, posing ourselves as intellectuals, we forget the first layers of survival exist at risk. 

Out of the many reasons, if there is no good air left to breathe and no security to walk out of our homes, what do we build a tomorrow for? The love we have for Dhaka from the centre to the rims of it makes our urbanity an element that we hold close to our hearts. Yet, why do we choose to turn a blind eye to the ghoulish nature of the urbanity we exist in? 

This opinion does not challenge any policy or question the crisis management response of any form of authority. It aims to shed light on a severe situation at hand that is making Dhaka a not-so-secure urban settlement.

Dhaka has secured gold at the AQI! That means we have the worst air quality in the world with a score of 166. Dystopian films were ever so exciting to watch, thinking of what the lead characters were going to do to fulfil their mission and save the world. But what about our real-life process on the go towards a dystopian neverland? With a multitude of industrial endeavours driven to escalate our status as an economy and inflows of investments along with promises, it is essential for us to seriously think over what situation we have placed ourselves in. 

Every other day another urban skyscraper loads itself to the next sequential level, there is a wheezing child out there being given a prescription for an inhaler as the parents keep hope that it is going to go away someday. As that happens, there are countless people holding their chests as they gasp to breathe with their bronchial pathways contracting due to irritation. However, all these stakeholders of society—the skyscraper, the parents, and the doctor—are quite aware of where it all started—the air that is being breathed in.

How responsible are we as citizens? We know that planting trees is a solution, and yet we fight over the spaces of land to add another driveway for our residential project. We add a few drizzles of creepers and shrubs along the edges of our outer walls and sell it off as 'nature-infused living'. Where is the part of nature whatsoever? 

Playgrounds have disappeared, parks are dying, roadside trees seem like zombies of the plant society, and planting trees is now a tax evasion strategy that is used as more of a PR instrument on annual reports. If this keeps going, it is not wrong to question: would we breathe well enough to even be capable of giving birth to the next generation? This is because, scientifically, air quality has detrimental effects on fertility as well. 

The recent heat waves have added a bigger water bottle to our bags and greater ounces of sunscreen for use. Global warming used to be a word for alarm, and now it has rather become a go-to word for every natural problem that we have. Is that how it was supposed to be? The essence of severity often goes undermined since we selectively focus on the things that we cannot do instead of what we can do from our limited scope of understanding. 

Heat waves are frequently associated with poor air quality because of the sluggish environment caused by persistent high pressure. As a result, pollutants don't escape the atmosphere when there are light breezes and no precipitation; thus, they accumulate just above the surface.

It has been completely humane since the earliest times to fight over land, comfort, and the assertion of dominance. But it is about high time to assert significance to the allocation of green spaces and whatever little steps we can take. Instead of installing faux grass, faux plantations, and faux flowers, let us induce a paradigm shift to installing real greenery within our capacity. 

The roadside plantations and the mass plantation projects are to be dealt with by the authorities, but we are the ones responsible for voicing it. But what can we do from our place? Let's plant whatever greenery we can within our homes and surroundings as a whole.

For the selfishness of it, think of it as your own personal plant for better breathing. One person adopting a small money plant and nurturing it may not do much to society compared to their own home. But now, imagine an entire area of citizens having one money plant in their homes. Is the impact comprehendible? 

Now imagine an entire nation having plants within their homes. "Man vs Nature" has always been a rather movement-focused narrative. It is about high time to take action from our own individual capacities and remove the 'faux' from the green. It is about high time to truly accept the combative nature we have within us. It is about high time to realise that one step can actually make a difference if we are self-inspired to do so.

Mohaimenul Solaiman Nicholas is a graduate of Economics and Social Sciences, at BRAC University. Nafisa Islam Anadi is a Student in Mathematics and Natural Sciences, at BRAC University.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard