Green with irony

Pleased to share a piece by me in Hindu Sunday Magazine: Golf the Guzzler. Link to the edited version here.

Few days ago, flipping the pages of a recent issue of Sanctuary Asia I read of how despite opposition the power brokers managed to turn the Salim Ali National Park into a Golf Course. Further reading brought forth that 4,000 odd trees were cut in what was once home to bears and hanguls, besides other species. We may never adequately understand the ecological and economic impacts of destroying not only a unique habitat for wildlife but also a catchment for Dal Lake. All this for a miniscule proportion of our population and that too when Gulmarg already had a Golf Course. Commons meant for use by many, destroyed so that few could indulge in what G K Chesterton referred to as ‘an expensive way to play marbles’.

Intrigued, I delved deeper and realized that neither was the Golf Course in Jammu and Kashmir an exception nor was the issue a recent one. Besides, the Golf Courses brought out stark ironies!

Joan Lowy wrote an article in April 2004 on thirsty Golf Courses driving environment protests with a provocative title ‘America’s 18,000 Golf Courses are devastating the environment’ while George Monbiot in his article in Guardian in October 2007 ‘Playing in the rough’ went beyond environment “All over the world, the construction of Golf Courses in associated with dispossession and environmental destruction”. Coming on to recent years California’s worst drought in decades has raised a series of questions on Golf Courses. Julia Lurie in her article ‘Here’s how much water Golf Courses, ski resorts and pools are using in California’ in August 2015 states “The average Palm Springs Golf Course uses the same amount of water in a day that a family of 4 does in 5 years. The 123 Golf Courses in Palm Springs use nearly a quarter of the region’s groundwater.”

In India the now infamous Golf Course at Kaziranga is the latest addition to the list. Constructed by a Mini Ratna Public Sector Unit awarded for its contribution to the environment, it lies on a path frequently used by Elephants. The debate over Kaziranga Golf Course raised issues ranging from runoff of chemicals used in maintaining the lawns into water sources used by human beings and wildlife. As also the decimation of the smaller taxa; to quote a leading spider expert “Setting up a Golf Course is akin to using a razor to wipe out species like spiders and insects”. During the past there have also been reports of Golf Course coming up on mangroves near Bombay and more recently of mysterious deaths of 4 leopards in and around a Golf Course near Delhi. 2015 also saw people protesting on the streets in Goa against a planned Golf Course.

Given the concerns on ecological and social fronts that the Golf Courses – across the globe – have raised one would assume that people would be sensitive to these issues; especially the decision takers and influencers. But for some mysterious reason that is not the case. The US president faced major criticism when during a trip to California during 2014 – as Zeke Miller reports in TIME “he called for shared sacrifice to help manage the state’s worst water-shortage in decades and then spent the rest of the weekend enjoying the hospitality of some of the state’s top water hogs: desert golf courses”.

India, unfortunately, is not far behind on ironies either. One large organization that lists sustainability as one of its objectives has a Golf Course within its premise while its website lists Golf Courses as one of the major water guzzlers. Another large organization which works for biodiversity conservation organizes a Golf Tournament. That one of its sister organizations had launched an advertising campaign focusing on the environmental impact of Golf Courses during 2007 is an irony that could possibly compete with the irony of the ‘Make in India’ logo having been designed out of India. Interestingly both mention their ‘accomplishments’ on their websites. As someone who agrees with Oliver Goldsmith when he said “You preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips” I was left wondering if they missed the connections, were not bothered or I was over-reading! Whatever the reason – what appears to be clear is that we as a society need to decide whether we want more Golf Courses in the remaining open spaces we have.

And Golf Courses appear to be more of a symptom than a disease in themselves. The disease of a few with power to decide progressively cornering more and more resources; resources they ought to be sharing with the majority. The majority needs to discuss, debate and speak up!

Many thanks to Sanctuary Asia and The Hindu.

Earlier pieces in Hindu Sunday Magazine

Preaching to the Choir.

Eco-tourism: Some questions.

Conservation Education: Some questions.