Tragedy of Errors

Characters:
1. Terra 2. Aqua 3. Breeze 4. Flora 5. Ozone 6. Manav

Manav: Hi friends! What a pleasure to see you five sisters together like this! But why are you all looking so sad? Is anything wrong?

Terra: My dear Manav, You first tell us if anything is right.

Manav: Dear Terra, you are bounteous good earth. Don't you see so much progress around you?

Aqua: Will you please tell me, Manav, about your so-called progress?

Manav: Dear Aqua, you are the water in rivers and seas making mankind flourish in this world. Can't you see the advances we have made in science and technology?

Breeze: Your advance, Manav, is indeed great. But are you sure it is all success and nothing else?

Manav: Dear Breeze, you are the wonderful air and atmosphere breathing life into us. Look, the wonderful, new millennium has begun!

Flora: Yes, the wonderful new millennium has begun and also our woeful destruction has begun.

Manav: What do you say, Flora? You are the green carpet of our mother Earth and why do you fear destruction? See the green signal leading into the 21st
century!

Ozone: You do fly fast, Manav. But stop one moment to look at the havoc you've made before raving about your glorious 21st century.

Manav: Dear Ozone, you are the roof above our earth protecting us with your purity. Do you also find something wrong in our hi-tech global village? Please tell me, all of you; what exactly is wrong with all the wonderful achievements we have made over these centuries.

Terra: There's no doubt about your intelligence, Homo Sapien. But some of your achievements are made at the cost of our health and wealth.

Aqua: You are reaching far but with shortsighted haste.

Breeze: You've thrown all caution to the winds in your pursuit of pleasure and advancement.


Flora: You're causing permanent damages for the sake temporary pleasures.

Ozone: You've forgotten to check the side effects of all your new inventions.

Manav: Oh! My God! What have I done to be accused like this by you? Will you please explain your charges?

Terra: Sure. We will be specific. You've made the earth a huge, gigantic dustbin. Just look at the heaps of garbage! Your blind pursuit of scientific advancement for pleasurable and convenient living has resulted in the accumulation of non-degradable junk like use 'n' throw cans, tumblers and containers.

Manav: Oh, you mean use of plastic is posing a problem to environment?

Terra: Yes. Can't you think about eco-friendly materials, which will not pollute the earth? The garbage mountains are not only eyesores but are also great health
hazards.

Manav: Yes, I think you are right.

Terra: Both urban and rural areas are filled with filth and litter. You must first cultivate civic sense to protect you environment.

Manav: Is that all?

Aqua: Dear Manav, you are proud of your industrial development. But do you take care about protecting the water sources? Toxic effluents from factories and
industries are let into rivers and seas making water unsafe for both man and animal. The aquatic creatures are dying in tons!

Manav: Is that true? I never knew it is all that harmful.


Breeze: Industrialization certainly has improved the standard of life. But look at all the accompanying evils! All the smoke emitted by factories and engines of all sorts of vehicles is polluting the air. Do you know a new word "smog" has been coined to denote air polluted by fog and smoke?

Manav: Is there any harm in this smoke?

Breeze: Is there any harm, you ask? It not only chokes the lungs and brings illnesses, it also produces the greenhouse effect, which in turn results in global
warming.

Manav: Global warming? What is it?

Breeze: Listen. The natural blanket of gases in the air is disturbed making the earth hot. When the earth heats up, glaciers and snow on mountaintops melt making the sea-level rise gradually. If the sea level rises, naturally, land area will be diminished.

Manav: My God! What far-reaching dangers are lurking in air-pollution!

Breeze: It is time you took precautionary measures.

Manav: What can I do?

Breeze: Filter the smoke coming out of the factories. Maintain your engines properly thereby preventing emission of excessive waste gases. Follow
emission-checking rules and go for unleaded petrol.

Manav: That sounds very sensible.


Flora: Do you know, Manav, what harm you are doing by destroying forests? Vast rainforests are continually being destroyed for firewood and for wood for building purposes. Green lands are also razed for building multi-storied concrete jungles. As a result natural rainfall decreases; draught and famine follow.

Manav: Really?

Flora: Forests, you know, are the habitats of so many wild animals, small and big. Where will they go if their homes are destroyed? They are perishing! Thanks to deforestation and merciless hunting many animal species are now extinct and many more on the border of extinction.

Manav: How sad!

Flora: Sadder is the fact that the food chain is broken which means serious calamity ultimately.

Ozone: Calamity waits to strike you from the sky above your head also. The harmful side effects of industrial revolution are seen in the depletion of ozone
surrounding earth. Elements like fluorochlorocarbon used in refrigerators and air-conditioners have made a hole in the ozone layer as has been found out in South
Antarctica.

Manav: This is news to me! How shall it affect me?

Ozone: Ozone layer has been protecting you from harmful ultraviolet rays in sunlight. If you get exposed to these rays you are liable to get cancer and many more ills. You better search for eco-friendly alternatives for harmful agents like fluorochlorocarbon.

Manav: Thank you Terra, Aqua, Breeze, Flora and Ozone for opening my eyes to all dangers my carelessness and blind haste have brought. I now realize how selfish and shortsighted I have been in improving my lifestyle through comforts of all sorts. Hereafter I promise not to neglect, not to pollute earth's natural environment. Thank you, once again, dear friends!