A 26-foot-long dying shark washed ashore Tuesday on a Long Island beach. I’m sure the first reaction to this news will be fear and worry. After all 26 feet packs a lot of bite; but there is no need to fear, the basking shark is not a threat to humans as it feeds on plankton. There is cause for worry though. The cause of death of this mighty beast is still unknown; but the lack of any obvious outer injuries to the fish, raises some very troubling questions. We cause so much destruction to the planet, even by simply carrying out day to day tasks, that we can no longer tell if something is our fault. It is very possible that authorities will discover, some kind of human interference is the cause of the shark’s death.

There was a time when we would pray to God for rain. After all a drought was an effect of the environment, we had no hand in it. Today we blame our governments for water shortage. We cause the droughts. We have even started cloud seeding and cloud farming. Though these are environmental issues they have a very profound effect on our society and hence on our businesses. We leave such large footprints on the environment these days that it would be disastrous for any business to not be environmentally conscious.

For all the harm we do to our environment there is a price to pay, If not by us then by our children. Every time there is no rainfall in India, the price of cotton worldwide goes up and clothes get more expensive. Today our environment affects our economy and our actions affect the environment. It is time each person thought of the consequences of his actions. Ask yourself ‘What have you done?’