Our culture is a combination of all socially transmitted or learned behaviours, beliefs, and relationships resulting from human labour and activity. Middle Eastern cultures, traditions, and historical conceptions have long been distinguished by a particular feeling of variety stemming from a flurry of traditions and customs. Examining the different cultural norms from the perspective of both older and younger people gives ample evidence for this conclusion. But in today’s world, our traditions and beliefs are one of the major causes of pollution. Let’s dig deep more about how our cultural activities have led to cultural pollution.

What Is Cultural Pollution?

Cultural pollution is described as a reaction to societal boundary transgressions. Many times, charges of cultural contamination have come up in political and public debates. The pollutant in violent entertainment is the violent images and words contained in the many types of entertainment. However, not all violent images are made equal. Pollution ideas concerning violent entertainment, like pollution claims in environmental law and anthropology, reflect different opinions on what comprises a pollutant.

What Are The Causes Of Cultural Pollution?

Cultural pollution is the most destructive in human society since it results from our shift from a good to a terrible way of life. This is established concerning consumer issues such as overconsumption, etc. Some concerns are discovered with some contradiction, such as (under the assumption of relaxation) in some way or another. And find out what additional variables or sources of cultural contamination exist in cultures.

The rate of cultural pollution in our societal milieu, in our regions, and in India and worldwide as a whole has been increasing. Personal taste, language, behaviour, attire, and manners have all deteriorated despicable during the last four decades. We are currently drowning in a cultural tsunami of vulgarity and incivility. From the street corner to the schoolroom, from the movies to MTV, hostile faces gaze back at us, defying all that is respectable and good, noble and valuable – even coherent and intelligible.

Putting this cultural collapse solely on economics or politics would be more complex. For better or worse, ideas dominate the world; the militant behaviour of today’s nihilists is essentially the result of many decades of intellectual degeneration. Generations of academics have waged a systematic, unrelenting assault on Western civilization’s standards, values, and philosophical underpinnings, undermining our culture’s foundations and battering its institutions. The barbaric individuals we see among us have been unleashed and strengthened by modern intellectuals, who have depleted our society’s once important defences and immunities, much like carriers of a dangerous spiritual illness.

What Are The Impacts Of Cultural Pollution?

Individuals depend on their surroundings and resources from nature to meet their basic requirements and maintain their health. People have the most significant environmental influence because they utilize the earth’s resources and dispose of garbage. Environmental damage can occur if these operations are not carefully controlled, affecting individuals, creatures, vegetation, waterways, and other natural world components.

Cultures of humans have had various influences on their surroundings. Some civilizations have limited environmental impact, especially hunters, gatherers, and small-scale agricultural societies. Urban and industrial cultures significantly impact the environment because they consume vast amounts of resources. Local culture and regulations in some regions have prioritized environmental conservation, but this has yet to be a priority in others. The consequences of these measures are frequently visible: Despite the industrial activity, some regions have negligible pollution, while others with equivalent training are incredibly polluted.

Strategies To Curb Cultural Pollution?

Various international accords and national legislation exist to protect against cultural pollution. International protection and local implementation are coordinated by UNESCO and its partner organizations, such as Blue Shield International. The Convention of the Hague protects culture for the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict, and the Convention of UNESCO on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Article 27 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights addresses cultural heritage in two ways:

• It guarantees individuals the right to engage in cultural life
• It guarantees the freedom to safeguard their value to the cultural life

In the twenty-first century, national and international organizations have increased their efforts to conserve culture. The UN and UNESCO support cultural preservation and diversity through declarations and legally binding agreements or treaties. The goal is not to safeguard a person’s property, but to preserve humanity’s cultural history, particularly in war and conflict between nations. As stated by Karl von Habsburg, President of Blue Shield International, “Cultural asset destruction is also part of psychological warfare. The attack’s aim is the opponent’s identity.” Therefore, symbolic assets of culture become a primary target. It also aims to impact a state’s, region’s, or municipality’s incredibly delicate cultural memory, developing cultural variety and economic foundation (such as tourism).

Tourism has a growing impact on various sorts of cultures. This might be a physical influence on particular things or devastation induced by rising environmental pollution on the one hand and socio-cultural repercussions on society on the other.

Conclusion

India has achieved political independence, but cultural autonomy remains a work in progress. Cultural freedom cannot exist unless cultural contamination is eliminated. It must begin with higher education institutions. Only our country may be preserved from the harmful consequences of cultural pollution if the next generation develops a sense of appreciation for its past and culture. To do this, the government must implement necessary modifications in educational methods with the full backing of teachers.

Also Read: Light Pollution’s Environmental Consequences and Health Risks