The World Choking on the Mirage of Development, When Trees fall so the Towers Can Rise

Last week Mumbai saw the arrival of the earliest monsoon in 75 years with the heaviest rains recorded in the month of May in 107 years. Mumbai along with various major cities like Delhi and Bengaluru drowned in the flood waters disrupting the whole system – increased traffic , waterlogged railway tracks and delayed flights. The streets were overflown with sewage water and decorated with tons of waste and toxins becoming breeding grounds for deadly disease. But that is a story for another day.

Now although this episode is something that we revisit every year, these were recent events of this year. 2024 was the warmest year recorded in history, but 2025 broke that record too with maximum temperature 47.6°C in Ganganagar, Rajasthan. Heatstrokes were an everyday sight. And don’t forget about the winters. Even with La Nina that made winters extremely cold in some parts of India, February of 2025 was recorded as the hottest since 1901. These extreme conditions give rise to questions about what led to such drastic change in climate. All the answers point to excessive deforestation not only in India but around the world in the name of development. 

In India, the cases of vast scale deforestation are thrown in our faces left, right and centre citing economic evolution – read luxurious hotels, buildings with pent houses, extravagant malls and fractionally useful industries that leach poison into the environment. Let’s start with the Aarey Colony deforestation – in 2019, nearly 2,141 trees were cut down for the construction of a Metro car shed despite the Supreme Court order to stop until a later hearing. Recently two more cases of deforestation became a matter of discussion on social media – The Kancha Gachibowlii forest of Hyderabad and Dol Ka Badh forest of Jaipur. Both were termed as the ‘Lungs’ of their respective cities. In Hyderabad nearly 50 acres of forest land was destroyed so that the government can auction off the land for IT Parks and Infrastructure projects and in Jaipur just about 100 acres of forest would make way for PM Unity Mall, Rajasthan Mandapam, A Fintech Partv and residential complexes. Ironically an 8 mile path of dense Amazon Rainforest was cut down in Brazil in March to make a highway of ‘A Climate Summit’.

The actions of these authoritative people begs the question, “Are trees that expendable?” A middle school graduate would be able to point out how trees produce oxygen, regulate temperatures and help water cycle. The phrase “Trees are our Best Friends” has been drilled into our heads since Kinder Garden. And now we are hell bent on cutting down these best friends, increasing carbon emissions, altering seasonal
timelines and intensifying disasters like floods and droughts. When asked about their attempts to mitigate this issue, people in their air conditioned cabins will boast about their Afforestation drives which is equivalent to a joke. Old forests have taken centuries in the making and are home to complex ecosystems. You can’t equate a 100 year old tree and a one year old sapling and expect the same results. The loss of spiritual, historical and cultural significance of these forests is a whole another story. 

We need to ask ourselves, is development worth the cost of survival? Because we are at a tipping point of a cliff where the solace these developments bring irreparable damage to our environment. While progress is necessary, blind expansion will eventually lead into self destruction. If we continue on this path, we might sooner than later find ourselves gasping for air in concrete cities that boast skyscrapers.