World Geography Final Created by Sarah Dye

The Ganges River The Ganges River is a sacred and holy site to the citizens of South Asia. It is custom that when they die their ashes and remains are to be released into the river to help them leave the caste system. This ultimately pollutes the sacred river with diseased dead bodies. With this said an estimated 2,000,000 people bathe in the river daily. The pollution affects the social aspect of the peoples lives just as much as it affects the physical geography of the land around them.

The Caste System The strong belief that South Asians behold in the caste system is unfair. The fact that once you are born into a caste you cannot move up and may not interact with those who are higher in the system than yourself. Socially this is an issue because it takes away the peoples freedom to become everything they can be and limits them to being what their ancestors set them up to be. The caste system has a social impact on the region of South Asia because the peoples rights are limited and people in low castes are discriminated against and shunned from villages. The young girls above belong to the lowest caste of the caste system which is known as the untouchables. They are not allowed to live in the village so they create huts outside of it to live in.

Traditional Wood Pyres It is custom when someone dies to cremate their body on a traditional wood pyre. These wood pyres are one of the leading destructors of the South Asian rainforest. This is done by the untouchables and after cremated the body is spread in the Ganges.

The Solutions One way to solve the pollution of the Ganges is to not allow the human remains to be scattered in the river. If another holy sight is created or an existing one is more played up and made desirable with propaganda the river would slowly begin to show a decrease in pollution. Another step you would have to take is to decrease the number of people who bathe in the river daily. If villages had running water and could create a separate bath house the amount of disease in the river would decrease thus making it safer and less polluted.

The Solutions There is no true solution to the caste system other than eliminating or changing the beliefs of it. If it was made more flexible where you could move up and down throughout it that would create much more social freedom and would help the region as a whole. People of low castes would have the opportunity to prove themselves and work their way out of poverty and starvation and into a modern lifestyle but this can only be reached by the elimination or changing of the caste system.

The Solutions The best solution for the use of traditional funeral pyres is to use propaganda to make electric cremation more desirable and possibly set a religious aspect to it such as a ceremony that would be done at the cremation so that people still feel like it will be helping them in the after life.

Resources

Ganges Solution- by Rebecca I think Sarah Dye’s solution to the negative effects of religion in South Asia include many good ideas. Using propaganda to influence the people of South Asia to use burial techniques less harmful to the environment is smart. However, her belief that propaganda alone will change traditions that have been instilled in Hindus for years seems unrealistic. Sarah says “If another holy sight is created or an existing one is more played up and made desirable with propaganda the river would slowly begin to show a decrease in pollution.” I think this is completely foolish and not even plausible. The Ganges River has been a holy site for years, and that is not going to change. I also seriously doubt that a new holy site is going to pop up. Although not all of Sarah’s plan seems realistic to me, I agree that the first step in achieving a solution is propaganda. This will encourage Hindus to change their ways, while still practicing their religion. I think another solution would be to start open education and communication. If the people were educated on the negative effects of their religion on the environment, I think they would be more likely to change their behaviors. I also think that laws should be passed banning the caste system, and bathing in the Ganges. These would be unpopular at first. But ultimately, people would follow the laws and the negative effects will disappear.