It’s like a nasty monster crawling closer and closer, slowly but determinedly.
Residing in regions like North America, Europe, North Africa and the Mediterraneans, a lot of us are focused on modern introductions and systems through human activities leading to environmental damage. We talk of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, having lesser vehicles, lessening the construction of high rise buildings, and even returning to the ways of the yester years dumping plastic shopping bags in preference to reusable cloth or paper bags. We talk more and act less because we are yet comparatively untouched by the real scourge of climate change. We are still fortunate enough to enjoy fresh air, sparkling water and the pleasant four seasons throughout the year. All praise be to The Almighty.
But all regions within our planet aren't as jammy any longer, and some communities are responsible for the speedy deterioration of the natural climate of their territories. Unfortunately the disaster has the potential of becoming an irreversible feature sooner or later. Additionally, lack of education, messed up priorities and self-centered politics lead to greater apathy on the nasty consequences of environmental pollution. Subsequently the affliction of climate change is racing ahead in some countries a lot faster than it should.
Let us first take a peek at the palpably visual display of this bête noire.
A literal definition of ‘hell on earth’ is the South Asian region and its heatwave this year, 2022, between the months of April and May, months that are indicated as ‘spring’ in the calendar.
Yep, it’s the unprecedented hot spell ravaging across India at issue. India has never been a cool land mass. But this time the situation has been frighteningly anomalous.
To downplay the environmental disaster causing sweltering heat at unbearable levels reportedly even killing the birds in India, people of the region are reluctant to admit its link with climate change. That old chestnut, “a milder monsoon season” is invariably the scapegoat followed by light hearted puns and quips.
But the situation is far beyond humor, and not much debate is required to assess the story. It’s a no-brainer. It is definitely an issue of climate change arising from catastrophic destruction of the environment, the major responsibility of which lies squarely with India …. a country teeming with 1.4 billion, with plenty of mismanagement and a high illiteracy rate. Just as Indian “policy makers” have had a history of failures controlling pandemics – present and past – they have been no different on the environmental front. And unfortunately, like pandemics, environmental issues don’t recognize borders either. Negligence of the natural environment that has gone on for decades in India is now taking its calamitous toll outside that country’s borders, namely in Pakistan and Eastern Afghanistan. The precious four seasons have been wiped out from many parts of South Asia. No spring, no fall and no winter. Just summer all year round, the intensity of heat dipping just a wee bit in January. Nonetheless, unlike three decades ago, January continues to be summer in most parts of present-day South Asia. Tragic! This year in 2022 between April and May, temperatures have been hovering above 50C across northern India, in some parts touching 60C !! The most graphic description of a dystopian nightmare would not sound any worse, would it?
Climate experts and meteorologists around the world surmise that if pieces of the wreaked environment in South Asia aren’t picked up and salvaged immediately, the region will almost certainly be uninhabitable by early 22nd century. Considering the passivity of policy makers, that observation seems a foregone conclusion.
Take a look at the map above. The varying hues of orange indicate the constant warming of ocean waters. Rising ocean temperatures play an important role making extreme weather events worse, further altering global weather patterns. Warm ocean waters provide energy for hurricanes and tornados. Moreover, warming of ocean water is raising global sea level as water expands when it's warm. Glaciers are melting faster as the planet gets warmer also causing sea levels to rise and threatening the marine ecosystem and human habitations near coastlines in many parts of the world, particularly the over-crowded regions. Greenhouse gases, with a strong tendency of trapping solar energy, have a lot to do with such a scenario.
Eventually, environmental destruction will affect every part of the world making life sufficiently unlivable, one way or another, and hugely deteriorating the quality of life. That is unavoidable. But all indications are that total ruination will be ‘achieved’ quickest in South Asia.
Again a no brainer. A brief and simple history of planet Earth’s population growth explains a lot. First time the population of planet Earth hit one billion was in 1804. Imagine what a small world that was! When it hit two billion, that was in the year 1927. And at present, ninety-five years later in 2022, the global population stands at a whopping 7.8 billion !! No kidding peeps, it’s true. Check it out.
In other words, while it initially took 123 years for the world population to increase by one billion, in the last 95 years only, it increased by 5.8 billion!!! Mind blowing, but true. That’s how over-crowded our planet is at the moment. This is largely because of the rapid advancement in the field of medical science; people are living longer than their ancestors. It is undoubtedly a very positive step forward, all praise be to The Almighty yet again. The thing to remember is that in this earthly world every success is, at some point, followed by a challenge (or set of challenges). While the population keeps growing, the size of the planet remains the same. Obviously there will be serious issues over the long term. It would be illogical not to expect that.
The three major steps that can help reduce global warming and thus slow up the pace of environmental damage are:
1) Cutting back emission of greenhouse gases.
2) Lowering the number of vehicles .. not just cars but also air planes and trains as there are no chances of electricity replacing fuel in vehicles any time in the foreseeable future.
3) Reduction of high rise constructions.
These cutbacks need to be quite huge, around 45% to 50%, to get some positive results after two to three decades at least; it’s a task that would require tremendous sacrifice of personal interest and plenty of patience. The real problem is that these cutbacks are thoroughly impractical. Reducing that much on greenhouse emissions would translate to lesser production of commodities in industries and lesser working hours. That would lead to shortages of essentials in the markets and job layoffs. Transportation problems would be unbearable, getting people grounded, literally. Housing shortages would push families in shelters.
Thus, any meaningful efforts to save the deteriorating environment involves the emergence of a tough scenario within the human society which no one would ever agree to accept. After all, with the present global population at nearly 8 billion, you cannot lower the global output of essential requirements to similar levels as in the 1950s or 1960s when the world had barely 3 billion people to care for.
Those G8 roundtable guys can talk all they like on climate change. Reversing environmental damage is a quest in futility. At best, they can ban plastic shopping bags and disposable plastic water bottles, causing inconvenience to the people and probably helping to reduce the global temperature by 1C over a century! That too can happen only if the entire world cooperates which is another impossibility. But that’s as far as efforts can go.
But the situation is far beyond humor, and not much debate is required to assess the story. It’s a no-brainer. It is definitely an issue of climate change arising from catastrophic destruction of the environment, the major responsibility of which lies squarely with India …. a country teeming with 1.4 billion, with plenty of mismanagement and a high illiteracy rate. Just as Indian “policy makers” have had a history of failures controlling pandemics – present and past – they have been no different on the environmental front. And unfortunately, like pandemics, environmental issues don’t recognize borders either. Negligence of the natural environment that has gone on for decades in India is now taking its calamitous toll outside that country’s borders, namely in Pakistan and Eastern Afghanistan. The precious four seasons have been wiped out from many parts of South Asia. No spring, no fall and no winter. Just summer all year round, the intensity of heat dipping just a wee bit in January. Nonetheless, unlike three decades ago, January continues to be summer in most parts of present-day South Asia. Tragic! This year in 2022 between April and May, temperatures have been hovering above 50C across northern India, in some parts touching 60C !! The most graphic description of a dystopian nightmare would not sound any worse, would it?
Climate experts and meteorologists around the world surmise that if pieces of the wreaked environment in South Asia aren’t picked up and salvaged immediately, the region will almost certainly be uninhabitable by early 22nd century. Considering the passivity of policy makers, that observation seems a foregone conclusion.
Take a look at the map above. The varying hues of orange indicate the constant warming of ocean waters. Rising ocean temperatures play an important role making extreme weather events worse, further altering global weather patterns. Warm ocean waters provide energy for hurricanes and tornados. Moreover, warming of ocean water is raising global sea level as water expands when it's warm. Glaciers are melting faster as the planet gets warmer also causing sea levels to rise and threatening the marine ecosystem and human habitations near coastlines in many parts of the world, particularly the over-crowded regions. Greenhouse gases, with a strong tendency of trapping solar energy, have a lot to do with such a scenario.
Eventually, environmental destruction will affect every part of the world making life sufficiently unlivable, one way or another, and hugely deteriorating the quality of life. That is unavoidable. But all indications are that total ruination will be ‘achieved’ quickest in South Asia.
Again a no brainer. A brief and simple history of planet Earth’s population growth explains a lot. First time the population of planet Earth hit one billion was in 1804. Imagine what a small world that was! When it hit two billion, that was in the year 1927. And at present, ninety-five years later in 2022, the global population stands at a whopping 7.8 billion !! No kidding peeps, it’s true. Check it out.
In other words, while it initially took 123 years for the world population to increase by one billion, in the last 95 years only, it increased by 5.8 billion!!! Mind blowing, but true. That’s how over-crowded our planet is at the moment. This is largely because of the rapid advancement in the field of medical science; people are living longer than their ancestors. It is undoubtedly a very positive step forward, all praise be to The Almighty yet again. The thing to remember is that in this earthly world every success is, at some point, followed by a challenge (or set of challenges). While the population keeps growing, the size of the planet remains the same. Obviously there will be serious issues over the long term. It would be illogical not to expect that.
The three major steps that can help reduce global warming and thus slow up the pace of environmental damage are:
1) Cutting back emission of greenhouse gases.
2) Lowering the number of vehicles .. not just cars but also air planes and trains as there are no chances of electricity replacing fuel in vehicles any time in the foreseeable future.
3) Reduction of high rise constructions.
These cutbacks need to be quite huge, around 45% to 50%, to get some positive results after two to three decades at least; it’s a task that would require tremendous sacrifice of personal interest and plenty of patience. The real problem is that these cutbacks are thoroughly impractical. Reducing that much on greenhouse emissions would translate to lesser production of commodities in industries and lesser working hours. That would lead to shortages of essentials in the markets and job layoffs. Transportation problems would be unbearable, getting people grounded, literally. Housing shortages would push families in shelters.
Thus, any meaningful efforts to save the deteriorating environment involves the emergence of a tough scenario within the human society which no one would ever agree to accept. After all, with the present global population at nearly 8 billion, you cannot lower the global output of essential requirements to similar levels as in the 1950s or 1960s when the world had barely 3 billion people to care for.
Those G8 roundtable guys can talk all they like on climate change. Reversing environmental damage is a quest in futility. At best, they can ban plastic shopping bags and disposable plastic water bottles, causing inconvenience to the people and probably helping to reduce the global temperature by 1C over a century! That too can happen only if the entire world cooperates which is another impossibility. But that’s as far as efforts can go.
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