By Anushree Painuly
While soaring temperatures and heat wave grips the nation and competes to break its own record every year, some people still doubt the legitimacy of climate change, whereas a vast majority thinks this problem isn’t their concern.
Unlike many countries where either fall and winters are long-lasting, or else winters are rare, India has been blessed with four distinct seasons. This clearly marked seasonal division has always added variety to our food, clothing and even festivals. However, in last few years, just like the entire world, India too has experienced the wrath of climate change.
Over past decade a major shift in India’s climatic pattern is undeniable. Most of these changes have been extreme and unpredictable. Apart from extremely high and low temperatures there have been incidents of flooding in the areas which previously experienced minimal rain, and droughts in the regions where rains were always generous.
Climate change has also resulted in rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers and drying of rivers. Studies indicate that Himalayan glaciers are losing over a vertical foot and a half of ice each year. They starting melting at twice the rate starting 2000.
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Also, a report by NITI Aayog in 2018 stated that India was undergoing the worst water crisis in its history. Nearly 600 million people were facing high to extreme water stress and about 200,00 people were dying every year due to inadequate access to safe water. The report also projected country’s water demand to be twice the available supply by 2030.
Climate change is real, evident and is increasing at rapid pace!
It’s not going to stop at 46.2 °C, or with few dry rivers and few submerged islands. It’s going to soar even past these horrors in near future. The question is will we be able to handle it? Also, it’s not just about temperature extremities, it’s also about water and food scarcity. As humans we depend on plants and animals for food and dairy. However, there is a huge question mark on their survival and proper thriving too under increasing adversities.
There are no pros, while the list of cons is endless. It’s high time we accept and take action in this direction.
Indeed, our government, governments across the world and intergovernmental organisations hold a major responsibility in bringing effective reforms on a global scale in this field – by reducing emissions drastically, by increasing forest to concrete cover land ratio. But at the same time, it’s crucial for every person to do their bit too.
We need to stop burdening the earth and exploiting it to extract more than we need.
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Some of the very basic things everyone can do is to –
-Reduce, reuse, repair, recycle.
-Respect and protect nature. Plant trees. If you can’t, then at least fill your space with as many plants as possible.
– Minimise unnecessary consumption and waste. If as a customer we reduce demand it would automatically curb the production on a large scale.
– Always carry fabric shopping bag and water bottle.
– If possible, try switching to other sources of energy. E.g.- solar.
– Save energy and fuel – walk small distances, car- pool, use public transport, use electricity wisely.
– Say no to plastic.
– Be aware, raise awareness.
There are several more ways, but let’s first try to incorporate these few and make them a habit.
Remember, nothing is less than a revolution with 1,406,087,920 people doing it. Together we can make a difference, together we can change India!
