Zenab Batool, Student (Jammu University)
"How dare
you!" Greta Thunberg,16-year old Swedish student activist and
the face of the youth in the ongoing battle against climate change,
emphatically rebuked them of continuous inaction on the crisis despite scientific
evidence of its threat to the future and the youth. She continued, People are suffering,
people are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing are in the beginning of mass
extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy-tales of economic
growth"
CLIMATE CHANGE is without question a very
controversial subject. Being an environmentalist, I came in contact with number
of people who believe in climate change but also, we come in contact with all
sorts of different people who don't believe in it for example politicians, industrialists,
policy makers etc. Or we can say that this subject is a meeting place of
scientists, mathematicians, policy makers etc.
During 2019, when climate change strike was
having more than 7 million people's participation and was reported in 185 countries,
the media and many big personalities didn't support them. Many people criticize
it by giving an argument that these many people should plant trees rather than
making slogans. I don't personally believe in that. I think that both things
are equally important.
·
Individual Action: means that planting
should be done at individual level, you don't need a huge terrace or balcony
all you need is a little space right inside your home for these beautiful and
useful plants.
·
Spreading Awareness: helps in addressing
the people about climate change, spreads knowledge about it.
·
Pressurizing Government: By doing strikes,
rallies a pressure is made on the government to stop climate damaging
activities. For example:
1000's gather to protest NHAI’S (National Highways Authority
of India) road plan in Aravalli biodiversity park.
BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) approves felling
of nearly 3,000 trees in Mumbai’s Aarey forest and people protest against it. Then
whats the motive of planting trees if the government will do deforestation on
a large scale without considering the efforts and need of afforestation. According
to one report, the top 100 countries are responsible for 71% of global emission.
Out of which China is leading and there is an EXXON company (imperial oil, AERA
energy, EXXON mobile chemical company) which is on 5th rank, came to
known about climate change before 50 years but they hide it by giving millions
of dollars to media and different personalities to talk in favour of not believing
in climate change. In 1982, this company did a study and predicted the worst
climate change in 2020 as 420ppm of C02 and temperature will rise at speed of 0.8-degree
Celsius. Now if we will see the conc. Of C02 in May 13 2019, its 415.50ppm and
temperature rise is 0.8-degree Celsius. They also predict the global temperatures
on track for 3-5-degree average rise by 2100.
As we
all know about the Paris climate
agreement where 197 countries signed and promised to decrease the temp. by 2
degree Celsius or less than that. I want to ask “where is the decrease”? More
than 4 years after this agreement was adopted,7 of 197 signatories have
formally backed the deal. One of them is US which is still on the procedure to
withdraw from the accord. President Donald Trump doubts that Greenhouse gas emissions
risk causing dangerous levels of global warming.
For this
issue of climate change we known the answer that we have to move away from the
fossil fuels and start using sustainable energy and the best part is that these
sustainable energy cuts emission by 50% and keep temperature rise less than
1.5degree Celsius. The bottom is line is that we can create a better life for
us. We should look at this as a time that we can create a brand new, better
future, better jobs. So, we should benefit the economy benefit the environment
and make it clean. If we are talking about climate change, we can clearly talk
about The Artic and The Amazon. They clearly seem to be the two places with the
biggest effect of climate change. The Amazon forest is getting burned and slashed
very quickly, it getting dried out and if it will not be taken into consideration
it can turn into savanna. Right now, it is acting as a carbon sink and helping
us in slowing down the consequences of climate change. Same thing is going on with
the Artic and permafrost. The Artic is warming at a rate almost twice the global
average and reductions in Artic sea-ice and permafrost and changes in weather
are increasingly visible.
The
impacts of climate change include warming temperatures, changes in
precipitation, increases in the frequency or intensity of some extreme weather
events, and rising sea levels. These impacts threaten our health by affecting
the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the weather we
experience. The severity of these health risks will depend on the ability of
public health and safety systems to address or prepare for these changing
threats, as well as factors such as an individual's behaviour, age, gender, and
economic status. Impacts will vary based on a where a person lives, how
sensitive they are to health threats, how much they are exposed to climate
change impacts, and how well they and their community are able to adapt to
change. People in developing countries may be the most vulnerable to health
risks globally, but climate change poses significant threats to health even in
wealthy nations such as the United States. Certain populations, such as
children, pregnant women, older adults, and people with low incomes, face
increased risks.
In India
the air pollution includes all northern India covering Punjab, UP, Haryana, New
Delhi, Bihar and even West Bengal. According to Central pollution control board
OCT 2019, Varanasi was most polluted city of India. When pollution is severe in
Delhi, Graded Response Action Plan is implemented. But it is unfortunate for
other cities because no such measures are taken for them. According to research
of SAFAR (System of air quality and weather forecasting and research) a govt. organisation
of Ministry of Earth Sciences as of 1 November 2019, share of stubble burning
in Delhi’s pollution rises to 46% highest this year. From 2018 to 2019, stubble
burning incident were declining but in 2019 ,40% of increase was seen because
of ineffective work of govt. of Haryana and Punjab. They failed in compensating
the farmers for getting incentive of stopping stubble burning. The report by
the Climate Impact Lab in collaboration with the Tata Centre for Development at
University of Chicago estimates that by 2100 around 1.5 million more people
could die in India each year due to climate change.
The planet is at risk, which means we need
much more out-of-box thinking .Although the impacts of climate change have the
potential to affect human health in the India and around the world, there is a
lot we can do to prepare for and adapt to these changessuch as establishing
early warning systems for heat waves and other extreme events, taking steps to
reduce vulnerabilities among populations of concern, raising awareness among
healthcare professionals, and ensuring that infrastructure is built to
accommodate anticipated future changes in climate. Understanding the threats
that climate change poses to human health is the first step in working together
to lower risks and be prepared.
“Twenty-five-years
ago people could be excused for not knowing much, or doing much, about climate
change. Today we have no excuse.” -Desmond
Tutu
About the author: Zenab
Batool is pursuing her master’s In environmental sciences from Jammu University.
She is an enthusiastic environmental activist who loves to talk about
environment and climate.
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