Global Warming & We

The Ganges will soon be reduced to a seasonal river…

Reports say the great river Ganges in India (Ganges to India is more or less like Nile to Egypt) is going to be reduced to a seasonal river because of the glacier melting effect on the Himalayas due to global warming! … Doesn't it ring a bell somewhere?

That is just one of many expected consequences that Global warming may force on our climate and ecosystem. The scientific studies have predicted more epidemics, coastal flooding, droughts, forest fires, disappearances of several species of plants and animals etc. - just to enumerate a few.

The Nobel winner world body of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), at its 43rd Session (Nairobi, Kenya, 11 - 13 April 2016),  decided to submit a Special Report in 2018 on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways. It’s aimed at strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty, according to IPCC website.

IPCC’s report: "Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability," published in Brussels on 6 April 2007 summarised that a growing impact was happening to nature and the flora and fauna as Earth's temperature rose degree by degree.

The world's climate scientists have also reported unequivocally that the Earth's climate system is increasingly heating up. The high rate at which the Greenland ice cap (in the arctic region) is melting away triggering Earth quakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size break off is clear evidence (this is a first time happening in the history of Earth).

The heating effects are strongly visible in the melting of snow and ice, rising global mean sea level, widespread changes in precipitation amounts, ocean salinity and wind patterns. The overheating of Earth’s atmosphere is also responsible for aspects of extreme weather including droughts, heat waves and the intensity of tropical cyclones.

The Scientists caution that the effects of climate change are rampant throughout the World. A massive change is on the go across the globe and in Earth’s atmosphere, it is reported, that is affecting not nature alone, but the lives and homes of millions of people spread across different countries.

Devastating changes are noticed from the highest mountains to the world in the ocean bed and are steadily causing extinction for parts of Earth's rich biodiversity. As far as human beings are concerned, these alterations in climate are mostly hazardous to people who live near to sea shore and those who are already suffering from drought, flooding and poverty. Many of these effects had been known previously and the IPCC’s comprehensive report gathered together and analyzed hundreds of published research papers on the subject.

According to IPCC reports, temperatures are sure to rise faster in the next decades than they did during the same time span in the last half of the 20^th century and it will follow with catastrophic consequences.

The scientists and researchers are pinning the cause directly on pollution and human greenhouse gas emissions.

Is it too late to prevent these catastrophic effects on our future generations? If we show some real sense and willpower to take concrete steps, then we can reduce its impact on our lives…In fact, all the nations in the world will have to consolidate their actions towards preventing global warming and preservation of our environment.   

There are also individual contributions that everybody can do to reduce global warming, and thereby stop climate changes. Patrick Gonzalez, a Nature Conservancy climate scientist who worked for UN had remarked that climate change threatened natural communities and human well-being; each person could make a difference because one small positive act multiplied millions of times would produce immense benefits.

Patrick pointed out simple actions that all of us could take which collectively might greatly contribute for a better and greener Earth. His tips included: advocating teleconferences instead of flying, less use of automobiles, more usage of recycled and energy-saving products, planting more trees, using public transportation in and between cities etc.

Let’s use cleaner (bio-fuel is an option), more efficient vehicles and reduce driving: one gallon of gas burned creates 20 pounds of CO2. At all government levels, an efficient energy policy should be developed moving away from fossil fuels. We can replace light bulbs with low-voltage compact fluorescents and buy renewable energy, like wind and solar generated and also discipline ourselves with reduced use of air conditioners and room heaters.

 ....And start doing these things today itself!

If CO2 emissions can be reduced to a great extent, the IPCC report estimated, the atmosphere could be stabilized at a much lower level of greenhouse effect than it was forecast then. But, the bad effects of global warming will remain here for a very long time, the IPCC said, because of the inertia of the atmosphere and oceans and the hundred or more years of persistence of the greenhouse gases.

So let us first start from our own courtyard…our simple and determined efforts will surely inspire many others and collectively we can save our good Earth and ourselves!

Please remember that it’s a now-or-never type situation we are facing now.

So folks, wait not! Let’s do our part, START DOING it this very moment...
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