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 20th
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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2013. 