(This essay was originally written for the World Essay Competition
conducted by World Bank and was selected as one of the "best 200
essays" for the year 2009)
I) How does climate change
affect you?
“Man, proud man,
Rest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s
assured,
His glassy essence – like an
angry ape –
Plays such fantastic tricks
before high heaven.
As make the angels weep.”
– William Shakespeare
‘Measure
for Measure’
1. Introduction
The climate change is variously described as the
ultimate weapon of mass destruction and a threat worse than terrorism or
nuclear war, is undeniably the catchphrase since last decade. The chaotic
climatic behaviour perceptible on global scale during the past decade arising
out of rise in average temperature of the earth due to large scale emission of
green house gases (GHGs) is a matter of grave concern threatening ecosystems of
our mother planet. However, ever since the Industrial Revolution began about
150 years ago, anthropogenic activities have supplemented significant
quantities of GHGs to the atmosphere. Variations in temperature have also
occurred in the history – the best known is the Little Ice Age that struck
Europe in the early Middle Ages, bringing about drought, famines etc. Nevertheless,
most of the warming observed over the last 50 years, undoubtedly, is enforced
by activities attributable to slapdash human lifestyles.
2. Impact of climate change
“There
is enough for everybody’s need but not for everybody’s greed”
– M. K. Gandhi
The impact of climate change is
multifarious and has struck many facets of human life. From health issues to
employment; from environmental degradation to the future obscurity; and from
diseases to deaths is what can be stated in brief but the profundity of the
negative alarm of climate change is prolix to be explained. It hasn’t spared
any culture, community or country. The following pages are crammed how it has
affected all and its aftermath.
2.1 Impact of climate change: on my country India
In a developing country like India, climate
change could embody an additional stress on ecological and socio-economic
systems that are already facing terrific pressures due to rapid urbanization,
industrialization and economic development. With its huge and growing
population, a densely inhabited 7500-km long low-lying coastline, and an
economy closely tied to its natural resource base, people in India,
especially the poorest is considerably susceptible to the impacts of climate
change.
India
is heavily dependent on the monsoon to meet its agricultural and water needs,
and also for protecting its rich biodiversity and forest eco-systems. Climatic
changes bring water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions resulting in shortage
of agricultural productivity and on generation of hydro-electric power. In India, more
than 56% of workers are engaged in agriculture and allied sectors; most people
live in rural areas. The crop yield per hectare will be hit badly, causing food
insecurity and loss of livelihood. Extreme weather events and changing monsoon
patterns already have threatened our farmers compelling them to commit suicides.
In the coastline around 2.7 million families
depend on coastal resources and earn their living through tourism or fishing. A
trend of sea level rise of 1 cm per decade has been recorded along the Indian
coast. Sea level rise in the Indian Ocean is
expected to be about 25-40 cm by 2050. This could inundate low lying areas;
down coastal marshes and wetlands; swamp mangroves; submerge small islands and the
deltas of Sunderbans, Ganga and Brahmaputra; damage nursery areas for
fisheries; force coastal erosion; cause bleaching of corals; and increase the
salinity of rivers, bays and aquifers. Some marine lives are already under threat,
while storms and cyclones are becoming more frequent and intense.
India
uses perennial rivers, which originate and depend on glacial melt-water in the
Hindukush and Himalayan ranges. Gangothri is rapidly melting. Any escalation of
the monsoon is likely to contribute to deluge disasters in the Himalayan
catchments. Rising temperatures will also contribute to flash floods in the
downstream villages during the wet season.
With erratic rainfall and decrease in
precipitation levels India’s
forest would deplete fast. Report says that extreme temperature would extinct
flora and fauna by 2030; would result in shifts of lower altitude tropical and
subtropical forests to higher altitude temperate forest regions, resulting in
the extinction of some temperate vegetation types. Decrease in rainfall and the
resultant soil moisture stress could result in drier teak dominated forests.
Increased dry spells could also add to forest fires.
Medical Science suggests that the global warming and
change in humidity will adversely affect human health in India. Heat
stress could result in heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and damage
physiological functions, metabolic processes and immune systems. Heat spells and
heat waves have already become common over Northern India,
often causing loss of human life.
Furthermore, increased temperatures can also amplify
the range of vector borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, kala-azar and
chikungunya. Lack of safe water will trigger outbreaks of diarhoea and other
contagious diseases. Likewise, people in India’s coastal areas are forced to
drink salty water, thus affecting pregnant women and their unborn children.
With climate induced floods,
droughts and sea storms predicted at regular intervals the impact on the
country’s economy will be far serious. Studies by Indian economists have
concluded that emission reduction imposes costs in terms of lower GDP and
higher poverty. As sea-level rises, Bangladeshis have nowhere else to go but India.
Consequently, the illegal immigrants and refuges to India would augment the burden
already she faces.
2.2 Impact of climate change: on my town and my local community
My community near to the coastal area of Western Ghats has been affected in copious ways because
of the climate change. Besides problems earlier mentioned, global warming has aggravated
vector-borne diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya in our town and
local vicinity. The State of Kerala
has recently turned to be the hub of chikungunya. Many died, many still
affected, and numerous waiting to be the victims despite taking precautionary
measures.
The atmosphere is so choking with the pollutants
that it’s now embarrassing to call my native Kerala as “The Gods Own Country”.
Here, not only pregnant ladies of coastal areas are affected by consuming potable
and salty water but also the normal life cycle of few unborn babies and also
elderly with cardiac ailments have become silent sufferers.
3. Consequences
The upshot and ramifications of
climate change is diverse. It has a pessimistic demeanor over the employment of
the people, on their health care, safety and security, on the environment and
over the future of the planet itself.
3.1 Consequences: on employment
The negative corollary can take away the
employment from us if there is a strict move to shut down the polluting power
plants and other establishments. Governments are obligatory to wind up the
polluting industries and other sectors and can lead to mass unemployment. Loss
of agricultural productivity could reduce the employment rate in the agricultural
sector and amplify abject poverty. Nevertheless, in contradiction, hopefully,
the initiatives to counter the climate change can offer plethora of
opportunities and vocations to millions.
Wind, solar and low-impact hydroelectric
facilities are the fastest growing clean source of energy in the world that
generates zillions of new jobs. Likewise, there are many green sectors and
outlets getting opened bringing hopes to the jobless. Moreover, Youths have
their duty i.e. service to salvage the human race by spreading the message of
how to hold the reach of climate change and its adversities.
3.2 Consequences: on health & safety
The climate change can lead to grave human
pathology. The incidence of asthma, nausea, inflammation, damage to the lungs
and premature death has been reported due to the climate change. Because of
earlier blooming of plants there is an increased allergy rates also. Ground
level ozone (commonly called smog) has also been linked to a range of
respiratory infirmities affecting the old people. More recently, smog has found
to develop chronic infancy asthma among children also.
Heat stress could result in heat cramps and heat
stroke, and damage physiological functions, metabolic processes and immune
systems. Pregnancies of the coastal areas have been affected due to the
consumption of saline water. Furthermore, Climate change has brought starvation,
malnutrition, and increased deaths due to food and crop shortages making it as
a recurrent phenomenon seen through out the world.
3.3 Consequences: on environment & security
With the rise in global temperature our
environment and the eco-system is in jeopardy. The ocean circulation is getting
disrupted having unknown effects on world climate; deserts get drier leaving to
increased desertification; an increased frequency of catastrophic storms; extinction
of species; loss of habitats of animals and plants; endangering of marine and
aquatic living organisms; earlier drying of forests leading to increased forest
fires; melt of permafrost leading to destruction of structures, landslides, and
avalanches; permanent loss of glaciers and ice sheets; contribution of ground
level ozone damaging forests and agricultural crops etc. are the ways climate
change has affected. Climate change also causes acid rain and has drastic
ecological impacts of altering the water's acidity, making the lakes and other
water bodies uninhabitable for its resident fishes, plants and animals. In that
way, our green planet is doomed by the devilish climate change.
3.4 Consequences: on our future
Quo vadis humanity? How long will be our survival? Whether
the evolutionary process last long? Do we have a destiny? If the trend of
global warming continues, the sea level would rise leading to submerging of
low-lying islands and force people to evacuate; increased emigration of people from
those poorer or low-lying countries to other countries would prevail; there
would be food and water shortages; cultural or heritage sites will get destroyed
faster; cost of insurance would ascend; the scarcity of fossil fuels would lead
to price rise and what not beyond. An environmental apocalypse because of the
climatic change with anthropogenic reasons haunts us in the near future.
4 Conclusion
Climate change has capsized the mankind
ecologically, economically, socially, medically, culturally, geographically,
politically and through all walks of our life. Therefore, the industrialized
countries have a moral obligation to take the leadership role and work in
tandem with the developing countries, progressing in a greener path to economic
prosperity. With concerted and collaborative action by government, community
and the youth, a real difference in the next quarter century can be made. After
all, this is the only world we have!
II) How can
you tackle climate change through youth-led solutions?
“The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation…the hand
is the cutting edge of mind.”
– Jacob
Bronowski
‘The Ascent of Man’
1. Introduction
Global warming and climate change
are the buzzwords that reverberate in every corner of our planet. Climate
change is no longer an environmental issue rather it’s a global phenomenon
affecting our security and survival. Hence, we should seek ways and take
mitigation steps soon to deal with the impacts of climate change and
variability. In this concerted green battle, every individual, particularly,
youths has a cardinal role to play. Remember: It’s now or never!
2. Solutions
The enormity of global warming
can be daunting and disappointing. Climate change could turn catastrophic if
efforts are not made to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. Every person and
every nation have the obligation fundamentally to find solutions on their own
to slow and reverse climate change and salvage the planet we live on.
2.1. Solutions: What can I do myself?
Individual actions to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions can facilitate to make climate change sluggish. Many
actions have synergistic, or "win-win" effects. If the life style is
in the following ways then a reduction in climate change is for definite:
1) Drive less and drive smart
I will walk,
ride bicycle, form carpools, or explore community’s mass transit system or use
public transportation; consider vacationing close to home; would avoid air
travel. If shifting my home, I may choose a home near from my daily
destinations; would choose to purchase cars with greater fuel efficiency or
with good gas mileage; will keep the tires of my car properly inflated; follow
the emission rules etc.
2) Reduce, reuse and recycle
I would take care of my trash by
choosing products that are organic waste instead of disposables; would buy
products with minimal packaging and whenever I can, recycle papers, plastics,
newspaper, glass and aluminum cans etc.
3) Reduce home energy
I would replace regular light
bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs to conserve energy; would purchase
energy-efficient home appliances, electronics and office equipments; employ
more efficient refrigerators, air conditioners and other devices; add skylights
to improve natural lighting or consider solar panels, reflective roof or a
vegetated roof ("green roof"). I will retrofit my home with efficient
insulation, doors and windows and would get an energy audit for my home to find
weaknesses in the insulation. Apart from that, I would install a solar
hot-water heater; use sensibly the thermostat; install a water-saving
showerhead; clean or change the air-filter of the furnace regularly; would use
cold water to do laundry instead of hot; and hang my clothes to dry whenever
possible.
4) Consume less, wisely and go
veggie
I would choose
foods that are local, organic and low on the food chain; limit consumption of overly-processed
food; make the most of seasonal foods and will have less meat; would support
local farmers or street vendors by shopping at farmers markets reducing the “food
miles” and helping the local economy. I would buy less stuff; think green when
making purchases; paradoxically, when purchasing essentials, such as groceries,
I would buy in bulk reducing the amount of packaging – plastic wrapping,
cardboard boxes and other paraphernalia.
5) Plant a tree
I will plant a deciduous tree so
that it shades west-facing windows in summer; also plant a pesticide-free vegetable
garden at my back yard.
6) Use the “Off” switch
I would turn off the lights when
I am leaving my room; turn off all electronic equipments including television,
video player, stereo and computer when I am not using them and use only as much
as I need.
Furthermore, investing in energy
conservation and by a spiritual-eco awakening any individual can make a change
to reduce GHGs and ultimately containing the climate change. Last but not the
least, by a positive frugality I would plan a green low-carbon wedding in
future.
2.2. Solutions: what can I do in my country
India being the largest democracy
and densely populated, requires strategic measures to restrain the explosion
and expanse of climate change. The actions are like the following:
1) Forego fossil fuels
The country must declare a ban on
fossil fuels and promote the natural and renewable sources of energy like that
of solar, wind, hydro, tidal, nuclear and geothermal energies which are clean
alternatives and considered totally energy efficient. It must educate visitors
to the importance of renewable energy sources; government grants for natural
energy projects depending on the location must be available. A gradual
introduction of tax increases on gasoline and diesel; enforcing the lowering of
speed limits to reduce fuel consumption; eliminate subsidies that encourage
fossil fuels etc. could bring a change.
2) Guidelines for industries
Give financial incentives to
encourage energy efficiency. New technologies and techniques can significantly
cut energy use, production costs, greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. A
cap and allowance emissions trading system providing strict limits or “caps” on
the emissions must be practiced. Sources emitting less than their cap could
sell these “surplus allowances” to others.
3) Infrastructure improvement
Investing in new infrastructure
or radically upgrading existing highways and transmission lines would help cut
GHGs emissions and drive economic growth in developing countries like India. An
anti-urban sprawl resulting in more dense and compact cities, with better
bike paths and pedestrian friendly walkways has top priorities.
4) Carbon Sequestration
Sequestration or
the long-term trapping of CO2 before it enters the atmosphere, is an
intermediate step along the way, but is not a solution in and of itself. CO2
can be sequestered as a gas by pumping it underground or into the ocean, or it
can be sequestered by plants. Indian Government can play an active role in
sequestering GHGs and impede the climate change.
5) Future fuels
Ethanol derived from crops to
hydrogen electrolyzed out of water; biodiesel hybrid electric vehicles (that
can plug into the grid overnight) may offer the best transportation solution in
the short term, given the energy density of diesel and the carbon neutral
ramifications of fuel from plants as well as the emissions of electric engines.
Hyper efficient photovoltaic cells, solar energy stations in orbit or even
fusion – may ultimately be required.
6) Biomass usage
Energy from biomass can be
generated from organic matter of vegetable or animal origin. This can include
forestry products such as sawdust and bark, as well as agricultural residues
like straw and manure. The advantage of biomass over other renewable energy
sources such as wind and solar is that it can be easily stored and used when
needed. It can provide a constant, non-fluctuating supply of electricity and
heating. Biomass can create lots of jobs especially in rural areas. It could
provide new income for farmers who can grow crops such as switchgrass for
bio-fuel and use manure in anaerobic digesters to generate heat and power.
7) Promoting forest and bio
reserve
Government must protect and
restore forests and bio-reserves so that it becomes a major storehouse of CO2.
8) One child norm
There are at least 6.6 billion
people living today in the world and of which 1.028 million are Indians as on
March 2001 census. The United Nations predicts the number to grow to at least 9
billion by mid-century. The U.N. Environmental Program estimates that it
requires 54 acres to sustain an average human being today – food, clothing and
other resources extracted from the planet. It is clear that more humans mean
more GHGs emissions. It is clear that per capita energy consumption must go
down if climate change is to be controlled. Continuing such population growth
seems unsustainable. Ultimately, a one child per couple rule would be the
alternative though not the best to reduce climate change.
2.3. Solutions: what can I do in my town or local
community
I am apprehensive about the
impacts of climate change on my community and would express my concerns at
community board meetings; vote for politicians who on their agenda have a
progressive stance on climate change; encourage public officials to establish
programs and policies that are good for the environment; pressure politicians
to enact legislation regarding carbon neutral and carbon trading; get a Report
Card from my Utility Company and to offer rebate programs to help pay for the
cost of energy-efficient upgrades; connect decision-makers, as well as local
businessmen and neighbors to take step to reduce community's contribution to
climate change; activate Civil Societies, Non Government Organizations and
Self-Working Groups to take measures; reduce impacts from air travel by using
video-conferences for meetings; to start a recycling program at my workplace
and in my community; encourage the city officials to expand transit and
other alternatives, make city operations more energy efficient and encourage
compact development instead of sprawl.
I will campaign to plant trees
all over my city; encourage friends, neighbors and co-workers to conserve
energy and to go carbon neutral; host drama on stage and street plays on
climate change and its evils; conduct poetry, painting, elocution and essay
competitions for children and adult as well; post banners, paintings and photos
in my street; organize workshops, awareness camps, symposiums and seminars;
distribute pamphlets in bus stations and railway stations; share information
about recycling and reusing; promote the inclusion of climate change education
in schools curriculum geared to help young people develop into responsible
global citizens.
2.4. Solutions: Role of youth-led initiatives in ‘Green Economy’
Youths are defined by the UN as
between the ages of 15 and 24. The role of youth "culture" and
lifestyle are factors that determine the future of climate change. Hence, we must make
the move to harmonize with natural systems, to make our economies flow
benignly, while supporting eco-friendly, eco-saving and eco-preserving
processes. Green Economics should be our preference.
Green economics is the economics of human needs and environment.
It is primarily about “use-value”, quality and regeneration of individuals,
communities and ecosystems. It requires great human creativity, tremendous
knowledge and widespread participation. By integrating economy with natural
processes, society becomes more ecological. Thereby, political and economic
boundaries tend to coincide with ecosystem boundaries. That is, it becomes
bioregional. Social, aesthetic and spiritual capacities become central to
attaining economic efficiency, and become important goals in themselves.
We need a value revolution, redefining progress more positively,
promising transformation of humanity’s very notion of wealth and economic
development. For
that green
pioneer enterprises and MNCs must increasingly come up considering green alternatives and
making money by doing green business. Consumer support comes next. Here the
youth have a major role to play while purchasing commodities sensibly.
2.5. Solutions: Go carbon neutral
Going carbon neutral (also 'climate
neutral') is an easy way to take responsibility for the greenhouse gas
emissions. It's based on the principle that, since climate change is a global
problem, an emission reduction made elsewhere has the same positive effect
as one made locally. The adding emissions to the atmosphere are effectively
subtracted by purchasing “carbon offsets”. Carbon offsets are simply
credits for emission reductions achieved by projects such as wind farms, solar
installations, or energy efficiency retrofits. By purchasing these credits it can
be applied on our own emissions to reduce the net climate impact.
As it is impossible to reduce our
carbon emissions to zero, no matter how hard we try, going carbon neutral by
purchasing carbon offsets is a practical and affordable way to reduce emissions.
In addition, by voluntarily calculating and assigning a cost to carbon
emissions, one can begin to prepare for the inevitability of an economy in
which CO2 and other GHGs are regulated and taxed. Purchasing high quality
carbon offsets from projects such as wind farms also helps support the
transition to a sustainable energy economy by providing an additional source of
revenue to developers of renewable energy. Many people and
organizations are going carbon neutral: from World Cup Soccer to airlines;
from Google and MTV to HSBC and Nike; rock bands like the Rolling Stones and
Coldplay has gone carbon neutral. Now, why wait more?
3. Conclusion
From The Rio Summit of 1992 to Kyoto
Protocol to the recent held conference of UNFCCC at Poznan, Poland,
we have traversed discussing and debating climate change. Despite, climate change
represents humanity's first planet wide experiment. But, if all else fails, it
may not be the last. So-called geo-engineering with the help of nano-technology,
radical interventions to either block sunlight or reduce GHGs, are a potential
last resort for addressing the challenge of climate change. Among the ideas:
releasing sulfate particles in the air to mimic the cooling effects of a
massive volcanic eruption; placing millions of small mirrors or lenses in space
to deflect sunlight; covering portions of the planet with reflective films to
bounce sunlight back into space; fertilizing the oceans with iron or other
nutrients to enable plankton to absorb more carbon; and increasing cloud cover
or the reflectivity of clouds that already form etc. could defeat the climate
change. Humanity must triumph! Youths must be remembered!
