harikumar1964's blog

Much water has flown under the bridge since the last earth hour. We may be getting undisputable warning signs of global warming, yet the recent expose on the Himalayan glacier melt prediction or shall I call it prophecy,  put IPCC the UN body under a lot of cloud. The first and foremost thing to get global accordance for actions to limit green house gas emission is to have credibility of the organization which initiates it and this is where IPCC has failed. Even under normal conditions, It is very difficult to force or convince people to give up the comforts they are used to. That needs undisputable evidence and much more. And then the big bomb exploded- IPCC always maintained that by the turn of century, global temp can rise by 1.5 to 4.5 degrees. But somewhere someone exaggerated the whole thing suggesting the vanishing of all Himalayan glaciers by 2035 which was later proved to be the handiwork of some interest groups or Panic mongers. And for the first time we had to believe there is also an interest group in play even in the global warming scene. When I read  Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear” a few years back, I thought he was writing on behalf of anti – environment lobby of Multinational coal and petroleum companies. The book gave details of how  pro environment lobby creates panic through global acts of environmental terrorism.  And this  looked all too absurd at that time. We thought those who claim to be environment friendly are saints. Not any more.

Our development mechanism  inevitably leaves behind indelible carbon footprints. Carbon free economy is either too nascent or too expensive to have  mass appeal. We may be facing most erratic climatic conditions - heavy floods in Rajasthan, unprecedented heat wave conditions in Kerala, perennial water shortages in parts where water was plenty, years of failed monsoon, consecutive years of highest ever recorded average global temperatures. – yet no one can claim this to be the outcome of accumulation of green house gases in atmosphere consequent upon the economic development. Warming skeptics are on the rise- a recent survey in US puts the skeptics at more than half.  Global warming support group in UK is dwindling. Skeptics are not denying the global warming, but only doubting the human impact on climate change. And this is bad news. Because when you are doubting the human influence, then you are not going to do anything to reduce your carbon footprints. And if there is a 90% certainty among scientific community that the global warming is due to human induced carbon emission, then we are going to only accelerate the process of warming.  Whether the threshold is 500 ppm or anything one thing is for sure – that is co2 in atmosphere is increasing and it is a green house gas. So it is prudent on our part to reduce our dependency on carbon.

This year also WWF is organizing Earth hour on the last Saturday of March- that is on 27^th. The scheduled time is between 8.30 PM and 9.30 PM.  One thing is certain, our excessive carbon emission if not right now catastrophic, is definitely  bad. And it is always  good to limit the bad. So lets all join the global initiative  to observe Earth hour- switch off the lights, and other electrical appliances, spend time in the open- and as I mentioned  in my last year’s blog – show the kids the stars and planets twinkling like never before in the dark sky. Breathe some fresh air in the open ( sorry , the last one is not for someone who is in Delhi and in other metros!).

  share this

Post a Comment