#ClimateChange and #Sustainability #CauseAChatter #GlobalWarming

 It's raining heavily. As usual. I never bothered about it ever. Right since my childhood. I used to dance in the rain. What'd be more magnificent, graceful, and royal than the sky shower is throwing the purest form of water on you. I used to love it. And that love continued. Even in my youth and adulthood, I never used to miss a chance to get under the sky and enjoy rain falling upon me. I never used to carry umbrella despite living in the city having most rainfall in the year. Carrying umbrella to me was like an insult to God's gift of rain. I wanted to cherish it, every time. But not all this is possible now for me.

I have grown old. It's too late now to enjoy it any more. Now carrying umbrella has become a necessity. But I have no umbrella at home. IT'S TOO LATE. THE SAME WAY IT'S TOO LATE TO THINK ABOUT CONTRIBUTING TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY TO LET MY KIDS AND THEIR KIDS HAVE A BETTER AND HEALTHY LIFE. 

Photo credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video on VisualHunt

I never thought seriously about climate change and sustainability as it used to appear merely to be a subject of discussion. Various global and national forums kept taking about CLIMATE CHANGE, SUSTAINABILITY, GLOBAL WARMING, etc. but without any considerable movement towards actions. It was just talks, talks and talks for years. It was more like passing time in blaming each other and cautioning others to do something about it. But what about me? I always thought my materialistic assets are more than enough to lead a better life for our next few generations. Earning money was fine but what about never bothering about environment, pollution, etc.?

Smoking, drinking, throwing plastic here and there, eating non vegetarian, using vehicle all the time, and no focus towards self health and health of the mother earth. There's a huge difference between living a carefree life responsibly and living a careless life mindlessly. We all are partners in this crime. We have all been doing and dying this way for years. It is to late though but still we have a chance to contribute our bit towards sustainability. Sustainability has become a big question but we have many answers to thatand most of them point in the right direction and are correct.

Every action will serve a purpose but the point is to ACT. Look at the faces of the children of the world and as an elder every one of us has a moral responsibility to ensure that we make this planet livable and sustainable for them and their next generation before we phase out.

What's the purpose of my life? Earn money, fulfill my needs, and die? And in that rush keep wasting or misusing natural resources? Water, food, earth, trees, forests, and so on. A lot of misuse and wastage is already done by all of us. This thought is making me sad and angry at the same time.

This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter

Climate Change and Natural Disasters #CauseAChatter #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming

If we still think all is well as far as CLIMATE CHANGE is concerned, then we are fooling ourselves. Look at the series of severe disasters across the globe. Then think twice to satisfy yourself that everything is okay and no initiative is required from each of the living soul in this planet. Let's go back a little, in 2021, mid, had seen disastrous Canadian heatwave in June end. Then, the forest fires in Oregon. Soon after, there were heavy floods in various parts of Europe, especially, Belgium, and Germany. After that, it was extremely heavy rainfall in Henan, China that caused heavy flooding there resulting in serious damages of human life and otherwise. Is this all normal? Of course, there used to be forest fires, floods, landslides, extreme rains, and droughts; but never to such an extent and not so widespread.

Photo credit: Howard J Duncan on VisualHunt.com

If damages are happening because of such disasters in those countries that are well developed and will advanced, like Europe, and northern parts of the globe, then it clearly indicates that despite those places having sufficient infrastructure to handle heavy rainfall, then it clearly means that these disasters are happening beyond their preparedness and expectations. We seriously need to learn from these indications of nature and step up to stop misusing and insulting nature and natural resources. It's really a shame on us humans. Of course, the flooding in Germany and Belgium in the first half of July, shook the whole world. These are clearly nature's damaging acts against our actions of damaging the planet beyond limits.

The flooding has happened even in those parts of the world, to its severest, where it was least expected. This is Mother Nature's anger. Though, there used to be disasters earlier too but CLIMATE CHANGE has made them worse and extremely damaging. Especially, since the beginning of 21st century we are facing dire consequences as a result of continuous exploitation of our planet's resources. NASA had declared 2020 as the hottest year ever. The more is the rise in temperature of our earth, the more severe consequences we have to face. If just a one-degree rise in temperature can result in upto 7% increase in the severity of rainfall, then what is going to happen if the average global land and ocean temperature rises above 1-degree.

Currently, earth's temperature is rising at a pace double than what it used to be a century ago. A recent research by Professor Hayley Fowler, School of Engineering, Newcastle University, the earth's poles temperature is rising at 2-3 times the rate of the equator. That is surely going to disturb the balance be weakening the jet stream of Europe because it lies over the middle of latitudes. This results in frequent storms over that part of the world. On one hand we are encountering floods and heavy rainfall due to CLIMATE CHANGE. On the other hand, it's intensifying heatwave in Canada and North America. A team of researchers told in the BBC news that such deadly heatwave was a kind of unimaginable incident in these places.

Even the scientists and researches taking place across the globe accept that such extreme incidents are becoming more common because of GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE resulting in world heating up at a faster pace. For the first time, village of Lytton in British Columbia recorded near to 50-degree that never went above 45 degree centigrade. Since the temperature is soaring, it's resulting in severe forest fires like the one in Oregon, Washington recently, or that happened in the west coast of the United States.

This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter

Climate Change and Indian Monsoon #CauseAChatter #ClimateChange

Climate Change, Flooding, Droughts, Indian Ocean Dipole, Monsoon depression are some of the clearly visible signs of Global Warming. Global warming in fact has become a serious global warning. The impact is getting significantly severe year by year. It's happening in every part of the world. A recent research shows that global warming is increasing the variations in the monsoon due to climate change. This, in turn, is resulting, on one hand in longer dry periods, and on the other hand, shorter spells of heavy rains. In fact, rains are happening at those places where no rains have happened in decades. Snowfall is taking place, astonishingly, in places where nobody could have ever imagined.

Photo credit: Liam 38 on VisualHunt.com

In the year 2022, we have witnessed the second maximum extreme incidents since 1902. Extremities of floods and droughts have taken place in different parts. Such alarming incidents are increasing substantially and are causing damages beyond control. If we look at climate change incidents in context of Indian Monsoon, there are plenty this year. There have been contrasting rainfall patterns thus resulting in high risk and uncontrolled damages. Monsoon system tracks are changing drastically. Such shifts have caused low pressure and depression moving southwards of their original position this resulting in flash floods and landslides.

What we mean by monsoon depression is something that results in a low-pressure condition that substantially impacts the North Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal thus disturbing the summer patterns completely. These disturbances impact larger vicinity, as big as covering the areas within 1000 km of its diameter. We have witnessed excessive rainfall in 2022 in many states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. On the other hand, at the same time, states like Jharkhand, Bihar, and West Bengal did not have normal rains. In August 2022 Central Indian states faced multiple severe conditions resulting from depressions in the Bay of Bengal. In 2022 there have been huge variations in monsoon rainfall in many regions.

All these factors have resulted not only in heavy damages of human life but also of crops, kettle, and reserves. 

This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter

Paris Agreement & India #causeachatter @blogchatter

When we talk about the Paris Agreement that came into action on November 4, 2016, I feel this was something that must have been done atleast two decades back. We, on a global front, started thinking about it and taking initiatives to formalize it well beyond crossing the danger levels and reaching a stage by when a huge damage to the nature and environment was already done by us. Now, to overcome that loss of time and controlling damages faster, we need to get into action at turbo pace rather than just talking/teaching /preaching about it. 196 countries signed Paris Agreement on December 12, 2015. Syria is the 197th country to sign this agreement. At least 190 of those countries who signed have gotten into a full fledged action to adhere to its policies. That means, every country on this earth is officially participating in this program.

The primary goal of International Treaty On Climate Change adopted by the Paris Agreement is to limit global warming to well below 2, and if possible, to 1.5 degrees Celsius. A latest warning released by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change) in its recent report says GLOBAL WARMING LIMIT OF 1.5 DEGREES MIGHT GET BREACHED BY 2040.

Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General says-

This report must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels, before they destroy our planet. If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. But, as the report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses.

Scientists and environmentalists across the globe warn that by the time earth's surface temperature his above 1.5 degrees, it will lead to severe economic losses and losing of crop yields with a big increase in heatwaves, rainstorms, drought, water shortage, rising sea levels, and destruction of coral reefs. Earth's surface temperature has increased by 0.08° C per decade since 1880. Shockingly, this rate of warming over the last 4 decades has more than doubled to 0.18° C per decade since 1981.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, confirmed in March this year that India is on track to achieve its climate goals and would meet its targets well before the deadlines. He mentioned two key Action points that will help India achieving is climate goals well before the target date. One, but switching over to energy-efficient mediums. Two, by using waste to generate energy. A lot has been happening in the two directions at a rapid pace. It's worth mentioning that he is the recipient of CERAWeek Global Energy & Environment Leadership Award 2021. CERA stands for Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

CERAWeek Global Energy and Environment Leadership Award began in 2016. Its aims to recognize the commitment of leadership on the future of global energy & environment and for offering solutions and policies for energy access, affordability & environmental stewardship.

https://players.brightcove.net/4539381476001/faXNfrFN13_default/index.html?videoId=6237505304001&autoplay=true

While accepting the award, he said - 

It is with great humility that I accept the CERAWeek Global Energy and Environment Leadership Award. I dedicate this award to the people of our great Motherland, India. I dedicate this award to the glorious tradition of our land that has shown the way when it comes to caring for the environment.

He confirmed - 

India is well on track to achieve its Paris agreement targets well before the target date of 2030. 

And finally he concluded by saying - 

Now is the time to think logically and ecologically. After all this is not about me or you. It is about our planet's future. We owe this to our coming generations.

This post is part of #CauseAChatter with Blogchatter