Climate Change - Action now

 

The climate change issue has come back on center stage even as the corona vaccination drives roll out in the world and man's preoccupation with the pandemic reduces. The daily bread and butter issues facing the world have begun to rear their heads again.

Why has this issue cropped up lately? Since the early seventies it was known that mankind is polluting the planet with his industries and his automobiles. The matter was taken up but it was assumed that we have a lot of time on our hands to mitigate our wrongdoings since the industrial revolution. But in recent years it has become clear that man does not have much time to correct the problems facing the environment. Forest fires, unseasonal rains causing floods, a shift of the seasons and bouts of unpredictable weather has brought it home to humans that we may be already too late to take any concerted and effective action on climate change.

Some of the changes predicted by climate scientists in the last century are now coming true. Rising sea levels due to melting of polar ice. Loss of sea plankton due to rising water temperatures, frequent forest fires, unpredictable heat and cold waves and flooding due to excessive rains. The IPCC (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) predicts that the impact of temperature change of even two degrees will be considerable. Even if some areas benefit temporarily from rising temperatures, the overall impact of the change will be not be beneficial. 

In the last one hundred years the average temperature on earth has increased by about two degrees Fahrenheit. This may not seem to be much but the life on earth is remarkably sensitive to minute temperature changes. The economic impact of this change in teperature is going to be enormous over the years. Some islands in the Pacific will go under the water completely. Agricultural production will suffer with consequences for world food supply. Also animal husbandry and the meat industry including fishing will also be affected adversely. All over the world some of the more sensitive flora and fauna will face extinction. The change in temperature is going to have a profound impact on mankind. It could also cause new diseases as different viruses and other harmful germs find the climatic change favourable for their growth and survival.

Scientists also say that the warming is actually an indication that an ice age is coming. There is no time table for this prediction however as data is not conclusive enough to predict a time frame. However fossilised evidence, tree rings and coral reef analysis has helped scientists put togehter a picture which shows that an ice age had indeed followed a warming up of the average earth temperature. Warming up of the average temperature also means that the frost free or growing season for crops in colder latitudes will be longer. But this reducing of the frost season scientists say could cause more frequent crop diseases. 

Climate experts still do not know if we have passed the point of no return for climate change. Whether we still have time to reverse at least some of the mistakes of the past. There is also a divide between the rich and the developing nations on who should shoulder the responsibility and the considerable expenses involved in addressing this problem. The industrial revolution happened in the last century and was the reason why pollution increased exponentially. The developing and the poor countries think that they were never a part of the revolution and they hardly received any benefits from it.  Therefore the rich countries who benefitted from the revolution should pay for the cleaning of the pollution that was caused then. This political thug-a-lug has been a major roadblock in climate negotiations. 

With America back in the reckoning the climate dialogue has become meaningful again. A focussed approach and sincerety of purpose is what is expected from all the member countries if the accord is to succeed in implemeting the measures reccommended.  It remains to be seen if the rich countries pull their own weight and some more.  The scientist have said that there is no time to loose and that we already may be late in starting. Failure, though not an option anymore, would be a big embarrasment, and the stakes are very high.