Climate Change: Do Something Ourselves
By Marianne de Nazareth
18 November, 2009
Countercurrents.org
We do not have the luxury of addressing Climate Change today with an ‘us’ and ‘them’ attitude at this point in time. Attending Climate Change conferences for the last two years this point is brought home repeatedly at the venues, that addressing climate change requires a global effort, never mind the politics of the situation. Developing countries like ours cannot afford to continue with business- as- usual attitudes. The whole process seems frighteningly slow, considering how dire the threat of Climate Change is. It’s like the world is sitting huddled in a room leisurely discussing what must be done, while the flames lick at the door, ready to burst in at any time.
Oceanographers have warned that the sea levels have risen by 20cm since the 1880s which is 3.4cm per decade. This is because the oceans are heating up and the icecaps are melting. This impacts people living on the coasts and we have seen mayhem caused by tsunamis and floods in Mumbai and Chennai in the recent past. We could wake up to a submerged Mumbai in the near future, have we ever considered that?
The impact of climate change in the Himalayas is becoming apparent. Studies show that most valley glaciers are retreating in Kathmandu. Diesel fumes, burning of cow dung, coal fired power plants and burning of wood for cooking fuel is partly the cause of this glacial melt. With the increase of global warming with Climate Change, these Himalayan glaciers are melting faster than projected and the increase of flooding, rock avalanches and the very water source will be affected in the next three decades. Water wars will break out in countries fed by these rivers, which includes India.
Climate change is a visible reality in Tobago, Maldives and other small islands, with sea levels rising and hurricanes more powerful than ever. Climate Change does not discriminate says Bangladesh. They are already adapting to continuous floods and sea water intrusions by growing crops on floating mats to survive. A country which is most vulnerable to Climate Change consequences, where will its millions of climate ‘refugees’ go, once the sea claims the land? We don’t want them in India, we are building higher and higher barricades to keep them out.
I live in the fabled ‘air-conditioned’ city of Bangalore, India and don’t remember when I last wore that prized hand knitted sweater I took months to knit. Any Bangalorean who has lived in our city for just a decade, can vouch for a rapid warming of the city which has left us with no winter. Our climate has definitely changed and what are we doing about it?
While the politicians of the world play politics with taking hard nosed decisions about caps and GHG emissions of their respective countries, let each one of us decide to do something to help our planet which is in trouble. It’s about time we made initiatives on our own, instead of waiting for the men at the top to stop playing around with our lives.
(The writer is a media fellow with the UNFCCC & teaches a module to masters students on Climate Change in St. Joseph’s College and COMMITS, Bangalore)
