Sathappan N
In Gandhi’s words “Earth has enough to meet people’s needs but will never satisfy peoples greed”. It appears mankind got into the greedy phase in consuming precious resources at an alarming rate that we arrived at a point of danger, which seems to be threatening the existence of mankind in certain parts of earth.
I don’t know how many Indians know about Yangtze, Mekong, Irrawaddy? These along with Brahmaputra, Ganga and Yamuna are mighty rivers of Asia, which are vital for transportation, irrigation. The entire region through which these rivers flow is densely populated and produces vast quantity of agriculture produce.
All these rivers originate from Himalayas, which is called the 3rd pole. It is Himalayan glaciers, which give steady supply of water for these rivers. Now the issue is Himalayan glaciers are melting so rapidly in the last 20-30 years.
The Reason — Global Warming:
What is this Global warming and how it happened? Earth is constantly bombarded with enormous amounts of radiation, primarily from the Sun. This solar radiation strikes the Earth’s atmosphere in the form of visible light, and ultra-violet, infrared & other types of radiation that are invisible to the human eye. UV radiation has a shorter wavelength and a higher energy level than visible light, while IR radiation has a longer wavelength and a weaker energy level. About 30 percent of the radiation striking Earth’s atmosphere is immediately reflected back out to space by clouds, ice, snow, sand and other reflective surfaces. The oceans, the land and the atmosphere absorb the remaining 70 percent of incoming solar radiation. As they heat up, the oceans, land and atmosphere release heat in the form of IR thermal radiation, which passes out of the atmosphere and into space. It’s this equilibrium of incoming and outgoing radiation that makes the earth habitable, with an average temperature of about 15 degrees Celsius. Without this atmospheric equilibrium, Earth would be as cold and lifeless as moon, or as blazing hot as Venus.
Human activities like burning of fossil fuel, deforestation, industrialisation and pollution are considered as few of the factors responsible for global warming. Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s, the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gasoline have greatly increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide.
We need to act to avoid catastrophic climate change. While not all regional effects are known yet, here are some likely future effects if we allow current trends to continue.
Rise in sea level due to rapid melting glaciers and the thermal expansion of the oceans as global temperature increases. A high risk of more extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts and floods. There will be spread of disease and declines in agricultural production in the developing countries of Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
Focus on renewable energy like wind power &solar energy, Energy efficiency, Energy conservation and usage of public transport may be worth considerable solutions. Reduce, re-use, and recycle—it’s not just about pollution, but the strategy will lower your emissions too and help combat global warming.
Super powers responses are slow or they prefer silence around climate change. May be because they are relatively safer. As far as India is concerned, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken steps to scale up clean energy production and has initiated a shift in India’s stance in international climate negotiations. The newly reconstituted Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change launched new initiatives on wind energy, coastal zone management, and waste-to-energy.
India being in ‘high risk countries’, I feel informing the public about global warming is all the more urgent and of paramount importance for Indian Media, for, politics will not dare to touch an issue, which is not urgent public issue and may not fetch votes.
