The choices we made under the name of development are bearing fruit in the form of pandemics, global climate change, population explosion, rising sea levels, depleting natural resources, energy crisis, etc. We have developed a concrete jungle in which robots live, not human beings. When I was a child I had a big playground to play in. We literally played on soil, dancing, running, falling, getting injured and whatnot. Now there are no playgrounds. So the children have shortened their playground on a 5×6 inch mobile.
Today’s generation kids no longer play football, hide n seek in open. These games are a luxury for elite children’s whose parents can afford flats in big enclaves offering playground, gyms, swimming pools, etc. This will be a huge setback for the health and immunity of kids in future. Yes, they will be intelligent, ahead of time, open-minded, unorthodox but remember they will be just like a microchip installed with artificial intelligence.
But a ray of hope in this scenario is that children are becoming aware of climate change and challenging the establishments to concentrate and to do concrete efforts have a sustainable environment for their future. Two of the leading voices for raising awareness about climate change are Greta Thunberg from Sweden and Licypriya Kangujam from India.
We all are pushing our kids into traps. A race which has no return. Governments all over the world should develop stringent policies to contain global warming which will have harsh effects on humans if not taken seriously. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said, “Taken as a whole, the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time.”
The children will have to suffer the impact of climate change most. They will have to face hunger, pollution, malnutrition, droughts, pandemics, etc. The ignorance of world leaders will create a humanitarian crisis in the near future. The rising temperature has brought heatwaves across the globe. Heatwaves are causing great damage to the health of the elderly, sick and children. The burning of fuels is one of the prime reason for rising global temperature.
Limiting the amount of emission of harmful gases is very crucial today to save human life or we will be inhaling only CO2 and other harmful gases in one or two decades. The rise in temperature also has another effect on sea levels. The ice of Arctic and Antarctic are melting like never before. Seawater is going to expand due to high warming rate. Many island countries like Tuvalu are facing damage because of it. It is projected that Tuvalu will sink soon due to rising sea level.
Let’s see the work done by various countries in controlling climate change. The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) is an instrument designed by the German environmental and development organisation Germanwatch e.V. to enhance transparency in international climate politics. On the basis of standardised criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 57 countries and the European Union (EU) (Status 2020), which are together responsible for more than 90% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In its report for the year 2020, Sweden has been a top scorer with 4th rank while India was among the top 10 countries with 9th rank. No country is ranked as number one as they have not done sufficient work and haven’t taken efficient measures in controlling the damage caused by global warming, GHGs and other climate-related issues.
Some highlights from the IPCC Fifth Assessment report which provides a comprehensive assessment of sea level rise, and its causes, over the past few decades. It also estimates cumulative CO2 emissions since pre-industrial times and provides a CO2 budget for future emissions to limit warming to less than 2°C. The report found that:
- From 1880 to 2012, the average global temperature increased by 0.85°C.
- From 1901 to 2010, the global average sea level rose by 19 cm as oceans expanded due to warming and ice melted.
- Given current concentrations and ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases, it is likely that by the end of this century global mean temperature will continue to rise above the pre-industrial level. The world’s oceans will warm and ice melt will continue. Average sea level rise is predicted to be 24–30 cm by 2065 and 40–63 cm by 2100 relative to the reference period of 1986–2005. Most aspects of climate change will persist for many centuries, even if emissions are stopped.
In the 2019 Climate Action Summit, the Secretary-General said, “You have delivered a boost in momentum, cooperation and ambition. But we have a long way to go. We need more concrete plans, more ambition from more countries and more businesses. We need all financial institutions, public and private, to choose, once and for all, the green economy.”
So it is better to take resolve and start reducing GHG’s emission along with the use of eco-friendly technologies and reducing the use of fossil fuels by turning towards alternatives like solar and wind energy. Remember it is our fundamental duty as the residents of earth to give a livable planet for the coming generations.