Climate Change: Science, Effects And Mitigation Strategies
We are all witness to the increased frequency of ‘extreme weather events’ (EWEs) over the last few years. Flash floods, cloud bursts, cyclones and droughts regularly make screaming headlines in newspapers, on television and social media. All of us feel alarmed, express sympathy with the victims, even participate in campaigns to raise money and materials for them. Some more energetic ones even travel to the affected areas and help feed the hungry, give them medicines and clothes.
National and state ‘disaster relief outfits’ have become better organised and are able to restrict the number of lives lost to a bare minimum. All too soon, we forget the incidents, go back to our work and it is once again ‘business as usual’. What happened in Uttarakhand, Kashmir, Chennai, Mumbai, Kerala and in Odisha is still fresh in our collective memory. This year 30 August brought frightening reports on social media: “Bangalore comes to a halt; schools and colleges shut, government declares a holiday while all agencies come to grips with the unprecedented floods following incessant rains that lashed the city, IMD issues ‘yellow alert’” etc.
Bangalore, as we are all aware, is now literally the showcase city of the country. Almost all ‘Fortune 500’ companies, as well as many leading domestic ones have set up their tech centres or R&D labs here. The city draws probably more attention than even Delhi as far as business is concerned. Imagine the collective loss of man hours spent by people in reaching their work places or in food and other supplies reaching them on time or missed flights, trains etc. Unfortunately, such EWEs are becoming all too frequent. And, it is not only in India.
There are well publicised international cases of extreme heat in Europe, freak snowfall in Dubai and devastating floods in Manhattan. The EWEs monster doesn’t differentiate between rich and poor nations! Rising sea levels have already claimed many low lying islands and areas near the oceans. Countries like the Maldives face being totally submerged. Parts of Bangladesh are not far behind. Thankfully, almost everyone now admits that (a) there is climate change (b) human action has accelerated it and (c) human action can help in amelioration of the situation. This was not so till as recently as five to ten years ago. Many considered these possibilities the imagination of some mad scientists!
Top of the Agenda
During the last couple of years there has been a lot of discussion on the issue and several international summits etc. to collectively find a solution to slow down the deadly march. The year 2022 has witnessed ‘Climate Change’ on top of the agenda of all governments, the corporate world, international institutions, research outfits, NGOs, scientists … really every one! News from the Inter- governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is being keenly looked forward to. All large companies – even those involved in the energy business – are continuously updating their plans to achieve “carbon neutrality” or better still “zero emissions”. It is a truly global problem and has to be tackled jointly by all countries – the richer ones have to spend more because they are the ones who have caused greater damage!
Very few still question the ‘reasons for the calamities’ – the ‘Science’ behind the devastation. My only objective is to ‘remind ourselves’ that ‘human action has indeed played a significant role in accelerating the menacing advance of climate change and human action can certainly help in moderating the situation’. It is also important to highlight the fact that a ‘business as usual’ approach would lead to unmitigated disaster for all humanity.
The possible effects of global warming, say an increase of two degrees Celsius in the temperature of the earth – our only home in the vast universe – include a broad spectrum of (a) up to 20 per cent reduction in productivity and 25 per cent loss in nutrition value of crops; meaning ‘food security’ going for a toss (b) huge loss of marine life – a staple food for millions – again a serious threat to ‘food security’ (c) unsustainable water stress leading to loss of millions of lives (d) increased risk of disease and (e) consequent disruptions leading to unimaginable political and social instability. To be candid ‘life will just not be sustainable’!
Science of Climate Change
First, a little bit about the ‘Science of Climate Change’. At the heart of the matter is the exponential increase in emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) due to irresponsible industrial activity over the last six to seven decades and these gases getting trapped in the earth’s atmosphere – sort of an annular spherical ring all around the planet. The thicker the ring, greater is the propensity of the planet getting warmer from the energy radiated by the sun. Energy from the sun keeps our planet warm and comfortable. Some infrared rays get reflected back from the earth and get trapped in its atmospheric ring. As more rays get trapped, the ‘ring’ keeps getting thicker. Mercury is a lot closer to the sun compared to Venus and yet, it’s temperature (167 degrees) is drastically lower than that of Venus at 457! Reason? Thickness of the ‘atmospheric ring’ around Venus is much more!
For the last 6,50,000 years, data determined by NASA scientists by drilling ‘ice cores’ in the Antarctic in 1977 and analyzing carbon-dioxide content in the entrapped air bubbles over this long period of time shows that the earth has had the unique good fortune of maintaining an average temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, which is very conducive for sustaining human and plant life as well as the food chain in the oceans. There is a direct co-relation between the earth’s temperature and carbon content in the air which has never exceeded 300 parts per million (ppm) over this long period, through periods of warming as well as the ‘ice ages’.
Only in the last seven decades has this balance got disturbed radically, raising the carbon concentration to about 450 ppm currently and also an increase of about 0.5 to 0.6 degrees in the temperature of the planet. With ‘business as usual’ the carbon concentration is likely to cross 600 by 2050! I leave it to the imagination of the enlightened readers as to what might happen to the temperature of the earth. There are various estimates to indicate an increase of one degree by 2040 -50 and another degree before the end of the century. Ready for the calamity?
Loss of Biodiversity
Loss of biodiversity is another victim of Climate Change. The study that “one million species of plants and animals are on the verge of becoming extinct” made headlines recently. There were several articles and reports about the same. This alarming increase in the threat of extinction, symptomatic of the human-induced degeneration of the natural ecosystems, is the key finding of the first global assessment on the health of the planet by the United Nations backed Inter Governmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
To illustrate my point, let me pose a small question here. All people of the generations born in the 1940s and 1950s would’ve seen and heard frogs – one of the longest surviving species that have outlived the dinosaurs – near wells and ponds. We have even brought these delightful creatures home as pets. I wonder how many of your readers have ever seen one? I haven’t for, may be, 60 years! Environmentalists have predicted that in this century we risk losing 50 per cent of all living species! Mangroves in the Sunderbans – the trees that guard against erosion of land in coastal areas – have decreased by 20 per cent in the last 40 years.
Solutions at Hand
Yet all is not lost. There are solutions at hand – even low hanging fruit – easy ones for each one of us and, of course, we have to leave the big jobs for the governments. Let’s first talk about what all we can do. I will list out a few changes we should all make in our day-to-day activities.
We need to save every single drop of water if we want to ensure that our children and grandchildren get at least the bare minimum required for drinking, bathing, washing plus agriculture. Doing every single daily chore like washing hands, brushing teeth, shaving, bath, flushing, gardening, washing floors, cars and driveways, we waste colossal amounts of water, which can all be saved. Collect waste water from your R/O units (reportedly wastage here is three times the quantity of purified water) as well as the condensate from air conditioners and use it for washing/cleaning.
Avoid using bottled water; in addition to the wastage – a lot of people will consume only a part of the quantity in the bottle and discard the rest – you will also help avoid addition to the mounting problem of not-easily-recyclable plastic bottles.
Rain Water Harvesting. Each house, office, factory must religiously install a proper rain water harvesting system on the premises and ensure that every drop of rain water is channeled into the system to help recharge ground water aquifers.
Believe me, when you are sleeping, 26 degrees on the A/C + a fan are quite comfortable for the average human body and you will be able to save large amounts of power and also money on the electricity bills. Japan has mandatorily stopped the use of jackets and neckties in government offices and this simple step has permitted them to increase the thermostat settings by two degrees, leading to a huge saving of energy. Soak pulses and beans overnight so there’s need of less gas for cooking.
‘Clean Stoves’ consume 50 per cent less fuel and give out 80 per cent less emissions. Use of thick glass on windows, reflective tiles on the roof and white paint on external walls will amount to amazing savings on the heating and cooling load of your building. Every kwh saved means a small dent in the harmful emissions! A recent study showed that India can save a mind boggling $42 billion each year with optimally enhanced energy efficiency. Try to commute by ‘public transport’ like the metros.
If we can all do these little things – with enormously large benefits – hopefully, the governments will take care of the bigger jobs like (i) linking of rivers where necessary and feasible (ii) making irrigation more water efficient (iii) plugging leakages and theft in public supply of water and electricity (iv) quicker switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy options like hydel, solar, wind and bio-mass – an initiative where India is already ahead of the world (v) stricter implementation of laws governing mandatory rain water harvesting, affluent treatment of industrial waste, compulsory water recycling and dual connections for fresh and recycled water and sewage treatment plants (vi) revitalisation of lost water bodies, building check-dams, preventing blockage of natural drainage channels etc.
Let me close by quoting Mahatma Gandhi – an environmentalist before we had even heard of the word – who said (a) the earth has sufficient for every one’s need but not for greed and (b) we have inherited the planet from our ancestors and are mere trustees and it is our duty to ensure that we hand it over to our future generations in a little better shape than what we got.
