Who could have imagined cold waves even in the middle of February when spring should have been knocking at the door? Yet this was observed in West Bengal and the minimum temperature was 11.8°C which was 5 degrees less than normal.
This factor has been posing a threat for over many decades. Scientists have come to question the extent of this danger and what people worldwide should do to protect the earth.
Primitive man's needs were basic and he was in 'harmony with nature'. But today the position is entirely different with the world overburdened with population which is on the rise every year by 1.7% and which may 'pass the 10 billion mark before stabilizing in about 2100 A.D.' [a United Nations projection]
The Industrial Revolution and the great technological advances achieved during the last few decades have made man use up the earth's resources at an alarmingly fast rate. In fact the root of the problem of Global Warming can be traced back to when the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century had set in. A life without technological comforts such as air-conditioners or personal computers is difficult to imagine for most urban dwellers today. These goods and services have a hidden cost, besides what we pay for them over the counter. Every production cycle uses primary resources, which takes every single unit of physical input from their surrounding environment. For example, there wouldn't be any wooden furniture to buy in the market if there were no trees to cut down.
EXCESSIVE TECHNOLOGICAL GROWTH
Development is characterized by the increasing use of energy and technological innovations leading to higher and higher levels of productivity.
Sometime back, a project was set up to design and synthesize gases for use in refrigerators, air-conditioners and aerosol spray cans. These gases were to be easily compressible and, unlike their predecessors, inert and non-toxic. The products of the project were the fully halogenated methane known as chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs.
For decades these CFCs have been found working admirably and when old refrigerators and air-conditioners are abandoned, the CFCs liberated drift slowly upward in the atmosphere. It turned out that CFCs are actually Frankenstein's monsters that threaten their creators and, in fact, all life on earth by breaking down the ozone layer which saves us from ultraviolet rays.
On the other hand the various industries give out carbon dioxide [CO2] and other harmful gases by burning fuels which helps in running engines. All these gases accelerate rise of temperatures, melting of ice-caps as well as raising the water level of rivers and oceans submerging many lands masses.
POLLUTION
Uncontrolled growth of population and urbanization have caused severe shortage of space in the main living centers many of which are contaminated by contiguous development of industries and which consequently lack pure air, water and unadulterated food. The degradation of the environment has several noticeable aspects such as:
- Extensive deforestation causing loss of flora, fauna and some rare species
- Drying up of drinking water sources covering of the underground water table
- Floods and droughts
- Land degradation-erosion, desertification, wasteland, salinity, water logging
- Quality deterioration in water and air
- Unemployment
- Migration from rural to urban centers.
- Ozone depletion
- Acid rain
- Air pollution
- Industrial waste disposal into water bodies
- Hazards by escape of toxic chemicals and gases
- Nuclear wastes
Depletion of the earth's non inexhaustible resources has been going on at a rapid pace without allowing any time for renewal of these resources in the natural cycle and the day may not be far off when the environment will be unable to support life systems in a healthy state. Arnold Toynbee says, "For them, [his pre-Christian predecessors] nature was not just a treasure trove of 'natural resources' but a goddess, 'Mother Earth'…Such was the original religion of all mankind…Ever since, men have been reaping wealth-and pollution by industrialisation…And verily…they have their reward".
The speed at which global emissions are rising and climate change is beginning to impact vulnerable ecosystems, any effort to mitigate these impacts and to adapt to climate change, have to be matched with a comprehensive international process, which addresses the problem adequately.
CONSERVATION
And asks Arnold Toynbee, "What can we do to be served?" The answer is 'by conservation'.
Under Article 48A-Part IV of the Indian Constitution (1976), by the 42nd Amendment, "The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country". Article 51A (g) of the same Amendment enjoins on every citizen of India to protect and improve the environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures.
In December 2007 in Bali (Indonesia), the parties of the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC] sat down to discuss the future of this Protocol-the next step in its evolution. The Kyoto protocol was an attempt by the Governments of a 175 nations to cut emissions of Carbon Dioxide and other five potent Greenhouse Gases.
If we are to help nurse the planet back to a healthy state, then it is critical that the international community is engaged in the Kyoto process and work towards ensuring a worthy successor to this protocol.
"In short", states columnist R.Rajamani, "the metaphor of greening the country has to extend to greening our minds".
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