Dire straits

The Cassandras may, we hope, be proved wrong, and climate apocalypse would be deferred. But the evidence is mounting. And, in any case we shouldn’t take chances any more. It is better to take all those emergency measures needed to save our habitat than be doomed. The old truism that if every one of us was to do our own little bit, it could make a huge difference for every one is never as true as in the present instance.

The second part of Inter-government Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), made public on Friday cannot be looked at as a putative horror story of a far off place. The report enumerates the disasters that will follow as the climate changes for the worse faster than was earlier anticipated. It includes rising temperatures and sea levels, thinning of glaciers, melting of polar icecaps, greater desertification, droughts and floods, loss of livelihoods and fall in food grain production.

The conclusions drawn are stark. Many places, as we know them, will be seriously affected, including our own coastal areas. Some countries, like the Maldives, will almost be wiped out. India, along with China, has been identified as countries were rising sea levels could affect populations.

It’s time everyone sat up and take note, Indians included. What is more, it is no longer just a problem for scientists and policymakers. The thinning of the Himalayan glaciers that feed our river systems and the endangered Sunderbans happen to be just conspicuous instances of the problem. There is a steady and uniform decay of our ecosystems everywhere.

There is the palpable evidence in our daily lives that the quality of life has been deteriorating in our own lifetime, and it is so in the case of both the rich and the poor. The 1960s were bad compared to the 1950s, the 1980s were worse than the 1970s. Water supplies in cities and villages are getting sparser and scarcer. Go to a hill station and the denudation is there for all of us to see. Summers are getting hotter, winters warmer. There are scientists who say that the jury is still out, that global warming may not be as severe as we think. But can we deny that the environment has been degraded?

One of the most positive findings of the report is that climate change can be mitigated and reduced by action against greenhouse gases. Governments will have to play a big role in introducing and implementing policies that cut down environmental pollution. But the ultimate responsibility lies with each and every one of us, because the ill effects of global warming will ultimately affect us.