Dr. Banarsi Lal
The economies of nations and lives of human beings are disrupted by the climate change. Weather patterns are changing and sea levels are rising. Although the green house gases emissions have dropped in 2020 due to COVID-19 but it was temporally. As the global economy started to recover from the pandemic, emissions increase again. There is need to take action to protect the lives and livelihood of the individuals. For this purpose some new interventions need to be introduced. There is need to deal with the impacts of climate change. The whole world affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We can make our efforts to protect the environment. Now-a-days we can organize digital media campaigns, webinars and virtual panels to accelerate the climate action. We all are facing lot of environmental challenges from loss of biodiversity to climate change to plastic pollution. There is need to work on climate change at all levels of government. A unified global response is must to tackle the climate crisis. We need to develop new environmentalists who can engage millions of people on climate change.
Of all the planets the Earth is considered as the luckiest planet in the universe because it is the only planet where life became possible. Beautiful life developed on this planet whether that is in the form of humans, animals, plants or marine life. But the human race lost its humanity and used the Earth’s resources ruthlessly. The Earth is the most unique planet because it developed the most intelligent life called as the human race. Environmental and climate literacy is the engine not only for creating the environmental and climate laws and policies but also to promote green technologies. It is worthwhile to mention here that our Earth planet is losing the 15 billion trees every year i.e. around 56 acres of forest in every minute. Many species are going extinct rapidly. With our efforts we can protect hundreds of species. Lack of environment education has led man to be harsh to nature. There is dire need to empower everybody with the knowledge to inspire action in defense of environmental protection. It seems that we have forgotten the most beautiful gift that we have got in the form of planet Earth. We also seem to have forgotten that this is our home and we need to take care of it in order to stay healthy and fit. We are mercilessly utilizing and depleting the Earth’s limited resources. Our ignorance is causing severe problems like depletion of the Ozone layer, polluted rivers due to dumping of industrial waste, loss of soil health due to excessive use of agrochemicals, global warming etc. Deforestation is rapidly increasing due to increase in the industrialization. This has disturbed the Earth’s environment. The increase in the Earth’s temperature is melting the ice at the Poles. We already have dug quite a huge well for ourselves but still we can come out from it. We should protect the earth by planting trees; reduce pollution by limiting the use of vehicles, switching off lights when unnecessary, conserving petrol and diesel etc. These are small steps but when billions of people will do so together, there can be definitely the positive results to protect the Earth. The step of CNG vehicles in New Delhi is really highly appreciable that have considerably reduced the amount of pollution in Delhi. The mighty river Yamuna has also been polluted by the industrial waste. The increased evaporation and additional moisture to the atmosphere has led more intense rains.
2019 year was recorded as the warmest year. Carbon dioxide and other green house gases also rose in 2019.The climate crisis is an existential threat. Many pandemics are related to the climate crisis, helping to nurture and host novel germs. Even in present era many people are not aware about some serious environmental issues-from air pollution to toxic dumps to pesticides to loss of biodiversity. There are enormous challenges but there are also vast opportunities on climate action. Climate change is considered as the biggest challenge for the mankind. There is dire need to tackle the climate crisis globally. Every country needs to step up with urgency and ambition for climate action to safeguard the present and future generations. People have started to protect the environment in small steps but there is dire need to take giant leaps to save the mankind on the Earth. Stringent laws and rules need to be made, to make people realize the importance of protecting the mother Earth. Every nation needs to cut down on Carbon emissions to reduce the effects of global warming otherwise the global warming will make the ice-caps at the Poles to melt and raise sea levels. It can be so devastating that it will wipe out many countries on the Earth.
There is need of collective efforts to protect the Earth from pollution. If we do nothing for the protection of environment and let things be as they are, then there can be the worst results. Earth may take revenge and the wrath of the planet may be even more furious. Many times we have seen it happen right in front of our eyes and observe cyclones, flash floods, sudden fires in forests, tsunamis, earthquakes, diseases etc. Such types of calamities are revenge of the Earth and a small revenge by Earth takes a huge toll on mankind. A major natural calamity happens only when we play with our environment. The size of earth is fixed while its resources are being depleted abruptly. It has been observed that some countries are causing more pollution affecting the other countries also. Many species of flora and fauna are extinct. We should protect our environment for our development. Without adequate environmental protection, development is useless. Humankind is rapidly depleting the natural resources on the Earth. It is acceptable that we need petrol and diesel to run our vehicles and the Earth is not refusing us. It only wants us to use it judiciously. Similarly the other natural resources should be used judiciously by the mankind. We can recycle the papers and stop using plastic bags. We should make collective efforts to reduce Carbon emission in the atmosphere to protect the mankind. On this day each of us should take initiatives to plant more and more plants and return the balance to the beautiful planet Earth so that everybody on this planet can live in peace. In the fast changing life we are so busy in day-to-day life that we don’t have time to stand and contemplate about the planet we live on. But now we should make strenuous efforts to protect the planet Earth. The Earth will find some ways to protect us if we love and respect it. There is need to work together to protect the planet Earth.
(The writer is Sr. Scientist & Head of KVK, Reasi SKUAST-J).
