POLLUTION OR SOLUTION

Technology alone is not enough to reduce air pollution. We all have to change our habits and behavior.

Indian cities especially in DELHI national capital region are the middle of an air pollution emergency. Air pollution has spiked to over the severe 500 mark for deadly particles & many more

In the fact of crises, the energy & resources institute (TERI)& THE NATURAL RESOURCE DEFENCE COUNCIL (NRDC) are bringing together pre-eminent experts in a special dialogue aimed to drive action toward solving serious public health threat in NEW DELHI.

A 2018 lancet commission study found that outdoor air pollution causes a staggering 6,70,000 deaths each year in India. Extremely high levels of dangerous air pollution have become the norm around this time of the year across northern India. Air pollution in the cities average areas reached this year .PM 2.5 levels at 407 & more than 500 respectively.

India’s air pollution problem extends far beyond more than 20 million residents of new Delhi. Its northern belt is one of the most populated parts of planet.

  

  

Recently the CENTRAL POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD of new Delhi has added 20 more cities from eight states to the list of polluted cities & those are

1.    ANANTAPUR

2.    CHITTOOR

3.    ELURU

4.    KADAPA

5.    THANE in MAHARASHTRA

6.    ONGOLE

7.    RAJAHMUNDRY

8.    SRIKAKULAM & VIZIANAGARAM in AP

9.    VADODARA in GUJURAT

10. DEHRADUN in UTTARAKHAND

11. THANE in MAHARASHTRA

12. KALINGA NAGAR in ODISHA

13. TRICHY in TAMILNADU

14. ASANSOL WEST BENGAL

15. BARRACKPORE WEST BENGAL

16. DURGAPUR WEST BENGAL

17. HALDIA WEST BENGALS

18. HOWARH WEST BENGAL

19. RANIGANJ in WEST BENGAL

20. SANGAREDDY in TELANGAN.

 

EFFECTS ON HEALTH

1.    SHORT TERM EFFECTS

·       Irritaion to eyes nose & throat

·       Respiratory infections

·       Pneumonia

·       Headache

·       Nausea

·       Allergic reactions

2.LONG TERM EFFECTS

·       Chronic respiratory disease

·       Lung cancer

·       Heart disease

·       Pre mature deaths

 Air pollution contributes to the premature deaths of 2 million INDIANS every year. Unnecessary use of personal vehicles, instead of government facilities towards transportation & auto rikshaw & especially for chain smokers & the person who also detected as passive smokers due to inhalation of smoke. & etc.

·       The MELLON INSTITUTE in USA sponsored the first broad scientific study of SMOKE ABATEMENT, WHICH RESULTED IN LEGISLATION designed to decrease the effects of smoke. The WHO estimates that every 2.4 million people die from causes associated with air pollution.

·       The particulate matter suspended in air that is released into atmosphere when coal, gasoline, diesel fuels, wood are burned. & also produced by chemical reactions of nitrogen oxides. Health effects depends on several factors including the size and composition of the particles, the level& duration of exposure. symptoms may include persistent cough, sore throat, burning eyes & chest tightness. It also triggers asthma, & people with disease DIABETES MALLITUS, MALNUTRITION is also at increased risk. 

·       Ozone is mainly formed by the interaction of ultraviolet light with both nitrogen oxides and organic compounds. O3 exhibits potent anti-oxidant properties and induces alterations in the air ways that depend on concentration& the duration of exposure. 

On issue of crop burning that contributes to air pollution, the tribunal directed that activities like crop burning & burning of trash wood/leaves/debris for heating in winters to be strictly prohibited & violations panelized should be done for ECO-SENSITIVE ZONE, COASTAL REGULATION ZONE & GANGA FLOOD PLAINS.

IMPLEMENTATION done are

      i.          The government of India launched an ODD-EVEN RULE in NOV 2017 based on ODD-EVEN-ROTATIONING METHOD. Which means car running with number plates ending in odd digits could only be driven on certain days of week, & vice versa

    ii.          Indian government has committed to 50% reduction in households using solid fuel for cooking.

  iii.          Government of some states implemented measures such as tighter vehicle emissions norms, higher penalties for burning & better control of road dust.

But this is not aware in public & not properly followed & practiced regularly by people in India this has to be made very strictly in our country INDIA. Along with following duties…

1.    Mainly to reduce carbon dioxide emission. At least it has to be reduced 20 % & should reach net zero around 2040

2.    Farmers should be provided with a machine-like HAPPY SEEDER which converts agricultural residue to FERTILIZER.

3.    Clean up transportation sector by introducing 500-1000 electric public transport buses to its 5,50 string feet.

It can be prevented if and only if man should raise his voice highly to prevent pollution & depends upon us the living human beings.

 

To reduce air pollution

- Plant more trees along busy roads

- Choose low polluting models of vehicles

- Use CNG

- Use carpool& public transport or vehicles or bicycles if it is a short distance. 

BE A PART OF SOLUTION but NOT PART OF THE POLLUTION….

IF YOU DON’T KILL IT, IT WILL KILL YOU………

By,

Geetanjali Kallimath
Kaher’s Shri B.M. Kankanwadi
Ayurveda, Mahavidyalaya
Shahapur, Belagavi.

Isn’t Time to Redefine the Definition of Development? 'One look for the development instead of looking for the sustainable development'

In today’s world, everyone wants to develop whether it’s financially, physically, mentally or in anyway possible. Life is growing so fast that people are hardly getting time to even think about what are the consequences of the steps which they are taking for the country’s development. There are many sides of one phase and most of the times, we fail in understanding the importance or the significance of one scenario over the other. We as a citizen keep on shouting for the development of the country and at the same time we pressurise the government too for doing the development for us but have we ever asked the question to ourselves about what is the real development stands for or what is the consequence of the development if the steps for it has not been taken in keeping the future generation in mind.

Image source: 

Wittgenstein Centre

The definition of real development means the development which is taken in order to not just facilitate the today’s generation but also to provide the better future to our next generation. This helps to enhance the beauty of sustainable development by promoting it in every way possible. 

The topic of this article is about the question that whether it’s the need to redefine the meaning of sustainable development. So of course, the answer from any responsible individual to this question will be yes, it’s needed. But one has to even think that why it’s needed to redefine the meaning of development, whether the existed meaning is not sufficient or application or valid for this present generation then the answer is yes, it’s not applicable. The old meaning of development what we had is not so beneficial when it comes to actually practising in today’s world. This can be better understood by the example given. In older days, our ancestors never used to think about the effects caused by burning the fuels, by discharging the wastes in the water bodies, etc. Their focus was just concentrated on the development. But now our concern is not just about the development of today’s but even the problems which our future generation may get due to our bad deeds. The development is not all of constructive, it even has the adverse effects on the environment. Due to the exploit of the environment by either using the heritage or by damaging the trees or deforestation and using the animal’s fur or skin and all these sorts of things which contribute in harming the nature. These things should also be taken in concern in order to develop from all the aspects. The concern of the United States is also allocated majorly on this topic of sustainable development. Today is the world of competition and in this competitive world, everyone wants to develop but the development should be sustainable and positive from all the aspects. Development means to open up the new factories, transport, construction and many more. These things which are the key features to define the meaning of development is not sufficient to elaborate the need to even control the side effects caused by these things.

Development is not the short-term agenda instead it’s the long-term agenda which has the long-term effect on everything, whether it’s the nature, the country, the pollution measuring index and many more things. These criteria should also be kept in mind in order to promote the development which not only concentrate on the top layers of the definition of development but also on the deeper layers of the definition of the development. If our focus will be on just the burning of fuels, increasing the number of automobiles, increasing the number of factories then one has to even think about the consequences caused by it as this nature is our mother and it’s our prime responsibility to take care of our mother in the best way possible. The pollution is getting increased day by day and we can see the effect of it on the weather and the health of the citizens of our country. The new born babies are getting so many default diseases right from the birth, these all are happening as a result of the deeds which we are doing towards the country in the name of development. When the people call that they want the development then it means that they want the better life style but if these all are the things which we are doing for becoming develop then it’s sorry to say but it’s really good to still remain as the developing nation ,at least it will not affect the health and heritage of our nation. This thing can be better understood by seeing the things from the other perspective. Just imagine one has to take up the decision then he should take up that in order to keep the pros and cons of that decision in mind. If the pros are more than the cons then he should definitely take the decision but if the cons are more than the pros then he should not take that decision at any cost. This situation is similar to the scenario created in front of us regarding the development. Hence, it’s very much needed to redefine the definition of development. The development which will just cause the adverse effects on everything can’t be the right way to approach the real meaning of the development. So, it’s the high time for us to develop sustainably. There are many resources present in the nature and it can be categorised in many ways but let’s take up two categories of the natural resources which are nothing but the renewable and non-renewable resources. The renewable resources are those which can be replenished over the time and the non-renewable resources are those which can’t be replenished and take a long period of time for its manufacture. Many of the resources are non renewable resources and hence it’s needed to utilize the resources in the proper manner. 

The development is the important key to find out whether the economy of the country is growing well or not, this may contain the facts like whether that country has malls, infrastructures, construction sites, many companies, factories, etc. Well the people think that these things are the constructive phases of the economy and how can one say that these are the reasons of our nature to be in endangered!? But it’s really needed to understand that these things which seems good measures from outside or from the economy point of view also have adverse affects. One can’t say that the benefits of development is just concise to its positive effects and not the negative ones. The development has led the world to grow but one surely doesn’t want to grow in the environment which is polluted or which don’t have the beauty of nature. The finest example in front of our eyes which shows that just the development is not applicable instead one should expand the thinking beyond the scope of the development and make the earth a better place to live in and this example is shown by the capital of our country Delhi. We all know and have seen too that the pollution index of Delhi and Delhi NCR has got so high. People of Delhi are suffering from the air borne diseases like asthma, lung cancer, all sort of respiratory problems and many more. They are even forced to leave that place and to settle somewhere else in the country. Have we ever thought that why this situation has got emerged in our nation? No, we didn’t think about this. Actually, we never have paid attention to these sorts of things. The Delhi which is the metropolitan city, has all the livelihood facilities and services, inspire of all these people there are forced to leave that place. Delhi surely has the term called 'development' in it but it doesn’t have that environment which can make the life possible in its place.

Now the concerning question in front of we all is if we will run behind the development then we have to also ensure that the development is not causing any ill effects on the society and nature otherwise the places which will have so many scope to get the feel of urbanization will not have the single population who will be living in that place. The time is not that far when the whole country will have the disastrous situation like Delhi so we have to think before the thing goes out of our hand. We as a responsible citizen of the country have to think about the measures through which we can control the side effects of development and we have to even ensure that the nation should lead towards the ‘sustainable development.’

‘Development should not lead the settlement with the nature instead it should promote the betterment of the nature as well as the nation.’

By,

Aakriti Sharma

BMSCW

A WAVES OF CITIES HEADING TOWARD AIR POLLUTION CRISIS!

Over the past few months, a series of air pollution have set new records across Asia. Recently, air quality level has worsened in India creating public outcry with dire co consequences for large sweat of society. Specially in fine particulate matter (2.5) have caused closer of school, declaration of health emergency by State Government, demonstration by civil society and alarming media coverage. These recurrent episodes now happen every year like clockwork during the beginning of winter, aggravated by festive season. In our country extreme air pollution have become its own season, from October to February a major cause is burning to clear agricultural residue and forest in neighbouring state like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. This practices version the already Bad air quality levels caused by pollution from transports, energy and industrial sources. 


Extreme air pollution effect millions of people in densely populated region who are exposed to take toxic Smog for Weeks. Local Public Health experts estimates that by time kids come back from school they have been exposed to air pollution level equivalent to smoking 5266 in national capital region ACC to the world Health Organisation, is responsible for 7 million premature death worldwide each year environmental threat represent the second or third most serious risk factor for public health.

Recent report by health effect Institute highlighted that, if no additional measures are taken to change the ongoing regular air pollution crisis that from air pollution in India will rise from 1.1 million in 2015 to 1.7 million that annually in 2030 and 3.6 million death annually by 2050. Mortality and morbidity impacts translate into economic losses on India’s human capital and economy by UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and University of Delhi. 


“Besides air pollutions detrimental impact on our health, this out of proportion environmental threat also impact our economic, our food security, our climate and P/S exacerbates inequalities”, said SORAYA SMAOUN VNEP's Air quality coordinator. Air pollution and climate change our intrinsically linked, sincere pollution impact the climate and are often co-emitted with greenhouse gases. The report breathing cleaner air: 10 scalable solution for Indian cities was led by a task force of Indian and international experts. It outlined Solutions that reduce air pollution in our country, including agricultural open burning by turning crop Residue into to resource to produce fuel for electricity generation. 


Pollution level in country especially in Delhi peak to three year high. ‘The Ministry of Earth science air quality monitor, SAFAR said that Delhi ‘overall AQI reached as high as 708, which is 14 times the safe level of 0-50. Cities across the northern and eastern parts of India remain affected due to air pollution. A chemical pollutant dispersal model called SILAM (system for integrated modelling of Atmospheric composition), developed by Finnish meteorological institute indicates that plume of dust and smoke hanging over Delhi would travel toward east India, move into the Bay of Bengal and hike pollution levels as far away as Tamil Nadu. However, such a scenario has been dismissed by a scientist at the Indian meteorological Department. The deterioration in air quality over Delhi was blamed on pollution and adverse weather condition. This was primarily due to increased moisture from passing Western Disturbance (WD). It didn’t bring as much rain as expected, stalled winds and retarded the disbursal of pollutant. 


Metrology sailed a strong wind is expected to pick up and flush pollutant within the next 12 hours. The current extreme air pollution is a part of Global air pollution problem, which involves the transport and agricultural sector, household energy, industry as well as waste management practices. It coordinated effort led by local national government and supported by existing tools and international experience take in order to protect ourselves, economics and other planet from the detrimental effects of growing environmental threat. 

Furthermore, this year the Indian government join the climate and clean air coalition on the occasion of World Environment Day India's Minister of environment, forest and climate change, Prakash Javadekar then that India will work “to adopt cleaner energy sustainable production and consumption pattern” as well as “ environment friendly transport, agriculture, industry and waste management to promote clean air".


The breath life network a joint effort by World Health Organisation the UN environment programme and climate and clean air condition, is working with local and national governments to design of implement policies that improve air quality level in Widen area. Cities use breadth life as platform to share best practices and demonstrate progress in their journey to meeting World Health Organisation air quality targets by 2030 to build demand for new solution and ways to take action both locally and globally.

By, 
Muskan Upadhyay
Isabella Thoburn College

Bandipur Night traffic Ban -Will Lifting Ban Help?

The issue of bandipur night traffic ban is a bone of contention bw Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, where Karnataka and TN agrees with the ban and Kerala opposes it.
Recently, the forest fires that occurred in Bandipur National Park(BNP) led
to the huge destruction of around 2000acres which affected wide range species of flora and fauna. The cause being natural affect of forest fires and other factors such as irregular pattern of weather with extreme
conditions was also responsible for this event to occur.

Apart from natural forces, it is the Anthropogenic activities that are impacting the ecosystem in wide range. The BNP has been affected by number of anthropogenic activities such as deforestation, global warming, plastic infusion, smuggling of flora and fauna elements, pollution factors, habitat fragmentation and many more. Among all these factors ,the main threat which stands out is the vehicular movement through the forests which has been the main concern of BNP.

ABOUT BANDIPUR NATIONAL PARK
Bandipur National Park is regarded as one of the most beautiful place
located in the southernmost end of Karnataka. It is also a segment of the
Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
Bandipur Tiger Reserve interconnects Madumalai Wildlife Sanctuary(W.S)
in TN, Wayanad W.S in Kerala and Nagarhole National Park in Karnataka.
It was established with the aim to protect the wildlife of state of
Karnataka.
It consists of variety of biomes which includes dry deciduous forests,
moist deciduous forests and shrub lands. This is one of the finest habitats
of the Asian elephants and is also home for many migratory species and
endangered species.
Presence of wide variety of species makes this as one of the most visited
tourist place in India.
Issue of Bandipur Night Traffic Ban

RECHARGE WELL!! HOPE TO RAISE GROUNDWATER

In the recent years, Bengaluru has seen water scarcity as a major issue every summer. A report by IISc stated that Bengaluru is on the brink of becoming inhabitant by 2025.The rise of privately owned tankers delivering water has become a common sight as the borewells have run dry and most people are forced to pay four to five times the price of water and wait for a long time for the tankers to arrive.

As the Silicon hub has developed, the population has exploded to nearly four times in the 90’s. People have settled here in pursuits of a good career and the mild climate of Bengaluru along with the scenic lakes and greenery gives it the touch of perfection. Many eminent and prestigious institutes and colleges have also become the reason that it attracts a lot of students from the entire world and as we move on towards globalization, this will continue to grow.

But it seems that amidst all this development we have forgotten that the nature wouldn’t adjust to our needs. Since Bengaluru doesn’t have any running water bodies in a periphery of 100km around, our only source of water comes from the lakes which collect water during the monsoon. These lakes were made very strategically- they are all interconnected so that water is spread in the entire city and flooding doesn’t occur even when one part of the city receives more rainfall, which is very common here. However, with the increase in population, the privatization of borewells and inadequacy in maintaining the water sources, problems have started to become more prominent.
The reason for the increase in groundwater usage in India can be attributed to technological development in the last 50 years in the construction of deep tube wells, water pumping methods and has made large scale exploitation both economic and possible. At the same time as the agricultural uses have expanded, the support from government in the form of free electricity for pumping and easily available credits to set up tube wells has only increased the problem. Rapid urbanization and land use changes has decreased infiltration of rainfall and deforestation has also led to soil erosion instead of percolation of rainwater.

Karnataka in particular has been facing an issue of late monsoon and deficit water table throughout the year and the Cauvery water that was diverted to Bengaluru for household uses has been a source of discontent to the farmers residing in the other parts of the state as they haven’t been able to fulfill their agricultural needs and are demanding that something is done for them as the economy and their lives depend on their crops. The climate change has had such an impact on the monsoon that this year the rains arrived late and when they did, the rainfall recorded was five times than what it normally would rain in a day result of which was flooding in various parts of the state and a significant loss of lives and livestock. This did make up for the depleted water tables but with a very heavy price.

In this scenario Bengaluru is still suffering from less water availability. The poor standard of the drainage system in the city is to be blamed majorly for this. A lot of industrial waste discharge directly into the lakes resulting in polluted water which is neither fit for consumption nor for any other use. The problems are further aggravated when this water reaches other lakes due to the connected system and pollutes them as well. The foaming of the Bellandur lake is very infamous scenario in Bengaluru. While many citizens have become aware and are doing their bit, one can’t help but think why the authorities have been almost reluctant in stopping these industries from further polluting the lakes and why any initiatives are not being taken to clean our lakes and preserve them?

As a citizen of this city I feel that now it’s time we go back to the foundations that our forefathers laid and mix those ideas with scientific innovations from today to protect ourselves from this great catastrophe that we are encountering.
Stone inscriptions from as early as AD 600 have cited that kings used to spend a significant amount in construction of the ponds that helped the people throughout the year. With natural filtering many wells provided clean drinking water. Even today more than 50,000 wells are found in the country. Rooftop recharge of water is another common phenomenon seen in rainwater deficit areas of India.

Artificial recharge is a planned activity designed to replenish the water sources underground. Although its primary use is to preserve the water, it can also prevent surface runoff and disposal of flood waters, storage of water to reduce pumping costs, water quality improvement by filtration through the soils to remove suspended solids etc. In Karnataka, porosity in the coastal soil and connection to the sea means that less water is available than was injected. However, Bengaluru’s problems can be solved by these methods to a very large extent.

Some direct ways of recharging the groundwater can be classified based on the depth at which the aquifer is located. If the depth is shallow, water spread over a large field can easily percolate and get filtered through the various layers of soil and increase the groundwater. If aquifer is at a considerable depth, use of flooding pits and dug shafts can be beneficial. And if the depth is very high, injecting surface water directly into aquifer using borewells will be beneficial. Recharge through wells can be applied to all hydrological situations but the cost will be high and this will also require a lot of technological help. This is where the government can step in and allocate funds for these developments.
The role of percolation ponds has been appreciated in the farming community greatly and this is highlighted by the increased use of this technique.

Studies have highlighted that in the urban area almost all water needs are met with groundwater so it is almost impossible to ignore this aspect. While planting trees not only will help in avoiding runoff of water and increase surface water availability, they also help in transporting this water into the earth and fill up the water table. Water collected from rooftop harvesting can be transferred to a well below that will be a good source of water for the summer and avoid the running out of bore well water that again helps the rainwater to percolate and refill the ground water levels. Various apartment buildings can easily avail this method by a combined collection of money and setting up such tanks that cost around 5 lakhs.
In 2018, a project called ‘A Million Recharge Wells’ was launched by the Biome Environmental Trust and citizen network Friends of Lakes that aimed at rainwater harvesting and natural recharging of groundwater that can provide up to 400 million liters of water per day. This also aimed that increasing the water that reaches the aquifer from 10% to 60%. Such projects where the citizens and government collaborate can prove to be the ultimate solution of majority of water needs.
Rainwater harvesting can also help in reviving the dried-up lakes in Bengaluru. A strict law implementation can prevent the discharge of harmful pollutants into the lakes and make the water consumable. Also, flood pits can collect a lot of rainwater that will recharge groundwater effectively while avoiding losses due to flooding. Overall, even individual efforts will add up to protect us from running out of water. A proper recycling of sewage water can be an additional source of water and will benefit us. Mission Jal Shakti is based on these principles too, and its high time the matter is taken seriously in order to protect both nature and the living beings. Afterall, when we conserve water, we conserve life!

By,
Aastha Kamboj

Climate change : An alarming bell

I , like most other people have always loved nature but the only thought that makes me sad today is that, like all the others, I can’t help but prove to be a reason why climate is changing. Should I call it a way of earth to adapt to the conditions we’ve put it into? I don’t know. The only thing that I can assure you right now is that climate change is real and it’s actually happening. We can’t deny the fact that we have experienced it in some way or the other in our lives or have heard about it from someone else in the form of recent mishaps or how the weather has been changing. Climate change to be precise, is the bell that has been ringing over our ears for a very long time now and has become the main reason for global warming, water scarcity, garbage vomits on beaches and even forest fires.

To understand this better let us look at what all has happened across the globe since 2016. ​Disasters were all around us in 2016. Deadly earthquakes, life-depleting droughts, devastating storms, and unceasing wars are some of the worst disasters we haven heard much about. About 194 major natural disasters affected millions of people worldwide in 2016​. Some examples include food shortage in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, etc. ​From hurricanes to heat waves, 2017 produced countless headlines concerning extreme weather and the devastation left in its wake. Massive flooding in California, Heat wave sizzles in Australia, extreme heat melting the North Pole, Southeast Asia inundated by widespread floods, Western United States’ forests set ablaze are some of these. 2018 and 2019 were no better. Forest fires,droughts and floods were a common phenomena. This is sufficient to prove the misery of our dear earth.

What have we done about climate change? To be true we have only played blame games or denied its existence completely. One of the people in power said that “climate change is a hoax and the concept of global warming was created by and for Chinese in order to make U.S manufacturing non-competitive”. Talking about India here too it was said that “ Climate is not changing, it is we who are changing. If you are feeling cold that is probably because you are getting old.” Governments are controlled by MNCs but we, the general public control the MNC’s supply. They can’t supply more if we don’t demand more. It is not them who we can blame. Everyone keeps their monetary benefits as their priority and completely ignore their long term needs. We as commoners might think that it’s the MNC’s but we forget that the circuit is bigger than that. It exists at both macro and micro level.

Let’s talk about plastic in this case. The most important thing about plastic is that it is non biodegradable because it contains a lot of layers. More importantly plastic takes so much effort to get recycled that also if possible. Next thing it affects the fertility of land as well. Whatever is made out of plastic involves a process which emits high amount of CO2 which is obviously a curse to the nature. Use of plastic has become so widespread that there seems to be no perfect substitute that could replace it soon. Therefore it has to be understood that these companies make plastic because we demand it. Supply of plastic decreases the use of other biodegradable material (because plastic is cheap to produce), and hence keep the society away from sustaining the environment.

If we stop demanding these plastic bottles, drink tap water, refuse straws made of plastic and start using metal or bamboo straws, most of the plastic waste problem might reduce. Not just that. If we plant trees often, if we use recycled paper, it will lead to less deforestation, which is currently a major problem. According to statistics, amazon forests trees are being cut at the rate of 3 football fields per minute. This means around 2.6 billion trees are being cut in amazon rainforests every day, which is shockingly like the entire Indian population. We can start using rainwater for chores like washing plates hands or even flushing the toilet. We might think that what effect will it make if only one person does it. But if each one of us starts doing the same thing it will really have a huge impact on the surrounding environment. Moreover , we should always remember that there is a difference of togetherness between each one and only one.

This is all macro level understanding of the effects of climate change. At individual level also we are suffering. For instance there are problems like rise in temperature, seasons come late, too much rain at one place and too little rain at the other. The city I come from originally is a hill station that used to have high amount of rainfall every year, but now there is hardly any rain happening. This is true even for Bangalore. My grandfather used to tell me “It rains anytime in Bangalore” but can we see that now? Absolutely not. Ironically, it doesn’t even rain at the time it should now. Fresh water is reducing in quantity. We all feel the drift of climate and it is high time we accept our fault and start making up for it before it’s too late. Else the statement that the next war will be over basic necessities might turn out to be completely true.

It is not that we aren't doing anything about it . We have a whole set of deals that have been going on from the past 15 years. Starting from the kyoto protocol in 1998 to green new deal in 2019 many attempts are being made to bring the world together to work for the planet and its dying health. 143 months was the time given to us by the scientists to start the process of saving the earth or it would be too late. Climate change is a very serious issue and environmentalists all over the world are protesting and striking to make the people in authority to understand the same. Malika Vaz, marker lutin ​Hans Cosmas Ngoteya, Bertie Gregory, Alyssa Adler, David Lama, ​Julia "Butterfly" Hill​, Greta Thunberg are some amazing and inspiring people who are the real heroes for the earth and who are constantly working to make the change happen.

While concluding, I would just like to throw light upon how we can improve the conditions at occupational level. Scientists can come together and find solutions to remove plastics. Geographists can predict the conditions of earth and calculate the extent of improvement. Teachers can spread awareness among the students about the harm we are doing to the climate and what we can do to protect the earth from that harm. Entrepreneurs can make and sell products that are sustainable. Social workers can spread awareness. Politicians can influence people to work towards this common goal. Legislative bodies(lawmakers) can make laws to protect the environment. This is how by small contribution from every sector, we will be able to achieve what once seemed unconquerable- Revival of mother earth.

Image Source- https://www.volkswagenstiftung.de

By Yashika Tyagi

CHRIST(deemed to be university), Bangalore

Climate Change; An Alarming Bell

Climate change is nature’s alarm to human civilization. It can be defined as the statistical changes in the Earth’s climate system which leads to a change in the weather pattern. The term climate change is generally referred to as ‘global-warning’. Global warming is the warming of Earth’s temperature due to various reasons man-made or natural. This leads to the change in all the 5 elements of Earth’s composition that are the atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere. Climate change is a very complex issue that can’t be ignored. The statistical data has shown there is being already 1degree rise in Earth’s average temperature from the 19th century. Research and studies have shown that it would take only 2 degree’s rise in Earth’s temperature for us, that is the human civilization to lose the race against climate change and the consequences would be destructive and most importantly irreversible.

“THE TIME IS RUNNING OUT”, the causes of the global warming occurring on Earth leading to climate change are many and only our civilization cannot be blamed for this enormous problem standing right in front of us but as of now, we play a major role. there are various factors contributing to the problem such as: 

●       Changes in the solar radiation which means a hike in energy received by the Earth from the Sun could alter with Earth climatic conditions, the heat from the Sun gets distributed throughout the Earth’s surface by the ocean currents which by that means that more heat will get distributed on the surface and temperature would go up.

●       Variations in the Earths orbit around the Sun.

●       Changes in the reflectivity of Earth’s heat by the continents, oceans, atmosphere.

These causes are just the major natural causes; however, natural causes like the above mentioned have always existed and played there role in altering Earth’s climatic mechanism, also long before the existence of humans.

Therefore the main cause so far detected for global warming is the significant increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.

Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide(CO2), methane(CH4), CFC’s(chlorofluorocarbons) and HFC’s(hydrofluorocarbons) including few other gases, are such gases which have a certain property to trap and radiate heat, this phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect(the basic principle of keeping plants in a greenhouse as the glass walls of the greenhouse traps the heat from the Sun inside the greenhouse).

These greenhouse gases trap the heat which is reflected by the surface of the Earth into the outer space and thus rise in temperature and climate change is observed.

The rapid increase over such a short span of time in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, released by the industries and vehicles and other man-made activities has been an obstruction for the Earth and the nature to heal itself, as plants and some other biological species such as some kind of microorganisms consumes the major greenhouse gas that is carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and give out oxygen which is the necessary element of life form.

Carbon dioxide is the major player in heating up the Earth it constitutes almost 75% of all the concentration of greenhouse gases. The carbon footprint of us as a civilization is massive. Carbon dioxide is formed when carbon is being burnt in the presence of oxygen and we as of now majorly depend on fossil fuels as a source of energy. Burning of these fossil fuels results in the spike of carbon footprint throughout the course of time.

“THE Earth IS BURNING;" The consequences of climate change may not be as fast as to be observed by civil people busy in their daily activities, but are present and definitely worth paying attention in order to survive and save the planet. Some of the results of that is already happening and will happen because of human ignorance are:

●       The most devastating effect of climate change is the melting of polar ice caps which would eventually result in the increase in the average water level in the oceans all over the world resulting in disastrous tsunamis.

●       Hurricanes would also be more frequently observed as the atmosphere would be warmer as of now resulting in faster air and ocean currents.

●       There is no need to mention that Earth would hotter itself which would make the existence of some of the current species difficult or maybe impossible completely.

●       Also the maximum and minimum temperature throughout the planet would increase making life really tough to adjust and hard.

●       The changing of seasons, the rains, summer, and winter have shifted their timelines across the globe and if we go with this pace at some parts of the world in the near future winter wouldnt come.

●       Some if not all biological species would go extinct or endangered as they would not be able to adjust with the climate system in such a short span of time.

From analytical data, the temperature of the Earth is predicted to rise by 8 to 10 degrees in the next century with assuming our carbon footprint to be growing at the same rate as of know. 

IT’S HAPPENING HERE AND IT’S HAPPENING NOW;  The race against climate change can only be won by firstly excepting the fact that this issue exists only then can we solve the issue. There is more than one way in which humans contribute to increase the carbon footprint, dealing with these human activities happening both knowingly and unknowingly can significantly help the planet to recover itself, along with some helpful boosting measures to increase the pace of recovery of the planet.

Some of the effective measures are given below:

●       Reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels. This idea is very conventional and also very significant but fossil fuels make up for two-third of our energy requirement. So the real catch is to shift to an alternative energy source which also convenient and practical.

●       Consumption and utilization of energy, goods, and services with efficiency is the key to reduce the carbon footprint.

●       Population control; with less populated planet there would be enough resources for everyone on the planet and these resources can be efficiently distributed and consumed.

●       Planting more and more trees: as discussed above trees and plants are very efficient in lowering the carbon footprint and providing oxygen.

●       More practical and efficient methods of agriculture should be practiced as deforestation for agriculture increases the carbon footprint as trees are cut down but also destroys the biological diversity.

●       Investing in technology; that is to invest in new ideas about the alternative and new fuels such as using hydrogen as fuel which would be pollution-free and not lead to rise of planets temperature also technologies of geo-engineering to alter Earth’s geology to recover itself from climate change such as shielding it from Sun’s heat to some extent.

Climate change is a serious issue that is to be dealt by all of the world and the people together. The concern should be raised as immediately as possible and actions must be done in order to survive and save the home planet. We are definitely much slow on this to react but still the race is not completely lost but the clock is ticking fast.

Image Source: blog.sciencescore.com

By- Swapnil Bagde,
Student of Engineering,
School of Engineering and Technology,
Jain Deemed to be University, Bengaluru