The human species is on the brink of the biggest catastrophe since its existence. And ironically it is doing too little to avert the catastrophe it is vehemently attracting itself.
The momentum by which global warming is taking place may actually wipe out our entire species by the next century! Considering this, we should be frantic in our efforts to slow down, if not stop, the damage altogether.
How it all started: With Man assuming that ‘Surplus means Power’.
Really.
Man started out being a hunter/ gatherer who worked in cooperation with the community and gathered, shared, bartered, consumed only what was needed. That Man knew that Nature was more powerful than he could ever be. He was in harmony with the mountains, the forests, the mighty animals that roamed in his surroundings.
The day Man realized that agriculture meant surplus and that the more he had, the more he was wealthy and powerful, brought phenomenal changes to Man’s way of looking at his brief life on the planet.
The Intent to Take, to keep for self, to store, then took the driving seat. With this intent, Man invented fuel guzzling machinery to make the tallest buildings, to drive the fastest car, to fly the first mission to the moon, to develop the deadliest bomb, to control others, to manipulate them with just about anything that he could think of.
All attempts at ‘modernity’ scoffed at the consequences to the planet that nourished man. The mighty animals either died or landed up at the zoo. The mountains were torn through to make highways for fume spewing vehicles, the forests were cleared to make factories, houses and more concrete jungles to feed the Surplus Circus.
Soon, the smoke emitted began to deplete the protective layers of the atmosphere. The harmful rays of the sun began to heat up the planet and that was recognized as global warming.
If global warming continues at its present rate, the world will have serious fuel, food and water shortages, floods, hurricanes, disease, war and death by the next decade. In fact, by the next 10 years, higher sea levels from melted glaciers will gulp down initially the little Pacific islands of Tuvalu, Kiribati, Palau moving onto Maldives, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and even parts of West Africa in the consequent decades. It is roughly estimated that by 2050, some 200 million ‘climate refugees’ will live a highly difficult life on an impoverished planet.
What now?
So if all of this has been figured out, surely Man can now work to change the way he thinks. Paradoxically, the answer is still a NO.
With all ground breaking research, facts, figures, nightmarish predictions right there, the ‘superpowers’ and the wannabes are still in denial!
Man’s intent to Take unceasingly and irresponsibly still reigns supreme over the benevolent intent to Give. The Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December 2009 was evident of this.
An attempt to bring the global heavyweights together for a consensus on reducing carbon emissions was made in this summit. Copenhagen is a city with roads teeming with bicycles and eco friendly buildings abound. But the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit saw 1200 limos and 140 private planes landing into the venue that witnessed an inconclusive battle of swollen egos from around the world. France alone ordered 42 limos. The limo rental companies didn’t have enough so they had to order extra cars from as far as Germany.
What a shame! All that fuel could have powered something actually worthwhile than a holiday gala with caviar chomping bureaucrats who had intended from the outset not to acquiesce a millimeter of their stance.
And though 40% global emission cuts by 2020 are an absolute must, many countries were not moved enough. China, the world’s biggest polluter, refused to commit to specific carbon reduction figures or time plan stating that it didn’t want to slow down its economic growth which was sustaining its population. Same was the case with U.S.A., the pioneer polluter of all times, and India; another major polluter of the region. The European Union offered the biggest cuts of 30% among all the industrialized nations, and yet it did not specify a time frame by which the cuts will take effect.
The Summit would have been grand fodder for climate change protestors, who also came from around the world to Copenhagen, if the political leaders had not drafted jingoistic pledges at the last minute which read as simply as ‘We must prevent deforestation’.
Ironically, USA and many other countries feel that the real threats will start emerging in 2050. So then the next generation can figure out what to do in a dying planet. Till then all’s hunky dory in Hedonville.
photo credit: p_v a l d i v i e s o and Joel Bedford
References:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6736517/Copenhagen-climate-summit-1200-limos-140-private-planes-and-caviar-wedges.html
http://www.anthonyalbanese.com.au/news/940/index.html
Solutions to the Climate Crisis; Rina Saeed Khan; Images, Dawn Newspaper January 10, 2010.
Why India cannot Deliver on Climate Change; Aaker Patel, The News; January 10, 2010.