P
Pranay Shome
Guest
Climate change has triggered a crucial question regarding humanity’s faith-Are we moving towards our grave?
Climate change, the word speaks volumes of how our perception towards our existence is shaped by exogenous forces.
It refers to the change in weather conditions over a long period of time, normally 35 years.
Climate change, today is the biggest threat that humanity faces today.
Climate change has, undoubtedly become an existential issue for every human being today, it has put our collective survival at stake.
Cyclones, immense heatwaves, typhoons, drought triggering crop failures are all a part and parcel of this climate change after effect.
So, who is to blame for this mess and are we really moving towards our grave?
Let’s be honest about one thing-industry is necessary. Without industry human beings’ might never have lived the comfortable life that we are experiencing today.
The Industrial Revolution took in place in England in the 18th century, it changed the face of that country.
Eventually Industrial Revolution spread to other countries of the West making them far superior in terms of technological advancement and economic prosperity.
The Industrial Revolution also produced the tools that the West used for colonizing other countries-namely Guns, Germs and Steel.
However, one after effect of the first and then the successive industrial revolutions in the West is the massive production of green house gas emissions.
It was this mass production that contributed to the eventual warming of the planet.
Today it is ironical that the West asks the other countries of the world to jettison the use of fossil fuel based energy sources.
They themselves have messed up the climate.
It is high time that they own the moral responsibility for this mess.
They must provide the lion’s share of the $100 billion climate finance goal envisaged under the Paris Accord of 2015.
Last year Moscow, the capital of Russia experienced temperatures above 35 degrees, Saudi Arabia experienced snowing.
This year the Europe experienced and is still experiencing an immense heatwave throughout the continent. Temperatures have soared to over 40 degrees in Italy, UK, Belgium etc.
America is boiling, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, “We have entered an era of global boiling”.
All these freak weather phenomenons have triggered a debate on whether we are doomed.
Perhaps Yes, humankind had never learnt to care about nature, we are a rapacious species who have proliferated the planet like anything.
Yuval Noah Harari in Sapiens-A Brief History of Humankind notes that be it in Africa, Australia or Asia whereever we went, we wiped out, in massive numbers, flora and fauna of those regions.
Nature has been ravaged, we have messed up the planet in our goal of better life.
Not exactly better life, but life which is anti-nature.
But no, I believe we aren’t really doomed.
People may feel otherwise, but I sincerely believe that despite grim signs that global temperatures rising inevitably we can collectively pool our resources and improve our Earth, we will rise to the occasion.
But then the question remains-are we moving towards our grave?
The post Are we Moving Towards our Grave? appeared first on The Jaipur Dialogues.
Continue reading...
Climate change, the word speaks volumes of how our perception towards our existence is shaped by exogenous forces.
It refers to the change in weather conditions over a long period of time, normally 35 years.
Climate change, today is the biggest threat that humanity faces today.
Climate change has, undoubtedly become an existential issue for every human being today, it has put our collective survival at stake.
Cyclones, immense heatwaves, typhoons, drought triggering crop failures are all a part and parcel of this climate change after effect.
So, who is to blame for this mess and are we really moving towards our grave?
Industrial Revolution in the West
Let’s be honest about one thing-industry is necessary. Without industry human beings’ might never have lived the comfortable life that we are experiencing today.
The Industrial Revolution took in place in England in the 18th century, it changed the face of that country.
Eventually Industrial Revolution spread to other countries of the West making them far superior in terms of technological advancement and economic prosperity.
The Industrial Revolution also produced the tools that the West used for colonizing other countries-namely Guns, Germs and Steel.
However, one after effect of the first and then the successive industrial revolutions in the West is the massive production of green house gas emissions.
It was this mass production that contributed to the eventual warming of the planet.
Today it is ironical that the West asks the other countries of the world to jettison the use of fossil fuel based energy sources.
They themselves have messed up the climate.
It is high time that they own the moral responsibility for this mess.
They must provide the lion’s share of the $100 billion climate finance goal envisaged under the Paris Accord of 2015.
Are we Doomed?
Last year Moscow, the capital of Russia experienced temperatures above 35 degrees, Saudi Arabia experienced snowing.
This year the Europe experienced and is still experiencing an immense heatwave throughout the continent. Temperatures have soared to over 40 degrees in Italy, UK, Belgium etc.
America is boiling, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, “We have entered an era of global boiling”.
All these freak weather phenomenons have triggered a debate on whether we are doomed.
Perhaps Yes, humankind had never learnt to care about nature, we are a rapacious species who have proliferated the planet like anything.
Yuval Noah Harari in Sapiens-A Brief History of Humankind notes that be it in Africa, Australia or Asia whereever we went, we wiped out, in massive numbers, flora and fauna of those regions.
Nature has been ravaged, we have messed up the planet in our goal of better life.
Not exactly better life, but life which is anti-nature.
Conclusion
But no, I believe we aren’t really doomed.
People may feel otherwise, but I sincerely believe that despite grim signs that global temperatures rising inevitably we can collectively pool our resources and improve our Earth, we will rise to the occasion.
But then the question remains-are we moving towards our grave?
The post Are we Moving Towards our Grave? appeared first on The Jaipur Dialogues.
Continue reading...