History and Now - Is Climate Change Real

Throughout Earth’s History, ice caps and glaciers have grown and melted in response to changes in the Earth’s energy balance, what we refer to as ice age cycles. To understand more simply, ice or glaciers melt in summers and regain some or all of the loss during winters. The current melting of glaciers can therefore also be attributed to a natural phenomenon with no human involvement. However, unfortunately such is not the case.

As reported by Extreme Ice Survey, the difference between the summertime loss and the winter growth is negative and therefore most glaciers in the world are retreating. Simply put, the loss in ice during summers is much more than the gain in winters. Scientists in fact predict that by 2035 all of central and eastern Himalayas would be gone. The largest glaciers in the world are found in Antarctica and Greenland. If the Greenland ice sheet melted, the sea level worldwide would rise to 20 feet and in case of ice sheets melting in Antarctica, the sea level rise would be 200 feet thereby drowning the entire world.

Wilfried Haeberli, Director at World Glacier Monitoring Service claims that the average melting rate of mountain glaciers appears to have doubled after the turn of the millennium in comparison with the already accelerated melting rates observed in the two decades before. The previous record loss in the year 1998 has already been exceeded three times i.e. in the years 2003, 2004 and 2006 with the losses in 2004 and 2006 being almost twice as high as the previous 1998 record loss.

Have a look at the graph below:

Source : Extreme Ice Survey

In 2004, the carbon emissions stood at 8000 million metric tonnes which is equivalent to 30, 000 million metric tonnes of Carbon dioxide (a green house gas). Oceans can absorb only 30% of the total CO2, which is therefore also affecting the properties of the ocean water by acidifying it more thereby endangering the aquatic animals. With so much of CO2 in our atmosphere, the temperature of the earth is bound to increase, which would lead to faster melting of glaciers thereby increasing the rate of rise in temperature. It is a cyclical process of which we have become a part now.

Our glaciers are the most visible impact of global warming, however, we sitting in our comfortable offices and homes, far from the melting glaciers fail to realize this. Majority of us end up saying, “KYA FARAK PADTA HAI”. As we say, MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICE.

Climate Change and Action Sports

Jammu and Kashmir’s Sonmarg district organises an annual white Water Rafting Event. After the stupendous success of the first edition, 2009 was supposed to be the second edition of the Kashmir Cup. The event is organized every year in the month of July. However, this year the event has been postponed to August from the earlier schedule of July 12-19. AND THIS HAS HAPPENED BECAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE. The connection seems strange but if you look closely, it is very much apparent.

According to International Rafting Body, for any rafting event of international repute to take place, a minimum of Grade III rapids need to be formed. In the Sonmarg district, usually one can find Grade IV and Grade V rapids at this time of the year, but this year not even Grade III rapids have developed so far. This is happening because of less snowfall in the region and a delayed monsoon. Even India’s favourite rafting location near Rishikesh has received lesser than normal rainfall which is affecting the industry there leading to economic losses for the locals.

The climate change phenomenon has a certain paradox attached to it. On one hand it can cause excessive rainfall in a region, on the other it can also lead to little or no rainfall in the neighbouring region. This year as we can see, some parts of India have received some rain; the northern part of our country has received almost no rain. The reasons can be easily traced down to climate change or global warming.

The event which was supposed to happen in J&K invites participation from countries such as Brazil, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Slovakia and Canada. This year, it was all the more important to hold a good show as next year India would be hosting the water rafting world cup. This means more tourists coming to J&K bringing in more income for the people in the state. However, if the current state of events continue, it might just be difficult to hold such events in future.

Now, did anyone say, “Let J&K suffer, “KYA FARAK PADTA HAI”. As we say, MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICE.

Mayawati and Climate Change

In the heart of Noida, is being constructed a Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial and Museum with a total budget of Rs. 187 crore. The project is spread over 33 acres of land and as reported by HT, it is threatening the inhabitants of Okhla Bird Park and Wildlife Sanctuary. This fact is supported by a study conducted by Bombay Natural History Society which reports that that bird population in the park has fallen from 24,166 in March 2007 to 21,272 in March 2009 which is a significant difference of 2, 900 birds.

6, 003 trees have been cut for the project which would obviously affect the birds as they use these very trees for inhabitation and nesting. Permanent illumination system has been installed all around the construction site so as to aid construction at night and also to enhance the beauty of the museum once it is constructed. This is bound to affect the breeding cycle and the general behaviour of the birds because bright light through the day will make it difficult for them to distinguish between day and night. This is very similar to you travelling from India to USA and suffering a jet lag due to time difference. Moreover, the current construction work is resulting in an increase of temperature and emission of particles which are also harming not only the birds but also the human population living in the vicinity of the construction site.

Please note that this blog is not against construction or infrastructure development as it is extremely critical for a developing economy like India. However, we need to question the reasons for every construction. If the Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial and Museum would have added some value into the lives of people living in Noida, it would have still made sense. But as we see it, the museum is not expected to contribute in any manner to the infrastructural or social/cultural development of Noida and therefore our country. Rs. 187 crore could have been easily spent on fighting more grave issues in Uttar Pradesh such as poverty, education etc.

And even if Mayawati ji feels that it is extremely important to construct the museum, at least it should have obtained environmental impact assessment certificate. All the 6,003 trees as reported earlier were cut without permission. Ministry of Environment and Forests has made it mandatory for any construction project to get an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) done before going ahead with the construction. However, as it happens with majority of government schemes, the implementation in this case is also questionable. The criticism is not directed only at Mayawati but towards all those people who continue to defy the law and bribe their ways to obtain the certificates.

The government must tighten the norms because as mentioned in one of the previous posts, we must work towards the development of our economy in a green way. We should not stop any of the construction projects but at the same time ensure that the projects obtain EIA certificates. For if, Mayawati would have done a proper EIA, it would have been possible to not only construct the museum but also protect the Okhla bird park with the help of suggestions and recommendations coming out of the EIA report.

Now, did anyone say, “ Kya Farak Padta Hai.” But as we say, MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICE. Mayawati made hers.

Climate Change : G8 Summit & India

In the recently concluded G8 Summit held in Italy, one of the agendas was the world’s struggle against Climate Change. To keep climate change as the agenda of such an important summit is certainly appreciable but if it was kept just to show that world governments are concerned about climate change, then maybe it was not worth it. It would have been better for the G8 nations to focus energies on issues for which they seriously seek accountability and actionability.

The reason we say this, is because there is a significant divide between the developed and the developing countries on sharing the responsibilities to control green house emissions. In a decision which can put immense pressure on countries like India, G8 has called for the developing nations with much lower per capita emissions to undertake specific emission cuts. India’s per capita emission is 20 times less than that of the US which makes the call by G8 countries quite unfair.

It needs to be understood that there is a direct relationship between GDP growth and green house emissions. Since, India is a developing economy, as it grows; India’s per capita emission is bound to increase. This however does not mean that we make the transition to being a developed economy irresponsibly. We must as a nation take all the necessary steps to ensure that our per capita emission stays within the safe limit and we must develop our country in a green way.

What is more disheartening is that even though G8 countries have verbally assured to reduce their emissions by 80% by the year 2050, they have failed to define a specific roadmap on how to do it with no mention on any immediate or short term goals. This makes us believe that what G8 countries intend to do is to continue on their path of growth and put all the blame of global warming on the developing countries. This is very similar to their attitude towards nuclear weapons. “We can keep it but we have issues when someone else develops the same technology because we support world peace.”

In Copenhagen this December, all nations will meet to define a roadmap to a low-carbon world. US agreeing to attend the meet is a good sign, but if such an attitude as mentioned above continues to prevail, global warming would continue to threaten the entire world.

“It is mentioned in the blog that India’s per Capita emissions are lower compared to developed nations, however please do not take this as a sign to become careless and stop working for environment preservation. Even if someone does not wish to, let us not move away from our responsibilities.” Did you say, “ Kya Farak Padta hai”????

Water coolers v/s AC

If you have experienced the usage of water cooler in your home, you would agree with the fact that when it comes to cooling the entire house during those hot dry days, there is nothing that can beat a simple water cooler.

However, coolers work best when the levels of humidity are low. This is because when humidity goes up, the rate of evaporation goes down. And since evaporation causes cooling, high humid seasons make coolers less effective. And it is in these conditions that ACs work best.

Traditionally, May and June are ideal cooler months and as monsoon begins to come down during late parts of June and July, it is the ACs which begins to become more effective to fight the heat.

So, an ideal scenario would be to have one cooler and one AC at homes. Use the cooler during complete dry days and switch on the AC as and when the monsoon arrives. Moreover, people should try sharing the rooms thereby saving significant amount of energy. Unfortunately, such is never the case. Both people and the changing pattern of our climate are responsible for this. More so since, climate change is also a result of irresponsible human activities, ultimately it is only we humans who are responsible for wasting energy and in turn jeopardizing our future.

Let us look at what is happening to the weather pattern particularly with regards to the humidity levels. Have a look at the following table (source: TOI) which plots rainfall and relative humidity patterns for May and June for Delhi.

It is easy to observe that in almost all the years, the level of humidity for both May and June are above the normal relative humidity levels. As explained above, higher levels of humidity means low evaporation which means that water takes a lot more time to evaporate. What this phenomenon is doing is to make water / desert coolers less effective. People are therefore shifting to ACs and their usage is on the rise. These are dangerous signs.

It must be noted that an AC can only cool a particular room in which it is operating. So, if someone wishes to replace his one cooler, he would usually replace it with not one but two ACs. This therefore increases the amount of energy consumed which is also reflected in the monthly electricity bills.

Moreover, a cooler can run for an entire day and still consume less energy compared to an AC running for 8 hours.

Even if need of the hour is to use ACs, we need to see to it that we are using one responsibly. It is always advisable to set the temperature at 25-26 degrees so as to optimize the energy consumption. Also, while sleeping one should set the timer to about 5-6 hours thereby avoiding the unnecessary wastage. People should also try to share rooms while operating the AC. This would again help save energy. An ideal scenario as mentioned above is to use one cooler and one AC as and when required and with a lot more responsibility. This way one can help prevent a further rise in temperature due to global warming and within their own individual capacity contribute to the task of environment protection.

Did anyone say, “ Main do nahin teen teen AC lagwaonga, KYA FARAK PADTA HAI YAAR”

As, we say, MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICE.

What we need to do?

United Nations Conference on Climate Change is going to be held this year in Copenhagen, Denmark from Dec 7 – Dec 18. The conference is a sequel to the Kyoto Protocol which runs out in 2012. The new agreement which would therefore be a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol aims to cut down the green house gas emissions by between 25-40 % from the 1990 levels starting 2012 to 2020.

27 countries in EU have already agreed to cut down their CO2 emissions by 20% of 1990 levels by 2020 which they claim may go up to 30% if other countries start to contribute as well.

The USA which moved away from the Kyoto Protocol is now shifting directions and beginning to move towards a Green world under the leadership of President Barack Obama. On 26 June, 2009 itself, House of Representatives approved of a bill which aims to cut green house gas emissions by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020. Though it is still not a very high figure considering significant contribution of USA to green house gas emission, it is nonetheless, a step in the right direction and indicates a positive change in the mindset of the people, both in the government and the industry.

However, experts claim that even though developed economies have promised emission cuts, it would still reach only two-thirds of the target and the world would miss the minus 25% mark by a significant margin. It therefore means that it is extremely important for countries like China, India, South Africa, Brazil etc which were exempted under the Kyoto Protocol to start contributing to the task of environment protection.

The need of the hour is to define a framework under which emission cuts are planned out ensuring the involvement of all the parties involved including the government, the industry and the common people. As India makes a transition from being a developing country to a developed one, it is important that we do not commit the mistakes as done by the developed economies like USA or countries under EU. We should rather choose the Green way and set a benchmark for the rest of the world.

However, we cannot achieve this unless each one of us realizes the importance of going green, unless environment protection becomes a choice for all of us and not a compulsion.
As we write this, we see someone there saying, “United Nations conference on Climate Change..huh! Kya farak padta hai, It is not happening in my home”.

As we say, MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICE