Global Warming

global_warming[1].jpg

A Silent Threat

Aha ....

Finally you found out some time .
I am thankful to you, for showing some concern for our Beautiful Earth ....

Just look below ...




 

Wow .... Have you seen any other planet as beautiful as that ? ... Well, i haven’t ...and please don’t tell me that Yes Chandan, I have ..because then i will conlude that aliens certainly do exist in the universe ;-) .

But the big question here is that, is she gonna remain so beautiful forever ? ...the answer unfortuanately is in our hand . Earths fate is in our hand and our fate depends on her fate . So we don’t have a choice ..we have to protect her from falling ill . That’s the planet where we live & That’s our only Home !!!

“Chandan,what the hell a r e you talking about ? ...have yo u turned into some kind of a crazy philoshopher ?? ...Stop fooling around .I am aware about the milky way and stuff...done that in school days ....come to the point ..i am a busy person “ ....

Okay then ... let me tell you about something you are not completely aware of ...

I am talking about the End of The World ...I am talking about the biggest (silent) threat that each and every living organism on this planet is facing ...its bigger than AIDS ..its bigger than CANCER..its bigger than POVERTY.......

I am talking about GLOBAL WARMING.......

Here I go ....

Why are we talking about Global Warming?

Because.......

We sweat at 7am these days (without exercising).... {Unless you are a very rich guy and have centralised Ac right from your home to your office ....}

What is Global Warming ?

Look at the image below.....

Do you know what that blue layer around the earth is???

It’s our Atmosphere ... it’s a thin layer of greenhouse gases that surrounds the earth and protects us. Without it we would not exist on this planet.

Global warming is destroying that thin layer every single day..!

Greenhouse gases include in the order of relative abundance water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. The majority of greenhouse gases used to come mostly from natural sources in the past but these days it’s majorly contributed to by human activity.

“So ! ...so ...What happens..???.....”

Let’s imagine that it’s a nice cool day, a perfect day for a hangout with friends. Since it’s a bit cold out there, you decide to wear a pullover so that you can feel comfortable when you go out.... you know that by wearing a pullover you will be able to maintain a proper balance between your body temperature and the outside atmospheric temperature.

Ok fine...That’s how every normal human being will evaluate the situation. But since we are imagining here...Let’s say that instead of that pullover you put 10 thick & full sleeves sweaters and go out.....Your life would turn out to be a living Hell..... Am I Right???

That’s it, In case of earth (from above silly example), those pullovers/sweaters are the Atmospheric layers and your body is Earth itself.

Increasing amount of greenhouse gases because of human activities are thickening the atmospheric layer everyday... because of which the major portion of the Sun’s heat is trapped within the earth rather than radiating back to the space.

That’s why we sweat at 7 am in the morning...because temperature of earth is only increasing...

This is Not normal guys...this isn’t a topic that can be neglected ....just think a while before reading further and try to imagine the possible consequences of such a dangerous phenomena.

India & Global Warming.

  • Glaciers:
  • Gangotri glacier that feeds Ganga is melting at an alarming rate of 34 metres per year. This is an alarming rate!
  • This will affect Water supply, irrigation and hydropower directly or indirectly influencing lives of millions of people.
  • Ganga sustains 500 million people. India could face a loss in GDP as high as 9-13 %.
  • On average, glaciers in India have been receding at the rate of about 15 meters (about 50 feet) every year.
  • 10 % of the large rivers run dry every year before they reach the sea level.

Recollect the monsoon of 2007. Almost every state in India witnessed floods due to heavy rainfall. Millions of people were homeless and many lost their lives.

And let’s not even talk about the summer ...I could not imagine when the news channels flashed that the temperature of Srinagar Hits

46 Degrees!!!! ...People in Himalayan regions like Srinagar have started using Air Conditioners.

In 07, at least 490 people have been killed and 50 million affected by the floods hitting northern India , Bangladesh and Nepal .

Don’t you feel something is going terribly wrong with our environment?

Rising Sea Levels: Again have a look below....

 

Enlarged View

The above pictures show the two islands in Suderbans, Lohachara and Suparibhanga that have already vanished over the last three decades due to rise in sea levels .

Scientist predict that a dozen will disappear in next decade.

Rising Sea levels is also a very big threat to modern cities like Mumbai.

Goa may lose 3% of its land in next decade due to rising sea levels ...and places like Andaman & Nicobar, Sri Lanka...Etc may one day vanish completely.

Well the list of disasters caused due to changing environment is endless. Look around yourself and you will find signs of global warming everywhere. Wildlife extinction {30% of amphibians, 23% of mammals, 12% of birds are under threat of extinction}, new diseases, unbearable heat, rise in insect population, smog.......etc are some more causes of concern for India and rest of the World.

“hey, Chandan,you know what , global warming is not that bad after all...don’t you recollect the number of times(in 2007) the Indian Cricket team was prevented from losing a match due to an unseasonal rainfall on the ground ... ..... “

My answer...... “Well I think that it’s one more sign of climate change and not a thing to get happy about “.

Who’s Responsible?

The most intelligent & brilliant...The most educated...The most creative... the most successful species on this planet or may be in universe ..........THE HUMAN BEING.

Is it not strange that despite of having education and intelligence we still somehow are not able to understand our responsibilities towards our environment....?

We somehow are unable to understand that no matter how much money we earn or no matter how much success God bestows upon us in our lifetime...If we don’t get water to drink and food to eat...Human race would eventually die and vanish from this planet.

Some may argue that they don’t care...because before any such catastrophe hits our planet they will be long gone (died)......

I don’t understand that how any human being can be so selfish...

Don’t we want our future generations to survive.... and live a healthy & happy life ...why are we digging a GRAVE for them....?????....

One Very BIG Misconception:

From my childhood days ...I knew that Earth will die some day ...may be after billions of centuries from now......

I was wrong! ...my misconception was broken by a report released by U.N in 2007...

It Said:

We have just 8 years to contain global warming”.

Just 8 years! Ridiculous!..What are they saying??..... How can earth detoriate in such a short span??? ... How is it possible that in just 8years we would start experiencing unsurvivable conditions on our planet??...How...??

I could not have neglected this Comment by U.N ... because U.N has top climate scientist of the world to defend their report...

I looked around myself ...and I saw that scientists were right, disasters had already begun.... Millions and millions people are dying every year due to hurricanes, new diseases, draughts, floods...... etc...

Every thing was in front of me......We have been emitting Greenhouse gases (due to our daily life activities) to such a great extent that we now face a threat of getting extinct.....

I was ashamed of my education ...my intelligence and my way of living life.....

I decided that I will try to change...I will try to live a more responsible life from now on....

I decided to reduce my CARBON FOOTPRINT.

How Can We Help?

Reduce your Carbon Footprint.......

What is carbon foot print??

A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.

“Hey Chandan ...wait a sec ... a single person can’t really make any difference ...can he? “

Do you know my friend that your and my house emits 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. Every device that is used to heat, clean, entertain or generally make life comfortable emits CO 2. Even the food that we eat can make a difference in the amount of CO 2 emitted.

Look at the chart below

Simple things that you and I can do to reduce our carbon footprint...

 

  • Bring down your Electricity Bill ...

Logic: Most of the electricity that we use daily is produced by burning coal somewhere. Burning of coal produces CO 2. So if we control the wastage of electricity, less coal will be burned.

 

  • Use CFL’s instead of traditional bulbs.
  • Use alternative energy. (Like solar energy).
  • Use appliances with high energy efficiency. Before you buy (in India ) an appliance next time, look for the label below.

Conserve water /don’t waste water.

  • Plant a tree.
  • Keep tyres of your vehicle inflated properly.
  • Use more public transport/carpools.
  • Eat vegetarian food if possible.
  • Buy Home grown food products and not the ones which are imported because lots of CO 2 is emitted while importing/transporting them to your country.

These were some of the very basic responsibilities that every human being can take.

To know more: visit the link http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_actionitems.asp

Final Thoughts ...

Finally I leave it up to you to decide... It doesn’t take much according to me to protect our home ...THE EARTH.

We just have to live our daily lives.......... more responsibly.

This problem can be tackled at this stage. Don’t just feel concerned .......do something about it.

Let’s Act........ before it gets too late.

Writen By: Chandan Motwani


Home | Climbing | Trekking | Mountaineering | Marathon | Cycling | Updated 31st Dec 2007