There is a saying in Hindi –“Kshiti (Earth), Jal (Water), Pawak (Fire), Gagan (Sky), Sameera (Air), panch rachit yah Adham sharira”– The body is formed by these five elements viz. Earth, Water, Fire, Sky and Air. But what if there will be no balance in their combination? Can a healthy body-mind be formed? What would be the quality of life without a healthy body and mind?
We can understand it in this way also.
What do we do if we or someone in our family needs blood and an unknown person comes and donates blood? Are not we filled with gratitude? And what if, say after the blood donation his/her finger gets slightly cuts with a knife or surgical blade placed on the table? Shall we not try to heal and restore back his/her health? Today our planet is bleeding, why are we not yet awaken?
According to the Lancet Planetary Health Report of 2019, 1.7 million people have died due to air pollution 2019. The situation of water pollution is such that now people of semi-urban areas in India have also started buying water.
Our father, grandfather and forefathers never bought water, we are buying. Tomorrow our children might say “Our father and grandfather did not buy oxygen, we are buying”. Is it not a serious concern?
We pay the price of everything in one way or the other, but we do not pay for breath because to date nature has not asked for the price. But we should repay, if we plant just two trees in a year, then the breath can be secured. I plant a tree every year on my birthday, now friends have also started gifting me a tree on my birthdays. Can we all not plant trees, each one of us? Or do we want to shed our responsibility and hence lose our ownership even to oxygen like we did with water? If we do not secure our breath for tomorrow, then our future generations might not be able to see this beautiful world. A man needs five to eight trees to breathe. What is the ratio of trees per person in your city/ locality? Do we have a count? We can have an excuse that we live in the city, where will we plant trees? Can we keep your terrace green? We should. Who is stopping us?
In 2010, we experienced exceptionally high earth temperature and risen heat which has been increasing every year since 2014. 2014 was the hottest year. There was a time when only 0.1% area of the earth was hottest, today it has become 14%. The cold has started to decrease and the heat has started to increase. A few years ago, Kuwait temperature in July was 51 degrees Celsius, in August, many flying birds fell down dead on the ground after scorching from the sun. In many places, the alumna of the road started melting. In 2015, 2330 people died of heatstroke in India. On 28 May 2017, the temperature of Turbat city in Pakistan rose to 54 degrees Celsius. 93% of this heat rising due to global warming goes to the sea, the sea is getting hot and then the heat of the sea brings devastation by becoming tsunami and hurricane. This year, till June 2021 around 78 hurricane cases have been recorded, and it has caused damage of around 8 billion USD.
Surigae was the most terrible this year.
Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal in India was affected by a very severe cyclonic storm Yaas in June 2021, and for two days of its effects caused 2.40 lakh extra diesel consumption resulting in 633 MT CO2 emission by Telcom sector only. We can imagine the situation with other sectors as well.
If the temperature rises by one degree, the evaporation increases by 7%, resulting in unseasonable terrible rains. Glacier melts with heat and then floods. Unseasonal rains have become common for the last few years. The farmer is troubled by the weather. In 2014, unseasonal showers of rain occurred at the time of pollination in maize and wheat which resulted in crop failure. This year, the frost remained for a long time and rain extended during the harvest, and thus those who had sown maize early could not get their crops to pollinate well and fungus proliferated which resulted in poor price realisation for the farmers. The problem of insects in agriculture is increasing due to the heat- the larvae get ready quickly from the eggs and produce more offspring during their lifespan.
Simple and small changes in daily habits can bring a huge change, like not leaving the tap running while brushing our teeth, switching off electrical and electronic appliances after use. We need to be sensitive to our carbon footprint and wastage of natural resources at every single step. We need to plant a tree for our breath.
Some countries today treats 100% of used water and delivers 94% back to homes. Every country needs to adopt this model.
Greta Thunberg has launched a worldwide awareness campaign about the environment and climate change. The latest in many of her initiatives came when she arrived in New York to participate in eco-seminars aboard a yacht (boat) made of carbon fibre. She could travel by air but she chose the Atlantic’s waterway to contribute to reducing individual consumption. She has inspired millions and many more need to follow the example.
We are blinded by the illusory and fleeting pleasures of luxuries of life without caring for its carbon cost? Are we waiting for a carbon policy for each individual, family and society to forcefully restrict our carbon emission rate? Are we becoming machines increasingly at the disposal of external regulations?
Are we aware of the fabric of our dress? Can we not ensure both fashion and sustainability of our clothing by choosing fabrics that are recyclable and eco-friendly?.
The plastic around the world is going into the soil and water, it gradually becomes smaller as microplastic. And through food and water, it reaches our body. Are we still not aware of its health impact? It is full in the sea. Today more than 1 million species are on the verge of extinction. We do not care about its disposal while buying goods or using it for any other purpose. There is no extra taste in sipping the coconut water or juice or soda using a plastic straw.
Till a decade ago, many of us used to make a bag of old clothes that were used to carry household goods and vegetables. But today we proudly say, “carry bag please !!”, And the shopkeeper offers us a single-use plastic bag. In the last decade, we have become so dependent on plastic that in a single year we bring so many plastic bags that would take more than 100 years to get safely disposed of. About 13 lakh tonnes of plastic is reaching the sea every year through rivers and canals and is causing the death of more than one lakh aquatic lives. If we suspect the figures, then we just need to take a look at the sewer flowing in front of our house. Have we ever noticed our home dustbin? Ten per cent of the entire waste is plastic.
In the Eighth grade, we used to read that energy from the sun to the earth comes in the form of light, some part of it is absorbed by the earth and some part is reflected and some part is re-circulated from the earth which emits heat. But now due to increased air pollution, we are creating a thick layer day by day, due to which the heat energy received from the sun is not being returned and the earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Due to this, the soil is also losing moisture and the incidence of drought is increasing.
More than 90% of this heat energy is moving into the oceans, resulting in devastating storms, tsunamis, hurricanes and cyclones. This extra heat also disrupts the water cycle. When the ocean is heated, the amount of water vapour that evaporates increases, causing excessive rains to bring the flood. Statistics of 2021 till July says that we have survived 73 total tropical cyclones and it has caused damages of $ 5.67 billion.
Agriculture is highly affected by climate change. Production of maize and soybean crops has started to decrease due to exposure to high levels of carbon dioxide, many main crops like rice and wheat also get reduced nutrients.
We need to make the farmers aware of the effect of pesticides on the atmosphere and on health. Non-Pesticidal Management and Sustainable Agriculture techniques such as pheromone trap, bird perches, yellow board etc need to be promoted.
Most of the farmers do flood irrigation. Often the crop does not require that much water and the water is wasted. There is a need for technology like drip, sprinklers, rain guns that could reduce water consumption in agriculture by about 30–40%.
If everyone installs a groundwater recharge system for rainwater harvesting, it can always ensure drinking water availability.
The trend of ponds is coming to an end, People are building houses on it by filling ponds, pits. And now there are few ponds that are also under the threat of encroachment.
Now we must wake up the situation and work together. We need to understand that we are all sharing our earth, atmosphere, water and all-natural resources. We need to act now, and climate action is needed now, at this hour.
I am writing ‘101 climate actions’. Stay connected and let’s save our planets together.