Page 115 - Final Magazine 2019-2020.cdr

Climate Change

Jai Sanghvi (T.Y.B.Com.)

I think we all must go through a time when we procrastinate over important tasks thinking that
we have a lot of time in hand and when the deadline draws near we begin to panic. Climate
change is a similar important task that we humans collectively seem to have chosen to ignore.
There is enough scientic evidence that suggests that climate change is real and the same is
evident in recent natural disasters.

The past few years have given many subtle, yet alarming warnings that the worst is yet to come.

Never did our previous generations witness off-season rainfall or extreme heat or cold the way
we do. A lot of species are already extinct. Even the common sparrow is a rare sight these days.

In our lust for power and wealth we have forgotten that all problems cannot be solved with
money and one such problem is climate change. We need to stop and evaluate our way of life
as a species. What have we become? At what cost? What do we even plan to achieve out of
this? We need to reform and decide to lead a sustainable way of life in which Mother Nature is
respected and the spatial rights of other forms of creation are valued..

As strange it may sound, a large population isn't directly harmful to the environment, for
example a Software engineer in the USA contributes up to 40% more greenhouse gases than
40 farmers in Uganda. Rather, a population which just accepts the way the world works without

rational thinking is more harmful. Similarly, climate change directly may not wipe us off the
planet overnight, rather it is the smaller aspects related to it that no one pays heed to which
may cause our unexpected extinction. Apart from the usual effects of climate change like rising
maximum temperatures, declining minimum temperatures, rising sea levels, higher ocean
temperatures and shrinking glaciers, there are indirect consequences of climate change which
will affect us. It includes an increase in hunger and water crisis, health risks due to heat waves
and loss of biodiversity. Mankind need to awaken and arise before Mother Nature puts us to
sleep forever.

As has been rightly said, 'Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned
and the last sh has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money'. Climate change is a
global environmental problem. Unlike other issues, only a few individuals, sections or
countries can't solve it. World leaders must keep aside their political ambitions and personal
beliefs and ght this issue on a global level. It's high time that we address it lest we'll be way past

the time.

“A smile is a curve that sets things straight.”
(Phyllis Diner) 104
2019-20