Let’s Redefine Development To Save Life On Earth

Recently the temperature in Russkoye Ustye, a village in Siberia, the temperature hit over 31* C. Not long back people used to ride snowmobiles in June here. The town of Verkhoyansk recently touched 37C. This place is known for its cold temperature record of 42C below zero in 1892. There’s news that lightening claimed around 150 lives in
less than a week in Bihar and more in UP.

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The number and intensity of storms and hurricanes have increased considerably in recent times. The news of cases of wildfire in Australia and the US was prominent a few months back. Strange things are happening around us because of climate change or Global warming.

Let’s try to understand what global warming is.

Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide and other pollutants collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation that have bounced off the earth’s surface. Normally this radiation escape into space, but these pollutants which can last from years to centuries in the atmosphere trap the heat and cause the planet to get
hotter. That’s what is known as the greenhouse effect. Scientists have warned that warming of more than 1.5*C above pre-industrial levels (and two-third of this rise has

occurred since 1986) would have devastating effects on the world climate. If the current trend continues, we could breach this threshold by 2040. The twenty warmest years in known history have occurred in the last twenty-six years. The frozen ground or PERMAFROST lies just below the surface across much of Russia. Arctic permafrost is ground frozen, covers an area over twice the USA’s size, spread across Siberia, Alaska, etc. It holds around 1600 gigaton of carbon, which is twice the amount in the atmosphere. With climate change, permafrost is thawing, releasing methane which is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Permafrost thaw driven by global warming can multiply emissions by 41%.

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The current rate of rising in GMSL global mean sea level is greater than any time in the last 2800 years. If the complete ice of Greenland melts, it would add 20 ft. to the height of the global sea level. West Arctic ice sheet, which is vanishing faster would add another 10 ft. Antarctica has been losing about 134 billion metric tons of ice per year since 2002. Do you know that 14.50 crores people worldwide live just three ft above sea level!? Ten percent of the world population (eighty-five crore people) live less than 30 ft. from the present sea level! Eleven of the sixteen megacities (those with more than 1.5 crore people) are built on sea coasts. Jakarta, Los Angeles, Manila, Mumbai, Osaka, Shanghai, and Tokyo are the few names.

Among other calamitous results of the sea, ocean warming is acidification. It severely affects phytoplankton, which produces half the oxygen we breathe. Over 42 billion tons of greenhouse pollution is dumped worldwide into the atmosphere every year. Co2, now measured at over 400 ppm (parts per million). It’s almost a 65% increase over pre-industrial levels. There’s a report that the atmospheric carbon concentrates will rise to
nearly 800 ppm by the end of this century.

Climate change encompasses not only rising average temperature, but also extreme weather events. Forests and cities will face troublesome new pests and increased flooding, which will destroy agricultural and fisheries. Allergies asthma, infectious pandemic outbreaks will become more common due to increased growth of pollen- producing ragweed, a higher level of air pollutants, and the spread of conditions favorable to pathogens and mosquitoes. Heat, stagnant heat, increase the prevalence, intensity, and duration of wildfire. They have a lasting impact on air quality, resulting in a 40% increase in organic carbon and a 20% increase in elemental carbon aerosol
concentrations.

Lightening is the oldest observed phenomena. Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere between clouds, the sky, or the ground. Energy from a lightening channel heats the air briefly to around 50000*F. It is hotter than the surface of the sun. Lightning hits the ground somewhere in the world about 100 times every second. That means 8 million times per day. It’s expected to increase by 12% per degree Celsius of warming. It’s positively correlated with surface temperature. More lightening means more ozone, which is a potent greenhouse gas.

Higher concentrations of CO2 stimulate carbohydrates, producing starch and sugars affecting widely consumed crops including barley, potato, rice, and wheat. It also lowers the level of plant protein by 15%. An increase in atmospheric CO2 also depletes calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, and mineral levels in plants by 10%. Higher sea
surface temperature will lead to higher mercury concentrations in seafood. Stormwater runoff will introduce contaminants into the whole food chain. So, what can be the solution?

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The most important change to be brought in is to cut down our consumption levels drastically. Development should be redefined. It should not be linked to materialistic possessions and big economies and the GDPs of the nations.

It not only harms the Mother Earth but also creates wide holes and discrepancies among the whole societies of the world, which creates an unhealthy competition among human beings. Human development in harmony with nature should be our primary and only focus. Only this approach can save us from the doomsday which is reaching us at a fast pace. It’s our choice whether to face it or to overlook it.