CSR ESSAY CONTESTS 667 & 668

CLIMATE CHANGE: A WAKE-UP CALL

Have you ever seen the ever commonest tiny little bird called
sparrow flying past our houses and picking objects with its tiny
beak in groups? But it has now become a very rare sight to
even spot one sparrow. This has been a change I observed in
my lifetime of just 20 years. But there are many such changes
occurring at a macro scale all over the world. Loss of one
species leads to a cumulative effect on the next level
organisms in food chain and hence a macro scale change. And
these are the visible effects of climate change.
Why should climate change bother us? Unlike weather
changes which happen day-to-day, climate change is over a
period of time. That means the change is not a temporary one
but a permanent with lasting effects, ranging from melting of
glaciers to submerging of islands to various natural calamities
caused by human actions. And these effects of climate change,
threaten our very survival on this planet earth and also various
other species.
The current global warming trend is of particular
significance because, most of it is human induced and
proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1300
years. The global sea level rose about 17cm in the last century.
The rate in the last decade is double the last century. The mean
global temperature has risen. Of which the major heat has been
absorbed by the oceans with the top 700m of the oceans
showing warming of 0.302 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969. The
Greenland, Antarctic and the arctic ice sheets have declined in
thickness and area over the last several decades. Glaciers are
retreating almost everywhere. Since the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has
increased by about 30% due to increased release of industrial
effluents and increased heat absorption. All these direct our

attention towards the planet earth heading towards destruction

and demand an urgent wake up call.
Climate change is not a scientific term, it is a term used
by many from school kids to elderly people. Even the
uneducated farmer knows how the climate change has affected
his cropping system, rains, and droughts. The elderly
nostalgically reminisce the climate it was of their times. Inspite
of all this awareness no person feels responsible towards it. It
has been proved beyond evidences that human activities have
brought such a rapid climate change. Fog or smog in Mumbai is
a rare sight but a week back even at 9am there was heavy
smog with smoky smell, all due to the fire at the Deonar
dumping ground left unattended, unmanaged. It was of such a
high magnitude that the smoke was also seen and captured
from space, people suffered from various respiratory problems.
Every winter the cities where people come to find a livelihood
find their sicknesses due to the various kinds of respiratory
problems, allergies. The particulate matter which settles in the
alveoli creates many respiratory problems. The climate has
changed beyond degrees that every season is having its
extremes. People die of heat stroke, cold, rain due to extremes
in every season. Climate changes do not only affect the health,
and weather pattern, it affects the civilizations. Climate change
has been associated with historical collapses of heritage sites
like Harappa, Ancient Egypt and Maya civilization.
What is required now is an immediate action to
decelerate the pace at which the climate is changing. Each and
every individual can play a major role in this. Imagine if each
and every person is conscious about water wastage and saves
it, how many litres of water we can save, imagine if each and
every person is conscious about electricity and switches off
lights and fans when not in use, how much electricity and fuel
we can save, if we use energy efficient lights how much energy
we can save, imagine if each and every person is conscious
about the emissions emitted by the vehicles and shifts to public
transport or bicycles, how much pollution we can avoid. Every

drop, every effort counts, then why not that step starts from
me.
The biggest threat to our planet Earth is the thinking that
someone else will come and save it. Robert Swan
The delegates of 196 countries of the world gathered
to arrive at a climate agreement in Paris on 12 December 2015.
The main aim agreed upon was to limit global warming to well
2degree Celsius to 1.5 degree Celsius if possible. The
agreement will be legal instrument under which all countries
will pledge to lower emission of greenhouse gases and take
actions post- 2020 to deal with climate change. A major change
would be to shift from fossil-fuel based energy to natural like
wind, solar and biogas energy to save fossil fuels. This will not
only reduce the emission of greenhouse gases but also limit the
rise in global mean temperature.
We might be divided as nations, race and ethnicities
but lets not forget one challenge that faces us all, that binds us
all and that is to save the earth. This is the only planet which
we have got for now and to preserve it for ourselves and for our
future generations is our responsibility. Every time you waste
energy unnecessarily and do environmentally unfriendly
activities, remind yourselves of the melting glaciers and the
distress call of the people in islands like Tuvalu whose existence
we are threatening for no fault of theirs. Lets wake up to the
reality and start the action.
Climate change poses clear, catastrophic threats. We may not
agree on the extent, but we certainly cant afford the risk of
inaction. Rupert Murdoch