“I don’t think we will be able to survive the next 1,000 years without venturing outside earth.”
This statement was made by famous scientist Stephen Hawking in view of climate change, he further said that this was the reason he encouraged everyone towards space science.
Take a Look at These Two Images Separately...
Take a look at the two pictures while bearing in mind the above statement. The first picture is of America, the one next to it is of a place which is 15,000 miles away in Australia. Since the 4 January bomb cyclone in America the temperature has been constantly dropping. At one point it was as low as -40 degrees.
Rivers, lakes and waterfalls froze and the streets were blanketed in snow. This is not an everyday occurrence. On the other hand, Australia is going through a heat wave. On 7 January, the temperature reached a scorching 47.3 degrees centigrade. Australia hasn’t seen a day this hot in 80 years; the last recorded highest temperature was 47.8 degrees. According to a BBC report, almost 200 weather records were broken between December 2016 and February 2017 in just Australia.
A Look At The Third Picture…
A blanket of snow on red sand in the Sahara desert, the largest, hottest and driest desert in the world. According to some reports they had almost 16 inches of snowfall.
These three examples clearly illustrate the state of the environment across the world, including India. Irrespective of where you live, you must have felt that temperatures across the country are slowly rising. The summers are getting longer and monsoons and winter are getting shorter.
According a 2015 report by Clutch of Indian and Global Studies, there has been a decrease in moderate rainfall. In central India, either there is heavy rainfall leading to floods or no rainfall at all. Essentially the climate’s temperament seems to be beyond understanding.
Agricultural Crisis
A study conducted by University of California in Berkley has claimed that during summers, when the temperature is above 20 degrees Celsius, an increase in just 1 degree Celsius leads to around 65 farmer suicides in India.
According to this report, climate change has caused about 559,300 farmer suicides between 1980 to 2017 in India. Pollution and climate change affect not just the yield of crops but their quality as well. The food we consume, the grains and vegetables, all have been affected.
America’s Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health published a report stating that excessive carbon dioxide in the environment is destroying the nutritional value of food crops, which consequently is affecting people’s health.
In 2015, carbon dioxide levels in India were found to be 14 percent above safety levels. With this find fears of widespread climate change were also expressed.
What Does All of This Mean?
Everywhere this is constant talk of a third world war, fights between America and North Korea, India and China; focus on this actual struggle across the world is somewhat low. The so called most powerful country in the world, United States of America, has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement signed by 190 countries, which brings to mind this statement made by Stephen Hawking :
“Trump's action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of 250 degrees, and raining sulphuric acid,”
(With inputs from IndiaSpend)
(The story was originally published on Quint Hindi and has been republished with permission.)
(We Indians have much to talk about these days. But what would you tell India if you had the chance? Pick up the phone and write or record your Letter To India. Don’t be silent, tell her how you feel. Mail us your letter at lettertoindia@thequint.com. We’ll make sure India gets your message.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)