Against the backdrop of a series of flash floods in several parts of India, Bikrant Tiwary wonders if we would treat the planet better now that the climate crisis has come home?
Be it Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Uttarakhand, the resources of India’s National Disaster Response Force are being stretched to the limit, in order to rescue stranded people and create safe spaces in regions devastated by floods. Houses have toppled over, lives have been lost, roads are waterlogged, crops have been destroyed, services have been impaired amid overflowing lakes, rivers, landslides and partially submerged villages and towns.
I learnt that there has also been flooding near the Jim Corbett National Park and over 3,000 people had to be evacuated from a barge on the Sarda River.
The Indian Meteorological Department has also stated that some parts of the Kumaon region recorded 403.2 millimeters (15.8 inches) of rainfall, and this is the highest rainfall over a 24-hour period ever recorded here. In Kerala too, rain continues unabated and hundreds of families have been displaced.
This is what extreme weather events look like. In densely populated, developing countries like ours, the climate crisis will have harsher ramifications than we can imagine and the crisis is already showing up in our newsfeed and in our streets.
Recently, an intergovernmental panel on climate change indicated that unless we learn from our mistakes collectively, we may experience a temperature rise of 1.5 degrees C in the near future.
But even before we reach that tipping point, we will pay with human lives, loss of biodiversity, degradation of flora and fauna and massive economic devastation every time there is a flash flood, a forest fire, a pandemic, a drought, a pandemic. Who can we blame for all this? Ourselves, most of all, because despite the obvious climate issues before us, we continue to plunder forests in the name of development, keep mining eco-sensitive regions, and continue to expand real estate activities in areas that cannot accommodate more environmental degradation.
Floods are so frequent now because we have encroached upon river banks. We have turned natural water sources into cesspools when ideally we should not be dumping garbage or effluents in rivers and oceans at all.
Somehow we don’t seem to see the link between our health and the health of the planet. For instance, the Northeast has seen a decrease of forest cover to the extent of 765 sq km and there is no widespread alarm. As a bio-geographic zone, Sikkim boasts rich plant diversity, varied plant communities and a forest ecosystem that influence the socio-economic as well as ecological wellbeing of rural communities. Rural populations in particular depend on wood, fodder, and other organic byproducts of a thriving forest life. And yet, thanks to acute anthropogenic pressure, increasing demands for wood, fuel and fodder, trees are now cut faster here than they can be planted.
Afforestation is critical for the protection of forest resources, livelihoods and the agriculture of the state and still we don’t seem to see that there is a connection between the climate crisis and our actions.
The health of the coastal ecosystem is critical and yet we do not protect it and that is why during the floods, all the waste and garbage dumped by us is thrown back at us by the sea. Mangroves across the coastal belt are being rampantly destroyed to make way for ‘developmental’ projects without any second thoughts, even though mangroves protect human habitats from floods.
Why is it so hard to see that nature is simply reflecting the cruelty and devastation that we impose on it? Is it so hard to understand that if we don’t fix the climate crisis in our lifetime, the future generations will have to deal with an uninhabitable planet?
Planting trees in degraded ecosystems, expanding wildlife habitats, creating carbon sinks in toxic urban spaces, raising levels of water tables should happen at a global lev. Change must happen at macro and micro level. The human disregard for ecology is already throwing up dangerous outcomes.
Let us please stop cutting trees in the name of eco-tourism and for construction activities because trees are essential for our collective well-being.
The human race can no longer veer between greed and helplessness. It is time for positive action because the planet will always cater to our needs but it cannot manage or accommodate our greed for more and more.
We can all start small and make a difference to the planet. Please do not throw garbage or industrial effluents in the rivers. Manage your waste responsibly. Don’t disturb the natural flow of rivers or the sanctity of water bodies. Whether you are an individual or an industrialist, do not harm nature just because it is convenient to do so.
Global warming is not an abstract global issue. It concerns each one of us. As individuals, corporations and nations, if we get rid of our greed, we will find our way out of the hopelessness we are trapped in currently.
Government regulations, corporate accountability, individual and social responsibility all have a part to play in managing this crisis. We have to understand that real change starts within and when we start acting responsibly, we will ask for accountability from governance, corporates and policy makers as well.
Blame games are futile and only accountability at all levels can protect us and the planet eventually.
(The author is the CEO of Grow-Trees.com, a web-enabled, cost-effective service for individuals and companies across the globe to help the environment by planting trees.)