तप रही है धरती, जल रहे जंगल कहीं, कहीं आ रहे भीषण तूफान,

             कहीं बाढ़ें, कहीं दरकते पहाड़, गिरते पत्थर ले रहे लोगों की जान I

             अगर मिल के प्रयत्न नहीं करेगा दुनिया का हर इक इंसान,

             तो नष्टभ्रष्ट हो जाएगा सब कुछ, और  कोसेगा हम सबको भगवान I

     Will humankind annihilate itself ?             

               

Our beautiful blue planet is turning into a hothouse like never before. Japan’s Tokyo registered a high of 40 degrees Celsius and more this summer killing 125 people. South Korea has been seething and sizzling under unusually high temperatures. Almost all of Europe is writhing with highest ever levels of mercury this hot season. California in the US of A has had 18 wildfires causing large scale destruction. The fires around Athens caused 91 deaths just a week back. Smog engulfs most cities of India and China most often, endangering health and lives of people. The destruction wreaked by floods is rising every year. Crops are failing and wilting under high temperatures and dengue and malaria are extending their reach to hitherto unaffected parts of the country including our own hill state. With green cover ever on the decline, hills being unscientifically cut and rivers being mined, landslides and floods have become ever more common and massive. Big boulders are tumbling down the fragile hill slopes  hitting moving or standing vehicles and killing people. Just this week  Kinnaur suffered a devastating land slide reminding us of Kotrupi last year. And several Kotrupis, big or small are happening and more still are waiting to happen. Three years back the Paris meet decided to bring down the carbon levels to 2 degrees Celsius below the pre-industrial levels. Have we? No. In fact the coal consumption has increased post Paris talks. Coal is the dirtiest fuel yet India’s growing economy consumes 80 % coal alone for its factories.

Who is to blame? Of course Britain and the rest of Europe to the largest extent. Europe led by Britain used coal to fire up their furnaces during the Industrial Revolution of the 19^th century, and got rich. Now when India, China and other developing countries are using cheap but dirty fossil fuels to ameliorate poverty, they are crying hoarse. Yes crying hoarse and even arm-twisitng the developing countries, but when it comes to helping them by making available cheaper technologies for reaping solar and wind power and providing funds for the switch over, they are looking the other way. Trump has already dumped the Paris pact. And as things now stand, the declared targets have not been met and pious proclamations have been honoured more in breach than in execution.

An article in The Economist (August 2 issue) titled ‘The world is losing the war against climate change’ is an eye opener. It says that in 2017 the demand for coal in fact rose (rather than diminish) for the first time in four years. Subsidies in solar and wind power generation have declined and investment has stalled. The global temperatures have risen and not fallen- bringing them to 2 degrees Celsius below the pre-industrial levels is a far cry. “Mankind”, it says, “is in fact losing the war.”

Happily, there is now a rapidly growing awareness in the people across the world of the precarious condition of this earth.  68 per cent of people in 38 countries according to The Economist perceive global warming as a major threat second only to the Islamic State inspired terrorism. In America most of the states have dumped Trump and are in favour of the Paris deal and enforcing ‘green’ measures. The problem is not just political inertia. There are powerful lobbies of oil-producing countries and oil companies who have a tremendous clout to prevent the switch over to ‘green’ fuels. Electric cars are being produced and run in larger numbers than before, so are the cycles, but a lot, lot more needs to be done. It needs to be realized that the switch-over is a win-win situation for all. It may cause financial loss in the short-term but the long-term gains would be great both in terms of economy and reduction in environmental costs which are mounting each passing day.

I don’t want to sound alarmist. But time has come when all citizens of the world must unite and fill the streets of New York, London, Paris, Delhi and Beijing and rend the skies with shouts to stir the politicians out of their complacency. We are already late. Let’s save our planet…and thus save ourselves.

                             

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