Oh My World!

Okay, it feels nice to be back after a long break. To tell you the truth, I really wasn’t excited about updating my blog. Anyways here goes another attempt.

One of the current hot topics in the news is climate. Yes, the same old redundant topic. Climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, rise in global temperature and the height of sea level, etc etc. So whats new about it? Well, recently the Copenhagen summit ended, with 192 countries(or rather their delegates) taking part in it. Many economists and politicians have termed the summit to be a failure, whereas Obama feels that a good progress has been made, and is looking forward for the next summit in Mexico(I wonder if he will repeat the same thing there). Anyways there has been quite a hullabaloo about these events, pertaining to the pernicious effects of global warming on mankind(Who was responsible for this in the first place?)

Basically, let us sum up the summit talks in a nutshell:

1) The US and the other developed countries refused to accept any legally binding carbon emission cuts. Which basically means that they are free to pollute the environment as much they want and nobody can do anything about it.

2) Instead the developed countries want the developing countries like India and China to increase the restrictions imposed on the emissions so that they can protect their own skins.

3) There is a total confusion as to the financial aid to be provided to the poor and developing countries. No specific amount has been set aside, and all those hyped talks about implementing clean technology and providing capital investment to tackle global warming in poor countries, have remained just talks. In fact its highly unlikely that the poor countries will get any money from the rich fanatics.

4) India and China decided to join together for once, putting their differences aside and also alienating themselves from the G-77. They are not ready to accept legally binding cuts and want the developed countries to shoulder more responsibility for tackling climate change.

5) So ostensibly no action has been taken, and while it has been unanimously decided that climate change and global warming is a threat, it seems that all the leaders and politicians are simply passing the buck, blaming one another while the common man suffers.


So why do politicians make such hyped talks and conferences and meetings and parties and God-Knows-What-Else but refuse to act when the time comes? ‘We will do this and that. We have to do this and that.’ Why don’t you actually go forward and do it then? Nice question. And it has no simple answer.

Isn’t Homo Sapiens the most amazing species which ever existed? We have managed to achieve what no other species has. For our own greed and materialistic gains, we have successfully managed to hurt and almost annihilate Mother Nature- our planet, Earth. We have built up industries; we have increased our population to an unprecedented limit. And we have misused all the natural resources and as a result obliterated the environment and our atmosphere. We cut down trees to make furniture; we destroy wildlife and natural habitats without a second thought. We create weapons of mass destruction which can wipe out life within seconds. Which other species could have done what we have done? But after polluting the environment for over a hundred years, finally man seems to realize his misdoings. Now, he wants to redeem his faults. Or at least, he is talking about it. And after watching glaciers melting, natural disasters cashing in, and the planet getting warmer by each passing day, he has accepted the upcoming dangers.

Now is the time to wake up and stand together for a cause. We cannot change what we have done in the past. But we can make sure that the future generation gets to see and live in a better, cleaner Earth. For this we have to do a lot of things. But every task starts with a single step, so we must not delay and act fast.

In the next post, I will write about some of the steps we(i.e. the Common Man- Not many of us are politicians or Global Leaders) can take in order to keep global warming in check.

*To be Concluded.