FEATURE
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Changing Climate!
Ruby Rani Source: Ruby Rani, Date: , 2019
Climate Emergency is a call on
our elected leaders to declare an emergency against the rapidly changing
climate causing a catastrophic threat to humanity and the eco-system. The
United Kingdom has become the first country to declare Climate Emergency
followed by Ireland, France and Canada.
More than 4,50,000 people have
signed two petitions on change.org demanding the government of India declare a
climate emergency as every successive year is getting hotter, drier and more
polluted.
Noticing the importance of climate
change issue in the context of current scenario, Toxics Link organized a public
lecture on ‘Is the climate changing?’. Dr Mrityunjay Mohapatra (known as
Cycloneman of India), Scientist, Indian Meteorological Department, Wg Cdr Amit
Chowdhury (Retd.), Indian Mountaineering Foundation and Dr. Anubha Agarwal, The
Energy and Research Institute (TERI) were the panelists. Dr Mohap1tra described
climate as an average condition of weather of a particular place. Climate
change is an ongoing process, like it has changed in the past, it is changing
now and it will change in the future. What raises concern is the rate in which
it is changing. The radiation emitted from the surface of the earth cannot
penetrate easily in the atmosphere, it gets stopped by the various types of
gases available in the atmosphere. As it gets trapped, getting absorbed by the
atmospheric constituents, the temperature increases in the atmosphere. So, the
atmosphere gets heated due to the Earth, not the Sun. If the constituents of
the atmosphere change by the natural processes or any anthropogenic activities,
the constituents of the earth and the temperature also change leading to the
changes of other atmospheric phenomena such as rainfall, monsoon and so on.
‘It takes at least 30 years of
observation to define climate. The changing of climate cannot be defined by
analyzing the data of 10 years or 20 years, it must be beyond 30 years’, Dr.
Mohapatra further added.
The rising temperature and
changing climate have an adverse impact on the mountains and mountaineering
too. According to Wg Cmdr. Amit Chowdhury (Retd.), Indian Mountaineering
Foundation, ‘The glaciers have been studied by our scientists and there are
several places which have like the Gangotris, Chhota Sigri glacier, Bara Sigri
glacier, Dokriani glacier, all these glaciers have been found to have
decreased. We are also encouraging the adoption and respect of all mountain
stakeholders of the agreed international declaration including the UIA’s own
guidelines and charters in order to preserve mountain eco-systems and
cultures’. Scientists and mountaineers have also warned that rising
temperatures can also lead to the risk of deadly avalanches in Himalayas.
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