Avoid the tipping point

Mintu Sarma

(Research scholar, Gauhati University. Can be contacted at sarmamintu9@gmail.com)

Unexpected and unprecedented natural calamities that are frequently happening on this planet are tangible examples of climate change. Scorching heat, dodgy spells of rain and thunder, perilous flood and draught, towering sea waves, and massive landslides left behind a trail of death and destruction that indicate that the environmental balance is also at stake. The increasing trend of global warming has embarked on an orgy of snarling black days. Still, people are insensitive towards climate change; atrocities on nature are going on arrogantly. People have to back to the wall to live safely.

In this industrial era, huge industries and factories have been set up; uncountable vehicles are running on the roads, and refrigerators and air conditioners have become the basic needs of the people. They are producing huge amounts of greenhouse gases round the clock that prompt global warming which leads to climate change over the globe gradually. Deforestation, hill cutting, unscientific mining, encroachment on natural wetland, dumping of pollutant materials without proper treatment etc., are some real examples which are polluting the environment invariably, doing more damage to natural circumstances and getting harder to stop. The frequent Climate change has added a scary new dimension to wildfires and made them more menacing.

Due to the rise in global temperature glaciers are melting slowly which can submerge the coastal regions of the country; freshwater sources could be spoiled due to the intrusion of salty seawater. Scientists have already warned that people are going to get worse as climate change intensifies unless countermeasures are taken. No need to go far, in the state we have seen that the rainfall/wind pattern has already deviated from normal time and path (latest example: devastation in Dima Hasao district). Short-duration heavy rainfall has increased coupled with the rise in temperature and rainy days have decreased simultaneously. The scorching heat, prolonged flood or drought, frequent gusty wind, and tornado-like phenomena are experienced in Assam. These indicate that the effect of climate change has already sprawled over Assam. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are a subset of a larger group of climate-changing gases which is known as greenhouse gases (GHGs). CFC gases absorb long wave infrared radiation released by the earth and keep the atmosphere hot. On the other hand, HFCs are synthetic greenhouse gases, mostly used in refrigeration and air conditioning equipment. HFCs destroy the ozone molecules subsequently depleting the ozone layers. According to a scientific report, the temperature climbed about 0.1° C each decade and the mean global temperature stabilized roughly at 14.0 ° C until the 1980s but the rate of warming since 1981 is approximately 0.18° C per decade. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 2021 was the 7th consecutive year (2015-2021) where the global temperature has been over 1° C above the pre-industrial era (1850-1900). Some scientists warned that if the average global temperature climbs above the tipping point some environmental changes could become irreversible, and the ecosystem may shift from one state to another depending on the magnitude and duration of the overshoot beyond this threshold point.

Realising the depth of the burning problems, climate save actions have been taken in many countries including India. World leaders are emphasizing pollution-free renewable energy consisting of solar energy, wind energy and batteries which are known as clean energy to limit global warming. They have been indulging in a flurry of rhetoric over clean energy. No matter the pattern about the "clean energy" which emerges out of the mouths of global leaders, the sober truth is that fossil fuels continue to be used to produce a bulk of the world's energy requirements in the race of industrialization.

The good news is that some actions have been initiated by the Assam state government. According to a media report, Assam has a renewable energy potential of 14,487 megawatts (MW) with solar energy taking the largest share, its potential being as much as 13,760 MW. Yet, an estimate had shown that Assam had a negligible solar capacity with merely 100-MW under development till December 2019. But the ruling BJP government under the leadership of dynamic Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has taken some bold steps in the generation of non-conventional energy (clean energy). The state has already set a target of 215-MW solar power generation in the next two months, which is appreciable. Another appreciable step needs to be mentioned here that from 1st July 2022 India has imposed a ban on the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of single-use plastic items which is a permanent pollutant and a curse to the environment.

Generally, the Government takes structural and non-structural measures to prepare for any eventuality but the lone government project or stringent environmental laws are impossible to fight against this huge calamity looming on the horizon. All powerful world leaders, as well as common people, should leave all disputes and lend their hands to fight against global warming. Everybody should be ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of the environment otherwise our garden-fresh world would be withered one day and the human race might be jotted down as a chapter in world history like dinosaurs.