Today’s
Times of India quotes Mahatma Gandhi’s words: “Earth provides enough to satisfy
man’s needs, but not every man’s greed”.
The news item gives details about the
pollution status in a few Indian cities. The data are alarming to say the least!
The major pollutant is suspended particulate matter (SPM). It has reached the
critical stage, probably due to construction activities to accommodate
ever-increasing population in urban areas. The carbon dioxide (CO2)
concentration in the environment has breached a limit of 400 parts per million.
It is one of the many Green- House Gases (GHG) emitted by industrial
activities. Then, there is more GHG potent methane gas emitted by activities in
agriculture. As per the UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO), every year around 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted
across the world! The ill-effects of the climate change, such as
extreme climates, increase in the sea water levels, dead water bodies, depletion
of forests, etc are seen everywhere.
India launched 8 missions to counter
climate change. No clear road map is available. Unless the missions are taken
on war footing, nothing worthwhile is going to come out of these missions.
Are we really awake? If we are awake then what
we are doing to control global warming and to protect our environment?
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