Climate change has been designated as the single biggest threat to nature and humanity. It’s a change that’s happening too rapidly for our comfort and action has to be taken immediately before the situation worsens.
It is unfortunate that despite progress in different spheres, India has landed itself in an ecological crisis. We have lost half our forests, polluted our water and air, and degraded major chunks of our cultivable lands. Three of our cities – Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai – are among the 15 most-polluted cities in the world. Several of our plant and animal species have gone extinct or are on the verge of dying.
While the per capita emission is still relatively low as compared to developed nations, it is expected to grow by an average of 3% per year until 2025. India’s oil consumption is expected to increase to 2.8 million barrels a day by 2010, from 2.65 million barrels a day in 2004. The alarm bells on national carbon release have clearly started ringing.
Every World Environment Day on June 5, the UN has been advising nations, peoples and communities on devising ways to create environment awareness and enhance political action in a sphere that has been considered an intangible fringe.
This year’s slogan is – ’CO2, Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy.’ In short, the focus is on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
That some presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is inevitable, we all know. All of us exhale it; and it is essential for plant growth. And so we urgently need to do our bit to curtail its emission further. In our own simple ways, we need to slash carbon economies and modify lifestyles to give longevity to nature.
We must also send a clear message to our governments that we want quick and effective transformational changes to put green economies in place around the globe and urge them to ensure collective action is taken at the personal, corporate and political levels to "Kick the C02 Habit".
Global warming is a menace the world is unable to stop in its tracks, and it is getting its biggest fillip due to government inaction in curbing environment-unfriendly modes of growth.
Recognising that climate change is becoming the defining issue of our era, the UNEP has asked countries, companies and communities to focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
World Environment Day will highlight resources and initiatives that promote low carbon economies and lifestyles, such as improved energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, forest conservation and eco-friendly consumption.
The theme is enough indication that carbon dioxide is one of the major greenhouse gases triggering increased global warming and that it is high time that its use is drastically curtailed before the situation goes beyond repair.
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