Climate Change : An Impending Apocalypse
CLIMATE CHANGE: AN IMPENDING APOCALYPSE
Sneha Rath, Student of NLU Odisha
Post the Neolithic age, man started establishing permanent settlements for itself and finding ways and means to enjoy life. Slowly and gradually mankind started using technology and other means through which it could find comfort for itself. Here we are, in the 21st century, where we do not need to step out of our comfortable couches to turn the lights on or go to pub to party, and go wild- Alexa is here! Technology has revolutionised and with a single command, we can turn our houses into beautiful paradises to match any corner of this earth. Would the early men have ever thought of this advancement? It’s a question which can only have multiple answers to itself.
Nevertheless, we must not forget to acknowledge the rampant advancements that have taken place in the due course of time. Industrialisation, as many professors and authors have rightly pointed out, is the rapid transformation where societies started switching from agrarian society to industrial-based societies, substituting human labour with machines. As every coin has its two sides, every new proposition or concept has two sides to it, mainly, pros and cons. Industrialisation was a phase, mostly began in the west in the early 18th century where the west was trying to grow its economy, expand its market and thus came, the industrial revolution. Karl Marx and Emile Durkhiem cited alienation and anomie of the individual workers who were forced and driven by the authorities to do meaningless tasks. But the industrialisation took place to bring technological advancement where people could use the resources available at their disposal. This is exactly the reason why while Britain was producing bicycles, America was busy producing cars to capture the market.
Amidst all of this, what exactly were we heading toward and where have we landed? The answer is the ‘CLIMATE CHANGE!’ As early as 1908, the concerns regarding climate change started spurring up because of the amount of heat and other gases that were being produced and released to the atmosphere. Climate change, conceptually, is very different from global warming. Global warming can be seen as a sub-set to climate change where global warming leads to what we are facing today, change in temperature resulting in change in weather patterns and unforeseeable consequences. To go against nature, is to essentially worsen the situation and invite danger for ourselves.
To analyse how gravely the situation has aggravated today, it is important to take into consideration some of the important steps taken by international organisations in the past to ensure, at least now, we become active promoters of preventing climate change. Below are some of the important agreements that were brought into force to push the countries toward active involvement in preventing climate change:
I. The Montreal Protocol:
The Montreal Protocol was drafted in 1987 and adopted, what happens to be known as the only UN documented to have been adopted, by all the member nations of United Nations Organisation then. The objective was to reduce and combat against man-made ozone depletion substances which were chemically damaging the stratosphere zone of the earth, leading to more ultraviolet radiations entering into the earth’s atmosphere.
II. The Kyoto Protocol:
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1998 with an aim to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that is depleting our environment. As article 2 specifies the objective of this international agreement, it tries to cover up the areas that were not addressed in the Montreal protocol earlier.
III. The Paris Agreement:
The Paris Agreement is another international agreement that was adopted to bring together every nation in combatting against the climate change issue. One of its core objectives is to enable the developing countries contribute to this noble cause by assisting them with advanced technological support to ensure the global temperature remains well below 2-degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to ensure the temperature remains well below reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Essentially, all these agreements were in a way drafted to tackle one of the serious issues of today- Climate Change! Factors that contribute to climate change vary, starting from big industries releasing tons of poisonous gases into the air, auto-mobiles running on streets, industries discharging insoluble chemical components, common men polluting waters with human waste and cutting down trees- the list goes on.
Who gets affected the most in this? The people, especially the marginalised society who cannot afford the basic necessities to protect themselves against the adversaries created by us.
Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right [UDHR], adopted in 1948, ensures right to life and security of a person. Similarly, article 21 in the Constitution of India guarantees and protects right to life of a person which recognises right to shelter and right to livelihood- essentially, the courts have time and again recognised that every person has a right to a dignified life and access to basic necessities required to sustain life. The adversaries that are being faced as a consequence of climate change by the marginalised section of people are devastating in nature.
With agreements in hand and laws in force, there is a lacuna in their proper implementation. The objective behind drafting all the above mentioned agreements were to push the authorities into being vigilant toward their actions and accountable for the same. With every agreement, there came separate areas to be addressed, but the issue that still arises today is have they been effectively implemented? When we talk about international agreements, the problem arises with respect to its enforcement. The flexibility creates more room for parties to keep reservations being signatories to it while giving an option to withdraw from the same. The United States of America and few other countries withdrew from Paris Agreement recently. Being one of the developed countries in the world, it has set a wrong example for the international community against tackling the current crisis at hand. Alongside these agreements, local governments do not seem to take the matter as seriously as they should.
For instance, if we take an example of Nordic countries, the governments have been actively promoting steps in furtherance of reducing greenhouse gases. Individual governments have made alternative solutions such as strict adherence to renewable sources of energy, hydropower, creating a Bio-economy and the municipalities have been cooperating to ensure there is reduction in carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. In comparison to these countries, the only thing we lack is our determination and active participation in promoting steps that could ensure protection of our environment.
If we consider the United States, its population consumes a large chunk of electricity generated from coal and a lot of its industries as well; considering India with a massive population of around 1.03 billion, the government hasn’t brought into effect any strict penal measure that punishes people for cutting down trees, using plastics or even to ensure that plastics and objects of different matter are disposed off properly. Recently, a lot of state governments implemented the use of paper bags instead of plastics, but surprisingly, the population in most of the region didn’t seem to understand the core objective behind this step.
The consequences of these activities is their effect on change in weather patterns that exist for a prolonged period of time. The most affected are the people, especially the marginalised section who cannot afford proper means to sustain their lives or protect themselves from these harsh conditions. Indigenous people, often belonging to the marginalised section, are closely related to the nature and the natural way of living in their environment, where the air is not bombarded by chemicals given out as fumes by large factories or lack of oxygen(clean air) due to large chunks of trees being cleared out. Increase in the sea levels is resulting in displacement of people along the coasts. Calamities often leave these people homeless, starving without proper resources to survive. They are refugees in other places that they flog to.
Climate change is an important issue for all the governments because its effect will be experienced by everyone. It is the need of the hour for every person, not just the government to become active promoters in tackling the crisis by contributing to the social cause; and the governments need to ensure that every international treaty and domestic laws concerning environment’s protection are implemented immediately and effectively, because Climate change is, indeed, an impending apocalypse for the entire world.
REFERENCES
1.Rachel Baird, ‘The Impact of Climate Change on Minorities and Indigenous Peoples’ (2008) <https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/old-site-downloads/download-524-The-Impact-of-Climate-Change-on-Minorities-and-Indigenous-Peoples.pdf> accessed 4th April 2020.
2. S. Nazrul Islam and John Winkel, ‘Climate Change and Social Inequality’(2017) <https://www.un.org/esa/desa/papers/2017/wp152_2017.pdf> accessed 4th April 2020.
3. Paris Agreement Pdf. <https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf> accessed 4th April 2020.
4. Kyoto Protocol Pdf. <https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf> accessed 4th 2020.
5. Handbook for the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer pdf. <https://ozone.unep.org/sites/default/files/2019-04/MP_handbook-english-2018.pdf> accessed 4th April 2020.
