Those were the days when I had no responsibilities, those were the days when I never experienced hunger, those were the days when I never had to worry about illness!

Those were days when I carried my water bottle, those were the days when I had my lunch in a steel box, those were the same days when I had more fruits than chocolates, those were the days when I had healthy homemade snacks! Those were the very amazing days when I had fresh sugarcane juice crushing the cane pieces under my teeth. Those were days…. I went to school riding my bicycle!!! Those were the days I rushed to dance in the rain making the paper boats from my class notes!!!

Back then, when I was a kid used to get up early on a Sunday morning eat “homemade” egg noodles for breakfast (vermicelli was my noodles then). Walk with a bag made out of thin coconut fibre sit on the back of my dad on a bike. We go around the Sunday market buy fresh fish and vegetables. I sometimes wonder, maybe those fresh colours of the vegetables in the market brought some interest in me to paint. Filling up the bag good enough for a weeks time we head back roaming around the town and reaching our village which is in the lush of greens.

Frankly speaking, the only issue I had to worry about, was my marks. A class of 30 people where I thought that I was in a tough competition. Only in my tenth class, I realized it’s not just me alone but there are thousands of people I am competing within the state I live to get marks.

Oh gosh! two digit number turned three digits which eventually turned into five digit number when I started preparing for my competitive exams which was like a goat race to enter into engineering stream! I always assumed literacy means marks not knowledge. So I never really focused on knowledge. Most of them out would have!

Change is inevitable in life!

By end of my Btech, water bottles changed to plastic bottles, sugar cane juice turned to aerated drink, snacks from the kitchen turned to snacks from the polythenes, lush of greens into money-making businesses, bicycles into smoke emitting engine vehicles, water turns into acid when it rains, gunny bags turned into plastic covers, fresh organic vegetables turned into waxed inorganic vegetables.

What’s it all about? Change.., bigger.. bigger than ever.. ! CLIMATE CHANGE

Is the climate change really inevitable? Should I be proud that I lived in an era where there was no concept of inorganic? Or should I hate myself for living in an era where I equally contributed to this change? No matter big or small!

With the days passing by, I could see the difference. Increasing temperature, unprecedented rains causing floods and lot many changes to nature.

A recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) a body of UN released a report on climate change. Back then in 2010 international negotiators adopted a goal to limit global temperature by 2° C since pre-industrial times. Wise decision, except that the global temperature is up by 1° C already.

Now it is a matter of another 1° C. But, if the temperature is not limited by 0.5° C by 2030-2052 the vulnerable countries will be under severe threat and with raise of the temperature by another 1° C will be just a death trap for these countries.

Controlling the temperature rise by 1°C would control the rise of sea level by 4 inches, irreversible melting of the ice sheet in West Antarctica will be controlled, scarcity of drinking water will reduce to half of the present, reduces heat waves, downpours & droughts, decreases deaths due to heat, smog & infections. Most important coral reefs in the world can be saved from dying.

Main important contributor for the GHG is CO₂ (Carbon-di-oxide). It gets trapped in the atmosphere for 100-150 years. Even if emissions are stopped right away mysteriously out of surprise, we are still trapped with the same concentration of  CO₂  in the atmosphere for few more decades. Imagine what would happen if we do not control our emissions!

Some studies explaining the consequences if the temperature is not limited at the earliest especially from highly GHG emission countries like China, US, EU & India:

1. 3.3 million dengue cases per year just in Latin America & Caribbean if not limited to 1.5°C
2. World bank report in 2015 – 150 million people will be at risk of malaria if the temperature goes beyond 2°C
3. Climate change journal says if 1.5°C is achieved malnutrition children will come down by 25million
4. Half of the animals with backbones & plants will lose their habitat
5. Nature climate change report in 2015 says achieving 1.5°C prevents 153 million premature deaths just by air pollution by 2100.

This earth we are living in now belongs to those kids who are mentioned in all the above reports. Instead, with our selfish attitude of personal comfort, we are just killing them. Yes, we are all killing them. We are writing their fate even before their future is thought about. We are all deciding their death even before their birth is thought about. There could be your friends, family members may be your own kids too.

My grandparents sowed seeds which were giving my parents and me the tasty fruits of those trees. Had they thought just about their existence I wouldn’t imagine about my existence today.

What is that we are going to give for the future generations? Is it our selfish deeds which are causing climate change?

Avoid plastic especially single usage plastics like straws, disposable glasses, chips packets etc, try to be minimal with transportation by avoiding it or using public transport, electric vehicles etc. Think not twice but thrice about what you do. Not about good but about the bad you do to nature, society, people and all the living beings on this earth.

Educate yourself, your family, your friends, people whom you care about! that itself helps a lot.

All we need to do is watch out of our day to day activities to make sure we don’t carry that deeds which will be contributing to the death of the children of future generations. We are mere tourists on this mother earth for one lifetime. Let’s allow it to be the way it is and it was!!

We have only one earth to live which is already covered with 71% water!

PS: Not to hurt anyone just to voice out the facts and opinions on how climate change impacted and is impacting!