Every year the climate change situation is becoming worse than ever. Global temperature is rising and the weather is becoming more erratic year by year. There are more severe floods, more intense forest fires, bigger drought, greater melting of ice and faster increase in sea level.
Let us introspect - Do WE really understand Climate Change and its Solution?
For nearly three decades, the United Nations has been bringing together almost every country on earth for global climate summits ¨C called COPs ¨C which stands for ¡®Conference of the Parties (COP)¡¯. During this time, climate change has gone from being a fringe issue to a global priority. The scope of the COP is to review the "implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention." It has representatives from the world.?
The COP-27, organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC UN) just got over. Previous to this summit, there have been 26 meetings. The last COP meeting was held at Glasglow, Scotland. The most important of these meetings is COP21, popularly known as the Paris Agreement, which was the first substantial meeting and discussion that took place for climate change.?
On the very first day of the COP27 meetings, UN Secretary-General Ant¨®nio Guterres remarked, ¡°We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.¡±? In the COP26, he remarked, ¡°Enough of brutalizing biodiversity, killing ourselves with carbon, treating nature like a toilet, burning, and drilling and mining our way deeper.¡±
Between COP26 and COP27, let us reflect on what has changed.
Climate Change is not stopping, it is not slowing down but rather accelerating. The intensity and frequency of climate-related disasters have increased multifold. Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing. Global temperatures keep rising. We are forcing the planet to reach its tipping points at a faster rate, commented Mr. Guterres.?
More importantly, Mr. Algore comments that humanity has a problem of credibility, wherein we keep talking about climate change, acting upon it, but not doing enough. The sea-level rise is double the rate it was 30 years ago. We have oceans that are hotter than ever.? There are parts of the Amazon Rainforest that now emit more carbon than they absorb. What more evidence do we need to see the truth and reality of climate change??
This is despite all the discussions, pledges, and legally binding agreements by the top leaders of the countries. As for the things for the COP27, we are still facing a deadlock and disappointment over getting ourselves to agree on the 30 major issues. If this summit goes to disagreements and is inconclusive, we will have to wait another year for the COP meeting to happen, though it will remain COP27 and not COP28, as it has happened before. In another year of inaction and climate instability, we will have another hotter year, with multiple incidents of floods, storms, droughts, and other natural calamity.?
The crux of the matter is that climate change is due to human induced carbon emissions, and the simple solution is to cut down on carbon emissions. Despite all actions, in reality, carbon emissions are rising rather than declining.? In my view, no meeting, including COP meetings and action, would be effective until we follow some fundamental laws of living on this planet.?
In my view, no meeting, including COP meetings and action would be effective until we follow some fundamental laws of living on this planet. Now, I started calling them Solanki¡¯s fundamental laws of sustainability or human existence on the planet. If you want to sustain human life on the planet, we must follow these laws. These include:
Law-1 - Limiting Consumption: ¡°In an ecosystem of finite resources there has to be FINITE CONSUMPTION¡±
Law-2 - Localizing Production : ¡°In an ecosystem of finite resources there has to be DISTRIBUTED PRODUCTION¡±.
Neither we are ¡°limiting our consumption¡± nor we are ¡°localising our production¡±. Through our deeds we violate these laws every day, every time.?
Governments, industries, policy makers, innovators, educators, none are following these laws, because only a handful would understand and recognize them as fundamental laws of existence. United Nations and Governments all across the world must make their policies and implement them in accordance with these Solanki¡¯s fundamental laws of sustainability of existence.