We are in the midst of a pandemic that has shaken almost all parts of the world. The leaders and rulers are trying day and night to contain it, the scientists and researchers are trying to find vaccines and medicines to fight it, the doctors and nurses are doing their best to care and protect the affected, all the essential employees are working to keep the supplies and volunteers and organizations are helping the poor and needy. It is the picture of a crisis in our time. But this won’t be our last crisis unless our leaders and the system learn from this and work towards creating a safe way for our world to tackle the climate and ecological crisis. We all know the current changes in our pollution levels won’t last long and the environment will be back to the pre-COVID19 normal when business as usual starts again. We have a choice – listen to the science and acknowledge the state of the climate or continue on this dangerous path.
Experts have been raising the alarm about the impacts of climate change and global warming since the 1970s. As our greenhouse emissions keep increasing, the risk of the climate crisis is getting worse and worse. There have been too many conferences and discussions with global leaders – from the Stockholm convention to the Paris agreement and recently, COP25. But we still lag when it comes to action. Some leaders continue to deny the facts of climate science and big businesses continue to burn fossil fuels and pollute unabated. Consequently, we are experiencing an array of extreme weather events and threats ranging from increased hurricanes, floods, droughts, rising temperatures, heat waves, wild fires, water crisis, hazardous air quality, mass extinction of biodiversity, locust crisis etc.
The adverse impacts of ecological destruction are not limited to environmental harms. It threatens the public health, including physical and mental health, of populations. Climatic change causes allergies, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, heat-related and water-borne diseases, vector-borne and nutritional diseases, trauma, mental health disorders and many more adverse health outcomes. According to recent research, people living in polluted areas have a higher risk of death due to COVID19. About 2 million people die every year due to air pollution in India. Increasing deforestation makes it easier zoonotic diseases to spread from animals to humans due to intervention in wildlife habitats. If we do not take action, we will see more viruses and diseases spreading across the world from animals.
The pandemic hit the poor most critically – people who lack of access to safe water, those whose living conditions makes it hard to wash their hands or to maintain physical distancing, communities devastated by unemployment where families are unable to afford food. Similarly, the climate crisis exacerbates inequality. It makes lives harder for poor communities who contributed the least to the climate crisis. India is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and the burden disproportionately falls on farmers and the poor.
The climate crisis is likely to create millions of climate refugees from India and across the South Asian region. Poor communities don’t have the resources to protect themselves from air pollution with air purifiers and protective masks, they don’t have the privilege of having air-conditioned homes or shelter to protect them from the extreme heat of summers. The heat wave last year killed a hundred people in Delhi itself. Millions lose their homes and savings in every hurricane and flood.
Stopping the climate crisis is not merely about protecting our environment – it is about protecting people around the world from suffering the impacts of a humanitarian and planetary crisis. All the climate change impacts we experience today are the result of an increase of around 1.2-degree celsius in global average temperature from preindustrial level. Continuing to increase levels of emissions means the impacts will be much graver than what we experience today. We must make transformative shifts in policies and our systems to avoid the apocalyptic crisis. With every passing year of climate inaction, we head into a more dangerous future.
Whatever the shape of economic recoveries that we expect from the current crisis, the world must learn the fragility in our system and work towards building a new world safer from pandemics and climate crisis based on justice and equity. The economy cannot be an excuse to ignore environmental norms and increased emissions. The clock is ticking for the climate and this crisis threatens our existence. We must fight every crisis.
