Climate Change Conversation

"You don't know what you've got till it's gone," Joni Mitchell sang in " Big Yellow Taxi ".  Human population continues to increase and urban areas are growing and expanding. By 2050, about 70% of the world's population will live in cities ( FAO, 2016 ). These concentrated populations would have a wide variety of challenges, ranging from people without access to clean water to pollution-related health issues. According to UNICEF , children will face longer, hotter and more frequent heatwave by 2050. The health of 57% of children in Europe and Central Asia is at risk atleast 6 times year due to heatwaves. In such challenging conditions tr ees would play a important role for people and the planet. The benefits that trees provide can help cities and countries meet 15 of the 17 internationally supported United Nations Sustainable Development Goals .  Trees are beautiful part of the natural environment, and constantly working to make Earth

"Just to give you an idea, the 2018 drought was so extreme that, looking back at least the last 500 years, there were no other events similar to the drought of 2018, but this year I think it is really worse than 2018." -  Andrea Toreti , The  European Commission Joint Research Centre  (EC-JRC)  Rivers and streams are the lifeline of a civilization and nation. Rivers play a vital role in sustaining life and biodiversity, ecology, religions, business, economy, international relations etc. But, globally, our  perennial rivers  are losing their identity; some of them have even dried up and are on the verge of extinction. They are facing a very bad phase. Experts estimate that  over half of the world’s river networks are running dry . Many rivers have been converted into drains and are covered with a large amount of filth and cannot be considered as a source of freshwater. Drying rivers have exposed many  historical monuments and archeological treasures  too which were

"Buildings in the future could be isolated from earthquakes by being placed behind rows of trees."  Physics World   An earthquake is a sudden, rapid shaking of the ground caused by the shifting of rocks deep underneath the earth’s surface. Pressure under the surface of the earth increases gradually until it finds a way out. Earthquakes can cause fires, tsunamis, landslides or avalanches. Anthropogenic Causes Of Earthquakes In reality, earthquakes occur for following anthropogenic reasons: 1. Making of a dam- the water’s force may cause changes in the soil on which the dam is built; 2. Injecting liquid into the soil- if it is done, an earthquake may occur. Best example is from the USA where the U.S. Army injected ‘165 million gallons of toxic waste’ in the Rocky Mountains via a well from 1962 to 1966 but stopped this operation due to earthquakes; 3. mining operations lead to earthquakes; 4. Like mining, drilling can have severe effects on soil strata and cause eart

Earth is facing ‘Climate Crisis’, ‘Population Explosion’ and ‘Household Explosion’. The world’s population has crossed the bad milestone of 8 billion in 2022 and is expected to be 10 billion by 2050. Such a growing size is causing pressure on Nature. Biodiversity and ecosystems are under stress, and depleting to fulfil the unsustainable needs and ambitions of humans.  These conditions have resulted in the emergence of vector-borne infectious diseases, which are usually confined to wildlife and have had a spillover to people in areas undergoing rapid deforestation and habitat loss. About 60% of the new infectious diseases that emerge in people, including HIV, Ebola, Nipah, and Covid-19 spillover from forest-dwelling animals.  We cannot change our past, but we can change our future. On 25 March 2023, the world community will organise Earth Hour and will switch off lights between 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm; on this day India may be able to reduce the carbon dioxide emission up to 285.

"We need peace, now more than ever. In 2023, let’s put peace at the heart of our words and actions." - Antonio Guterres   Peace and security are basic needs for a better tomorrow. Everyone needs these two, everyday. Violent conflict, insecurity, and political instability are making life hell in many parts of the world; the current examples are Afghanistan and Ukraine. World needs peacebuilding efforts to establish peace in such regions. In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, “it isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” Here are some suggestions for a peaceful world:  1- Conflict in a nation or region starts when people can’t trust the police and the system or get justice, and their lives are stolen by the corrupt system. Such conditions create a battleground against the system. Government should stop the negligence, abuse and stigmatisation of their citizens. Media and social media must stop

“Between animal and human medicine, there is no dividing line, nor should there be”. Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902)   Emerging infectious diseases are infections that have recently appeared within a population or those whose incidence or geographic range is rapidly increasing or threatens to increase in the near future. The World Health Organization  (WHO) warned in its 2007 report that infectious diseases are emerging at a rate that has not been seen before.   Infectious diseases are caused by organisms which are known as pathogens. Many viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoans, prions, viroids, and similar parasites are pathogens. Each type of pathogenic organism has climatic conditions it prefers. Such conditions positively affect the ability to survive and spread diseases.  According to a recent study published in Nature, atleast 10,000 virus species have the ability to infect humans but, at present, the vast majority are circulating silently in wild mammals . However, changes