The picture in the article gives you a glimpse of what state could Mumbai be in, a few years from now, if we don’t act on a personal level.
(Pic courtesy: Google Street View mod)
Summer is on its peak and so is the demand for air conditioners. And where do we stand in this situation? Going home, the humidity doesn’t allow the sweat to dry off and that is when you feel good about your ac. Your ac will help you today, this whole summer, the next summer and maybe two summers post that. But it definitely cannot help you reduce the effects of global warming while you’re on your way to office or college. Will it?
A report on the impact of global warming suggests that if the world warms by more than 2 degrees within the next twenty five years, natural calamities are bound to occur which may have diastrous results such as pandemic food and water shortages and a major decreasse in energy production.
But this is just the start. India and the other Asian countries have started experiencing a warming climate. Forecasts show that the mercury levels are expected to go beoynd the usual mark, and cover much larger areas this time. Four degrees of warming and the Southern coast of India will be projected to a high temperature change in climatic regime, which defintely will have a bad impact on agricultural products and fisheries. The abrupt change may also lead to more frequent droughts and floods in major farming and coastal locations.
More than seventy percent of our agricultural products are rain fed. I don’t really think it’s imperative to mention the impact of floods in the major agricultural areas of the country. Tough it’s not easy to predict the ground water levels we might see, yet an estimation shows that a reduction in the level is expected becuase of the growing urbanisation and affluent lifestyles which starts and stops with an ‘AC’.
For those of you who just love the Mumbai nightlife, and Goa is never off your mind, let me tell you that Mumbai has the world’s largest population exposed to coastal flooding, with most part of the city built on reclaimed land, that lies below the high tide mark. Two degrees increase in the temperature and we would see a high rise in the sea level, as the subcontinent is very close to the equator. Sea water intrusion, storms, salt water intrusion in all the ground water sources (that includes your apartment’s pump as well) and food- yes food too, will see a bad impact.
You’d have heard and read a lot about global warming and issues concerning the environment. But the picture in the article gives you a glimpse of what state could Mumbai be in, a few years from now, if we don’t act on a personal level. So rise above your ac and start working.
