So how bad is Global warming? What can I do to save my planet?

Humans believe, they are the highest in the hierarchy of living beings and hence, they rule the world. But today, mankind appears to have screwed up big time. The climate change conference in Paris, where super intelligent scientists from across the world discussed this danger threadbare and came up with a unanimous announcement that climate change is a “Man-made” phenomenon, and not just an act of God as many would like to believe.

The right to life is the bare basics of human rights. Be it India or anywhere, right to life is either enshrined in the constitution itself or safeguarded for anyone and everyone as per the laws of the land. But the whole planet and every life form is in real and imminent danger today. Global action on climate change has been devastatingly slow, and despite the UN Paris Agreement’s aim to keep a global temperature rise well below 2 degrees, serious impacts now cannot be avoided. Among the most severe climate impacts, made worse by the burning of coal, oil and gas, is that of glaciers and ice sheets thinning and retreating, contributing to global sea-level rise.

Climate change is no longer a distant threat. It is a living reality affecting societies, businesses of all sizes and ? foremost ? people, according to Reuters. People right now are already experiencing some lopsided phenomena in various parts of the world. Off season rains, earthquakes, abnormal flooding situations and seasonal imbalances. But the focus right now is on Antarctica, and with good reason.

Antarctica is in several ways the ‘last’ continent; the last to be discovered, the last to be mapped and the last of the great wilderness. Covered in a thick sheet of ice, the continent represents the most extreme deep-frozen environment on Earth, with some corners still never touched by humans. It is the only continent that has never had any Indigenous population and even today, despite the presence of numerous permanent research stations, very few people call it home. Climate change is directly impacting the great white continent of Antarctica, where glaciers, the size of countries are collapsing into the ocean, causing rising sea levels. “While many countries and communities have benefited off the back of burning fossil fuels for decades, those who have not are also those on the frontline of the impacts,” says a blogger putting the matter firmly in perspective.

We are in a critical stage of human existence and it is clear that current mitigation measures are not enough.

The bottom line is, that individuals need to go for major lifestyle alterations and teach others to do so too. Avoid using non-biodegradable material like plastics and go in for natural stuff. Corporates, big and small, need to cut out fossil fuels as far as possible, stop using products or material which contribute to global warming and take major steps to curb industrial pollution. If big businesses and governments don’t support SMEs to cut emissions ? and quickly ? we will ultimately miss the target of halving global emissions by 2030 and fail to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis.

It’s not someone else’s problem anymore. It’s YOURS.