Yesterday's newspaper had a picture, an aerial shot of Agra-Jaipur highway, with a bold headline; 'There is not a single tree on this highway for about 10 kms'. When the highway got converted from two lane to four lane, about 1700 trees had to be cut. In principle, about 3400 trees needed to be planted, but the company which undertook highway construction merely did a formality and planted some trees over a small stretch of the road. The rest of the highway is barren.
You travel to any metro city in India these days, overladen concrete jungles brings back the memories of a prominent road in the city once laden with trees ..... 'Ajmer road was once beautiful, trees on both sides, Neem, Banyan, Gulmohar, Sheesham... ', MG Road had so many trees, Bangalore's claim of being a 'garden city' is lost now', 'Full grown trees from Camac street have been cut now, Kolkata as it is an overcrowded and polluted city', the conversations go on. We discuss about trees giving way to highways, metro train, buildings and so on. What we do not understand is that this simple change that we encounter around us leads to a horrifying global phenomenon - which is known as climate change.
Emission of green house gases causes global warming, which in turn brings climate change. Tree take away C02 and thus are most effective in saving us from global warming. There are other methods too but they are far more complex. At Paris climate agreement done two years ago, the world pledged to keep global warming well below 2 degrees centigrade hotter than pre-industrial times. In simple words we get back to the kind of climate we had some 300 years ago.
In any realistic scenario emissions cannot be cut fast enough to keep the stock of green house gases in the atmosphere low so as to curtail the rise in temperature. In fact, the development of India, China and Africa in the next 20 years is likely to increase the stock of these gases. In that case we have to find ways to suck CO2 out of the air. How do we do that? Carbon can be sucked directly from the air, using chemical filters and stored. Or minerals could be ground up and sowed over land or sea, natural weathering process will bind them to CO2, to form carbonate rocks. These were the fancy ideas that I read about in one of the recent issues of Economist. I am not sure whether I have understood them clearly or not, I am not sure whether it will work or not.
A simpler option is to plant more trees, because they are natural carbon suckers. If you find a tree being cut in your vicinity, be prepared for a more terrible summer the next year. If you can't prevent it, plant one in its place. Plant a tree when you buy a new car, a new AC, construct a new house, or board an aircraft to make your travel quicker and comfortable. As a human kind, we have to plant forests for our survival. Its a question of survival now. Plant or perish!
Comfortable life has a trade off with climate change. Next time you crib about extreme whether, just look around and see if you have a space where you can plant a tree. Its not that difficult a point to understand.
You travel to any metro city in India these days, overladen concrete jungles brings back the memories of a prominent road in the city once laden with trees ..... 'Ajmer road was once beautiful, trees on both sides, Neem, Banyan, Gulmohar, Sheesham... ', MG Road had so many trees, Bangalore's claim of being a 'garden city' is lost now', 'Full grown trees from Camac street have been cut now, Kolkata as it is an overcrowded and polluted city', the conversations go on. We discuss about trees giving way to highways, metro train, buildings and so on. What we do not understand is that this simple change that we encounter around us leads to a horrifying global phenomenon - which is known as climate change.
Emission of green house gases causes global warming, which in turn brings climate change. Tree take away C02 and thus are most effective in saving us from global warming. There are other methods too but they are far more complex. At Paris climate agreement done two years ago, the world pledged to keep global warming well below 2 degrees centigrade hotter than pre-industrial times. In simple words we get back to the kind of climate we had some 300 years ago.
In any realistic scenario emissions cannot be cut fast enough to keep the stock of green house gases in the atmosphere low so as to curtail the rise in temperature. In fact, the development of India, China and Africa in the next 20 years is likely to increase the stock of these gases. In that case we have to find ways to suck CO2 out of the air. How do we do that? Carbon can be sucked directly from the air, using chemical filters and stored. Or minerals could be ground up and sowed over land or sea, natural weathering process will bind them to CO2, to form carbonate rocks. These were the fancy ideas that I read about in one of the recent issues of Economist. I am not sure whether I have understood them clearly or not, I am not sure whether it will work or not.
A simpler option is to plant more trees, because they are natural carbon suckers. If you find a tree being cut in your vicinity, be prepared for a more terrible summer the next year. If you can't prevent it, plant one in its place. Plant a tree when you buy a new car, a new AC, construct a new house, or board an aircraft to make your travel quicker and comfortable. As a human kind, we have to plant forests for our survival. Its a question of survival now. Plant or perish!
Comfortable life has a trade off with climate change. Next time you crib about extreme whether, just look around and see if you have a space where you can plant a tree. Its not that difficult a point to understand.
