This is new era, we need to be prepared for uncertainties

IT’S EASY TO BLAME IT FOR EVERY CRISIS AND SIT BACK BECAUSE IT’S A METACATASTROPHE

NEW DELHI: Cyclone Gulab started on the Eastern part of the Indian subcontinent and crossed to the Western coast. In the middle, it slapped around a large part of India.

Traditionally, the Western coast of India has been relatively undisturbed by cyclones.

But we’ve been seeing a shift, thanks to climate change.

What to do to combat our new, if undesirable reality? This column today isn’t a laundry list, but a perspective. A big gap is knowledge about climate change. It’s easy to blame it for every crisis and sit back because it’s a meta-catastrophe. Why not make knowledge bite-sized for the average person? Mainstreaming climate change is another key need. For example, why do all these start-up challenges not ask for the mitigation or adaptation potential of the project? Why not compel all events with government participation or funds to adhere to a suggested low carbon format? Perhaps the government and corporate procurement, already greening, should also push themselves to measure the climate impact of their work? What I’m saying is that we must consider climate change in all our work, turning to scientists, economists and sociologists to help get this done well.

We are in a new, unknown era. We need to be prepared for terrible uncertainties. Let’s not address this with only a buildback mindset, but adapt to reduce the loss and damage in all that we do today, whether or not it is traditionally linked with climate change. This is India’s war for survival.

(The author is founder and director, Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group)