The world is living on borrowed time
Despite a dark ecological future, the planet is divided on how to tackle the challenges
The world is a battlefield of several micro-wars. If politics is ripping out the innards of many countries, some others are being wrecked by severe social/economic tensions. However, there is one fire that is raging underneath every country, irrespective of its status: a war on the planet’s finite natural resources. Here’s how bad the situation is: August 1, which is marked as Earth Overshoot Day this year, will mark the day humanity’s annual demand for natural resources will exceed what the planet’s ecosystem can provide for the year. The fact that this day is constantly moving up the calendar is symbolic of the unprecedented pressure human activities are putting on nature and its resources. Thanks to extractive policies, humans are digging themselves deeper. This is clear from another report: Poring over four decades of satellite data, climate scientists have concluded for the first time that humans are pushing seasonal temperatures out of balance — shifting what one researcher called the very “march of the seasons themselves.” This should not surprise anyone in India: This year’s brutal and long summer, interspersed with cluster-thunderstorms and lightning strikes, is a warning of things to come.
One reason why data and information on the ill effects of the current policies fails to move people to act responsibly is this: most people can’t understand the link that exists between environmental challenges and a country’s long-term sustainability. But think about the kind of pressure Indian cities will face due to climate change-induced migration. Or how fights over water can take political/communal hues. In recent years, the Cauvery dispute showed how water issues can impact politics.
Despite the dark future, the world is still divided on how to tackle the challenges: the south thinks it is the north’s responsibility and the vice-versa. Both are forgetting that this battle is damaging the world — “… the pale blue dot, the only home we have ever known” (as Carl Sagan put it) — permanently.