While the heat wave continues in our country, we all are desperately waiting for the spell of monsoon rains to take away all the difficulties. The cycle and the timing of weather patterns are important and very vital for our survival. Imagine this cycle being disrupted to a level when our very existence becomes a question mark! Of course, we all are witnessing the climate change that is unfolding in front of us. The melting of the ice caps and the depleting ozone layer along with the rising level of temperatures have already started affecting us.

I came across an article where I read about the impact of weather changes on food item production. And it dealt particularly with the supply of tomatoes decreasing rapidly in the future. Now, tomatoes are an integral part of our diet and are used in mostly many Indian food items that are incomplete without the addition of tomatoes in them. As per this study, Italy, China, and California are the top tomato-producing countries – responsible for two-thirds of global production. And all of them are at risk from global warming. According to the study, tomato production will decrease by six percent by 2050 due to rising temperatures.

Now, this case focuses only on tomato production but I am sure many such food items will equally face the brunt. With the world population increasing every day, such an impact on the availability of agricultural produce. But the question is are we serious about it. I do not think so.

If you would have been following the news around climate change, you would have read about New Zealand becoming the first country that has proposed to levy taxes on sheep and cattle burps in a bid to tackle one of the country’s biggest sources of greenhouse gases. Yes, it can sound surprising but this is going to be a reality as it has become the first country to charge farmers for the methane emissions from the animals they keep. Now, this is because they have realized that methane, which is emitted from agricultural & livestock farming is one of the major contributors to greenhouse emissions.

The below chart is a testimony of this.

The recently held annual UN Climate Change Conference in the German city of Bonn was designed to lay the groundwork for a successful COP27 to be held in November. The two things that can be highlighted in this summit were that climate change is progressing at an exponential rate and political level actions need to be taken by the countries so that real change in the positive direction can take place.

Now, as my readers would have noticed, I refrain from writing mainstream political scenarios in my country not because I do not want to but because that is not the aim of my blogging journey! But, recently there is a lot happening and we all read about it daily. But, I would sincerely urge that something concrete & positive action plan is prepared at the national level and we focus & devote more time to how are we going to tackle the situation of climate change in a country like India which is primarily agrarian with a burgeoning population. As a young nation, I am positive that sheer willpower can be harnessed towards a greener future provided we become united for causes that actually matter and are going to have a direct influence on our future. And I think, the first step is to realize how serious is Climate Change and its consequences. Because, Earth is our only home and there is no planet B for us or our future generations!

“This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter.” I shall be writing about Climate Change this quarter.

Love,

Chinmayee

(Disclaimer: the views expressed in this article are purely personal & the references have been collected from different articles on the Internet)