It is clear that global warming is having a direct effect on sea ice, with the Antarctic sea ice extent being 28 percent below average, the second lowest for March in the 45-year satellite data record. We are now at a point where dangerous tipping points could be reached. Furthermore, the report states that the past eight years were the eight warmest on record and that the record-breaking temperatures will figure among the coolest within three or four decades as global temperatures climb, even if planet-warming emissions drop quickly. It is time to take action. We must do our part to reduce our carbon footprints and push for more stringent. Climate change is an alarming reality that we can no longer ignore.
There are dire projections for health, the global food system, and economic productivity if no pre-emptive action is taken. Though the world is working towards capping the temperature increase at 1.5C, the prospects of this happening anytime soon look remote. Even with the temperature remaining at 1.8C, humanity could, by 2100, be exposed to periods of life-threatening climate conditions arising from the coupled impacts of extreme heat and humidity.
Over the last two years we have been witness to temperature increases across the world and to the havoc it has wrought. Last year, the world was buffeted by successive natural disasters that took thousands of lives and cost tens of billions of dollars. The countries such as Kenya, and Somalia witnessed droughts, Nigeria and Pakistan were wracked by devastating floods and vast swathes of the globe including the United States experienced unprecedented heatwaves. This has made people across the world understand the urgency of the creeping climate change and they want world leaders to act.
There is thus an urgent need for the world to come together and take remedial measures to pre-empt the catastrophe. In Kashmir too, climate change has led to considerable changes in weather patterns. Triggering alarm bells is the slowly shrinking glaciers that are the source of the Valley’s water bodies. But the factors causing climate change are global in nature and so any effort to reverse the damage has to be backed by the world. And this should be done sooner than later.
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