'The last chance for change'*

The other day a friend asked me when I planned to change my car. He said that he would buy my Santro when I migrate to a bigger car. When I said that I was seriously considering a Reva or a Nano he gave me a look of disgust and said "why do you have such a preference for ugly cars? And don't you think you have come far enough to deserve a luxury vehicle?"
I explained how I would be quite happy NOT to use any car if only namma Bengaluru had reliable public transport and decent and safe footpaths. His immediate response was: "what do you plan to do with all your money?"
I do not have all that money he was talking about but I was rather pained to see that an educated young person was not thinking of the environmental impact of big cars at all. In fact I have known many people who dismiss ideas such as global warming as vastly exaggerated.This is what the Worldbook at NASA has to say about global warming:

Global warming is an increase in the average temperature of Earth's surface. Since the late 1800's, the global average temperature has increased about 0.7 to 1.4 degrees F (0.4 to 0.8 degrees C). Many experts estimate that the average temperature will rise an additional 2.5 to 10.4 degrees F (1.4 to 5.8 degrees C) by 2100. That rate of increase would be much larger than most past rates of increase.

Actually do we really need NASA to tell you these facts? isnt' the oppressive summer heat that we are facing right now enough testimony in itself? Don't we feel the climatic changes affect us in a tangible way?
Do you want to know what else is in store if we do not take measures to reverse it?

Continued global warming could have many damaging effects. It might harm plants and animals that live in the sea. It could also force animals and plants on land to move to new habitats. Weather patterns could change, causing flooding, drought, and an increase in damaging storms. Global warming could melt enough polar ice to raise the sea level. In certain parts of the world, human disease could spread, and crop yields could decline.

Read on more here

And please read Jane"s interview with Paul Brown author of the book: Global Warning, The Last Chance for Change
Here's an excerpt:

Some islands, like the Maldives, are going to flood anyway by the end of the century whatever they do, aren’t they?

Yes, and very possible before. I think that was one of the things that frightened me most was the inevitability of the sea level rise

Yes, we’re talking about huge civilizations flooding and where will all the dispossessed go? That is a really huge question. Perhaps in America they can all move inland but where will people who don’t have the same religious backgrounds and beliefs go? It’s just going to be awful.

Yes, people keep talking about China and India being the powerhouses of the world but if you take the effects of the glaciers melting in the Himalayas, the water supply running out and the flooding of the Deltas because of the sea level rise you’re talking millions and millions of people who have nowhere to go because the country is already so overwhelmed with population.

It is almost inevitable that millions of people are going to die.

Yes.

One of the scientists at Copenhagen, was saying he thought that unless we made drastic cuts in CO2 now we are looking at a population crash from 6 billion to 1 billion.

Please read the whole interview here and her review of his book here.

And yet we buy larger cars, instal bigger airconditioners and cut down trees indiscriminately. This last one has been going on in Bangalore for the past few years despite protests from concerned citizens.
For over four years now, Hasiru Usiru (a network of citizens, community organizations and NGOs) and concerned individuals from the wider public have proactively campaigned against irrational road-widening projects of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). But the authorities have been unrelentingly and indiscriminately feeling trees for widening roads.

I have a couple of neem trees outside my house which provide good shade and the leaves are in great demand for their disinfectant and medicinal properties. But every now and then officials from BESCOM send their staff to cut down the branches as they do not want them to grow high enough to reach the electric lines. What about all those underground cables that were laid with elaborate digging up of roads? why do we still need those ugly lines and why should trees be stunted to save them?
If you live in bengaluru and if you care about trees being cut down indiscriminately, please go here and sign the petition online:
And if you want to know what you can do about global warming and climate change go here and read these articles and here.There is a lot we can do.
"We have to remember that we are not the last generation on earth.” Think of our children. They need a place to live in. And the good news is that we still seem to have some chance, albeit the last one.

* - from the title of the book by Paul brown - Global warming, the last chance for change.