According to the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report by UNESCO, climate education is still not being prioritised and sufficiently integrated into the education system and only 50 per cent of countries emphasise the subject in their national-level laws, policies or teaching plans. The GEM report is released while the biggest climate summit is continuing in Glasgow with major nations committing to several climate action goals towards achieving the net-zero target.
Scientists studying climate have predicted that due to rising temperatures, intense sea events along the coastlines will be 100 folds more frequent.
The scientists studying the temperature of Antarctica has revealed alarming news that a huge shelf of ice called the Conger Ice Shelf which is located in the coldest region of Antarctica has collapsed amidst the record heatwave in the region.
A new report published by the Institute for Climate Change Studies (ICCS) under the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment highlighted that Kerala warmed up by 1.67 degrees celsius from 1901 to 2021.
Bengaluru was once known as a windy city, a pensioner’s paradise. Bengaluru’s IT industry boom, followed by the fast-growing startup ecosystem, fueled migration into the city. The population of the city is expected to grow by 30 million by 2025, according to a report. More people mean more corporate buildings, residential complexes and new road constructions. Construction projects require cement and cement guzzles water. For every 1 Sq. Mt of wall construction, an average of 350 litres of water gets consumed. Obviously, such large-scale urbanization cannot happen without leaving an imprint on the environment.
The new report released by the World Meteorological Department (WMO) highlighted that the ocean’s temperature and acidic levels touched a record high in the last year. The ‘State of the Global Climate’ report highlighted that the record rise in the global temperature has resulted in the significant melting of glaciers and thus increased the sea level to new heights.
As the mercury keeps soaring, India is experiencing its hottest summers in 122 years. By mid-May, maximum temperatures in North India have crossed 45 degrees celsius consistently. Extreme weather cannot be attributed to a single cause. Heatwaves are a result of the compounding effect of global warming, pollution, and existing weather patterns. Researchers have pointed to another issue that is aggravating the already existing problems of heatwaves - Western Architecture.
Spain is experiencing the wrath of massive wildfires due to an unusual heatwave in the early summer pushing the temperatures to record highs. The firefighters are deployed to control the fires in several regions across the country.
Crop yields have seen the largest decline in decades due to the extreme heatwave in the north Indian states. As much as 20% per hectare decline has been reported.
Rising heat and its impacts on climate, ecosystems and urban livelihood have gathered enough attention during the last few decades, so much that institutions started long term planning, analysis and policy making. But, this phenomenon of extreme heat situations and their consequences are new and poorly understood, and worse, they have been growing in intensity and frequency for over the last few decades.
India is breaking records again, but these new highs are no reason to celebrate! People living in India's northern and central regions are experiencing severe heat waves. The temperature in Delhi crossed 45 degrees celsius, while UP’s Banda district registered a record high temperature of 49 degrees celsius. Although, high temperatures are typical in April and May, this year’s temperatures are unprecedented. India is witnessing its hottest summer in 122 years. Climate experts are pointing towards compound events as the major reason behind the increased frequency of heatwaves in the past few years. A compound event is one where two or more weather events which may not be necessarily dangerous occur together to create severe impacts. The heatwaves result from the compounding effect of global warming, weather pattern changes and existing weather cycles. An IPCC report released in August 2021 warned India might experience more frequent heatwaves. This was confirmed by a recent report by NASA which observed urban ‘heat islands’ in the Delhi NCR region. Although concrete is considered a good material for construction, it is notoriously known for absorbing and reflecting large amounts of heat. These concrete structures create heat islands that aggravate the impact of heatwaves where even the nights seem to offer no relief to the common people. While Delhi and its neighbouring areas recorded night time temperatures of 35 degrees celsius, the rural fields cooled off to 15 degrees celsius. The major differentiating factor was the lack of green spaces in urban areas.
India is witnessing record-breaking heat waves this year which was never seen before. The temperature has skyrocketed as the states such as Delhi, UP, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan have reported 45 degrees celsius in the month of April.
The European nations such as the UK, Spain, and Italy are witnessing heatwave conditions like never before as the temperature skyrocketed above 40 degrees Celsius on the continent. According to the BNO news, about 1000 people have succumbed to death in Portugal and Spain due to the deadly weather conditions.
Thousands of Hindu pilgrims from across India visit Amarnath every year to capture a glimpse of the Shivling forms naturally from the ice in the Amarnath cave. But, about two weeks before Amarnath Yatra concludes the pilgrims are left disheartened as the lingam has already started melting due to the impacts of global warming as the climate experts suggest.
The US-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said in its report that South Asia is becoming a hotspot of climate change. It is estimated to have the biggest impact on India. According to the report, by the year 2100, the temperature of South Asia is 1.2 to 4.3 degrees Celsius, while the temperature of India may increase by 2.4 to 4.4 degrees Celsius.
Recent research from New South Wales University indicates that human influence on the climate has increased the Incidents of heatstroke and wildfires. Since the middle of the 20th century, their intensity, frequency and duration have increased around the world and these changes are occurring rapidly.
A report published by Reuters highlights alarming data that reveals the Alps’ glaciers are facing the wrath of global warming and they are going to face the biggest ice loss in the history of 60 years.
A modelling study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal Climate change reveals that climate change is increasing the death rate rapidly. The experts have found that climate change can increase the death rate due to extreme heat by six times by the end of the century. It is not hidden from the world that due to climate change, many changes are being seen in the weather worldwide, including in India. Media reports often give information that the ice in Antarctica is melting faster than ever.
Nations across the globe are continuously facing economic and social risks due to climate change. Extreme weather events, as a consequence of climate change, have led to 495,000 human deaths in the world from 1999 to 2018. In the year 2017, around seven million people, because of extreme climate events, were forced to be displaced in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. It cannot be denied that there has been an exponential rise in the frequency and intensity of extreme events in India. India was ranked fifth most vulnerable nation globally in the South Asian ranking during COP (Conference of Parties) 25.
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Technology is a useful servant, but a dangerous master, it was rightly said. Electronic devices have grown into an inevitable part of our daily lives.