Tags
air conditioners, Andhra Pradesh, Assam valley, climate change, habitable place, human activities, hydro power, incessant rain, lack of rainfall, minimum harm, north-eastern part of India, prolonged spell of heat, Shillong, social media
This year there has been a lot of respite from heat in the north-eastern part of India, especially the Assam valley. The situation here is just contrary to the scene in Andhra Pradesh where around 1,000 people reportedly died due to heat and lack of rainfall. It’s already middle of June and there has been no prolonged spell of heat. The rain comes to the rescue within just two-three days if scorching heat start reminding us that it’s summer season and you can’t be in such comfort! The rains not only kept the mercury level down, but also improved the power supply scene. In Shillong, where the denizens suffered hours of load shedding every day during April-May last year, there has been no such power cut this time, thanks to the early rains. Dependent solely on hydro power, the power plants must be getting enough water to generate power, at least, to fulfill the state’s own needs.
All may not like the above observation. One day of incessant rain, and you would see in ‘experts’ asking in social media ‘is it climate change’? One day of intense heat and they are outside their usual comfort of air conditioners, they ask the same question. As if they had been personally monitoring the climate of the world for millions of years! And not to miss the fact that when they say climate change, they mean change affected by human activities. Humans are too small an element in this world, which is too small a particle in the whole universe, to affect any major change in the climate of this globe. It cannot be denied that there is pollution in the rivers, seas and air due to human activities. But they look quite big and serious to us, as we are too small. Try to look at the changes from outside the world, they would be insignificant.
However, the above observation should not be mistaken as something favouring human activities that hamper the environment of this world. Those activities may not cause serious damage to the world, but enough to make life more difficult on the planet. But the slogan of climate change would not help either. The term is hardly understood by the ones who utter it regularly. They either try to ignore or forget the fact that the world today is a habitable place, thanks to climate change over millions of years! Let us accept the weather or the climate the way it is, cause minimum harm to other living beings (including trees), and live as long as this planet allows us to do so.
(Published as editorial in The Meghalaya Guardian on June 20, 2015)