After the Glasgow climate summit, which involved more talks than action, the hollowness of the global leaders' commitment towards limiting global warming became apparent. The idea of keeping global temperature 'well below' 2.0 degrees Celsius by 2100 and the target of pursuing the 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial level as agreed in 2015's Paris Agreement have perhaps lost their relevance by now. The Inter-government Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s latest report portrays a rather grim future for the earth as a liveable place for anything living, let alone humanity. Notably, IPCC keeps the policymakers abreast of their regular scientific assessment on climate change. The report is indeed horrifying.
Consider the warnings. The earth's ecosystem is on the verge of collapsing. Animal and plant species are going extinct on a larger scale. The incidence of insect-borne diseases like malaria, dengue, zika are on the rise. The frequency of the deadly heat waves has broken all previous records recently and the future is going to be worse. More mega storms will be lashing across different countries. Droughts and downpours are and will be the order of the day. And the worst scenario of all is the shortage of water for everyday use and for agriculture. Humanity's food security will be getting threatened with more crop failures combined with low yields. Obviously, the picture so drawn is not something remote as humanity is already going through the ordeals. What the IPCC report has tried to stress is that time is fast running out to reverse the deadly trend born of human-induced climate change. Ironically, the IPCC report has come at a time when the world is witnessing the worst type of action that humanity can take to destroy the environment. It is the war now raging through eastern Europe, in Ukraine, to be specific, imposed by a world power, Russia. And the rest of the world is either looking on or trying to make matters worse by adding more fuel to the fire of war. So, at the moment there is practically none, other than the climate scientists themselves, to notice the IPCC report and the warnings for humanity it contains.
It is hardly surprising that the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, termed the report a 'damning indictment' of the world's 'failed leadership'. He even went so far as to call it as nothing short of 'criminal'. However, taking note of the 3,600-page IPCC report, the US foreign secretary, Antony Blinken, in an oblique reference to Russian invasion of Ukraine said that the world cannot still be distracted from the truth of the long climate report. He, however, did not fail to remind the international community of the urgency of taking climate action despite other challenges facing the global community. But the question is, the international community that the US secretary of state has pointed to is not something abstract. In fact, the US itself is the most powerful and influential member of the international community. Evidently, the world at large would be willing to hear from him what concrete action is being taken at the moment from his government's side to end the war in Ukraine that is killing people and at the same time inflicting an irreversible damage on the environment.
Wars apart, the disastrous impact of the climate change has already been threatening the habitat and livelihood of the coastal population of Bangladesh and other countries washed by the seas. According to the IPCC report in question, by 2050, more than a billion people living the coastal areas will be impacted by the rising sea level. Sea-level rise as any schoolchildren is now aware of is happening due to melting icecap of the earth. The timeline of 2050 is also not far off. Moreover, it is not just the least developed and developing countries like Bangladesh that are going to face the fallout from the sea-level rise. For the climate report forecasts a 10 to 12 inches rise of the US shoreline by 2050. The permafrost of Siberia in Russia, on the other hand, has also been melting.
So, the world powers like the US, or Russia has little room for looking the other way. They need to concentrate more on taking climate action in collaboration with other big economic powers. For the purpose they will be required to set their priorities right. To all appearances, the big economies to this day are pursuing business interests that are basically against the goals of the climate action. Since climate change has been triggered by the way the businesses are being done, the imperative now is to effect a change in the world's dominant business practices.
First and foremost, sustainable and greener sustainable business practices should replace the fossil energy-burning ones. In effect, it would imply a change in the people's lifestyles. It is time the consumerist culture that the world is so addicted to is given a decent farewell. In fact, consumerism, which is itself a creation of modern corporate culture, is the driver of environment-destroying business practices. Of course, shunning it will be hard. But the sacrifice, however painful, is necessary to be made to keep the earth liveable.