GreyMatter

The Heat Is On

A recent article in the Times of India highlighted some bizzare developments in the recent past as far as the world’s weather is concerned :

Snow has fallen in UAE for the first time ever, leaving a white blanket over the mountains of Ras-al-Khaimah. The desert country saw temperatures dropping to minus five, stunning its residents!

Grass is growing in Antarctica for the first time. And, 25000 people have died of heat wave in Europe!

Average global temperatures increased by 0.6 C in the last hundred years, but are now increasing at the rate of 0.1 C every decade!

The 10 hottest years in recorded history have occurred since 1990.

According to NASA, the polar ice cap is now melting at an alarming rate of 9% per decade. As many as 2 billion people may be at risk of flooding by 2050!

The World Meteorological Organization estimates that the number of extreme weather events has doubled in the last ten years, and a big culprit is the emission of greenhouse gases.

We are not teaching this stuff in our schools and colleges.  We are not organizing corporate drives to increase awareness among employees.  We are not mobilizing resources against the sale and purchase of products that contribute to global warming.  There is hardly even a mention of all this in the media, be it Press, Radio or Television.

What are we doing about it?!