global warming

Thinking about the Climate Change..

18 April 2009


Yesterday night while casually flipping the TV channel came across this PBS documentary on Climate Change. The documentary took the viewer to glaciers of Himalaya and how they are retreating so fast. The scenes were troubling to me, least of which is because I was born in the great land of Himalayas, India. Yes, probably the documentary touched me more deeply than it would somebody who does not call the region their ancestral land, nonetheless the message was unmistakable and applicable to humanity as a whole. The central message of the documentary was that we are all in this together no matter which part of the world we live in. The Himalaya glaciers may be receding , but so are countless others , from Rockies to Alps to Alaska, to that little glacier they talked about in Montana.

I recommend the reader to watch the video themselves and for those short on time, I will post a summary here when I have some free time. TV reporter David Brancaccio and environmentalist Conrad Anker have done a wonderful job of documenting the ill effects of global warming and the disturbing trend of unsustainable development. According to them this could result into food security issues for millions of people in very near future, mostly in Ganges basin, who have been historically dependent on the river’s water for thousands of years. The displaced population will be a national security risk and would affect the world as a whole with global shortage of food, water, and clean air.

So many well meaning people have started to think in this area, time for me to do some serious thinking as well… nothing concrete so far, but tomorrow is yet another day…will see what it brings!

>Thinking about the Climate Change..

18 April 2009

>
Yesterday night while casually flipping the TV channel came across this PBS documentary on Climate Change. The documentary took the viewer to glaciers of Himalaya and how they are retreating so fast. The scenes were troubling to me, least of which is because I was born in the great land of Himalayas, India. Yes, probably the documentary touched me more deeply than it would somebody who does not call the region their ancestral land, nonetheless the message was unmistakable and applicable to humanity as a whole. The central message of the documentary was that we are all in this together no matter which part of the world we live in. The Himalaya glaciers may be receding , but so are countless others , from Rockies to Alps to Alaska, to that little glacier they talked about in Montana.

I recommend the reader to watch the video themselves and for those short on time, I will post a summary here when I have some free time. TV reporter David Brancaccio and environmentalist Conrad Anker have done a wonderful job of documenting the ill effects of global warming and the disturbing trend of unsustainable development. According to them this could result into food security issues for millions of people in very near future, mostly in Ganges basin, who have been historically dependent on the river’s water for thousands of years. The displaced population will be a national security risk and would affect the world as a whole with global shortage of food, water, and clean air.

So many well meaning people have started to think in this area, time for me to do some serious thinking as well… nothing concrete so far, but tomorrow is yet another day…will see what it brings!

Planet in Peril II

15 May 2008

I had a post few months ago on this topic (inspired by CNN story) and here I am back again pondering over the issue. I heard the cyclone in Burma killing tens of thousands of people this is quickly followed up by earthquake in China again killing tens of thousands of people. You start to wonder what is going on and how small and inconsequential we are in front of the fury of mother nature. A sad reminder to all of us, we should do what we can to protect our planet. I hope the politicians of today take note and really do something about climate change , global warming. US cuts fossil fuel emission by 20% over 20 years, India and other developing countries do some lip service as they continue to put more green house gases in the atmosphere, seems scary. These efforts may be too little too late. What probably is needed is a more grass root movement, a realization that we are in this together, a deep sense of shared responsibility. I don’t see that yet, and that is troubling. We need more Al Gore and David Suzuki and Barack Obama’s of the world to get this going quick and inspire a new generation of followers who are more carbon neutral and take pride in protecting their mother earth!!

>Planet in Peril II

15 May 2008

>I had a post few months ago on this topic (inspired by CNN story) and here I am back again pondering over the issue. I heard the cyclone in Burma killing tens of thousands of people this is quickly followed up by earthquake in China again killing tens of thousands of people. You start to wonder what is going on and how small and inconsequential we are in front of the fury of mother nature. A sad reminder to all of us, we should do what we can to protect our planet. I hope the politicians of today take note and really do something about climate change , global warming. US cuts fossil fuel emission by 20% over 20 years, India and other developing countries do some lip service as they continue to put more green house gases in the atmosphere, seems scary. These efforts may be too little too late. What probably is needed is a more grass root movement, a realization that we are in this together, a deep sense of shared responsibility. I don’t see that yet, and that is troubling. We need more Al Gore and David Suzuki and Barack Obama’s of the world to get this going quick and inspire a new generation of followers who are more carbon neutral and take pride in protecting their mother earth!!