Climate Change is a terrifying thing. Learning about ice-caps melting, forests getting burnt, animals going extinct and habitats getting destroyed takes a toll on me. Every day I am reminded of how we have even lesser amount of time left before an irreversible impact will obliterate our planet’s beauty and nature. When I was growing up all that was mentioned to me was something about global warming in geography books but then I was not aware if it is something bookish or real. Should I care or not. I never made a career choice to do something about it. Since the past 3 years I have become aware. I realized, I want to act. But, the question of how do I act is perplexing. I have been onto it and still have not found the answer.
Instead of waiting for something dramatic to happen in my life I have already started small by inculcating some habits in my lifestyle; making mindful choices and making changes at a personal level.
I would like to clear the air about a misconception – contributions at a personal level don’t matter. The sheer scale of climate change is so large, how I as an individual, just by changing some habits be making things better? Let us start by working backwards from where we are today.
Global Warming did not just happen on its own, natural climate change takes millions of years to happen. Recent global warming is a making of humans and industrialization. Now if humans led to climate change then it is was each one of us who was contributing to it. If we contributed in creating the world as it is today then each one of our actions also control what will happen to the world tomorrow. Did you know that the carbon footprint of a single ticket on a return flight from London-New York is more than that of a citizen in many developing nations throughout the year. Together humans generate 2.1bn ton of waste each year which is equivalent of 822,000 swimming pools. If each of us have enough power to cause damages at this scale then I believe that each one of us also has the power to mend it.
To spread this message I have decided to start writing about ways in which each one of us can contribute to minimize our impact. I will write about some simple (or maybe hard) day to day choices that one can make that will go a long way in helping the planet.