Mary Paulose :
Climate change, argues Ghosh, occupies the same strata of consciousness reserved for Harry Potteresque wizardry and fairy lands for us: it doesn’t exist, because it hasn’t happened to us.
Lately, I’ve been trying to plough through author Amitav Ghosh’s latest 2016 book, The Great Derangement. “Ploughing” is not a word to be associated with the brilliant Ghosh’s work. He is of the sweeping sagas and penner of historical works of fiction that bare the human condition and identities so poignantly.
But this, his non-fiction take on the looming catastrophe of climate change and the unthinkable aspects of it beg more than your attention on something that we think “might take place” in the future. but how near in the future? The writer makes a strong case for why climate change does not occupy our collective urgency or a prominent place in his own realm of expertise: narrative fiction. Because most of us have no context to place it in.
Sure, we urban dwellers might have experienced a few unsettling storms, floods or cyclones in our lifetime, but how many of us have been displaced or had our livelihood or lifestyles drastically altered or even wiped out by climactic fury? That happens to other people. Maybe, some years from now the polar ice caps will melt, sea levels will rise and some coastal areas and cities may be submerged, and temperatures could rise by a few degrees – that’s pretty much the average earth dweller’s understanding of Mother Nature’s grand plans for us for messing with her.
Climate change, argues Ghosh, occupies the same strata of consciousness reserved for Harry Potteresque wizardry and fairy lands for us: it doesn’t exist, because it hasn’t happened to us. Yet, the signs of impending and severe climactic shifts are only the beginning. Weather patterns are changing everywhere as we’re seeing each annum. Your home country is probably not as hot or as cold as it used to be, or worse, it’s much hotter than when you were young, and it’s not raining as much.
Records for the warmest days, weeks and months are shattered, too. All the hottest days that ever occurred on earth were in 2015-16.
There are reports of wildlife species going extinct or adapting – not always favourably – to their drastically changing environs. Airplane turbulence will get worse due to increasing CO2 levels. Large swatches of the world’s coral reefs are already bleached and dying.
But we’re a positive-thinking, solutions-driven world. So, are we doing something about these scenarios? It appears that we may be trying. The global collective’s most famous effort is the Paris Agreement that pledges to keep the rising mercury levels – even if it’s inevitable – to the least possible degrees. At a micro level we could go vegetarian, since cattle and dairy farming is one of the biggest polluting culprits. Or, of course, cut down the wasteful energy consumption and reconsider snazzy SUVs for more eco-friendly options. Grow and buy local, more sustainable, consume less. social scientists even suggest reconsidering having kids, because what kind of world are you bringing them into? That fear is finally legitimate.
There’s a huge school of thought – unfortunately, I’m an unwilling member of it – that our civilisation’s lifestyle habits, up to this point, have created the conditions that snowballed into this deadly situation in motion. That our “sustainable” or desperate half measures now aren’t going to be enough to save us from The Day After Tomorrow scenarios. We’ve gotten too used to our disposable lifestyles that a little recycling here and there is like puffing in the gale. We’re at the point of no return.
Not to be doomsday queen, you know, but prepare to have your already fragile sense of security in this world torn asunder. One warning that really struck home for me was that of a famous scientist who said that we have about 20 years left before global warming really hits the fan. Oh wait. he said that in 2008. And he also called carbon-offsetting a joke.
How much critical mass of weather change and environmental damage is needed before we take our planet’s alarms seriously?
(khaleejtimes.com)
Climate change, argues Ghosh, occupies the same strata of consciousness reserved for Harry Potteresque wizardry and fairy lands for us: it doesn’t exist, because it hasn’t happened to us.
Lately, I’ve been trying to plough through author Amitav Ghosh’s latest 2016 book, The Great Derangement. “Ploughing” is not a word to be associated with the brilliant Ghosh’s work. He is of the sweeping sagas and penner of historical works of fiction that bare the human condition and identities so poignantly.
But this, his non-fiction take on the looming catastrophe of climate change and the unthinkable aspects of it beg more than your attention on something that we think “might take place” in the future. but how near in the future? The writer makes a strong case for why climate change does not occupy our collective urgency or a prominent place in his own realm of expertise: narrative fiction. Because most of us have no context to place it in.
Sure, we urban dwellers might have experienced a few unsettling storms, floods or cyclones in our lifetime, but how many of us have been displaced or had our livelihood or lifestyles drastically altered or even wiped out by climactic fury? That happens to other people. Maybe, some years from now the polar ice caps will melt, sea levels will rise and some coastal areas and cities may be submerged, and temperatures could rise by a few degrees – that’s pretty much the average earth dweller’s understanding of Mother Nature’s grand plans for us for messing with her.
Climate change, argues Ghosh, occupies the same strata of consciousness reserved for Harry Potteresque wizardry and fairy lands for us: it doesn’t exist, because it hasn’t happened to us. Yet, the signs of impending and severe climactic shifts are only the beginning. Weather patterns are changing everywhere as we’re seeing each annum. Your home country is probably not as hot or as cold as it used to be, or worse, it’s much hotter than when you were young, and it’s not raining as much.
Records for the warmest days, weeks and months are shattered, too. All the hottest days that ever occurred on earth were in 2015-16.
There are reports of wildlife species going extinct or adapting – not always favourably – to their drastically changing environs. Airplane turbulence will get worse due to increasing CO2 levels. Large swatches of the world’s coral reefs are already bleached and dying.
But we’re a positive-thinking, solutions-driven world. So, are we doing something about these scenarios? It appears that we may be trying. The global collective’s most famous effort is the Paris Agreement that pledges to keep the rising mercury levels – even if it’s inevitable – to the least possible degrees. At a micro level we could go vegetarian, since cattle and dairy farming is one of the biggest polluting culprits. Or, of course, cut down the wasteful energy consumption and reconsider snazzy SUVs for more eco-friendly options. Grow and buy local, more sustainable, consume less. social scientists even suggest reconsidering having kids, because what kind of world are you bringing them into? That fear is finally legitimate.
There’s a huge school of thought – unfortunately, I’m an unwilling member of it – that our civilisation’s lifestyle habits, up to this point, have created the conditions that snowballed into this deadly situation in motion. That our “sustainable” or desperate half measures now aren’t going to be enough to save us from The Day After Tomorrow scenarios. We’ve gotten too used to our disposable lifestyles that a little recycling here and there is like puffing in the gale. We’re at the point of no return.
Not to be doomsday queen, you know, but prepare to have your already fragile sense of security in this world torn asunder. One warning that really struck home for me was that of a famous scientist who said that we have about 20 years left before global warming really hits the fan. Oh wait. he said that in 2008. And he also called carbon-offsetting a joke.
How much critical mass of weather change and environmental damage is needed before we take our planet’s alarms seriously?
(khaleejtimes.com)
