Climate Change & You

Now, it does not really matter whether your politics is Red, Blue or Purple or whether you believe the whole climate change scare is a hoax, you cannot deny that in our own lifetime we are seeing bigger and more harsher swings in the climate. I remember growing up in India in the 1950s and 60s, we used to have Monsoon rains that could go on for a whole week. In fact, we had a saying that if it started to rain on a Saturday it would only stop the next Saturday. And more often than not, that old wives tale was true. Talking to my brother now, back home in New Delhi, it is rare if ever it rains for more than a day. I am sure I do not have to convince you that you have also experienced those same changes in your lifetime, whichever continent and country you grew up in.

There is not a day that goes by when you switch on the TV, the news frequently starts with a weather-related story. If it is not Australia burning claiming the lives of a billion animals – Koala Bears and Kangaroos and the likes, it is devastating floods in one part of the US and raging fire in other parts and Snow, Sleet and Ice in yet another. Each year, the summers seem to be hotter and longer and the winters not as cold and certainly much shorter. It is not my intention in this blog to throw data for average world temperature rise or the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases or the melting of the polar ice caps or drought and parching earth in ever increasing areas of the planet. There is no denying that things are not the same as they were while we were growing up and we must do something about it before they become worse and perhaps beyond repair.

As a lifelong aviation engineer, I have been fortunate to have been given the opportunity to do my part in not only making air travel more affordable but also more environmentally friendly. All of my 30+ patents related to the engines that power today’s airliners were aimed at achieving that goal. I am also heartened to see that the Mantra of the 3R – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle has become part of our lives. More and more of us are also becoming conscious of our Carbon footprint and are trying to minimize it  by driving more fuel-efficient vehicles and using electricity generated from clean renewable sources such as solar and wind. But, clearly it is not enough, and the planet is still heating up. We need to keep up the fight and continue to do our part.

As a writer, I plan to do my part through my novels and blogs. I promise not to regurgitate what you may already know and what may seem like platitude and pontification. I am also not going to bore you with the science and probable root causes of these changes unless there is something new I can add from my vantage point as an aviation engineer. No, what I do want to talk about are areas which hitherto have been out of focus as related to climate change but do have significant impact on the planet and the quality of life of its inhabitants and what we as individuals and as a family unit can do about it. And believe me, there is a lot we can. You may already be doing some of these, but if you are not let me give you some food for thought.

The scourge of Plastics – Plastic, it seems has permeated so deeply in our daily lives that we don’t even think about the long-term harm it causes to our well- being. Plastic, you see is made from the same carbon-based fossil fuels we burn in our vehicles and which produce CO2 and other greenhouse gases that trap the heat within the earth’s atmosphere causing it to heat up. Whether it is the plastic grocery bags, the throw away straws and cutlery, the stretch plastic wrap we use to pack and store our food, those pesky and ubiquitous water bottles, all kind of shoes. I could go on, but you get the idea, plastic is everywhere.

Plastic as it turns out not only harms the environment as it is processed from fossil fuels but by also hanging around for a long time as it slowly decomposes. And in the meantime, it finds its way in our waterways where it gets pummeled into micro and nano size bits which are swallowed by marine life showing up in the seafoods we consume. It also reduces the rejuvenating capabilities of those waterways – lakes and oceans which help process some of that carbon emitted in its production. A real double whammy!

So, what can we do about it. Well, simply put, eliminate or at least reduce the use of plastics by whatever means that makes sense and is doable for your particular situation. I am not advocating some fanatical response, just common-sense actions such as using a non-disposable water bottle, skipping the use of those individual grocery bags to pack your apples and oranges, sip your choice of drink directly from the cup and get rid of those omnipresent straws. Again, you get the idea.

Water – Under Siege. Even in this land of abundance that is the United States, climate change is having a clearly observable and measurable impact on the availability of the elixir of life that is water. It takes a lot of energy to produce clean potable water which exacerbates the climate change reducing the amount of water coming down from the sky and from our mountains requiring even more energy to process the dwindling supply. The negative feedback loop just keeps churning adding to our woes. It is not an exaggeration to postulate that in the not too distant future, unless we individually and collectively act, availability of clean potable water may well become the biggest challenge we as humans face.

So, what to do about it? Quite simply – let us stop wasting it. When I was working, I will often see my colleagues running the water while brushing or shaving or rinsing their lunch boxes. Growing up in a country where water was scarce and rationed, it pained me at the sight of that waste, and I would politely ask them to turn the faucet off. Most of the time, I was thanked for reminding them but there were occasions when I was tersely asked to mind my own business. The rebuke hurt my ego, but it was well worth it.

This is just one example. Our daily lives are full of opportunities to reduce wastage without much sacrifice – running full instead of partial loads of laundry and dishwasher, taking shorter showers and less of those water guzzling baths. Again, you get the idea. Every drop of this precious commodity we save will help reduce creation of those climate damaging greenhouse gases and ensure this elixir of life is easily and readily available for the generations that follow us.

I am going to continue talking about climate change in some of my future blogs and will end this with one more food for thought. And that is about Food itself. You see, the production of food is a large contributor to climate change. And within the many food groups, consumption of meat is especially a major culprit requiring on average about thirteen times as much energy and resources such as land and water than a vegetarian diet. Now, I am not suggesting that we all become vegetarians but if we all just abstained from eating meat-based food for one day a week, it will have a measurable positive impact on our climate. The planet will be grateful for that and so will our own body!

Let me conclude by saying that even if you are not fully convinced and have reasonable doubts about the science and the overwhelming evidence it presents, we cannot question the fact that our climate is not the same as it was in the last decade or the decade before. We also cannot just devolve it to our governments or big businesses or public institutions to fight this global problem. It is incumbent upon each one of us to do our part and leave this beautiful blue terrestrial body that we call home in a clean and healthy condition for our children, grandchildren and the generations that come after them. They expect it of us, and we owe it to them…