Literature has always been the voice of the environment. Its bleak future and fragile nature was brought into the limelight and under serious discussion at the session Climate Change- Pathways to Action a conversation with Dr, Navroz K Dubash.
The session began with the reality that climate change is and a chronological trail to its causes and ways to mitigate it. “With Artic ice sheet melting three times faster, the sea levels are rising and oceans are becoming more acidic,” said Dr. Navroz. The melting of ice sheets will leading to trapping of more greenhouse gases and lead to an increased global warming. Quoting the recent incident that ravaged Australian forests, he said that the destruction is a result of climate change. These incidents act as global alarms, particularly in Europe.
He said that the increased awareness of the youth is a positive sign and then moved on to the action pan Indian needs to focus on as a country. “India needs to think about both climate change and development together. As a developing country India has more chance for change in the situation, with only 30-35% urbanization in India.” He said about the increased consumption in India that in turn causes an increase in carbon foot print. To fight this we must focus on simple steps like using public transport than private ones. He also touched upon the economic disparity that is also a reason for the climate change which is hard hitting the middle and lower classes of the society.
The session concluded with Dr. Navroz apologising to the current generation for the shortcomings of a generation that did not realise a massive aftermath that would follow.