It is hotter than hot
But is not the hottest yet
It is Friday morning in India. I am writing from the hottest room in my house. My back is drenched in sweat and the floor seems better than sitting on a swivel chair. I am hardly able to focus given my eyes burn in the heat. It feels like sitting in a room with a fire, except I am unable to spot the source.
A couple of years ago I wanted to give structure to my understanding of climate change and joined an online learning community, Terra. Do. It was clear that we were heading for disaster, until then the lack of knowledge gave me hope that there was a solution. But when I looked at the data and numbers, the evidence was overwhelming.
I was already following a vegan diet by the time I started the course as I researched and realized that depending on animals especially cows for any form of food was a sure-shot way to contribute to global warming
In case you are curious about which diets have the lowest climate impact, backed by science here is a link you can follow
My tryst with understanding climate solutions made me switch my job from a non-profit to an Indian EV startup. But I am uncertain how EVs actually contribute to the solution, the opinions are mixed, they are definitely better than petrol vehicles, but there are questions around Lithium mining and what happens to batteries at the end of their lives.
In a way, all people who are working in Climate want to keep the global average temperature rise below 1.5 degrees rise compared to the previous decade. With the increase in temperature, we will be managing crisis after crisis without addressing the root cause.
In the Non- Profit I worked in every year, there were appeals for flood relief from Odhisa. Being a coastal state Odhisa is one of the most vulnerable states in India to climate-related disasters. But re-locating people on the coastline time and again does not address the problem. It comes back in a larger and uglier form the next year.
As a first resort, India will have to learn how to live in areas where the sea will eat into the land and claim it back. This could be a mix of relocating people, building dykes, or training the local population to read the warning signs. But we also need to address the mother of all root causes, human greed.
While we can wait for the USA and Europe to take responsibility for the warming that was caused by record levels of greed, it might be wishful thinking, especially in the case of the USA.
But I digress, the intent behind writing this was the heat in my room. It addles my brain and I cannot focus anymore. I did not set up an AC in my room so that I could experience the full effects of climate change, and it is horrible. My productivity is very low in this heat, so I go to the office on most days so that I can sit in an AC.
Since the AC in the office is already on, I do not feel as guilty. I also commute in my EV 2-wheeler and charge at the office so that the transport emissions are in control.
Today morning I read a report which said the global temperature is expected to cross 1.5 degrees warming in the next 5 years. And it felt like all my ant-like efforts to make changes in my personal life are of no use. It feels like a nail in the coffin of hopes for a climate solution
I knew this would happen but I expected it to happen for some foolish reason maybe a decade down the line. While we think of climate change as one catastrophic event, it is also a shift in our everyday. I realized I read a lot less and spend all my time trying to cool down when it is hot. There is a loss of appetite when it is this hot and the only thing I can think of is drinking water. To realize that this is going to get worse makes me wonder about a billion Indians who might not have access to cooling systems.
Knowing how my parents and grandparents lived I know they have not contributed to the crisis as much as the developed world.
While it is sad that countries that were not a part of the problem are facing the brunt of the crisis, it feels like a macabre way of serving justice.
It is hotter than hot but I realize it is not the hottest summer I will see in my life.
