Saturday, November 26, 2011

Climate 'Change'?

It's a Saturday night and I happen to be slightly tipsy and I hope that would assist my thoughts to flow freely,  without the adulteration of diplomacy.


Our life on Earth is similar to that of a bubble that bursts within seconds, when compared to the total lifetime of the universe. The Earth has been revolving around the sun for the past 4.56 billion years. Human kind evolved rather recently and before we came, there were a multitude of organisms that came, flourished and disappeared. The Earth's climate has never been static, as we popularly believe. The four ice ages in the Pleistocene age and the inter glacial warming ages stand as testimony to this fact. Yet there is such a great hue and cry against the supposed 'climate change' (as if climate was ever static). At the most, the human race has altered the pace of the Earth's climatic changes a little. Thinking that the present forms of plant and animal life are meant to stay forever and thinking that its human kind's duty to 'save the earth' in itself is flawed. Whether the human race and flora and fauna as we see it to today exist or don't exist, the Earth will go on, just as it did after the extinction of dinosaurs, dodos, mammoths and the innumerable plants and animals. What we are trying to do today is save ourselves, and not the Earth.

Many a time we forget that human kind is also a product of the nature of Earth and evolved according to the laws of nature. The actions of human kind can thus be easily understood as indirectly the work of nature, and not 'artificial' and separate from nature. After all, it is nature that decided that man will evolve this way and think of different ways to exploit the surroundings to better his life. In effect, the 'climate change' as we talk about it today is also a product of nature.

We are being greedy when we believe that human kind would thrive forever if it weren't for the anthropogenic pollution and other activities.
This doesn't mean that I am against environment friendly initiatives like switching to eco friendly technology, pollution mitigation and so on. I'm totally for them. They will definitely improve the quality of life of us and generations to come. What I am trying to highlight through this article is that the climatic patterns of the Earth are ever changing despite human intervention.



No, I'm not a climate change sceptic. Climate is changing. But it always has been.

8 comments:

s.sudhakar said...

What I love about your writing is your sincere approach to the subject.I can see your soul in it.By reading all your blog,I wonder why you are not writing frequently.I think you should write as you can. Keep writing.Wish you all the best.

Josephine said...

thanks sudhakar, for the encouragement. :)

Anonymous said...

nice post and specially the facts.....
bravo!!!
but climate is changing actually the rate of its change is increasing

da_witness said...

The fundamental difference between humankind and other Species is that we humans have Choice, and with the power of choice comes responsibility...in terms of how our actions are having an effect on others, including Nature.
The argument for climate change may eventually turn out specious, based on criterion of scientific rationality. But unlike other species, we can't be bystanders, and we are not!

Josephine said...

Not all of us have a choice. Quite a large number of people are still fully at the mercy of nature. Take the case of the starving kids of Somalia. Even in my country India, there are so many without much of a choice, struggling to survive.

For those of us who do have a choice, we could definitely do things to better our environment for the present life forms. But zooming out into a larger picture, human kind can do nothing to stop the climate from changing according to the laws that govern the universe.

Vp Ahmed said...

Very interesting narration. Awaiting further posts,

Unknown said...

Do u remember me M/s Varghese.

Unknown said...

Do u remember me M/s Varghese...