Growing up in a middle class household in the India of the 60's and 70's was tough. You were being constantly steered to become a better person, a brighter person, a smarter person. Your parents wanted you to be better than what they were. And all this was amply justified by their aspirations for you, which were of Himalayan proportions. While in retrospect all this was very sweet, their expressions of love and words of motivation were strange, as they were exhausting. The constant refrain used to be, just good behaviour was not enough, just doing well in your academics was not enough, just being bright was not enough, not enough…not enough…not enough…you have to be more than that.
I was reminded of this syndrome when I was reading an article written by Jason Hickel in The Guardian, where he says that just moving to clean renewable energy is not enough, and will not save the planet. I am a climate leader, and have been evangelising about the ill effects of burning fossil fuels for generating electricity, because over 70% of greenhouse gases (GHG) are as a result of this. However, Jason is of the view that just this is not enough, because even if the whole world turns to 100% renewable energy and saves the 70% GHG emissions, the balance 30% that will still be emitted could still have devastating effects on the planet. His point - just moving completely to renewable energy is still not enough (Dad, can you hear me…Jason sounds like you!).
I agree with this point of view, and it is important that we all talk about it without resorting to 'let's tackle the big fish first and we will come to small ones later', because it may be too late. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration in its Global Analysis for May 2016 says that the combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for May 2016 was the highest for May in the 137-year period of record, at 0.87°C above the 20th century average of 14.8°C. May 2016 marks the 13th consecutive month a monthly global temperature record has been broken-the longest such streak since global temperature records began in 1880. So we need to simultaneously address all GHG's that result in global warming - not just from fossil fuels
So what are the other sources of concern? Deforestation is a major source. Scientists predict that tropical forests will be completely destroyed by 2050, releasing close to 200bn tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, besides losing a massive carbon sink. Industrial agriculture & livestock farming, which degrades top soil because of excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides is another huge source. Maria-Helena Semedo of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that about a third of the world's soil has already been degraded. Generating 3 cm of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years, says Semedo.
The causes of soil destruction include chemical-heavy farming techniques and deforestation. Landfills are another huge source of the green house gas methane, which is the deadliest of all GHG's. Landfills contribute to up to 16% of all GHG's. The World Bank predicted that by 2100 we will be producing 11m tonnes of solid waste per day, three times more than we do now. Industrial production of cement, steel, etc., which is set to grow exponentially as the world demands more production, more profits and increased GDP. If the world economy keeps growing at 3% every year, it will mean that we double the size of the global economy every 20 years. This will only contribute more GHG's to the atmosphere.
We have many sources of GHG's to attend to and to reduce. I come back to my parent's words…attending to just the 70% GHG from fossil fuels is not enough. We all need to do more. We all need to contribute in our own way to reduce emission of GHG's, knowing that we still have a long way to go, as we have miles to go before we even plan to sleep.
