We did a one day trip to Coorg. Its green, pretty, and a refreshing change from our traffic ridden lives, as usual...
But right through the monsoon, its really rained just 5-6 days so far :( Of course, then it poured, and one particularly bad 2 day spell saw 20 inches dumped all over with consequent flooding, damage and at the end, not even enough groundwater since the ground, after all, has a maximum seepage rate and this leads to a lot of runoff.
My friend there told us about a little piece of knowledge the Coorgis have gained through experience - a light rain and windy conditions is what keeps the springs going and the streams flowing! Am still trying to figure that one out, but will trust local knowledge on that.
My prayers for Coorg, a good sane monsoon and for all of us. The rivers we take for granted, and the rains that we assume will feed them year open year - nothing is a certainty in the dramatically changing climatic conditions anymore.
There is a keenness to try and understand the North Pole, the ice sheets and the general impact of warming, changing ocean currents, etc. Perhaps we all need to start having those conversations as well.
Showing posts with label global warming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label global warming. Show all posts
No Cloud In The Sky
Its Staring in Your Face
Mid July, and the monsoon is still not really here. Great weather in Bangalore, sure. But precious little rain. They're saying it'll pick up soon, but its a month and a half late!
And its much much worse elsewhere. Imagine getting 30 minutes of water once every 7 days in a major city! Or killing people who steal it unfairly.
I still hear arguments about there being no conclusive evidence of human impact causing global warming and the associated changes. Does it matter ? What's scary is our state od denial, as a species. We continue to worry about property rates, and iPhone releases, and stock market swings.
It sounds like a doomsday scenario, but these troubles could arrive faster than we can live with. Our decades long focus on overspecialization may be our undoing. Shouldn't we all be learning - at a ferocious pace - how to utilize every last bit of freshwater that comes our way from any source ? Isn't it time to not worry about our inconveniences, discomfort, etc and fight whats rapidly becoming a raging inferno threatening to engulf us all ? Why are we so myopic ? Why are we so focused on the here and now that nothing matters beyond the next couple of quarters.
India's population - that had migrated from Africa - had supposedly been decimated about 75000 years ago. And we wallow in the shallowness of our "long cultural history" and what not. Do we even have a sense of how fragile we are, and how wantonly we could be screwing it up, and at the same time losing the skills that'll help us cope when things change ?
To me, its no longer a question of how much, or tokenism. The severe effects of climate change are here, now, and we better figure out both how to reduce our impact as catalysts (even if it is a natural process, the amount of carbon we're helping release cannot be without impact) and how to use whatever little we have as best as possible. We need to let go of our collective greed, look beyond our noses and egos, and not shy away from making dramatic changes. As individuals, as societies and as countries. The developed vs non-developed standoff on who needs to cut emissions by how much seems utterly puerile - you're hurtling towards a cliff in the same bus and debating about who needs to put the brakes on ? Perhaps we the crazy homo sapiens have it coming deservedly.
Admittedly, I'm not feeling too optimistic this morning. I only hope I'm not right either.
And its much much worse elsewhere. Imagine getting 30 minutes of water once every 7 days in a major city! Or killing people who steal it unfairly.
I still hear arguments about there being no conclusive evidence of human impact causing global warming and the associated changes. Does it matter ? What's scary is our state od denial, as a species. We continue to worry about property rates, and iPhone releases, and stock market swings.
It sounds like a doomsday scenario, but these troubles could arrive faster than we can live with. Our decades long focus on overspecialization may be our undoing. Shouldn't we all be learning - at a ferocious pace - how to utilize every last bit of freshwater that comes our way from any source ? Isn't it time to not worry about our inconveniences, discomfort, etc and fight whats rapidly becoming a raging inferno threatening to engulf us all ? Why are we so myopic ? Why are we so focused on the here and now that nothing matters beyond the next couple of quarters.
India's population - that had migrated from Africa - had supposedly been decimated about 75000 years ago. And we wallow in the shallowness of our "long cultural history" and what not. Do we even have a sense of how fragile we are, and how wantonly we could be screwing it up, and at the same time losing the skills that'll help us cope when things change ?
To me, its no longer a question of how much, or tokenism. The severe effects of climate change are here, now, and we better figure out both how to reduce our impact as catalysts (even if it is a natural process, the amount of carbon we're helping release cannot be without impact) and how to use whatever little we have as best as possible. We need to let go of our collective greed, look beyond our noses and egos, and not shy away from making dramatic changes. As individuals, as societies and as countries. The developed vs non-developed standoff on who needs to cut emissions by how much seems utterly puerile - you're hurtling towards a cliff in the same bus and debating about who needs to put the brakes on ? Perhaps we the crazy homo sapiens have it coming deservedly.
Admittedly, I'm not feeling too optimistic this morning. I only hope I'm not right either.
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