I created a Google alert
for climate change several years ago. Generally I am not able to open it much
being deluged by so many email mostly newsletters. Since the 1970s I have been
writing in my diaries about dehumanization of mankind and how our hunger for
being richer and possessing bigger, better, faster everything was leading us to
our doom.
Today I opened my Google
alert and found that ‘Global Environmental Change’, which is edited
by Professor Declan Conway and administered from the London School of Economics
and Political Science, has been ranked as the highest impact journal in the
environmental sciences, according to new figures published by Elsevier : http://about.elsevier.com/impactfactor/assets2014/author-webpage-5102638.html?sf4125879=1
Found another interesting paper: 97%
of climate science and peer-reviewed research agree on human-caused global
warming http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/jun/24/why-we-care-about-global-warming-consensus
Three distinct studies using four different
methods have independently
shown that the expert consensus on human-caused global warming is 97 ± 1%.
The result is the same whether we ask the experts’
opinions, look at their
public reports and statements, or examine their
peer-reviewed science. Even studies that quibble about the precise
percentage have accidentally
reinforced the 97 ± 1% consensus.
The evidence is crystal clear that
humans are the main cause of the current global warming, and the expert
consensus reflects the strength of that body of evidence. It’s not easy to
convince 97% of scientific experts about anything – that requires some powerful
scientific evidence.
Basically most of the research
recommend action plans which are generally based upon more efficient ways of generating
energy, green houses, electric cars, gradual reduction of carbon emissions from
manufacturing sectors, etc.
Most of these
recommendations accept the present socio-economic-techno framework of our
societies and have made prescriptions on an incremental basis. All of us are
terribly trapped in our present high energy intensive comfort levels. Hence no one
can talk of diametrically opposite solutions which would be too shocking to
most as we all are prisoners of the exciting technological toys which are
integral part of our lives.
Time has come for
radical solutions which might appear insane at first. But the truth is that
unless we rewind our civilization considerably and revert back to very low
energy intensive lives at the earliest, then the race to save the planet would
be lost.
We need to urgently address these
issues in a holistic fashion and evolve a New Grammar of Living (NGL). The
basic tenets and building blocks of the New Grammar of Living are:
1.
Green living:
o
Reducing use of and dependence on
high energy
o
Adopting solar energy, CFCs, LEDs
o
Planting trees
o
Organic food
o
Minimum and only essential use of
air conditioning
o
Conserving water
o
Ecological balance
o
Rain water harvesting
2.
Simpler and wholesome lifestyles
o
Reducing materialistic and consumer
lifestyles
o
Yoga as way of life: meditation and
pranayam
o
Return to pastoral lifestyles
o
Spiritualism and mysticism
o
Humanism
o
Back to nature
o
Deconditioning
3.
De-industrialisation
o
Stop mindless production of cars,
etc
o
Scaling down high polluting
industries
4.
Evolving new economic structures
o
Creating massive employment in green
activities such as agriculture, agro based industries, education…
o
Limiting growth of large cities
o
Creation of sustainable self
sufficient economic communities
o
Poverty alleviation
o Limits on wealth accumulation.
The above is just a
brief incomplete outline of a rigorous New Grammar of Living which will be
published in the next six months. We need more people to support a movement like
NGL. Will be grateful if like minded people get in touch to take NGL to its
rightful place. In a sense we have to unlearn all that we are used to and like
intrepid travelers we have to take first steps in a long long journey which
will help us to curb climate change at the earliest.
