By: Asif Murad Umrani
The “Earth Hour Day” is celebrated on the 28th of March annually. This day has great importance and is solely related to us, human beings. The world is persuading fast and advanced technologies. Equally, the globe is perishing with so mean of revolutionized courtesy. Today climate change is the subject of the matter to be concerned in almost all the general meetings, international conferences, social debates and world order tasks. But it is appeared to be only perfunctory; maybe unknown about the drastic threats of climate change or defeated against the mother nature.
Particularly Pakistan is the seventh-most vulnerable country to climate change according to Germanwatch, a think tank advocating for measures to combat climate change. We often encounter with unbearable heat and weird changes in weather hitting the earthlings harshly. It is as if nature is taking revenge in some manners of hypothetical authenticity. It sternly demands interest of attention, how climate change in the shape of heatwaves, floods, melting glaciers, droughts and famine making a sound horrible.
The consequences of climate change are not hidden. In Pakistan, peculiarly Sindh and Balochistan are facing extreme heat waves from the last couple of years in months of June and July. This resulted in many deaths in provinces and turned a calamity for people. In like manner, the heavy flood back a decade in 2010 had an identical image in history. The powerful floods caused by heavy rainfall led to over 2,000 deaths while millions of others were displaced. It fiercely weakened Pakistan as it was a hard nut to crack. It further added fuel to the fire. Anyhow Pakistan challenged by all angles whether it was an economical crackdown, infrastructural nightmare or emerging issues to residents and political activists both then. Likewise, the smog that hits Lahore each year and so this year too affects the health of so many people.
However, some measures have been taken like PTI Government vowed to plant 10 billion trees. This is incredibly a laudable step taken but as far as the reports concerned, the10 billion trees project is not accomplished yet and it seems the proclamation was only bound with words uttered. Secondly, the authorities announced to ban plastic bags. This also is a wonderful initiative but what we have experienced in the past, such schemes are not implemented and did not reflect on our expectations.
In addition, hurricanes struck the island of Puerto Rico, Europe suffered two deadly heatwaves, and cyclones devastated the Bahamas and Japan, drastic fires gripped the Amazon rainforest in Brazil and bordering Bolivia in August.
What is more, in September 2019, millions of people from 150 countries participated in the climate strike, nothing changed but resulted in fruitless and unproductive. Now the disaster is stone’s throw from us.
To combat climate change, we have to impose laws on emitting carbon dioxide globally. Experts have warned that anything we burn or the gas “Carbon dioxide” being used in the machines like a refrigerator, washing machine and a number of such tools and automation become the cause of weather change. Not much farther, carbon dioxide is very dangerous for Ozone Layer. More, it is cracking the Ozone Layer. (a layer which protects us from ultraviolet rays coming from the sun). Haphazardly, this why everyone is frightened about the (Green-house effects).
Concluding, the termination of the world is making its calendar as to how the world is moving into the mouth of destruction smoothly and alarmingly simultaneously. We must wake up and direct our utmost efforts against the imminent catastrophe of climate change.
The writer is a Karachi based columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]
