An Article – Summer or Ticking Time Bombs
Currently, rising temperatures especially in cities around the world is a big cause of concern for many. It appears as if one can boil itself in a summer’s heat. Sun is beating down on this planet more harshly than ever before. Metropolitans, such as, Shanghai, Melbourne, New Delhi is burning like an oven. It makes me wonder why suddenly this has started happening in our generation. People are arguing about global warming, rising sea levels, human activities in Himalayas, tourists destroying eco-system, wildlife extinction etc. However, we know these could be the cases but no one seems to care about the solution, on the contrary, we are keeping up with the old habits of littering anywhere and then complaining about the bad orders on the streets and rising temperatures.
We all need to take a step at a time and lead by example to protect our environment. In this essay, I would like to discuss some ways to combat some rising problems we are facing in daily life, which is connected to the summer season becoming harsher on our planet. Firstly, governments around the world needs to stop ones and for all the tourists visiting in Mountainous regions, which historically were protected from human interference in its system. Regardless of how much capital it brings to the local community and other benefits, these activities are bringing much more negative effects to the environment itself where these communities resides. We can argue on this topic for long time, but this time is to act and stop human activities in all parts of the world where Mother Nature is sensitive to these activities. If this wouldn’t stopped soon, then downstream countries will face enormous amount of floods and destruction, which is evident from recent news around the world and especially in Asia including India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Tibet.
Furthermore, over heating of vehicles is another cause of concern for people around the world. Recently, in Shanghai ten vehicles were on fire due to rising temperatures in the city. These evidences are enough for us to act now and start planting more trees and plants even on the roof tops of our houses, if possible. People dying due to sunstroke and lack of shades to protect themselves in Metropolitans is common sights now days. Moreover, respecting Mother Nature by not littering in public places could also serve in favour of combating heat. The best illustration is, when we litter more then we use more resources and fuel to clean up this mess, which in return puts more stress on already scare resources and eventually push us to start deforestation. As it shows, all this is interconnected to us Humans and we need to change ourselves now for better future and present of Human society.
Education and words of mouth can serve as a much faster way to tackle these problems, which are endangering our society and future generations. Use of public transport and lesser private vehicles is the best step forward that one can take in reducing green house emissions. Another easy way to control the summer heat to some extent is educating each other about planting more trees, plants that requires less water, such as, Eucalyptus and controlled use of water in households and workplaces. It may sound weird but flushing less water while using toilet and washing full load of clothes with cold water is another contribution we can make to control our changing environment and rising temperatures around the globe.
In addition, better understanding of benefits of wildlife and food chain of our world is also must for present and future generations. People need to learn and talk to others about the merits of other living beings around us. This is a big help on one’s behalf, which can change our societies way of thinking and can improve their knowledge regarding wildlife and importance of preserving them. Likewise, numerous animals, birds, plants and trees that are a part of eco system are interconnected to the human existence. Any shift in this pattern of food chain can serve as a severe blow to our planet and to the environment itself. Thus far, I believe we lack practical approach of changing our environment, which is demanding a quick thought from every one of us through natural calamities such as, floods in North India, Earthquakes in Sichuan, China and much more evidence is present in our daily life.
Nevertheless, the time to act is running out, if humanity and especially Asia needs to survive the severe blow of mother nature, then it is now we all need to work together to tackle this ticking time bomb of melting ice, rising temperatures and scorching sun’s heat of summers. Countries need to forget their differences for a time being at least to save their own people from this disaster, which is clearly visible in near future through recent disasters. Governments and common people need to join hands to stop our planet earth from destruction by taking little steps I mentioned above and changing our way of living for the good of the society and for the well-being of our loved ones. Ignoring these warnings can bring extreme consequences, which could be scary and life threatening. Let’s join hands and start making little changes through little steps, such as, planting trees, no littering, education through use of words of mouth, technology and most importantly by saying no to travelling to sensitive places like Higher Mountains for the well being of our planet earth.
Thank you.
RITIZ {ESL teacher, BA}
{NRI, NON-RESIDENT INDIAN}
07/08/2013
CHINA
