Environmental Impact Disappointment ?

       "We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!" I hope we all remember these words graced by one and only Greta Thunberg accusing the world leaders of stealing her dreams and her childhood by their inaction on climate change. I guess the terminology 'climate change' then came in to limelight. How unfortunate of us humans that we constantly need to remind ourselves that our D-day is coming soon. And when the reminder arrives it throbs so loudly that it becomes the only work for all the people to raise questions regarding environment, questioning authorities and what not! And also a note, this aura stays for a while and then comes the next reminder which is now raising day by day - EIA draft 2020. "Everyone please fill these forms, sign these petitions against draft, gather for rallies, what if the pandemic is vulnerable?.. doesn't matter, our environment is more important". I am not against all the actions but it makes me disheartened when we students, adults, citizens, inclusively all human beings don't strive consistently for our environment. I always appreciate the ones who work for better cause of it, but it is the thing or rather a life which needs to be sustained because sustainability of our lives depends on its existence. It is not legitimate to destroy an ecosystem that took centuries to build. 

        Climate is the single most important factor determining the geographic distributions of species and major vegetation types. It also influences the properties of ecosystems and the flows of energy and materials through them. Despite the critical roles ecosystems play, all densely populated areas are increasingly threatened by the impacts of a growing human population through habitat destruction and air and water pollution. Added to these stresses comes a new threat — global climate change resulting from increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.

        Changing climate affects ecosystems in a variety of ways.  In the Arctic, the waters of Hudson Bay are ice-free for three weeks longer than they were thirty years ago, affecting polar bears, which prefer to hunt on sea ice, few mechanistic studies have linked extinctions to recent climate change, human-caused climate change and the rise in invasive species are directly linked through changing of ecosystems. Besides the immediate ecological and economic impact, the huge dead forests provide a fire risk. Even many healthy forests appear to face an increased risk of forest fires because of warming climates. For instance, 2020 remains above the 10-year average in number of fires and acres burned.The majority of wildland fire activity has occurred in Arizona and California. California alone has burned nearly 1.4 of the 1.8 million acres burned nationally. 

         In an era of dramatic changes to planet Earth, a grand challenge for ecologists has been to foresee how ecosystems might change. Since the possibility of climate change became evident, ecologists have sought ways to predict how ecosystems will change under climate conditions that have no direct analog in the past or present. An important focus has been an attempt to predict how the distribution of ecosystem types or biomes might change in a future climate. 

          Many of us then wonder about EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) 2020 draft that led to environmental uprising in most parts of the India. EIA is a process by which major industrial, mining, real estate or public infrastructure projects are scrutinized for their potential adverse environmental impact and negative externalities before they commence. Its purpose is to establish a legal framework for regulating industries who wish to access or utilise (and eventually pollute) natural resources. Despite of so many provisions in the process that truly care about environment given, the draft is vehemently opposed from all the sections because the draft reduces the scope for public hearings. "No local communities, no NGOs, no civil city organisations, no concerned citizens can bring environmental violations to the notice of the government. Only the project proponents and only government agencies will highlight environmental violations", Jairam Ramesh - former environmental minister claimed. 

           With an economy that was already slowing down even before the pandemic, the government’s proponents claim that efforts are afoot to ensure these projects are cleared faster so that India can quickly get back on the horse of rapid economic growth it enjoyed before the 2010s. But now the only question raises in our minds is What About The Environment ? 

           We all must remember that it is not Environment vs. Development. With climate change a raging reality that even this government accepts, it’s virtually impossible to divorce environmental protection from the process of development. Economic development that does not take into consideration environmental concerns is doomed to fail. One cannot emphasise this any further. It’s a question of public health and safety as well. We just all wish that this process of EIA should be considered sacred and strengthened more than what it is now. The EIA should not be considered an hindrance at all. In fact, demanding an EIA should be considered a democratic right of the people. And rightly saying, it should be Environmental Impact Assessment and not proving  as disappointment to the entire mankind, moreover to Mother Earth.

- For inter-house essay competition organised by Vaadasabha, official debating union of Sir Parashurambhau College.