What will it take to get citizens involved?

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Here is a map of the maximum temperature for Wednesday, May 08, 2024.

Source: https://climatereanalyzer.org/

 

If you don't like the resolution (like me), I encourage you to get a better look at:
https://climatereanalyzer.org/ 

Climate Reanalyzer is a pretty handy website with many visualizations available for climate/weather data. To recreate the map above, select Today's Weather Maps → 2 m Temperature → Max. You could also look at Avg (average for the day), Clim (climatological mean) or Min (minimum for the day) for 2m Temperature. In other categories, you should also look at 2m Temp anomaly, which is basically the difference between the temperature for the selected date and the climatological mean value from 1979-2000. In this map, most of India is covered in white, which indicates maximum temperatures around 45 ℃.

(Some technical details and explanations are available at the bottom of this page.)
 
But all of this is to reaffirm what you already know if you're in India -- that India is facing bad heatwaves. No new maps, data or analyses are needed to convince Indians of the blistering heat outside, especially in the months of May and June. This heat has consequences on our physical and mental health, our productivity and our pockets. Further, there is some basic awareness of the fact that as climate change progresses, these heatwaves will get worse. (Yes, La Niñas can bring some respite, but not for too long.) So the question arises, what will it take for Indian citizens to take this seriously? Seriously enough to warrant some real action, that is.

Quite a bit of progress can be made by making the basic distinction between fault and responsibility. Yes, we all know that climate change isn't our fault, it's the West's fault. We all know this whether or not we know anything useful about the climate crisis. And that we all know this so very clearly, and that it is repeatedly kept on top of our minds, is not by chance, I suspect. For you and me, knowing the average US per capita emissions is just about as useful as knowing the average age of a raccoon in Nicaragua. What can we do with this information? Yes, we all know that climate change isn't our fault, but at the end of the day, protecting ourselves from it remains our responsibility. When the heatwave strikes, the average US citizen will not be responsible for cooling you down.

Here is the mental roadmap I wish Indian citizens would take instead.

 

Instead of fixating on data for other countries that you do not live, work or vote in, ask yourself -- what can I do? Which scale can I focus on and achieve an actual positive result? There is something for all of us to do and benefit from.

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Some technical details:

What's Climate Reanalyzer?

Basically, a website developed by some good people to allow the general public to visualize reanalysis data. It's not the only one out there, the KNMI Explorer is another good one.

What's reanalysis data?

Basically, data which combines observations (like instrument readings) with models so we can have spatially complete datasets which are not based simply on statistical interpolation, but also physically make sense physically. Reanalysis data is not the only type of data that people use to study the climate, observational data is another alternative (many examples here).

What's CFSR?

Basically, a specific reanalysis dataset, stands for Climate Forecast System Reanalysis, generated using GFS. CFSR is not the only reanalysis dataset, ERA5 is another good one.

What's GFS?

Basically, the model that is used to develop reanalysis datasets, stands for Global Forecast System. GFS isn't the only one, the Integrated Forecasting System is another one.

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Similar posts:

  1. Climate crisis: intra-national inequalities are also unjust
  2. How can I help? Getting involved (individual action)

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