W7i7

इस साल IPCC 一 यानि कि जलवायु परिवर्तन से सम्बंधित अंतर-सरकारी पैनल 一 की छटवी रिपोर्ट प्रकाशित हुई। IPCC का पूरा नाम Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change है। यह पैनल जलवायु परिवर्तन से सम्बंधित दुनिया भर में हुए शोधकार्य को एक ऐसी रिपोर्ट का आकार देता है जिससे सरकार एवं आम आदमी, दोनों ही वैज्ञानिक खोजों के बारे में जान सकें और उनका फ़ायदा उठा सकें। यह लेख इस रिपोर्ट के एक अंश पर केंद्रित है।    Source: Headline Statements, WG1, AR6 (2021)   अंश A.2 के अनुसार: " संपूर्ण जलवायु प्रणाली में हाल के परिवर्तनों का पैमाना और जलवायु प्रणाली के कई पहलुओं की वर्तमान स्थिति कई शताब्दियों से लेकर कई हज़ार वर्षों तक अभूतपूर्व है ।"  सरल शब्दों में कहें तो आज जलवायु की जो स्थिति है वो बहुत, बहुत लम्बे समय से नहीं देखी गयी है। इसे समझने के लिए निम्न लेखाचित्र देखें। इस लेखाचित्र में पिछले दो हज़ार सालों के 一 यानि कि साल १ से लेकर २०२० तक के 一 औसत तापमान दिखाए गए हैं। जलवायु परिवर्तन से सम्बंधित लेखाचित्रों को समझने के लिए एक बात जानना ज़रूरी है 一 हर लेखाचित्र में कुछ सालों...

A reader sent in this question. I think it could mean a lot of different things based on tone or context. For example, apart from its literal sense, it could also be taken to mean, "Why is (modern) climate change problematic?" or "Why should we worry about (modern) climate change?". Here, I try to address these, one-by-one. "Why do you think Climate should never change?" Actually, I don't think that the climate should never change. An inspection of the paleoclimatic record (a record of the climate of the past) readily elicits many, many instances of climate change in the history of our planet. In fact, over sufficiently long timescales, climate change is the norm, not an aberration. Consider, for example, the "Ice Ages". These are popularly (but incorrectly*) thought to refer to the cold periods of the Quaternary Glaciation. Over the last 1 million years, the climate rhythmically fluctuated between warmer Interglacials and colder Glacials. T...

A kind stranger asked me recently, " What can I do to help? ". I don't get this question a lot when I talk of climate change, so it's always encouraging. It is also confusing though, because two things are simultaneously true about individual efforts: that they will not be enough, and that they must not stop. To put it in a more precise manner, individual action is necessary but not sufficient to fight the climate crisis. So at what cost and to what benefit do we consider engaging 一 and asking others to engage 一 in climate solutions? A drop in the ocean " There are ~7.9 billion people on this planet. What difference can I make? " I'll see you and raise you. The world is currently emitting about 36 billion tons of CO 2 each year. And an "average" person is emitting only about 4.8 tons of it. If you're feeling underwhelmed by the scope of change you can possibly make (even if you decided to make this your sole focus in life), it gets wors...