"The Jungle Book"!
For those who know not and for those who do not remember, watch the video below.
The vultures are the world’s cleanup crew, scavenging birds of prey. And a group of vultures is called a wake. Yes the same spelling as the ones we have to celebrate the life of the dead. Such a morose beginning for a blog! But, read on…
We just had the hottest year (2015), rising temperatures, denuded forest and losing wild species at more than 2000 a year. It is the new normal! And 2016 is going to beat all that as the globe continues to warm. The world had the COP21 conference and now we wait for nations to kick in on the action. Let me correct myself, the Big Governments to kick into action.
Bill Gates roped in a few Billionaires to start the Breakthrough Energy Coalition. A stated flexible investment engine; guided by research to develop technologies that will create a new energy mix.
The fact of the matter is the world runs on energy. And our current source of energy is dominated by fossil fuels only adding to our problem. The current systems of research, development, investment, regulations and subsidies are not cutting it.
Fossil fuel subsidies are at the rate of $10M a minute, go figure!
So while all the big investment and government action is proposed and we wait for results, the globe continues to warm. We are already very close to 1 degree centigrade warmer. The target the world needs to meet is 2 degrees centigrade, anything beyond spells catastrophe, as the scientist and data continues to warn us. The acclaimed climate scientist Prof. James Hansen, Ex-Nasa, says this target is dangerous and it’s foolhardy to think we will achieve it. He has also gone on to say that the discussions in COP 21 were half-arsed and half baked.
Prof. Jeff Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University says that 2 degrees is a dangerous target and definitely out of reach to avoid consequences of climate change. As we begin to deal with a world that is greatly destabilized; by rising sea levels and massive changes of climate patterns in different parts of the world. The bottom line is the 2 degree target will fail to avoid climate disaster.
So back to "The Jungle Book"; What You Wanna Do?
Are we ever going to asking ourselves this question? Some of us do ask this and we do what we can. But most of us don’t question ourselves. Instead living in oblivion, what does not affect us today or now does not matter or does it? I think it does and we need to start thinking, we have family, we have kids and some of us have grandkids. I am sure they are going to turn around and ask what you did to help stop this mayhem. Be sure that questions are coming, for some it might not be in our lifetime, but it is going to be asked.
Individual action is to be the call of the day. You alone will not make a difference, but every drop counts to form an ocean. Think about this: world population is sitting at 7.4 Billion people and growing. There are roughly 2 Billion people who do not have electricity. Assuming there are 4 persons to a family i.e. 1.25 Billion households with electricity. Saving 1 kWh of energy a day by each of these households will reduce carbon emission by 660,000 MT per day and that is 240 Million MT of carbon emission reduced per year just by global citizens. It helps!
So back to What You Wanna Do...
Time to have a “Wake for the Earth?” Or do you want to be counted among the ones who did something?
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of each of the partners of Global Citizen.