Need to re-look our life styles

The Global climate change is no longer a topic for scientific debate only. We, as common people have started feeling the impact. Lengthy summers, unseasonal rainfall, erratic monsoons, severe storms have now started occurring. The reason - Increase in temperature due to higher levels of Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

At the current rate of emission of Greenhouse gases, the global climate might change irreversibly and in an uncontrollable manner. If this is to be avoided, then emissions have to be reduced by 80% of current emissions, by the middle of the century.

Efforts towards reducing emissions are going nowhere. There are issues at various levels.

1. Research/Technology Issues:
No viable alternative to Oil/Coal based technologies has been found yet. Nuclear based technologies carry risks of accidents and unsafe disposal of nuclear waste.

2. Policy/Framework Issues:
The global response to tacking climate change, in the form of Clean Development Mechanisms(CDM) lacks the sincerity and the depth to address the issue of climate change. The fundamental premise that emissions in Developed Countries can be compensated by reducing emissions in Developing countries is itself faulty. Even if were to work perfectly, it would reduce emissions by 5% only by 2010. Nowhere does it address the main objective of reducing emissions by 80%

3. Implementation Issues:
The implementation of the CDM is far from efficient, with an estimated 50% of CDM projects (claiming credit for reducing emissions), based on false documents and not reducing emissions only on paper. These are part of the problem and not part of the solutions as claimed. Scientists say that in the period when emission was supposed to be reduced by 5%, it has actually increased by about 15%.

4. Awareness:
The underlying responsibility for the global climate crisis not surprisingly, lies, not with the industry or the Government, but with the common man. The hard truth is that our energy consumption levels are unsustainable with the technology currently available. Lets face it, an 80% cut in emissions is not possible without:
a) A dramatic technological breakthrough that helps to support our lifestyles without causing damage to the environment, a silver bullet or panacea so to say.

b) Energy consumption by individuals, society and nations reduces by 80%, thereby reducing demand for energy and forcing industries to cut down on emissions.

The question remains: How are we, as individuals, society and nations, going reduce our energy consumption by 80% in the coming days?