Toastmasters Speech 4
Written on 9:35 AM by nitesh
Toastmasters project 4
Apocalypse Now
Let me take you to 2025
Today is morning of 6th Jan 2025, though my wife's away on business tour but has beamed in a holographic projection of her to wake me up. Even though we have met power demands by generating electricity through nuclear fusion reaction but its so hot that even ten air conditioners couldn't cool the house, I was hoping that It would rain but
Meteorologists are already calling it the year without winter. From January itself the temperatures across the northern India have soared above 35°C. Gangetic plain has been transformed into one vast dust bowl. The wheat crop has failed and farmers are committing suicides in hoards. Food riots have broken as the government is no longer able to control the food distribution. As disease and death strike with metronomic regularity, the smell of rotting flesh is all pervasive.
In a perverse irony as the north is sweltering under heat wave, fierce unseasonal storms lash the west coast. Arabian Sea has risen and much of the nariman point has become inaccessible- the city once bustling with skyscrapers has turned into a watery grave.
Mauritius, Maldives and Andaman islands have submerged like titanic went into the deep sea. Extinction of flora and fauna has been so rapid that the numbers of species lost in the past decade is equivalent to that of preceding 1000 years. Great Indian tiger got extinct long back in 2016 and the whales are no longer seen in the oceans.
Like India much of the earth has become a living boiling shell.
Isn't this scenario sound Apocalyptic. Such prophecies have not been made by the grass route activists who come with 'jholas' but by the world renowned 640 scientists and representatives of 120 member countries of UN in IPCC report (intergovernment panel on climate change).
CO2 , Methane and NO2 concentration has touched highest levels in the recorded history. These gases cause a giant greenhouse effect by forming a thin shield around the earth, trapping the infra-red radiations from the sun. In just right quantities they keep the earth warm enough for us to live in. But the thickening of the atmosphere in the past 50 years has disturbed this delicate balance.
Average surface temperature across the globe has shot up by .74°C in the past century. The number may seem insignificant but it is an unprecedented rise. If temperature rises beyond 2°C annihilation of whole life will begin.
In the past 150 years the 11 hottest years were witnessed since 1995.
Heat is on.. Action has to be taken now
Solution number one is to pump billion of dollars so that astronomers can search for life on some other planets outside our solar system and we all could go to that planet. : This is very difficult
How we can contribute to reduce the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere.
1. Change your bulbs from incandescent bulbs to CFL ones , these consumes 75% less power and last longer.
2. Turn computer off when not in use. Then consume as much electricity as 3 60watt bulbs so avoid the standby mode.
3. Save page. Avoid taking printouts, take only when must, if possible take 2 pages on one. Get your all monthly bills, bank statements on email. Get off the Indian habit of putting everything on paper. Thousand of trees would be saved.
4. Shun use of plastic bags, although it's an old advice but no one really listens. Carry a reusable paper bag. It will help reduce emissions from decaying plastic bags. If Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka can ban use of plastic bags why can'we.
5. Buy energy efficient appliances, next time you buy an oven, iron or a refrigerator opt for the models by manufacturers whose USP in energy efficiency.
6. Walk, don't drive If you have to buy a packet of chips, don't drive to next door take a walk. If you drive combine a lot of chores.
7. Minimize air travel, one air travel to Mumbai is equivalent to carbon emissions by 2000 cars.
8. Finally let others know, you may be conserving natural resources but if your neighbor isn't', you are still a goner.
There is no time to waste. As Al Gore a tireless champion for action on global warming says… "This is our only home and that is what is at stake- our ability to live on the planet Earth, to have a future as a civilization."
Let's not forget what happened to the Indus valley civilization.
Reference : India Today Global Warming issue
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