Shylock:
Most learned judge, a sentence! Come prepare!
Portia:
Tarry a little, there is something else.
This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;
The words expressly are “a pound of flesh.”
In this scene from The Merchant of Venice, Shylock demands a literal pound of flesh from Antonio that was agreed by him as a security for the borrowed money. Portia, who defends Antonio in the court of Venice, tells Shylock that the bond allows him to remove only flesh, and if he removes any hair or blood, he will be executed.
A similar scene will be witnessed at Copenhagen (December 6-18), where a summit on climate change is to he held. Uncle Sam will be playing the role of the present-day Shylock. But, unlike Shakespeare’s Shylock, who meekly withdrew his demand of taking ‘a pound of flesh’ from Antonio’s body, the modern Shylock (United States) has become a law unto himself (itself), and he will decide how much amount of flesh and blood is to be removed from his victim (atmosphere).
DOMINO EFFECT OF CAPITALISM
The globe is warming up at an alarming speed. Unbridled industrialisation triggered by capitalistic greed has caused this menace. The release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has raised the temperature by 0.8o Celsius during the past century. The carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere was 280 ppm (parts per million) at the beginning of industrialisation. It soared to 380 ppm at the present. If the CO2 content exceeds 450 ppm, scientists warn that the temperature will rise more than 2o Celsius from the pre-industrialisation period. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] has recommended for reducing the annual greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and by 90 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.
A serious attempt was made in 1997 through Kyoto Protocol, to legally bind the countries to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. It set the agenda to reduce the emissions on the principle of “polluter must pay”. The Protocol imposed quantifiable obligations on the rich industrialised countries, but exempted the poor nations. As many as 137 countries participated and ratified the Protocol. But ironically, the U.S., which teaches the gospel of democracy through the nook and corner of the world, refused to be a signatory to the Protocol, stating that it would not jeopardise its economic interests by cutting the emissions. As a result, though the Kyoto Protocol came into force on February 16, 2005, it was never seriously implemented by any country as the biggest polluter (United States) refused to accept the agreement.
RENEWED HOPE
The Copenhagen summit will try to hammer out a time-bound plan for the rich countries to reduce the emissions, and it will also ask them to provide technology plus sufficient means to the developing and under-developed countries, to adapt to non-fossil energy sources. Barack Obama, in a conference on climate change convened by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at New York, did not specify on his country’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – but categorically pointed out that “some” developing countries (obvious reference to China and India) should curb carbon emissions. The European Union, which had initially responded positively to the Kyoto Protocol by offering cuts in greenhouse gas emissions – has now joined the U.S. in assailing the Kyoto, and started to demand an altogether new agreement that would remove the distinction between the industrially developed and developing countries. It also wants to water down the Kyoto proposal of differentiation in responsibility to combat the climate change. The North is waging a three-pronged wicked attack on the Kyoto Protocol… First, to evade the liability to compensate for its past sins of polluting the atmosphere… Secondly, to build up pressure on the South’s bigger economies (China and India) to reduce emissions… and third, to push for a weak global climate regime on the pretext that uniform responsibility shall be placed on all the nations to stabilise the atmosphere.
The rich countries are also trying to undermine a deal on climate change at Copenhagen, on the excuse that the countries with large populations are responsible for global warming. But a research paper published in the journal ‘Environment and Urbanisation’ shows that there is a weak correlation between global warming and population growth, whereas there is a strong link between global warming and wealth. Between 1980 and 2005, for instance, sub-Saharan Africa had 18.5 per cent of population growth and just 2.5 per cent of the growth in CO2. North America added only 4 per cent to its population but accounted for 14 per cent extra emissions. Though China and India are the most populous countries in the world, in terms of PCEs (per capita emissions) of carbon dioxide, they rank 70th and 124th respectively. The paper further points out that: one sixth of the world’s population is so poor – it produces almost no emissions at all. In India, households earning less than Rs.3,000 a month use a fifth of the electricity per head and one seventh of the transport fuel, compared to the households earning more than Rs.30,000 a month.
WOEFUL IMPACT
The impact of greenhouse gas emissions is showing more horrifying effects than earlier expected. It was observed in 2007 that Arctic ice sheet shrunk to lowest level on record. It has diminished to the point that shipping companies are opening up new routes through the previously impassable seas north of Siberia. Ecologists believe that Arctic summers will be ice-free within decades. The Antarctica is also warming up quickly, and in 2002, a large ice sheet of over 3,000 Sq. km broke away from the icy peninsula.
Himalayan glaciers too are melting fast. As per the scientific postulations, all the rivers taking birth from the icy mountains could dry up within a century, if the present trend of global warming is not reined-in. The raise in the sea level would engulf a large part of India’s coastline and the low-lying parts of Bangladesh and Maldives are considered to be the most vulnerable lot. In October, the government of Maldives held a cabinet meeting underwater to highlight the stark reality facing the nation. Many of its beautiful islands will sink into the Indian Ocean, if climate change is not addressed.
Australia will pay a heavy price due to global warming. According to a research paper, the sea levels will raise 80 cm by the year 2100, and affect about 7,11,000 homes and businesses establishments in the country, which are located less than 6 metres above sea level and lie within 3 Kms from the coast. Insurance companies are already refusing to insure properties in seaside towns.
Climate change will also devastate Africa. Prof. Sir Gordon Conway, former chief scientist of Britain said in a scientific paper that the people living in the continent are prone to more severe droughts, floods and storms. “There will be less drinking water, diseases such as malaria will spread and the poorest will be hit the hardest as farmland is damaged in the coming century,” he wrote. Conway further says: “There is already evidence that Africa is warming faster than the global average, with more warm spells and fewer extremely cold days. Northern and Southern Africa are likely to become as much as 4C hotter over the next 100 years, and much drier”.
Twenty-five million more children will go hungry by the middle of this century as climate change leads to food shortages and soaring prices for staples such as rice, wheat, maize and soya beans. According to a report prepared by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the children of 2050 will have fewer calories than those in 2000.
TASK BEFORE INDIA
Climate change threatens the whole humanity. If we fail to bring it under control in the next decade, we may reach a point of no return. The capitalist greed has blinded the rich nations who put economic development in front of ecological balance. They are oblivious of the impending catastrophe, where the question of survival of humanity is at stake. India shall not remain a mute spectator at Copenhagen. As a country with 1.2 billion people, it shall not succumb to the dictates of the United States, which is trying to weaken the ‘Deal’ on climate change. India must support the G-77 + China bloc, and see to it that a good agreement takes shape at Copenhagen to save the earth and its inhabitants.