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The Carbon Brief Quiz 2023

More than 450 scientists, civil servants, journalists and climate experts took part in the ninth annual Carbon Brief quiz on Wednesday 8 November 2023. Carbon Brief hosted more than 200 guests in London, with hundreds more playing online. This is the second year in a row the quiz has been hosted in London. In 2021, the event was held in Glasgow during COP26, while in 2020, the quiz was held entirely online due to Covid-19 restrictions. In total, 53 teams participated this year – 22 teams in person and 31 teams joining via Zoom. Teams competing reflected a wide range of climate change and energy professionals. The list included journalists, civil servants, climate campaigners, policy advisers, energy experts and scientists. Organisations represented included: UK Parliament; Met Office; Committee on Climate Change; WWF-UK; UCL; E3G; Imperial College’s Grantham Institute; University of East Anglia; HM Treasury; Wellcome Trust; BusinessGreen; Department for Transport; Danish Meteorological Institute; Ember; Climate Analytics; Bloomberg; DeSmog; University of Surrey; Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment; and the Sunrise Project. Before the quiz, Carbon Brief’s editor and director Leo Hickman paid tribute to friends of Carbon Brief, veteran climate negotiator Prof Pete Betts CBE, climate scientist Prof Saleemul Huq OBE and former Guardian environment editor John Vidal, who sadly passed away this year. Teams were tested with five rounds of questions – general knowledge, policy, science and two picture rounds. (See a slideshow of the questions and answers below). After two hours of competitive quizzing, this year’s winners were announced. “The Climate Justice League”, which was made up of policy experts and journalists from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Down to Earth in India, won the coveted Carbon Brief trophy for the second year running, dropping only four points out of a total 100 available. The team accepted the trophy over Zoom at 2am local time in New Delhi. The 2020 and 2021 champions, the University of East Anglia (UEA), placed second, with 64 points. Tied in third place with 60 out of a total 100 available points were “Call me Mabey” from E3G and “Who You Gonna Call? Coalbusters?” from Ember.

Gurgaon records 2nd cleanest post-Diwali day since 2016

GURGAON: Though skies were cloaked in toxic haze on Monday, air pollution in the city was among the lowest recorded levels a day after Diwali in recent years - so persistent is the problem in Delhi-NCR. Gurgaon pollution The city's air quality index (AQI) on Monday fell to 'very poor' (349) from 'moderate' just a day before. Track the pollution level in your city But despite this single-day jump in pollution levels, it was the second-cleanest day after Diwali since 2016, data by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed. Before this, 2022 saw the cleanest day after Diwali, when the AQI was 192 on October 25 that year. It was 298 (October 31) in 2016, 397 (October 20) in 2017, 389 (November 8) in 2018, 368 (October 28) in 2019, 460 (November 15) in 2020 and 472 (November 5) in 2021. This Diwali was also the cleanest day that the festival has seen in years, as the 24-hour average AQI was recorded at 193 on Sunday. But rampant bursting of firecrackers despite norms restricting their use and specifying a two-hour window were flouted. Skies were lit up and crackers were going off into the early hours of Monday, leaving behind a trail of pollutants and smog. Apart from PM2.5 and PM10 pollutants, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and ozone levels also recorded a spike after Diwali. "This year, the level of pollutants was high due to low wind speed, bursting of firecrackers and vehicular emissions. The result is for all to see - air quality worsened from moderate to 'very poor' the day after Diwali," said Shubhansh Tiwari, a research associate at the Centre for Science and Environment. An official of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said on Monday that pollutants were suspended in the air due to calm winds. "A dip in temperature and wind speed is also why pollution spiked after Diwali. Moreover, incidents of crackers being burst were higher this time compared to the last two years. Traffic movement was also higher, contributing to pollution," said Vijay Chaudhary, HSPCB regional officer, Gurgaon (south). Experts also say the AQI figure is an average of data collected over 24 hours till 4pm in a day. In some cases, it does not entirely represent the spike in pollution afterwards. Similarly, government agencies have forecast that air quality is likely to touch 'severe' category - or above 400 - in the coming days.

Pollution: दिल्ली-NCR समेत कई शहरों की बिगड़ी आबोहवा, एक्‍सपर्ट ने अचानक प्रदूषण बढ़ने के पीछे की बताई ये वजह

Pollution दिवाली के बाद दिल्ली-NCR समेत कई शहरों की हवा फिर से प्रदूषित हो गई है। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (CSE) के पॉल्‍यूशन कंट्रोल यूनिट के विशेषज्ञ विवेक चट्टोपाध्याय ने प्रदूषण बढ़ने के लिए पटाखे फोड़ने को बड़ी वजह बताया है। उन्होंने कहा कि दिवाली पर हुई आतिशबाजी के कारण आसमान में धुंध की चादर छा गई और हवा की गति धीमी है जिससे प्रदूषण बढ़ रहा है। वायु प्रदूषण पर विशेषज्ञ ने क्या कहा? सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (CSE) के पॉल्‍यूशन कंट्रोल यूनिट के विशेषज्ञ विवेक चट्टोपाध्याय ने बताया कि दिवाली पर पटाखे फोड़ने के कारण एयर क्वालिटी इंडेक्स (AQI) बहुत खराब श्रेणी में पहुंच गया है। पटाखे फोड़ने से प्रदूषण का स्तर बढ़ा है और हवा भी थम गई है। उन्होंने कहा कि दिवाली पर हुई आतिशबाजी के कारण आसमान में धुंध की चादर छा गई है और हवा की गति धीमी हो रही है, जिससे प्रदूषण बढ़ रहा है। अभी हमें प्रदूषण को रोकने के लिए सख्ती की जरूरत है, ताकि पूरी योजना को बनाकर शहर में लागू किया जा सके।

Kolkata suffers worst Diwali air in five years

A drop in temperature because of a late Diwali, air quality varying between “poor” and “very poor” in most of the city and the absence of rain made Diwali 2023 the worst in the last five years, said air quality experts. To make things worse, firecrackers burst across the city. Residents of multiple places said the air was filled with sounds of firecrackers and sky lit with fireworks. “It started around 6pm. A cracker was going off almost every second,” said a Kasba resident. Of the seven continuous air quality monitoring stations in Kolkata, six recorded “poor” air at 10pm on Sunday. These are located in Ballygunge, Bidhannagar, Jadavpur, Fort William, Rabindra Sarobar and the Victoria Memorial. The seventh station — located on the Rabindra Bharati University campus on BT Road — recorded “moderate” air. On Diwali 2022 (October 24), the monitoring stations reported “good” and “satisfactory” air as the city received rain and strong winds blew through it under the influence of Cyclone Sitrang. The Met office had recorded about 5mm of rain between 8.30pm on October 23 and 8.30pm on October 24. In 2020 and 2021, fewer firecrackers had been burst because of Covid-induced restrictions, and that resulted in a far cleaner air on Diwali. In 2019, Diwali had fallen on October 27, more than a fortnight earlier than this year. The monitoring stations had reported “satisfactory” and “moderate” air. “The fortnight between late October and mid-November makes a lot of difference. By mid-November, there is a drop in temperature and the onset of winter-like conditions,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, an air quality management specialist. “The air quality in Kolkata has dropped to ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ categories. The emission from fireworks added more pollutants to the already trapped pollutants in the air,” said Roy Chowdhury, executive director of the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment. Air quality management specialists said that even the crackers that did not make sound, but only emitted light, were dangerous. Scientists said light-emitting crackers contain heavy metals, which float in the air for long periods. Inhaling air filled with such metals is like inhaling poison. Some of the metals commonly used in crackers are lead, cadmium, sodium, zinc, copper, magnesium and aluminium. “Aluminium produces white colour, iron produces orange, sodium compounds produce yellow, copper compounds produce blue and strontium carbonates produce red colours,” said an official of the Bengal pollution control board. “Lead can impact the central nervous system, cadmium affects the kidneys and magnesium can cause fever. Exposure to nitrates can cause mental impairment. Sodium can cause skin problems, zinc can cause vomiting and copper can lead to respiratory tract irritation.” There are pollutants in the air during summer and the monsoon, too, but they are dispersed faster because of meteorological conditions. Stronger winds during summer blow away the pollutants. Higher temperatures warm up the air, which rises and takes away the pollutants. The dispersal slows down with a drop in temperature as winter approaches.

Dark underbelly of carbon trade

At the next UN climate conference (COP28) in Dubai this year, the issue of regulating a carbon market will be discussed. World leaders need to learn from the mistakes of the voluntary carbon market so that this new market mechanism, which is designed for transformation in the world, does not repeat them. The investigation by the fortnightly Down To Earth and the Centre for Science and Environment has found inconvenient truths, which should lead us to change. We find that the current carbon markets could end up increasing emissions in the world. The buyers of the credit — say, an airline that has assured its customers to offset its carbon footprint or a food company that has declared itself net-zero — have continued to emit; they have even increased their emissions, saying that they have bought credits. But as these credits are overestimated or do not really exist, the reductions are notional. This is a double jeopardy. This is what the climate-risked world does not need. The first, and the obvious step, is to ensure transparency in the market. My colleagues met with stiff resistance when they asked for information; they were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) before visits to project sites; they were even told (by a Paris-based investor company) that travel in Indian villages was too dangerous and by one of the leading players, EKI Energy Services, that the “company is in a silent period”. The second step is to decide the objectives of the market — voluntary, bilateral, or multilateral — and design rules accordingly. If the purpose of the market is to invest in projects that will lead to reduction in emissions in different parts of the world, then the market must be based on paying for the real cost of the projects. Currently, the market pays less than the costs of a renewable-energy project or a biogas project. The poor are literally subsidising the rich emitters in this market. Third, the market seems to work only in the interests of project developers, consultants, and auditors. The communities get virtually nothing from the proceeds, and this means they also have no stake in the emission-reduction programme. The carbon market must be required to share the proceeds annually with communities in a verifiable manner. Take the issue of household devices — in this case, improved cookstoves. This market segment is growing exponentially, and understandably so, because it is lucrative for the project developers. The cost of the stove, which is all that households get in terms of carbon-credit benefits, is barely 20 per cent of what the developer would earn over the five to six years of the lifespan of the project. In other words, 80 per cent of the carbon revenue is kept as profit, and it is a handsome amount as each such project has thousands of devices to be distributed. And, this is assuming that the devices are supplied for free. At places, as we have found, poor households have actually paid for these cookstoves, against which the developer and its rich offset clients have made a killing. Then of course, there is the obvious question about actual carbon reduction, which has been used by companies to continue to emit. In the case of the household device programme, companies count carbon reduction on the basis of the distribution of stoves. There is little information on its actual usage — our research found that households were using multiple sources for cooking. Therefore, in spite of the army of project developers, verifiers, auditors, and registries, there is widespread overestimation of emission reductions by project developers. One lesson that must be learnt is to keep the project design simple and also the control of the projects with public institutions and people. The most critical issue is: To whose account should the abated carbon be credited? This is not a hypothetical question, but a real one. To achieve the target of 50 per cent of India’s electric power requirements from non-fossil fuel sources, every megawatt of renewable power, including hydroelectricity, will need to be counted and factored in. Some 675 Indian renewable-energy projects are registered under the Verra and Gold Standard registries for 268 million carbon credits, of which 148 million have retired (or claimed against offsets). How can these be accounted for in India’s nationally determined contribution (NDCs)? Or can they be? Will this not lead to double accounting? The fact is that the current voluntary carbon market is based on cheap options. This means countries have “sold” off the lowest-hanging fruit — the options of emission reductions that they could afford. They would now be on the balance sheet of foreign entities and governments. This only means that countries will not be able to afford to make investments in the hard-to-abate options; this will contribute to emissions and jeopardise our common future. This is a marker of failure that we cannot afford.

India Upholds Equity, Fair Share Of Global Carbon Budget Key For Global Stocktake

The first global stocktaking of the progress made concerning climate change is expected to conclude at the UN summit in Dubai in a few weeks. It has received polarising views from nations that are signatories to the 2015 Paris Agreement, reported HT. The global stocktake is a process for countries and stakeholders to see where they’re collectively making progress towards meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement – and where they’re not. The United Arab Emirates holds the presidency of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. India has underlined that equity, fair share of the global carbon budget, and obligations of developed country parties to provide finance for transition and technology transfer will be critical to address in the global stocktake (GST). In its submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in September, India said equity has to be designed in the GST. “India has always maintained that Equity is an important component for preserving the collective and facilitative nature of GST, therefore a commonly agreed guidance to operationalise Equity needs to be designed in the GST, through inclusive equity indicators arrived at by Parties. Equity needs to be captured not only as an overarching but also a cross cutting issue in each and every element of the GST outcome,” India said. Developed country parties must lead in the ambition of their climate action and support, and their efforts to achieve or exceed their commitments on mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis, India said. The synthesis report of the first GST released by UNFCCC found that global efforts on the climate crisis are falling short of meeting the Paris Agreement goals of keeping global warming well under 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times and pursuing efforts to keep it under 1.5 degrees, HT reported on September 9. This year, the 1.5 degree threshold was breached temporarily in certain months. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which holds the presidency of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) of the UNFCCC, where parties denote nations, is trying for consensus on contentious issues of GST. “We don’t think about red lines. Our job is really to get countries together and deliver an outcome that all of us can have consensus on. Our job is to be that mediator. That’s what we did on the Loss and Damage piece. We went in and helped parties come to an outcome and we will do the same for the GST. We know that the GST needs to lay out how we can accelerate both ambition and action to bridge the gaps we know we face. We are getting a lot of great ideas from parties but at the end of the day it’s a party-driven process. We have already framed what we believe we need to see in the GST outcome in several of our letters sent to parties and now it’s for parties to deliver an outcome for us at COP28,” said COP28 director-general Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi. Countries have varying expectations from the final round of discussions, which have been provided to the UNFCCC as submissions from February. The key negotiating blocs, including the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs), Least Developed Countries (LDCs), G77 and China, BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) and African Group of Negotiators (AGN), Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay (ABU) have made submissions, along with individual countries and regions like the US, the UK, Australia and the European Union. “While the different contexts of the Global North versus the Global South issue lead to differing perspectives on climate change concerns, consensus is crucial in this decade as the window to rapidly reduce GHG emissions by 2030 is closing,” the Centre for Science and Environment, an advocacy group, said in an analysis on Friday.

Why thermal power plants in Delhi-NCR have been slow in adopting biomass co-firing

Only three plants have reported higher quantities of biomass co-firing since December 2022 till August 2023 The ‘stubble-burning season’ is upon us and has already triggered an inflow of statements from ministers and government officials. In the last couple of years, the government has tried to tackle the issue by bringing the focus on ex-situ mechanisms of handling biomass or crop residue management (CRM) such as biomass co-firing and production of bio-CNG. These were promoted apart from the long-advocated in-situ mechanisms such as promoting use of happy seeders and super seeders. Co-firing five to seven per cent biomass pellets in thermal power plants can prevent 38 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in her budget speech in 2022. A key policy of the Centre, biomass co-firing in coal-based power plants will work towards energy security, reduced use of fossil fuels and at the same time to increase income of farmers, according to Union Power Minister RK Singh. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) conducted a survey-based study last year to understand the on-ground progress of the policy implementation on co-firing biomass in coal-fired thermal power plants in the National Capital Region (NCR). The study showed that till the end of 2022, co-firing was done only intermittently in all the 11 coal power plants in NCR and most of the plants had so far only conducted trial runs. The situation does not seem to have improved since then: Only three plants have reported higher quantities of biomass co-firing since December 2022 till August 2023, government data showed. These included Indira Gandhi Supercritical Thermal Power Plant (central), Harduaganj Thermal Power Station (state) and Mahatma Gandhi Thermal power station (private).

दिवाली के बाद जहरीली हवा का कौन जिम्मेदार, AAP, BJP या आम आदमी?

आज तारीख़ है 13 नवंबर. मालूम है... आप जानते होंगे. दीवाली का अगला दिन है. इस तारीख़ के अंदर अगर आप दी लल्लनटॉप शो का ये एपिसोड देख रहे हैं तो हो सकता है कि आपके कानों में पटाखों का शोर भी जा रहा हो. दिवाली के अगले कुछ दिनों तक ये सिलसिला चलता है. इस बार भी चल रहा है. उन आदेशों और गाइडलाइंस को ताक पर रखकर जिसे देश की सर्वोच्च अदालत ने जारी किए हैं. पटाखों की ध्वनि के बीच देश की राजधानी दिल्ली की एक उपलब्धि भी बताते हैं. जिसे दिल्ली कई बार हासिल कर चुकी है. आज 13 नवंबर को एक बार दिल्ली को दुनिया की सबसे प्रदूषित सिटी होने की एचीवमेंट मिला है.प्रदूषण की जांच करने वाली स्विस एजेंसी IQ एयर की इस लिस्ट में सिर्फ दिल्ली ही नहीं है. इस स्तर का कीर्तिमान भारत के दो और शहरों ने बनाया है. कौन से ये हैं शहर? मुंबई और कोलकाता. भारत के ये दो महानगर भी दुनिया के दस सबसे ज्यादा प्रदूषित शहरों की सूची में है. तालिका में मुंबई छठें नंबर पर और कोलकाता 7 वें नंबर पर है. पहले बात दिल्ली की. 11 नवंबर के लल्लनटॉप शो में हमने बताया था कि दिल्ली-एनसीआर में पिछले हफ्ते हुई बारिश ने प्रदूषण को काफी हद तक कम कर दिया था. बारिश की वजह से दिल्ली की हवा से स्मॉग करीब-करीब ओझल हो गया था. दिल्ली के जिन इलाकों में AQI 350 से ऊपर बना हुआ था, वो बारिश के बाद 100 के आसपास आ गया था. कमोबेश दिवाली की शाम तक दिल्ली का औसत AQI 218 दर्ज किया गया था. सालों बाद ऐसा हुआ था कि दिल्ली वालों को दिवाली के दिन साफ आसमान नज़र आ रहा था. लेकिन ये ऑल इज़ वेल वाली फीलिंग ज्यादा देर तक टिक नहीं पाई. रात होते-होते हवा खराब होती गई और कम तापमान के साथ प्रदूषण का स्तर बढ़ने लगा. और ये पहुंचा कहां तक आंकड़ों के जरिए बताएंगे. लेकिन उससे पहले तड़के सुबह दिल्ली के अलग-अलग इलाकों से आई तस्वीरें देखिए. आपकों सड़कों पर घनी धुंध दिखाई दे रही होगी. और विजिबिलटी बेहद कम. दिल्ली में कितना प्रदूषण… इतना प्रदूषण! दिवाली के अगले दिन दिल्ली में प्रदूषण के हाल की बानगी इस टू विंडो के जरिए भी समझी जा सकती है. इंडिया गेट की दो तस्वीरें आपके सामने हैं. एक है 10 नवंबर की जब इंडिया गेट साफ दिखाई दे रहा था. 13 नवंबर की स्थित आप वीडियो देखकर समझ गए होंगे. अब बात आंकड़ों की. दिल्ली के कई इलाकों का वायु गुणवत्ता सूचकांक यानी एयर क्वालिटी इंडेक्स गंभीर श्रेणी में पहुंच चुका है. सुबह के वक्त सामने आए आंकड़ों के मुताबिक ये AQI क्या है हम इसे हम 07 नवंबर के शो में विस्तृत तरीके से बता चुके हैं. लिंक आपकी सुविधा के लिए डिस्क्रिप्शन में मौजूद है. फिर भी हम थोड़ा रिवीजन कर लेते हैं. हवा का हाल बताने के लिए एक पैरामीटर का उपयोग होता है - AQI. AQI यानी एयर क्वालिटी इंडेक्स. इसको सबसे पहले अमरीका की एनवायर्नमेंटल प्रोटेक्शन एजेंसी यानी USEPA ने बनाया था, जिसका इस्तेमाल अब दुनिया के बहुत सारे देश करते हैं. ये AQI हवा में मौजूद प्रदूषण की वजह से AQI बदलता है. जितना ज़्यादा AQI, यानी उतना ज़्यादा प्रदूषण. अब सवाल ये कि दिल्ली में दिवाली की शाम तक तो हवा सांस लेने लायक महसूस हो रही थी वो सुबह होते-होते इतनी जहरीली कैसे बन गई? इसके जवाब में सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट यानी CSE के वायु प्रदूषण नियंत्रण सेल के Principal Programme Manager विवेक चट्टोपाध्याय बताते हैं कि रातभर हुई आतिशबाजी की होड़ के चलते हवा में प्रदूषण बढ़ने लगा.

Delhi Plans to Unleash Cloud Seeding in Its Battle Against Deadly Smog

India’s capital, New Delhi, is preparing a new weapon in the fight against deadly air pollution: cloud seeding. The experiment, which could take place as early as next week, would introduce chemicals like silver iodide into a cloudy sky to create rain and, it’s hoped, wash away the fine particulate matter hovering over one of the world’s largest cities. The need is desperate. Delhi has already tried traffic restriction measures, multimillion-dollar air filtration towers, and the use of fleets of water-spraying trucks to dissolve the particulate matter in the air—but to no avail. The use of cloud seeding, if it goes ahead, would be controversial. “It’s not at all a good use of resources because it’s not a solution, it’s like a temporary relief,” says Avikal Somvanshi, a researcher at the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi. Environmentalists and scientists worry that most of the government’s response is focused on mitigating the pollution rather than trying to cut off its source. “There is just no political intent to solve this, that is one of the biggest problems,” says Bhavreen Kandhari, an activist and cofounder of Warrior Moms, a network of mothers demanding clean air. The air is so bad that schools in Delhi and its surrounding areas have announced closures, and offices are allowing employees to work from home. The government has advised children, elderly people, and those with chronic diseases to stay indoors as much as possible. Diesel trucks, except those carrying essential goods, are no longer allowed into the city. Spells of rain last week cleaned up the air, but the respite was short-lived as air quality worsened again, aided by firecrackers set off over the weekend to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Now, Delhi officials are seeking permission from federal agencies in India to try cloud seeding. The technique involves flying an aircraft to spray clouds with salts like silver or potassium iodide or solid carbon dioxide, also known as dry ice, to induce precipitation. The chemical molecules attach to moisture already in the clouds to form bigger droplets that then fall as rain. China has used artificial rain to tackle air pollution in the past—but for cloud seeding to work properly, you need significant cloud cover with reasonable moisture content, which Delhi generally lacks during the winter. If weather conditions are favorable, scientists leading the project at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur plan to carry out cloud seeding around November 20. Until then, at least, Delhi will remain shrouded in a thick gray haze, which has become a toxic winter ritual. The smog, a dangerous cocktail of particulate matter and noxious gasses, results from a series of unfortunate events that happen at the start of winter. MOST POPULAR Skiing Is Getting Riskier Skiing Is Getting Riskier BY TRISTAN KENNEDY The 42 Best Films on Netflix This Week The 42 Best Films on Netflix This Week BY MATT KAMEN The 14 Best Films on Amazon Prime Right Now The 14 Best Films on Amazon Prime Right Now BY WIRED The 39 Best Shows on Disney+ Right Now The 39 Best Shows on Disney+ Right Now BY WIRED In late October, farmers in northern India, particularly wheat growers in the states of Punjab and Haryana northwest of Delhi, use a cheap and easy method to clear their paddy fields for fresh sowing—lighting fires to burn off stalks left behind after harvesting. In doing so, they inadvertently send plumes of smoke into the air. Authorities have tried to convince farmers to switch to using machines to remove crop residue instead of burning it, but farmers can’t always afford that method. Some small startups turn the crop residue into pulp that can then be used to make cardboard items. State and federal governments have also been looking into paying farmers to not burn their fields. Even on the worst days, smoke from crop burning only accounts for about a third of Delhi’s pollution, says Somvanshi. And just stopping farm fires won’t make the smog go away because there’s no dearth of polluting activities in and around Delhi—coal-fired power plants, brick kilns, burning garbage, household usage of wood and charcoal for cooking, and more. As if external sources aren’t enough, fine particulate matter can also form through chemical reactions. When conditions are right—a little moisture in the air, low temperatures—all the gaseous pollutants, specifically nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, volatile organic compounds, and ammonia, start reacting and create secondary particulate matter, says Somvanshi. Almost 25 percent of fine particulate matter (an air pollutant abbreviated as PM 2.5) in Delhi is caused by this reaction. Secondary particulate matter formation is also a risk with cloud seeding, says Gufran Beig, a meteorologist and air pollution expert at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. For air quality to improve significantly, you need heavy and sustained rainfall. If cloud seeding is able to produce only drizzle, then humidity will rise, likely spurring secondary aerosol formation, he says. Part of the blame for Delhi’s winter smog also lies with an atmospheric phenomenon called inversion. In summer, air near the ground is warmer, while air at greater heights is colder. As a result, whatever is emitted on the ground naturally rises up with the hot air and is dispersed, says Somvanshi. When winter sets in, things get inverted, quite literally. “As the ground temperature falls, the air right next to the ground becomes cooler, and as you go up it gets hotter,” he says. A layer of cold, heavy air forms across northern India, stopping any vertical movement. Being a landlocked city, Delhi doesn’t have sea breezes to move the pollution horizontally, says Somvanshi. As a result, the pollutants have nowhere to go. MOST POPULAR Skiing Is Getting Riskier Skiing Is Getting Riskier BY TRISTAN KENNEDY The 42 Best Films on Netflix This Week The 42 Best Films on Netflix This Week BY MATT KAMEN The 14 Best Films on Amazon Prime Right Now The 14 Best Films on Amazon Prime Right Now BY WIRED The 39 Best Shows on Disney+ Right Now The 39 Best Shows on Disney+ Right Now BY WIRED The resulting haze puts a natural sepia filter on the city at dusk. Across Delhi, digital screens display in neon letters the Air Quality Index (AQI), a measure of the concentration of pollutants in the air. The World Health Organization recommends that the average AQI over a 24-hour period be less than 15. Delhi’s city-wide average AQI most days this month has been over 350, data from the Central Pollution Control Board shows. One neighborhood maxed out the recordable level of 999 and several crossed the 500-mark. The most harmful ingredients in this deadly mix are PM2.5 and PM10—airborne particles or aerosols only a few microns in diameter—which enter your body when you breathe and lodge themselves in the lungs, even entering the bloodstream sometimes. In the short term, they can cause difficulty breathing and leave you with long, dull headaches, itchy eyes, or a persistent dry cough. Prolonged exposure to fine particulate matter has been linked to heart and lung diseases, respiratory infections, adverse birth outcomes, and more. According to the World Bank, air pollution is responsible for more than 2 million premature deaths annually in South Asia alone. Throughout the pollution season, Delhi restricts construction activity to reduce the amount of dust in the air and uses water trucks to try to dampen remaining dust. The city also has two “smog towers”—air purifier systems with giant fans that filter 1,000 cubic meters of air per second and cost more than $2 million apiece. But studies show that they only clean the air a few hundred meters around them and are largely ineffective. One measure that does target emissions directly is the odd-even policy, where vehicles with odd license plate numbers are allowed on the streets on odd dates and those with even numbers on even days. But Delhi imposes the rule sparingly, and it only applies to a small segment of vehicles, says Beig. “It doesn’t really mean anything if you are taking out one bucket of water from the ocean,” he says. To really work, rules like odd-even should be applied throughout the year, says Kandhari. For that, Delhi needs a better public transport system, she adds. The silver lining is that annual average PM 2.5 levels in Delhi have been declining, albeit gradually, since 2015, Somvanshi’s research has shown. This improvement is visible during the summer and monsoon months, when weather conditions are friendlier, he says. Kandhari says her biggest fear is of not seeing a smog-free Delhi in her lifetime. Surprisingly, despite the seasonal outcry, Delhi’s bad air hasn’t become an electoral issue. And so, ahead of general elections next year, Kandhari has one important request for her fellow Indians: When politicians come to you for your vote, ask them where clean air is on their list of priorities.

3 Indian Cities In World's 10 Most Polluted List After Diwali Celebrations

Three Indian cities were among the 10 most polluted cities in the world Monday morning after residents across the country celebrated Diwali -- the Hindu festival of light -- with firecrackers and lamps. India's national capital of New Delhi, which has been making a regular appearance on the list the last few days, was joined by the cities of Kolkata and Mumbai. The top spot for the most polluted city in India as well as the world was occupied by New Delhi. Sitting in the "hazardous" category, New Delhi's air quality was at 420 Monday morning, according to Swiss group IQAir. Mumbai took up the sixth spot with an AQI of 157, while Kolkata was in the seventh position with an AQI of 154. Despite a ban on fireworks in New Delhi, residents burst crackers late into Sunday night and woke up Monday to smoky skies. New Delhi has been covered in a toxic blanket of gray smog for days as the capital region sees air quality plunge during this time of year. Masks are back, schools have shut, construction work has been brought to a halt and polluting vehicles have been banned as authorities try to get the severe air pollution levels under control. "Even though Delhi has bent the longer term pollution curve, the levels are still high and that gets trapped due to cold and calm conditions in winter. Meeting clean air standards will therefore require speed and a deeper scale of change not only in Delhi but also across the larger region to make a difference," Anumita Roy Chowdhury, Executive Director at Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, told International Business Times. While New Delhi tops the list of the world's most polluted cities especially during the winter, financial capital Mumbai and Kolkata in eastern India also appeared on the list following Diwali celebrations. "To curb severe smog episodes during winter in Delhi and other Indian cities, more sustained and round the year action is needed to scale up infrastructure and system level solutions for clean energy transition in industries, transport and household sectors; mobility transition to reduce cars in cities; and close the loop around waste streams to prevent burning," Chowdhury added. "Unlike the Northern countries, where action and investments could be spread over 50 years to reduce air pollution, India will have to leapfrog within a much shorter time frame."

"Need strictness with our control measures": Centre for Science and Environment on increasing pollution in Delhi Post-Diwali

: Principal Programme Manager, Air Pollution Control Cell (/topic/air-pollution-control-cell), Centre for Science and Environment (/topic/centre-for-science-and-environment) (CSE), Vivek Chattopadhyaya, on Monday, warned of escalating pollution levels in the city following the bursting of crackers during Diwali and said "we need strictness with our control measures so that the action plan can be implemented across the city". "The Air Quality Index is in the Very Poor category in several areas... It indicates that the air pollution level has gone up after the bursting of crackers... The air has become still and its speed is slowing down, causing an accumulation of pollution. Right now, we need strictness with our control measures so that the action plan can be implemented across the city," Vivek Chattopadhyaya, Principal Programme Manager of the Air Pollution Control Cell (/topic/air-pollution-control-cell), Centre for Science and Environment (/topic/centre-for-science-and-environment) (CSE), told ANI.

인도 델리 당국, 치명적인 스모그 퇴치 위해 ‘인공강우’ 뿌린다

인도 수도 뉴델리에서는 치명적인 대기오염에 맞서 싸울 새로운 무기인 ‘인공강우’를 준비 중이다. 2023년 11월 발표된 인공강우를 이용한 대기오염 대응 실험은 아이오딘화은(silver iodide)과 같은 화학 물질을 구름에 주입하여 비를 생성하는 방식으로 진행된다. 세계 최대 규모 도시 중 한 곳인 델리에 남아있는 미립자를 씻어내고자 구상한 계획이다. 대기오염 대응이 절실히 필요한 상황이다. 델리는 이미 교통 제한 조치, 수백만 달러 규모의 공기 정화 타워, 살수차를 동원한 대기 중 미립자 분해 등 각종 노력을 펼쳤으나 어떠한 효과도 없어 신물이 난 상태이다. 인공강우를 이용한 대기오염 대응 전략은 논란의 여지가 있다. 뉴델리 과학환경연구소(Center for Science and Environment) 소속 연구원 아비칼 솜반쉬(Avikal Somvanshi)는 “인공강우는 대기오염 해결책이 아닌 임시 완화 수단이므로 자원을 투자하는 것이 좋은 방법은 아니다”라고 말했다. 환경 전문가와 과학자 사이에서는 정부 대응 대부분이 오염원 차단이 아닌 오염 완화에 주력한다는 점에서 우려의 목소리를 낸다. 깨끗한 공기를 요구하는 엄마들의 네트워크인 워리어 맘즈(Warrior Moms)의 공동 창립자이자 환경 운동가인 바브린 칸다리(Bhavreen Kandhari)는 “대기오염을 해결할 정치적 의도가 없다는 점이 가장 큰 문제이다”라고 말했다. 델리의 공기는 현지 학교와 주변 지역에서 폐쇄 조치를 시행하고, 사무실은 직원의 재택근무를 허용할 정도로 오염 수준이 심각하다. 인도 정부는 아동과 노인, 만성 질환 환자는 외출을 자제하도록 권고했다. 이제 생활필수품을 운반하는 차량을 제외한 디젤 트럭은 델리에 진입할 수 없다. 일시적으로 내린 비로 공기가 정화됐으나 대기질이 다시 악화되면서 대기오염 완화 효과는 오래 이어지지 못했다. 힌두교 등불 축제인 디왈리(Diwali)가 열린 주간에 사용한 폭죽이 대기오염에 악영향을 미쳤다. 이에, 델리 당국 관료는 인도 연방 기관을 대상으로 인공강우 사용 허가를 받을 방안을 모색하기 시작했다. 인공강우 생성 기법에는 구름에 은이나 요오드화 칼륨, 드라이아이스라는 이름으로도 알려진 고체 이산화탄소 등과 함께 구름을 뿌릴 항공기 비행을 통한 비 생성 과정이 포함된다. 화학 분자는 이미 구름 속 습기에 붙어서 비가 내릴 때보다 더 큰 물방울을 형성한다. 과거, 중국에서도 대기오염 퇴치 방법으로 인공강우를 활용한 적이 있다. 그러나 인공강우를 제대로 뿌리려면, 습기를 적당히 포함한 구름이 많아야 한다. 델리에서는 날이 갈수록 겨울이면 구름이 부족해지는 추세이다. 카락푸르 인도공과대학교에서 인공강우 프로젝트를 이끄는 과학자팀은 날씨 조건에 따라 11월 20일(현지 시각), 인공강우를 생성할 계획을 세웠다. 적어도 인공강우를 생성하기 전까지 델리 전역은 겨울의 해로운 날씨가 된 두꺼운 잿빛 안개가 덮인 상태가 이어질 것이다. 미립자와 유독가스가 위험한 수준으로 섞인 스모그는 초겨울 발생하는 여러 가지 날씨 문제의 결과이다. 2023년 10월 말, 델리 북서부에 있는 펀자브주와 하리아나주의 밀 농사 지역을 중심으로 인도 북부 지역의 농지에서는 신선한 씨앗을 뿌리기 위해 저렴하면서도 손쉬운 논 정화 방식을 활용했다. 바로 수확 후 남은 작물을 태울 불을 피우는 방식이다. 이 과정에서 연기에서 발생한 재가 대기 중으로 널리 확산됐다. 인도 당국은 농부에게 논에 불을 태우는 방식 대신 작물 잔류물을 제거할 기계를 사용하도록 설득하려 했다. 그러나 농기계를 구매할 경제적 여유가 있는 농부는 거의 없었다. 일부 영세 스타트업은 작물 잔류물을 판지 생산 재료로 이용할 수 있을 정도로 걸쭉하게 만들었다. 주 정부와 연방 정부 모두 농부가 농지를 태우지 않도록 충분한 비용을 지원하는 방안을 모색했다. 가장 심각한 때는 작물을 태운 연기는 델리의 대기오염원 중 1/3을 차지하기도 한다. 농부가 작물을 태우는 행위를 막는 것만으로는 스모그를 퇴치할 수 없다. 델리 일대에는 대기오염을 일으키는 활동을 막을 활동이 없기 때문이다. 석탄발전소, 벽돌가마, 쓰레기 소각, 가정 내 요리용 나무 및 숯 사용 등 대기오염에 영향을 미치는 요소가 많다. 외부 자원만으로 충분하지 않은 듯 미립자는 화학 반응을 통해 생성되기도 한다. 대기 중 습기가 약간 있는 데다가 기온이 낮은 날씨일 때는 질소산화물과 산화황, 휘발성 유기 화합물, 암모니아를 비롯한 각종 가스 오염원이 반응하면서 제2의 미립자를 생성한다. PM 2.5라는 약자로 알려진 대기오염물이기도 한 델리의 미립자 약 25%는 가스 오염원의 반응으로 생성된다. 인도 열대기상연구소 대기오염 전문가 겸 기상학자인 구프란 베이그(Gufran Beig)는 제2의 미립자 생성이 인공강우 이용 위험성을 지녔다고 말한다. 대기질이 대폭 개선되려면, 지속 가능한 폭우가 필요하다. 인공강우가 보슬비만 생성한다면, 습도가 상승하면서 제2의 연무제(aerosol)가 형성될 확률이 높다. 델리의 겨울 스모그 현장에는 도치라고 알려진 대기 현상이 부분적인 영향을 미친다. 여름에는 지상과 가까운 공기가 따뜻해지며, 상공과 가까워질수록 추워진다. 결과적으로 지상에 자연적으로 방출하는 것은 무엇이든 뜨거운 공기와 함께 상승하면서 분해된다. 겨울에는 말 그대로 상황이 180도 바뀐다. 솜반쉬 연구원은 “지상 온도가 하락하면서 지상 공기 온도도 내려간다. 그리고 지상에서 멀어질수록 기온이 상승한다”라고 말했다. 인도 북부 전역에 차갑고 무거운 공기층이 형성되고는 공기의 수직 이동이 중단된다. 내륙지역인 델리에는 수평으로 오염원이 이동하도록 할 바닷바람이 불지 않는다. 결과적으로 오염원이 어디에도 이동하지 못하는 상황이 된다. 결국, 안개는 도시 전체가 적갈색으로 흐릿하게 보이도록 한다. 델리 당국은 디지털 화면 디스플레이에 대기질 지수(Air Quality Index, AQI)를 네온 색상 글씨로 표시한다. 대기질 지수는 대기 중 오염원 포화 수준을 나타낸다. 대기질 지수는 세계보건기구(WHO)가 24시간 동안 제시한 AQI 평균치를 15 이하로 권고한다. 중앙 오염 통제위원회 데이터에 따르면, 2023년 11월 평균 델리 도시 전역의 평균 AQI는 대부분 350 이상이었다. 어느 한 지역의 AQI는 999를, 일부 지역은 500을 기록하기도 했다. 가장 해로운 성분은 반경 단 몇 마이크론인 대기 중 미립자나 에어로졸인 PM2.5와 PM10의 결합이라는 치명적인 결과로 탄생한 성분이다. PM2.5와 PM10이 결합하면, 호흡하면서 미립자가 폐에 쌓이고, 혈류에도 미립자가 진입하기도 한다. 단기적으로는 호흡 곤란과 장기간 이어지는 두통, 눈 가려움, 끊임없는 마른기침 증상을 일으킬 수 있다. 장기간 노출된다면, 심장 질환과 폐질환, 호흡기 질환 감염, 출산 문제 등과 같은 건강 문제가 발생할 수 있다. 세계은행은 대기오염 때문에 남아시아에서만 매년 200만 명 이상이 조기 사망한다고 추산했다. 대기오염이 이어지는 내내 델리시는 건설 활동을 제한하여 대기 중 먼지양을 줄이고, 살수차로 남은 먼지를 씻어내려 한다. 또한, 각각 200만 달러가 넘는 초당 공기 1,000큐빅미터를 분류할 대형 팬을 갖춘 공기 청정 시스템인 스모그 타워 두 대를 설치했다. 그러나 연구를 통해 스모그 타워는 수백 미터 떨어진 곳의 공기만 정화할 뿐 대기오염 대응 효과는 매우 적은 것으로 나타났다. 직접 배출량을 목표로 한 조처 중 하나는 차량 운행 홀짝제 시행이었다. 차량 운행 홀짝제 시행과 함께 차량 번호판 숫자에 따라 특정 날짜에 주행할 수 있는 차량을 제한하면서 매일 도로를 주행하는 차량 수도 제한했다. 그러나 델리시에서는 규정이 시행되는 때가 매우 적으며, 소수 차량만 시행 대상이 된다. 베이그는 “한 가지 요소를 포기하지 않는다면, 실효성이 없다”라고 언급했다. 칸다리는 대기오염 대응의 실효성을 위해 차량 운행 홀짝제와 같은 규정을 1년 내내 적용해야 한다는 견해를 제시했다. 또, 델리 당국의 대중교통 체계 개선도 필요하다고 언급했다. 한 가지 희망적인 부분으로 솜반쉬 연구원이 연구를 통해 알아낸 바와 같이 델리시의 PM2.5 평균 수치가 2015년 이후 서서히 줄어든다는 사실이다. PM2.5 수치 감소는 대기오염 수준을 완화하기 비교적 좋은 날씨인 여름과 우기에 두드러지게 나타난다. 칸다리는 평생 델리에서 스모그 현상이 발생하지 않는 날을 하루도 볼 수 없을 것이라는 점을 가장 우려한다. 놀랍게도 주기적으로 대기오염 문제를 두고 대중적 반발이 이어지지만, 대기오염 문제는 지금까지 중요한 안건이 된 적이 없다. 투표권을 행사하는 날이 온다면, 출마 후보에게 대기오염 퇴치를 정책 우선 사항으로 두었는지 물어보아야 할 것이다. ** 위 기사는 와이어드UK(WIRED.co.uk)에 게재된 것을 와이어드코리아(WIRED.kr)가 번역한 것입니다. (번역 : 고다솔 에디터)

COP28 tasked with finding consensus on first global stocktake to meet Paris goals

India has underlined that equity, fair share of the global carbon budget, and obligations of developed country parties to provide finance for transition and technology transfer will be critical to address in the global stocktake The first global stocktaking of the progress made on containing climate change, expected to conclude at the UN summit in Dubai in a few weeks, has received polarising views from nations that are signatories to the 2015 Paris Agreement. India has underlined that equity, fair share of the global carbon budget, and obligations of developed country parties to provide finance for transition and technology transfer will be critical to address in the global stocktake (GST). In its submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in September, India said equity has to be designed in the GST. “India has always maintained that Equity is an important component for preserving the collective and facilitative nature of GST, therefore a commonly agreed guidance to operationalise Equity needs to be designed in the GST, through inclusive equity indicators arrived at by Parties. Equity needs to be captured not only as an overarching but also a cross cutting issue in each and every element of the GST outcome,” India said. Developed country parties must lead in the ambition of their climate action and support, and their efforts to achieve or exceed their commitments on mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis, India said. The synthesis report of the first GST released by UNFCCC found that global efforts on the climate crisis are falling short of meeting the Paris Agreement goals of keeping global warming well under 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times and pursuing efforts to keep it under 1.5 degrees, HT reported on September 9. This year, the 1.5 degree threshold was breached temporarily in certain months. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which holds the presidency of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) of the UNFCCC, where parties denote nations, is trying for consensus on contentious issues of GST. “We don’t think about red lines. Our job is really to get countries together and deliver an outcome that all of us can have consensus on. Our job is to be that mediator. That’s what we did on the Loss and Damage piece. We went in and helped parties come to an outcome and we will do the same for the GST. We know that the GST needs to lay out how we can accelerate both ambition and action to bridge the gaps we know we face. We are getting a lot of great ideas from parties but at the end of the day it’s a party-driven process. We have already framed what we believe we need to see in the GST outcome in several of our letters sent to parties and now it’s for parties to deliver an outcome for us at COP28,” said COP28 director-general Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi. Countries have varying expectations from the final round of discussions, which have been provided to the UNFCCC as submissions from February. The key negotiating blocs, including the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs), Least Developed Countries (LDCs), G77 and China, BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) and African Group of Negotiators (AGN), Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay (ABU) have made submissions, along with individual countries and regions like the US, the UK, Australia and the European Union. “While the different contexts of the Global North versus the Global South issue lead to differing perspectives on climate change concerns, consensus is crucial in this decade as the window to rapidly reduce GHG emissions by 2030 is closing,” the Centre for Science and Environment, an advocacy group, said in an analysis on Friday. “The GST process revealed the many existing debates with predictable opponents on each side that are holding us back from equitably furthering climate ambition.”

Air pollution news today: Air quality in Delhi remains ‘poor’ but shows significant improvement; AQI at 204

Delhi pollution news: Rain brought a huge sigh of relief for residents in the national capital, who have been breathing toxic air over the last few weeks. The overall air quality in the national capital continued to stay in the ‘poor category’ with AQI at 204 marking a significant improvement from the last few days, according to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) data at 7:30 am. As per SAFAR data, areas like Delhi University, IIT Delhi, Airport (T3), Dhirpur, Lodhi Road witnessed ‘poor’ category air with AQI at 269, 221, 239, 228, 218 respectively. Bringing a major relief, some areas like Pusa, Mathura Road, Noida, Gurugram, Ayanagar, recorded ‘moderate' category air with AQI at 142, 159, 183, 169, 159 respectively. Delhi, NCR Air Pollution LIVE Updates As per CPCB data, Anand Vihar recorded ‘poor’ category air with AQI at 266 which is a major improvement after last week aqicn.org data recorded AQI at 999. Speaking of other areas in the national capital, Dwarka Sector-8 recorded AQI at 221, ITO recorded AQI at 231, Jahangirpuri recorded 268 AQI, RK Puram at 242, Rohini at 215, Shadipur at 264, Wazirpur at 248 all in ‘poor’ category, as per CPCB data. Currently, Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) has been implemented in the national capital after air quality plummeted to the 'severe plus' category last week. Earlier on Saturday, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the rainfall dispersed pollutants and reduced the extent of pollution in the city by 50 percent. While speaking to ANI, Rai said, "The rainfall on Friday dispersed pollutants from the city air. The wind, too, picked up, helping cleanse Delhi's air of toxic matter. The showers reduced the extent of pollution in the city by 50 per cent -- from an AQI of 450 to 225. However, it's too early to say how long will be the impact of the showers on the city's air quality." Meanwhile, Delhi University has declared an early winter break from November 13-19 which is generally given in December. Amid the increasing pollution levels, Anumita Roy Chowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment has asked to speed up action throughout the year to build adequate infrastructure. "On November 2, when the massive buildup of pollution happened. We were amazed at the rate and the speed with which the pollution had increased by nearly 68 per cent within 24 hours. We really have to ramp up our action throughout the year so that we can build adequate infrastructure systems to scale, to implement the solutions at a scale so that vehicular pollution can be controlled by improving public transport," Anumita Roy Chowdhury said as quoted by ANI.

The Blowing of Toxic Winds is a Pattern We Need to Break

It is an inconvenient truth we must confront. Just erecting war memorials to honour the dead, showering pilgrims with rose petals or performing smoke-emitting yagnas for purifying the environment is not going to ward off the next mass extinction. It may hasten it. Saakhi is a Sunday column from Mrinal Pande, in which she writes about what she sees and also participates in. That has been her burden to bear ever since she embarked on a life as a journalist, writer, editor, author, and chairperson of Prasar Bharti. Her journey of being a witness-participant continues. It has always been a source of wonder to me how, compared to the great environmental meltdown that stares the world in face today, wars – first the one in Ukraine and then in Israel – get such a remarkably good press coverage all over. Once upon a time, around 2005, Al Gore, a formal presidential candidate and ex-vice president of the US, appeared in An Inconvenient Truth, an Oscar-winning documentary directed by Davis Guggenheim. It was one of the first hard-hitting exposes of the effects of global warming on our steadily degrading world environment. Using very few aids – except some photo slides – the documentary explained how we had messed up our planet. Mrinal Pande Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty He issued a warning: something had to be done soon to arrest the climate change driven by human greed, or else the Earth faced floods, hurricanes, melting of ice on the poles, rise in sea levels all over; in short, migrations and soon after that, extinction on an unbelievable scale. Memories of those predictions still haunt us, but regrettably, despite the immense damage to the environment and suffering the two World Wars have generated, feelings of hate and distress against them have grown hazy in our generation. The First World War was long over before our generation arrived and the Second World War was something our parents talked of. Those were pre-TV and social media days – but today, each time a “master stroke” is reported, we cheer in the streets and on social media and celebrate the death of soldiers with great fanfare. Not just us, even the world still celebrates the Armistice Day that marked the end of the First World War, quite overlooking the fact that mankind grew no wiser after the first one and waged a second one that killed many more soldiers and civilians. Those of you who watched the BBC in the last month may have noticed (or not) the irony of the little red poppy flower marking Armistice Day worn by all anchors in the studios in their lapels. The poppies, you find, come out of the ‘Earl Haig Poppy Factory’ (named after Douglas Haig, the commander-in-chief who led soldiers to the Battle of the Somme). The funds collected by their sale go to the Haig Fund for wounded servicemen, even as thousands of both soldiers and civilians are being killed each day in Europe and Asia. History has its own cruel little jokes. Just as the grim battle on the Somme killed the idea of a jubilant victory after a war for many who lost friends and family in Britain, the war in Gaza has killed the lies about an environmental apocalypse being the senseless propaganda of some gloomy environmentalists backed by a political agenda. No matter what the outcome of the present wars raging in Gaza and Ukraine, we cannot ignore the horrifically visible environmental degradation it has speeded up. This year is reportedly the hottest in 1,25,000 years and the ultimate human cost of global heating, especially for poorer nations, will be immense. We in India will have to share it, no matter how many world leaders meet (including ours) and make an appeal for peace and justice with a toothless UN leading the pack. “The unarmed war – between the so-called West and the so-called East (US vs China) – is going to make things worse for the fight against climate change”, writes environmentalist Sunita Narain as the world heads to the UN climate change conference in Dubai. At home, democratic values symbolised by the freedom of speech are being tested severely. Legacy print and visual media, we learn, are now controlled by four major corporations all supportive of a questionable agenda being promoted in the name of modernising India. Power plants are being built in the Himalayan region, and protected forest zones and ancient sites of pilgrimage built over delicate ground full of shale rubble have been opened up to tourists. Real estate agents and builders for landowners in both urban and rural areas control the region. The result is toxic air, toxic rivers, and mass migrations all over India. Like wars, pollution blows across state boundaries. As the local leadership struggles to control pollution in the national capital, it needs well-financed and target-aligned strategies, and strong compliance across all the four NCR states. Now the Supreme Court has ordered the government to take measures to end this agony, because toxic gases surround slum dwellers and dwellers of the Lutyens’ zone similarly. Delhi is not some zoo being subjected to a golly-green-eyed monster’s annual visits. Anger against successive chief ministers is an easy dodge, a massive distraction from the real, more prosaic question of just where the toxins are being released, how and why? The laws of nature carry no philosophy, make no judgments and don’t sit down to write tracts. Having signed agreements to hand over national parks and swapping land assets to carbon emitting industrialists, after encouraging the production of more cars and chemicals, and hounding and harassing protesters, leaders cannot simply go and sit in a lotus pose along the banks of some holy river or kund, or within the womb room of an ancient temple. How can Ma Ganga and Ma Yamuna or Lord so-and-so give answers for the way out of extinction to leaders whose policies have ruined the source of our holiest rivers and temple towns in unimaginable ways? Nature, or Gods if you will, permit just so much cheating and exploitation of natural resources. No more. It is literally a pathetic fallacy to say that nature mourns extinction. Nature uses extinction to wipe off a species that has outlived its value. So the annual wearing of red poppies or Soldiers’ Day flags upon our lapels, erecting war memorials to honour the dead, or showering pilgrims with rose petals and performing smoke-emitting yagnas for purifying the environment is not going to ward off the next mass extinction. It may hasten it. An inconvenient truth, but there it is!