Thread by @wolfsandheer

A thread on #ClimateCrisis:
#amwriting
Melting Boundaries
Nature Knows No Nation and No Nation Knows Nature
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In the global fora, the issue of #climate change has been a game of ‘passing the parcel’ where the parcel is global in all proportions – global threat, global impact, global mitigation.
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#Climate is the varying weather conditions experienced annually aggregated over a long period of time. Unfortunately, politically, climate change has had much less traction than the climate itself in the last 30 years. Efforts have been debated, litigated and even acted upon.

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But no matter how hard you push, if you are rowing towards an iceberg, you are going to crash and drown.
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Why We Hate Our Future Selves?

The political practice is to manipulate issues to minimize effect on self and maximize disrepute of those on the other side.
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This plays out where one seeks to club issues to make them seem similar in nature while the other tries to isolate the issues to prevent any blanket decisions or discussions. #Climate change is a natural process but has been exacerbated by human exploitation.
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For all the knowledge gathered on symbiotic relationships in the wild, the exploitative nature of humans does not often respect it. #Environment is often viewed as a counter to economic and industrial growth.
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Hence, there is always a debate that seeks to establish a balance in an either-or manner. And this has been the case for long.

#Economy, today, follows the crude concept of buy low, sell high and pocketing the difference.
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Caring for anyone – the customer, the nation or the #environment - would eat into the profits. The economy, by virtue, is an ever present behemoth that unfolds before our very own eyes.
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However, any environmental conversation would only reap tangible results over a long period of time. So, it is easier to deploy delay tactics and profit today. So tomorrow, you can profit some more and delay some more.
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This is the crude understanding that has been used by the first few industrial powers to shift the blame, and hence, the responsibility to continue to flourish economically. What about the ones they held in contempt?
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The current Western consensus holds developing nations responsible for further deterioration of the environment.
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And this helps in three ways: one, they can continue to exploit the environment and benefit economically; two, the developing nations give into Western interests elsewhere in lieu of concessions; three, the developing nations will be bound to take longer to match their quality…

…of life for their own citizens. This Western concoction has politicized the issue of #climate change and fundamentally, it has conveyed the key foundation of the West: not all citizens by virtue of being humans are equal.
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The Western countries have signed off the era of rapid development without caring for the global reality beyond their crooked vision.
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Climate Justice: Shall Earth Understand Common but Differentiated Responsibilities?

The #India is leading the global discourse to develop a truly ‘humanity-first’ policy in the form of the concept of ‘Climate Justice’.
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Given the global impact of the climate crisis, climate justice establishes common but differentiated responsibilities.
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The key points of climate justice argue for accounting the human exploitation from the start of the industrial era which was an era of unchecked environmental destruction and the greatest chunk of human exploitation we seek to minimize and reverse today.
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This is greatly contested because it holds the Western colonizers more responsible than others, as historically, they should be.
Another cornerstone of ‘Climate Justice’ is to shift to a per-person and per-capita policy making.
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This comes from equitably consuming the global budgets. Global budgets have been established for utilizing carbon emissions and over time reducing global impact.
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Now, per-person policy means that while the countries with high Quality of Life Index (for example) plateau, it will allow those beneath to utilize the #CarbonEmissions budget to close the gap. The nation at the top might lose but humanity as a whole wins.
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However, Nature shall not and does not differentiate based on historical and political biases.
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India’s diverse geography is all at risk, at once: the Himalayan snow is melting, the coastal areas are on submerging, the frequency as well as the intensity of the cyclones is greater, the monsoon is getting harder to predict and rely on and thereby exposing the large…

…agricultural sector.

Some vs All: Shifting from Rules to Goals

While there is a disdain over viewing the issue from the perspective of a class struggle, it cannot be arrived at without looking at the facts of the matter.
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The India is already at one-third of the global emissions per capita average. Meanwhile, the top three polluters per capita are US, EU and China. The developed continue to develop both, themselves as well as disdain over the developing countries developing.
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Losing emissions means restrictions on essential activities like infrastructure, urbanization, etc. #NorthAmerica alone consumes 60% of the global emissions share that is only for one-fourth of the global population.
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The Western countries are pushing for the #India have a net zero target.
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This has four fundamental flaws: one, with the latest IPCC report, we have realized that net zero has literally, net zero impact on the environment; two, the way the West has exploited net zero is by consuming more and then buying green credits to show on paper net zero; three,…

…net cumulative emissions matter which the India is already well under the global average while US, EU, etc are at times 2.5x the global average; and four, net zero means the India cannot support urbanization of its large rural population and it cannot correct its thwarted V…

…shaped #economy.

The #India’s efforts even by completely ceasing all emissions for the next 30 years will only lease 2 more years before the world is hotter by 2 degrees.
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Although the Western countries repeatedly try to express concerns over no #netzero targets, the #India continues to grow in developing its #greeneconomy. It also has been exploring and supporting green initiatives in any and all projects.
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Using sustainable bricks in building houses under PMAY-Urban is just one example where the #India is leading by example in introducing sustainable practices while furthering development.
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The need is to shift from common rules on emissions to common goals for humanity that help everyone adapt to the changing world. Global economies must develop a nuanced global fora to bring equity in furthering the development of ‘all’ humans.
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The #India’s cumulative efforts make it a stalwart in realizing humans as the first and foremost resource. The hope is that the preached Western ideals are not lost when it is time to realize them in any word that is justiciable.
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