Enivornment is Not a Single day Affair and Nor is Climate Change

| Rohit – Copy Editor cum Reporter – IOP, Delhi - 06 Jun 2019

By Amit Dudani

New Delhi, June 6, 2019: Climate Change is one of the largest and complex problems India and the World are facing today.

Global warming is not a prediction anymore, it's happening right now and we are all experiencing it. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had warned of warmer than normal temperatures in several states across India and this was witnessed when 10 Indian cities were listed amongst the 15 hottest places on Earth earlier this week.

Heat waves have accounted for over 22,000 deaths in the Country since 1992 as per the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

One of the key reasons for climate change is green house gas emissions and India along with US and China is amongst the top three green house emitters in the World and this is leading to intense and frequent heat waves across India.

Livestock is one of the biggest contributors to green house gas emissions. Infact, Methane produced by India’s livestock population is amongst the highest in the world. Globally, animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of green house gas emissions as per the United Nations Report Livestock’s Long Shadow and India with livestock population of over 50 crore sits on top of the list.

A recent study by a UK based agency VIVA, has however, revealed that just by choosing to eat a certain kind of food, we can bring about positive changes.

It claims that a Vegan diet is the only truly ‘green diet’ and is associated with lower green house gas emissions than that of a meat eater, fist eater or even that of a vegetarian who consumes animal products such as dairy and honey.

A recent study from German Consumer Protection organisation Foodwatch, found that meat eaters diets are responsible for almost twice the emissions as vegetarians and going vegan could cut emissions by more than 7 fold.

A switch to diets that contain less of meat and more of fruit and vegetables could save 8 million lives by 2050 and reduce green house emissions by two thirds as per VIVA. The study also concluded that ditching meat and dairy would be the most impactful step an individual can take to lessen the impact of global warming.

Image credit:Undark