Hot and Happening

If the title got you all interested and you think I am going to write about somebody hot then you are reading a wrong blog post.

Flashback to February 1990:
Its mid February. I mind wanders over to a decade and a half back when I detested winters mornings because I used to feel cold. Getting up early in the morning to a foggy day and going to school was nothing less than a torture. I used to feel very cold and remember wearing layers of woolies to protect myself.

Fast Forward to February 2006:
It so hot that leave alone wearing a sweater, I am wearing my summer clothes. Its not cold at all with temperature steadily creeping upto 23oC. Using a fan a decade back - even the thought of that would chill me to the bone.

I am deeply concerned with the weather change which has slowly but steadily taken place in the time being. ‘Global warming’ is something we have all heard about but never really thought or cared about.

The term simply means that the climate all across the world is changing and the world is becoming warmer by the day. According to the National Academy of Sciences, the Earth's surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past century, with accelerated warming during the past two decades.

The Asian region spans polar, temperate, and tropical climates and is home to over 3 billion people. As the climate warms, many mountain glaciers may disappear and the northern forests are likely to shift further north. Rapid population growth and development in India will put additional pressures on natural ecosystems and will lead to a rapid rise in the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere unless steps are taken to curtail emissions.


The Kyoto Protocol seems like a step in the right direction. It is an agreement under which industrialized countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990. The goal is to lower overall emissions from six greenhouse gases. India signed and ratified the Protocol in August 2002.

I leave you with a thought:
Glaciers in the Himalayas are retreating at an average rate of 50 feet (15 m) per year, consistent with the rapid warming recorded at Himalayan climate stations since the 1970s. Winter stream flow for the Baspa glacier basin has increased 75% since 1966 and local winter temperatures have warmed, suggesting increased glacier melting in winter.

For our sake and the sake of future generations, I hope this phenomenon is controlled lest we end up having more natural calamities and drastic temperature change. I don’t want my winter to look like summer or fancy my home submerged in water!

Originally posted on Monday, February 20, 2006 5:41 PM