Environmental issues need localised engagement

Witoubou Newmai

While the world is chirping away with its politics, the issue of climate change could not nudge the collective human conscience.

 

Four days ago, the “longest United Nations’ climate talks ended with no deal on carbon markets” in Madrid. Delegates from around 200 countries participated in the talks.

 

These climate talks were held amid the “12-year” catchphrase, which is considered a deadline counting from 2018, to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases. The emissions of greenhouse gases have to begin dropping well before 2030, according to reports in various science journals.

 

 ‘Scientific American’ published a news item as recent as last month saying that “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) working groups with 91 authors and editors from 40 countries examined 6,000-plus scientific studies and called for ‘global carbon dioxide emissions (to) start to decline well before 2030’ to avoid the most severe consequences of global warming”.

 

When a scenario such as this confronts the world the general perception to address the issue runs that things have to be a top-down measure. This is also where our problem lies.

 

 Unless the redressing measure is a two-way traffic i.e. top-down and bottom-up, the damage is going to be faster than the remedial steps.

 

Our society, even on the local level, needs to foster deliberative inquiries to dilate discourses related to this issue.

 

 Given the grim picture, it has become pressingly urgent, to begin with localized engagements with the issue, even as our semi-comatose “concerned authorities” also continue to do their parts in their own ways.

 

 What happens when the jealous talks of one’s rights and freedom in a given domain fails to inspire a sense of responsibilities and duties? In other words, the sense of responsibilities and duties also comes from sound knowledge about one’s rights. Absence of such a sense of responsibilities and duties is only a dishonour to one’s own domain, but this, in turn also disqualifies anyone who broaches lofty ideas about rights.

 

 No less importantly, lacking the sound sense of responsibilities and duties can also mean, in a way, not feeling right to do the right things.

 

The discourse such as this should not be considered too demanding. One can no longer afford to make one’s interests to compete with the priority on environmental issues. The strength of our society will become our weakness when priorities are mixed up. Our society has had enough of placing convenience as priorities. It is time to consider that we take our responsibilities and duties seriously and also make every effort to have an integrated vision of our environment.