Paradoxes of the west on climate change

16-year-old at the UN climate summit in New York, Greta Thunberg gave a right & tight slap to President Trump of USA & President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil. This is the same Trump who has once rejected conception of climate change by alleging it as conspiracy of China against USA and now he is praising that girl. Nothing could be more paradoxical than this. His story will be narrated to future generation that ‘Once upon a time, there was a president that didn’t believe in climate change”. On the same tune, Jair Bolsonaro rejected scientific outcomes that Brazil is the lung of earth & something is going wrong in Amazon forest. Greta roared before the world in UN and warned that new generation would not to forgive if you disobey your responsibilities.

Although climate scientists have repeatedly shown that global surface temperatures have increased in the last decades and that human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases are to blame, US president Donald Trump has always made it quite clear that he does not believe global warming is human-related. Donald Trump has on numerous occasions issued statements affirming beliefs that man-made global warming is not real. In 2012, he went as far as claiming that “climate change was a hoax invented by the Chinese to make the US manufacturing less competitive”. It implies that according to president Trump global warming is fabricated narrative that should not be focused on. 

For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. Trump is an ignorant and arrogant USA administrator who neither listens to the science and nor predecessors. He even called  the climate change efforts made by his predecessor Barack Obama as rubbish. Once US president Barack Obama called climate change as biggest threat on USA as well as on the world. However President Trump by denying the reality of 21st century, he called that it was “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard in politics.” On the other hand, one of the interesting facts is that in 2009, he was part of a business coalition urging President Obama to take urgent climate actions. So, Trump is not only ignorant and arrogant but paradoxical too. 

A recent report by a group of international researchers to the United Nations shows that even the slightest increase in global temperature could brutally affect our planet, leading to hotter days all year round, severe damage to the world’s corals, increased drought and wildfires, and even more dangerous flooding and storms. When in an interview with the Associate Press, he was asked about researchers’ warning about climate change almost becoming irreversible, Trump said that there are “scientists on both sides of the issue”. Earlier, he had claimed that scientists are politically motivated. In one interview he admits that “There are some relation between human activity and climate change” and in other interview he categorically rejects concept of climate change. It is nothing but a paradox. 

See the another paradox of the western world. They are the ruler maker & the rule breaker. They brought Globalization to bring the world on platform to resolve common problems of trade and movements. Real intention was to exploit natural resources from developing countries and get benefited from its market. When the developing countries started getting benefits, then developed countries started using protectionist policy on the name of national interest. USA signed Paris treaty for climate change but later in 2017 withdraw from it. Real intention was to stop developing countries from becoming developed through shield of climate change. Western countries are obsessed to introduce pseudo-democracy everywhere by leaving environment behind. Without healthy environment democracy is incomplete. 

USA who first developed Nuclear weapon and now the same USA is stopping other countries not to get nuclear weapon by coercive mean through economic sanction. For example economic sanctions are being imposed on Iran to stop them from making nuclear weapon. If only USA holds nuclear weapon then it will scare others and pursuade coercively what they want  If all will have nuclear then conventional war will become irrelevant, then who will buy their weapons. No doubt Nuclear weapon is not only destructible weapon for masses but for environment also. In 1967 during Vietnam war USA under Lindon Johnson bombed even more than the second world war without caring environment and civilians. When opponents used to hide in forest, they used NAPALM chemical agent to burn the forest on massive scale. They have used “Agent Orange” to shaved off the leaves from the tree. Along with mass killing of human, environment was also degraded on the massive scale. 

Greta Thunberg rightly pointed out that money, politics and fairy tales of eternal economic growth has oppressed the climate. During his presidential campaign in 2016, Trump sworn to withdraw the US from the Paris Pact, saying that a withdrawal would be beneficial to the US workers and businesses. He also promised to revive the coal industry which he claimed, was hampered by environmental policies. Later on, in June 2017, he announced that he would withdraw the United States from the United Nations 2015 Paris Climate Agreement which aims to reduce global warming to 1.5ºC by 2030. He gave reason that the “Paris Accord undermines the US economy”. Thus, the country which should lead climate change has become only country which didn’t signed the agreement. 

In context of Kashmir politics, whole world is ready to intervene in Kashmir but no one is ready for Amazon forest. Countries are ready to raise Kashmir at every global platform but no one is for amazon care. Amazon forest is the lungs of the earth. But Jair Bolsonaro rejects this conceptions of scientists. According to Jair Bolsonaro there is nothing environmentally wrong in Amazon forest and Amazon forest is not ‘lungs of the earth”. He is rightly called as Trump of Brazil. He has also threatened to withdraw Brazil from the Paris agreement on climate change. However interesting paradox is that between 2005 and 2012 the same Jair Bolsonaro also ran a successful campaign to reduce deforestation by about 80%.

Policies of west regarding environment has not been uniformed. It changed from preceding President Obama to present President Trump. Obama administration on the environmental agenda sought to reduce carbon emissions by using clean renewable energy. Trump administration is determined to increase the use of fossil fuel and remove environmental regulations which he usually refers to as an impediment to business. It was told as reason by himself for withdrawing USA from Paris agreement. Even Trump nominated Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, to be the permanent head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Present environment policy under Trump is that, a tiger is given a responsibility to take care of the goats.  

The economically obsessed modern world is dedicated to the exploitation of natural resources. Many agreements and promises were made for the environment but subsequently violated by themselves only. We are losing something substantial, without the Amazon the entire world’s climates would be thrown off, the atmosphere would be polluted with billions of tonnes of CO2, 10% of the world’s biodiversity would be lost, and we may never find cures for many modern-day diseases. Apart from world, Brazil is also losing well since it is already producing profits of over $11.6 million per year. Real fact is that emergence of rights in the world is of populist character who are less concerned with the environment and more relied on perception.

The modern world is cutting trees on the name of development. Nations are making high buildings made up of concretes. In case of India, Mud houses are disappearing from the earth. Mud houses absorb heats but buildings made up of concrete reflect heat and cause raise in temp. People use A.C. (Air Condition) for comfort livings. A.C. releases greenhouse gas and further proliferates temperatures of the environment. A.C. keeps comfortable to wealthy people by transferring consequences on poor. Environmentally poor are punished without crime. Poor have neither car which gives emission nor concrete house or A.C. which enhances temperature of the environment. Earth gets warm and glacier melts. Rising river level flushed poor out since they are forced to settle at the riverbed.

Don’t forget modern world, new generation is not going to leave you. Greta Thunberg may be un-elected by the youth of the world but she has represented the core concerns of the youth before the world and leading generation. She is asking on behalf of the youth of the world “How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words”. It’s for sure that if you disobey your responsibilities toward the environment our coming new generation will accuse you in future. She also confirmed that her team is going to filing a lawsuit against five nations that are not on track to meet the emission reduction targets they committed to in their Paris Agreement pledges: Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey. Now ball is at the leg of today’s leading generation, it’s up to you either you hit the goal or make the foul.