THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI 00 TIMES EVOKE SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2020 When we damage Earth, ‘US should help we damage ourselves India leapfrog to Climate change is the world’s worst clean energy’ existential crisis. To fi ght it, we There is a link between the environment, our economic well-being must evoke our better selves Scientist Michael E. Mann, director of the and our children’s future. Our actions are breaking this link University of Pennsylvania’s Earth System n his thought-provoking blog, ‘Wait But Science Center, was a lead contributor to the Why’, Tim Urban postulates that all hu- David Attenborough & Christine Lagarde 2001 IPCC Climate Change Report, which won Imans carry a Primitive Mind and a the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Speaking to Higher Mind within themselves. The Prim- n nature, everything is connect- itive Mind is the ancient animal software ed. This is equally true of a Times Evoke, Mann discussed why India must inside us that drives us to serve the will of healthy environment and a renounce fossil fuels — and who should help it: our genes — survive long enough to pass healthy economy. We cannot sus- the genes on. The Higher Mind contains the tain life without taking care of What is the one most irrefutable human capacity for rationality, self-aware- nature. And we need healthy piece of data showing that climate The ‘hockey stick’ graph ness and wisdom. Ieconomies to lift people out of poverty change is real and harmful? published in 1998 by The Primitive Mind is endlessly greedy and and achieve the United Nations Sustain- It is the measured rise in carbon 0.4 °C Mann and his colleagues totally immersed in the present. The Higher able Development Goals. dioxide concentrations. From ba- showed how the Earth’s temperature, relatively Mind is reasonable, capable of seeing the big In our current model, these goals seem sic physics, we know this has to 0.2 picture and overriding our primal instincts. to collide and our economic pursuits en- be warming the planet — the ther- stable for 500 years, spiked Nobody is ever in one state of consciousness croach too closely on nature. But nature mometer measurements show sharply in the 20th century all the time. Sometimes, the Primitive Mind is is what makes industry possible. We can- that it is. 0 in charge, at others, the Higher Mind. not have human development without a As for harm, the record heat Yet, tragically, humanity has appar- healthy natural world. waves, floods, droughts, wildfires, -0.2 ently switched off its Higher Mind when The bottom line is that when we dam- superstorms — we wouldn’t be see- it comes to the environmental crisis loom- age the natural world, we damage our- Greta Thunberg: ing these unprecedented weather -0.4 ing over us. With the Primitive Mind con- selves. Our growing economic footprint Her fears of a world extremes if not for the human- 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 trolling us, we’ve wreaked utter havoc on threatens our own future. With the pro- of climate change caused warming of the planet. YEARS the ecosystem. We’ve hurtled down a high- jected rise in ocean levels and the aver- must be heeded The fi ndings were ANOMALY (°C) ANOMALY way called progress, without pausing to age temperature of the planet, large Climate change is also impacting TEMPERATURE validated by another consider where it might be taking us. Well, swaths of land, even whole countries, multiple species beyond humanity. study in 2013 that it has taken us to a precipice. will become uninhabitable, triggering We are now seeing major classes showed a similar spike in Climate change is a simple, and vital, mass climate-induced migration. fuels or promote overuse and waste. IMF Change must begin now, and it must of animals — like amphibians — temperature after 1850 truth now. The evidence is undeniable. Since the natural and economic research found the implicit global sub- encompass us all. The youth of today disappearing at alarming rates. This beautiful planet is on the brink of worlds are linked, similar principles ap- sidy from undercharging for energy and understand this — think about coura- Climate change is a major cause. The sudden increase in the planet’s catastrophe. And we still don’t get it. We ply to both. In the financial world, we its environmental costs in 2017 was a geous people like Greta Thunberg. They Finally, deforestation’s devastat- temperature has coincided with engage in endless debates when all our would not eat into capital to the point of staggering $5.2 trillion, or 6.5 per cent are calling on older generations to act ing impact on ecosystems leads to humanity’s growing use of fossil fuels choices are just one — we can either save depletion because that of world GDP. now — because it is their futures at stake. the collapse of civilisations. the world, or see it go up in flames as glob- would bring financial The private sector can stop support- Nature is resilient. We can still re- al temperatures rise. ruin. Yet in the natural ing industries that damage the planet verse some of the damage inflicted on Why do you say climate change forcing alternative energy on us. This planet is all we have. And it needs us world, we have done this and instead invest in sustainable our precious planet. But time is running deniers are changing tack? India is suffering climate to activate our Higher Minds to heal the dam- repeatedly. We must treat development. Governments can roll out. If we don’t take decisive action in There is a “deflection campaign” change’s impacts, with unprec- age we’ve done, with compassion and wisdom. the natural world as we out policies to fight climate change and the next 10 to 20 years, the damage will — polluting interests are trying to edented flooding rains and Times Evoke’s special coverage is our ef- would the economic world the destruction of nature, for example, have passed irreversible tipping points. divert attention from the need for extreme heat. fort to reinforce your Higher Mind. We will — protecting natural capi- through promotion of clean-technolo- We must work now. For who among systematic change (like a price on Western nations, like the US, put you in touch with people who have dedi- tal so it can provide bene- gy research. us wants to face harsh reproach from carbon) to individual behaviour. with a much greater role in creat- cated their lives to making a difference. We fits well into the future. our grandchildren: “You knew it was But any real solution requires ing this problem through two cen- hope reading their thoughts will light a spark We can ensure that the happening, and you did nothing.” policies incentivising a shift away turies of fossil fuel dependence, in you, helping you be a force for change. price of fossil fuel energy We must treat the natural from fossil fuel burning. This re- must provide assistance to India, Our planet faces the most threatening reflects not only produc- Edited essay based on a conversation quests action by governments. to “leapfrog” past the fossil fuel existential challenge in its history. But you tion costs but also environ- world like the economic between Sir David Attenborough, natural And that’s opposed by polluters. stage to a clean energy economy. have the power to help save it. Get in- mental costs. We must world — protect natural historian, and former IMF managing There’s no reason other formed, get inspired and get empowered. eliminate energy subsidies director Christine Lagarde We often hear climate change is a countries must make the mis- Your time starts now. that encourage new fossil capital for the future December 2019 | Finance & Development 5 |Courtesy IMF ‘Western strategy’ to limit India by takes we did. You’ve been researching the Sund- iar with local trains. In the event of arbans for decades. What are the a cyclone approaching Mumbai, most important differences you’ve ‘Climate change will hit the poor, working class people will be able to seen there due to climate change? evacuate while the middle classes It was the Sundarbans that opened probably will not. In fact, many mid- my eyes to the threat of climate dle class people will resist being The evidence for rapid climate change change. Even twenty years ago, it but the rich will lose the most’ evacuated, because their flats are was clear that large parts of the their major asset. They will not is compelling. Nasa provides the proof forest faced an imminent risk of Amitav Ghosh is a renowned author and anthropologist who has been writing about want to abandon their flats and inundation. However, these im- cars and move away. Current pacts cannot be ascribed solely to climate change since the 1980s. The Padma Shri awardee and Jnanpith winner spoke Middle class life is based on an GLOBAL TEMPERATURE RISE level climate change — human interfer- to Times Evoke about crucial environmental changes he has seen while studying the expectation of a certain kind of The planet’s average For millennia, atmospheric ence with the landscape has huge- Sundarbans over the years, how renewable energy could empower the developing stability — this will become in- surface temperature has ly magnified the impacts of sea- creasingly rare as the planetary carbon dioxide had never risen about 0.9°C since 1950 level rise in deltaic regions through- world — and why climate change might be more challenging for the rich than the poor: crisis unfolds.