Rising temper - blame it on climate change!

Are you increasingly turning out to be short tempered? Are your children becoming increasingly arrogant and violent? Is your relationship with your partner being hurt due to silly fights? Are people on the road tending to argue / fight for trivial reasons?

Have you ever pondered over these questions? 

No? , then please pause for a movement, close your eyes and think about your experiences. Are humans slowly turning out to be more violent?

Researchers from the University of California Berkeley recently published a paper in the journal Science, in which they suggest that humans may become more hostile as global temperatures rise. Their suggestion was based on strong evidence linking the recent regional conflicts and climatic changes. One of the most classic example of which is the fact that changes in the local weather pattern coupled by an acute shortage of wheat largely fueled the Arab Spring.

The researchers assumed an average increase of four degrees Fahrenheit and concluded that humans would do little or nothing to adapt, but simply turn violent and perish! The study also claims that occurrences of human and inter-group conflicts would increase by fifty per cent by 2050. We already know that humans would turn to cannibalism when climate change causes a food crisis, but would needless violence predate this by decades? Is the recent turmoil in the Middle East, the rising number of rapes in India, increasing terror related violence in Pakistan, the occupy wall-street movement in the west and the anti-government protests in China and Russia just the beginning?

Yes, the occurrences of such events will increase exponentially, but no government will understand the real reason behind them and take steps to mitigate climate change. This can be comparable to the attitude of the governments during the sixties when the first research linking cancer and cigarette smoking was published. Since scientists could not explain the exact phenomenon linking the two, every major government in the world chose to ignore it. The same is the case with this research. While our elected representatives time and again choose to simply betray us, the mammoth task of protecting our future and that of our children is in our hands. 

If you are a parent reading this, please pause and ask yourself – Is this the future you want your child to experience? I am sure your answer is no. But you would also immediately express your helplessness about the issue. After all what can an ordinary person like me do? Well, you are no ordinary person. You are an earthizen. And every earthizen has the moral responsibility to protect nature and the right to make decisions regarding this. We all live in a selfish world – where everything within my house in important. But nature has no boundaries, and therefore let’s not be selfish about this! Change begins at home. Start leading a greener life. Educate and encourage your neighbours to follow suit. You can start a revolution! Go for it!