Pop Quiz

ANSWERS

IDENTIFY THESEFLOWER SPECIES1 2

4 5

3

6

1. Snake gourd 2. Dill 3. Chrysanthemum 4. Tulip 5. Allium giganteum 6. Begonia

““The earth, the air, the land and the water are not an inheritance from our forefathers but on loan from our children.”

Mahatma Gandhi 02 ENVIRONMENT

HI,I’M GREENBOT!

JOIN ME IN MY QUESTTO REDUCE WASTE IN

DAILY LIFE

Ever wondered about thepublic sewage system?The drains in our houses,colonies and cities are connect-ed, via sewer lines, to our riversand the ocean. So if you drop aplastic bottle top on the street,chances are it may get washeddown a drain and eventually findits way into a river, then the sea,where a sea creature may thinkof it as food.

HOW TO AVOID THIS?Re-use, reduce, recycle wasteproducts as much as possible. Toensure sewer lines are clean, don’tflush anything that isn’t naturalwaste, or toilet paper. Cat litter isflushable but cat and dog wastecan contain roundworm so itshouldn’t go into the publicsewage system. TNN

Ayear ago, I came to Davosand told you that ourhouse is on fire. I said Iwanted you to panic. I’vebeen warned that telling

people to panic about the climate cri-sis is a very dangerous thing to do. Butdon’t worry. It’s fine. Trust me. I’vedone this before. And I can assure you:it doesn’t lead to anything.

And for the record, when we chil-dren tell you to panic, we’re not telling

you to go on like before. We’re nottelling you to rely on technolo-

gies that don’t even exist to-day at scale and science

says perhaps never will.We are not telling

you to keep talk-ing about

reaching net

zero emissions or carbon neutralityby cheating and fiddling around withnumbers. We’re not telling you to off-set your emissions by just payingsomeone else to plant trees in placeslike Africa, while at the same timeforests like the Amazon are beingslaughtered at an infinitely higherrate. Planting trees is good, of course,but it’s nowhere near enough of whatis needed, and it cannot replace realmitigation and rewilding nature.

And let’s be clear: we don’t need alow-carbon economy. We don’t need tolower emissions. Our emissions haveto stop, if we are to have a chance tostay below the 1.5-degree target. Anduntil we have the technologies that atscale can put our emissions to minus,then we must forget about net zero.We need real zero, because distant net-zero emission targets will mean ab-solutely nothing if we just continue toignore the carbon dioxide budget thatapplies for today, not distant futuredates. If high emissions continue like

now even for a few years, that re-maining budget will soon be com-

pletely used up.The fact that the USA is

leaving the Paris accordseemed to outrage and worry

everyone. And it should. But thefact that we are all about to fail

the commitments you signed up forin the Paris Agreement doesn’t seemto bother the people in power even theleast. Any plan or policy of yours thatdoesn’t include radical emission cutsat the source starting today is com-pletely insufficient for meeting the 1.5-or well below 2-degree commitmentsof the Paris Agreement.

And again, this is not about rightor left. We couldn’t care less about yourparty politics. From a sustainabilityperspective, the right, the left, as wellas the centre, have all failed. No polit-ical ideology or economic structure hasbeen able to tackle the climate and en-vironmental emergency and create acohesive and sustainable world, be-

cause thatworld, in case you

haven’t noticed, iscurrently on fire.You say children

shouldn’t worry. You say, “Justleave this to us. We will fix this. We

promise we won’t let you down. Don’tbe so pessimistic.” And then nothing.Silence. Or something worse than si-lence: empty words and promiseswhich give the impression that suffi-cient action is being taken.

All the solutions are obviously notavailable within today’s societies, nordo we have the time to wait for newtechnological solutions to become avail-able to start drastically reducing ouremissions. So, of course, the transitionisn’t going to be easy. It will be hard.And unless we start facing this now,together, with all cards on the table,we won’t be able to solve this in time.

In the days running up to the 50thanniversary of the World EconomicForum, I joined a group of climate ac-tivists demanding that you, the world’smost powerful and influential busi-ness and political leaders, begin to takethe action needed. We demand, at thisyear’s World Economic Forum, par-ticipants from all companies, banks,institutions and governments imme-diately halt all investments in fossilfuel exploration and extraction, im-mediately end all fossil fuel subsidiesand immediately and completely di-vest from fossil fuels. We don’t wantthese things done by 2050 or 2030 oreven 2021; we want this done now.

It may seem like we are asking fora lot, and you will of course say thatwe are naive. But this is just the veryminimum amount of effort that isneeded to start the rapid sustainabletransition. So, either you do this, oryou’re going to have to explain to yourchildren why you are giving up on the1.5-degree target – giving up withouteven trying.

Well, I’m here to tell you that, un-like you, my generation will not give

up without a fight. The facts are clear,but they are still too uncomfortablefor you to address. You just leave it,because you just think it’s too de-pressing and people will give up. Butpeople will not give up. You arethe ones who are giving up.Last week, I met with Polishcoal miners who lost theirjobs because their minewas closed. And eventhey had not givenup. On the con-trary, theyseem to un-derstandthe fact thatwe need tochange more thanyou do.

I wonder: what willyou tell your children wasthe reason to fail and leavethem facing a climate chaos thatyou knowingly brought upon them?That it seemed so bad for the econo-my that we decided to resign the ideaof securing future living conditionswithout even trying?

Our house is still on fire. Your in-action is fueling the flames by the hour.And we are telling you to act as if youloved your children above all else.Thank you.

Have you heard Swedish activist Greta Thunberg’sspeech at Davos in which she tells world leaders thattheir inaction on the climate crisis was spelling doom...

Entries will be accepted till

February 3, 2020

HOW TO APPLY Students from Delhi/NCR schoolsof classes VI to VII (junior cate-gory) and classes VIII to IX (sen-ior category) are invited to recorda video of up to 2 minutesexpressing their views on‘Fighting Climate Change’ andupload it on www.toiyoungchange-leaders.com. Top 16 entries short-listed will be notified. Finale onFebruary 6, 2020

TOI YOUNGCHANGE LEADERS Are you the one?

Country will no longer be a garbage dump for rich nations

Malaysia has sent back 150containers of plastic wasteto 13, mostly rich, coun-tries since the third quar-

ter of last year, with the environmentminister warning that those who wantto make the country a rubbish bin ofthe world can ‘dream on’.

Shipments of unwanted rubbishhave been rerouted to Southeast Asiasince China banned the import of plas-tic waste in 2018, but Malaysia and oth-er developing countries are fightingback. Environment Minister Yeo Bee

Yin said another 110 containers are ex-pected to be sent back by the middleof this year.

Yeo said the successful repatria-tion of a total 3,737 metric tons ofwaste followed strict enforcement at

key Malaysian ports to block smug-gling of waste and shuttering morethan 200 illegal plastic recycling fac-tories.

She said the Malaysian govern-ment didn’t pay a single cent, with the

costs of sending back the waste fullyborne by the shipping liners and im-porters. Of the 150 containers, 43were returned to France, 42 to theUnited Kingdom, 17 to the UnitedStates, 11 to Canada, 10 to Spainand the rest to Hong Kong, Japan,Singapore, Portugal, China,Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Lithua-nia, the ministry said.

Yeo said talks were ongoing withUS authorities to take back another 60containers this year. Canada also has15 more containers, Japan 14, the UK9 and Belgium 8 from 110 more con-tainers that are still being held atMalaysian ports, she said.

“If people want to see us as therubbish dump of the world, you dreamon,” Yeo told reporters during in-spection at a Penang port. TNN

GETTING A NEW LEASEOF LIFE

A doctor examines a newly acquired miniature horseat Nexus Equine in Edmond, Oklahoma. A re-homingpartner with the American Society for the Preventionof Cruelty to Animals, Nexus provides veterinary care,farrier care and training for the horses it takes in andseeks to re-home.

Photo: AP / Sue Ogrocki

Photo: REUTERS / JIRAPORN KUHAKANGoody, an endan-gered Olive ridleysea turtle hadlost her left flip-per in a fishingnet years ago.Now she can swimagain, havingbeen fitted withthe first prosthet-ic flipper, inThailand.

Ducks rescuedby an animalactivist awaittreatmentbefore beingplaced underobservationat BSPCA ani-mal hospitalin Parel,Mumbai.

Malaysia sends back trash

“We couldn’tcare less about

your party poli-tics. From a sustain-

ability perspective, theright, the left, as well as

the center, have all failed.”

“Yousay childrenshouldn’tworry. You say,‘Just leave this tous. We will fix this.We promise we won’tlet you down. Don’t be sopessimistic.’ And thennothing. Silence...”