Climate crisis: A Plan B needed for wild weather

Going for smaller tangible targets instead of chasing net zero could be a way to arrest the spiralling climate crisis

- Ananda Banerjee

This was India's warmest October in 123 years. It was also the month when Bengaluru got flooded, and cyclonic storm Dana ripped through three of Odisha's districts, with damages pegged at ₹600 crore.

Extreme and unseasonal weather events have dotted 10 months of 2024 before the countries in the world met in Baku, Azerbaijan, to discuss the climate crisis. Earlier, in the last leg of the monsoon, it felt like 52 degrees in Guwahati. Assam and parts of other northeastern states were hit by an unprecedented heat wave in September that claimed several lives and forced schools to shut, whereas, in the same period, neighboring West Bengal bore the brunt of flooding in six districts. Remember, throughout January, there was not a flake of snow in Gulmarg and other places in Kashmir. This was followed by a hellish summer that saw a record number of heatwaves and heat-related deaths nationwide. Leh, a cold desert, was too hot for flights to take off. Delhi's heat index touched 53°C, recording the longest heatwave streak, which lasted over a month (May 14-June 21).

Similarly, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and smart cities like Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kota, Nashik, and Surat fell apart on a heavy rainy day. The tragedy in Wayanad, Kerala, and other heavy landslides in Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand should serve as a reminder that extreme weather is a harsh reality. And not just India, Australia experienced its hottest winter at 41.6°C, and Bandar-e Mahshahr, Iran, reported a heat index of 66.7°C in August. Mount Fuji remained snowless for the longest time, and flash floods in Spain and in the Sahara are grim reminders that we are drifting deeper into a climate catastrophe.