Fire and fury

If nature is the greatest leveller of them all, then climate change is its willing sidekick that will hunt you down and bring you to justice. For generations, we have abused the planet and now the hour of reckoning is here. This month’s wildfires in Los Angeles prove that no amount of affluence and influence can protect against nature’s fury. Unbelievable scenes unfolded as much of the Hollywood Hills and more, went up in flames. The US has been dogged with wildfires in the last few years; and yet its unpreparedness makes the third world look good. Perhaps because we are so used to fighting for survival, that somehow we are better equipped or perhaps, more cautious against natural disasters.

All through January, the LA fires were an inconceivable sight to behold — miles and miles of hilly terrain set ablaze; the hues of deep orange and red painting the hills and reflecting their might on the sky above. The raging fires of Palisades were stoked encouragingly by the high winds — was it purgatory or hell on earth as the flames hungrily devoured everything that lay in its wake. Mansions worth millions of dollars, expansive wealth of the rich and famous, nothing was spared. Homes charred to the bone, the fires left behind remnants of lives lived and rudely shunted out. Almost 2,00,000 people were forced to flee from their homes, about 82,400 remain under evacuation orders with another 90,400 likely to face evacuation directives; 27 people have died in the fires so far. As the community and its tenacious firefighters strive to contain the carnage, this latest destruction emphatically signals the reality of living in a world that breached 1.5 degree Celsius last year.

Call it our comeuppance or the last chance to save the planet, but the current times are most crucial. Stemming the effects of climate change, preventing destruction, and pursuing climate action should be the top job of all our world leaders. And yet, here we are still fighting over territory, killing innocents, boosting fossil fuels, and all other manners of self-imploding acts. The world as we know it is changing fast — climate change is displacing millions and creating new-age refugees. The LA fires are symptomatic of this new, delicate world where parts of it could be snuffed out in an instance.

Our planet has been steadily heating up and it has now been reported that the Earth was the hottest ever in 2024 breaching the hallowed 1.5 degree Celsius. Scientists have said that this was the first time since pre-industrial times that such temperatures have been recorded. This infamous achievement was confirmed by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) last week, which said that temperatures increased by 1.6 degree Celsius last year reaching never before seen temperature levels. Though not a permanent breach, scientists warned that even that day could be perilously nigh. Massive loss of sea-ice and glacier loss has been another worrying aspect for the planet. Even sea surface temperatures (SSTs) touched record highs last year with the annual average SST for the extra-polar ocean reaching 20.87 degrees Celsius, outperforming the 1991-2020 average by 0.51 degree Celsius.

The last decade has been the warmest ever; and even as 200 countries pledged at the Paris Agreement 10 years ago to control a future breach, we are nowhere near meeting the targets. Greenhouse emissions that are responsible for the planet overheating must decline by 42 per cent in the next six years but are instead threatening to touch record highs of 41.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (GtCO2) – 2 per cent higher than 2023 levels. The world, both rich and poor nations, will pay for the planet’s ignominy. Crossing and permanently staying in higher temperatures pushes the Earth into a “danger zone” wherein environmental tipping points can augur “irreversible, catastrophic impacts for people and the planet” (as per a report by the United Nations University’s Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)). And there’s more to come — torrential rainfall and flooding, extended drought, excruciating heat, inexorable wildfires, intense cyclones — the future that some of us were anxious about, is here. Will we do something about it or keep squabbling over inane things?

The writer is an author and media entrepreneur. Views expressed are personal