Saturday, April 12, 2008
Global warming and climate changes
We all know two-third of planet earth's surface is covered with water yet water is a scarce resource, to be precise potable water is really a scarce resource. On other hand Water is life and we cannot imagine life without water. All the time when scientific community of world looks for extra terrestrial life, first thing they look for is traces of water. Water is fundamental to existence of any form of life on earth. I sometimes wonder why the extra-terrestrial life has to depend on water like us earthlings, there may be a life form adapted to its surroundings in different planet or solar systems.
We do not feel the importance of something which is easily available or for which supply is abundant. This is true for both mortal and immortal things. When something is available we take it for granted, be it friends, be it money or be it water. Being from a desert land of Thar I always understood the importance and necessity of conserving water & water resources but for last few years I am living in island nation of Cyprus and without facing any water shortages. But that was thing of past now, there is very little rainfall in Cyprus in last 2 years and as a result of this Cyprus's water resources depleted greatly.
However strange it may sound, but it is true that biggest problem for Cyprus, which is surrounded by water, is acute shortage of water.The main source of water supply in Cyprus is natural rainfall and a water desalination plant in Larnaca. During the time of abundant rainfall Cyprus government did little to prepare for hard times and awoke only when water shortage became acute. Now government drastically limited the water supply to 12 hours in every 2 days and that too in night hours. Not to mention this is causing great inconvenience to citizens. Also this policy is unfair to people living in higher altitude places and having relatively larger families.
As global warming and frequent climate changes are reality of times we live in and there is no viable solution to this in sight, floods and draughts will occur with more regularity and more intensity in future and will affect increasing number of people. The nature and dynamics of the problem of global warming and climate change are very difficult to apprehend but there is general agreement about the implications of it and therefor everyone must do his/her bit to save the planet. It may be impossible to reverse the global warming but we can slowdown the pace of global warming. We have to care for environment for our own sake or we have to deal with droughts, floods, extreme weather, water shortages etc on ongoing basis.
We do not feel the importance of something which is easily available or for which supply is abundant. This is true for both mortal and immortal things. When something is available we take it for granted, be it friends, be it money or be it water. Being from a desert land of Thar I always understood the importance and necessity of conserving water & water resources but for last few years I am living in island nation of Cyprus and without facing any water shortages. But that was thing of past now, there is very little rainfall in Cyprus in last 2 years and as a result of this Cyprus's water resources depleted greatly.
However strange it may sound, but it is true that biggest problem for Cyprus, which is surrounded by water, is acute shortage of water.The main source of water supply in Cyprus is natural rainfall and a water desalination plant in Larnaca. During the time of abundant rainfall Cyprus government did little to prepare for hard times and awoke only when water shortage became acute. Now government drastically limited the water supply to 12 hours in every 2 days and that too in night hours. Not to mention this is causing great inconvenience to citizens. Also this policy is unfair to people living in higher altitude places and having relatively larger families.
As global warming and frequent climate changes are reality of times we live in and there is no viable solution to this in sight, floods and draughts will occur with more regularity and more intensity in future and will affect increasing number of people. The nature and dynamics of the problem of global warming and climate change are very difficult to apprehend but there is general agreement about the implications of it and therefor everyone must do his/her bit to save the planet. It may be impossible to reverse the global warming but we can slowdown the pace of global warming. We have to care for environment for our own sake or we have to deal with droughts, floods, extreme weather, water shortages etc on ongoing basis.
Labels: climate, Cyprus, environmet, Global-warming, water
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