Goa is witnessing its hottest months much like the rest of the country. This despite the State receiving more than its fair share of rainfall with the average rainfall for April being the sixth highest of all time (since recording began). The weather inevitably makes its way into our daily conversations and while in theory Goa’s temperatures may not be as high as those witnessed in some parts of north and west India, combined with high levels of humidity it makes for a very sweltering weather.
While some would argue that this heat is nothing new and has been there in the past, what is increasingly clear is that this is no longer a ‘one off’ and that a return to ‘normal’ is just round the corner. Instead, those who care to take note, will have noticed that Goa, and much of the rest of the country, has been witnessing what were once one-off extreme weather events with increasing frequency.
Ask yourself when was the last time the state and the surrounding region had a ‘normal’ incident free monsoon. Most people will recall last year’s extremely intense rainfall that never seemed to go away with. What most people will not recall is that the year before was only marginally better and the year before, and the year before that all being party to severe weather events that have caused widespread flooding, crop losses and disruptions to daily life.
In fact, we will have to go back to the year 2015-16 for the last time Goa witnessed a monsoon season that was of the more ‘predictable’ nature. What this teaches us is that the climate has taken a decisive and hard turn for the worst in the last five years alone. There is no going back to the ‘normal’ of stable, predictable climate that most of us grew up experiencing that was interspersed with the odd extreme weather event. Extreme events have now become an annual affair and have already begun to severely strain the government’s ability to respond and reach out to the multiple simultaneous events that leave people stranded.
Goa Chief Minister’s call for volunteers to assist the state agencies in disaster relief is a subconscious call anticipating that there is likely to be extreme rainfall this year as well in what is bad news for farmers hoping for a stable season that will ensure a good crop -- something the state hasn’t seen in at least five years.
The sooner, we as a people, realise that there is no going back to the old ‘normal’ of business as usual the better. Going forward our lives will be increasingly determined by the weather and no amount of ‘money’ will help us buy our way out of the situation.
Instead, what we need to be focusing on is ensuring that our every decision, including government decisions are done keeping the inevitable climate change in mind. It is all the more important that we push the government towards acting to mitigate the effects of climate change including measures to prevent flooding like planting more trees and less concrete along waterways preserving our hills and fields and decarbonizing our lives to the best extent possible.
If not, we are all headed for a very hard landing that will come at the cost of billions of lives with third world countries such as ours being the worst affected.
