Last summer, I noticed something strange in our colony. The old mango tree near my lane, which for years had shaded children playing cricket, stood tall but empty. It had flowered, but the fruit never ripened. I remember asking my neighbour why, and he said, “This year the heat was too harsh, beta. Nature itself is confused.” That image — a giant tree unable to do what it had done for decades — felt like a warning. If even trees are struggling, what about us?
Climate change is no longer a phrase in science textbooks. It is the lived experience of people around us. In Bhopal itself, the heatwave of May 2022 broke decades-old records, with temperatures touching nearly 46°C. Streets emptied by noon, water tankers were called in more frequently, and families spoke of “this year’s heat” as though it were a calamity, not a season. It was. And it will return, fiercer, unless we act.
The Science of a Fevered Planet
Climate change, at its core, is about imbalance. For centuries, Earth maintained a rhythm: monsoons, winters, summers, each in their season. But burning coal, oil, and gas has filled the sky with greenhouse gases, trapping extra heat like a blanket. One degree of warming may sound small, but for our planet, it is like a persistent fever. Glaciers retreat, seas expand, and storms grow angrier.
Yet, numbers alone cannot explain it. The cracked soil in a farmer’s field, the suffocating air after a wildfire, the silent branches of a fruitless mango tree — these tell the true story.
The Human Face of Climate Change
Behind statistics are faces we know:
- The farmer near Sehore who gambles with each sowing season, never sure if rain will arrive or betray him.
- The schoolchildren in Bhopal who were given half-days because classrooms turned into ovens during the 2022 heatwave.
- Families in Kerala and Assam who saw floods swallow homes, proving climate change does not respect geography or boundaries.
Climate change is not about polar bears in distant lands. It is about the child next door, the farmer on our highways, the neighbour who waits for a tanker to fill her buckets.
Why It Matters to Us
Some people think climate change only affects coastal cities or island nations. But Bhopal itself shows otherwise. In 2019, heavy rains flooded parts of the city, submerging roads, displacing families, and damaging property. That was not “just weather.” It was a glimpse of the climate instability ahead.
What makes the crisis urgent is its injustice: the poorest contribute the least to emissions but suffer the most. A wealthy family can buy an air-conditioner, but what about the labourer working outdoors? A city might import food after a drought, but what about the farmer who has lost everything?
Climate change is the great equaliser — eventually, it touches all of us.
Root Causes: Our Shared Mirror
We must face an uncomfortable truth: we caused this.
- Fossil Fuels – Our electricity, vehicles, and factories run on coal, oil, and gas.
- Deforestation – Forests that once absorbed carbon are cleared for farms and buildings.
- Overconsumption – Plastic bottles, fast fashion, single-use everything — each leaves a hidden carbon footprint.
- Industrial Agriculture – Fertilisers and livestock methane quietly heat the atmosphere.
The climate crisis is not a natural accident; it is a human-made one.
A Ray of Hope
Despair is dangerous, but hope can be powerful if grounded in reality.
- Solar panels now shine on rooftops across Bhopal — a sign that renewable energy is no longer a dream.
- Nations are pledging “net zero” goals, aiming to balance emissions with absorption.
- Youth across the globe are marching, speaking, and demanding justice — refusing to let leaders ignore their future.
Change is possible because human history is full of resilience. We have conquered diseases, rebuilt cities after wars, and even reached the moon. Surely, we can save the only planet we call home.
What We Can Do
The fight needs both large and small actions.
- Governments: enforce emission limits, invest in renewables, and plan climate-resilient cities.
- Corporations: move beyond profit and adopt sustainable practices.
- Communities: plant trees, harvest rainwater, and build awareness locally.
- Individuals: switch off unnecessary lights, reduce plastic, use public transport, eat more local foods.
A billion small actions together can create a global wave.
Justice and Fairness in Transition
We must remember: climate solutions cannot come at the cost of the vulnerable. Coal miners losing jobs need retraining. Farmers need support to adapt. Urban slum dwellers need access to affordable, clean energy. Climate action without fairness will fail.
Conclusion: The Legacy of Our Choices
The mango tree in my colony may never bear fruit again. Perhaps its roots were too weakened by heat. But I do not want that image to become a symbol of our generation’s failure.
We are at a crossroads. One path leads to hotter summers, flooded homes, and lost harvests. The other leads to innovation, fairness, and a planet that still has seasons to celebrate.
Future generations will ask us: What did you do when the Earth was burning? Let us not be the generation that looked away. Let us be the generation that chose courage.
Bibliography
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Synthesis Report 2023.
- NASA Global Climate Change – “Vital Signs of the Planet.”
- World Health Organisation (WHO), Climate Change and Health (2021).
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Emissions Gap Report 2022.
- India Meteorological Department (IMD), Heatwave Analysis, 2022.
- The Hindu, “Bhopal Records Hottest May in Decades” (2022).
