Teach Students about The Little Sister

editorial:
La-Nina, The Little Sister, the global weather system due to which the woollens have still not been packed away in Sikkim despite Holi already past and April into its middle, is still a phenomenon which students are unfamiliar with. They might be able to prepare essays on La Nina [“The Little Sister”] and its equally unruly sibling El Nino, but they continue to do from a distance, not able to link it back to conditions in Sikkim. This remoteness in understanding, which continues despite these phenomenon having touched Sikkim strongly, is unfortunate, because unless the young realise that they are experiencing a global phenomenon even in their remote locations, they will not find the resolve to collaborate in the global campaign to mitigate or prepare for climate change. La Nina had a strong impact on Sikkim. Met authorities inform of how La Nina intensified towards the end of last monsoon over India. At a national level, the increased moisture in the air sent down enough rain to stabilise the monsoon data to reflect a healthy season last year. Sikkim, it may be recalled, was struck by a series devastating landslides in South Sikkim towards the close of the monsoons. The year 2009, it may be recalled was unusually dry and that was El Nino impacting the south-west monsoon. The mainstream media attention on these weather systems focussed on the floods in Australia, Brazil and Sri Lanka, but it should have been the responsibility of weather specialists in Sikkim and officials at the Department of Science & Technology which is now “Department of Science & Technology and Climate Change” to have brought home the impact of these global conditions to things they see around them.
This affinity is necessary if climate change is to be addressed with any seriousness. It is important for the young to start joining the dots on global weather patterns. Once students in Sikkim start understanding how a warming Indian Ocean can affect weather patterns in Chungthang, they will start following these developments more closely. As they do that, they will force experts to expand the analysis and come better prepared when they decide to spend some of the awareness funds on workshops in their schools. As the young grow more aware, they will also become more responsible and concerned, and with that, they will network more earnestly ensure that proper corrective and preparatory measures are taken. The main hurdle in the world’s preparation for climate change is that not enough people are paying enough heed to the warning signs. Informing the young on how a global weather phenomenon is affecting their walk from school to home, could correct this anomaly.