Notice Climate Change

Editorial:-
Studying climate change, understanding what’s happening around the world and comparing it against how Sikkim is faring is much more important now than it was, say even two decades ago.
Till the time when people lived more ‘organic’ lives, their lifestyles more in tune with their immediate environs, changes in weather patterns and the corrective adjustments were instinctive. Now, most of the people, even in what are considered rural belts, live lives too distanced from weather patterns to make one realise even a dramatic change in climate before it is too late. Having a department [the Department of Science & Technology is now also in-charge for Climate Change] dedicated to charting this for the people, sharing its findings and recommending ‘adjustments’ thus becomes a necessary initiative which has been well taken in Sikkim. What is awaited though is delivery by the Department. Among the changes which appear to have already taken place, but have not yet even attracted raised eyebrows is the complete absence of fog from Gangtok this winter. The season is already on its way out, and might go out with a wave of intense cold [given what northwestern India is experiencing], but the heavy fog which used to make driving around Gangtok at night fraught with danger, decided not to envelope the hill this year. Contrast this with the hyperventilating coverage on news channels of fog in Delhi and elsewhere in North India to realize that this phenomenon has subsided. There are other canaries in the climate bubble that are going largely unnoticed and completely unaddressed; Bees, for instance. When was the last time you remember being stung, or meeting someone stung by a bee? One does not see enough of these pollinators around anymore; and even as farmers complain and experts deliberate of failing orchards and plantations, no one is discussing bees enough. Where are the bats? Ask farmers in the Saramsa to Rhey Khola belt about bats, and they will reminisce about how they used to take over trees and invade the area during Spring. No one’s seen them for a while now. And these are only two instances, along with them, there must be many more insects which are rarely seen anymore, crops no one grows anymore and foods we no longer eat; each was an important part of the biodiversity that makes Sikkim a hotspot, and we will lose more if more sensitivity and awareness is not generated.
Clearly, not all loss or change is because of climate change, but not even noticing and discussing things that have gone missing will make Sikkim’s adjustment to Climate Change that much more difficult.