JOIN USFrom darkness to light
A recent social media post doing the rounds reminds us of how life used to be before the advent of fossil fuels. The legendary singer Mohammed Rafi sings of the ‘old times’ when people in cities and villages, men and women, rich and poor, lived in darkness when the sun set. But because of Burmah Shell’s kerosene lamps, each house shines and sparkles with light in the evenings.
The music rises to a crescendo as Rafi shouts “Oh Balle Balle Balle”! The charming song brings back nostalgic feelings of an era when society progressed from darkness to light, and the country headed towards progress and development. But at what cost?
Burmah Shell -- now Bharat Petroleum -- was founded in 1928. It initially transported fuel across India – from 1 gallon tins of kerosene to larger tanks of aviation fuel – on bullock carts, a testament to the innovative and frugal way in which animal power was initially combined with fossil fuel energy. The early use of oil in many homes and industries was judicious, with families prizing them as scarce resources, and using them thriftily.
But as fossil fuels -- and their ubiquitous byproducts, plastics -- became more readily available, they also became cheaper. The real price we paid -- the ill-effects from pollution and global warming -- were tucked away from sight, and the world became increasingly dependent on them without attention to consequences. We were invited to an all-you-can-eat buffet, where the offerings became richer and more varied, but we forgot to keep an eye on our sugar and cholesterol level. No one warned us of the health consequences, or told us that going on a diet after such a binge would be so hard.
A century later, the time for reckoning has arrived. Flood, drought, plague, fire, famine -- these are the stories that fill our TV screens, newspapers and WhatsApp forwards. Prophesying the future seems almost schizophrenic. Are we reverting to biblical times of plague and floods -- is Kaliyuga intensifying? Or is the 21st century taking us towards a time of promise and plenty, with the alternate reality of the metaverse?
No longer can we close our eyes to the consequences of an out-of-control global production and consumption system that pushes out increasing volumes of CO2, greenhouse gases and plastics. Scientists, activists, and now even policymakers agree the writing on the wall is clear. This decade will be the one that we must seize if we are to have any hope of wrestling back a liveable future for ourselves, our children and grandchildren. We do not have 30-50 years left -- we must get emissions under control in the next 3-5 years. If we do not, we send various inter-connected planetary processes in a downward spiral, risking the global collapse of biodiversity, the death of all coral reef systems, and the loss of the Amazon forest, to name just a few possible outcomes.
The US Senate’s proposed Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to curb runaway inflation by promoting clean energy, is a silver lining in these dark times. Though a slimmed down version of the original on the energy front, the bill will provide the largest investment ever made by the US towards addressing the climate crisis, including $9 billion in subsidies to help consumers transition to efficient and clean energy (with $7,500 individual tax rebates to nudge consumers away from petrol and towards electric cars), and $6 billion to help de-carbonise critical steel, cement and chemical industries.
Overall, the $350 billion that the US will invest into fulfilling the provisions of this bill -- which also includes $28 billion for ecological restoration and climate-smart agriculture, and $60 billion to redress environmental injustice -- will have a global impact, propelling the rest of the world towards climate
action. It does not by any means solve all our problems – but with this, the world now has a fighting chance.
We need energy, but to fuel our needs, not our greed. And there lies the difference. Mohammed Rafi would be pleased, I think.