These issues need collective action.
ISLAMABAD: Over the past nine decades, I have seen many drastic and erratic changes in the weather from droughts leading to famine and conditions of devastating floods. Once in May 1963, after scorching heat, there was snowfall in Rawalpindi. Residents of the city were ecstatic to see this and came out to enjoy this unusual weather phenomenon. Even the commissioner of Rawalpindi was so excited that he asked me, his PA, at the time, to call all other commissioners so that he could tell them about the unusual snowfall in his division. He spoke to his counterparts in other divisions and almost bragged about the snowfall that occurred during the hot month of May. However, people those days being simple and tough were hardened enough to cope with extreme weather events. Today, we have become used to luxuries and comforts of cooling and heating systems, making us less prepared to fight extreme weather conditions. With changing weather patterns and unusually erratic temperature patterns on the rise, I wonder how people can cope with such changes. We should not only work to protect the environment and plant more trees, but enhance our capacity to harness more energy in a sustainable manner that helps us protect ourselves from such weather extremes. It is time we all took steps to reverse the trend of climate change and global warming. These issues need collective action.
Raja Shafaatullah
Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2020.
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