A hot topic

Plastic is one of the greatest contributors to global warming

Here's an alarming series of statistics. One pair of denim jeans requires 10,000 litres of water to manufacture. One cotton T-shirt takes 2,700 litres. That combined amount - ie, 12,700 litres of water - is roughly the quantity that an average human being needs to survive for nine whole years. Imagine, thus, the colossal price that someone else is paying every time you opt for that sartorial combination.

Aakash Ranison

Those are the sort of insights that climate activist-cum-author Aakash Ranison reveals in a new self-published e-book that he will launch tomorrow to mark Earth Day. Called Climate Change is Real, its subject matter is as simple as its title. The Indore-born 25-year-old started work on it in September last year, speaking to experts from the UN and Indian environmental organisations, and Ranison tells us, "Most people don't recognise the issue at hand because the literature surrounding it is too technical. They don't get the language. But I am trying to fill that gap by explaining the climate crisis in a way that everyone can understand."

With that mind, he delves into basic questions like what exactly climate change is. It's really not rocket science. Ranison explains, "The ozone layer consists of greenhouse gases and if these didn't exist, the Earth's temperature would be -18 degrees C. The planet would be covered in ice. But the average temperature of the earth is 15 degrees C since the greenhouse gases like CO2 and methane ensure that each sun ray reaches us at a temperature that's warmer by 33 degrees C."

He continues, "But the problem is that after industrialisation, we have started releasing excess greenhouse gases, making the layer thicker. This means that when the sun rays enter the earth's atmosphere, they don't go out in one go - they bounce back inside, making the overall temperature hotter." That's what we mean by global warming, which causes sea levels to rise since the water becomes hotter, and which results in melting ice caps and forest fires spreading quicker. That's simple to understand, right? So, pick up the book to further break down a problem that threatens our very existence on the planet we call home.