CODE RED FOR HUMANITY
A Threat that has Become Reality
THE title of this essay echoes the words of Antonio Guterres, U.N. Secretary-General. He made this statement on August 9 after the release of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. The report found that the opportunity to limit the impact of climate change is rapidly narrowing. Another U.N. Climate report states that the planetary crisis is no longer a threat but our current reality.
These reports present a very grim picture of the planet we are living on. The future of humanity appears bleak in the light of recent findings presented by IPCC. The report also emphasized that climate change is of human origin and is global in nature.
The Hindu (August 17, 2021) reports: The impact of climate change on the atmosphere, oceans and land is unmistakably of human origin and this impact is picking up pace. It is a striking fact that there is no part of the inhabited world that is now untouched by the impact of global warming.
The climate change will alter many features of the world permanently. A warmer world will have a big impact on extremes of temperature and rainfall with implications for human health, ecosystem survival and sustainable economic activity. Enhanced warming is expected to amplify thawing of permafrost , and loss of seasonal snow cover, of land ice and of Arctic sea ice.
We have the world divided on the issue of climate change. A vast majority had seen it as an imminent reality, while a select few rejected it labelling it as fabricated. However, the vast evidence accumulated over the decades and our observation itself leaves no room for doubt that this indeed is the gravest concern of humankind now.
The Quran, the revealed book of God, directly addresses this issue. It says:
Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of the evil which men’s hands have done: and so He will make them taste the fruit of some of their doings, so that they may turn back from evil. (30: 41)
In their quest to build a paradise on earth, human beings have exploited the fruits of nature without taking care of nature. The culture of sense-gratification and right here right now have wreaked havoc on the life-support system available on earth. It is now time that human beings realize their true place in the divine scheme of things. The entire universe follows the will of God.
It never transgresses the bounds set by God. The Quran says: All who dwell in heavens and on the earth submit to God alone, willingly or unwillingly. (13: 15)
Climate change might be the final warning for human beings to mend their ways and live according to the divine plan.
According to the creation plan of God, man has been created with a free will. It means he is granted freedom to live on earth as he pleases. However, he has no control over the outcome of his actions. He is being tested in this world. After death, a new world will emerge where he will be rewarded according to the deeds he performed in his life before death. Climate change might be the final warning for human beings to mend their ways and live according to the divine plan.