As the IPCC report issues ‘Code Red for Humanity’, celebs come to the forefront urging people to come together and fight

Mona

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide…as the authoritative Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report issues ‘Code Red for Humanity’, one only sees it play around grimly.

Wildfires ripping through northern California, state of emergency in Yuktia (Russia) due to heat waves and wildfires, blazing fires in Greece and Turkey, rain causing havoc in Himachal Pradesh closer home; things are set to worsen, says the UN report on global warming, citing a climate emergency.

Writing on the wall

The report issues a loud and clear warning that humanity may have put itself on the path of irreversible destruction, “Climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying. It is affecting every region, with many of the changes becoming irreversible, new IPCC report finds. No more excuses! We need urgent #ClimateAction now,” actor, producer and champion for nature, Dia Mirza tweeted. “In simple words, the Earth’s climate is getting so hot that in about a decade, temperatures would be beyond the level of warming that world leaders thought they could prevent. What chilled me most was the reminder that we really have nowhere to run. The report clearly says that climate change is human-caused and “unequivocal,” and how well we do in the future depends on what action we take today to cut carbon emissions,” she says.

Dia believes we must collectively come together, lessen and forestall the worst impact of climate change by adopting clean energy and reducing irresponsible human activities, “If we begin at least now, we could possibly still leave a healthy planet for our children to grow up in.”

A cry for help

The world is dealing with the challenge of climate change. There are sections of the society that are doing their bit but that sure isn’t enough, points out actor Mayuri Deshmukh, “All said and done, unless and until each and every one of us is conscious and practises sustainable living, I really don’t see us having major change in the climate.”

She makes a case for each one owning up the responsibility. “Banning plastic, bubble wraps that we now use for deliveries on daily basis…there are so many small changes if they are not dealt with, I don’t know how we are going to stop the worsening situation. I don’t think we are doing our best yet,” Mayuri, says.

“Climate change has been long ignored by humans, all the leaders of the world have focused on heavy industrialisation all this while and making monetary profits from it, so obviously something like a ‘code red for humanity’ was bound to happen. A lot of individual NGOS and private organisations have been working towards this too, but this world is a very large and difficult place to manage so everyone has to take responsibility and be sensible and aware enough to do their own bit to contribute,” seconds TV actor Vishwa Gulati.

Telling tweets

Celebs took to social media to share their concerns. Actor, filmmaker Nadita Das retweeted a news article with a visual of blazing fires. “We’re in a climate emergency. We must act!,” retweeted actor Raveena Tandon, with a chilling visual of wildfire in Yakutia, Russia where a state of emergency is declared.

American actress Daryl Hannah tweeted, “If we don’t put our all into addressing the #climatecrisis immediately-we are all #fossilfools and we’ll relegate all this planets exquisite, delicate & precious life to becoming fossils for no one to find – please become an activist ##BecomeAProtecter.” “Global warming is affecting every region on Earth…the climate crisis is here & human influence is undisputable. We need urgent #ClimateAction now,” Brazilian model, Gisele Bündchen made a call for acting swiftly. Author Elif Shafak posted two pictures as she tweeted, “Two photos imprinted on my mind. The first photo is from Greece. She’s 8- year-old, she lost her village, her home, her olive trees. Second photo from Turkey. The elderly woman has Alzheimer’s & her daughter says she doesn’t know she lost everything to wildfires,” tagging the post with hashtag #ClimateEmergency.