How did the world fare when I did my Term 1 exams?

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I just finished the first term of my last year at school. As usual, we had a set of exams before a short break kicked in. I had drastically cut down on my news reading for the last three weeks and couldn’t wait to catch up as soon I got home yesterday after my physics exam.

Horrible news from Sweden, a country which I visited once when I was three (I don’t remember a thing) and which I hope to re-visit one day. Apparently Sweden plans to cull 20% of its brown bear population. Licenses have been issued to kill 486 bears. We are told that culling is necessary for sustaining the rest of the bear population and at some level, it does make sense. However, I am very sad to hear this news.

The summer of 2024 has been the warmest ever in the Northern Hemisphere, the EU Climate Change monitor has said. This is yet another portent of the disaster we are walking into.

In India, thanks to climate change, monsoons have become extremely unpredictable. This year, monsoon rains have continued well into September. However, some experts claim this year's extended monsoon is not an anomaly. It has been a slow trend in the making for over a decade. In any event, the harvest has been adversely affected.

So what can we do to fix this mess-cum-disaster? We need better policies to start with. Policies such as bans on new coal-fired power plants or gas-guzzling cars, have worked best when accompanied by measures such as tax incentives for low-carbon vehicles.


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