By: Hayven Rakotoarimanana (they/them), MS
Midsummer–the two weeks following the northern hemisphere’s summer solstice (June 21)–has traditionally been a time of celebration and festival for those living in Northern Europe, parts of North America, and Northeast Asia.These northern, temperate areas laud this season’s warm temperatures and long, often sunny days. However, in South Asia, Madagascar, and parts of East Africa, this time of year marks the beginning of monsoon season, where lifegiving rains replenish the ground, parched after the long dry season.
Unfortunately, the South Asian-East African monsoon has become unreliable in recent years, fueled by anthropogenic global warming. In 2021, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh suffered one of the worst droughts in recorded history, as warmer ocean temperatures forced the seasonal monsoonal gyre to the south. The drought was most intense in Nagaland and Assam, in northeast India, along with Odisha and Rajasthan in western India. In these places rainfall during the 2021 monsoon season measured less than 50 percent of normal totals, marking this as an exceptional drought (Shagun 2021). This drought devastated crop production, creating a famine that killed thousands of people.
A year later, in 2022, an increase in the monsoon rains (which arrived months ahead of schedule) caused a deluge across South Asia and central China, causing widespread flooding that caused significant damage to life and property. The rain damage was worst in Henan, China, where more than 300 people died and roads transformed into rivers, sending cars careening down flooded streets into homes and businesses.
These erratic tendencies in the monsoons across Asia and East Africa are likely to increase with anthropogenic climate change, according to a recent study by researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (Katzenberger, Schewe, Pongratz, & Leverman 2021). Practically, this means that the coming decades will see an increase in natural disasters, floods, and famines. This not only impacts the region’s human populations, who will experience more climate-related poverty, suffering, and death, but it will also decimate the environment and non-human animal populations, many of whom are endemic and already close to extinction.
How did we get here?
The origins of the current climate crisis lie much further back than the disasters of the past two years, or even the last century or the Industrial Revolution. The roots go back much deeper, to humanity’s fundamental relationship with the rest of Nature.
For most of Homo sapiens 300,000-year history, the species lived much like other animals do: relying on the land and what it provided for survival–food, shelter, health, connection. Population levels remained in a natural balance, with births and deaths remaining roughly equivalent, allowing for long-term resource sustainability. The vast majority of human history, in all parts of the world, was one spent in harmony with nature. There was no anthropocene, since humans did not have the ability to dominate nature in a way similar to societies today.
This began to change with the advent of agriculture approximately 12,500 years ago. Farming freed humans from reliance on natural resources for survival; they could grow their own food, trap and exploit other animals, and store resources for tough times. Domestic dogs aided in hunting and defense, leading to a surplus in meat-based food. In addition, the domestication of horses and camels gave humans easy, fast transportation (at the expense of animal suffering).
The changes brought by this agricultural revolution allowed humankind to develop a number of new innovations: writing, codified religions, cities, pyramids, irrigation systems, weapons, transportation systems, and market economies. These were the catalyst for a new relationship between humanity and (the rest of) nature: Homo sapiens was no longer just one species living on the bounty of the planet, but an overlord, exploiting the land for personal and collective gain. In the mind of most post-agricultural humans, the Earth stopped being that which sustained life, and became a mere resource to be used.
It is this attitude–which became even more pronounced with the industrial revolution and the rise of modern capitalism–that drives the anti-environmental, growth-at-any-cost ethos behind the climate crisis.
Remember your roots to save the planet
Although our species was most in tune with the Earth before the rise of agriculture, industry, and modern economics, no one is suggesting that we return to a Stone Age lifestyle. So what can we do to address climate change, in light of current technological and social conditions?
-Stop having kids. Remember that, for the vast majority of human history, net population growth was zero. Having one fewer child reduces your personal emissions rate by 60 tons of carbon dioxide per year (Perkins 2017). National policies which disincentivize reproduction, especially in countries such as India, where population growth is most severe, would be greatly effective at curbing emissions and climate change.
-Go vegan. Modern animal agriculture is one of the largest contributors to carbon emissions. Switching to a plant-based diet reduces personal carbon dioxide emissions by one ton per year (Perkins 2017). On a societal level, phasing out animal agriculture has a much larger impact, reducing carbon emissions by 68 percent annually (Than 2022).
-Consume only what you need. Today’s throwaway consumer lifestyle, which is common in the West and now booming across the Global South, is a major contributing factor to carbon emissions and global warming. Growing food, knitting clothes, and collecting rainwater can have a small impact on an individual level, and a larger one on a societal level. Taking a cue from our ancestors and letting the Earth provide as much of your food, clothing, and shelter as possible disconnects us from the exploitative-capitalist cycle, and allows us to appreciate nature as a sustainer, rather than a mere resource.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!