Four tales with a single issue: Climate Change

‘’It is really hot here, not just normal heat. Its like fire. If you pour water it will evaporate because of the heat.’’

These are words of Sidi Fadoua -a salt miner from Zouerat a small town set in the midst of the shifting sands of Sahara. His work mainly begins at dawn, as the heat is unbearable when the sun shines. Climate change has made his work completely unpredictable as it is extremely hot on some days and rainy, windy on the latter.

Sidi's work includes harvesting some of the best salt in Africa. His ancestors used to work on the same land. But due to climate change the salt reservoirs are drying up. Availability of this salt, which he used to make his living by, is slowly disappearing .

He is the only earning member of his house of 6. But getting work lately has been tough. People migrating in search of job opportunities near the coastal shore since the land has dried up due to the heat. Sidi is one of them, migrates in search of a job in the fishing industry.

This journey is very harsh and tiring as it takes about 20 hours to the coast. At day the temperatures can be upto 50 degrees, but at night it drops to freezing temperatures.

Whereas a goat herder Mohammed in the other local village Fredrik 20km form Zouerat, shares his concerns with BBC.

Initially he used to serve his goat with grass but lately the availability of grass is a luxury today in his village. The goats are fed with cardboard.

Even though the goats don’t enjoy it, it is much better than starving to death comments Choumouth. Cardboard is known to have a very low nutritional value as compared to grass.

Inhabitants say, looking at the sands "this is Sahara, left with nothing but misery".

Sif Al Aslam, a librarian on the other hand, recalls his town library in the early days where a tree stood tall in his compound library all the books were all well maintained and stacked up. Today he is the librarian, and situations are not all the same.

The condition has become dire. The sands have consumed the library. The books that were carefully preserved, today have tested the ravages of time. The manuscripts and pages preserved for many ages, slowly start to wear off by the fleeting sands.

Mohammad takes his son to Deddah, a place where ancient ancestors carved their prehistoric rock paintings.

But due to the changing climate these paintings are slowly fading. These were important ancestral paintings preserved carefully upto Mohammad's generation. "It breaks my heart to see it fading" quotes Mohammad.

Here the 4 stories share a single problem: Climate change. These changing climatic conditions have made their life more unpredictable. This is not only a problem of this small remote community of Sahara, but is strongly felt and reported in every corner of the world. Even though these villages have contributed least to this problem, they are the ones paying the price today. This is the same issue addressed in my previous blog post about Bhutan. (https://naturenow114.wixsite.com/bluebay/post/bhutan-the-smallest-country-that-inspires-the-entire-world )

This shows that we cannot control the outcome and label it as fair or unfair. It doesn't matter because climate change doesn't distinguish the rich or poor, or the one who contributed the most or who did the least.

So the main aim of this blog is not to criticize nor to comment on the climate crisis, rather to focus on the solution of what can be done and has to be done. For this we have to observe ourselves first. What all did I eat today? Did I travel by car or take a walk to my school? How long did I have the light switched on in the room?

''What can we do'' should be changed to ''What can I do''. Only I can control what I eat, wear, what I do. I am solely responsible for my own carbon footprint. If everyone has this mentality, things will surely move at an easier pace.

So how can this be achieved ?

Some changes that can be brought in one's life. My first blog explains it in detail.

https://naturenow114.wixsite.com/bluebay/post/my-story-to-climate-action-part-2

A little sacrifice is always worth it, for a greater good.

References:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-58925616