“Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.” – Mark Twain

Finding comfort in the colours of Nature has always been akin to the human soul. However, the disturbing anthropological narrative choking its essence in the present time will certainly banish humanity from this privilege and hide it under the closet from which there is no turning back and can never be uplifted.

At this hour, I sit here in solace to prepare myself to acknowledge the human-induced climate reality that was always in front of my eyes. Despite that, my ignorance made it impossible to address the calamity because I was told to believe in the unfamous saying— No matter what, things happen for good, and Humanity prevails under Mother Nature. In addition, history tells us that setting a discourse on climate change was unfashionable among the common masses. People saw it as a scheme to mislead the bourgeoisie to gain social, political, and economic profit for certain privileged groups.

People and the theory of Climate change

The majority of the population doesn't like to be convinced and considers climate change a hoax. However, the ongoing climate catastrophe left this theory to lose its significance, making it a popular phrase in everyone's dictionary. The disaster that our senses are experiencing has successfully crossed its limits; Last year, on August 09, 2021, the United Nations Secretary-General, Antony Guterres, announced that the latest report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a "code red for humanity." He further clarifies that our collective action has surpassed all the estimations of global warming, due to which, in less than eleven years, the earth’s temperature will rise to 1.5 degrees, making it impossible to reverse the climate change crisis if we fail to take action right now. Another UN advocate, Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), addressed the IPCC at a press conference to launch the report and said, “you have been telling us for over three decades of the dangers of allowing the planet to warm. The world listened, but it didn’t hear. The world listened, but it didn’t act strongly enough. As a result, climate change is a problem here and now. Nobody is safe. And it is getting worse faster.” According to Ms Inger, making an effort towards environment conservation is the need of the hour; humans must treat climate change as an immediate threat and utilise all the tools to help prevent climate before it worsens.

I, too, am elaborating upon the neglected evidence that came into the picture in 1990 when the IPCC published the First Assessment Report (FAR) on Climate change. Scientists have been telling us for decades about our changing planet, and despite that, we have accustomed ourselves to living in denial while becoming climate abusers. This denial has brought us to an unstable environment where species extinction, biodiversity loss, extreme weather, and other climate-related ecological hazards have become the norm and are moving our world toward a cataclysm never seen in the planet's history.

Climate and popular culture: Audience in the Anthropocene

My first interaction with the climate theory propelled during my teenage years through Hollywood movies which, in greater affinity, tend to invest in the concept related to doomsday, apocalypse, end of an era, earth staying still, end of days etcetera in which the commodity ‘Earth’ is viewed as a mute and inanimate object incapable of telling its own story. As a consequence, the presentation of mute-earth in Hollywood with an agenda to please movie-goers didn’t prove to be worthy, making me and everyone realise the severity of the situation. Moreover, those conceptual cinemas targeting Earth's destruction became successful in fabricating the ideology of climate scepticism. The motive behind climate denial, as portrayed in those films, gained its prominence for several reasons—first, for entertainment purposes because people who participate in the movie-making process firmly believe that these patterns fascinate audiences which is indeed the case. After all, those movies did receive great commercial success. Second, considering the theoretical background that surrounds the notion of presenting earth as a rotten and deceased sphere in motion pictures is related to our cognitive aspect of reasoning and us being a superior-rational species having an advantage over ‘Others’ (Nature and its products) who can use every possible reason to promote its human-centric ideology that has benefited humans in the long term and also licensed them to exploit Nature which is further sugar-coated in the name of development and material prosperity in the global world.

Hence, it has become an overall view of us to dominate Nature in its every form; the result of this is climate change that terrorises humanity while posing a challenge for them to rethink Nature in a way that can put an end to the question mark looming over their survival and existence.

Other experiences of mine becoming aware of the climate change crisis goes to Globalisation and me being a product of it, where news and knowledge are just a touch away, all thanks to our pocket-friendly cell phones. Every day I get to hear reports regarding environmental destruction, biodiversity loss, global warming, unfamiliar weather patterns, and severe pollution, to name a few. However, the harsh truth is that although I am provided with a lot of information, my inability and helplessness to grasp these facts came into force because of my upbringing, and the credit goes to the above saying of ‘blissful nature and prevailing humanity’ that made me a climate ignorant.

Despite having a solid reason not to affirm the prevalent notions of climate denial, the inbuilt nihilism towards the environment that shapes my culture and identity went into fumes, making me a climate abusive; the reason should be me living in the Anthropocene, the era in which I automatically have a role in the narrative of human-induced climate change. This is to say; I successfully became a part of and process of both climate destruction and climate conservation. It is indeed a great realisation that can make anybody anxious. At the same time, it also allows an individual to comprehend and act on the changing reality that is to befall humanity and every possible inch of life on this planet.

The story of my village: Becoming climate aware

My true awakening came in September this year, and it arises from the story of my village, my place, and everybody's Place— the Place that we call our Home—the story of our Earth—the story of Air, Water, and Soil.

I come from a place that is part of this Home. I started living here when I took my first breath, things were pretty normal back then, and even if they weren't, I didn't have the cranial capacity to make myself aware of the surroundings in which I was surviving.

Although I reside in Purnea, a semi-urban city in the state of Bihar, I am related to the village called Basantpur, which is approximately forty-eight kilometres away from the subdivision Purnea. The name ‘Basantpur’ can be easily translated as a “place of spring”, and the city Purnea itself derives its etymology from the Sanskrit word Purna-Aranya which means “complete jungle” characterised by rich vegetation and a climate-favourable place to host Nature in utmost bliss. The hospitable trait of the city happens to be for various reasons, but the primary understanding is to believe that the town is situated between the two main rivers; the Khari Koshi river on the western and the Saura river on the eastern. Mainly the city lies on the banks of various tributaries of the Koshi river. Basantpur geography too constitutes two major water bodies; Khara Dhar ( A stream of pure water) and Gaddi Ghat (A soft rivulet). These two rivers are the lifeline of the villagers, playing a significant role in their daily routine, and have become a part of their life in satisfying their material and spiritual needs. Both rivers help in irrigation, sustain wildlife, flourishing flora and fauna, and enrich villagers' religious pursuits as the unfamous Chhath festival; the most significant festival celebrated in the state of Bihar, is in synchronisation with the riverbank. I am ascribing the holy festival here because it is the only time I get to visit my native village once every year. Fortunately or unfortunately, this year, it was twice. Fortunately because in October, the reason being the festival, and unfortunately because I had to travel there again in less than twenty-five days after the completion of the Chhath pooja, which is very rare for our family as this hasn't been in tradition since 2002 when we decided to settle here in Purnea which I proudly call my hometown now. The reason for planning a sudden trip occurred due to the unexpected demise of my Choti Dadi in November this year. I am bound to reminisce about the incident because it's connected to the story of the river I am telling here.

Khara Dhar: A climate narrative

To begin the story, it is necessary to bring the details of the religious Chhath pooja for the unheard. The grand festival is celebrated every year in Hindu culture, mainly in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The traditional way to celebrate the festival is to pay homage to the Sun God and his sister Chhathi Maiya, the Hindu goddess of Nature and life forms. The four-day long event of which the Arghya pooja is most significant has a ritual taking place on the riverbank in which devotees make offerings to the rising and setting sun. In our village, we celebrate it alongside Khara Dhar. This year when I went there to participate in the rituals with my family members and other villagers and rested myself upon the flowing river, my eyes couldn't believe the scene. It looked like the river was taking its last breath; there was no clear water, only the presence of an invasive water hyacinth draining the oxygen out of its body, making it impossible for the marine ecosystem to survive. The view was also filled with other signs of human intervention polluting and choking the river to the limit. Everything was dark, smelly, and horrifying, which at that moment seemed a little pleasing as the ignorant devotees were busy offering flowers, candles, Diya lamps, and incense sticks to Chhathi Maiya. Also, the bank was decorated with colourful papers, balloons, strings of shiny beads, and fresh banana leaves that seemed to put a glazing mask on the dying landscape of the river.

Until last year, the river situation wasn't that critical. I am permitted to say this because, in our village, on the last day of the Chhath festival, there is a tradition that one member from each household will have to cross the river during the morning Arghya pooja before making offerings to the rising sun. There is a belief among villagers that this tradition helps keep the family protected and free from any severe ailments; hence, they perform it to gain blessings from the goddess of nature. Every year in our family, Nirmal chacha performs this ritual; the previous year, he could swim with ease, unlike this year, the reason being the water hyacinth that strangulated the river and made swimming impossible.

While processing these disturbing images, a sudden flashback happened in my mind, and a clear picture of the past years started dancing in front of me. It felt like a setback, a prolonged heartbreak waiting to trigger my understanding of Nature as all blissful and pleasant. The experience made me remember my childhood days when I used to visit Basantpur with my siblings to spend a month-long summer vacation with our grandparents. The memories are still fresh in my mind of our visit to village farmlands, the nearby ponds, the Mango orchards, the bamboo gardens, and various other Village sites; the most satisfying was a trip to Khara Dhar with our Choti Dadi. The adventure was layered with us waiting to hear various stories of past villagers and village life along with a lesson plan of swimming from her in the clear water of Khara dhar, including the regular chores of bathing, playing in the water, washing clothes, collecting stones and other exciting activities.

Of the numerous stories that Choti Dadi told us, there is one that amazes me the most that our village had elephants and horses residing there, hyenas, monkeys, and other local animals used to haunt the villagers, and how the Adivasis, the tribals of Basantpur used to poach various animals and birds illegally, that is nowhere to be seen now. The long tale seems unbelievable to the younger generation of our village. I have a ten-year-old cousin named Aarya, whom I meet yearly in the Chhath pooja. This year when we were busy watching the ceremonies standing alongside Khara dhar, I reminded her of these stories. Her first reaction was not to trust my words as it all felt filmy to her, but I could sense how she wanted to believe in those stories because they were connected to her place of being and her identity. Later that day, when we arrived home, she came to me asking about Basantpur. The whole night before we went to cuddle in our bed, we talked about our place. I told her of my summer vacation days, when Khara dhar had clear water and white sand, how we were excited to take a dip in it, how we could find oysters lying on the riverside, the stones and gravels we used to admire and collect, the fishes that we could see swimming, the cranes and kingfishers catching on those fishes, the cows and buffaloes waiting for their turns to quench their thirst, villagers coming to wash their clothes, farmers making irrigation arrangements to water their crops, the nearby sunflower plantation smiling toward us in coherence with the river and the afternoon sun, the village kids jumping in excitement to take a bath in fresh water engaging themselves in all the possibilities of Khara dhar.

While narrating these incidents, something weird happened. I somehow unwillingly got into a state of complete silence and found myself unable to speak for a minute or two which led Aarya to shake me twice to bring me into the present, followed by her shouting, “ what happened, Didi?” I replied hurriedly, “Nothing”. At that moment, it was the only word that fell from my mouth, and I couldn't understand the reason behind this unanticipated reaction. However, after a lot of contemplation, my humble conscience did figure out one solid conclusion of my mind and matter living in the Anthropocene—that “Nothingness” is the only aspect humanity will be getting of the climate catastrophe and the scale of which I was unable to comprehend then can be summed up in Amitav Ghosh’s words, who writes excessively on the themes of Anthropocene and climate change. Ghosh, during his interview with Curt Stager, states that “the contemporary culture lacks consciousness to agree with the message of climate science—that anthropogenic human forces changed the Earth on a planetary scale and this schizophrenia (not believing in human-induced climate change and our collective failure to act on it) and a concurrent fetishisation and disregard for climate science - is at the heart of what I call The great derangement.”

So, to speak, ‘deranged’ and ‘nothing’ are the outcomes of our ignorance towards the reason for existence, the thing that marks our identity, shapes our culture, and allows us to breathe life in the world together— The thing that we call our Home- the being of nature- the Earth.

Together we are in this crisis, and we share the Earth's story. This story of mine is about a single village. Soon enough, this tale of the Khara dhar would become the reality of every river if left unacknowledged. In the path of destroying Nature under the rhetorics of civilisation and development, we humans have become paralysed in tracing the cause and effect of the disaster that is waiting to explode and eliminate every inch of life on the planet.

On the contrary, It's not the case that people are unaware of the anthropological narrative; every day, every minute, we hear the impending consequences of global warming and climate change. People in business, politicians, and influential personalities, sitting in their chambers, holding meetings at various climate summits like CoPs, G20s, and other environment-related programmes or events, are negotiating the terms and conditions of the disaster. Yet, nothing satisfactory has come out of it.

What climate change holds for the future?

The scale of climate change is such that it feels beyond human, beyond global, and has reached the level where it can be termed “planetary,” being said that the tragedy has taken a form that seems out of control. Although, it doesn’t mean that we should be hopelessly waiting to take its course. Moreover, the sense of helplessness that we humans are experiencing in the recent decades of a life-threatening environmental catastrophe that is multiplying year after year makes sense and is not entirely out of context. German historian Christof Mauch, in the essay Slow Hope: Rethinking Ecologies of Crisis and Fear, talks about the current lack of an adequate response to climate change and asks us to think creatively and collectively. He asserts to devise the counter-discourse of fears of disaster and to identify all those solutions, visions and actions that will help us build a better ecological world for centuries to come. Mauch says that hibernation won't help; there is a need to bring environmental awareness and organise the necessary action.

The current situation is that people have lost ‘hope’ and are awaiting the apocalypse; more predominant is the kind of situation arising for the future generation and the disturbing climate legacy that we are leaving behind them. Some solutions talk about Geoengineering, using renewable energies, and making people pursue sustainable lifestyles. Despite that, nothing at present has made people ecologically conscious at the level that could bring collective awareness and solutions in terms of fighting the crisis or mitigating the climate effects. Also, these solutions come at a price for the developing nations; within that, a place like Basantpur and its Khara Dhar, with its meagre economy, couldn’t afford it. Hence, it has to surrender to the calamity like it did.

The entire world will register this transition waiting for a final blow like my village did with “Nothing” left to please and praise the Sun God or Chhathi Maiya. The reason behind this loss is them being climate sceptics, lacking ecological consciousness, and unwilling to protect and nurture their environment, climate or the nature goddess, the beloved Chhathi Maiya. Without concrete solutions, many more rivers like Khara Dhar will succumb to our doings, making us live for “Nothingness”.

If this is the case, then every river of joy will become the river of tears, and the story of air, water, and soil won't resonate with the story of our Home. The current definition of Home is forever going to be changed.

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References:

• Chakrabarty, Dipesh. The Climate of History in a Planetary Age. University of Chicago Press, 2021.
• Ghosh, Amitav. The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable. Penguin India, 2018.
• Ghosh, Amitav, and Curt Stager. “Amitav Ghosh and Curt Stager.” BOMB, no. 139, New Art Publications, 2017, pp. 42–48, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26355357.
• Mauch, Christof. “Slow Hope: Rethinking Ecologies of Crisis and Fear.” RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society, vol. 1, no. 1, 2019, pp. 1–41.
• United Nations. Guterres: The IPCC Report Is a Code Red for Humanity. 2021, pp. 9–11, https://unric.org.