Your latest smartphone you bought in 2022 is having trouble or certain features are not working. It is not smarter anymore. You have visited the service centre at the other end of the city several times but to no avail. Or, the bill handed by the service centre is alarming. Now you are fed up and plan to dump the phone. What is to be done with the condemned smartphone?  Either it reaches the landfill or is struck up in a local repair house. It is the same case with the laptop you bought 3 years ago.

Neither can you boot the system nor is it free from viral attack. If you confront such situations, be cool, you are not the only one on earth. Billions of electronic gadgets are being dumped every day because they are irreparable. Every day a new product is being discovered. Ranging from an electronic microchip or data card to giant digital frameworks and electrical equipment with electronic components consume our space, posing a threat to the environment. Considering the threat to the environment by e-waste, The Environment Protection Act 1986, amended from time to time incorporated the E-Waste (Management Rules) 2016 in India. It also has undergone a lot of changes. The latest E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022 came into force on 1.4.2023. The Central Pollution Control Board monitors the implementation of the rules through its state pollution control boards. The above rules specify the responsibilities of the manufacturer, producer, refurbisher, and recycler. The idea is to ensure that the manufactured electric and electronic goods are properly recycled. 100s of electric and electronic items listed in the rules are meant to be recycled. All said and done, recycling the e-waste does not seem easy. While the speed at which the gadgets become obsolete is alarming, many of us do not discard the used gadgets on one pretext or other. This means that documenting data on the total e-waste itself has become near-impossible. By definition, e-waste is any discarded product with a plug or battery and electronic goods that form health and environmental hazards, containing toxic additives or hazardous substances such as mercury, which can damage the human brain and coordination system. E-waste is the biggest worry all over the world. The world’s generation of electronic waste is rising five times faster than documented e-waste recycling, the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor (GEM) reveals today. In other words, only 20% of the e-waste generated is recycled approximately. The 62 million tonnes of e-waste generated in 2022 would fill 1.55 million 40-tonne trucks, roughly enough to form a bumper-to-bumper line encircling the equator, says the UN Institute for Training and Research. Worldwide, the generation of e-waste is rising by 2.6 million tonnes annually, to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030. This is going to be a tough job to manage the e-waste soon!

“Climate Change is a hoax!” says Trump. Trump is known for his stand against the Paris Climate Accord.  When the US stepped out of the Accord during Trump’s first term, it was almost conceded as the collapse of the global framework. World leaders pinned hope only on the 46^th President Joe Biden who readily agreed and signed the accord. For Trump, America first and climate action waste!   “Make America bigger” seems to be his only goal, could we expect him to do good for other nations or planet Earth? The world not only realized that climate change is the biggest threat facing the Earth, but of late started thinking of climate emergency.

While the UN is confident that nothing is too late, the immediate focus is reducing fossil fuel. However, it is also a fact that unless underdeveloped nations are funded to meet the deadlines for phasing out fossil fuel, the objective of addressing the climate emergency will remain a tall wish and nothing more than that. The ongoing COP 29 at Baku (Nov 11^th to 22^nd, 2024), Azerbaijan is crucial to deciding the course of the climate action. But world leaders need to revisit their financial goals. The ensuing Trump administration has lowered the hopes that the US will continue to support the meeting of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) to the extent of the revised target of $500bn annually. Already many countries have expressed their fear that they may find it difficult to meet the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). If the US drops out of the Paris Agreement again, the climate action will remain only on paper, because obviously, the estimated NDC of the US is the highest. If the current policies and investments are any indication, we are heralding an era of a likely increase of 3°C.  Already experts have forecast this contingency. There are about 200 member countries many of whom have already signed the Paris Agreement and are aware of the climate emergency that the world is facing today. They are willing to bring positive climate action. Barring the US, all are ready to meet the challenge. It is wise for member nations to arrive at a pragmatic solution, without the US on board and be prepared to plunge into action. There is no point in waiting for Trump to show mercy. The time has come for the global nations to show that climate actions are possible without the US (Pic courtesy: http://www.greenhumours.com)

“Cracker-free Diwali is just an annual slogan! No one cares!”. While this is the quick response from some frustrated environmental activists, there is a diagonally opposite descent note from protagonists of Dogmatic beliefs. For them, bursting crackers is not a big deal and will not do more harm to the environment than other pollutants. During Ram’s return to Ayodya, no crackers were burst. All lighted Diya to show their happiness. In those days Diwali signified the bringing of light and happiness around. Fireworks and the related chemicals were discovered much later during the last few centuries. Presently, the burning of firecrackers is the highlight of Diwali and for most people, Diwali is just a synonym for a night full of crackers, noise, and smoke. For some, firecrackers are burst because it is believed that they drive away evil spirits.

Today Diwali is nothing but a combination of health problems, and environmental degradation created due to air and noise pollution. Some even plead for the welfare of workers of the cracker factory, shutting their eyes to the fate of child labourers. (see picture). Despite objections from religious circles, the Government and Supreme Court together came heavily against bursting crackers, keeping in mind the primary concern of the health of senior citizens, children, and pregnant women.  The Supreme Court has expressed concern over growing air pollution and the dire need to mitigate it. The cracker sound has undoubtedly become feeble, thanks to the CPCB guidelines on green crackers and bursting times. With the skyrocketing prices on the one hand and growing awareness on the other, Diwali by and large has been silent. According to the Supreme Court order, only green crackers made from eco-friendly chemicals were sold and burst. The timing for bursting crackers was restricted to 2 hours. Manufacturing firecrackers that emit more than 125 decibels were banned. The Chinese-made explosives were also banned. According to the CPCB standards, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe. However, as expected, the AQI of Delhi has defied the firecracker ban during Diwali. On Friday, (1^st Nov 2024) the city recorded the worst air quality with an AQI of 400 and above, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. By the time this paper goes to print, the Air quality will have increased beyond the permissible limit. As usual, many have deviated from the laid-down norms and burst crackers beyond the permitted timings. Green Crackers might not be the only crackers that had been burst. This is exactly what we have been experiencing year after year. Delhi is already reeling under pollution pressures as the stubble-burning season has begun. While the AQI in Delhi is hovering around 400 +, Bangalore is somewhere around 200 as of 1^st Nov 2024. Precisely, all over India, the air quality has deteriorated to double its usual levels. We wonder whether the directives for cracker bursting are just a formality. There is no point in boasting that India has taken effective steps to check climate change unless we religiously follow the norms. Everyone must rise to the occasion to ensure clean air and silent celebration in the national interest.