Mumbai seems to be caught in a rather vicious circle. On the one hand, climate change is playing havoc with the weather, while on the other, the city’s needs are necessitating the destruction of swathes of mangrove and forest land — the very things needed to mitigate the effects of said climate change.

Two reports in this paper ought to have us sit up and take note. One is that 71 hectares or area the size of eight Oval maidans of mangrove land will have to be wiped out to feed the city’s growing need for electricity. The other report is about temperatures in March being a startling 5°C above normal, according to the IMD. This isn’t someone else’s problem. Each one of us is complicit in this, whether we like it or not. The mindless use of resources such as air conditioning to cool down glass-fronted office buildings that carpet the city today is releasing dangerous amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Even the air conditioner at home has a villain’s role to play. The cooler we want to keep ourselves, the hotter this earth will continue to get. As incomes and the standard of living rise, the need for artificial cooling mechanisms will rise exponentially. With it comes the need for more electricity and more land to hold its transmission lines. As stakeholders of the planet we live in, each one of us needs to help stop the erosion and eventual annihilation of our planet. The price of progress cannot be hastening the end of humankind.