Nuclear War Can Trigger Mini Ice Age
A nuclear war is destructive in every sense of the word. But little did we know that a nuclear war can also alter the face of the planet and might trigger a mini ice-age, and it is feared to be worse than the effects of climate change caused by fossil-fuels.
Nuclear wars might lower the Earth’s average surface temperature by 7°C which experts refer to as a ‘decade-long mini ice age’.
This is about 2 degrees colder from the last ice age some 20,000 years ago. But according to Alan Robock at Rutgers University, although colder, the mini ice age will be shorter but enough to cause devastating farm collapse which can eventually lead to starvation.
How bad is it if it happens? According to the same report “It’s hard to predict exactly how devastating this famine would be if thousands of Earth’s largest cities were reduced to rubble and global infrastructure collapsed, but whatever small fraction of all humans don’t succumb to starvation, hypothermia or epidemics would need to cope with roving, armed gangs desperate for food.”
Because of these, experts say that we are looking at a future of climate change due to the burning of fossil-fuel and climate change due to nuclear war.
Although there are no looming nuclear wars between nations, they said that some countries are building nuclear weapons, which is capable of initiating the mini-ice age. The report said that “the nuclear war triggering the mini ice age will most likely start by accident or miscalculation.”
The organization called Future of Life has proven that it is possible for an accident in this magnitude to happen. They said there were examples from history which can show that the theory could actually be correct.
One famous incident happened in 1961 when two nuclear bombs accidentally dropped in North Carolina due to a bomber losing its wing. One of the two bombs landed safely with a parachute, the other broke on impact. But because of the failure of two ignition wires to cross, a nuclear bomb explosion was prevented.
This climate change due to nuclear war was already described by scientists in 1983 according to a report. They have referred to it as a ‘nuclear winter’ which pertains to the mini ice age. The cause of this is quite simple, researchers found out that the smoke from nuclear weapons would form a global ‘stratospheric’ smoke layer that will envelop the Earth and will last for about 10 years. This means the smoke fly higher than commercial jets where no rain can dissolve them. In turn it will be blocking the heat from the sun. Normal smoke from fire doesn’t reach the atmosphere, but nuclear smoke will endanger the Earth.
Researchers suggests that to prevent this mini ice age, we should all remain vigilant and work against these two types of climate change, from nuclear wars and from fossil-fuels.
But the efforts of nations to build nuclear weaponry, like the US and Russia, poses a threat to both mankind and to Earth.
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[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]2021 WEF Global Gender Gap report, which confirmed its 2016 finding of a decline in worldwide progress towards gender parity.
Over 2.8 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. As many as 104 countries still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs, 59 countries have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and it is astonishing that a handful of countries still allow husbands to legally stop their wives from working.
Globally, women’s participation in the labour force is estimated at 63% (as against 94% of men who participate), but India’s is at a dismal 25% or so currently. Most women are in informal and vulnerable employment—domestic help, agriculture, etc—and are always paid less than men.
Recent reports from Assam suggest that women workers in plantations are paid much less than men and never promoted to supervisory roles. The gender wage gap is about 24% globally, and women have lost far more jobs than men during lockdowns.
The problem of gender disparity is compounded by hurdles put up by governments, society and businesses: unequal access to social security schemes, banking services, education, digital services and so on, even as a glass ceiling has kept leadership roles out of women’s reach.
Yes, many governments and businesses had been working on parity before the pandemic struck. But the global gender gap, defined by differences reflected in the social, political, intellectual, cultural and economic attainments or attitudes of men and women, will not narrow in the near future without all major stakeholders working together on a clear agenda—that of economic growth by inclusion.
The WEF report estimates 135 years to close the gap at our current rate of progress based on four pillars: educational attainment, health, economic participation and political empowerment.
India has slipped from rank 112 to 140 in a single year, confirming how hard women were hit by the pandemic. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two Asian countries that fared worse.
Here are a few things we must do:
One, frame policies for equal-opportunity employment. Use technology and artificial intelligence to eliminate biases of gender, caste, etc, and select candidates at all levels on merit. Numerous surveys indicate that women in general have a better chance of landing jobs if their gender is not known to recruiters.
Two, foster a culture of gender sensitivity. Take a review of current policies and move from gender-neutral to gender-sensitive. Encourage and insist on diversity and inclusion at all levels, and promote more women internally to leadership roles. Demolish silos to let women grab potential opportunities in hitherto male-dominant roles. Work-from-home has taught us how efficiently women can manage flex-timings and productivity.
Three, deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the education and skilling of women and girls at the bottom of the pyramid. CSR allocations to toilet building, the PM-Cares fund and firms’ own trusts could be re-channelled for this.
Four, get more women into research and development (R&D) roles. A study of over 4,000 companies found that more women in R&D jobs resulted in radical innovation. It appears women score far higher than men in championing change. If you seek growth from affordable products and services for low-income groups, women often have the best ideas.
Five, break barriers to allow progress. Cultural and structural issues must be fixed. Unconscious biases and discrimination are rampant even in highly-esteemed organizations. Establish fair and transparent human resource policies.
Six, get involved in local communities to engage them. As Michael Porter said, it is not possible for businesses to sustain long-term shareholder value without ensuring the welfare of the communities they exist in. It is in the best interest of enterprises to engage with local communities to understand and work towards lowering cultural and other barriers in society. It will also help connect with potential customers, employees and special interest groups driving the gender-equity agenda and achieve better diversity.