NO GREEN TO GO GREEN

By: Maitreyee Thakkar

Antarctica took the afforestation thing seriously. Th coldest place on earth; icy, dry, windiest habitat is going lush. Families today can be constantly heard telling stories to their younger ones about their playtime in roaring sun or bedtime under the stars amidst gusty winds. They are filled with tales of pleasant springs, chilly autumn and fun rains. The listeners, though, have only been part of some facets of the same narratives. There's scorching heat; hence the playtime has been restricted to the moderately pleasant evenings. There's bedtime on the terrace, only the variable factor of pollution clouds has quite literally overshadowed the stars. Romantic, playful rains do come, bringing in the oh so flooded angle.

After being a minute part of this huge landscape, witnessing the gradually transforming conditions, constantly being dependent on the ‘unbearable' adjective, the still needs proof and millions of heartfelt vediographics to even slightly accept climate change and global warming, let alone work for it. Antarctica, the white land is dramatically growing vegetation. There's vigorous spread of mosses and flowering plants in the fifth largest continent, which has grown almost 10 folds in the last few decades and is continuing to do so at an accelerating rate. As per data, the vegetation cover that was in 1986 a 1sq km extension has in 2021 expanded to 12.94sq km. This quantitative growth has progressed by 30% between 2016-21, which is majorly occurring across the Antarctic peninsula's long mountain chain in the northern most part of the mainland. Record breaking heatwaves are constantly being reported, where temperature climbed up to 10°celsius above the average this year, whereas a 21° raise in 2022 which screams for immediate attention.

This phenomenon is harmful in more ways than one might comprehend. With rapidly increasing moss cover, there's simultaneous development in soil formation in the once barren land. Owing to the former theory, the natural habitat of the region is in grave endangerment threat due to poor living conditions and, predator species of farther regions migrating to the land. The massive land of ice is also responsible for keeping the planet cooler as the ice reflects solar radiation back into space. On turning green, the now relatively darker ground would absorb more heat and would subsequently add up to global warming.

All the above-mentioned prospects are not only confined to the Antarctic but are also spreading to the artic. The region witnessed its first ever rain and not snow in 2021. Moving on to the third largest desert on the planet, the Sahara is experiencing heavy rainfall and frequent floods, causing in yet another episode of NO GREEN TO GO GREEN.