Planet on the Brink

“PLANET ON THE BRINK” screamed the article on my laptop screen as I sat down with a hot cup of tea. I am usually wary of attention-grabbing headlines. In this age of clickbait and sensationalism, I am aware of my standing as the coveted reader whose attention, and clicks, bring in much-loved ad revenue. Cautiously, I read the article. “Planet on the Brink” was not a headline given by a marketing manager with a ‘doctorate’ in SEO optimization; they were the words of the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres. The statement, in part, read,

It was an alarming description of the present state of the planet. Not just any planet. Our Earth. The only home we have ever known. How could it be? I looked out of the window. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The bright sun was peeking through the dripping leaves after a light shower. The birds were chirping, and the grass was as green as ever. Surely, this vision of beauty cannot be a slice of a planet on the brink. Or can it be? Wasn’t my city hit by a “once-in-a-century” flood last year, after enduring another one 5 years back? Didn’t bushfires, which had previously spared our city, come so frighteningly close that I could smell the acrid smoke as I made my way through the haze?

Extreme weather events, however, can also be the normal fluctuations of a dynamic environment. Aren’t there highs and lows associated with every system that is constantly in motion? I turned to scientific literature to check if that’s what it was. Here’s what I found—what we are currently experiencing is anything but ordinary. The past 11 years (2015-2025) have been the 11 warmest years on record. An astonishing number of climate records have been broken in the last few years. Now, the breaking of Olympic records is an ode to human strength and endurance. But broken climate records are the exact opposite—they showcase our folly in all its (in)glory. “Off the charts,” said Mr. Guterres about the state of climate chaos. “Some records aren’t just chart-topping, they’re chart-busting.” The secretary general wasn’t talking about the latest chart-busting pop song out there—records were being broken elsewhere. The World Meteorological Organization’s 2024 report showed that the largest loss of glaciers on record occurred over the period of 2022-2024.  

This time period seems to have been especially brutal on ice reserves around the world. Antarctic sea ice was at its lowest during this period in the 47-year satellite record. But what does it mean to a person like me, a sub-tropical dweller who only sees ice in the freezer compartment of her refrigerator? Mr. Guterres’s words pretty much sum it up:

That’s what the melting of sea ice in Antarctica will mean to a person in the tropics. Grim as they sound, the broken weather records don’t end there. In Feb 2024, scientists announced that 2023 was the warmest year on record, with the annual average global temperature being 1.45℃ above pre-industrial levels. Frighteningly, this record did not stay for long—2024 smashed it with a global average temperature of 1.55℃ above the pre-industrial levels, and 2025 showed that the data was no fluke. For the unversed, nearly 200 nations had pledged at the 2016 Paris climate agreement to pursue efforts to keep the temperature rise from exceeding 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels. Although we have temporarily breached that limit, we can take comfort from the fact that the Paris agreement was referring to the long-term goal of holding global temperatures below the 1.5℃ limit. Hence, technically, we are not yet in the red. Alarmingly though, we are at the edge of a cliff and about to hurtle down, and we have not yet worked out where the brakes are!

There’s more. Back in 2009, The Stockholm Resilience Centre had put forward the concept of planetary boundaries. Simply put, they are a set of nine ‘vital signs’ which can be used to monitor the health of our planet. Scientists track Earth’s planetary boundaries for the same reason as the doctor measures your pulse, blood pressure and temperature; they offer a clue on how good you, or the planet, is doing.

For now, there’s cause for concern. The monitors tracking these vital signs are beeping, indicating that something is seriously off. There’s a total of 9 planetary boundaries, of which 7 have been transgressed, according to a 2025 study. What does that signify? In the authors’ own words, “Earth is now well outside of the safe operating space for humanity.” And it is all our doing! A dubious record for a species that prides itself in being the most intelligent to have ever graced Earth!

Now that sounds alarmist—sensationalist even! There’s no whitewashing the facts – they are out there for all to see. However, it might be prudent to watch the tone, and change it from alarmist to ‘call for action.’ There is no point in presenting scary facts without a solution in sight; it just ends up stoking despair and hopelessness. Already, psychologists are reporting an increase in stress and anxiety among children amidst the talk about climate change and doomsday predictions. Government inaction and the apathy of their parents’ and grandparents’ generations is driving them down the rabbit hole of fury and helplessness.

In a beautiful scene in the movie Frozen, Anna pulls herself up from the ground, extolling her despairing self to “do the next right thing.” For us, the next, and only, right thing to do would be to take tangible action. Willful, determined steps to prevent this slide into climate chaos.

With this blog, that’s what we aim to do. We hope to explore the little things (the ‘climate solutions’) that you and I, citizens of a beautiful but beleaguered Earth, can do to reduce our carbon footprint. Our blog hopes to understand the fundamentals of climate change, explore the science behind it, and take inspiration from climate actions initiatives around the globe. The solutions may not be limited to our own homes and backyards. We have spheres of influence outside our homes – our immediate neighborhood, local councils, state departments and federal government think-tanks. Be it using a top-down approach, or a bottom-up one, we can bring about changes in our spheres of influence to tackle climate change.

There are numerous ways in which we can lead a more ecofriendly life. Not every option will be suited to everyone though, and that’s exactly the aim of starting this blog—to present people with a host of climate solutions that they can consider and choose from. This increases the chances of actually finding something that works of us at an individual level. On one hand, this argument is logical. On the other hand, it is almost ridiculous that, when faced with a climate emergency, we are offering a supermarket-esque assortment of climate solutions. Kind of like “What is your favorite chocolate? Dark, milk or white? Go have your pick from the shelves!” We promise not to trivialize climate chaos by seeming to offer quick-fix solutions for a complex issue. Going off-the-grid may be the ultimate solution; but not everyone is in a position to do that (at least we are not!). Our endeavor is to help people reduce, if not erase, their carbon footprint. For instance, private vehicles are often blamed for accelerating global warming. However, for a person living in an area with limited public transport connectivity, a car or bike may be indispensable. That person can still pitch in for the planet by, say, growing his/her own vegetables and greens, or composting the kitchen waste. Who knows, what started as a step towards reducing carbon footprint may evolve into a serious hobby. I started gardening to grow organic greens for my family, but now, it has evolved into the much-cherished ‘me time’.

These baby steps are a great start, though they should be accompanied by a fundamental overhaul in the way we exploit and consume the finite resources of our planet. In dealing with a crisis that we have brought upon ourselves, our species faces a huge, if not unsurmountable, challenge. Our intelligence, and wisdom, will be tested like never before. We will have to confront ourselves with a difficult question, “What kind of inheritance do I wish to leave for my children? A few material (or grand palatial) possessions, which will have no meaning in a world struggling for the essentials? Or can I give my children what they truly deserve—the inheritance of a livable Earth?”