Krishnaswamy kasturirangan, Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

With more pollution and population now, the gardens are not the same in the Garden City ‘Bengaluru’. The city is witnessing a scorching summer like any other North Indian city. It’s a shocking trend as B’luru usually witnesses an average temperature of 34 degrees Celcius during April and if the temperature rises rain showers pour. But as an unusual heat wave surges across large parts of India due to global warming, this has affected B’luru also and it is as hot as Delhi and Mumbai. According to the forecast it may hit 38 degrees Celcius in the coming days. With an extremely intense heatwave, the temperature of the city shot up to 37.6 degrees Celcius on April 6th making it the second hottest April day on record. Bengaluru witnessed its all-time highest temperature of 39.2 degrees Celcius in 2016 April. The northerly winds are coming to the city during the first half of the day and northeasterly winds during the second half. The discontinuity of winds from East Vidarbha to Comorin area is now passing from Chhattisgarh to Comorin areas across Vidarbha, Marathwada, interior Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu areas. Hence the air dose doesn’t have any moisture content. This has increased the city’s temperature.According to the researchers, surrounding air temperature increases owing to human activities. There is not much change in the sun's rays; the change is in the large ground-level climatic and ecological conditions. Hence, with human activity, land use change and construction do environmental changes. Cement and concrete take in heat and cause air temperature to rise.Dr. Monto Mani, a professor, at the Indian Institute of Science described further and said in the heat we switch on the air conditions (AC) to cool the building but AC releases the heat outside and this adds to the urban heat. Similarly, cars with ACs generate more heat. Further, the planning of the city should be 45% open with parks while 55% can be built up. However, the newer B’luru today has lost greenery and transformed into a concrete jungle. The city has lost 3/4th of its lakes. Development of layout and urbanization have consumed open grasslands and green spaces. The climate of Bengaluru has changed due to the enormous number of concrete buildings. The buildings absorb and store large amounts of solar heat during the daytime. During night when the outside temperature reduces, the heat stored in the concrete structures is released slowly. No complete cooling even the subsequent day. The heat build-up over a large area changes the climate.We all know the solution to this problem. Plant more trees, restore water bodies and wetlands and protect biodiversity. Architects suggest that the government can motivate the use of sustainable materials in construction. The Climate Action Plan 2023 suggests encouraging energy-efficient buildings by promoting building materials that consume less energy and exploring reconstruction of existing buildings to reduce their overall energy consumption. Low-rise buildings with white or green rooftops drastically reduce heat and improve biodiversity. The concept of smart buildings should be promoted by ensuring that new buildings will be energy-efficient and low-carbon ones. In the end, an effective rainwater harvesting system can be enforced to enhance energy savings and reduce emissions because less potable water will need to be pumped. It also recommends a transition to new and renewable energy.

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