Wise Words
India
the "History" chapter
Habits and Practices
Extreme Weather Events
100

The writer of the claim, "I do believe it to be true that the land here is demonstrably alive: that it does not exist solely, or even incidentally, as a stage for the enactment of human history; that it is [itself] a protagonist." 

Amitav Ghosh (p6)
100

This economic, political, and military empire governed India in the 19th century

What is the British Empire?

100

This fifty-year span saw the greatest rise in global C02 emissions

What is 1950 to 2000? (Up to 2015)

100

The Global Climate Strike in September 2019 is estimated to have drawn this many participants worldwide.

What is 7.6 million?

100

It's official! This year has been declared the 4th warmest to date, on record.

What is 2018?

200

Declared "God forbid that India should ever take to industrialization after the manner of the West. If an entire nation of 300 millions took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts."

Who is (Mahatma) Gandhi? 

200

The economy of the British Empire depended upon the consumption of this  energy source

What is carbon?

200

The "Great Acceleration" names these TWO historical processes

What are de-colonialization and the economic boom following World World 2?

200

Ghosh identifies "education, wealth, and a high degree of social organization" as potential liabilities in the face of global climate change, comparing them to what alternate habits of practice?

What is resilience? 

200

Yesterday, Boston area temperatures were 20 below normal, breaking the record set in this year of of 33 degrees.

What is 1874?

300

The phrase "common but differentiated responsibilities" is associated with this event

What is the negotiation of the Paris Accords?

300

This philosopher emphasized the poetic resources for thinking the nature-culture connection that persist "Beyond Miranda’s Meanings"



Who is Sylvia Wynter?

300

Ghosh makes this controversial claim explaining why the climate change crisis did not occur earlier

What is European Imperialism?

300

Compared to similar universities in both Boston and outside, Boston College's emissions rate this way.

What is similar or lower?

300

The city of Venice is currently experiencing high tides last seen this number of years ago.

What is 50?

400

In this year, the UN Secretary General proposed that future historians would observe, "They went on playing politics until their world collapsed around them." 

What is 1971? Burmese Stateman U Thant.

400

The location of Mumbai (Bombay), a major city framed by an ocean and two nuclear reactors, is the legacy of this global process.

What is colonialism?

400

In 1815 British Parliament passed this restriction on Indian ships and sailors

What is the barring of Indian-built ships from accessing British ports?

400

The C02 footprint of an Ethiopian citizen in a year is equivalent to air travel flight of this distance.

What is a one-way flight across the US?

400

This phenomenon that attends global climate change explains why typhoon and hurricanes are stronger.

What is an increase of ocean temperature plus moisture in the air?

500

“Assume that you are quite right. You are depressed because you have every reason to be depressed. No member of the other two million species which inhabit the earth—and who are luckily exempt from depression—would fail to be depressed if it lived the life you lead. You live in a deranged age—more deranged than usual, because despite great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing,” written by this American Catholic existentialist novelist.

Who is Walker Percy? (d. 1990)

500

Engineers in Calcutta developed technology to recreate this powered vessel soon after observing its arrival in about 1818. 

What is the steamboat/steam engine?

500

Ghosh identifies the oil industry in this present-day country as going back "possibly even a millennium or more."

What is Burma/Myanmar?

500

From the experience of this particular protest, Ghosh says "it became clear that the public sphere's ability to influence the security and policy establishment had eroded drastically"

What is the invasion of Iraq?

500

In 18 countries in sub-Saharan African, this many people currently suffer a hunger crisis from an ongoing extreme drought. 

What is more than 50 million?