The next two weeks will mean make or break for global weather patterns.  Within that time, the over 150 world leaders meeting in Paris should have struck a deal by then or there will be no turning the clock back.

As COP21 is going on, China and India, countries with the highest emissions of green house gases, are covered in thick smog and health alerts have been sounded. This is a grim reminder that the fate of the world should not be sacrificed in the name of industrial advancement and shortsightedness.

Right now, parts of Africa, especially the tropics, and areas around the Amazon forest, are the only places with the capacities to clean up the air, they are the planet’s lungs. But for how long? Should we become victims of a mad rush to deplete our resources?

It is time Africa stopped standing by the sidelines as the big boys hammer out agreements favourable only to their interests. Leaders should insist on tough measures and help Africa pursue renewable energy policies. The world’s worst polluters should  pick the tab.

The continuous rise in temperatures, rise in ocean levels, floods and much deadlier storms we are now witnessing should be the world’s wakeup call. In the past 130 years alone, the average temperature has risen by a whopping 17 degrees centigrade. In just one decade, over 13 per cent of the Arctic ice has melted.

Saving the planet does not mean halting advances in industrialization, but it should be done responsively by adopting cleaner energy and greatly reducing on fossil fuel.