The impacts of climate change on the winter water cycle of the western Himalaya

Some 180 million people depend on the Indus River as a key water resource, fed largely by precipitation falling over the western Himalaya. However, the projected response of western Himalayan precipitation to climate change is currently not well constrained: CMIP5 GCMs project a reduced frequency and vorticity of synoptic-scale systems impacting the area, but such systems would exist in a considerably moister atmosphere. In this study, a convection-permitting (4 km horizontal resolution) setup of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is used to examine 40 cases of these synoptic-scale systems, known as western disturbances (WDs), as they interact with the western Himalaya. In addition to a present-day control run, three experiments are performed by perturbing the boundary and initial conditions to reflect pre-industrial, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 background climates respectively. It is found that in spite of the weakening intensity of WDs, net precipitation associated with them in future climate scenarios increases significantly; conversely there is no net change in precipitation between the pre-industrial and control experiments despite a significant conversion of snowfall in the pre-industrial experiment to rainfall in the control experiment, consistent with the changes seen in historical observations. This shift from snowfall to rainfall has profound consequences on water resource management in the Indus Valley, where irrigation is dependent on spring meltwater. Flux decomposition shows that the increase in future precipitation follows directly from the projected moistening of the tropical atmosphere (which increases the moisture flux incident on the western Himalaya by 28%) overpowering the weakened dynamics (which decreases it by 20%). Changes to extreme rainfall events are also examined: it is found that such events may increase significantly in frequency in both future scenarios examined. Two-hour maxima rainfall events that currently occur in 1-in-8 WDs are projected to increase tenfold in frequency in the RCP8.5 scenario; more prolonged (one-week maxima) events are projected to increase fiftyfold

A Study on Consumer Awareness Towards Green Fashion in India

The fashion industry, which is one of the largest polluters of the world, increases the environmental concerns by leaving harmful impressions. Green fashion is a new approach to “fashion with a conscience” and it refers to a growing number of ethical fashion companies that attempt to attract young mainstream fashion consumers by offering fashionable products. While some researchers clearly identify the efforts of responsible consumers towards green fashion, some argue that fashion-orientated consumers who are sensitive towards environment do not actively participate towards supporting green fashion. This study aims to analyze the current awareness of green fashion among these young Indian consumers. An exploratory study with a limited sample of audience between age of 18 and 30 years is conducted where consumers’ awareness of green fashion is examined through online survey followed by an analysis of translation of this perception into purchase decision making. The study may motivate fashion brands to voluntarily adopt green activities and provide strategic guidelines for marketers and retailers about their sustainable retail practices