Ask the next five people you meet if they can say ‘climate change’ or ‘global warming’ in their mother tongue.

There is a good chance that they won’t be able to. Some might perform linguistic gymnastics to deduce climate change as: ವಾಯುಗುಣ ಬದಲಾವಣೆ (Vaayuguna badalaavane in Kannada), காலநிலை மாற்றம் (kaalanilai maatram in Tamil), കാലാവസ്ഥാ മാറ്റം (kaalaavastha maattam in Malayalam), వాతావరణ మార్పు (vatavarana marpu in Telugu) or जलवायु परिवर्तन (jalvayu parivartan in Hindi).

This is more a systemic matter than a memory puzzle. It is unlikely that an autorickshaw driver, a gig worker, a street vendor, a security guard, or the local coffee shop owner would have heard of global warming or climate change in their mother tongue, despite being more vulnerable to its impact than you and me.

In a pan-India survey, 36% people said they know “something” about global warming, 17% said they know “just a little” about it, and 27% said they have “never heard” of global warming. Many observed changes in their local climate and weather patterns without understanding that these changes are often related to global warming, the survey noted.

This should make us pause. We have all spent the last few weeks living through a sustained, crippling........

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