Environment & People December 2019

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Editorial

Advisors Narne Prabhakar Kaza Krishna Rao Dr. N. Harinath Dr. V. Haraprasad

Advisory Board M. Gopala Krishna, IAS (Retd.)

C.S. Ramalakshmi, I.F.S, Dr. N. Bhaskara Rao Prof. P.G. Sastry Er. G. Prabhakar Prof. D.N. Reddy Dr. Rameshwar Rao

DECLARE CLIMATE EMERGENCY IN INDIA

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his year's word, chosen by Oxford Dictionary is "climate emergency". It defined the term as "a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it". UN and climate

experts have called for the declaration of climate emergency worldwide. Few cities across the

S. Raghupathy Prof. I.V. Muralikrishna

world declared climate emergency in the recent period. On 28th November 2019, the European Parliament representing 28 member countries declared a climate emergency. According to the

Editor

Global Climate Risk 2020 Report released by German watch on 4th December 2019 in Madrid

Dr. P. Narayana Rao

at UN Summit (COP 25), India suffered maximum number of deaths from climate induced Associate Editors

extreme weather events in 2018. India was second in terms of economic losses in 2018 to the

Sweta Pendyala

extent of $37,808 million .India was fifth in overall climate vulnerability for 2018 climbing from

Dr. B.Ramana Naik

14th position in 2017. Floods, cyclones as well as heat wave have collectively caused India to Sub - editor

take such a top position. Since 2004, India has witnessed 11 of its 15 warmest recorded years.

Swarajyam P.

The report also predicted economic losses between $290 billion to $580 billion for developing

Design

countries till 2030 on account of climate related events. If developed countries suffer, they have

arcongraphics@gmail.com

adequate means to recover but the small countries will not have any means to recover. Developed countries have to provide necessary support including funds to developing and under developed

Edited, Printed & Published by P. Narayana Rao on behalf of society for

countries already affected by climate change because they are responsible for increase of green-

environment and education, hyderabad.

house gasses historically. India has pledged additional carbon sink equivalent to 2.5 - 3.5 billion tons of CO2 by 2030 through forest and tree cover. But the Union Government's Green India

Address for communication 302, Padma Nilayam,

Mission has been regularly missing its annual targets thus rendering the fulfillment of the pledge

St.No. 1, Shanti Nagar,

unlikely. So IndianGovernment should declare a climate emergency immediately. The

Hyderabad - 500 028.

Government has also to take the following steps like reducing the usage of fossil fuels by half

email: nraopotturi@yahoo.com

by 2030, expansion of public transport system, targeted time bound increase of forest cover up

contact: 9247385331

to 33%, strict implementation of environmental laws related to air and water pollution, water and energy conservation measures and adopt appropriate urban planning policies. The civil

(The views expressed by authors may not be necessarily be the same as those of

society has to raise awareness among the people on climate change to bring pressure on the

magazine)

Government to declare climate emergency.

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Environment & people

35 year on, water contamination is still a threat

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The World's Waters Are Rising - but by How Much, and Where?8

content

Guide to Tirthan valley

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This Farm In Bir, Himachal Pradesh Is Promoting Natural Farming And Helping Others Do The Same

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The poisoned landscapes of Punjab

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Shoddy impact assessments, mining and ruin in Goa

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Resist locally, renew globally

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Birds vs Hydropower Project in Building cleaner and safer habitats for birds

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Arunachal Pradesh: Who Will Win?

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The climate crisis is no longer your grandchildren’s

Reducing e-waste: one pot at a time!

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December 2019

problem. It’s yours

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Eco IQ

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Co cartoons

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As We Lose Tropical Rainforests, We Also Lose Potential New Drugs

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Vasudha Kaukuntla

Children do the least to pollute the environment yet they are the most vulnerable to pollution. Because of increasing concerns about air pollution in the capital city, the schools are shut and children are asked to stay indoors.

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hese instructions sound very elite and conveniently ignore the homeless and poor children who stay on the streets and fend for themselves.

The Logical Indian reached out to the street kids in Delhi who are continuously exposed to the contaminated air, to gauge its impact in their lives.

Ten- year- old Rajesh who lives in a shed near Som Bazar in Delhi complains of chest pain to us, he blames the polluted air.

"We live in an untidy place, it is called Som Bazar. No one helps us to clean the place and my entire family stays there. My father sells balloons on the streets and we all come to do the same. It is getting very difficult to even breathe and I cough a lot when I am on the streets."

He said that because people mindlessly burst crackers during Diwali, poor people like him have to bear the brunt.

Sabir (9) and Azeez (10) from Kanhai in Gurgaon said that they are not going to school and they do not even play outside these days.

"Our mother brought us air masks recently and whenever we go out on the streets, she asks us to wear them." When they were asked if they were aware of the air pollution, they said that it is because of too many vehicles that there is so much smoke and it will get down soon.

Sumit is 8-year-old and loves going to school. He likes learning new poems and speeches. He started to recite a monologue on air pollution as soon as asked.

"I've been to school only once after Diwali and this was the only thing I learned since then. I used to recite poems and make speeches on different topics, but since this air pollution has started, I did not get to learn anything and I am only repeating one speech all the time." Sumit laments.

Rhea has been continuously sick due to air pollution. The 7-year-old from Gurgaon said that it has been more than a week that she has had a sore throat.

"I cannot see the birds in the morning and can barely see the sky clear.

Whenever I am on the streets, I find people wearing masks and leaving for their homes hurriedly," Rhea innocently remarks.

Children Are Worst Affected According to the study conducted by UNICEF in 2016, it was found that Air Pollution is linked with diseases that kill around 6,00,000 children under the age of 5 every year. Poor children are at a greater risk of air pollution and children born in this age will have to bear climate change their entire lifetime. (cont.. on page no. 32) December 2019

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Environment & people

The Bhopal Gas tragedy may have happened three and a half decades ago but, the survivors' families are still fighting for good health and environment Sweta Pendyala

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alk about the most catastrophic industrial disasters across the globe, Bhopal Gas tragedy will definitely

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cross the minds without a miss. It's been 35 years since the methyl gas leak incident took place in the Union Carbide plant and its survivors are dealing with the ill-effects till date. The disaster did not only take thousands of lives but left lakhs of people to suffer mentally and physically in the decades to come.

Currently, the survivors and their next generation are suffering from health problems of the disaster and water contamination is one of the reasons behind it. As part

of the ongoing fight for justice, on the occasion of 35th anniversary of the disaster, victims of chronic exposure to contaminated groundwater formed a long Chain near the destructed Union Carbide factory. Standing there, they demanded not only clean-up of the contaminated lands but also adequate compensation from Dow Chemical, the current owner of Union Carbide and free health care.

"The reasons behind groundwater contamination are the waste that had been dumped mindlessly inside the factory till 1984 and outside of it in 1996. The water has been contaminated in the places nearly five kilometres from the factory. Though the locals of the affected area are not drinking contaminated water now after the government started to serve water through the pipeline since 2014 after Supreme Court passed the order in 2004, the groundwater contamination is still a problem as it will spread not stop. The irony is that it took 20 years for Supreme Court to acknowledge

the necessity and then 10 years for the government to implement it," said Satinath Sarangi of Bhopal Group for Information and Action," Satinath Sarangi of Bhopal Group for Information and Action "A study carried out by the state government in 2005 showed that residents who were drinking the contaminated groundwater were suffering from diseases of the eyes, skin and the respiratory and digestive systems. Despite the Supreme Court of India's clear directions in 2012, over 10 thousand families who were exposed to the contaminated groundwater for up to 20 years continue to be denied the facility of free health care by the state and central governments," said Rachna Dhingra, a member of the Bhopal Group for Information & Action.

Talking about latest study and the number of people who were affected by the contaminated water, Nawab Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said, "According to the latest study by the Indian Institute of Toxicology

Shukla, a Goldman Environmental Prize awardee.

The Union Carbide gas leak is still a persistent problem as the Bhopalis exposed to gas leak are still suffering from health and environmental issues. Speaking about how the issues that needed immediate attention have not been addressed by the government yet, Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information & Action, said, "Our governments have been so busy cosying up to the criminal corporations that they have had no time left to care for the survivors of the disaster in the last 35 years. Till today there are no standardised treatment protocols for medical rehabilitation. There are no effective plans to provide gainful employment or monthly pensions to the needy and no initiative to ensure a safe living environment for the survivors of the disaster."

Talking about how there is no compensation and facilities for the survivors' families who have been fighting against health, contaminated water and unemployment,

the survivors of the Bhopal disaster.

Rachna Dhingra said, "The Department of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation of the state government runs six big hospitals with over 4, 000 patients visiting them every day. Five of these hospitals have not had a Psychiatrist for the last 19 years. The one hospital that had a psychiatrist had him as a part-time consultant for 12 hours a week till he left last month.

Professor Murthy, who had found 30 per cent of the exposed population to be mentally ill, in 1985, found to his regret that 25 years later 80 per cent had not recovered from their mental illnesses. He found survivors in Latur, Chernobyl, Iraq and other places in the world to be recovering within two to three years of the mass disaster."

"The neglect of the Bhopal survivors' health condition is evident in the way the Bhopal Memorial Hospital & Research Centre (BMHRC) is run by the central government. For the last several years, the departments of Nephrology and Surgical

Research, a central government agency, the groundwater in 42 communities with a total population of nearly 100,000 is contaminated and, it continues to spread. The first thing that has to happen, for ending this ongoing second environmental disaster in Bhopal, is a comprehensive scientific assessment of the area within five kilometres of the factory."

"Since 1990, the groundwater in and around the factory has been tested some 16 times by government and non-government agencies and, these have shown that pesticides, heavy metals and poisonous chemicals, including six persistent organic pollutants are present at depths greater than 30 metres and distances of several kilometres from the factory," said Rashida Bee, who along with her colleague Champa Devi

Nousheen Khan of Children Against Dow Carbide, shared, "Documents we have got through the Right to Information show that of the 104 Crores allocated by the central government for economic rehabilitation of victims, 18 Crores have been lost to corruption and the rest 86 Crores remain unutilised for the last nine years. This is happening when thousands of survivors' families are facing starvation due to lack of gainful employment. Also, 473 women widowed by the disaster have been denied monthly pension since last year citing lack of funds."

Citing the commendable work done by Professor Srinivasa Murthy, an international expert on post-disaster mental health care, in Bhopal, Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information & Action commented on the utter lack of mental health care to

Oncology remain closed and, there are no specialists in Neurology, Pulmonary Medicine, surgical gastroenterology and gastro medicine. Also for the last seven years, no research has been done in this hospital that is run by the Department of Health Research, Government of India and, of the 16 new research projects listed by ICMR's centre in Bhopal, only three are related to the disaster," said Nawab Khan, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha.

Nawab Khan also shares that, "Both Central and State governments are misleading the Supreme Court by presenting false figures of death and disease caused by the disaster in the Curative Petition for enhanced compensation from the American (cont. on page no. 32)

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The World's Waters Are Rising - but by How Much, and Where?

Sarah Iqbal

Countries that are more vulnerable to vagaries of the climate, such as India, also lack the more precise data that could help them plan better.

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arlier this year, climate activists held a funeral for the Okjรถkull glacier. Its tombstone, the first of its kind, lies on top of a volcano in Iceland, where the ice sheet has been melting at an unprecedented rate. Indeed, if all the ice in Iceland melts, it could raise sea levels around the world about about five feet. And by the end of this century, as more glaciers recede and melt, sea levels could rise by two full metres. That's about the height of a door.

Recently, Scott Kulp and Benjamin Strauss, two climate scientists from Climate Central, an American nonprofit organisation dedicated to climate research, identified areas that are most vulnerable to projected sea-level rise by 2050 and 2100. They released maps

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showing parts of Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, and other South Asian cities, going under water in the next three decades, suggesting around 300 million people are vulnerable if humankind continues to emit more carbon.

This is about three-times as many people as estimated to be vulnerable in an older model working with the same emission trends.

The significant mismatch arises from how scientists assess land elevation. A more precise prediction requires more precise elevation data. In the early 2000s, scientists obtained the numbers from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) to approximate flood risk in coastal areas. "But SRTM data has flaws," Kulp told The Wire. The technology can't distinguish trees from buildings and other land features, so the reported average elevation of an area can be vastly different from reality.

Errors could run as high as 2 m in low-lying coastal areas.

A more precise way to calculate land elevation is by using light detection and ranging (LIDAR). In a

LIDAR-based land survey, scientists attach a laser to a plane, drone or a helicopter and beam light to the ground. The reflected signal indicates how the land rises and falls as the aerial vehicle moves over it. On the flip side, LIDAR is costly and so most Asian countries - whose economies are more vulnerable to vagaries of the climate - don't have LIDAR data.

To work around this, Kulp and Strauss used machine learning. They trained a neural network to identify flaws in SRTM data for the US coast by comparing it with more than 50 million LIDAR data points from the same area. Once the network had 'learnt' how SRTM and LIDAR data matched up, they converted SRTM data from around the world into more precise digital elevation data, called coastal DEM, where they estimated the errors were of the order of 10 cm or less.

And when the duo overlaid the sea-level rise model onto the coastal DEM, they found that older models had underestimated flood risk. According to the coastal DEM, they found that without coastal defences, 360 million people would be vulnerable to flooding by 2100 if sea levels continued to rise as the models predict.

Kulp and Strauss also stressed that this would be the case even if all countries stuck to the terms of the Paris Arrangement. If economies don't cut back on carbon emissions and if the Antarctic ice sheet starts to wear off, 480 million people will become vulnerable to flooding by 2100.

The carbon dioxide that we release into the atmosphere traps heat, driving global warming heating. Historical data shows that global sea levels have been rising more quickly since humankind started burning coal and petroleum as fuels.

Between 1900 and 2000, the average sea level rose by about 1.7 mm each year. After 2000, it jumped to about 3 mm/year. Scientists recorded a similar trend for the Indian Ocean - except in the Northern Bay of Bengal, where sea levels rose by 5 mm/year

between 1948 and 2010 (as estimated in 2015).

But the claim that certain neighbourhoods within cities could submerge doesn't hold water.

According to the maps published along with the duo's paper, many areas in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai could go under by 2100. However, many of these areas also appear to be about 8-10 m above sea level.

Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, agrees that the new land elevation estimates are better on a global scale and that there could be uncertainties in the data for Indian cities. "Generally, the uncertainty is above 1 meter, which is larger than the estimates of sea-level rise. But to be certain, India needs a better risk assessment analysis for its coastline," he said.

Kulp agreed that coastal DEM is more accurate over larger areas than in smaller ones, like cities versus neighbourhoods. He said this is why scientists are talking about flood risk on global and national scales (instead of about the fates of Trombay, Besant Nagar or Siripuram).

These predictions are also limited by the fact that they don't account for embankments and defence structures that governments have erected to protect the coast from high tide lines. According to the paper, about 110 million people in the world and about 17 million people in India are already living below these lines.

But Kulp flips the threat on its head to find a silver lining: "Our results give hope

that living with high-tide lines is doable" although if the sea level rises further, more people could be exposed to extreme storms and flooding.

For example, some parts of Mumbai have always been at or below sea level, so a typical worst-case scenario when the sea level is higher would be floods due to extreme rains at high tide. "Such events, called compound events, have the potential to submerge large parts of Mumbai, at least for several days," Koll said.

And if seawater moves further inland, it can damage soil considered useful for agricultural and even facilitate the spread of disease. In 2015, doctors in Bangladesh were able to associate the spread of cholera with

sea-water intrusion. In another analysis published the same year, scientists reported that "suitable areas for Vibrio cholerae" - the bacterium that causes cholera in humans are "predicted to increase under future climate", including in coastal parts of eastern India and Latin America.

"Through this study, we want to put pressure on economies and countries to take note of the problem and understand the importance of coastal elevation data," Kulp said. He, and others, argue such data will help countries assess risk more realistically and plan better for extreme events.

"Another way to look at the study is to realise that cutting back on emissions will help three-times more people," he added.

"And that investing in green technology is three-times more justifiable."

(Source: thewire.in)

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Through cleanup drives, the team of Animal Welfare Conservation Society is protecting the wildlife and environment in and around Hyderabad, both at the same time.

Vaidehi Acharya

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ith or without knowledge, we all are causing harm and contributing to the pollution in the environment. Everybody speaks and knows, but who cares?? ‘We do’, says the Animal Welfare Conservation Society (AWCS).

The Animal Welfare Conservation Society, which is a part of emergency relief network of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), is a team of around 25 members committed to protect and safeguard the wildlife species and the nature in and around Hyderabad.

It all started when one of the volunteers found a bird called Darter with a thread Environment & people

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stuck around its beak, at the Ameenpur Lake, which is a major spot for birdwatchers in Hyderabad. This lake is a biodiversity heritage site situated in an urban area with various native and migratory birds like flamingos, egrets, herons, cormorants, kingfishers and several others. After rescuing the Darter, the team decided to clean up the lake and revive the beautiful habitat so that the migratory birds could come, fetch their food and won't fall prey to the waste present in the water. They have also started planting native plants at the site to encourage these flying visitors.

Apart from rescuing, the team targets different locations and conducts awareness drives on legal rules and regulations of the wild animals. They distribute water bowls during the summer season; distribute sparrow nests; to help to revive the sparrow population which has been almost disappeared from the urban area.

The three years journey has given them wonderful December 2019

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Environment & people

experiences and taught a lot in terms of conservation of wildlife and the environment. Currently, the team is pursuing a couple of initiatives and talking about it, Pradeep Nair, founder of AWCS shares, “There are a lot of activities happening and the entire team is working towards habitat cleaning drive, habitat restoration drive, sparrow nests and water Bowls distribution for birds and awareness on urban wildlife.”

Sharing more details, the founder of AWCS says, “It takes almost half a day to clean a lake and, till date, we have completed 26 drives. In the past three years, we've collected manjaas, fishing nets and a total of 4.5 tons of plastic waste. Some of the wastes apart from plastics which are majorly found are, garlands, puja material, clothing which pose a threat to wildlife. To have the collected waste recycled, we handover it to the municipality after each drive. Till date, we have rescued over 500 birds and found around10 dead ones that couldn't survive due to the waste present in their habitats.”

The AWCS team has gone to help the animals stuck in Kerala floods in 2018. It currently conducts clean up drives with the help of its volunteers and is planning to expand the organisation a little more and make this a community-driven initiative. The team is planning to invite interested individuals to help them in the cleanup and rescue drives.

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Environment & people

Asif Anwar

ing experience a mystery.

Welcome yourself to the Tirthan Valley where Himalayas' best-kept secrets are hidden. The beautiful mornings by the water, majestic hills, and several serene beauties can be explored in Tirthan Valley.

Listening to the sound of water, or watching blue clouds float across the sky is by all means a wondrous experience. The valley gets its name from Tirthan river flowing through it.

Amazing landscapes and views completely soothe you and fill your head with curiosity that makes your hik-

About Tirthan Valley Tirthan is the best offbeat destination that has immense to offer, owing to its location, views or nature. That is why the Tirthan valley in March is the ultimate time for exploration. This silent valley is ideal for trekking, fishing, wildlife watching and discovering the underexplored hill villages. If you love to roam around the uncharted terrains, pack your bags and head to Tirthan.

Location: Tirthan valley lies in between Jalori pass and the Aut tunnel in Himachal Pradesh at an altitude of 1600 meters. The best part is that it is just one hour off the main Delhi-Kullu-Manali Road. Hence, if

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you plan to travel via Jalori Pass, you will get to enjoy the adventurous drive and complete the travel circuit - Manali to Tirthan Valley to Shimla or Mashobra.

Weather: Tirthan valley temperature in March goes around 20 degrees. However, the average temperature in Tirthan Valley ranges between 10-25 degree Celsius in summer and 0-5 degree Celsius in winter. During winters, the temperatures at night might drop a couple of degrees below zero as well.

Things To Do: Amongst the top things to do in Tirthan Valley in March, trekking, trout fishing, and day hikes are most popular. Other than this, you can enjoy sightseeing, camping, bird watching, and visiting

temples.

Places To Explore In recent years, the most visited tourist spots like Shimla, Manali and Mussoorie have become crowded! Due to this rush, a large number of tourists have started to opt for the places closer to these destinations.

An important reason that Tirthan Valley, although considered an offbeat place, has turned into a tourist and commercial destination. Following are the list of places to visit in Tirthan Valley in March as considered most popular tourist attractions and which must be visited.

1. Jalori Pass The Jalori Pass is a connecting link between Kullu and Shimla. It is one of the most beautiful passes while going to the Tirthan Valley. Visiting Tirthan valley in March is bound to bring ample avenues for exploration. Adorned with some truly breath-taking beauties like the Shringa Rishi Temple, and the Chehni Kothi, this place can't be missed out. The Shringa Rishi Temple is famous for its flawless architectural works and is home to the chief deity of Banjar valley. This temple is situated at a distance of 4 km from the main highway to Jalori jot and it holds great religious importance to the localities.

What to Pack: Items of personal use, Warm clothing, Sunglasses, Toilet Paper, Personal Medical Kit, Cash, Torch, etc.

Attractions near Jalori Pass: Chaini Kothi, Gaidhar Waterfall, Sirolsar lake 2. The Great Himalayan National Park The Great Himalayan National Park is located in the Seraj Forest Division at a distance of around 60 km from Kullu in Himachal Pradesh. It was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, in the session of the 38th World Heritage Committee in Doha, Qatar on 23rd June 2014. The Great Himalayan National Park is good for trekking and animal sighting. The best time to visit this park starts from March to June and Mid-September to November.

Entrance Options: Entrance to this great National Park is strictly by permit.

Fees: Permit charge for Indian visitors is INR 100/- per day and for Foreign nationals it is INR 400/- per day.

3. Budhi Nagin Temple Serolsar Lake is specially dedicated to

Budhi Nagin, meaning mother of all Nag deities such as Shesh-Nag, Kamru-Nag, Mahu-Nag, other Nag lords of the state. The temple is at a distance of 5 km from the Jalori Pass and takes around 1.5 hours to traverse the distance from Jalori pass to Serol Sar. Suggestions: The temperature is very cool all around the year. In winter, this place experiences snowfall up to 5-8 feet.

Considering the pleasant weather in Tirthan valley in March, it remains the best month to visit.

Location: 5 Km From Jalori Pass, Shoja, India

4. Raghupur Fort This fort is lesser visited as compared to the Serloser Lake but is in fact similarly amazing. Located near Shoja in Himachal Pradesh, the Raghupur Fort offers a 360degree valley view that stretches until the Dhauladhar ranges. Also known as Raghupur Garh, the Raghupur Fort is approximately a 3 km trek from the Jalori Pass and is a ruined fort with hardly a few walls standing. The walk to Raghupur Fort passes through a lovely forest and has spectacular views of the mountains, thus making it one of the most visited places in Tirthan Valley in March month.

What to Pack: Durable good-quality, trekking shoes, Thick woolen socks, Thermal innerwear, Torch, etc.

and clicking pictures.

Activites: Trekking, Fishing, Camping, River Crossing, Rock Climbing and Bird Watching.

5. Convergence of Tirthan and Flachan Rivers Nothing can be more magical than the joining of two water-bodies. The flow of the streams is just therapeutic. This valley has exquisiteness in abundance and has less tourist inflows that make it all the more peaceful and divine. The rivers of both these places namely Tirthan and Flachan merge into each other near the village of Gushaini to present a sight definitely worth seeing

6. Gushaini It is a small village in Tirthan Valley, located on the banks of the pristine Tirthan River. Gushaini is a door to Tirthan Valley and is hardly 10 km away from Banjar. This place is also near to the GHNP (approx. 10 km) that is preferred for staying by the enthusiasts heading to the park. The valley has surprises at each and every step. The peach, pomegranate, apple, pear and apricot orchards in and around to the waterfall makes it an amazing location. (cont... on page 32)

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This Farm In Bir, Himachal Pradesh Is Promoting Natural Farming And Helping Others Do The Same Aditya Minocha | Ayushi Jain A little more than 10,000 years ago, there was a revolution that has led to what we see today as civilizations, inhabitations and settlements of humans in geographical locations all across the globe. This revolution was the agricultural revolution.

The act of growing food is considered sacred by many tribes. Farmers are considered as lifelines of community settlements.

Yet, with the information age, while mankind has grown in technology, communications, digitization etc., we are gradually not only moving away from the basics of basics - growing our own food but the way we are growing our food is also changing radically. Food is now seen as a commodity that can be bought and not a shared community resource. Besides, our connection with food is no more than our connection with an electronic gadget we buy in a showroom.

This disconnection to our basic needs, that not only nourishes us physically but also our souls has led to disease and deterioration of our environment and our bodies.

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This Farm In Bir, Himachal Pradesh Is Promoting Natural Farming And Helping Others Do The Same

To counter this trend, Spero and Robin, a couple from America started a farm in Upper Bir, Himachal Pradesh with the help of a young and talented local man Matasharan to promote the practice of growing your own food, to preserve the heritage, wisdom, knowledge, practices and skills related to agriculture and farming. In 2016, they passed their legacy to Anshul and Angelica who, then took care of the farm until 2019 along with Matasharan who now handles the farm by himself with the help of some volunteers who want to learn about soil and food while working on the farm.

In the last six years, the farm has slowly evolved into a market farm, a demonstration of sustainable agricultural practices for small farms, a seed bank, a nursery and space for people to experience the abundance of nature and learn to grow their own food through volunteering and multiple courses.

Anshul graduated as an engineer and then moved to education to building/construction to farming for the purpose of exploring tools for a sustainable world. He also has experience as a facilitator with dif-

ferent organisations in Design Thinking.

Angelica hails from Colombia, is an architect by profession and has spent time in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu and Auroville while working with soil as a medium for food and soil as earth for building.

Their experiment with the farm was to develop different ways of farming in this area, develop crops and seeds, create a market for the farm and see how a community farm can survive in the evolving context of Bir. The farm is supported by individuals from Bir who take the seasonal produce from the farm every week. The farm also sells to a few organic restaurants and a local natural building institute. Besides food, the farm also provides seeds and saplings every season. By re-visiting traditional wisdom and utilizing appropriate technology, the farm is growing into one of the alternatives for a better future.

Anshul and Angelica spent the last two years learning about soil, food and the various relationships that nourish a farm and a person alike. They say they have learnt more about themselves than farming itself.

Rudolf Steiner, founder of the Anthroposophical Society, and one of the profound thinkers of the 20th century explains how food is the basis of the new consciousness required to deal with the crises humanity finds itself in. Healthy food will transform our ecological, social and spiritual relationships by transforming our consciousness.

To raise the quotient of our 'humanness' and grow as a society, we need to reconnect with our food and look at it as not just a source of physical energy but also a source for bringing a transformation in our psyches.

Their own lack of knowledge and understanding about food propelled their journey to discover how humanity lost this connection with food in the first place and how one can grow food that is pure and wholesome in today's context. ''In 2016, we travelled in North Colombia visiting some indigenous tribes and observed first hand how our development models destroy self-sustenance and create a culture of scarcity and disease. We documented the stories from this time here at our website," says Anshul "This experience reinforced our belief in the power of food and the need to find sus-

tainable agriculture solutions for creating resilient communities and our will to work on the land and with the soil only grew stronger'' he adds.

Shunya farm has been a work of learning and self-discovery as Anshul and Angelica put it. The work has meaning in doing their bit in reversing the ongoing destruction of communities, natural resources and putting in place the culture of farming for creating a better way to live, eat and grow food. ''The problem that we are dealing with individually and collectively is not just of food and farming, it is also the corruption of our souls which has resulted in unhealthy social communities and this has had a huge impact on our natural systems as well."

"We are responding to the needs of our lives and working on skills that we feel are required today and in the future'' remarks Anshul.

The most tangible impact has been the evolution of the farm itself. The farm today has a diversity of plants, some edible and some useful in different ways in the farm ecosystem. The creation of a seed bank is another important aspect. ''Through the courses, the impact is subtle but far reaching. Not everybody who comes to the farm and is interested in learning about farming, will not become a farmer. But we meet a lot of people who are seeking possibilities for the future, finding their role in it, with a need to develop a deeper connection with life itself." says Anshul. When asked about the experiences of the participants and its impact on their lives, Anshul responded that "This learning can manifest at different times and in different ways in people, depending on where they are in their journeys."

On a community level, the farm offers seeds and saplings to the farmers for free to encourage them to grow the diversity on their lands with a vision, to begin with, the

most subtle intervention. They also interact, talk and share their knowledge about farming and design learning, farm's techniques and philosophy, with the people crossing the farm and getting interested.

Since farming lands are rapidly being replaced by huge buildings in today's world, Shunya Farm welcomes children from the village to walk, observe and learn with a hope that they will grow up to see a farm as a possibility for abundance and diversity and not a sad landscape that doesn't hold any future for them.

While the journey of Shunya Farm has

produced an exquisite repository of experiences, an aesthetic space and healthy food, it hasn't been without treading on a circuitous route. As all farmers, the team faces ongoing challenges, most of which are difficult to prepare for. ''The lack of a community effort is the biggest challenge everybody involved in doing something alternative will face and we have experienced this in different places and contexts. One person can start weaving the fabric for change but it takes a community to hold on to the different ends of the threads'', is what Anshul opines.

"Our battles are with our own egos and insecurities and till the time people forming a community are not ready to work on this and trust each other, it is difficult for individuals to sustain any meaningful change," he purposefully adds.

(Source: thelogicalindian.com)

December 2019

17

Environment & people

We are all aware of e-waste but, the question begs, how aware are we of the actual risks that ewaste poses to the environment?

Ruehie Karri was always inspired by my father to do something that is universally good, something that gives back to the environment, something that makes the world a better place," says Sanjay Jangam, founder of EWA, a that recycles electronic waste to manufacture plant pots that are not only beautiful but also completely biodegradable.

EWA forms the culmination of several trials and errors of initiatives that were started with the sole purpose of bringing about a change and preserving our environment.

Electronic waste is extremely hazardous when compared to other wastes because of inefficient disposal methods used by the

"I

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December 2019

unorganised sector. This, in turn, contaminates water, soil and air. As no proper gear is provided, it also affects workers' health leading to damaged immune systems and even cancer.

According to a study jointly conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) and Frost & Sullivan, Bengaluru is generating 92,000 metric tonnes of e-waste annually and is one of the top five e-waste generators in India. Also, e-waste accounts for five per cent of the total waste worldwide.

Taking that into perspective, EWA sounds like a welcome solution. There are several ways of recycling this waste, but the million-dollar question is, how effective is this approach to minimise e-waste on the planet?

In conversation with Sanjay Jangam, a retired Commander of the Indian Navy, here's a captivating and passionate story of

how the inception of EWA came about and his thoughts on recycling electronic waste responsibly.

How did you begin with the idea of EWA? What does EWA stand for?

I've been dabbling in a lot of research, over the years. It was related to the various problems around us and their solutions that are eco-friendly. Starting with a project that can produce drinking water by condensing atmospheric moisture using clean energy to ride-sharing apps to thermoacoustic refrigeration, I finally came upon EWA. The other projects didn't take off due to many reasons, but I've not given up on them yet.

EWA is an acronym for e-waste and, it also means 'continued life' in Hebrew, which is very apt for what we do. Directly or indirectly, electronic waste is endangering life on earth, whereas, our EWA pots enable life.

Around seven years ago, the rising numbers of electronic waste caught my atten-

tion. It bothered me as the recycling of such waste was not being done responsibly, thereby causing more damage to the atmosphere. That was when I decided I'll try and do something in this area.

How did you decide to make plant pots out of recycled e-waste? What other products can be manufactured using these materials?

The raw materials that go into the making of an EWA pot are are leftovers from recycled e-waste that cannot be recycled any further, such as shredded circuit boards, unused plastic and insulation from wires.

My initial idea was to use this product as a construction material because the strength of this recycled material could rival that of concrete. But the cost of procuring e-waste is very high when compared to the costs of other wastes. Also, the waste that is hoarded by the unorganised sector in hazardous dumps is sold at a premium cost and is for all practical purposes unavailable. Since the economics was not working out, the project remained shut for a year and, then I met Guru Dutt, who's the co-founder of Rashi E Waste Solutions. EWA interested him, and I discovered that we share the same kind of passion and values. After several brainstorming sessions, we decided that instead of construction material, we could create something symbolic with this recycled product. That's how EWA pots came to life.

Our logo, 'What you give, comes back to you', resonates with how I feel about being responsible enough to start somewhere and keep doing my bit.

Our product is still in its nascent stage and, for now, we are thinking of introducing different sizes of pots. Very soon, we would be branching into the manufacture of planks and furniture.

What do you include and what do you exclude from the collected waste? In case you exclude, what is the disposal process of the waste?

I procure leftover electronic waste from Rashi E Waste Solutions. It collects e-waste and recycles most of it. But some parts of this waste cannot be recycled and is required to be sent to the landfills, which defeats the whole purpose. And, this is where my concept comes in. It makes use of the remaining waste to manufacture these pots. I'm currently trying to increase pro-

duction capacity with the ultimate intention of avoiding dumping in landfills altogether.

I feel this is the solution to recycling electronic waste responsibly.

What changes/differences have you seen, ever since you started this venture?

Well, we have produced around 2000 EWA pots till now and, we still have a long way to go. One EWA pot consumes the ewaste generated by one smartphone. So, through EWA, we got rid of the waste of 2000 smartphones in a completely ecofriendly way.

What was the response that you

received about EWA? There have been a few naysayers who have had an issue with the price of the pots.

But otherwise, the support has been overwhelming. If you can buy expensive smartphones, then you can definitely buy these pots. My clients are happy to give back whatever little they can by purchasing these eco-friendly pots.

How does e-waste contribute to polluting the atmosphere?

E-waste is hazardous and needs to be recycled properly. Ethical recyclers do follow these norms, but they end up generating some quantity of hazardous leftovers. These are dumped in landfills. After a while, these leftovers leach into the soil and make that piece of land unfit for usage permanently.

However, that is only part of the problem. The bigger problem is the unorganised sector. It does not follow the recycling norms and release toxic pollutants to the air, water and soil, thus affecting the environment in multiple ways.

Are you solely based in Bangalore?

How do you see your company expanding in the future?

Right now our operations are limited to Bangalore. However, I foresee this technology reaching out to way beyond Bangalore.

Our vision is to be able to cleanse the World of e-waste and, we believe EWA has the potential to do it.

How aware is the public about ewaste and its risks? What support do you need from the government?

Well, people are aware that E-waste is hazardous. But I don't think they are aware

of the enormity of the problem. Take Delhi, for instance. People are talking about crop burning, vehicular emissions, industrialisation, but there is no mention of e-waste. If not all, most of the e-waste collected by the unorganised sector in the country makes its way to Delhi.

Delhi is home to one of the largest dumping grounds for electronic waste and this waste is disposed of by the unorganised sector and they do not follow the recycling norms.

Our government has been doing its bit and, as a country, we have done much better than several Asian and African countries.

But the tragedy is that even today as much as 95 per cent of our e-waste ends up in the unorganised sector. That has to change.

I feel I have taken one small step towards addressing this problem. With proper awareness and support, there will be others as well who will join hands. We need to repair what we broke. Like our logo says, 'What you give, comes back to you'.

December 2019

19

Environment & people

Tejinder Kaur Anil Kishore Sinha

E

xcessive and unregulated pesticide use has not only poisoned the soil, water and environment in villages in Punjab's Malwa region - it has also increased health risks for the people.

Punjab, riding high on pesticides Pesticide use continues to be very high in agriculture in India, where estimated annual production losses due to pests amount to approximately US$ 42.66 million per year. Pesticides are chemical compounds that kill pests such as insects, rodents, fungi and unwanted plants (weeds) and mainly include insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. Insecticides form the highest share of total pesticide use in India.

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While Punjab is the third highest consumer of pesticides after Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, the per hectare consumption of pesticides is the highest in Punjab followed

by Haryana and Maharashtra.

Killers not just for pests Research shows that pesticides can contaminate soil, water, the air and vegetation.

In addition to killing insects or weeds that harm crops, pesticides can be toxic to birds, fish, insects and plants. Heavy pesticide use can cause a decline in beneficial microorganisms in the earth, leading to poor soil quality in the long run. Pesticide sprays can also spread rapidly through the air, posing risks to areas far away from the actual field of application. and they can reach surface water through runoff from treated plants and soil. Pesticides also pollute groundwater by

leaching downwards or vertically through the soil, thus insidiously entering the food chain. Groundwater pollution due to pesticides is a serious problem because it can take many years for the contamination to dissipate.

Pesticide residues can include heavy metals that are released into the water, soil and the food chain. Studies show that long term consumption of food and water containing heavy metals can be extremely harmful to human health, causing damage to the lungs, liver, kidneys and other vital organs. It can also lead to a number of physical, muscular and neurological degenerative diseases. Repeated and long-term contact with some heavy metals or their compounds can negatively affect the endocrine and reproductive systems and eventually cause cancer.

Malwa, the pesticide hub of Punjab

The Malwa region of Punjab consumes nearly 75 percent of the total pesticides used in the state. The high use of pesticides, along with environmental and social factors, is suspected to have led to a high concentration of pesticide residues in the water, soil and food chain, threatening the health of the local population and the environment in the region.

However, very few studies have attempted to explore the impact of pesticides on the environment, food, vegetables and water in the area and its connection with the debilitating health problems faced by the local people.

This study from two villages in Malwa region - Arnetu of Patiala District and Wallipur of Ludhiana District of Punjab - titled "Pesticides in agricultural runoffs affecting water resources: A study of Punjab (India)" published in the journal Agricultural Sciences, aimed at assessing: l Pesticide use and its frequency among the farmers in the two villages; l Levels of pesticide concentrations in runoff from fields, rivers and streams, and l Health impact on the residents.

The study found that: 1.

Pesticide use was very high in both the villages As high as 80 percent and 81 percent of respondents from Arnetu and Wallipur villages used pesticides in their agricultural fields.

2.

Use of pesticides depended on the type of crops cultivated Farmers who cultivated wheat were spraying pesticide three times in the whole crop season. Initially, herbicides were sprayed to clear unwanted plants like climbers and creepers. Pesticides were used later to control pests and weeds.

3.

Pesticides led to extensive water and soil pollution In this region, rain and irrigation caused extensive leaching or downward movement of pesticides and fertilisers through the soil and the unsaturated zone, to the groundwater. There were several other sources of water pollution as well, such as decayed animal, plant and nitrogenous wastes, industrial effluents and domestic wastewater containing detergents. High amounts of insecticides and pesticides were found in agricul-

tural runoff in all seasons, with the highest being after the monsoon, due to increased surface runoff.

4.

Vegetables were saturated with dangerous levels of heavy metals from pesticides Vegetables tested in the region along the banks of the river Ghaggar were found to be highly contaminated with harmful heavy metals such as chromium, manganese, nickel, copper, lead, cadmium and uranium. The concentrations of these heavy metals in all the vegetables samples were found to be

a range of health problems This high level of pollution of the food and water sources also reflected in the poor health of local residents. The prevalence of cancer and hepatitis C was found to be very high in these villages. Spontaneous abortions and premature births were also found to be significantly higher. Stillbirths were about five times higher as compared with figures from other South Asian countries.

higher than those recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) guideline values.

5.

River water was loaded with toxic heavy metals from pesticides The waters of river Ghaggar in the region were found to be heavily loaded with toxic heavy metals such as chromium, manganese, nickel, zinc, antimony, tin, lead, strontium, cadmium, uranium, titanium, with their concentrations being much higher than the safe limits prescribed by various organisations and agencies such as the US EPA, WHO and the BIS. 6.

People from the villages reported

milestones, exhibit a blue line in their gums, have mottled teeth and presented with gastrointestinal morbidities. Although no direct association was established in the study, the results showed that heavy metal and pesticide exposure may be potential risk factors for adverse reproductive and child health outcomes.

7.

Better pesticide management laws and their strict implementation and encouraging use of alternative practices like organic farming and use of bio pesticides like neem and plant-based formulations like Repline, Neemark and Indene can go a long way in preventing the negative impacts of pesticides on the health and environment.

A large proportion of children in the area suffer from delayed developmental

(Source: indiawaterportal.org)

December 2019

21

Environment & people

As We Lose Tropical Rainforests, We Also Lose Potential New Drugs Walter Suza

One of the greatest challenges in fighting diseases is the emergence of drug resistance that renders treatment ineffective.

G

rowing up in Tanzania, I knew that fruit trees were useful. Climbing a mango tree to pick a fruit was a common thing to do when I was hungry, even though at times there were unintended consequences. My failure to resist consuming unripened fruit, for example, caused my stomach to hurt. With such incidents becoming frequent, it was helpful to learn from my mother that consuming the leaves of a particular plant helped alleviate my stomach pain.

This lesson helped me appreciate the medicinal value of plants. However, I also witnessed my family and neighbouring farmers clearing the land by slashing and burning unwanted trees and shrubs, seemingly unaware of their medicinal

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December 2019

value, to create space for food crops.

But this lack of appreciation for the medicinal value of plants extends beyond my childhood community. As fires continue to burn in the Amazon and land is cleared for agriculture, most of the concerns have focused on the drop in global oxygen production if swaths of the forests disappear. But I'm also worried about the loss of potential medicines that are plentiful in forests and have not yet been discovered. Plants and humans also share many genes, so it may be possible to test various

medicines in plants, providing a new strategy for drug testing.

As a plant physiologist, I am interested in plant biodiversity because of the potential to develop more resilient and nutritious crops. I am also interested in plant biodiversity because of its contribution to human health. About 80% of the world population relies on compounds derived from plants for medicines to treat various ailments, such as malaria and cancer, and to suppress pain.

Future medicines may come from plants One of the greatest challenges in fighting diseases is the emergence of drug resistance that renders treatment ineffective.

Physicians have observed drug resistance in the fight against malaria, cancer, tuberculosis and fungal infections. It is likely that drug resistance will emerge with other diseases, forcing researchers to find new medicines.

Plants are a rich source of new and diverse compounds that may prove to have medicinal properties or serve as building blocks for new drugs. And, as tropical rainforests are the largest reservoir of diverse species of plants, preserving biodiversity in tropical forests is important to ensure the supply of medicines of the future.

Plants and new cholesterol-lowering medicines The goal of my own research is to understand how plants control the production of biochemical compounds called sterols. Humans produce one sterol, called cholesterol, which has functions including formation of testosterone and progesterone - hormones essential for normal body func-

tion. By contrast, plants produce a diverse array of sterols, including sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, and cholesterol.

These sterols are used for plant growth and defense against stress but also serve as precursors to medicinal compounds such as those found in the Indian Ayurvedic medicinal plant, ashwagandha.

Humans produce cholesterol through a string of genes, and some of these genes produce proteins that are the target of medicines for treating high cholesterol. Plants also use this collection of genes to make their sterols. In fact, the sterol production systems in plants and humans are so similar that medicines used to treat high cholesterol in people also block sterol production in plant cells. I am fascinated by the similarities between how humans and plants manufacture sterols, because identifying new medicines that block sterol production in plants might lead to medicines to treat high cholesterol in humans.

New medicines for chronic and pandemic diseases An example of a gene with medical implications that is present in both plants and humans is NPC1, which controls the transport of cholesterol. However, the protein made by the NPC1 gene is also the doorway through which the Ebola virus infects cells. Since plants contain NPC1 genes, they represent potential systems for developing and testing new medicines to block Ebola.

This will involve identifying new chemical compounds that interfere with plant NPC1. This can be done by extracting chemical compounds from plants and testing whether they can effectively prevent the

Ebola virus from infecting cells.

There are many conditions that might benefit from plant research, including high cholesterol, cancer and even infectious diseases such as Ebola, all of which have significant global impact. To treat high cholesterol, medicines called statins are used.

Statins may also help to fight cancer.

However, not all patients tolerate statins, which means that alternative therapies must be developed.

Tropical rainforests are medicine reservoirs The need for new medicines to combat heart disease and cancer is dire. A rich and diverse source of chemicals can be found in natural plant products. With knowledge of genes and enzymes that make medicinal compounds in native plant species, scientists can apply genetic engineering approaches to increase their production in a sustainable manner.

Tropical rainforests house vast biodiversity of plants, but this diversity faces significant threat from human activity.

To help students in my genetics and biotechnology class appreciate the value of plants in medical research, I refer to findings from my research on plant sterols. My goal is to help them recognize that many cellular processes are similar between plants and humans. My hope is that, by learning that plants and animals share similar genes and metabolic pathways with health implications, my students will value plants as a source of medicines and become advocates for preservation of plant biodiversity. (https://thewire.in)

December 2019

23

Environment & people

Shoddy impact assessments, mining and ruin in Goa Mandar Datar Sujeet Dongre and Madhav Gadgil

D

evelopment and its impact on the environment has long been a contentious issue in India, where lack of adequate monitoring and control mechanisms have led to severe degradation of land, water and forest resources. Mining activities in Goa have not only poisoned its land and water, but also affected livelihoods by negatively impacting agriculture, fisheries and forests.

While Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) are to assess the effect of developmental activities on the environment, there is no comprehensive study available on the quality of EIA reports or the ways in which issues are represented in these reports. The paper ‘A critical evaluation of environmental impact assessments: a case study of Goa mines, India’ published in Current Science discusses the findings of a study that evaluated EIA reports from 65 mines in Goa. What is Environmental Impact Assessment?

EIA is a process to assess the socio-eco-

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nomic, cultural and human health impacts of proposed developmental projects on the environment. According to the United Nation's Environment Programme (UNEP), EIA can be greatly helpful in predicting the environmental impacts of interventions at the early stages of project planning and design. It can also aid in finding ways to reduce adverse impacts, shape and redesign projects to suit the local environment and provide alternative solutions to decisionmakers.

EIAs can lead to reformulation or even rejection of proposed projects in case the negative environmental impacts outweigh the positive benefits of the proposed activity. For example, the EIA notification of 1994 states that concealing data or producing false or misleading data, decisions or recommendations in a report can lead to rejection of projects.

Mining in Goa Goa, the smallest state in India, is also a biodiversity hot spot, home to 27% of the country’s total flowering plant species and 56% of the country’s evergreen tree species.

This flora in turn forms critical habitat for a variety of fauna. Goa is blessed with the densely forested Western Ghats to the east; it has nine rivers flowing through its hilly midlands and rich coastal plains with mangrove ecosystems and paddy fields. There

has been some effort to protect this rich biodiversity by establishing national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

However, Goa’s hilly midlands are rich in iron and manganese ore. This has led to large scale mining in the region, which has spelled doom for the state’s rich biodiversity. A total of 79 mines located mainly in Bicholim, Sattari, Sanguem, Dharbandora and Quepem talukas, have been in operation in Goa. Uncontrolled and illegal mining in the area has raised considerable public concern, as reflected in the Justice Shah Commission report on illegal mining .

The study finds that mining has led to: A negative impact on agricultural productivity: Accumulation of dust on plant leaves, which has been found to in turn negatively impact photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration. This also possibly allows gaseous toxic pollutants to enter plants, leading to decreased productivity Severe depletion of groundwater and destruction of springs and other water sources Siltation of agricultural land and orchards Breaking of estuarine khazan (will add link for description) land bunds due to transfer of iron and manganese ores through boats in rivers Pollution of water and soil due to oil and iron and manganese deposits

Destruction of grazing lands Loss of fish and shellfish productivity due to increased turbidity, sedimentation and oil, iron and manganese pollution of the water Destruction of sacred groves and forests Disturbance to wildlife due to noise and vibrations Traffic congestion and road accidents Negative effects of air, water and noise pollution on human health Loss of livelihoods for those employed in fisheries, agriculture, horticulture and forestry Rise in social conflicts due to unequal distribution of resources and economic gains, increase in immigrants and rise in liquor sales Environmental impact assessment reports of poor quality The mining sector in India is known to be riddled with problems. According to the report “Out of control: Mining, regulatory failure and human rights in India,” India’s government often leaves mining companies to regulate themselves, giving companies control of decision making regarding assessing the impact of mining on the people and environment. This has proven to be disastrous for India and for countries around the world.

Thus, the process followed to prepare the EIA reports is many a time hopelessly dysfunctional and controlled by the very companies who are seeking permission to mine in the area. The reports that are brought out are inaccurate, deliberately fal-

sified and reflect total disregard for the environment and rights of the people who are affected by mining.

This study too finds that the documentation of the background situation / contexts in the mining areas is very poor, making it difficult to evaluate the impacts of mining on the environment.

The quality of EIAs is also poor due to lack of adequate information on: The type and number of water resources within the mine lease areas and the adjoining boundaries. This is critical to understand/evaluate the impact of mining on local water sources.

The people living in the area, their socioeconomic status and kind of work they are engaged in. This is vital to evaluate the impact of mining on the livelihoods of local communities, such as agriculture and fishing.

Actual distances between the boundaries of mine leases and protected areas; The flora and fauna of the mine lease and buffer areas; and Air, noise and water pollution The paper suggests the following steps to deal with the gaps in the EIA reports Making the process of generating reports transparent and involving local communities in the process.

Examining development interventions from the point of view of environmental and socio-economic sustainability and stimulat-

ing proper scrutiny of possible alternatives for meeting developmental objectives.

On-going monitoring of the project consequences, including environmental and socio-economic impacts to ensure that the suggested safeguards are being adequately implemented.

Conducting a thorough and periodic review of environmental clearance processes.

The paper puts forth some suggestions to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, GoI. The authors say that local communities should be encouraged to play a key role in the EIA process, and should be involved in the preparation, monitoring and implementation of environmental management plans. Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) should be established and empowered at the local level, to regulate the use of local biodiversity resources and to charge collection fees.

Citizens should be empowered to monitor the status of the environment through environmental monitoring schemes such as ‘Paryavaran Vahini’ of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of Goa. (Source: indiawaterportal.org)

December 2019

25

Environment & people

Helena Norberg-Hodge

Resistance to corporate rule at the policy level will need to be coupled with the generation of alternatives from below, to fill the gaps left by the departing old system.

The Promise and Pitfalls of Localism The fact that the language of localism is being increasingly co-opted by authoritarians around the world is itself a sign of localism’s appeal. Left uprooted and adrift by the globalized economy, people are desperate for a sense of connection: to one another, to the living world, to a place and a culture that’s familiar to them. Demagogues from Donald Trump to Marie Le Pen to Jair Bolsonaro have capitalized on this longing and turned it towards nationalistic and bigoted ends.

We need to make a very clear distinction between localism and nationalism.

We cannot eliminate the natural human desire for rootedness. Instead, we need to make a very clear distinction between localism and nationalism.

For most of our time on this planet, we evolved in intergenerational communities, closely bonded to the land, to the plants, to the animals around us. Instead of being dependent on distant, anonymous institutions and businesses, we depended on one another in human-scale structures and institutions. Localism taps into this deep need for community and a sense of place.

Nationalism, on the other hand, destroyed our sense of interdependence with human-scale community and the living environment.

Boundaries that ignored natural bioregional and cultural connections were forged by elites to create new artificial identities that promoted centralized power and, in many cases, the war machine.

To restore localized structures, we will need to enact a series of systemic changes to the way the global economy functions. Doing this would reduce or eliminate psychological as well as economic insecurity, and greatly lessen the appeal of authoritarian leaders, who prey on these insecurities and use them to their advantage.

The faux-localism of “us vs. them,” I have found, only emerges after genuinely community-based localism has broken down. It is a pale shadow that can only thrive in the absence of the real thing. I spent decades of my life in Ladakh, India, and witnessed firsthand what happened when the region was opened up to the global economy. The economic base of society veered sharply from self-reliant agriculture to jobs in government and tourism. People were pulled away from decentralized villages into the capital. Buddhists and Muslims who had previously lived in an interdependent economy were now pitted against each other over scarce employment opportunities. At the same time, exposure to the Western consumer culture—mostly Environment & people

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through advertising and tourism—led to feelings of cultural and individual inferiority. One of the results of this upheaval was the sudden emergence of violence and tension between Buddhists and Muslims which had never previously existed in Ladakh.

Physical dislocation, the breakdown of community, and psychological as well as economic insecurity—all products of economic globalization—bred intolerance.

These same factors are now causing similar problems around the world.

Because of this, big-picture activism will be necessary to plant the seeds and tend the shoots of a genuinely liberatory and regenerative localism. We need to raise awareness about the fact that governments are subsidizing and deregulating multinationals, while punishing individuals and place-based businesses within the national arena with heavy taxes and onerous regulations. We need to press for changes in taxes, subsidies, and regulations, in order to shift support from large and global businesses towards those small local and regional businesses that will form the bedrock of the economies of the future. At the same time, grassroots activism will be needed to help reconnect people with the communities from which they have become alienated, and to amplify the voices of indigenous peoples and others who have preserved the knowledge of how to live truly place-based lives.

wagon before it has already become unstoppable. Instead, we should look to local governments for solidarity. Mayors and local councils are already realizing what higher levels of government have not: that economic and political self-determination go hand in hand. Community rights ordinances, public banks, innovative local food purchasing programs—there are countless models showing how local governments can support local resilience.

The key to integrating these two “prongs” of resistance and renewal lies therefore in building a sense of civic engagement beyond the ballot box.

Consumer culture would have us think of ourselves as discrete individuals driven by self-interest, with no allegiance to anything larger than ourselves. But countless initiatives that are rebuilding community connections and deeper relationships to the natural world are already proving effective in reducing depression, anxiety, friction, and violence. And by revitalizing town squares and main streets and reinvigorating the public sphere, local empowerment gives the lie to the message of separation. We must leverage all the tools and passions of local activists, consumers, producers, and local enterprises, to show what is possible when we act in solidarity with our neighbors. We must demonstrate that local economies work, and work well, and then build from there.

sacrificed on the altar of corporate profits. A further benefit is that both the scale and the impact of climate-driven migration would be blunted by the emergence of more resilient local economies across the global North and South. Even in the absence of formalized coordination among the world’s localization movements, the whole would be—and in many places, already is— greater than the sum of its parts.

There are a number of networks of localist movements already in existence, from La Via Campesina and the Global Ecovillage Network to permaculture and the Transition Network. In these alliances, channels of cross-initiative communication are being opened up, not just for the purpose of information-sharing, but also for direct collaboration—and, in some cases, for the hashing-out of differences of opinion

Theories of Transformation What I am building toward here is a two-pronged theory of change that I often describe with the words “resistance and renewal.” It is at once “top-down” and “bottom-up.” Resistance to corporate rule at the policy level will need to be coupled with the generation of alternatives from below, to fill the gaps left by the departing old system.

This is not about ending global trade or industrial production, but for most of our needs, we will need to shift towards smaller scale and more localized structures: decentralized, community-controlled renewables for energy, revitalized local food systems to feed us, and robust local business environments to employ more people and keep wealth from draining out of our communities.

We can begin this process without national governments on our side. Indeed, it is unlikely that they will jump on this band-

Scaling Sideways and Up The one global problem that looms above all others is, of course, climate change, so it makes sense to ask what the program of economic localization I have just outlined can offer on that front. For one thing, the volume of global trade—which currently accounts for 4% of the world’s carbon emissions and is set to rise to 17% by 2050 under current trade rules—would be curbed in an economically localized world. For another, moving from the industrialized, global food system to more localized, diversified food economies would not only allow soils to sequester carbon rather than eroding into the sea, it would also liberate us from the yoke of multinational corporations and massively reduce our dependence on plastic and fossil fuels. The creation of interdependent, local food economies would also mean that biodiversity—both wild and agricultural—would no longer be

regarding future steps. We will have to bear in mind the lessons learned through the processes of engagement within these networks if we wish to scale the localization movement “sideways and up” in any coordinated fashion—for example, to tackle the climate crisis or trade policy at the level of international institutions.

In the meantime, the seeds of our local future continue to be planted every day. My organization, Local Futures, has collected some of the most inspiring and successful examples in our Planet Local library. As the fault lines in the global economy continue to grow, and the desire for genuine human connection becomes ever more keenly felt, these existing initiatives will provide direction as well as inspiration, and stand as a compelling alternative to the faux-localist path of violence, fear, and hate.

(Source: countercurrents.org)

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Birds vs Hydropower Project in Arunachal Pradesh: Who Will Win? The proposal for the 3,097 megawatts hydropower project in the biodiversity-rich Dibang valley of Arunachal Pradesh has once again been postponed for lack of clarity on its environmental impact.

T

he proposal for 3,097-megawatt Etalin hydropower project in Dibang valley of Arunachal Pradesh in India's northeast region has been pushed back yet again as questions regarding the project's impact on biodiversity are yet to be answered before it gets clearance.

Considered among the most biodiversity-rich areas of the world, the region where the project is proposed is reported to have 680 bird species - more than half of India's total bird species. Rare birds, as well as other important animals like the tiger, are found here.

The hydropower project, which has been awaiting forest clearance for years from the Indian government's ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) was once again discussed during the meeting of ministry's expert forest panel, the forest advisory committee (FAC), on October 17, 2019. It had first come to the FAC in 2014 and since then it has been discussed by the committee in 2015 and 2017.

First envisaged in 2008, the Etalin hydropower project is proposed to be developed as a combination of two run-of-theriver schemes and involves the construction of concrete gravity dams on the Tangon and Dri rivers. It seeks diversion of about

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1,165.66 hectares of forest area from the environment ministry. However, the area that is sought for diversion is classified as an "inviolate area" as prescribed by the environment ministry which is an area where no developmental project is allowed.

Of the total forest area proposed for diversion for the Etalin project, 134 hectares are very dense forest and 267 hectares are moderately dense forest. If the project gets clearance, it would result in the felling of at least 280,677 trees.

In the minutes of its 2017 meeting, the FAC had noted that the proposed project falls under the richest bio-geographical

province of the Himalayan zone and one of the mega biodiversity hotspots of the world.

"The proposed project location falls at the junction of the Palaearctic, IndoChinese, and Indo-Malayan bio-geographic regions having luxuriant forests and plethora of flora and fauna. About six globally threatened mammal species are found in this region of which three are endangered and three are under the vulnerable category," the minutes noted.

Project area is home to rich biodiversity The FAC observed that about 680 bird species have been recorded from this region which is about 56 percent of total bird species of India and among them, 19 are globally threatened and 10 near threatened.

It has four critically endangered, two endangered and 13 vulnerable species. It also has 3 very rare restricted range endemic bird

species.

"This makes this area a very important place in terms of conservation of globally threatened bird species," noted the FAC while adding that the entire region falls under "the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) management categories III and IV, Endemic Bird Area, Global Biodiversity Hotspot, and Key Biodiversity Area indicating its importance at global scale."

It is also a vital tiger area of the region and FAC had noted that the area has more biodiversity than any other part of India.

The forest panel quoted a study that used camera traps and captured "a total of 12 individual tigers and eight individual clouded leopards at various locations in Dibang Valley."

"A large majority, above 60 percent, of the camera traps were placed outside Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary which shows that both species are not only abundant but also very widespread in the district," FAC had noted in 2017. At that time it had recommended conducting multiple seasonal replicate studies on biodiversity assessment by an internationally credible institute noting that the current environmental impact assessment study was "completely inadequate" in this regard.

The minutes reveal that during the last few years, FAC had sought views of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), India's nodal body to ensure protection and welfare of tigers, several times in 2017, 2018 and 2019 - but has not received a response so far.

A subcommittee formed to check further assess the project In its meeting on October 17, 2019, the FAC once again discussed the issue and noted that the "recommendations of last FAC meeting has not been complied with fully and the replies submitted in compliance of all observations are not satisfactory."

Moreover, the FAC could not obtain viewpoints of representatives of user agency or state government, as no one was present at the meeting for consultation and clarification of doubts, the minutes said.

The FAC, therefore, recommended that a subcommittee "shall visit the site and check if the total land requirement could be further reduced."

"The subcommittee may also look into

the concerns highlighted by regional office in its site inspection report especially related to tree enumeration process and the aspects highlighted in biodiversity assessments study by the WII (Wildlife Institute of India). Report of subcommittee shall be exhaustive with appropriate recommendation so that the FAC could take appropriate decision," observed the minutes.

One of the concerns raised by the FAC in its 2017 meeting was that the project proposes a huge area for construction and dumping and thus had noted that the Arunachal Pradesh government shall explore the possibility to reduce area.

Environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta said that the "principal concern with the rec-

ed the ground reality as huge trees (oldgrowth) are not reflected in the final list.

The project's estimated cost is about Rs. 252.96 billion (Rs. 25,296.95 crores) and it has already been recommended environment clearance in January 2017. The MoEFCC's Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for River, Valley and Hydroelectric Power Projects in its meeting in January 2017 had recommended the environmental clearance to the project, which is being developed by the Etalin Hydro Electric Power Company Limited which is a joint venture company of the Jindal Power and Hydro Power Development Corporation of Arunachal Pradesh Limited (HPDCAPL).

Hydropower development is of signifi-

ommendation of the FAC is the fact that the mandate given to the subcommittee is only to look at whether the area can be reduced or not."

"In a biodiversity-rich area the entire thrust of the forest advisory committee should be to avoid diversion of the forest land. The subcommittee's mandate is extremely limited and all that you can do is to reduce the area. Given the fact that India is committed to the Paris Agreement for reducing deforestation and adding additional forest areas, the first task of the forest advisory committee should be to protect the area in accordance with the National Forest Policy 1988," Dutta told Mongabay-India.

The regional office of the MoEFCC in its site inspection report had not recommended the proposal in the present form for forest clearance. It had raised concerns that the enumeration of the trees has not reflect-

cance in Arunachal Pradesh with its hydropower development potential estimated to be about 50,000 MW. However, not even 10-20 percent of the potential has been realised so far as the biodiversity-rich state attempts to balance out infrastructure projects with environmental concerns.

The development of hydropower in the northeast has been on the agenda of the central government. In July 2019 the government had approved various clearances for the 2,880 MW Dibang hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh. In the past six months, it has also declared that large hydropower projects have renewable energy status and pushed for the enactment of a dam safety bill.

(Source: thewire.in)

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Scientists' warnings about climate change have intensified over the past 12 months.

O

ne year ago, the international scientific community could hardly have expected that Greta Thunberg, a teenager from Sweden, would become one of its greatest allies. Since beginning her weekly "School Strike for the Climate," the petite 16-year-old has skillfully used her public appearances and powerful social media presence to push for bolder global action to reduce carbon emissions.

"Again and again, the same message," she tweeted recently. "Listen to the scientists, listen to scientists. Listen to the scientists!"

Well, what are the scientists saying?

The answer, of course, is that they have been warning about severe global impacts from climate change for more than three decades. But over the past 12 months, those warnings have intensified. Reports detailing the massive environmental, economic, and human consequences of unfettered global warming have come at a fast and furious pace. And, collectively, they are far scarier than the sum of their parts.

The deluge began last October, with the release of a special report from the United

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Nations' global climate science authority, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), on the potential impacts of a rise in global temperature of 1.5 degrees Celsius or more. Three international IPCC working groups with 91 authors and editors from 40 countries examined 6,000-plus scientific studies and called for "global carbon dioxide emissions (to) start to decline well before 2030" to avoid the most severe consequences of global warming. It said, "global warming is likely to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate."

The release of the report provided a "breakthrough" moment in public consciousness and press coverage, with countless soundbites, headlines, and images warning of a "12-year" deadline to head off "climate change catastrophe." The "12year" catchphrase was even more alarming than the IPCC's already strong admonitions.

The planet won't implode in 2030, but further delays in major global actions will make it increasingly difficult to move to a low-carbon world.

In November, the United States' Fourth National Climate Assessment, produced by government and outside experts, reinforced the gloom-and-doom message of the October IPCC report. "Climate change cre-

ates new risks and exacerbates existing vulnerabilities in communities across the United States, presenting growing challenges to human health and safety, quality of life, and the rate of economic growth," it warned. The Trump administration's attempt to minimize media coverage of America's climate report card by releasing it on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, backfired: The congressionally mandated report got double coverage as both an environmental and a political story.

The dire news didn't abate as 2018 drew to a close. A December report from the World Health Organization (WHO) said that emissions from fossil fuel-powered electricity, transportation, and other sources are "a major contributor to health-damaging air pollution, which every year kills over seven million people." It called extreme weather events linked to human-caused climate change "a clear and present danger to health security" and concluded the health benefits of addressing climate change "far outweigh

the costs of meeting climate change goals."

Just as the disastrous future impacts of climate change were coming into clearer focus, we also received sobering news about the present. Last December, the Global Carbon Project projected that carbon dioxide emissions worldwide reached an alltime high in 2018, up more than two percent after three years of almost no growth. A January 2019 U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report estimated an increase of nearly 3 percent in 2018 energyrelated carbon dioxide emissions, the largest jump since 2010 - reversing a trend that had seen three consecutive years of decline. The EIA estimated that total U.S. emissions would fall in 2019, and that prediction appears to be bearing out, due to a drop in coal consumption. However, total global carbon dioxide emissions will see a rise again for 2019, says Stanford University's Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project's Scientific Steering Committee.

Alarm bells about climate change impacts in the Arctic sounded throughout the year. In April, a NASA-funded study of the Greenland ice sheet, published online on Earth Day, found the mass loss of ice discharged into the ocean from glaciers on the world's largest island had increased six-fold since the 1980s. Meanwhile, sea level had risen nearly 14 millimeters since 1972, with half of that in the last eight years. (Later, a severe mid-summer Arctic heatwave contributed to the historic melting of the Greenland ice sheet, with 12.5 billion tons of ice melting into the ocean on a single day - the "biggest single-day volume loss on record," according to the Washington Post).

A little-publicized Stanford University study, also released on Earth Day, found that global warming from fossil fuel use "very likely exacerbated global economic inequality" over the past 50 years. The study's

authors found that warming has likely enhanced economic growth in cooler, wealthier countries while dampening economic growth in hotter, poorer countries.

In May, a landmark U.N. biodiversity report provided another stark statistic: One million animal and plant species on Earth are threatened with extinction, and rates of extinction are "accelerating." The report gave a devastating assessment of how climate change and global economic development over the past 50 years have impacted nature and threatened the health of ecosystems important to humans and all other species. The report's research underpinnings are strong: a systematic review of some 15,000 scientific and government sources that also include indigenous and local knowledge.

In August, on the heels of recordbreaking global heatwaves, from South Korea to northern Norway, another major IPCC special report called attention to land-related climate change threats. It found that "climate change, including increases in frequency and intensity of extremes, has adversely impacted food security and terrestrial ecosystems as well as contributed to desertification and land degradation in many regions" of the world. The report recommended sustainable land development and adaptation practices to combat further destruction.

The highly anticipated September 23rd U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York brought additional climate reports. On September 22nd, the U.N. Summit's Science Advisory Group released United in Science, an ambitious synthesis connecting the dots between "the very latest authoritative" science and "concrete actions" to "halt the worst effects of climate change." The

IPCC released a post-summit blockbuster report outlining profound changes underway in the Earth's oceans and frozen regions, including glaciers and ice sheets.

The report concluded that warming oceans, melting ice, and rising sea levels are already affecting everything from coral reefs to the nearly 10 percent of the global population living in low-lying coastal areas - and negative impacts will greatly worsen in the future.

The oceans report capped 12 months of overwhelming scientific evidence of global climate change hazards. The consistent message is that severe climate-change damage is already well underway; some impacts will be long-lasting or irreversible; the damage disproportionately hits vulnerable populations; and combatting climate change will require unprecedented economic, social, and technological transformation. But, crucially, the reports say it is likely not too late

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(page no. 15 cont...)

Activities: Visit Chehni Kothi, Chhoie Waterfall, River watching Where to Stay: The Blue Sheep Tirthan, Tirthan Nature Camps, Bluehouse by the River

to prevent the worst effects of global warming by adopting meaningful adaptation and mitigation strategies.

So, where does this leave us? I'd argue that, more than anything, we're left with a heightened sense of urgency, as well as uncertainty, about immediate and forthcoming climate dangers. For many years, coverage of climate science reports had an implicit future tense, as in, "It's a problem for your grandchildren." Alas, the future came faster than scientists had predicted, and the world is now confronted with the reality of climate change-related extreme weather events and other threats.

The frightening wildfires now racing through Southern and Northern California show what this climate-related new reality looks like for the country's most populous state.

The upcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference - the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP25) to the U.N. climate treaty will once again put pressure on delegates from nearly 200 nations to deliver concrete action on promises made under the 2015 Paris Agreement. (COP25 was set to be held in Santiago in early December before the Chilean government abruptly pulled out of hosting the event.)

The disappointing substantive and political outcomes of the September summit in New York, particularly the lack of stronger commitments from big carbon emitters like China, India, and the U.S., mean expectations are low. The leadership vacuum left by American President Trump, with his strident pro-fossil-fuel rhetoric and planned exit from the Paris Agreement, makes things worse.

But don't underestimate the persistence of Greta Thunberg and the growing Fridays for Future youth movement she inspired. An estimated 7.6 million people protested worldwide during September's U.N. Climate Week. Strike organizers are planning a major global protest on Black Friday directed at COP25 decision-makers.

In her emotional speech at the U.N. Climate Action Summit, Thunberg chastised world leaders for failing to act on climate change: "For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight." Her angry phrase "How Dare You?" went viral on social media and millions viewed the video of Thunberg's speech on YouTube. This plucky young activist is likely to deliver a similarly strong message at COP25, pushing the scientific case for significant government action now to help protect her generation and others in the future.

How To Reach Tirthan Valley: The magnificent Tirthan Valley is approachable by almost all means. But the most suitable way to reach here is via New Delhi through the roadways. Otherwise, you can also catch a train to the nearest railway stations that Ambala and Kiratpur, and from there you can catch a bus or book a private taxi to reach the exact location. The nearest airport is the Bhuntar Airport, which is at two hours ride from the Tirthan Valley. Select a few airlines operate flights to and from there to other destinations. Helicopter services

by Jagson Airlines can also be preferred.

(Source: thewire.in)

(Source: traveltriangle.com)

(page no. 5 cont...)

Since the lungs of the children are still in the developing stage and they breathe air twice as fast as compared to the adults, their lungs are more permeable to take in impure air. Lack of help with healthcare also makes poor children vulnerable to air pollution. 300 million children live in regions where outdoor air is toxic, which is six times more than the international limits.

Do these kids really deserve to bear the consequences of the mess that we have created senselessly? It's a do or die to clean our environment.

Literally.

(Source: thelogicalindian.com)

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7. Pekhri Village The Tirthan Valley has it all, you wish and you get it. Another heartthrob is the Pekhri Village that lies approximately 2100 m in the eco-zone of the Great Himalayan National Park and is accessible via a dirt road from Gushaini. It is a traditional Himachal village which appears to be hanging on a mountain amid lush greenery. This place also leads to Rangathar and other treks.

Other Villages Nearby: Tinder, Nahin, Ropa, Shalinga and Talinga 8.Waterfalls near Tirthan Valley The Tirthan valley has spectacular waterfalls such as Chhoie Waterfall, and also a very least famous waterfall in the Jibhi Village. The Chhoie waterfall is also known as the Sai Ropa Waterfall. The trek to this waterfall is one of the easiest and the most common hikes in the valley. The level of water however entirely depends on the season but the majority of the visitors prefer this trek. There are many such beautiful waterfalls located in the forest near the Jibhi Village, which could be visited while you are in Tirthan Valley in March for unlimited fun.

Things To Do: Trout fishing, Rock climbing, River Crossing, Camping

(page no. 7 cont..) corporations. Both are downplaying the hazards of the ongoing contamination of soil and groundwater, which is the legal liability of Dow Chemical and refusing to get the contaminated lands scientifically assessed by competent agencies."

"The immediate deaths within 2-3 days of the disaster were around 8,000, and 17,000 more were witnessed slowly.

A total of 25,000 lives have been lost to the Union Carbide disaster, and the figures shown by the government are extremely less. This is affecting the overall actions that need to be taken," adds

Satinath Sarangi.

Three and a half decades on and four organisations, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Group for Information and Action and Children Against Dow Carbide, in Bhopal, are constantly fighting for justice on the industrial disaster. The organisations have filed a petition to improve healthcare services. The fight against contamination and for standardised treatment is on from the end of Bhopalis and organisations.

Eco Eco Facts If every American family planted one tree, carbon dioxide would be reduced by one billion pounds each year.

Only 7% of the of the Atlantic Rainforest remain.

IQ

Which of the following is an alternative material for making paper? a. Hemp

b. Panda Excrement

c. Sheepskin

d. All the above

Only 28% of the Indonesian Rainforest remain.

A billion trees capture atmospheric carbon equivalent to the emissions of one million cars every year.

2. Dropping the thermostat from 70 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (21.1 to 20 degrees Celsius) saves you about how much on your heating costs?

Every hour, at least 4,500 acres of forest are burned, cut down, or bulldozed.

a. 1 percent

b. 5 percent

More than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related causes.

c. 10 percent

d. 20 percent

An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day.

Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related illness The average person consumes 168 water bottles a year.

1.5 million barrels of oil are used to manufacture a year’s supply of bottled water in the US.

3. True or false? During a long trip, you conserve more fuel by driving fast and getting to your destination sooner than you do by going the speed limit. a. true

b. false

4. True or false? It is better to leave a lamp with a compact fluorescent light on than to turn it on and off several times a day.

1 Million – Estimated number of plastic bags that are handed out worldwide each minute.

500 Billion to 1 Trillion – Estimated number of plastic bags that end up in landfills each year worldwide.

A plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to decompose.

The two main sources of energy used to make plastic bags are oil and natural gas.

a. true

b. false

5. About how much money do you save by replacing a single incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light (CFL)? a. 1 $

b. 5 $

c. 10 $

d. 30 $

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Climate Solution?

Dhelli: The Indian capital New Delhi faces hazardous levels of pollution.

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Environment & People

RNI - 63997/94