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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 S. Raghupathy Prof. I.V. Muralikrishna Editor Dr. P. Narayana Rao

WAKE UP CALL BY WORLD SCIENTISTS n 10th November, every year, we are celebrating World Science Day for Peace and

Development. While linking science with society, this celebration aims to ensure that citizen is kept informed of developments in science. It also underscores the role scientists

have to play in understanding our fragile planet and in making our societies more sustainable. On this occasion, we have to respond to the recent warning by world scientists to humanity on climate change. In a paper published in Bio-Science, the authors, along with more than 11000 scientist signatories, declared climate emergency and provided practical remedial steps to be taken by policy makers. They presented graphs of key climate indicators over the last 40 years, since

Associate Editors Sweta Pendyala Dr. B.Ramana Naik

scientists from 50 countries met at the First World Climate Conference in Geneva in 1979. In 1992, Union of Concerned Scientists has sent the first warning document signed by 1575 world's most prominent scientists to governmental leaders all over the world .The document asked peo-

Sub - editor Swarajyam P.

ple to take immediate action against environmental degradation that threatens our planet. In November 2017, a second warning was signed by 15364 scientists and written by Professor of

Design arcongraphics@gmail.com

Ecology, William J Ripple of Oregon State University called for limiting population growth,

Edited, Printed & Published by P. Narayana Rao on behalf of society for environment and education, hyderabad.

scientists named climate change as climate emergency which will lead to untold human suffer-

reduce consumption of fossil fuels, meat and other resources. This month's final warning by the

ing if bold steps are not taken immediately. They projected a series of urgently needed actions such as efficient usage of energy and levy of carbon taxes on fossil fuel usage, stabilization of global population, ending the destruction of nature and restoration of forests and mangroves, eat-

Address for communication 302, Padma Nilayam, St.No. 1, Shanti Nagar, Hyderabad - 500 028. email: nraopotturi@yahoo.com contact: 9247385331

ing less meat and reduction of food waste and shifting economic goals away from mere GDP growth. The statement also mentioned the growing concerns over climate change such as global school strikes, law suits against polluters.. Etc. Professor Ripple said scientists have a moral obligation to issue warnings of impending catastrophe; "it is more important than ever that we speak out, based on evidence. It is time to go beyond just research and publishing, and to go directly to the citizens and policy makers " he said. The respective governments will have to pay urgent

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

attention towards the above warning and take immediate steps for preservation of human life on earth. Otherwise, future generations are not going to pardon us. October 2019

Environment & people

Bihar Floods in September:

content

Climate Change or Land Encroachment?

How gardening helped me heal after a personal tragedy - and can help you too

Bringing change beyond campus boundaries

How We Think about E-Waste Is in Need of Repair

Eco conferences

How we think about E-waste is in need of repair

Unleash animal spirits through affordable solar financing A clean up dive

This Architect's Low-Cost Algae Wall Filters Polluted Waters With No Chemicals!

Bio-Bricks Instead of Burning: IIT-H, KIIT Researchers Show How To Use Agro Waste

Eco IQ

Eco cartoons

Less force, more kindness as Sri Lanka tries to defuse human-elephant conflict 12

Environment & people

October 2019

Trekking Towards Cleaner Himalayas

Carbon emissions from loss of intact tropical forest a 'ticking time bomb' Malavika Vyawahare l When undisturbed tropical forests are lost the long-term impact on carbon emissions is dramatically higher than earlier estimates suggest, according to a new study. l Between 2000 and 2013, about 7 percent of the world's intact tropical forests were destroyed, leading not just to direct carbon emissions but also "hidden" emissions from logging, fragmentation and wildlife loss. l Another key difference between the old and new estimates is that the latter take into account the diminished carbon sequestration potential of these forests. l The authors write that the indigenous communities who live in and protect about 35 percent of these forests will have a bigger role to play in the fight against climate change. Losing undisturbed tropical forests is more devastating for the planet than previously thought, according to new research published in the journal Science Advances. "Our results revealed that continued destruction of intact tropical forests is a ticking time bomb for carbon emissions," lead author Sean Maxwell, from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Queensland, Australia, said in a statement. "There is an urgent need to safeguard these landscapes because they play an indispensable role in stabilizing the climate." There were 549 million hectares (1.36 billion acres) of intact tropical forests in 2013, an area half the size of the U.S. Each of these patches of forest remains free of large-scale human interference observable by satellites and are at least 50,000 hectares (123,550 acres) in size. Though intact forests constitute only about 20 percent of all tropical forests, they lock away as much

as 40 percent of above-the-ground carbon stored in tropical forests. The researchers assessed the long term impact, through 2050, of the loss of 7.2 percent of intact tropical forests between 2000 and 2013. They found that the carbon footprint, direct and indirect, was more than six times greater than earlier estimates had suggested. When only emissions generated directly by forest clearing are taken into account, the carbon footprint is pegged at 338 million metric tons. The new paper revises this to nearly 2.12 billion metric tons. By comparison, forests in the U.S. sequester 236 million metric tons of carbon every year. One of the crucial differences between the two estimations is the inclusion of carbon storage benefits that are relinquished when these forests are destroyed. "Intact tropical forests appear to be a net carbon sink, assume that this sink persists until 2050 and therefore account for this forgone carbon sequestration," Yadvinder Malhi, a professor of ecosystem science at the University of Oxford and co-author of the paper, told Mongabay. "Conventional approaches just look at the immediate carbon stock loss." These earlier estimates also failed to capture the impacts of degradation due to selective logging, forest edge effects, and wildlife loss. Initial logging in previously undisturbed forests opens the way for further incursions and selective removal of the biggest, tallest trees from the forest, which also diminishes carbon sequestration potential. Roads and pathways built to facilitate logging can intensify hunting pressure and precipitate the loss of animals critical to forest regeneration, such as elephants and hornbills. "Fragmentation results in the creation of edges where the microclimate

changes and this seems to increase tree death and biomass loss," Malhi said. The study could prompt a reassessment of the importance of retaining intact forests for tackling climate change. It suggests that in programs like REDD+, which offer financial incentives for countries to keep their forests standing, the focus remains on deforestation frontiers - areas that historically report high rates of forest clearing and not enough attention is paid to intact forest. Tom Evans, another study co-author from the WCS, says these relatively undisturbed forests serve as refuges for biodiversity, protect watersheds, influence regional climates, and even safeguard human health, because the risk of disease transmission increases when forests are opened up. At least 35 percent of the intact forests studied are home to and protected by indigenous peoples, who face a precarious future themselves. The ability of indigenous communities to protect their lands and the forests is constantly challenged; in recent months, the struggle by indigenous communities in Brazil to protect their land and their rights in the face of a hostile government has captured international attention. Maxwell echoed the view that indigenous communities are at the center of the fight to protect these forests. "Intact forests are often critical to the material and spiritual aspects of traditional cultures, and strengthening the land tenure of Indigenous and traditional peoples is a powerful way to protect intact forests," he said. (Source: news.mongabay.com)

October 2019

Environment & people

Rachna Jha The recent Bihar floods which extended till October has 'land and river encroachment' issues as a reason to be blamed. It is not just climate change. magine snowfall in New Delhi. Sounds impossible right? Well, something similar happened in the capital city of Bihar at the end of September and

Environment & people

November 2019

beginning of October, this year. Patna was flooded all over the city, including the famous Gandhi Maidan which made the residents use boats to travel out of emergency. The history of floods in the North Bihar has been prominent and predictable but Patna? Now that was something unimaginable. The devastation caused by the floods in the State was huge. According to the data published by the Central Water Commission, the Ganga River was found to be flowing above one meter to the dan-

ger mark in Patna. The danger mark was at 48.6 metres, and river water had reached at 49.57 meters in the state capital. The Railways, hospitals, power and educational institutions were heavily impacted due to the incessant rains. The business was hit badly as even drug stores were forced to keep the shutters down for fear of the stocks getting damaged and even swept away by a gush of water. Patna, Kaimur and Bhagalpur were the worst affected of all the cities in Bihar. The situation in Patna was especially quite helpless with

most of the areas submerged under 4-6 feet of floodwater. Talking to Environment & People on the same lines and explaining the existing climatic trends of floods in Bihar, Pratyaya Amrit, Principal Secretary, Disaster Management Authority, Bihar, said, "Patna was not in the list of action when the state was engulfed with floods. We were all geared up for the entire North Bihar (cities like Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Hajipur, etc.) which generally is the radar of probable flooding from the rivers of Kosi, Ganga, Burhi Gandak, Bagmati and Sone. The flooding in the capital city was quite unprecedented and, this took us by complete surprise. Flooding was a natural phenomenon in Bihar for many years, but Patna was not in the picture at all." The condition of Bihar has been awful as it is India's one of the most flood-prone states with 76 per cent of the population in the north Bihar living under the recurring threat of flood devastation. The reasons for this surprise disaster in Patna were boiled down to a couple of issues by the Principal Secretary himself. He added, "End number of unplanned development activities, land encroachment, construction of illegal structures, the rising number of population in the city and lack of importance given to existing drainage system were some of the major areas which need to be strictly focussed upon by the state government. Climate change has surely been the reason for this situation but other important reasons like encroachment cannot be avoided. When you have issues of encroachment of river plains and unplanned developmental activities, then these calamities are bound to occur. Can you imagine houses are being built by people in rivers plains now? Clearly, the capacity has been exceeded by now. There is a limit to everything, even of the land we use, the space we consume." He also said that a committee is being formed of which he has been made a part of, which will probably focus on finding out the reasons and lapses behind the waterlogging in the state capital with simultaneously identifying officers/employees responsible for the mishap. And secondly, the said Committee will prepare such a work plan for Patna so that the problem of waterlogging (due to whatever reasons), does not arise in the future. The areas of the state capital with the most unprecedented water-

logging happened were Rajendra Nagar, Kankerbagh and Pataliputra Colony. It's not the first time that land encroachment is being highlighted by the government as one of the leading causes of floods in Bihar. The condition is such that even

after a report which was published by the National Disaster Management Authority Guidelines, in 2008, the situation remains the same till date. "The lukewarm response of the states towards the enactment and enforcement of the flood plain regulations has fuelled a significant increase in the encroachments into the flood plains, sometimes authorised and duly approved by the town planning authorities" as per the a report published in the National Disaster Management Authority Guidelines, 2008 (January Issue).

Climate change has been believed as a reason for floods since long. But, land encroachment has also been one of the leading causes in the past and present. Now the Bihar government has also accepted it as the underlying cause of the same and this time with the capital being affected heavily, the

government has finally decided to pull their socks up in this matter to closely monitor the aftermaths of floods and restoration of the damage caused by land and river encroachments in the capital city. With the formation of the committee, there seem some hopes of positive change in Patna which shall prevent such disasters in the future. As a wise man once said, it's always better to be late than never.

November 2019

Environment & people

Deepika Kapoor Himachal has always been a traveller's paradise with an unending scope of the adventure, leisure and sightseeing. And thus, thrives quite a lot on its tourism. However, this inflow of tourist and adventure enthusiasts has left the once-pristine mountains in a suffocating state. The not so clean Himalayas urge for some cleaning, some healing.

t may not irk you one bit throwing a wrapper on the road, but would you do the same in your living room? Cleanliness is a responsibility that comes easy when there's a sense of belongingness." And, that's the sense that drives Pradeep Sangwan, a trekking enthusiast turned environmentalist who has found the true purpose of his life in Healing Himalayas! Trekking with a purpose-to teach people to trek responsibly and encourage them to clean up the mess on the trek route has been his driving force since 2011. Today, this zeal has led to sweeping away over 600 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste from various trekking spots in the Himalayan belt in Himachal Pradesh. Here's a rendezvous with the founder of Healing Himalayas, the NGO carrying out the largest clean-up drives in the mighty Himalayas.

How did the journey start? Not very different from the story of any returning trekker in the Himalayas, I was awestruck by its beauty and each time I went on a trekking trip, I longed for more. Thus, continued my expeditions. I eventually moved from

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November 2019

Haryana to Himachal in 2009, to fully enjoy my heart's delight. I had opened a cafĂŠ "Cafe Zeppelin" and continued to carry out excursions off and on. But with time, my viewpoint saw a sea change, and during my trekking, I started to see more than the all-engulfing beauty of the mountains. I began noticing the mess, the litter and the deprecating impact this had on the milieu I was in love with. That's when I decided to single-mindedly focus on cleaning the treks I trod on. So how did this individual effort shape into a structured organisation? After a few years of finding my true purpose of combining adventure and cleaning drives; I realised this individual effort can seek more helping hands and create a larger difference. The realisation met with an overwhelming support as people came forward. The inception of Healing Himalayas came about with the objective to give an organised shape to the efforts of all the volunteers that participated in the cleaning drives, while reaching out to more people and create awareness. After delving long, Healing Himalayas was founded in 2016 and in a span of 3 years we've truly made a positive impact, not just in terms of

cleaner trekking routes, but a cleaner psyche too! How does it all work? Which treks do you cover? How do you organise these cleaning drives? From random expeditions to well-organised camps, we've come a long way. Today, our schedules are jampacked. We've not only set our channels for collecting waste but also segregating and disposing it of in the correct manner. All the plastic waste we collect is sent out to the energy plants -one in Shimla and another in Manali, which has recently commenced its operations. Besides cleaning drives on our usual treks (Kheerganga being at the top of the list, then Kalpa, Parashar Lake, Mantalai Lake, Potter's Hills (Shimla)); we had recently organised a cleaning drive in Spiti Valley, which saw tonnes of waste removal, where plastic dump had outweighed the oxygen levels at the high altitude of 3800 metres. And that not the battle is won. Collecting waste is not even half the goal met. We literally had to bring down the dump, hold it and wait for a month to transport the same to the right place (energy plant), to ensure our cleaning efforts align with the larger goal of saving the environment. The efforts are being acknowledged and met with support from travellers, local communities as well as government bodies. To keep it sustainable and effective, we do charge the volunteers a minimal amount for their food and stay. The volunteers' physical capabilities are also accessed before enrolling them for a difficult trek because the biggest trouble point I've observed in today's enthusiastic traveller is that they want to do everything that is in vogue without being aware of the on-ground challenges. And trust me, the adrenal rush is not enough to complete the trek, handling one's trekking gear and constantly collecting the dumped trash en route. How challenging is it to find the right volunteers? As I said, it's indeed a tough task to assemble the volunteers because trekking and cleaning together are more challenging than thought. However, with more visibility to our work through social media circles, we've built a great community. I have observed a positive change since last year. There's not just been an increase in people coming forward, but an increase in the right ones joining the mission. Sensible and genuine trekkers have joined us who are willing to toil hard and dissociate from the dreamy idea of trekking only for the purpose of self-indulgence and social media uploads. What about support from the government? It's there. The Department of Environment Science & Technology Himachal Pradesh, the forest department, pollution control department have all connected with us to support their activities. We are working to provide (cont.. on page no. 32)

November 2019

Environment & people

Sweta Pendyala

Five scuba divers have initiated a sea cleanup in Visakhapatnam and uncovered nearly 7,000 kg of trash till date ooking at the current scenario, it's not just the land but, the water also needs some cleanup. Besides industrial pollution, plastic and other solid wastes are affecting everything underwater is the major issue and, this needs to be sorted at the earliest. Worrying about the same, a team of five scuba divers Subhash Chandran, a Scuba Schools International certified diving instructor, and other divers Padmavati Madipalli, Sachin Sharma, Saragada Appanna and Divya Teja from the scuba diving company Platypus Escapes in Visakhapatnam started underwater cleanup drive when they came across heaps of plastics and other solid wastes while swimming. "It was midOctober when I and my diver friend Sachin Sharma, we both were casually swimming, in the Rushikonda beach and suddenly found that the plastics got stuck in our legs, restricting us from swimming. We saw the horrible condition underwater and immediately ran towards home to bring our masks and start the clean up without wasting time," shares Subhash, a senior instructor with 13 years of experience and founder of Platypus Escapes, a Scuba Schools International (SSI) affiliated recreational scuba diving venture. That day, they collected around 400 kgs of plastics in two metres deep water and, since then they have been unstoppable. "It has become a regular exercise for all of us now, including my wife, who is a certified scuba diver. Except for the days when the weather seems unfavourable for diving, we continue our clean up dive without any fail. We

Environment & people

November 2019

collect between 400 and 500 kgs of trash comprising plastic and other solid wastes before we go for our day jobs. The collected trash is mostly oil and chips packets, atta and other plastic packaging, nets, as well as beer bottles and we, dump all of the collected waste in the municipality bins placed near the beach. This becomes extremely tiring as we have to come to the shore 4-5 times a day to dump all the garbage and dive back to collect more," adds Subhash who drives bike taxi for a living apart from giving diving classes under Platypus Escapes. Apart from the swimmers who face difficulties while swimming, it is the marine life that is under major threat in their land. "Many a time, we rescued the fishes that got stuck in the plastic covers. For turtles, their favourite dish is jellyfish and, whenever they see a plastic, they may mistake it for a jellyfish and try to consume it. Underwater pollution is making the survival tough for water bodies. We have even found turtles entangled in the net and, this is the reason why we carry a knife each to rescue these creatures," adds Subhash. Till date, the team of five scuba divers have collected nearly 7,000 kgs of wastes and says can clean 90 per cent of the waste (upper level) in two months. "Currently, we are freediving and going two metres deep, as we cannot afford the cost of equipment for scuba diving. I feel concerned about the ocean and its creatures as a scuba diver and will try to keep this going but, I need support from the government or GVMC. With support, I do not mean any monetary help but request them to permit my company to commence water sports activities. It will help me fund my clean up drive, dive a little deeper and also allow me to move towards other beaches," concludes the instructor, who is originally from Kerala and have worked as an instructor in Andaman earlier.

November 2019

Environment & people

Less force, more kindness as Sri Lanka tries to defuse human-elephant conflict Dilrukshi Handunnetti Several different methods attempted over the past 70 years to mitigate human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka have proved ineffective, experts say. l With more than 300 elephants and 70 people killed in 2018 alone, and a third of the island effectively elephant country, Sri Lanka is mired in an escalating crisis trying to balance its developmental and conservation needs. l Conservationists have called for designing development programs that account for elephant impact assessments, and abandoning translocations and other control methods in favor of electric fencing that has proven more effective. COLOMBO - When Chandi, an aggressive male elephant prone to breaking into village homes and destroying crops, was finally captured, he was collared and transferred to a holding ground in Horowpathana, in north-central Sri Lanka. A few months later, he was back in his home range in Galgamuwa in the northwest, where he resumed his old routine. In making his way back home, Chandi had walked more than 200 kilometers (120 miles). One-third of Sri Lanka is technically "elephant country," home to some 6,000 Sri Lankan elephants (Elephas maximus maximus), a subspecies of the Asian elephant.

Environment & people

November 2019

The herds are found predominantly in the island's north-central, northwest, east and the deep south regions. Such a high concentration of elephants across this 65,610-square-kilometer (25,330-square-mile) island also means Sri Lanka experiences human-elephant conflicts more intensely than any other country. Human and elephant deaths In 2018 alone, human-elephant encounters led to the deaths of 319 elephants and 70 people. Sixty-four of the elephants were killed by eating explosive-laden bait, making this the leading cause of elephant deaths on the island for the first time, surpassing gunshot injuries. These explosive devices are typically targeted at game animals such as wild boars and sambar deer. But their habitats overlap with those of elephants, with the hotspots being the island's rice-growing heartland in the north-central, northwestern and eastern regions. Prithiviraj Fernando, chair of the Centre for Conservation and Research-Sri Lanka (CCRSL) and a leading authority on Asian elephants, said the country has since independence in 1948 had to juggle its needs for development with the need to conserve elephant populations. Seventy years on, it's an even more precarious balancing act, with shrinking habitats and unplanned developments feeding an escalating human-ele-

phant conflict. Both sides have suffered. An increasing number of elephants are killed with each passing year, and the human death toll and economic losses from crop damage have also risen. "We are yet to strike a balance between the competing interests of managing conflict and species conservation," Fernando said, delivering a lecture on human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka at an event organized by the Colombo-based environmental organization SLYCAN Trust and Humane Society International. Translocations and 'elephant prisons' Following independence, Sri Lanka dived into irrigation-led development, drawing lessons from its rich agrarian history. But this focus on farming required restricting the elephants to protected areas a practice that continues today. But elephants, like other wildlife, don't recognize human-defined boundaries, and solutions such as translocations, elephant drives and electric fences have had little or no success. Fernando, who carried out Sri Lanka's first ever countrywide study of elephants this year, said these attempts fail to factor in the social structure and behavior of elephants. "Post-puberty, majority of adult males leave the herd and roam free," he said. These lone elephants, known locally as

thani aliya, are the ones that tend to encroach into human settlements, raiding crops and occasionally even houses. About 20 such single male elephants were caught, fitted with GPS collars and moved away from human settlements, with their locations transmitted daily to conservation officials. But the evidence shows that almost all of them eventually left the parks they were translocated to. Some were killed along the way, while others left a trail of destruction on the journey back to where they were caught, said Fernando, who sees the translocation of troublesome adult males from their home range as a failure. He said it often leaves long-term negative impacts on entire herds. Another solution, introduced by the Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), is to set up elephant "holding grounds" - or an "open elephant prison," in Fernando's view. In eight years, Sri Lanka has carried out three translocations of elephants to these holding grounds. Some, like Marumus, known for being aggressive, died of starvation at the holding ground. Communities living nearby were also unhappy; they complained that an "elephant prison" in their midst only increased the likelihood of human-elephant conflict in the area. In response to the complaints that it was "dumping aggressive elephants" on these communities, the government turned to another solution: the free distribution of elephant crackers, or ali wedi, devices that go off like harmless explosives and that are meant to spook elephants away from human settlements. But once the elephants figured out the crackers posed no actual

threat beyond a loud bang, they grew accustomed to them. Development-driven conflict Historically, to make way for development, authorities have driven entire herds of elephants out of their habitats. There's precedent for these elephant drives. The ancient Sinhalese developed an extensive network of more than 2,500 rainwater catchment reservoirs, or tanks, throughout the island to serve their irrigation needs. To make room for many of these tanks, elephant populations have through history had to be moved around. But elephant drives don't work, Fernando said. "Elephant drives often end up driving away females and the young, not the troublemaking single males," he said. And elephants are notoriously smart creatures: "Many will leave the area during a drive only to return soon after." The fundamental problem with the solutions that have been tried out is that the science is wrong, Fernando said. "All elephants cannot be treated alike. If the problem lies with a few single male elephants, it calls for a different solution," he said. He cited as a case in point an elephant drive in Thanamalwila, in Uva province. After weeks of herding the elephants, on the very last day, the herd of 107 mostly females and their calves refused to cross a road. For three days, they stood their ground, refusing water or food - effectively staging a pachyderm protest. There were only five adult males in the group, a clear indication that the drive had left the "troublemakers" behind. Fernando said elephants that remained in their home range despite a drive demonstrated behavioral changes. "About 400

didn't leave, and in response to this human intervention, they reacted by becoming aggressive," he said. "If you throw a direct challenge to the largest [land] animal on Earth, be sure that it will rise to that challenge." Seeking effective solutions Off all the options tried and tested, Fernando said electric fences were the only way to effectively prevent elephants from raiding crops - to a degree. Determining which areas to fence off and who is in charge of managing the fences raises a bureaucratic obstacle. Some forests fall under the purview of the Department of Forests, while others go under the Department of Wildlife Conservation. And just as with protectedarea boundaries, the elephants don't care which department controls a patch of forest. They also learn quickly how best to overcome the fences once they find out that the zap is only meant to shock. "Fencing is often done to prevent elephants [encroaching] than to protect villagers and their crops," Fernando said. "Fences should be fixed close to human settlement. Instead, there is an incorrect use of a useful method." Elephants show a strong attachment to their home range, where they are aware of the environment, their food sources are abundant, and they are generally safe. That familiarity with a location is important for most mammals. The solutions being tried factor in only human needs and overlook conservation concerns, Fernando said. (cont on page no.32)

November 2019

Environment & people

My time in the garden is when I exist only in the present, all worries falling away. I was drawn to the English translation of Baburnama because it was among the first autobiographies in Islamic literature. But what kept me riveted were Babur's poetic and practical references to flora. Babur wrote in Turki, and only two copies of it remained when his grandson Akbar inherit-

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November 2019

ed one of them. Akbar had it translated into Persian and embellished the pages with beautiful miniatures: many of them depicted flora, while some featured Babur himself, supervising the laying out of gardens in the charbagh style. What became apparent on reading the autobiography was that in a life filled with violent military conquests, palace intrigues and multiple marriages, the emperor wrote about gardens in Fergana and Kabul with a

terrible homesickness. His passages on tulips, melons, pomegranates and grapes are not only vivid but also contemporary. Even whilst he was proceeding on his bloody advancement through the dust and heat of Hindustan, he held onto memories of the gardens he had created as a green haven, a peaceful retreat. Babur expressed a wish to be buried in Kabul's Bagh-e-Babur, and although he died in Agra, his widow transported his remains to Kabul more than a

decade later, a journey imbued with spiritual significance and nostalgia. Not for nothing is the word paradise a synonym for enclosed gardens in Persian. The human connect with nature has long been viewed as one that is filled with therapeutic benefits. Much like Babur, people over the centuries have enjoyed the calming effects of gardening - its scientificallyproven ability to reduce harmful cortisol (heightened in stress response), beat depression and even post-traumatic stress disorder. In the United States, some prisons have adopted gardening as a correctional activity, mainly because it provides cheap vegetables, and found that inmates who actively engage in it for an appreciable period rarely return to crime upon their release. In 2007, a study discovered a bacteria in garden soil that

harvest, or in bouquets of blossoms derived from a few seeds. Richard Louv, a gardener and influential author of Last Child in the Woods, said, "In our bones we need the natural curves of hills, the whisper of pines, the possibility of wilderness." In 2005, he used the expression "nature deficit disorder" to describe how urban children are riveted to screens and as a result, cannot identify a flower or a tree. The possibility of wilderness in our bones is such a powerful metaphor that urban parents should take inspiration from it and involve their kids in at least patio or balcony gardening. Even six potted plants will open doors to the wonder of creation. I recommend easyto-grow butterfly-friendly plants, such as lantana, passionflower and clematis for dual benefits. The magic of pollination, of petals

blown passion. The early hour before breakfast became a sacred one, a kind of meditation, almost a dawn prayer. It is that hour when the sleeping world is barely stirring. Since I have, over the years, created a habitat for small birds, an avian orchestra drowns out the sounds of traffic as school buses begin plying. It is a time when I get down and dirty, running the friable soil through my fingers, feeling both the steadfastness of the giving earth as well the transience of a leaf. My garden has a parallel calendar and meaning. The fierce heat of May is tempered by the fragrance of my gardenia bush spilling over in scent and a profusion of white flowers. Come June, and my small water lily pond transports me to Monet's works. In August, my budding kadamba tree reminds me to make malpuas for

enhanced serotonin, a happy hormone. It is not surprising then that The Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture, published in the United States, is avidly followed by several occupational therapists and psychologists, who use their findings. Studies show that children from troubled homes have been greatly helped by horticulture therapy. A garden provides a stable environment, where teamwork is rewarded with fresh food on the plate. Children struggling with anger, rejection and a low sense of selfworth are likelier to be healed by what a garden offers - the colours, the life cycle of a flower, fragrance, sunlight and birdsong. They learn to live in the moment and plan for the future. While working in the garden, worries are suspended as one is engrossed in tactile tasks such as turning the soil, staking and weeding. That patience is a virtue is realised by a bounty of vegetables, come

powered by the buzzing of bees will be a wondrous experience for a small child. Mumbai resident Medha Shringarpure, who has created an impressive rooftop garden, has built a special butterfly and kids' corner for the children of her building in Mazgaon. Gardening has nourished my soul. I recently visited the famous Lunaganga Garden near Bentota, designed in the Italianate tradition by the famous Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa. The green lawns, with its sculptures, frangipani trees shaped and weighted into inspiring silhouettes, little follies and the silvery river were a welcome respite after Delhi's heat and pollution. Gardening entered my life soon after mother passed away relatively early. Missing her terribly, I tried to fill the void by ensuring that the plants I had inherited from her were not neglected. What began as care for a kind of memento mori grew into a full-

Janmashatami, for it is a tree under which the Hindu god Krishna teased Radha. I start poring over seed catalogues in September for I aim to have a completely different spring garden every year. I have been doing colour-coded ones for the past few years, sometimes pink and purple with dianthus and cineraria and then as vivid as the American flag with salvia, lobelia and white lilium. It is a time when I exist only in the present, all worries falling away. I am accompanied by my dog, who is invariably dive-bombed by the cheeky bulbuls who nest in my pummelo tree. Despite facing the loss of a loved one, perhaps because of it, gardening reaffirmed my faith in creation, helping me in many ways to accept the inevitable cycle of life and death. (Source: scroll.in)

November 2019

Environment & people

Bringing change beyond campus boundaries

Sweta Pendyala

If you have to bring about a change, then you will have to start from your home and exactly what the students of Manipal Academy of Higher Education did. he world is now aware of the adverse effects of plastic and, more people are taking baby steps to resolve this issue and students of Manipal Academy of Higher Education are a few amongst them. Rooted on the grounds of the Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS) 2019 campaign, launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the students from Manipal Institute of Communication (MIC) initiated the ‘StoPlastic Manipal’ Campaign against the usage of single-use plastic in and around Manipal. The sole purpose of the campaign by the 70 students that went on for four weeks was to spread awareness about plastic. It includ-

Environment & people

November 2019

on their daily plastic usage and provide them with better and efficient alternatives to Plastic. ed the harmful effects of its usages as well as the ways to recycle or upcycle it. ‘StoPlastic Manipal’, was organised to target not only the student population, comprising day scholars and hostlers but also the staff, faculty and locals. The main objective of the campaign was to create awareness by surveying everyone in the Manipal

“As a part of the Campaign, we conducted a ‘cleanliness drive’ to clean up the regions in and around Manipal and in the end of the entire campaign we collected a total of eight large-size garbage bags of plastic as well as other wastes that included rubber and other items and these are the places where municipality trucks mostly do not come, for example, tunnels. Out of the

eight bags, four were collected between Tiger Circle to Kamod Circle. This was our small attempt to ensure that the ban on single-use plastic is implemented and practised without any fail, at least inside the campus,” shares Nikita Yardi, a student pursuing final year of bachelors in Mass Media and team lead of the ‘StoPlastic’ campaign’. As focus through this campus initiative by the students of MIC was to not only make their campus a better and plastic-free place but also cover the entire Manipur and its surroundings, which is a small area. The students visited hostels of different colleges and collected clothes and plastics from there. They visited about 10 hostels as they saw it as a place where most of the students must be storing plastic wastes. They collected old clothes and plastics that could be reused to create something new. Continuing it further Nikita shares, “Plastic pollution, particularly by single-use plastic, is an extremely serious concern in India. The amount of waste generated in India per day averages out to 450 grams of waste per person per day. However, there is a lot of variability in per capita waste generation in India. Daily household municipal solid waste (MSW) generation ranges from 170 grams per person in small towns to 620 grams per person in large cities. Based on a study done on middle- and upper-class households in the Manipal area of the Udupi district of Karnataka, it is highlighted that each household generated about 820 grams of waste per day.” Spreading the awareness was a bit of a challenge as people do not generally pay heed to awareness campaigns that are being conducted on roads and in public spaces. So, these students approached it in a unique way to generate curiosity amongst passerbyes and make them enquire about it. “Keeping it close to the concept of the campaign, we created a plan that would help us create a buzz as well as spread awareness about the initiative and, it worked. We formed groups consisting of four team members in each, and they were spread across 13 places in Manipal. Instead of simply standing with banners and pamphlets, the volunteers wrapped garbage around their heads to put forth the point of how plastic is choking us ‘human beings’. The demonstration did create curiosity, and people approached us to ask questions. This

kind of campaign was approached and taken up for the first time in Manipal. We even had an online campaign where promoted our campaign with the help of celebrities like Sriti Jha, Sai Kumar and others. They helped us create awareness about the campaign on social media,” shares Nikita. Talking about the results of the campaign and post-campaign part, Jhansi Rani, who also pursues bachelors in Mass Media and was part of the team, says, “Our awareness programme about the campaign did work in our favour, and we got positive response not only from the college but also from all parts of the Manipal. The collected eight bags of garbage has been sent to Solid and Liquid Resource Management (SLRM) plant where they segregate the waste. We have also collected plastics and products which were made of plastics and sent all of it to Madhava Kripa School in Manipal as we conducted a workshop grade eight students in collaboration with Purple Space.” “We do not know how well people have accepted the fact of avoiding plastic usage, but there is definitely a positive change I get to see in my surroundings. Apart from all the 70 members from the team, who have changed their perspective towards singleuse plastic and eliminated it from their lives, there are a few friends and, people I know are also avoiding plastic or at least trying to avoid. I get to see small changes like refilling of bottles instead of buying new ones each time, avoiding plastic and carry own bag when heading out to a shop and trying to reuse that plastic as many times as possible. One shopkeeper in the campus surrounding now have started using wooden spoons instead of plastic. The feeling is great when I see people responding to our screams.” Shares Jhansi in a content voice. To start with something, or show them

that finding alternatives to plastics is not as difficult, they distributed around 70 cloth bags within the campus. All these bags were stitched by the local tailor using the old clothes that students had collected from the people. The students say that now they see people using those bags and, some have started avoiding plastic bags.

Adding further, both the girls say, “We expected a small change through this campaign as something is better than nothing. We hope more and more people would understand and implement it when they see the ones who are already doing it.”

November 2019

Environment & people

the few major exceptions are the USA (which hardly ratifies any treaty), tobacco industry strongholds (Indonesia, Argentina, Cuba) or places where tobacco companies stash their money (like Switzerland). The convention has a dedicated provision that, if implemented can protect government policies, from the assault of the tobacco industry. This is Article 5.3 of the convention, which states that "there is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry's interests and public health policy interests".

Dr Prakash Gupta

Tobacco control is not just a health argument but also an economic one. n the evening of September 23, people in India heard Prime Minister Narendra Modi announce during his Mann Ki Baat radio programme that his government had banned e-cigarettes. He emphatically voicing his concern about the growing craze for e-cigarettes and the harmful effects they had on users. The decision was applauded by India's public health community as an exemplary measure towards protecting public health. The same morning, however, a national newspaper reported that an official of the Tobacco Board of India was travelling to Washington to attend a tobacco industrysponsored conference. This was one more incident that exemplified the lack of a coherent government approach towards tobacco control policies and programmes. After protests from the health ministry and civil society members, the Tobacco Board official cancelled his trip. But it showed that the government has not been able to reconcile the larger concerns of public health harms caused by the tobacco industry versus the economic gains it believes it harvests from the tobacco trade. Vector of premature death

Environment & people

November 2019

Tobacco products are the only consumer products that can kill half of its consumers even when used exactly as intended by manufacturers. The harms to public health are now globally recognised. The tobacco industry is a vector of premature death. One in every ten adult premature deaths - a little more than one million deaths a year in India - is attributable to smoking. Considering the global nature of the industry responsible for this problem, the World Health Organisation in 1995 proposed its first international treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This highly successful treaty has now been ratified by 181 countries. Among

Low Indian ranking Earlier this month in New York, a global assessment of the tobacco industry interference and the response to governments to it was reported for the period January 2017 to December 2018. India's ranking is quite abysmal: it was 23rd out of 33 countries surveyed. Although India has achieved much in tobacco control, this report has highlighted the areas that need urgent attention. The basic issue is interference by the tobacco industry. The interference starts from the stage of discussion and formulation of any tobacco control policy. Later, when a policy has been formulated and notified, there is legal assault from the industry in the form of lawsuits. Since 2003 (the time when India's Tobacco Control Act came into force), the tobacco industry has filed nearly

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Environment & people

China and Ghana are looking less and less like electronic wastebaskets and more and more like leaders in a powerful, informal green economy rom its crowded streets, Hauqiangbei, looks like any other crowded Chinese shopping district, packed with streetside malls, snack vendors, and people in a sharp-elbowed hurry. But if you slip into any of these malls, it quickly becomes apparent that Huaqiangbei, located in the heart of Shenzhen, China's electronics design and manufacturing hub, is unlike anywhere else on Earth. SEG Plaza, at the heart of the Huaqiangbei District, doesn't look like a paragon of green innovation when you walk into it. The main floor is packed with kiosks and stalls selling a riot of the sorts of things you find only inside your computers: cables, RAM, CPUs, and fans. They're spooled, hung, and displayed in cases, looking not unlike a high-end butcher shop that might specialize in snakes and other coiled objects. Look up, and you'll see nearly ten floors of similar vendors selling similar wares. Who bothers coming here? The city's engineers and product designers in search of the pieces and parts necessary that can help them build tomorrow's-or today's-electronics. Need an Intel 486 CPU from the early 1990s? Someone at SEG Plaza can get it for you in bulk. Want the motherboard from a 2002 vintage Dell laptop? The man selling Dell motherboards will ask how many you need for tomorrow.

Environment & people

November 2019

Where does it all come from? In years past, much of the hardware in Huaqiangbei was imported from developed countries such as the United States, disassembled in infamously unsafe workshops elsewhere in South China, and then funneled into Huaqiangbei. It's a trade that was widely misunderstood and that has saddled China with a reputation as the world's electronic wastebasket. But the reality has long been far more complicated. On a recent trip at the end of May, I stopped by one kiosk with what looked like some older processors. "Where'd they come from?" I asked. The woman behind the counter told me they were reclaimed from PCs used in Internet cafes. That's potential-

ly a lot of PCs: China is home to over 140,000 Internet cafes, and their numbers are growing. Though it's little noted outside China,

these used parts are critical to the market'sand the global electronics industry's-operations. They turn up in unexpected places. In 2012, a US Senate Armed Services Committee investigation found at least 1,800 cases of used parts from China reappearing in US Navy hardware-in cargo planes, spy planes, and special operations helicopters. More commonly, used electronics components show up in children's toys, digital signs, and low-cost mobile phones. Is that a problem? It is if you've been defrauded into thinking you've just bought a new product and in fact you've bought one made with old parts. But from another perspective, Huaqiangbei is the green economy made

real. According to Apple, 84 percent of the carbon emissions associated with the iPhone 6s is related to manufacture of the phone-only 10 percent comes from usage. "This makes product lifetime the key determinant of overall environmental impact," explains a 2015 report from the Green Alliance, a UK environmental think tank. "A device that lasts longer spreads its manufacturing impacts over a longer time period." It's not just carbon, either. Re-use markets ease the demand for cobalt and other materials, the mining of which is often harmful to human health and the environment. Huaqiangbei has helped China do that for years. No regulations were needed to establish it. Huaqiangbei just kind of happened, an inadvertent and hidden model for what a sustainable electronics industry might just look like. The afterlife of our gadgets follows neither a straight path nor a simple narrative. These days, a majority of the world's ewaste is generated in developing countries such as China, which lack advanced technology to recycle it safely. But even if the advanced technology existed in developing economies, it likely wouldn't be utilized at the moment. Thanks to the economic slowdown in China, prices for the commodities recycled from old gadgets are at multiyear lows, hurting the bottom line of recyclers around the world. A decade ago, desktop PCs and monitors contained

several pounds of steel, plastic, copper, and precious metals. Today's super-thin products, much beloved by consumers, not only contain far fewer of these commodities but also are extremely difficult to recycle. As a consequence, the sustainable, environmentally sound electronics recycling industry is in crisis. One solution is to skip over the high costs of recycling and simply subsidize it. Japan has one of the most successful subsidized recycling programs in the world, but they struggle to collect gadgets from citizens. Even if they could collect 100 percent of the gadgets, they'd run into a different problem. Not everything is recyclable, even with the best technology-and more often than not, recyclers are left to clean up the mess. So in the early 1980s, recyclers in developed countries began sending PCs and other electronics abroad to places such as China. Few actually understood or cared why importers in China would pay to take the troublesome materials off their hands. But then, as now, the market driver was reuse. In circa-1985 China, for example, a used IBM PC wasn't something to trash; it was something to be used and re-used, and those early "e-waste" imports gave many Chinese students and scientists their first access to computing technology. Eventually, of course, that technology broke or became obsolete. But rather than trash old computers outright, savvy Chinese businesspeople would mine them for reusable components that could be resold as parts. That which couldn't be re-used was recycled-oftentimes in ugly, environmentally unsound circumstances. In the early 2000s, environmental and media organizations outside China "discovered" these unsafe recycling operations and published several influential reports that turned them into international environmental causes. Yet few, if any, of those reports actually went to the trouble of explaining-much less understanding-that the digital wastelands were the starting point of a repair and refurbishment process that wasn't happening in more developed countries. They also failed to understand that far from collaborating in "dumping" old technology on China, technology-hungry buyers in China were actually competing for the materials. According to my sources in Guiyu, China's most notori-

November 2019

Environment & people

ous e-waste processing zone, around 80 percent of the revenues earned from "dumped" e-waste comes from re-use. As China has become wealthier and started throwing out its own gadgets, the demand for used foreign electronics isn't nearly as strong, and thus the prevalence of Chinese domestic e-waste is more common at Huaqiangbei. But the trade hasn't disappeared entirely. Developing countries from Indonesia to India to Kenya are engaged in the same trade, with the same goals, pioneered by China. For example, Ghana has become a focus for exporters of used electronics from Europe. The intense media coverage of e-waste dumping in West Africa might lead one to believe that all those gadgets are bound for toxic waste heaps. But there's actually very little documentary support for that common narrative. In 2009, for example, Ghana imported 215,000 metric tons of "electric and electronic equipment," according to a comprehensive study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Of that, 15 percent-roughly 32,250 metric tons-was bound for the dump. That's a barely measurable portion of the 41.8 million metric tons of e-waste generated globally in 2015. Meanwhile, the other 85 percent of elec-

Environment & people

November 2019

tronics imported into Ghana was working or was repairable and, in all likelihood, bound for repair and resale shops. And the trade isn't just a pipeline from developed to developing countries. The global used-smartphone market amounted to 53 million units in 2015, according to the UK-based Green Alliance. It's likely to grow to 257 million units by 2018, as more smartphones from developing countries are upgraded. Some of those used phones will be trashed or recycled, but many will flow to other developing countries. These days, it's not at all difficult to find used Chinese phones for sale in Nairobi or Delhi. In fact, Apple has long tried to get permission to establish a factory in India to refurbish used Chinese phones. If it can't, those phones will likely flow elsewhere. And it's not just developing-world phones: in 2014, Sprint refurbished more than 80 percent of the 3 million phones it had bought back from US consumers. Collectively, these various trade streams form one of the most powerful informal green economies in the world. Formalizing it, however, requires more than end-of-life care. It's got to start in the cradle-at the design studios. Yet for reasons all their own, many of the world's biggest consumer-electronics companies are fighting tooth and nail to make repair more difficult. Some manufacturers have invoked copyright protection to prevent the online distribution of authorized repair manuals.

Others-especially Apple-have incorporated design elements that make simple repairs more difficult. A few years ago, Apple started using a unique "pentalobe" screw head to close up the iPhone. Anyone lacking a screwdriver that could open it would find their efforts at repair stymied, at least temporarily. Nonetheless, not all hope is lost. Specialized screwdrivers notwithstanding, hints of a more formalized re-use economy are emerging. The idea of designing for a product's afterlife isn't new. Manny Bodner, the recently retired president of Bodner Metal & Iron in Houston, Texas, told me that the scrap-recycling industry first contemplated the idea in the 1970s. Back then, steel mills were starting to mix new chemical elements into their steel to alter its physical properties. "But when it came time for the scrap yards to return the steel to the mills, well, they were in trouble," Bodner recalled during a phone call. The mills, it turned out, didn't want those new elements going back into their furnaces and messing up the chemistry of other steel products. And that left the recyclers with a real problem: where to recycle? As frustration rose, a solution was sought. As Bodner put it to me: "We need to have a design for recycling." It would take a few years for these ideas to coalesce, but in the 1990s, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), the world's leading recycling trade association, launched a Design for Recycling (DFR) initiative. The goal was single-minded: eliminate or reduce anything that might impede recycling their products at the design stage. A recycling-friendly design can mean a lot of things. For example, it can mean not installing toxic, hard-to-reach, mercuryfilled switches in automobiles (a long-

standing issue). But it can also be a principle; a recycling-friendly product is one that's held together by screws, not glues. Of course, this is all easier said than done-a point that Bodner, who led the DfR task force for ISRI over most of the past decade, tells me. "The incremental costs to make a product [that is designed for recycling] can't be so far away [as] to make it unattainable. It's not a feel-good decision, it's an economic decision that you can feel good about." Fortunately, there are companies thinking along those lines. Scott O'Connell, director of environmental affairs at Dell, has been thinking seriously about product sustainability for years. Over the past halfdecade, he's presided over the development of one of the world's first and most advanced "closed loop" recycling systems. The idea is simple: Dell collects used electronics, sends them to a recycler, and then uses the recovered plastics in new laptops. It's not a publicity stunt, either. In 2014, a Dell official told me that, while engineers work to save pennies inside a computer, closed-loop plastics used on the outside of a computer "save quarters." By early summer 2016, Dell was shipping 48 products that incorporate closed-loop plastics. O'Connell, in a call from his home in Texas, explained that "closed loop" and other Dell initiatives shift the frame of reference for the company's designers. "We're thinking about this from a downstream perspective. At some point, the laptop is going to a recycler." And that recycler might very well be supplying plastic to Dell manufacturing, giving Dell a strong incentive to ensure that the product is easy and cheap to recycle. For O'Connell and Dell, it's not enough simply to think about what it means to recycle. "We're taking our designers into recyclers so they can see, eight years down the line, the consequences of the good and the bad. We've found that to be a pretty powerful experience for them." Where Dell really pushes against the trend, however, is in the steps that it's taking to extend the life of products. From a sustainability perspective, this makes perfect sense. A product that is repairable and hence lasts longer is one that doesn't need to be replaced by a new one. The problem is that, at least superficially, this would seem to work against the mindset of today's upgrade-happy electronics industry. But

O'Connell tells me that's not necessarily the case. "Repairability: is it good for business?" He asks rhetorically. "Yeah, it's another touchpoint for the customer." So for a company like Dell, which has a large business supplying hardware to big commercial customers, repair is an opportunity to perhaps service thousands of machines. Or, even more promising, it's an opportunity to manage the end-of-service period for hardware. That might mean sending it into a closed-

can something as small and self-contained as a smartphone or a digital camera also be repairable for the average consumer? After all, it's one thing to repair a laptop (even a super-thin one), but a smartphone presents all kinds of new micro-challenges. That's the problem that confronted Dave Hakkens, a design student in the Netherlands, back in 2012. His digital camera had stopped working. But nobody, including the camera manufacturer, was willing to sell him the new lens motor nec-

loop recycling system. Or, even more sustainably, it might mean using one of Dell's service centers to repair and refurbish that equipment so it can have a second life elsewhere. And that means designing for repair is in Dell's interest. So-even at a time when electronics across the board are becoming more difficult to open up and service-Dell is actually taking an opposite approach. O'Connell points me to the company's Latitude laptops, which are aimed at business customers. "In the latest generation of those, we now have a single access door to the major components of repair." Consequently, rather than sealing up the computers Ă la the MacBook, Dell now allows access to the innards using a Phillips screwdriver. But this brings up a critical question:

essary to fix it. That got Hakkens thinking. For his final school project, he came up with a radical new idea for a mobile phone. Rather than build an entire handset that would be tossed away when it broke or became obsolete, he proposed a handset that's more like a skeleton and could be endlessly modified by adding and subtracting modules ("blocks") to it. Want a better camera? Buy a module and snap it into the phone's "endoskeleton." Care for more battery? Buy and snap in one of those, too! Hakkens's phone could theoretically last forever. In the fall of 2013, he turned the idea into a short and entertaining YouTube video that showed precisely how the Phonebloks concept would work and made the environmental case for it. As of 2016, more than 21 million people have watched it.

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Environment & people

Several companies reached out to Hakkens after the video went viral. Among them was a team at Motorola Mobility, then owned by Google. "Motorola asked me to work on it," Hakkens states. "But I thought it should be an industry-wide movement, not just a single company. I wanted to support other modular phones." It's an "idea for the world," says Hakkens, who has steadfastly refused to make money from the project.

Others are not quite so idealistic. In 2014, Google sold its Motorola assets to Lenovo but kept its team developing the modular phone. Since then, several modular phones have appeared, including the Lenovo-designed Moto Z, which allows users to snap a handful of accessories, including batteries and speaker modules, into a port on the phone's back. It's not close to Hakkens's original vision (a fact he acknowledges) but it's definitely a step away from the closed box that is the iPhone. Meanwhile, the Google team has embarked on a much more ambitious endeavor: Project Ara. The Ara phone is not just a simple skeleton waiting for modules ranging from screens to processors, Ă la Hakkens's original concept. Instead, it's a full-fledged phone that includes a screen and a processor. Modules can be added like blocks, but they're essentially accessories to a finished phone. That's going much further

Environment & people

November 2019

than the Moto Z-and way beyond current closed designs from leading manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, and Huawei. But it's still quite limited. "What if your screen breaks?" Hakkens asks in a recent blog post. "Well, you still need to replace the entire phone. And after a couple of years it gets slow, and you need to replace your entire skeleton." When I reached out to Google to discuss Project Ara, they turned down my request. Perhaps the problem was that I specifically wanted to discuss what-if any-impact the phone might have on the e-waste issue. Google, as Hakkens told me, has been less committed to this as a reason for building the phone. And perhaps that's how it should be. The point, after all, was to create a phone that lasts longer. The question of whether it generates less waste should-in theory-answer itself. Nonetheless, Google's modular phone isn't nearly as ambitious as the one that Hakkens envisioned. On a basic level, Project Ara fails to answer his original problem: how do you fix a broken digital camera? Presumably, the miniaturized cameras designed for Project Ara will be even more difficult to repair than the full-sized one that broke for Hakkens in 2012. And if it can't be repaired, what happens to it? Manny Bodner has spent his professional life in recycling, and he's concise in describing the conundrum. "Design for disassembly is not equal to design for recycling," he says. "You can safely disassemble a component that's hazardous." For example, it may be easy to remove and replace the battery module from a Project Ara phone, but without a safe recycling option, the benefits of that modular battery are nil. Bodner points out that the problem can flow in other directions, too. "You can have a

product that's very difficult to disassemble, but all of those components are safe." Would that product be inferior to a modular one made from hazardous materials? There are no easy answers to those questions. But perhaps the most daring response is the Fairphone 2, a modular phone designed in the Netherlands by a nonprofit "social enterprise" determined to change the conversation about electronics. The Fairphone 2 is expandable, repairable, and designed to be dropped and survive. But Fairphone's designers go even further: they work to ensure that the supply chains responsible for the raw materials in the phone are ethically sourced. At the same time, the company has made a commitment to recycling phones, including an unprecedented effort to import phones from Ghana for safe recycling in Europe as a means to balance out the Fairphone 2's overall environmental impact. When I ask Miquel Ballester SalvĂ , a cofounder of Fairphone, whether such a model can be profitable, he replies that the company has sold a total of 45,000 phones since 2013. (The iPhone can sell 45,000 units in a matter of hours.) And despite the impressive environmental benchmarks set by Fairphone, they can't top the green credentials of electronics assembled (and reassembled) from used components in places such as Shenzhen, Delhi, and Nairobi. But the good news is that Fairphone and other manufacturers, both big and small, are moving in the direction of repairable electronics that can and will be used longer. That's an important step on the road to sustainability. "Right to Repair" lawscropping up around the US can get us even further. The idea is simple: manufacturers would be required to make public their repair manuals and spare parts to anyone who wants them. It would also be in their interest to do so, if only to capture a bit of the already considerable revenues being made in Huaqiangbei. The automobile industry has made a fortune from refurbishing and reselling automobile parts for decades. Why not the mobile phone and laptop manufacturers, too? For too long, we've been stuck in the mindset that there's no value in repairing and re-using what we already have. It's time to fix that. (Source: anthropocenemagazine.org)

700 litigations against the government. As a countermeasure, between 2012 and 2019, the governments of 14 Indian states have developed rigorous policies to protect themselves from interference of the tobacco industry based on Article 5.3 guidelines. These policies were developed and adopted after the Karnataka High Court ordered the Central government to stop the Tobacco Board of India from participating in a tobacco industry event in September 2010. It also directed Central government to adopt a policy to protect itself from tobacco industry interference. The government has dragged its feet on this and currently its ministries and departments have no restriction on engaging with the tobacco industry. An absence of such a policy makes it much harder to advance the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Targetting young people Big Tobacco, on the pretext of targeting its deadly products to existing tobacco users, pays more attention on targeting potential users of its products, particularly young people and minors. New products like electronic cigarettes entered India's market rather surreptitiously. They come in more than 400 flavours such as crĂ¨me brulee, strawberry and mango which makes it a perfect lure for youth. When India announced a ban through an ordinance, the nascent e-cigarette industry went forum shopping (a practice adopted by litigants to get their cases heard in a particular court that is likely to provide a favourable judgment) and got a multinational company to back it. Due to the tobacco industry's behaviour as a rogue industry, government seems reluctant to regulate it or adopt stringent measures to eradicate tobacco use. Moving forward from the e-cigarette ban, the Indian government can do more to improve public health by phasing out tobacco use and curbing the tobacco industry. Tobacco control is not just a health argument but also an economic one. The annual economic costs of just bidi smoking amount to approximately 0.5% of India's GDP (Rs.80,550 crores in 2017, or Rs.100,385 crores in terms of 2018-'19 current GDP), while excise tax revenue from it is only 0.5% of its economic costs. Tobacco use has ruined families, eaten into household incomes and trapped communities in a cycle of poverty. These devastations have not been accounted for. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government to succeed in ending the scourge of diseases caused by tobacco, hard decisions are required. (Source: scroll.in)

social, and technological transformation. But, crucially, the reports say it is likely not too late 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 climaterelated new reality looks like for the country's most populous state. The upcoming U.N. Climate C h a n g e 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. (Source: thewire.in)

November 2019

Environment & people

Divya Kottadiel

India has tremendous untapped potential for solarpowered enterprises that now require access to affordable financing to flourish at scale ntrepreneurs using solar-powered appliances, such as machines used in food processing, manufacturing, tailoring, carpentry and others, face challenges in accessing end-user finance in India. Despite being a USD 50 billion market, lack of affordable financing options hinders these businesses from achieving scale. Lack of awareness and a perceived unreliability of the technology among financiers is a big challenge faced by the sector. Decentralised renewable energy (DRE) technologies and business models

Environment & people

November 2019

are still fairly new, and financiers are sceptical of the commercial viability of solar-powered appliances. "While conducting interviews with stakeholders across financial institutions we realised that for most financiers productive use of DRE was a fairly new concept," says Shaily Jha, one of the authors of a recent report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) that analysed findings based on interviews with bankers at the state and national levels, civil society organisations, and other financiers. Interviews were also conducted with over 300 micro-enterprises to understand the economic viability of solar-powered livelihood appliances. The report Financing Solar-powered Livelihoods in India - analysed two types of enterprises supported by Selco Foundation, a nonprofit based in Bangalore. These were tailoring and digital services (printers,

copiers, computers), known as Lok Seva Kendras. Repayment challenges Interviews with over 300 entrepreneurs using DRE-powered appliances found that those who were paying close to half their incomes on loan repayment were finding it increasingly challenging to sustain this level of pay out. In such cases, extended loan tenures were found to increase the feasibility and ease of repayment for the entrepreneur and reduce the likelihood of defaulting on the loan, with a marginal impact on the economic viability. Bankers also have concerns regarding the cost of evaluating and recollecting loans. Most loans for micro-enterprises range from INR 30,000-80,000. Compared with the administrative costs involved for banks, small loans like these become unviable from the bank's perspective. In addition, the lack of adequately trained capacity in rural areas to assess the viability of new technologies and business models, and the absence of collateral and credit histories for first-time borrowers is a big concern.

Several organisations are working with lenders and rural entrepreneurs to bridge the affordable finance gap, help increase confidence among financiers, and accelerate the growth of DRE technologies in rural India. While progress is slow, the sector is starting to see positive changes. Banks and financial institutions are recognising the market potential of these endeavours and are considering innovative lending mechanisms to leverage this opportunity and spur growth. Selco Foundation has been working with banks and other financial institutions to sensitise them on the opportunity in financing DRE technologies. Banks are also being supported in establishing end-user loans and other innovative financing activities. In addition, the organisation is working with banks to include a clean energy financing component within their internal training programmes, making DRE an important portfolio for bank financing in rural areas. Innovative financing required India will need USD 450 billion to finance its 2030 clean energy targets, according to estimates by the International Finance Corporation, the private sector investment arm of the World Bank. Innovative financing structures will be required to inject new financing into DRE. Since the cost of solar-powered appliances can be prohibitively high for users

and enterprises to bear upfront, and the corresponding benefits accrue later over time, debt financing - expected to be about 70% of IFC's overall estimate - is an option that can make it easier for entrepreneurs to commit to. Increasing awareness on the commercial viability and loan repayment performance of existing DRE-powered livelihoods will encourage more investment and scale in the sector, and help rural entrepreneurs access affordable financing even if they are first time entrepreneurs without collateral or credit histories. Evidence from the financial performance of micro-entrepreneurs in Karnataka shows that there is a significant increase in income after the installation of solar-powered appliances. CEEW researchers found that simply extending loan tenures made a big difference to the end users' ability to repay. Despite high upfront costs of these appliances, entrepreneurs were able to repay the loans from their increased incomes. On an average, annual incomes increased by

INR 20,000-25,000 after switching to solarpowered appliances, and over 60% were able to repay their product loans from their increased incomes. The need for affordable and adaptable productive end-use of energy has sparked several innovative solutions and created new jobs and avenues for skills development in rural areas, according to the State of the Decentralised Renewable Energy Sector, an annual report by the Clean energy Access Network (CLEAN). However, there is still a need for a more conducive financial environment for DRE enterprises to flourish and help cater to the growing demand for affordable and reliable energy. Government policies The CEEW report analysed existing government policies that target various categories of businesses and individuals to identify the scope for support towards solarpowered livelihoods. It was found that while there are schemes supporting technologies for income generation, their guidelines do not explicitly include solar-powered appliances and the value of such support does not account for the higher upfront costs of these products. CLEAN's analysis found that 78% of enterprises surveyed had changed their business models as a result of government initiatives. About 45% reported profits in the last financial year, and 57% were able to raise capital. However, bridging access to finance remains a challenge, especially limited end-user financing, owing to lack of financiers' exposure to the sector resulting in reluctance in investing. In order to scale up DRE entrepreneurship, what is necessary is a comprehensive approach including increased awareness around solar-powered livelihood technologies and their economic value, technology improvements and enhanced aftersales services of appliances to help reduce financiers' risk perception, capacity building of users, and policy support through the evolution of schemes. Targeted support of funds for DREenabled livelihoods, alternative and innovative loan collection mechanisms for frequent and flexible repayments, and adequate market linkages will help boost rural livelihoods and increase incomes. (Source: indiaclimatedialogue.net)

November 2019

Environment & people

Designed for artisans, this system is compact in size, allowing artisans in small industries to construct and maintain the 'wall' by themselves. Ananya Barua wo years ago, when Shneel Malik was on a trip to explore India, she discovered the seed of innovation. It started when she came across various smallscale artists, jewellery workers and textile dyers. Though she was fascinated with their work, Shneel noticed that the outcome of their art was not just a thing of beauty, but also of danger and destruction. The process of producing textiles often released toxic residues like cadmium, arsenic and lead into the waters in the area, not only polluting the water, air and soil, but, also jeopardising the life of the artisan community. But, the answer to this problem was not to eliminate their skill and means of livelihood, but to focus on just the putrid wastewater. Inspired, Shneel, an architect and

Environment & people

November 2019

This Architect's Low-Cost Algae Wall Filters Polluted Waters With No Chemicals!

currently a PhD candidate at the Bio-ID Lab under the Bartlett School of Architecture, London, along with a diverse team of experts, created INDUS-a modular bioreactor wall system capable of cleaning water polluted with dyes and chemicals. "Indus comes out from the research journey over the last few years where I have been investigating the large scale fabrication of biocompatible membranes for applications within our environment. In 2017, as part of an EPSRC Global Challenges Research Fund Project, I, along with Dr Brenda Parker (Biochemical Engineer, UCL) and Dr Laura Stoffels (Biologist, UCL), travelled to India to meet NGOs and conduct site studies to better understand the existing scenario within the artisanal communities; identifying potential design opportunities," Shneel informs, in conversation with The Better India. Brenda, a biochemical engineer and Shneel's Ph.D supervisor, has been conducting research using microalgae to treat wastewater. And Shneel's research on designing biological scaffolds for the photosynthetic activity of microalgae, compli-

mented her research. "Neither the artisans have any space available for Westernised high-tech water treatment solutions, nor do they have the economic capacity to get additional support. Therefore, we started to design a system which is both spatially compatible, but more importantly, can be constructed and maintained by the artisans themselves," says Shneel. Based on the principle of bioremediation, Shneel, Brenda, and Professor Marcos Cruz have designed this structure which is layered with microalgae and seaweed-based hydrogel. It cleans heavy materials from waste-water, everytime it passes through it. And, all of this has been done in a cost-effective way. Along with the help and support of NGOs like Pure Earth and CEE that focus on battling pollution, the team conducted on-ground surveys of multiple sites in Kolkata (bangle-makers) and Panipat (textile dyers), among others. "These site visits made us better understand the site and context-specific constraints and challenges in wastewater treatment," she told TBI. But, how exactly, does the system work? The tile-based modular bioreactor wall system, much like Shneel's previous projects, is an extension of nature itself, and is designed to clean polluted water through an assembly of tiles. Inspired by the complex architecture of a leaf, the tiles have veinlike channels carved inside containing algae prepared in a seaweed-based hydrogel which isolates the pollutants every time the water flows through the tile. After some time, thanks to algae's natural bioremediation capabilities, the hydrogel becomes saturated with pollutants like cadmium. It can then be processed to recover heavy metals safely, thus eventually filtering water for reuse for the purpose of manufacturing textile. One can pass the waste-water multiple times through the tile, depending on its toxicity. While on the one hand, the Indus project plans to tackle water and soil pollution caused by textile dyes in a cost-effective

and technically-accessible manner, it also hopes to empower the communities in the process. It aims to enable panchayats and rural community of artisans to sustainably regenerate water within their manufacturing process for reuse, as these tiles, according to the makers, can be produced locally by the communities using traditional clay-making methods. "What was extremely enlightening was the fact that these communities are becoming more and more aware of the urgency of fixing the manufacturing processes. They seemed ready to take that extra effort in making their surroundings

audience vote earlier this year. "I then travelled back to India to work with the ceramic artists in Khurja (ceramic capital of India) to make the very first ceramic prototypes of the tiles - which were then exhibited in New York," adds Shneel. Their Indus project is currently in the Research and Development stage. The next immediate step is to test a fully-functional prototype in-situ in the UK where they can refine the set-up for efficient performance. Following this they are hoping to do a pilot-test on site (in the courtyard of a textile dyeing unit in India) within the next 1 year.

livable. Therefore, a system like Indus is designed to empower the community, making them capable of adopting new forms of daily practices," she adds. After a few years of research, the team participated in an international research program and competition called the Water Futures Design Challenge by A/D/O, Mini, New York. The competition invited interdisciplinary designers from across the globe to design and develop potential solutions to tackle the increasing water crisis. Indus, which is developed as part of a research lab called Bio-ID (Bio Integrated Design) at the University College London, eventually went on to win the category award under the future systems and infrastructure along with the

"I imagine a system like Indus to revolutionise how we interact with our natural resources. We are making high-tech engineering techniques available in a rather low-tech manner, which will allow these communities to leapfrog into the future, while setting trends and new forms of daily practices for our next generation," concludes Shneel, who envisions to make Indus available to local communities in every corner of India, in the next coming years. A venture with an extraordinary promise, we extend our best wishes to Shneel and her team of innovators! (source: thebetterindia.com)

November 2019

Environment & people

Bio-Bricks Instead of Burning: IIT-H, KIIT Researchers Show How To Use Agro Waste

Rinchen Norbu Wangchuk here is no question that the construction sector massively contributes to global warming. In India itself, the industry emits 22% of the total annual CO2 emissions. And then there is agricultural waste-the country produces more than 500 million tons of it every year. While some of the waste is used as fodder, approximately 141 million tons are burnt every year. Evidently, all this pollution takes a heavy toll on the environment and human health. Fortunately, architects Priyabrata Rautray, who is also a PhD scholar in IIT Hyderabad's Design Department, and Avik Roy, an Assistant Professor at the KIIT School of Architecture, Bhubaneshwar, have come up with a unique solution. They have developed bio-bricks for construction from agricultural waste products. This innovation addresses both waste management and development of ecofriendly, sustainable building materials. Guidance for the project came from Prof Deepak John Mathew, Head, Design Department, IIT Hyderabad and Dr Boris Eisenbart from Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. "Bio-bricks or agro-waste based bricks act as good heat and sound insulators and also have an overall negative carbon footprint. Additionally, they are also a deterrent to stubble burning, prevalent in northern India, which causes severe air pollution. Due to their low density, they reduce the

Environment & people

November 2019

dead load in high rise structures, thereby making RCC construction more economical," they claim in a recent paper published by the Cambridge University Press. Why not use clay bricks instead? "Clay bricks not only use up fertile topsoil, but their manufacturing process also emits significant amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere," explains Priyabrata. How are these bio-bricks made? "The process of making bio-bricks starts with careful selection of the dry agrowaste like paddy straws, wheat straws, sugarcane bagasse and cotton plant. The team decided to use dry sugarcane bagasse for the first sample. The bagasse is first chopped to the desired size. A lime-based slurry is prepared, and the chopped agrowaste is added to the slurry and mixed thoroughly by hand or mechanical mixer, to create a homogenous mixture. This mixture is poured into moulds and rammed with a wooden block to make a compact brick. These moulds are left to dry for a day or two, after which their sides are removed, and the brick is allowed to dry for fifteen to twenty days. It takes approximately a month for these bio-bricks to attain its working strength by air drying," says a recent press release issued by IIT Hyderabad, via email. To make a single block, 900 grams of sugar bagasse is used, but if this waste were to be burnt, it would release 639

grams of carbon dioxide, they claim. Moreover, the lime content in each brick allows it to absorb 322.2 grams of CO2 from the air during the curing process. "Bio-bricks are not only more sustainable than clay bricks, but are also carbon sinks because they fix more carbon dioxide than they produce during their lifecycle," adds Professor Roy. Admittedly, these bio-bricks aren't as robust as their clay counterparts and are nonviable for structures that would carry massive amounts of load. Nonetheless, the researchers believe that they are ideal for low-cost housing alongside a structural framework comprising of either steel or wood. For the time being, both architects are looking to address design concerns to enhance its load-bearing capacity. "Other than as bio-bricks, this material can be used as panel boards or insulation boards and designers we could explore such applications for this sustainable material," adds Priyabrata. By 2030, about 590 million people in India are expected to live in cities, and we will need massive investments in the field of housing. Additionally, studies indicate that India's raw material requirements are expected to be near 15 billion tonnes by 2030. Thus, we must find eco-friendly solutions. (source: thebetterindia.com)

Lucie C.Vermeulen et al

A global study on pathogens in rivers finds that Indian rivers harbour dangerous levels of diarrhoeal disease-causing pathogens.

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iarrhoea is one of the leading killers of children under the age of five in developing countries. Diarrhoea is rampant in India, with diarrhoeal diseases being the most prevalent of all waterborne diseases in the country. Diarrhoea leads to the third highest proportion of child deaths in South Asia. Cryptosporidiosis, leading cause of diarrhoea among children A study titled 'Cryptosporidium concentrations in rivers worldwide' published in the journal Water Research informs that one of the important causes of diarrhoea is cryptosporidiosis, a parasitic infection which is a leading cause of diarrhoeal disease among children under the age of two in developing countries. For example, cryptosporidium related deaths in children under two are estimated to be as high as 202,000 in both SubSaharan Africa and South Asia. Community based studies in India show that cryptosporidium alone contributes to 3.9 to 7.1 million diarrheal episodes and 58,000 to 146,000 deaths each year in children under two years of age. What is cryptosporidiosis? Cryptosporidiosis is a diarrhoeal disease caused by a parasite named cryptosporidium. The parasite completes its lifecycle in humans and animals. The disease spreads from person to person after the parasites are shed into the environment; and their oocysts are found in soil, food, water, or on surfaces that have been contaminated with faeces from infected humans or animals. Oocysts are essentially thick walled and sturdy cysts or spores released by the parasite that are highly infectious and can infect a person through water and food. Infection often occurs through water, such as drinking or bathing in river water contaminated with faeces. Cryptosporidium oocysts can tolerate various environmental conditions and can survive in water and soil for many months. They can be transported long distances in the air and also flushed quickly into water sources because of their small size. The common symptoms of cryptosporidiosis include watery diarrhoea, stomach cramps and pain, dehydration, nausea, vomiting and fever. Cryptosporidium in rivers The study attempts to estimate the concentration of cryptosporidium parasite oocysts in rivers by using a global model that assesses and computes pathogen concentrations in rivers. The study takes into consideration human and animal sources of infection, the impact of factors such as the role of surface runoff in transport of oocysts from land to rivers, the impact of temperature and seasons on oocyst survival and spread, and the impact of soil, river sedimentation and river characteristics on

November 2019

Environment & people

the spread of infection. The study finds that: Rivers are one of the important sources of infection. Oocysts reach rivers directly through point sources such as sewer pipes or indirectly through manure transported through surface runoff. Monthly average oocyst concentrations fall in the range of 10-6 to 10 2 oocysts L-1 (monthly load) in most places. Critical regions with high concentrations mainly include India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Algeria, South Africa, Mexico, Venezuela, coastal areas of Brazil and some countries in Western and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Human faeces are a dominant source of pollution, more so than animal faeces. High counts of oocysts are found in untreated sewage in very large cities in developing countries. Parts of India and South East Asia, West Africa, Brazil and parts of the west coast of South America show high seasonal variability in presence of oocysts. India, China, Mexico and Nigeria show more concentration of oocysts in January than in July. The paper calls for the need to conduct more studies to gain insights into the transmission of cryptosporidium oocyst through rivers that can help in: Evaluating disease risk and gaining insights into risk factors Identifying sources and pathways of infection Devising effective control and management strategies to prevent further spread of infection among high risk communities. (Source: indiawaterportal.org)

(page no. 9 cont...) them with end-to-end practical solutions, using the experience and onground learning, acquired in these years. In return, we have managed to get support from them to dispose of the collected waste. We collect the garbage, segregate it, bear the transport cost on our own and then send it to their energy plants, for the proper disposal and upcycling. There's an upcoming cleaning drive in collaboration with the Forest Department in Shimla, around Malyana, a place which we had not ventured into earlier. Such small expansions reap great fruit. With the work you do, you are now an inspiration to many and also have become an influencer. What's your message to the youth? To save and preserve the environment, you don't have to go anywhere. Start right where you are. Small changes make a huge difference. Replacing a plastic bottle with a glass or metal one, switching to cloth bags instead of polythene and refusing cutlery in your food parcels are the first steps. Be conscious of your surroundings and sensitive towards the environment. You'll instantly start noticing where to cut down the carbon footprints. For my fellow trekkers, who'd like to join us or trek on their own in the lovely Himalayas, my message is that high music, boombox, and booze is not the only idea of fun in the woods. Create a different swag that aligns with nature. Where do you see your work in five years down the line? I would like to continue what I am doing. I am a simple man trying to clean and heal the Himalayas in the simplest way with the help of individuals and organisations that share a similar passion.

Environment & people

November 2019

(page no. 13 cont...) "Seventy years of seeking one-sided solutions have created more problems. And the data shows the futility. After 70 years of attempting to 'contain' elephants to designated areas, 70 percent of the elephants live actually outside the protected areas," he said. There is also increasing encroachment the other way, with villages expanding into elephant ranges for settlement, agriculture or as part of unplanned development projects. Community engagement "There are over 10 million people and over 4,500 elephants living in these areas," Fernando said. "It's not feasible to push 70 percent of the elephant population, currently living outside the national parks, inside. Instead, the existing farmer societies, numbering over 500, should be supported to put up fences and maintain them. "If communities lead, this conflict can be converted into coexistence, in time," he added. Fernando said conservation efforts don't often call for attitudinal change. In his 35 years of extensive field experience across Asia, Fernando said he had seen villagers often demonstrate compassion for elephants through rescues, providing food, and treating wounds. Framing the current conflict as a conservation problem is wrong, when it's driven by development, said Hemantha Withanage, executive director of the environmental NGO the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), which conducts awareness programs to educate local communities in northwest and north-central Sri Lanka about the often deadly impact of explosive-laced bait. "These explosive devices were originally manufactured locally but now come from all the way from Colombo, as conflicts with foraging animals increase," he told Mongabay. "Often, development projects are launched in elephant territory, cutting across elephant corridors and home ranges, increasing conflicts." Withanage suggested mapping elephant corridors and including specific elephant impact assessments, beyond the regular environment impact assessments (EIA), as a prerequisite for approving development projects. But finding an effective solution isn't so easy, said Chandana Sooriyabandara, the director-general of the Department of Wildlife Conservation. He cited a shortage of staff, resources and funding as the primary obstacles, along with the complexities of having to work across multiple government agencies. Withanage said the sheer intensity of the human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka nevertheless called for similarly comprehensive solutions. "Unlike many other countries, nearly half the country experiences this conflict," he said. "It is not limited to a single geographic range, but is widespread. The solution should be effective enough to address the problem and pave the way for coexistence." (Source: news.mongabay.com)

Eco Facts

Eco

1) If the entire world’s Ice melted, our sea levels will rise by 66 meters.

1. Approximately how much of global electricity output is produced from 2) Our oceans have an average depth of 12,400 feet. This means that most of the living things on our planet live in total darkness.

renewable sources? 1. 1 percent

2. 5 percent

3. 8 percent

4. 20 percent

3) The world uses 160,000 plastic bags every second. Plastic bags are now banned from supermarkets in most developing countries.

2. True or false? Hybrid cars are slower and less safe than conventional cars. 1. True

2. Flase

4) Plastic is Forever. It doesn’t bio-grade and go back to nature. It photo-degrades into smaller pieces of itself, continually polluting the environment throughout its life cycle.

3. True or False? Appliances that are turned off don't use any electricity. 1. True

2. False

5) The US throws away enough plastic bottles in a week to encircle the Earth 5 times! They’re only 5% of our population

4. What type of supermarket bag is more ecofriendly, paper or plastic? 1. Paper

2. Plastic

3. Either is fine

4. None of the above

6) In the last 200 years, we added 2.3 billion tons of Carbon Dioxide into our atmosphere. Half of this was added in the last 35 to 50 years.

5. Which uses less water, washing a full load of dishes by hand, or in the dishwasher?

7) We have already destroyed 27% of our coral reefs hich is home to 25% of our marine life.

8) We have explored more of Space than our terrestrial oceans.

9) If you go to the deepest part of our ocean, the

1. By hand

2. Dishwasher

6. Which of the following is an alternative material for making paper? 1. Hemp

2. Panda excrement

2. Sheepskin

4. All of the above

pressure can be compared to a human being trying to hold 50 jumbo jets!

10) The Ozone Layer “Hole” which is 29 million square kilometers, is expected to be fully healed in the next 55 years. This is due to the worldwide ban-

7. Dropping the thermostat from 70 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (21.1 to 20 degrees Celsius) saves you about how much on your heating costs? 1. 1 percent

2. 5 percent

3. 10 percent

4. 20 percent

ning of chlorofluorocarbon and hydro fluorocarbon. November 2019

Environment & people

Self-Destruct : When we destroy our environment, we destroy ourselves.

Reforestation

Environment & people

November 2019

Environment & People

RNI - 63997/94