SAVE ENVIRONMENT

UNFCCC-COP: Some Trends and Trendsetters

2011-11-11T01:57:00.001-08:00

The COP-17, conference is approaching, with multitude numbers of objectives, the events marks beginning of further initiatives...to begin with the speech of Prince Charles raises some burning issues through his insightful speech:

The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 7th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol, will be held in the sunny city of Durban, South Africa.

WWF India - WWF-India assists Sikkim residents in their need of the hour

2011-09-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

WWF India - WWF-India assists Sikkim residents in their need of the hour

Prof Wangari Maathai did not wish to be buried in a wooden coffin

2011-09-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

Wangari Maathai

(Born: 1 April 1940; Died 25 September 2011)

Wangari Maathai was the founder of the Green Belt Movement, an environmentalist, a civil society and women's rights activist, and a former parliamentarian. You can read about her life and her organization in her books (see below). You can also scan condensed versions of her life and achievements, including being awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Wangari Maathai had become a spokesperson for a number of important initiatives.

Our heartfelt regards and obituary to this phenomenal lady of our century.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Wangari Mathai, is not a figure that much unknown to people working or supporting the cause of Environment. Eventhen, some of the truths and achievements about this magnificent lady remain unknown to many of us. Yesterday (27th September 2011) early in the morning before leaving to my work when I opened Indian Express (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/green-warrior-and-nobel-laureate-maathai-is-no-more/852204/) I saw the news of sad demise of her death. Later for the entire day, through internet I read so many obituaries to her and happened to share my sorrows through some of the social sites. Eventhen, what impressed me most that she was not just Enviornmentalist she was a social phenomena on her own. A woman who battled almost every possible hurdle of her life to create a space of grandeur for herself, that too for an unselfish cause of human and environment. In same news on IE dated 27th September 2011. It was quoted;"Maathai, one of the most famous and widely respected women on the continent, wore many hats — environmentalist, feminist, politician, anti-corruption campaigner, human rights advocate, protester and head of the Green Belt Movement she founded.". Certainly she was a women who deserves many applauds for her courage and path of wisdom, which she had shown to people of world around. Her life is message and inspiration for generations to come.

___________________________

Excerpts from THE GUARDIAN-UK

Environmentalist and human rights campaigner Wangari Maathai in Kiriti, Kenya, in 2004. Photograph: Micheline Pelletier/Corbis

For a young Kikuyu girl growing up in the early 1940s, the small village of Ihithe, in the lush central highlands of Kenya, was next to perfect. There were no books or gadgets in the houses, but there were leopards and elephants in the thick forests around, clean water, rich soils, and food and work for everyone. "It was heaven. We wanted for nothing," Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel peace prize winner, who has died of cancer aged 71, told me when I saw her last in Nairobi. "Now the forests have come down, the land has been turned to commercial farming, the tea plantations keep everyone poor, and the economic system does not allow people to appreciate the beauty of where they live."

Maathai was lucky. If she had been born even a year later, she and her family would have probably been caught up in the Mau Mau uprising that raged around Ihithe, and it is unlikely that she would have got any kind of education at all. "You would see me there now: I most likely would have stayed in Ihithe, married, had children, and continued to work the land. I would not tell stories, because they have been replaced by radio, books and TV," she said.

As it was, her family sent her away to a primary school run by Italian nuns, where she excelled. But her remarkable academic rise to become the first woman to run a university department in Kenya was due entirely to her closeness to nature. It was the land that showed her and taught her everything, she said.

After graduating in 1959, she won a scholarship to study in the US, as part of the "Kennedy airlift" in which 300 Kenyans – including Barack Obama's father – were chosen to study at American universities in 1960. After further study in Germany, she returned to a newly independent Kenya in 1966, and five years later become the first woman in east and central Africa to obtain a PhD from an African university. There followed a tumultuous personal and public 40 years in which she ran the University of Nairobi's veterinary department, was imprisoned several times, stood for president, became a minister and won the Nobel peace prize.

Her early work as a vet took her to some of Kenya's poorest areas, where she saw firsthand the degradation of the environment and the stress it put on the lives of women who produced most of the food. Kenya's forests were being cleared and replaced by commercial plantations. The result was more drought, loss of biodiversity and increased poverty. The experience, she said, made her determined to address the linked, root causes of poverty and environmental destruction.

It also coincided with her marriage to Mwangi Mathai, a young Kenyan politician who had also studied in the US. The union, she said later, was "a catastrophe", but it led to her championing the cause of women for the rest of her life: "I should have known that ambition and success were not to be expected in an African woman. An African woman should be a good African woman whose qualities should be coyness, shyness, submissiveness, incompetence and crippling dependency. A highly educated independent African woman is bound to be dominant, aggressive, uncontrollable, a bad influence."

Mwangi Mathai left her in 1977, suing for divorce and saying she was too strong-minded and that he was unable to control her. When she later, perhaps unwisely, referred in a magazine interview to the divorce judge as "either incompetent or corrupt", she was charged with contempt of court and sentenced to six months in prison. She only served a few days, but when her husband demanded she drop his surname, she defiantly chose to add an extra "a". Realisation that communities were destroying their own resources led her to work directly with the poorest. It was the women, she reasoned, who experienced the worst impact of a degraded environment. In 1977, she set up the Green Belt movement, more in hope than expectation that it would grow.

"They lack wood fuel, water, food and fodder. They are poor, have no cash income and are confined to rural life," she told me. "They find themselves in a vicious cycle of debilitating poverty, lost self-confidence and a never-ending struggle to meet their most basic needs." Initially, the Green Belt movement's tree-planting activities did not address issues of democracy and peace, but it soon became clear to her that responsible governance of the environment was impossible without democratic space. The tree became a symbol for the democratic struggle in Kenya and a way of challenging widespread abuses of power, corruption and environmental mismanagement. She and others planted trees in Uhuru park, Nairobi, to demand the release of prisoners of conscience and a peaceful transition to democracy. But as she became more vocal in her criticism of Kenyan elites, she ran headfirst into the corruption and casual brutality that surrounded President Daniel arap Moi. There had been attempts before to dismiss her as mad or foolish, but she came to prominence in 1989 when she led a campaign to stop the construction of a multimillion-pound office development in Uhuru park, Nairobi's equivalent of Hyde park in London. The complex, backed by the media tycoon Robert Maxwell, was about to be built when Maathai and other pro-democracy individuals challenged Moi in the courts. The international campaign succeeded and the development was scuppered. Moi and the political establishment were furious.

In 1992, she found herself on a list of people targeted by the government for assassination. For protection, and as a defiant statement, she publicly barricaded herself in her home for three days before the police broke in to arrest her. She and others were charged with sedition and treason, and were only released after a campaign orchestrated by the Kennedys.

Maathai and the rest did not stop there. They took part in a hunger strike in Uhuru park, which they labelled Freedom Corner, to pressure the government to release political prisoners. After four days, she and three others were beaten up by the police. This time Moi called her "a mad woman" who was "a threat to the order and security of the country". For the next few years she lived in fear of her life, and was increasingly threatened and vilified by political leaders. In 1993, she was forced into hiding after Moi claimed she was responsible for leaflets inciting Kikuyus to attack Kalenjins. As her political thinking developed, she became increasingly critical of worldwide governance. Her falling-out with politicians in Kenya reflected her deep disillusionment with the World Bank, the IMF, Britain and other former colonial powers. Increasingly she sided with the world's poorest people, becoming a hero of the worldwide ecological and African democracy movements. "The elites have become predators, self-serving and only turning to people when they need them. We can never all be equal, but we can ensure we do not allow excessive poverty or wealth. Inequality breeds insecurity," she said.

By this time, the Green Belt was flourishing. What began as a few women planting trees became a network of 600 community groups that cared for 6,000 tree nurseries, which were often supervised by disabled and mentally ill people in the villages. By 2004, more than 30m trees had been planted, and the movement had branches in 30 countries. In Kenya, it has become an unofficial agricultural advice service, a community regeneration project and a job-creation plan all in one.

In the early 1990s, Maathai moved into mainstream Kenyan politics. She set up Mazingira, the Kenyan Green Party, winning 98% of the votes in her constituency, and then joined the coalition that finally overthrew Moi in 2002. She was a junior environment minister in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005. She later planned to run for president but claims she was tricked out of it.

In 2004, seemingly out of the blue, she was awarded the Nobel peace prize, to the consternation of many politicians and governments who still did not see the "peace" connection between human rights and the environment. It gave her an international profile and a strong platform to travel the world, pressing home the message that ecology and democracy were indivisible. In 2006, she led a Unep tree-planting scheme that has resulted in more than 7bn trees being planted across the planet.

In her last years, she took on the commercial palm plantations that have destroyed so much of Indonesia and Malaysia and badgered politicians to address climate change, which she said was hurting women the most.

"The tree is just a symbol for what happens to the environment. The act of planting one is a symbol of revitalising the community. Tree-planting is only the entry point into the wider debate about the environment. Everyone should plant a tree," she told me. She is survived by two daughters, Wanjira and Muta, and a son, Waweru, as well as her granddaughter, Ruth.

References and Acknowledgement to following:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/26/wangari-maathai,
http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/w.php?id=59

Politics of Hunger

2011-09-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

Could you ever believe America suffering hunger!!!!!!!!!! Or could it be the result of GMO...who knows???????????

Feeding America is an organisation which has raised this issue. To my surprise, I find this whole thing bit complex and inherent causes could be culture...loss of roots and could be food processing brands, reasons could be many, making us all realise human development is dwarf in front of natural cycles!!!

FEEDING AMERICA

Looking forward more inputs on this debatable issue!

THE ONE WHO IS GENUINELY ROYAL

2011-09-07T04:34:00.000-07:00

India where we have Royal Bengal Tiger as our National animal,is true pride for all. The one who roars with majestic elan'. We need to give more thoughts and space to this special member of our natural regime. For its because of them that we are. Our aesthetic calibre receives those wild enthralling imagination when we continue to appreciate their living in our close proximity. When we will love them to have them in our life with touche', elegance and comfort in their actual ways, then certainly the day is not far when life and living will be blissful ever like those imagined in the tales of Tarzan, Mogli, Phantom or Forest Goddess.

With organizations like WWF, who are committed for the cause of Tigers and their ecosystem. It becomes easier for us to join the well known scientists, wildlife specialists and volunteers to let this pride of ours to see a better world. Where he has the equal right to live with us and in harmony and pleasure with Mother nature. Rather they are the one who will let us know that what is the best possible way to live live in accordance to the nature.

Tigers in today's world are left in rare numbers, its our responsibility to let them see a more prosperous habitat, which they deserve. Join,more such efforts which are engaged in their well being.

Take pledge to save them and all those of our wild brethren who need our genuine compassion and empathy. http://myworld.panda.org/

CIties for Forests

2011-09-07T03:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.citiesforforests.in/model/video.php


CITIES FOR FORESTS (click here: www.citiesforforests.in)

CITIES FOR FOREST IS A CAMPAIGN INITIATED BY WWF-India. The objective of the campaign is to raise awareness among urban dwellers for more vegetated covers in their surroundings. It further states as follows: "The Cities for Forests campaign focuses on raising awareness about the intrinsic link between forests and human well-being, with a primary focus on changing perception of youth all over the country. It encourages individuals to discover, visit, and document the forests that support their cities in innumerable ways, and share their findings on www.citiesforforests.in, an interactive platform to upload stories, pictures, presentations, and videos about individual observations of the city’s forests and green spaces. "

Think Alberta oil sands crude is safe? Think again. The Keyst... on Twitpic

2011-09-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

Think Alberta oil sands crude is safe? Think again. The Keyst... on Twitpic

Keystone XL

2011-09-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

Former Vice President Al Gore is publicly urging President Obama to deny a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, arguing that the increased greenhouse gas production from the use of tar sands oil will only make the planet’s climate problems worse.

On his blog, Gore says:

The leaders of the top environmental groups in the country, the Republican Governor of Nebraska, and millions of people around the country—including hundreds of people who have bravely participated in civil disobedience at the White House—all agree on one thing: President Obama should block a planned pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico.

The tar sands are the dirtiest source of fuel on the planet. As I wrote in Our Choice two years ago, gasoline made from the tar sands gives a Toyota Prius the same impact on climate as a Hummer using gasoline made from oil. This pipeline would be an enormous mistake. The answer to our climate, energy and economic challenges does not lie in burning more dirty fossil fuels —instead, we must continue to press for much more rapid development of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies and cuts in the pollution that causes global warming.

Realistically, it’s unlikely that Obama will reject the pipeline’s expansion. The more pragmatic question may be what conditions will be put on the approval that could protect against the kind of spill that continues to cause problems along the Kalamazoo River.:
Al Gore's Journal

Fortunately the cause is gaining support from other renowned and eco-conscious celebrities and the common people the largest force to make any possible movement to get motivated for a good cause.

Read a Little more on:BUILT TO SPILL

TRAVEL PICTURES: Best & Worst Destinations Rated, 2009

2009-10-25T01:15:00.000-07:00

BEST RATED DESTINATIONS

First Place: The Fjord Region, Norway
October 21, 2009--Still waters in Norang Fjord, shown in an undated picture, reflect the "well-preserved Norwegian rural life" that helped the region take top honors in the sixth annual "Destinations Rated" scorecard compiled by the National Geographic Society's Center for Sustainable Destinations.

The center convened an independent panel of 437 experts in fields from historic preservation and sustainable tourism to travel writing and archaeology to assess 133 iconic places around the world.

The panel based its decisions on six criteria: environmental and ecological quality, social and cultural integrity, condition of historic buildings and archaeological sites, aesthetic appeal, quality of tourism management, and outlook for the future.

A panelist commented that "the short tourist season, rugged terrain, limited population, and inherent sensitivity of the locals to the environment bode well for the fjord region."

For say, the following Norwegian Fjords:-

Or

Ancient Kyoto in Japan...!!!

.....Ahhhh there is so much to see in this short life...

However, there was something critically challanging in the list too...the worst destinations, like:...

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

An Amish horse and buggy moves past a farmer stacking corn shucks in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The culture of the Amish people is lost "amid the sprawl and schlock" of built-up tourist towns in Lancaster, experts say, earning it a tie for fourth worst historic rating in National Geographic's 2008 "Places Rated" Destination Stewardship survey.

"Why can we not celebrate a historic area without making cheap junk shops, especially when the local handicrafts are of such excellent quality?" asked one of the experts on the international panel.

—Photographs by William Albert Allard/NGS
Courtesy: National Geographic.

Food of Future

2009-06-17T00:39:00.001-07:00

Have we ever thought that how and what will be the food and palate of the future.

As compare to present in the past we had regular courses of meals and positively it constituted of so much of fibers, juices and water, however, as the time is passing we are becoming more and more subject to junk food, and the one containing more of carbonated and fabricated edible and juicy components.

What then will be the future diets of ours, and what all resons will be cause for the transformation in our dietary courses?

According to certain researches:
"Global warming will affect agriculture in a variety of ways: Some regions and farms will get a boost; others will suffer.To cope with changing growing conditions, farmers will need to reverse decades of crop homogenization and diversify plant strains, agriculture scientists say."- Food of the Future to Be More Diverse?

Does this means that in the coming years we will be struggling for food or depending ourselves on the modified food factories which will guide our migration and movement patterns? One thing is ensured that food does redefines the whole patterns of our lives, leaving almost all spheres of our lives, in these circumstances the possible palatial trends will influence sociological dimensions of human living too.(Read More: Food and the Future )

5th June WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

2009-06-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

ABOUT WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

World Environment Day (WED) was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

Commemorated yearly on 5 June, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The day's agenda is to:

Give a human face to environmental issues;
Empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development;
Promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues;
Advocate partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.
The theme for WED 2009 is 'Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change'. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.

This year’s host is Mexico which reflects the growing role of the Latin American country in the fight against climate change, including its growing participation in the carbon markets.

Mexico is also a leading partner in UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign. The country, with the support of its President and people, has spearheaded the pledging and planting of some 25 per cent of the trees under the campaign. Accounting for around 1.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the country is demonstrating its commitment to climate change on several fronts.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon states that the WED celebration will “further underline Mexico's determination to manage natural resources and deal with the most demanding challenge of the 21st century – climate change.”

As part of World Environment Day,there are various significant stories of human endeavour to safeguard the planet.

What on your part you did to save the planet?

Today I cleaned my home and around intensively;one might not beleive but there were whole three load of 100 lts baggages of trash I send for recycling and also made blogposts and public notices in my university and community hall :)

SAVE RIVERS OF WESTERN HIMALAYAS

2009-04-29T02:26:00.000-07:00

THE RIVER COURSES AT WESTERN HIMALAYAS (in the map above)

With the continuous discharge of affluents in the tributaries it has become, increasingly evident from a study that:,

"The impact of grossly polluted waters of the Budha Nallah (BN) on the flesh quality of a few fish species inhabiting river Satluj following its confluence with the river has been studied. For flesh quality, levels of extractable proteins (EP), carbohydrate content and total lipid (TL) contents have been compared in Cirrhina mrigala, Cirrhina reba, Crossocheilus latius and Mystus cavasius collected from downstream (DS) region (selected at 40-42 km following confluence of BN with the river) and an upstream (US) region (selected at 8-10 km before the confluence of BN with the river) of river Satluj. The results have shown a significant decline in the EP content, carbohydrates and TL contents in the flesh of these fish species collected from DS region. The functional significance of any decrease/increase in the biochemical parameter (s) has been discussed."{source:Impact of pollution on the flesh of some fishes inhabiting river Satluj waters--a biochemical study.}

These all threat to the regional water quality are now challenging, the administration to take stern actions, so that the most fertile and biodiversity rich areas of Himalayan cliffs and terai must not fall short of their natural charisma. Unfortunately, the, whole discussion of closure and rehabilation, of the industries and its people is further delaying the process of saving rivers of western Himalayas(see pdf), in messy state of affairs.

In such circumstances the viable step is peoples participation with eco-sensitive solutions, but how and when? This remains a crucial aspect of our answers. In words of regional activist-Balbir Singh Seechewal :“Water is water. Be it of Punjab’s white Bein or Kali Bein, or be it of rivers like Satluj, Ganga, Yamuna and Godavari. Be it water in India or any other country - it is needed by everyone. We need water just like we need air to breathe. A wave has started from Punjab’s Kali Bein rivulet and we want it to spread not only across India but also across the whole world. Environment is of prime concern these days. Efforts made at the Kali Bein have sent a message globally,” said Seechewal."

SAVE RIVER SABARMATI

2009-04-16T01:31:00.000-07:00

This is to bring to your notice that, there is a mega project going on to have embankment on the river. We as part of conscious citizens believe that the step initiated is not justified, as per a study done, the facts reveal as follows:

Construction of an embankment along the 10-km stretch of the Sabarmati has begun in Ahmedabad despite warnings that it may hamper

natural drainage in the city and that its design is inherently flawed.

The 8.5-m-high embankment is part of the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project, the first in India where the river will be squeezed to yield

land for commercial, residential and open spaces. Project planners expect to recover the cost by selling this real estate.

The project%u2019s Environment Impact Assessment (eia) report, however, said that embanking the Sabarmati would not

just prevent drainage and %u201Ccordon the river away from the people%u201D. It would also increase its speed, thereby increasing erosion that would affect

the stability of the retaining walls and bridges. The report was prepared by the Ahmedabad-based Centre for Environmental Planning and

Technology and the Gujarat Ecology Commission in Vadodara. Project designer hcp Design and Project

Management Pvt Ltd, formerly called Environmental Planning Collaborative, said drains from low-lying areas would be directed to the river

through underground channels. The riverfront project was proposed in 1997 to develop the banks into recreational zones.

Source: http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/267138

Thus, we request you to take necessary action to prevent this hazardous project, for it is not only hampering the environemnt but also challanging the heritage of river Sabarmati with which Father of Nation-Mahatma Gandhi is associated.

SIGN THE PETITION:SIGN FOR SABARMATI