Some interesting facts on urbanization

1.The city of New York  has plans to buy USD 300 million worth of land upstate to protect the  watersheds that are used for producing city’s drinking water.This is part of a watershed protection strategy that will cost USD 1.4 Billion,but is  estimated to save the city from having to spend USD 3.8 Billion for new filtration system  to clean increasingly polluted water.

The city of  Phoenix ,USA ,has found  it cheaper to create wetlands around the city than to further invest in additional wastewater treatment facility which would cost USD 625Million.

2.The London Trust co founder,Herbert Girardet ,has tried to estimate the ecological footprint of the city of London.With 12% of the UK Population and covering 170000 hectares has a footprint of of approximately 21 million hectares equivalent to all productive land in the united kingdom so obviously London is relying on outside UK  to be able to sustain itself.aaa

3. Often ecosystem provide products to both cities and rural areas,and also impact on cities and rural areas.A good example is the Aberdares Mountain range in Kenya,just north of Nairobi.One of the major threats of the Aberdares forest is the cutting of trees for production of charcoal.Most of the charcoal is transported to the urban and peri-urban centers of Nairobi to be used for cooking .At the same time ,due to disappearing forest the provision of water to Nairobi is being threatened.

4.    Air pollution in cities in developing countries is not only a health hazard for the urban residents,but it also contributes to transboudary air pollution.Air pollutants can travel over long distances often more than 1000 kilometers.Air pollution in cities has impact at the local level as well as rural areas around the cities.

5. Acid rain that is affecting the Scandivian forests is caused by emissions of pollutants from the industrial sites in central Europe.Coal fired energy plants in Canada emit pollutants that contribute to health problems over the border in the US.On the other hand air pollution from the united states contributes to about half of the ground level  Ozone in southern Ontario and Quebec in Canada.

6. Although  sewage system in cities,especially in developed countries,have been successful in preventing the transmission of sewage –related diseases,in some cases the sewage is not treated sufficiently causing severe damage to ecosystem and water resources.This impacts not only the environment and availability of water resources for humans but it also causes diseases in rural side people .

Terrace farming:Organic vegetables

Bangaloreans realizes the necessity of producing food self for their family. More and more people are finding time to maintain their vegetable garden no matter how busy they are. Majority of the people agree that working in the vegetable garden is a relief from all tensions. It is not only a stress buster but also gives safe and healthy food, you get fresh vegetable from your gardens. Directly pluck the fruits from the plants and eat or cook without loosing its freshness, avoid vegetables comes with pesticide residues you buy from the market, reduce buying from out side and save money. Many organizations are taking initiative to help people for starting vegetable gardens. Conducting organic terrace gardening workshops are one of the examples for that.

Mrs. Rama Rao from Bangalore a professional from the development sector who believes in a greener future produces vegetables on her own on her terrace top. She finds time to look after her plants even in her busy life. And importantly she teaches her 3 year old son about vegetable gardening and farming. This is what more parents don’t  care about. Below are some points from the conversation.

• How did you start terrace gardening?
  I already had a small front yard garden in front of my house. But I always wished to grow plants in my terrace too. However, I was not sure how to go about it. So I wrote to Dr. Vishwanath, a well known exponent of organic terrace gardening in Bangalore. He mentioned about the workshops he regularly conducts in various parts of Bangalore, and thus I attended one of them at the next instance. It was really nice experience of knowing in detail about the way to proceed ahead. Thus, in last October, immediately after that one day workshop, I started my activities on my rooftop
• Since how long are you doing terrace gardening?
  Its been about 6 months now.
• How do you find time to look after your plants?
  Actually this has been my only problem. I am a regular 9 - 5 person and additionally a mother of a super active 3 year old kid. Hence time is a very precious commodity. But since Gardening is something that I always liked and also that I have a reasonably good green thumbs, I make time for it. So I devote lot of my time for that during the weekends. Initially, it was a bit difficult since I had to scour around for pots, soil, manure, seeds, saplings and other things. Also, I had to watch on a daily basis about how the plants were germinating, which saplings needed to be transplanted etc. But slowly it became organized and now I keep my garden small enough to manage things the way I want.
• What are the plants or crops you cultivate?
  I have grown quite successfully herbs like Methi, Coriander, Palak, Mint, Colocasia and such. I have also grown vegetables like Beans, Brinjal, Ladies Finger, Cow pea, Chow chow, Malabar cucumber, Potatoes, Raddish, Beetroot, Sponge Gourd, Bitter Gourds, Green chillies etc. I also grow flowering plants like chrysanthemum, marigold, hibiscus, periwinkle, Four 'o' clock flower plants and few more whose English names I am not familiar with.
• Explain Method of cultivation, bio fertilizers whether you make your own or buy from outside etc.
  I usually use pots, old plastic cans, crates, even polythene sacks or any other such discarded materials for containers. I make my own potting mixture of 1:1:1 ratio of red sand, soil and manure. Sometimes in place of soil I use cocopeat and in place of manure I use vermicompost. I also compost my organic waste, however, since the quantity is small, I either buy organic manure and/or vermicompost from outside. For pest control however, I only use home remedies like sprinkling turmeric/ chilli powder, spraying affected parts with dilute non-detergent soap solution, sprinkling wood ash etc.
• How many plants do you have?
  The number of plants in my garden vary from 25 - 50 at any given time. Depending on how much time I am able to give, I add or minus plants from my collection. So on an average, I tend to somewhere between 30 plants a day.
• What is the area approximately used for vegetable garden?
  About 100 sq feet area only. So there is huge potential if I plan to upscale my garden since I have a terrace of about 600 sq.ft free area.
• Any other hobbies other than terrace gardening? -
  I am an avid reader and a hobby writer. I regularly review books and publish them online for a book library. I also publish my other writings on some interesting websites.
• What is the advantage of terrace or roof top farming in your opinion? -
  Green is very soothing. I find it really stress busting when I am between the plants on my terrace. Also its a great feeling to see a seed germinate, become seedling and then grow into a full fetched plant to produce yield all under your tender care. Its also nice to grow a small portion of your daily nourishment that is organically grown with lots of loving care and personal interest. My son who is just 3 years old takes keen interest and daily spends some time on the terrace helping me water these plants etc. It is good to inculcate such good habits from an early age. He is also happy to see and recognise a tomato or a bitter gourd directly on the plant which otherwise he has seen in pictures and books.
• What about buying food and vegetable from outside? -
  I still buy vegetables from outside since my garden cannot fully supply for all our daily needs. But I am happy to reduce by whatever little percentage that I have. The main issue of outside stuff is that we are not aware in what conditions they are grown. Also, with all the harmful pesticidal residue, sooner or later our health will slowly take a beating. Nothing beats freshly harvesting your vegetables from rooftop and directly using them in your kitchen. How much better it is to use cold storage, refrigerated or not so fresh supply from outside.
• How the current young generation go about producing food self?
  If we let go of our "I don't care" attitude, we will certainly be able to bring the change that we seek in the society. Small little steps like just being aware of environmental issues, food inflation rates, climate change patterns, possible interventions etc will sooner or later inspire you to grow your own food. All of us have an innate green thumb and definitely growing plants is NOT difficult nor demanding on your time. Take it up as a hobby in the beginning. Start with something small and which you like, may be some coriander or mint. See how good you feel when you see your plants sprouting. That will be the beginning which will further lead your way to bigger things.

Google server in Finland

Renewable energy

Google  promoting cleaner energy for a better future.

Across Google, we're currently using renewable energy to power over 30% of our operations. We're committed to using renewable energy like wind and solar as much as possible. So why don't we build clean energy sources right on our data centers? Unfortunately, the places with the best renewable power potential are generally not the same places where a data center can most efficiently and reliably serve its users. While our data centers operate 24/7, most renewable energy sources don’t—yet.

So we need to plug in to the electricity grid, and the grid isn’t currently very green. That's why we're working to green the electricity supply as a whole—not just for us, but for everyone.

Google  added renewable energy to our communities.

We’ve purchased renewable energy from wind farms, adding new clean power near our data centers and the communities around us. We found an opportunity in Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs)—long-term contracts (typically 20 years) to buy clean energy from a particular producer.

When we enter into a PPA, we choose projects that add new renewable energy sources to the market. By providing developers with a solid commitment, we help them get the money they need to finance new clean energy facilities. In exchange, we get clean energy at competitive prices as well as the renewable energy certificates (RECs) to help reduce our carbon footprint. Together, we make the grid a little bit greener.

Here’s how a PPA works:

1. We purchase energy from a renewable project developer.
2. We then sell that energy right back into the grid at a wholesale price.
3. We apply the RECs to the non-renewable or "brown" energy used at our data centers.

Until renewable energy is readily and constantly available in the areas where we have data centers, we'll continue to find creative ways to supply our data centers with clean energy. We're also in regular communication with our utility providers about how best to deliver renewable energy directly to our facilities.

Google  investing in a brighter future for the whole industry.

We’re going beyond investing in renewable energy for our own operations. We’re also investing in renewable energy projects to grow the industry as a whole. Specifically, we've invested hundreds of millions of dollars in renewable energy projects such as large-scale wind and rooftop solar. These projects represent a total capacity of over 1.8 GW, which is far more electricity than we use for our own operations. To put this in context, these projects will generate the same amount of energy used to power over 350,000 homes.

From Hindu daily

Efforts towards conserving the country’s biodiversity are hobbled by the frightening insistence that development cannot be held up

Who knew the term biodiversity 20 years ago? Hardly anyone. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was opened for signature at the now famous “Earth Summit” at Rio de Janeiro in 1992. For the first time, world leaders acknowledged that biodiversity was a valuable asset for both present and future generations, while also recognising the increasing threat of human induced extinction of species and destruction of biodiversity. “Biological diversity,” or the more commonly used biodiversity, was arguably first defined in the text of the CBD, having a very broad and all encompassing meaning, that includes all life forms and ecosystems. It is one of the most widely accepted international treaties, with 193 nations being a party to it. India ratified the CBD in 1994, and is now the host nation for the 11th Conference of Parties (COP 11), currently underway in Hyderabad. The “high level segment” is on the last two days.

The working groups are discussing various technical issues from the last COP in Aichi, Japan. Civil society groups are organising side events at the venue. One of the most important issues is the operationalisation of the biodiversity targets decided on at Aichi. India is chairing the discussions, and leading the global discussion until the next COP in two years.

Some success stories

Considering India’s role, it is worth examining the efforts at conserving our own biodiversity. There have been some well known success stories for critically endangered species. The only population of Asiatic lions in the world, in the Gir National Park, have more than doubled its numbers, moving from “critically endangered” to “endangered.” The Chambal river Gharials are doing well. The one-horned rhino has made a spectacular comeback, from about 200 to nearly 3,000 today. But, are these stories representative of what is happening in India? The major problem with “biodiversity” is its all encompassing, immeasurable nature, especially with the CBD definition. According to scientist David Takacs, “though it has considerable technical and scientific resonance, it defies precise scientific definition.”

There is the “Linnean shortfall” of knowledge, where we have been able to document only a small proportion — about 1.4 million of the 12-18 million species that exist on the planet. Exciting new species are being identified every day, some even becoming extinct before they are formally named and identified. The Wallacean shortfall refers to the incompleteness of our understanding of geographical distribution of species across the globe. With this huge gap in our knowledge of biodiversity, the approach taken across the world is to identify and protect important landscapes as well as “flagship” or “umbrella” species, covering large home ranges.

This is where things start to go badly wrong. Though the marine realm is the largest repository of biodiversity, far larger than the terrestrial landscape, we barely consider oceans worthy of conservation. All our efforts focus on the terrestrial world.

India is home to three of the world “biodiversity hotspots,” the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka region, the Himalayas and the Indo-Burma region. The Western Ghats are currently being ripped apart by large-scale legal and illegal mining, large development projects and even private hills stations like Lavasa. The hills have recently witnessed a very comprehensive conservation prioritisation and planning exercise by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), which suggests an intelligent and democratic zonation plan with varying levels of exploitation. But most politicians object to the recommendations of the panel, arguably driven by kickbacks from the extractive industries or a short-sighted approach to “development.” Vast tracts of the Indo-Burma hotspot will be submerged by a series of dams, supposedly to cater to India’s ever expanding power needs.

Next, is the species based approach. India’s two main flagship programmes — “Project Elephant” and “Project Tiger,” have been in place for a few decades now. Though their success is debated, they have been doing a reasonably good job of protecting these two species. But India Inc is now catching up with our charismatic beasts. Central India, globally recognised as one of India’s best metapopulation of tigers, is being carved up for coal mining. A proposal for an Elephant reserve in Chhattisgarh never saw the light of day since there is coal under the elephant forests. India’s Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) and the Minister of Environment and Forest (MoEF) have been fighting desperately to stop the indiscriminate industrial expansion into India’s natural forests. But both the FAC and MoEF were chastised for “slowing down India’s galloping economy.”

A 1,000-year-old Sal forest in Mahan was denied clearance for a coal plant because of the rich biodiversity and tiger presence. But with industrialists requesting the Prime Minister’s intervention, the clearance is now likely to go through. The needs of biodiversity conservation versus development must be carefully balanced. Especially for India where almost half the population has little access to electricity and lives below the poverty line. But frighteningly, there appears to be no balance. The scale rests firmly on the side of development. From Montek Singh Ahluwalia, to Manmohan Singh, to P. Chidambaram, there is a public proclamation that India’s “development” cannot be held up by the environment. There is no understanding of the CBD’s Aichi mission of “sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people.” The “National Investment Board” (NIB) proposal, by which the government seeks to bypass laws and constitutional provisions, is an environmental disaster. Projects with large investments of above Rs.1,000 crore will be exempt from social and environmental clearances. This will be decided solely by the head of the NIB.

Rarely alleviate poverty

Ironically, the “development” plans rarely alleviate poverty. The policies cater to the corporates and urban elite, on the assumption that a “trickle-down” will happen to benefit the grassroots, though evidence shows otherwise. Across the country, the masses are at the forefront of the protests against the take over of their forests and livelihoods for “development.” A group of villagers from the 1,000-year-old Sal forest in Mahan are currently at the CBD COP 11. They are trying to tell the world they want to protect their forests from shining India.

Biodiversity is under threat from a range of sources, but the very first Aichi strategic goal is to “address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society.” The question now is whether India is going to honestly identify what this underlying driver is and make a serious effort to balance the development versus nature battle. Both the Minister for Environment and Minister for Tribal Affairs appear to be making serious efforts to level the battlefield. They have taken strong stands against the NIB proposal. Perhaps there is still hope.

(Tarsh Thekaekara is a biodiversity conservation researcher with The Shola Trust, The Nilgiris.)

Gandhian rules