A Single Man's Walking Challenge 1: Gulshan-Dhanmondi-Gulshan

                                                 (On the way)                                                                   

Last year, I realized I was not doing enough on my part to make a difference so I came up with an initiative of my own. I decided to come up with a series of challenges.  I normally go to the park once or twice a week to walk and jog, so I felt I was already trained. Trained for what?  The challenge was to walk from Gulshan 1 to Dhanmondi and back to Gulshan 1, a distance of about 15kms.

I created an event on facebook (since its one the popular social media platform if you want to spread the word about any event). Once I did that, I made a story to explain the challenge. 

The story begins about a young slim fellow, who is a little bit concerned about the environment and decides to make a little difference if not any at all. As he walks on the streets of Dhaka, it strikes to him why not do a series of walking challenges. A simple task to normal people however for him it seems like a challenge and something he feels he need to achieve. So he plans the route for his first challenge from Gulshan-Dhanmondi-Gulshan. A distance of more than 10kms.

Why walk?

Walking from his experience has indicated certain things

- It saves time
- It saves fuel

- It saves money

- Good exercise
- Makes you feel happier

As a 10:10er and eco-blogger, he feels its been awhile since he had a nice long walk. The timing is perfect with the nice winter weather and he knows he will not get bored while walking considering all the exciting and funny things that happens on the streets of Dhaka. 

When does he plan to do so?

Friday,February 10th, 2012

Route: 

Starting point- Gulshan-1 circleMid-way point- Dhanmondi(short pit-stop, not sure, it will depend on his spontaneity)Ending point- Gulshan-1 circle

Problems he might face:

- Getting mugged on broad daylight.
- Oversleeping and missing the challenge completely being a weekend.
- Getting ill prior to the challenge.

Updates about the event:

He plans on twittering while on the move.

Twitter
twitter.com/fhmtech

How can you participant? 

- Cheer him on!
- Criticize him for being an idiot ( there is something called a bicycle, or even better a car..)
- Spread the word that walking is good for many reasons and is not a tedious thing to do- When traveling short distances try walking instead of using the car.- Send an invite to your friends.

What is 10:10?

10:10 is a global campaign run through out the world to promote carbon cutting and reduce climate change. 10:10 Bangladesh joins with organizations, businesses and educational institutes and promote active participation of people through events/projects and raise awareness. www.1010global.org You can sign up your organization or yourself at www.1010global.org/bd (for Bangladeshi citizens)

Country hub of 10:10 Bangladesh- TERM Magazine, a concern of Bangladesh Information Gateway Ltd.(BIG) Ltd.


 The walk itself was very good considering a nice winter morning. I was a bit worried about the weather but it was perfect. I reached my check point in Dhanmondi and grabbed lunch at Nandos with a close friend. After a heavy stomach, I started the return journey, digesting all the food.

According to pace, I reached Dhanmondi in about 1 hour 30mins. It was slightly quicker if I compare with a car. This being the fact, the car is stuck in traffic most of the time. On the return journey, I took about 1 hour 45 mins, kinda slowed down. At the end it was a good challenge, seeing some interesting things on the way.

Surprisingly, I received a lot of interest from people and those who wanted to participate. Hopefully next time I might just let other people be part of it.

Also have to thank Sandra Antonovic for posting a guest post about the event on the web magazine. She is the CEO of Nektarina non profit, Editor in Chief of Nektarina (S)pace web magazine. Check it out here.

10:10 Bangladesh Sustainable Hunt

It has almost been three (3) years since the inception of 10:10 Bangladesh and it has so far been quite an interesting journey. Their next event, 10:10 Bangladesh Sustainable Hunt, is another such fascinating event. This time, they have come up with a contest where contestants are supposed to share their sustainable ideas and energy- saving habits.

The contest is divided into two categories

Category 1- Energy-saving success story (a habit/story that can inspire us).

Category 2- A sustainable idea/project (your idea of a project can be of any sort, but it has to be done in an energy-efficient manner, unique and scalable).

The winner will have his/her own documentary film about how they are doing their part on creating a sustainable environment. On top of that, the winning idea will have the opportunity to implement their idea or project with the collaboration of 10:10 Bangladesh.

Unlike previous endeavors, where contestants can apply from any part of the world, this time the competition MUST be within Bangladesh. The reason behind this was to highlight Bangladesh.

To know more details about the event, and how to participate, visit the facebook page at 10:10 Bangladesh Sustainable Hunt.

Controversial 400ppm- the warning we didnt listen to

As it seems in recent news, the global carbon emissions have crossed the 400ppm (parts per million). Now there have been debates if it has actually crossed that margin. According to initial reports, it was stated that global emissions have reached 400ppm, although at a Hawaii site it still has not crossed that threshold. I checked up on the Keeling’s curve and saw that the current level stands at 399.88ppm. So the debate basically is that 399.88 were rounded up to 400. 

Now to me honestly 399.88 can be rounded to 400, and as I am a science graduate, I understand the difference between 399.88 and 400. But when it comes to a bigger picture 399.88 and 400 is the same. It may take another 10 years or so to increase another 0.12 ppm to reach the 400.00 level but scientists, environmentalists and many other groups have been trying to make sure we do not reach that stage. As we know that 350ppm is the safest limit and that is a target we should accomplish. It is said global temperatures will rise to 2 degrees Celsius and we will face many climatic changes if we surpass the 400ppm mark.

For the debaters who say we still have not reached the 400ppm, please come to reality. It does not make much of a difference now. 

Those of you, who want to follow the trend of emissions, visit the Keeling Curve.

Get to know more from here.

Photo courtesy to PremacultureNews.

The big month has arrived: COP15

The crucial month of this year has finally arrived. I know I am very late in updating the news but let me give a slight preview of what happened. Just before starting the most important climate summit in human history, a scandal had raised a lot of eyebrows, rumors and specially confusion among people, the Climategate. Hackers leaked out information from emails between scientists from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit that climate change was not caused by human activity. A perfect way to create a row between people,scientists and politicians so that anti-environmentalist, oil companies can gain from this.


The summit started on 7th December with a surprise in the sense that within the first two days, there has been a big contribution from the US. The Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) stated that carbon dioxide poses a risk to public health and with this card in hand they are planning to bypass Congress to get a things moving in terms of reducing CO2 emissions. They should have thought of this couple of years ago.

In the mean time, the EU has pledged to give 7bn euros to all developing countries while a $10 billion has been allocated for countries affected by climate change.This $10bn will be given every year till 2012 and after 2012 it will be increased to $30bn. The members of AOSIS and the vulnerable countries at one point decided to walk out, as the adaptation fund was to less for their countries to sustain. My country, Bangladesh has asked for 15% of the total adaptation fund, as we are one of the major victims of climate change. Our Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina has made it clear that Bangladesh requires a large sum of the adaptation fund so that the country can combat against climate change. Bangladesh topped the list of the Global Climate Risk Index. In mist of the failure of proper talks, clashes broke out with over 900 people in trouble with the police.

It is expected that US President Barack Obama will attend the summit on 18th December 2009 and lets hope a decision can be made because time is really short.


In the mean time here are some things you could read.
Climate SOS: A minority report

The Copenhagen Concoction

I will try updating you about the Copenhagen summit.

The Scarlet, Britain’s greenest hotel

The Scarlet, located at Mawgan Porth Cornwall is called a luxury eco hotel  based on completely being green.  You’re wondering, a green hotel, it could be boring possibly not luxurious but it looks quite luxurious.

Why is it green? Well the heating comes from a biomass boiler, using timber chips as biomass taken from a local timber firm. The pool is heated by solar panels. The power comes from Ecotricity, generating 100% wind power. So far so good. Read the full review here.

Australia top carbon emitter, pasts USA

Australia has become the largest carbon emitter per person  of carbon dioxide passing USA. It was evident that China was to take this position however, Australia beat them to it.  It is obvious with Australia depending on coal, and coal is known for causing more carbon dioxide emissions.

Emissions curb on car industry

Five days after the release of the IPCC reports the European Commission has forced carmakers to cut emissions of CO2 by 18%. So from 2012 we will see better technology integrated in cars. Industry commissioner says that the new cars should not emit more than 130g of CO2 per kilometre, whereas cars made in 2005 emit 162g per kilometre.

The average CO2 emissions:

1995: 185g/km
2005: 162g/km
2008: 140g/km (voluntary industry target)
2012: 130g/km (European Commission proposal)
2020: 80g/km (target proposed by T&E)

T&E ( Trasnport and Enviornment) is an enviornment pressure group. T&E have requested the EU to fix the emissions rate to 80g/km.

As alternate fuels are being researched it is said that biofuels do not emit more than 120g/km.

The Commission will draft it this year and hopefully will have to meet the European Parliament.