Bangladesh and India part of PutSolarOn.it without knowing it

In my last post, I mentioned about the campaign on PutSolarOn.it, a campaign targeted towards world leaders, so that they also start by getting to work. The objective, placing a solar panel on top of all head buildings.

Bangladesh and India have recently powered their head buildings with solar power. Bangladesh Prime Minister office was lighted by solar power something earlier this year. Soon after the Prime Minister's office, the Bangladesh Bank was also powered by solar. Looks like in Bangladesh, the politicians are a bit ahead in fighting climate change compared to the West but there a still a lot of work that needs to be done.

Governor of West Bengal in India, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, installed solar panels on the Kolkata Raj Bhavan, the Governor's Residence, in December of 2009.

Even before the PutSolarOn, leaders have taken action and this shows that you too as an individual can do so much without waiting for someone do it for you. Anyways, the people at 350.org were quite excited when they found out. Get it here.

Himalayan Glaciers: Running away

The Himalayan Glaciers, the largest water source compared to the polar ice caps, and the seven great Asian rivers, is melting fast. What makes it different from the polar ice caps, its a major source of drinking water within the regions surrounding the Himalayan. As a result, lack of fresh drinking water will pose a major health risk in the near future, and not only that, with the glaciers melting fast, raising sea levels will be some of the issues that will be faced in the near future.

As the water level declines (of course after decades), chances of drought happening is for sure, which will have a large affect to the agricultural sectors. Countries surrounding the Himalayan, China, India, Nepal as well as the people far away from this region depend on agricultural, so you get the picture as too why this is serious.

South Asia feeling effects of global warming and climate change

In the past two weeks, the monsoon has spread over Asia this year but this time the monsoon is not welcoming. Heavy rains in most countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal have left many as thousands of people stranded on water. In Bangladesh three-fourths of the country is under water. People in villages are left stranded, some of their houses damaged, main crops destroyed. Basically things are not good in Bangladesh. Water is entering the capital city Dhaka, but not like the rural areas.

Even if the rain had stopped, the Sun for some reason seems so concentrated, thats how I feel when I step outside the house. It seems like the Sun is burning my skin. Normally I felt this type of effect during the winter but never in summer. Other than Bangladesh, India and Nepal are heavily affected. In the mist of all these floods, fear of water-borne diseases is on everyone's mind. International organizations like WHO,Unicef ,are helping in the relief process. In Bangladesh, corporate companies like GrameenPhone, Banglalink, Warid Telecom, are helping in the relief programs. There are many more companies participating in the programs.

As most of you can guess, scientists are saying that global warming and the melting of ice in the Himalayia mountains have caused the flooding.

To know more visit these BBC sites
Health woes
Worst-hit areas
Flood Leasons
Pictures taken

A video posted by StefanSchmiederer on Youtube commented this year's flood as "South Asian floods 'worst in living memory'"



PS: I was saying in the previous posts that I will go for green hosting, unfortunately I would not be able to pay for it but in the mean time I will buy a domain and host it on a regular hosting company till I find it cost-effective to run on green hosting.

India plans to make climate change decision

Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and several environmentalist experts are making a decision to bring a solution to control climate change. Since the Himalaya glaciers are melting India has to take action. To know more visit the BBC article.

India's Hi-tech waste mirrors its booming economy

India's big leap in economy has caused a greater increase in hi-tech waste. What is hi-tech waste? Toxic electronic waste like computers, televisions, and many more are hi-tech waste and it is claimed by an environmental group that such wastes are been thrown without check and the reason would be that there are no laws present to regulate these wastes.

Toxic Link said while the Asian giant's economy has been growing 8 percent annually over the last three years has also resulted in the production of 150,000 tonnes of electronic waste each year.

After an eight month study by the group shows that India's great source of e-waste is the busy financial hub Mumbai producing 19,000 tonnes every year.

Director of Toxic Link said that since there are no laws for its safe management that this could create serious health and environmental impacts.

In the early 1990s India's liberal economic provided people to create more banks, financial institutions, electronics industries, information technology firms and call centres setting up operations across the country.

This surge in economy has also led middle class people estimated 300 million people an increase in spending as more people get better salary. More spending would lead to a craving for electronic products which will eventually create a massive increase in electronic disposal.

Most people buy electronics such as mobile phones, use it for 2-3 months chuck the old one and buy another one. India is not the only one, China is not far behind. I found a site e-waste Guide which deals with e-waste and how to recycle it. They have done case studies in various countries such as India, China, South Africa.

So if e-waste increases however there are disadvantages to it such as it has one of largest Let me now talk why electronic waste is toxic. Chemicals such as lead and cadmium in circuit boards lead oxide and cadmium in monitor cathode ray tubes (CRT); mercury in switches and flat screen monitors; cadmium in computer batteries; polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in older capacitors and transformers and brominated flame retardants on printed circuit boards, plastic casings, cables and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cable insulation that release highly poisonous gases when heated.

In order to contain these wastes expensive recycle plants or machines are required to keep these wastes under control. Although currently in India the present recyclers do not have such expensive technology to handle such waste. Alternate methods such as product reuse, conventional disposal in landfills and incinerators. However we know that when such products burn they produce extremely poisonous gases which a small percentage could kill people.

Rapid rise in air pollution around the Taj Mahal

To ensure a clean enviornment around Taj Mahal and Agra Fort , millions of rupees have been spent to control the air and atmosphere however in a report released indicates that there has been an alarmingly rise in the levels of poisonous gases around both the heritage sites.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India released figures which alarmed conservationists and enviornmentalists and now are in strong demand to control traffic around the inciter's of the site. The reports show that nitrogen and sulphur dioxide are to blame. Nitrogen levels are presently 28 micrograms per cubic metre although it was 14 micrograms per cubic metre while sulphur dioxide per cubic metre increased several folds.

The suspended particulate matter (SPM) has also gone up owing to the dry Yamuna riverbed and mining activity in the Bharatpur district.

There are over 100 small foundries in Agra and they have also played a significant part in the air pollution of the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort owing to the expulsion of sulphur oxide and particulate matter. However many of these foundries have installed wet scrubbers to control the air but have been unable to do so as most of them have operational problems. The main reason is due to limited supply of water and poor water quality. The foundries are now looking for other ways to maintain the quality of air they expel.

An oil refinery was built some 30 km away from the Taj Mahal and it released some 25-30 tons of sulphur dioxide daily. I do not know if this refinery still exists but it was reported that during October to March the sulphur dioxide would flow with the winds and reach Taj Mahal.

The Supreme Court has ordered several industrial activities in Agra to either shift or to close down there polluting factories or units round the Taj Trapezium.

It has been claimed that the main contributor to this air pollution is due to the use of diesel vehicles.Initially during 1985 there were 50,000 registered vehicles but now it has become 500,000.

I had an experience with a diesel-engine car and it was not good. I usedit for 2.5 years and sold it owing to pollution, too much black smoke was expelled, engine made too much noise, difficult to maintain. Anyway...

Another reason for the rise in pollution in the Taj Mahal has been the current decision of diverting the city traffic to the Yamuna Kinara road passing between the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal.

On a daily basis thousands of buses, trucks and vehicles pass through this road polluting the atmosphere and has been created a disadvantage to this heritage site as many tourists are now irritant to such area.Although transport companies have defied orders to shift somewhere else. The district authorities tried to shift the Uttar Pradesh roadways bus stand from the Fort area to the new terminus on the Delhi-Agra highway however failed to do so.

India's atmosphere polluted

Indians are breathing cancer-causing air according to recent reports. The air contains chemicals and toxic gases which at the present level is extremely dangerous. India is one of most polluted countries in the world. The country does not have any standard for the control of harmful chemicals and gases released in the atmosphere.

The study which was done in many India cities and villages indicate that the people are exposed to 45 dangerous chemicals including 13 carcinogens some levels which are 32,000 times higher than world standards. The chemicals found in the air virtually attacks most of the body system including eyes, nervous system, reproductive system. Although to reduce pollution the Indian government is planning a shift to compressed natural gas which could reduce pollution. However the government has no plans to cut down greenhouse gases which according to the Kyoto Protocol. Luckily considering them to be a developing nation there are exempted from the Protocol.