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.

The result of the workshop on 350 and Climate Change

Photo Courtesy: Niloy Ahmed Ashraful Haque
Banner Courtesy: Shakib Ahmed


In an effort to get the word out, I organized a workshop on 350 and Climate Change: What it has to do with you? as you can see the previous post. On November 19th 2009, as a local organizer for 350.org, I awed the minds of the audience who attended it. The audience was poor, I was told to expect it but there was another complication. On November 19th, the day of the workshop there were law and order issues and probably why the turn-out was less.

Overall, I managed to open if not everyone's mind about the magnitude of the problems that are expected to happen if there is no deal this December in Copenhagen. By doing this I managed people to step up and show interest in opening a club at the university about the environment.

I introduced a concept in the workshop hoping it would motivate people. We all know the 3Rs- Reduce, recycle. reduce but I came up with another the 4th R - REALIZATION. It is only when people REALIZE the situation, they can take action. A concept I have been working on.

I want to thank IEEE AIUB Student Branch for helping me to get this workshop on its foundation. It was important and they supported me when I needed them. It was a great day and those who could not come, my apologies for setting the date like that.

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.

Some news

Sorry in the delay in posts. My Alevel exams are in January so i have been kind of busy studying and not updating. I just wanted to say that from our country a man has been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. The people who received it are Professor Muhammad Yunus and his fellow workers in Grameen Bank. Its kind of a great achievement for our country so great news. I have read few articles about ice melting way faster in the Greenland that predicted, Asia's carbon dioxide levels will treble by 2025( i think, dont remember the exact year). So yeah thats it for today. In the mean time you can visit

www.flickr.com/photos/fhmtech
www.flickr.com/photos/mubeen491
www.flickr.com/photos/bdgamer

The 1st link is my pictures, the remaining 2 are my friends. Check there pictures out. If you want to know abt my country and its culture be sure to check my friends' links.

Pictures

I wanted to post about some topics which were held in the global climate summit in Nairobi however i dont have much time. In the mean time check these links out

www.flickr.com/photos/fhmtech . M pictures in flickr and
www.flickr.com/photos/mubeen491 This one belongs to my friend.

Check these pictures out. I will be back.

Britain radioactive waste plan

The picture beside shows us wat the British government is planning to do with its radioactive waste. The site of this project will be chosen such that no buildings or habitants live near by it. Eventhough if this facility will be done away from people it may still affect animal life so the site must be well chosen otherwise enviornmentalists will be down the government's throat.

Toxic trash spread in Savar

Some 300 industries around a 20 sq km near the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ) in Savar are dumping toxic chemicals. To see the image http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/05/20/d6052001044p.htm . Its horrendous.

These toxic chemicals are running in farming lands where vital crops are being destroyed also causing environmental imbalance. The reason for this is because of lack of sewage and draining facilities. Not only that there are no recycling plant built-in with the industries to treat these toxic wastes.

Some citizen

This guy is dumping oil into the sewerage system. Pathetic.

Acid Rain Flow Chart

Catalytic Converters

Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons are present in vehicle exhaust gases as a result of the incomplete combustion of fuel in the engine. Oxides of nitrogen are present in the air is at the temperature of the car engine.
The exhaust gases are passed through a catalytic converter a pipe containing a solid catalyst, plantinum and rhodium. The converter cannot remove oxides of nitrogen.
An engine can be fitted with a three-way catalytic system which can both oxidise fuel, carbon monoxide and also reduce oxides of nitrogen.
Lead poisons the catalyts in the converter.It destroys the catalytic action. Hence unleaded petrol must be used when using a catalytic converter.

4 Hurricanes

This picture just shocked me. 4 hurricanes simultaneously. Ssshhhh!! and this image is old dated on 1998.

Ozone depletion

It is an old picture dated 2000. The blue area is where the ozone layer is depleted, which means radiation from the Sun entering through that hole and effecting our skins.

Flowchart of global waming

I was just browsing through google and found this picture. Its sort of a flow diagram how global warming is caused.

Satellite images of Hurricane Katrina

Just look at the votex. They may look small but was very destructive. These r satellite images of Hurricane Katrina. Anyway to me these hurricanes are definitely caused by climate change. Next year it will become much more worst.