Category Environtal Studies

WHAT ARE POLLUTION PERILS?

Pollution is considered to be one of the world’s biggest environmental threats. Here are ten shocking facts about pollution.

  1. Plastic pollution adversely affects marine life. Over 1 million seabirds and 1,00,000 sea mammals are killed by plastic litter in the oceans every year.
  2. In January 2019, the Ministry of Environment. Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to monitor and curb air pollution around the country. It aims to reduce air pollution in 122 cities by 20-30 per cent by 2024.
  3. According to the World Air Quality Report, 2020′ released by the Swiss organisation, IQAir, New Delhi is the most polluted capital city in the world. Altogether 35 Indian cities are among the world’s top 50 most polluted cities.
  4. River Ganga flows through many urban centres such as Kanpur, Patna and Kolkata, which dump their industrial effluents and wastewater in the river. The entire length of the river is polluted by the presence of faecal coliform bacteria (germs found in the faeces of warm-blooded animals and humans), making its waters unfit for bathing and drinking.
  5. About 70% of water sources in India are severely contaminated. Every year about 37.7 million Indians are affected by waterborne diseases.
  6. Noise pollution is one of the most under-rated forms of pollution. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), noise above 65 decibels (dB) is termed as noise pollution. Sounds becomes harmful when its exceeds 75 decibels (dB) and painful when it is above 120 dB.
  7. Only 20% of about 3.5 million tonnes of solid waste that our world generates every day is recycled, thus overwhleming the landfills with unmangable quantities. Waste is often disposed of at hazardous open dump sites in developing nations including India causing land pollution. Indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has led to degradation of soil. making it infertile.
  8. According to the WHO, air pollution kills about seven million people worldwide every year. Almost all of the global population (99%) breathe air that contains high levels of pollutants.
  9. 80% of the world’s wastewater is released back into the environment-most of it untreated, in the developing countries. Farm runoffs containing minerals such as nitrogen and phosphurus causes nutrient pollution leading to algae bloom. This destroys marine life and even results in permanent ‘dead zones.
  10. The Asian Brown Cloud (ABC) is a dense fog of pollutants that blankets South Asia from November to April. It hovers over western China, northwest Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Indo-Gangetic plain in northern India. The cloud is almost three kilometres thick. It contains a deadly cocktail of aerosols, ash, soot and other particles, 80 per cent of which is caused by human activity.

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WHAT’S YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT?

Your carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by your actions. This includes everything from production, use and end-of-life of a product or service that you consume.

While the global average carbon footprint is close to 4 tons, it is as high as 16 tons per person in a country like the U.S. In order to achieve the net-zero targets that we have set ourselves for 2050, this average figure has to be brought down to under 2 tons per person by then.

This daunting task can be made achievable by breaking it down suitably. By understanding your carbon footprint and reducing it with changes in your lifestyle, it is possible to make a big difference.

HOW CAN YOU CALCULATE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT?

There are many online calculators that help you find out your carbon footprint. Most of our daily activities like using electricity, driving a vehicle, or disposing waste. Cause greenhouse emissions. All these emissions together make up our household’s carbon footprint. Transportation, housing and food are the three broad categories that form the bulk of an individual’s carbon footprint. You will need to know the following details to key into a calculator and find out your carbon footprint:

1) Energy usage in your house.

2) Fuel consumption for cooking.

3) Average distances travelled by flights, car, two-wheelers, bus and train.

4) Composition of diet and average money spent on shopping and various other consumables on a weekly/monthly/yearly basis. Once you have a ballpark estimate of these values, you can then enter them into a calculator like this one: v.gd/cfcalc

Your carbon footprint across categories and the total will then be displayed, comparing it with India’s average (if you had used our link) and that of the world’s.

Knowing your carbon footprint is the first step towards reducing it. And when you reduce your carbon footprint, you will not only save the planet, but also increase your own savings.

HOW CAN YOU REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT?

Knowing your carbon footprint is the first step towards taking action. Once you are more aware of the effects of your actions, then it is possible to start with small changes in your lifestyle that might eventually make a big difference.

Here are some pointers that you and your family can act upon

1) Think about how much and how often you travel. Cut down where you can, especially air travel, and try to make the unavoidable trips more climate-friendly.

2) Be conscious of what you are eating. By eating low down the food chain as frequently as you can, you will not only be able to reduce your carbon footprint, but also stay healthier in the process. Eating everything on the plate is also very important as wasting less food helps you cut down on your carbon footprint while also saving you some money.

3) Make small changes in your home. Be it turning off lights and appliances when not in use, choosing renewables, recycling products, or making your home more energy efficient, there are plenty of things that you can do to save energy and money.

4) By buying less, shopping sustainably and adding your voice to the climate change discussion, you will be able to achieve more towards saving our planet.

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WHAT IS THE PERU PROBLEM OF AMAZON RAINFOREST?

Discussions on the perils faced by this iconic South American rainforest focus invariably on Brazil. However, the lingering political crisis in Peru, where the second-largest part of the Amazon lies, has also been simultaneously affecting the inhabitants of the region.

The political crisis

Peru has descended into one of the worst political crises in its history, and the protection of its Amazon rainforest is failing, according to a report published recently. Peru is home to the second-largest portion of the Amazon rainforest after Brazil. The country had pledged to stop deforestation by 2021.

The South American country has been immersed in political turbulence since 2016. Corruption scandals and disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government have led to intense turnover-four Presidents in five years. Peru’s current President, leftist outsider Pedro Castillo has already survived two impeachment attempts since he took office in July 2021.

The Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), an initiative of the nonprofit Amazon

Conservation Association, reports that deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon has hit six historical highs in the last 10 years. The analysis is based on data from the University of Maryland, the U.S., which has kept records since 2002.

The worst year ever was 2020 when Peru lost around 4,20,000 acres of Amazon rainforest. Last year, that number declined, but still ranked as the sixth highest on record. Peruvian official data, which only goes through 2020, agrees.

Corrupt actors who benefit from environmental crime, together with the political crisis have resulted in a lack of govemment ability to fight environmental crime, the report said “What’s more, the Peruvian government continues to prioritize economic development over the protection of the Amazon rainforest.” The Igarape Institute commissioned the report from InSight Crime, a non-profit organisation focussed on investigating crime in Latin America

As in Brazil’s Amazon, cattle ranching and agriculture are the main drivers of deforestation. Agribusiness companies and poor migrants from other parts of Peru seize land illegally. Other illegal activities that harm the forest are gold mining, logging, and coca plantations.

The report titled The Roots of Environmental Crime in the Peruvian Amazon, identifies three actors behind deforestation: big businesses, such as palm oil companies: entrepreneurial criminal networks, which profit from the trade in timber, land or drugs, and cheap labour poorly paid workers who cut down trees and plant coca crops.

The Brazil problem

The largest portion of the Amazon lies in Brazil – within its borders the country holds roughly 60 % of the total forest area. It is also the country in which the forest has faced its worst decline. Deforestation has been happening here for more than five decades, and reports show that it has reached alarming heights under the current President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, thanks to his encouragement of agriculture and mining and weakening of environmental protections in the region. In fact, in 2021, the deforestation in the Amazon was the highest since 2006. Apart from agriculture and cattle ranching, infrastructure development, forest fires, mining, and illegal logging are causes for widespread deforestation. Here’s something to put the level of destruction into perspective – “every minute an area of Amazon rainforest roughly equivalent to 5 football pitches is cut down”, according to WWF. The commercial exploitation has left us with a scenario that appears grim – scientists warn that the region “is approaching a critical tipping point at which the damage is irreversible”.

Why is the Amazon important?

There’s a reason the Amazon is often referred to as “the lungs of the Earth” – it produces at least 5% of the world’s total oxygen, and has played a crucial role in climate regulation. Not just that. For years, it has functioned as a ‘carbon sink, meaning it absorbs more carbon than it emits. However, that’s no longer the case. Scientists have discovered that the region now emits more carbon than it takes in. And the resultant impact on the environment is beginning to show – hotter temperatures, more forest fires, changing weather patterns altering habitats, etc. All of these affect not just the three million wildlife species dependent on the region for survival but also the hundreds of indigenous tribes that call the place home. Several of them have been displaced already, and many have their lands occupied illegally. When the forest disappears, it takes along with it its inhabitants and their culture, leaving in its wake a world that’s altered forever.

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WHAT IS THE FARTHEST WE HAVE GONE INTO THE EARTH?

What is the furthest down humans have gone? What is the Kola superdeep Borehole? Read on to find the answers.

In Jules Verne’s science fiction novel, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), three men reach the centre of the Earth. Is this ever possible? Our planet is made up of three main layers- the crust, the mantle and the core. The continents and oceans are situated on the crust which is about 8 km thick under the oceans and between 35 and 40 km deep under the continents. Below the crust is the mantle which is about 2,900 km thick. Next comes the core. The outer core, about 2.250 km thick, is made up of melted iron and nickel, and contained within it, is a ball-shaped inner core believed to be made up of solid iron and nickel.

The centre of the innermost core is the centre of the Earth. So there are thousands of kilometres to descend to reach the centre of the Earth, and what is the furthest down we’ve gone? When the Russians and the Americans were engaged in a race to the moon several decades ago, they also embarked on a race to inner space to see how far down they could go. While the Americans did not make much headway in this race downwards (Project Mohole’), the Russians went at it, hammer and tongs, in the Kola Peninsula and dug a hole 12.262 km deep over a period of 24 years from 1965 to 1989. They wanted to go at least 15 km down,  but just could not. This is the closest we’ve been able to go to the centre of the Earth. The Kola Superdeep Borehole, as it is now called, attracts curious visitors from around the world.

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BOLD AND OUTRAGEOUS ENERGY IDEAS

With World Environment Day falling in this month, it’s time to see how we are faring. More importantly, we need to learn about the audacious ideas people have come up with to give Earth a chance to recuperate. How good are these eco-friendly strategies? You decide!

A grand plan for the skies

Just when we are all set to harvest energy from solar panels, the cloudy skies play spoilsport. So what’s the solution? Japanese scientists have come up with an ingenious idea: send satellites into orbit carrying solar arrays up high where there are no clouds to block the sun’s rays. Transmitters in the satellite will also convert the solar energy into microwave energy that can potentially provide power to millions of homes. Is it possible that the microwave beams miss the transmitter and fry up something on Earth? Let’s hope that never happens.

Power from DIY tornadoes

A tornado is a powerful beast, capable of producing the same energy as a power plant… provided it is large enough. A Canadian engineer realized that taming such a beast would be the solution to our energy problems. All that was needed was an area bigger than two football fields and enough space above for manufacturing a spinning column. Some turbines here, and a generator nearby – bingo! You get loads of energy as long as the tornado does not go rogue and escapes its confines!

Hairy plants to the rescue! Who would have thought that hairy plants could one day save the planet? And no, they don’t have to be brought down by aliens. There are quite a few on our planet itself. According to a team at the University of California, hairy plants absorb more light but less heat. Apparently, if there were more such plants across the world, the global temperature could go down. That would mean selecting and developing hairy versions. As long as they don’t make us eat hairy spinach, this is worth a try!

Biogas to drive vehicle

Human waste can, in the future, seamlessly power cars and bikes when petrol is probably all gone. Under the right conditions, bio waste, crop stubble and leftovers from hotels can pool in to make commutes more eco-friendly. Think it’s far-fetched? In Sweden. an entire fleet of buses run on biogas generated from manure and leftovers. The future isn’t so bleak, after all!

The energy of hustling commuters

Rushing to catch a train or even simply sitting in the train can be precious in the future. Swedish scientists are investigating how the air made warm by commuters at Stockholm Railway Station can be harvested through heat exchangers. And just like that, it would be possible to provide heating for a building nearby. Will cities across the world be able to make their citizens feel like superheroes – or at least power generators? Time will tell.

The energy of hustling commuters

Rushing to catch a train or even simply sitting in the train can be precious in the future. Swedish scientists are investigating how the air made warm by commuters at Stockholm Railway Station can be harvested through heat exchangers. And just like that, it would be possible to provide heating for a building nearby. Will cities across the world be able to make their citizens feel like superheroes – or at least power generators? Time will tell.

Store carbon dioxide underwater

What if we could suck up carbon dioxide emitted from power plants and store them in large flexible polymer bags deep under the sea instead of releasing it into the air? As stunning as it sounds, scientists argue that the idea isn’t crazy. Pipes will feed the gas into these bags and they will remain for thousands of years undisturbed. Or at least, that’s what we hope (and also pray that sharks don’t sink their teeth into them!).

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WHICH IS THE FIRST FULLY SOLAR-POWERED EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE IN INDIA?

The Sri Aurobindo International Centre for Education in Puducherry is the first fully solar-powered educational institute in India. With solar panels installed on almost all the rooftops in the campus, the school produces three times more energy than what it consumes.  

Many schools encourage their students to switch off the fans and lights after use, plant trees and take other initiatives to save energy. However, very few go beyond just asking them to take precautions and save energy. SAICE is different. This educational institute is self-reliant in terms of energy; it meets all its energy requirements through solar power. Moreover, it produces three times the electricity it consumes and lights up many other buildings with the excess energy. And it has done so by devising and implementing a project almost entirely on its own.

SAICE is a part of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. It was in 2012 that Dr. Brahmanand Mohanty, an alumnus of SAICE, came up with the idea of making the ashram energy efficient with the help of a sustainable model.

Dr. Mohanty had a vision of developing a system that would make SAICE self-dependent for energy. With this in mind, he had a meeting with the trustees of the Ashram. They gave him the go ahead and even suggested that pilot research activities should be taken up with the active participation of the young teachers and students at the Institute. And then it all began. The whole project was conducted in two phases from 2012 to 2015.

Following this analysis, all inefficient lamps, fans, air conditioners, and computers, which had been in use since a long period of time, were substituted by more energy-efficient alternatives to lower the energy demand by more than 25 percent, without compromising on the quality and service.

With a better understanding of how much energy the educational institute was consuming, they came to the decision that a solar power plant should be installed inside the campus so as to meet all the energy demands in-house. Thus, a 17 kWp rooftop solar power plant was set up in the school by an Auroville-based solar installer.Teachers and students were involved in the entire process right from the start. They helped in the basic wiring, setting up the panels on the rooftop, and more.

Credit : The better india

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