On Verge of Extinction

My kids won't see them, I haven't seen one yet! What I am talking about are no mystic rarities, they are just a few species of animal which were quite a common sight but are rapidly getting vanished. No, our eye sight is not getting weak. They are dying.

You knew them a few days back, but now look around. Can you see them? A sparrow, a mynah....they were everywhere...in our houses, on parapet...now not to be found, they haven't fled...they are just dead. And, we are responsible, we are doing it and we don’t even know what we are losing.

Today here I am talking about two very rare species which we are not sure will be seen after next couple of years. They are Tibetan Gazelle and Great Indian Bustard. What will change if they will not be around?  There are so many hue and cries when one human dies; if they are gone we are talking about a whole species vanishing off the face of earth. None of their kind will ever be seen again, they cannot be made again. Science has not reached there yet and Jurassic Park was only a movie.

Tibetan Gazelle

I don't know how much 1962 war affected Indian or Chinese people but they did face the brunt of it. Expert say the heavy movement of men on land in this area caused their peril. This antelope species found in Ladakh, Sikkim and endemic of Tibetan plateau has once ruled over an area of 20000 sq km large now they are residing in  a 100 sq km patch, numbered somewhere around 200. They are so endangered that even a severe winter can cause them to extinct. 

Great Indian Bustard

"What is so great about the Great Indian Bustard?" I read it somewhere. Once found in India in large number they are not to be seen today. The reason is destruction of habitat. How much land we need that we can't let these few live in peace?? Being the ground dwelling bird, it’s hard for them o survive under the human encroachment. Ghatigaon Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh which once enjoyed a large number of them has none today.  The total number of these birds left today is counted somewhere 400 to 500

I don't know how much importance you give to this but a very simple calculation on their combined population shows that one life amongst them is equivalent to 1 million human lives. 
Try to give your child this gift, let them see one of these.

Happy Diwali........Happy ??!!!!

35 died in Andhra Pradesh, factory blown up, 150+ casualties all over the country...carbon content in atmosphere shooting up...houses burnt...a full slum area brought down to ashes...people suffering from eye irritation...smoke every where and sky turning red, ecology and environment gone for a toss !!!! No we are not under any sort of attack. We just celebrated Diwali, Indian festival of light, of  triumph of good over evil.

I am running short of time so won't write much, but just a random thought. If suicide is allowed this way then why not in other ways?

Durga Puja, Climate Change and Economics !!!!

Kali Badi is the place to be in this festive season. Durga Puja are the 9 days when whole India forgets everything and swings in festive mood. But, when you talk about Kolkata it different..its a madness there. So, our kolkata niwasi were at it, totally at it in their true blue bangla ways. But the difference we saw this year was changing concerns and growing awareness. More than 20 puja mandals essayed various aspects of climate change as “themes”. Ranging from importance of greenery and afforestation to sea level rise due to global warming, everything was depicted. Great job !! I must say. Looks like we are now understanding what we are playing with. 

Optimism is a virtue which helps you getting good results out of everything..if not at least you believe that you have got something good out of every shit that happened to you. Somewhere I read a thing in which it was mentioned how Air India strike resulted in reduced emissions, though passengers faced lots of problems but then there was something good to it. After all every cloud has a silver lining. Good that people are getting an eye for climate. At least they are seeing what is helping and what is not. I must say we are going good.

The effect of a warming of the Earth's temperature by even 2 degrees Celsius could put up to 400 million people at risk of hunger and leave up to 2 billion lacking enough water resources.

At Istanbul, which was hosting World bank and International Monetary Fund meeting this year got World Bank Chief Economist Justin Lin speaking and world bank making statements such as climate change could depress the economic output of Africa and South Asia by as much as 5 per cent per year. The developing world will suffer about 80 percent of the damage from climate change despite accounting for only around a third of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at the presentation of world bank's new development report for 2010 entitled "Development and Climate Change".

All this sounds really great..we are awakening and understanding our responsibilities. Great thats really...great. But, this is not the point I want to make here. Even UNEP meet last week and I don't even want to mention here what talk they did there...thing is that they talke, they just talked and mu question is...where is the real work dude??

Everything I mentioned above was nothing but only talks in one or other form. Calculations, big terms but where is the ground work. It has become a ritual..every time when a high profile meet happens they pay a one session homage to environment and climate...talk about it and continue with their work. Enough people it enough now....stop talking...show me some work...all these people who met and talked at all these places. Set themes for events, made banners for so called green durga puja...get down, get down to some real work. These talks are not gonna help. What you all are required to do is just to plant a tree...all of you who have met these days...just one tree...trust me you will never need to meet again, set themes or talk. So, please...just one tree in the backyard.

Of Paradip, Oil Spill, 13 years old and UNEP

A spill is silently hovering towards ports of Paradip...posing I touch you die kind of threat to rich bio-diversity of the area on page 14 and a 13-year old is going to address UN climate meet on page 1. I don't understand what is more important for these newspapers Climate in itself, or the shitty meets that keep happening but show no results. For people who wake up late...run out of their houses fast and save 2 bucks on newspaper, there are two news of my concern in this particular paper, which has been my sole companion of all my morning activities for past so many years.

It goes like this... there is news that a 13 year old from India is going to address UN Climate Meet. Kudos to her!!! But, what about 30 years old..have they gone insane...what sense do Paradip Port Trust officials make when they say ' there is no immediate risk and it’s just a minor leakage'. They and their statement justifies why a 13-years old needs to represent our country with a 110 Crore population. What I have in common with Yugratna (that’s our 13years old's name...) is that both of us worked for 'tarumitra' (for ignorant people out there that’s an NGO working for tree plantation).....she has also been to youth conference by UNEP in Norway. I really appreciate this girl!!!! But..in the same newspaper there is another small article, which talks about oil spilling from a sunken Mangolian ship off to Paradip. The area they talk about is rich of bio-diversity and is home to world’s largest rookery of the endangered Olive Riddle turtles and a large marine species. As I quoted them earlier, our PPT officials are neglecting it and if this oil accumulates in the bottom sediment...that is going to be bad...real bad.

Now, what question I pose is what is more important...this great girl going to UN Climate Meet or the turtles meets with their fate at Paradip??? Which one should get more coverage??? Is not there a need for these newspapers to get their priorities set or if not just get the page numbers right!!!! Try putting page 1on 14 and 14 on 1. I agree what is on 1 is commendable but on 14 its matter of life and death!!! 

What are we doing?

Gone are the days when we used to look at star studded skies...what I see today is dark night. Have stars gone missing? Nah! they can't..Its just we...we have pulled over a blanket on us which is covering our view. Yes, a blanket of Carbon Oxides, Nitrogen Oxides, half burnt hydrocarbons....no! it is not a result of any extremity...this is what we are doing everyday. So just ask yourself "What are we doing?". Everyday every minute we spend with the new technologies which we use for our comfort or in name of development leaves very dark footprint behind. If you will look back there is a long trail of dead plants, dried water sources, melting glaciers, rising temperatures, tsunami, flood and drought...we call them natural calamities. But, trust me there is nothing natural about it..this is man made...this is not what nature was supposed to be...we made it look like this. So next time whenever, u leave lights on in your room ask yourself "what are we doing?"..next time when you burn those extra ounces of fuel, ask yourself "what are we doing?"...next time when u leave your bathroom tap running, ask yourself "what are we doing?"