Thursday, August 14, 2008

Greenomania

If I ask what's your favourite color, you will respond red,being the color of revolution, white,symbol of peace, pink,esthetic or even yellow,violet and so and so and so. But if you ask me my favourite color,it is Green. If you say I am greenomaniac, it won't be an exaggeration. I like gree vegetables, I like Green Granitas(at Baristas), I love green Saag cooked by my Mom(my punjabi dish), I love green ink to write,but above these all-I love green environment. The ecologically balanced environment.

A few centuries ago, green was prevalent and omnipresent. Then came our human involvement,or human interference(to precisely say). And this omnipotent species didn't take even more than a few centuries to make this planet greeno-deficient. Last 6,50,000 years on one side and last 2 centuries on the other, emission of CO2 and CH4 has been equal.IPCC(International panel on climate change) warns that 21st century will witness a 6.4 degree rise in temeperature. And comes with it many repurcussions: rise in sea level, increased intensity of extreme weather conditions,many more Katrinas,Tsunamis,Hurricanes,change in agricultural yields,and last but not the least increase of diseases.

It's getting very hot out today,all of you have said it to someone sometime. But have you ever realized why it is hot? Why the month during which we have had lot of rains, we are barren of any rain? Why we are witnessing these natural calamities, floods somewhere and draughts somewhere else? Who is responsible for this? Who should bear responsibility for this? Do you really want to know the answer?

If yes,then hear. The answer is we. We the people.CO2 and CH4 have increased by 31% and 49% since beginning of industrial revolution in mid-1700s.Do we really love our children? Are we really concerned about our posterity? If you want to know the frank honest candid answer,then we don't love them.Without mincing any word,let me tell that we are not concerned about them.

Are you really aware what will the planet earth be like,if we continue our emission of greenhouse gases at our present pace? If no, then the above information is for you.

So can we remedy it? yes,we can.Drive vehicles only if necessary.Adopt car pooling and bike pooling(more than 1 person of same company going thro' same route) to go to office,affording company transportation as much as possible, if office or market is nearby go on bicycle,plant 1 tree a month at least are but a few ways to adopt.

so,Homosapiens.let's Stop here and ponder for a while.So next time I ask you what's your favorite color. If most of you will reply-green and say that we are greenomaniacs, then only will you have the right to say that I love my kids.so tell me pals: what's your favourite color?

29 comments:

Parthiv Dave said...

This is good one... I completely agree with you. It's high time we should care for mother earth.

RESPECT YOUR MOTHER EARTH...

Parthiv Dave said...

Just one more small suggestion
- Try changing the theme of your blog.
- you may check http://daveparthiv.wordpress.com and register at wordpress also. Though my blog site is aimless and I am using it as repository to store good articles, you may find the template interesting.

anuj said...

Good blog...You have taken a good initiative to make our city green...

Mohan said...

Green is my fav color too!

Go Green Go!!!

Parul Gupta said...

Hi Ravi and others, noble thoughts and much needed in these times. Please visit http://ngopost.org/ to join hands and share knowledge with many others who are passionate about causes like environment conservation, accessible education etc

KK said...

I think developed nations should take more initiative & UN as well so that we can minimize its worse effects to a bare minimum.After all progress with the environment hazards can not sustain any longer.

Spreading awareness thru such blogs is also something to reckon with.

Ravi Agnihotri said...

First of all,thanks parul for your comment. I have gone thro' the link you gave me.I am sure this will give me the much needed platform for my favorite and unfortunately most worrisome topic:Eco

Parthiv,I have changed the theme and hope that this theme is user-friendly.

Last,thank you all and please let's connect more people around us for noble causes such as Eco,fight against superstition,injustice et al...

Unknown said...

Once again Ravi a nice post.. We are just mauling the nature for our own selfish needs. Time to go green now!!

hari said...

this is a very good article. we people should work towards making our environment better.we should stop damagaing our mother nature.

Unknown said...

again u have an raised an imp concern and i like the way u supported ur argument wid various facts and figures 2 make it very informative.
being aware of the problem is a different thing and joinin hands to face the problem is different.we r aware nw but we need 2 contribute to face this challenge of GLOBAL WARMING.

Anshul said...

Between increasing agricultural demand and changing climate patterns, water resources are increasingly coming under stress. Countries such as India and China pump more water for agriculture than is replenished. China has effectively run out of water. The Yellow River rarely reaches to the sea anymore, while hundreds of villages have had to relocate because their water supply disappeared. Indian farmers pump 250 cubic kilometers of water a year for irrigation while only 150 cubic kilometers is replaced by rainfall. In Australia, six years of drought have eliminated most of that countries ability to export foods.
In order to get a better idea of the world’s water use, the concept of the water footprint was introduced in 2002 as a way of measuring the total volume of fresh water used to produce the goods and services consumed by a nation. The water footprint includes the water content of goods imported into the country minus goods exported. Water used to produced goods for export is called virtual water. Major water exporters include The United States, Canada, Austria, Argentina, and Thailand. Major importers of virtual water include Japan, Sri Lanka, Italy, South Korea, and the Netherlands. Trade in virtual water is estimated to be around a thousand cubic kilometers a year—the equivalent of 20 river Niles. Much of this trade is going to the wealthy nations from countries that are over pumping their ground water.

India and China and the U.S. have the largest water footprints, consuming 13%, 12%, and 9% respectively of the world total. The U.S. has the largest per capita footprint, at 2480 cubic meters of water per person per year, more than three times that of India and China. A major factor contributing to the U.S.’s high per capita foot print is its high level of meat consumption. One hamburger, for example, requires 2400 liters of water to produce. A pair of leather shoes uses 8000 liters. On the other hand, a slice of bread only requires 40 liters.

Climate change and overuse of ground water are impacting the water footprints of some countries. The amount of the earth’s surface that is suffering drought has more than doubled in the past 30 years, partially the result of rising temperatures. Severe droughts have plagued both in China and Australia. Before its six year drought began, Australia was a major rice exporter. Now its rice crop has declined by 90%. India, China and Pakistan pump an estimated 400 kilometers of water a year from the ground, about twice the amount that is replenished by rainfall. Even as India depletes its aquifers, it remains a major exporter of water, through its food exports.

At the same time, fresh-water consumption worldwide has more than doubled since World War II to nearly 4,000 cubic kilometers annually and set to rise another 25 percent by 2030, says a 2007 report by the Zurich-based Sustainable Asset Management group investment firm. Up to triple that is available for human use, so there should be plenty, the report says. But waste, climate change, and pollution have left clean water supplies running short.

India, which faces some of the worst water shortages, and which is still a net exporter of virtual water, has adopted some of the most innovative ways to increase its water supply by harvesting rainwater. India’s monsoon weather results in large amounts of evaporation and runoff so India has returned to an age old practice of harvesting the rainwater. By adopting the very simple technology of harnessing rainwater, some villages have solved the perennial problem of drought.

The village of Rajsamadhiya has used rainwater harvesting to turn a near-desert landscape with empty wells into a land of trees and ponds, full wells and abundant crops. While other nearby villages rely on government water tankers to provide drinking water, Rajsamadhiya has been self sufficient for more than 10 years.

Rajsamadhiya is an example for the rest of the world which will have to face the consequences of resource exhaustion. They have found their salvation in simple, energy efficient technologies, resurrected from older times and implemented on a community level. Less and local has rewarded them with a new abundance of food and prosperity.

Unknown said...

The developing world faces a double burden. Climate change threatens poor communities with economic devastation in the form of floods, droughts, and ruined harvests. But traditionally, many of the solutions that fight poverty have also contributed to climate change - so as countries develop, there is huge potential for them to add to the crisis.
we are also in many ways responsible for this.
we import foods like american apples etc etc which indirectly leads to consumption of fuel and more pollution. while we cannot change some, planting trees is a good option.

Dr.Nitin Shakya said...

ya nice dude keep going..................................................

tinoz1980 said...

Of course GREEN .Please check my community GLOBE GREEN in my community List and join it :)

Unknown said...

well scripted, may be we should discuss and focus more on the remedies that could be adopted from each of us

Unknown said...

Hmm..interesting

Tanay Nath said...

Appreciate your concern and effort. Just 2 points:
1.Also appreciate your initiative with my bicycle.
2.Busses, I guess, have less emission per person, compared to autos.

tarak said...

This is good. Green is the only way to go and sustain ourselves

kk said...

I agree with you though i am not too sure if this can be achieved so easily. - gomba

kk said...

I agree as well we have not given our due to the mother earth.

Ali said...

nice thought man.....for once I completely agree with you....I think even I am a greenomaniac :)

Jewelry Designer said...

A very well written thought . We should respect Mother Earth by planting more trees and reduce the number of vehicles that emit harmful gases which damage plants.

ameetsingh said...

NICE ARTICLE.....!!!
well its very surprising 2 c sumbody so concerned abot these kind of issues. now a days who really bothers abot all these. i am also associated wid an organization named TARU MITRA, whose main purpose is 2 keep d city clean & green.

Unknown said...

Good place to hang-out..Make it more fun loving...post some unconventional matters...Have a shout-out box !!!

Unknown said...

good one man....

seems like you stand for a lot of things that would actually make a difference to this world...

though my favourite colour is still blue I completely agree with you that its time we started doing our own part to protect mother nature

Monica said...

i loveeeeeee nature and completely agree with the message within your article!

Unknown said...

thought provoking. I stopped reading print newspapers hoping that it will save one tree by the time I will be 50. But, sometimes I debate with myself whether reading the news from a website is is clean enough. After all, it takes tonnes of coal to power the site.
- A Catch 22 situation, like always.

wangshu said...

yes, especially for americans. course they use the most resource in the world

siphar said...

Mr. Green, whatever has been suggested by you in your blog to turn evreything green is something which I can bet, we all have been told a million times.But how many of us follow it.
Now here comes the same concern which I raised earlier- Problem is not that we dont , problem is we dont want to .
This is the real big attitude problem with us for which we have to find a solution.