Western Ghats - our ticket to paradise

The Western Ghats is home to one of the most diverse biological treasures in India.  This 1600 kilometre long abode, spanning an area of 60,000 km² and sandwiched between the Tapti River (on the border of Gujrath and Maharastra) and Kanyakumari (in Tamil Nadu) is the home to perhaps the maximum number of unique organisms that can be found at one location in the entire universe!

Here a small list to give you a fair idea of what this number is -

• 137 species of Mammals
•  508 species of birds
•  332 species of butterflies
• 290 species of fish
• 203 species of reptiles
• 181 species of amphibians
• 77 species of fresh water molluscs
• 270 species of land snails

And most importantly 375 of these are endangered.

Some facts –

1. The WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) has tagged the Western Ghats bio reserve as critically endangered
2. The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has enlisted in its list of World Heritage Sites
3. The WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring Center) has categorically stated this region as the most important fresh water biodiversity in the world.
4. It is one of the 34 Global Biodiversity hot-spots
5. It finds itself a place in the list of 8 hottest biodiversity hot-spots of the world

The ever increasing human activity in and around this region poses the following threat to this biodiversity:

• Agricultural activities in the form of coffee cultivation and livestock grazing have resulted in considerable encroachment onto the forest land.
• The numerous proposed mini hydroelectric projects
• The proposed diversion of the Netravati River
• Climate change
• Illegal and Legal mining activities

The Western Ghats are our nearest ticket to paradise! It’s worth saving this ticket for the future. Let us all unanimously oppose any government policy that threatens this paradise and banish any political party that tries to implement such a policy.

Climate change - the child killer!

In the last few articles, we discussed about climate change and how it would affect us. But then, our selfish mind always reasons out and the most common response I get to my attempts at convincing people about climate change is – “I won’t live to see that day!” Sometimes I wonder if this is a ready-made answer aimed at consoling ourselves or are we so stubborn that we just don’t care?

Most of us are family persons. We live with our families, love them unconditionally and protect them from any harm whatsoever. Our families are a source of support and encouragement to us. Our families are the basis of our lives – hence we call ourselves ‘civilized’.

But have you ever wondered - what is family love? How do we express it? Is it the respect and priority we assign to our families? Is it the amount of sacrifice we make for them? Or does it also have a monetary angle behind it – saving up, building assets and securing a good future. Yes, all of this is family love and there is nothing wrong about it. But this present definition of this so called family love lacks a basic ingredient - securing a safe livable environment for our families.

Children are the bundles of joy and blessings in a family. And every new-born simply adds to this bounty of joy. But wait; let us think about their future! Is it secure? Or are we secretively conspiring to destroy it through our actions (climate change)?

Climate change due to global warming is going to have a profound impact on the health of the mother and the new-born.  We all know that the mother is extremely vulnerable during pregnancy. We also know that the experiences / illnesses of the mother during this period have a lifelong impact on the health of the new-born. 

Climate change as we know is going to cause food and water shortages. The quality of the available food and water would also be compromised. Such a scenario would lead to poorly fed mothers and malnutrtioned new-born. Poorly fed mothers produce lower quality of milk, which in turn would compromise the healthy growth of the child. A poorly fed child would have a compromised immune system, and would fall easy prey to the hundreds of new deadly diseases of the day.

Acute weather conditions would aid the spread of diseases and pregnant women and the new-born would be most vulnerable. Adverse weather conditions would also increase the number of climate change refugees in developing and under developed countries, forcing mothers and new-born to succumb to various harsh factors and die.

In one of my previous articles, I discussed how climate change will affect human behavior  A healthy environment is essential for the mother and the new born. However climate change would change the behavioral aspects of the mother, who would in adverse cases develop enmity towards the child. An increase in domestic and social violence influenced by climate change would also hamper the growth of a healthy baby. Increasing occurrences of terrorism, riots and civil wars – a direct result of climate change would simply spell the end of your child’s future.

The above mentioned effects would occur within the next fifty years.

If you think you are well off and have enough money to face any eventuality, please think again. The food shortage would be so acute that only the elite 2% (millionaires) of the rich would be able to afford it. What is happening in the Middle East is just the beginning.

Close your eyes and imagine such a future. Are you ready to gift your child this?

Wake up! Arise and act!

Your health and climate change

There is a lot of noise these days about global warming and how it threatens to annihilate the human race. There are also numerous versions and theories both supporting and discrediting this. Before this catastrophic event occurs, there would exist a very long process of human suffering and torture at the hands of a merciless nature. If I may ask – what is the one thing that you wish to have till the end? While wealth would definitely be a priority, health would be the most important one. Good health brings happiness and happiness is the healthiest of human emotions. So before climate change wipes out our race, what suffering has it got at stake for us?

Global warming as the term suggests is causing an increase in the average surface temperature of the earth. Warmer surface temperatures would result in a variety of ill effects affecting people of all ages alike. A prolonged spell of hot weather, with high relative humidity and less cooler nights would induce severe heat related stress on elderly people, leading to death. 

Warmer surface temperatures would also cause an increase in the breeding rates of rodents and pests – which are disease carriers. There would be a decrease in the overall quality of water, as the microorganisms purifying this water would reduce their functioning as a result of a warmer climate. This would lead to an increase in water borne diseases. Warmer atmospheric conditions would result in an increase in ozone production. Ozone in the lower levels of the atmosphere is a pollutant and together with pollen would lead to deadly cases of respiratory diseases amongst the new born and the elderly.

Climate change is also going to influence our health through a number of indirect factors. Topping this list is – natural disasters. Climate change would result in numerous natural calamities often with devastating effects. Changing precipitation patterns coupled with a warmer atmosphere would result in longer dry spells with sudden heavy downpour causing annual flash floods. People living along the coasts would be forced to migrate due to rising sea levels and non-availability of fresh drinking water. People would also be force to relocate due to adverse weather conditions, land slides, earthquakes, increased volcanic activity and food availability. This mass relocation of people would instantly lead to a rise in the number of diseased population.

The second factor is the reduction in the quality of available fresh water. The United Nations Organization estimates that about one third of the world population would be deprived of quality drinking water by 2050. This would result in an increase in the spread of water related diseases. 

Another important factor is food scarcity. Changing soil patterns, failing monsoons, annual flash floods and increase in surface temperatures would result in large-scale crop failure. Lack of adequate food intake would result in further aggravation of the spread of diseases. Finally, scientists claim that there would be a hundred per cent rise in the occurrences of new incurable diseases, many of which (MERS, SARS, H1N5 etc.) are already causing wide spread panic.

The question we need to ask ourselves today is – where are we headed? Is this the future you want to live in? Is the future you want your children to grow up in?

It’s high time we make a choice and chose our alliances. Climate change and its catastrophic effects can be mitigated. A deep thought provoking approach must be initiated by every local and national government for this cause. People must be educated and enlightened. Governments must have a plan for its citizens. If we still chose to be ignorant and consider living foolishly, then we would simply suffer and die a painful death and our children would curse us for the gifts we have given them.

We can change the world! Let’s join together and act! Wake up!

Gifting your child a thirsty future?

As the famous English saying goes – “3 minutes without oxygen, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food”, water without a doubt is the fuel that drives life. From the beginning of time, water has been accorded a very special status by mankind and is considered holy in almost every religion on the face of this earth. But man has changed, so has his attitude. At a time when governments are spending millions searching for water on outer space (thus accepting the fact that water is a giver of life!), we humans along with our governments are simply destroying quality water on earth.

We all learnt in school that water covers most of the surface of the earth, but only a mere 2% of which is potable. Out of this nearly 60% is locked up as ice in mountain glaciers and polar icecaps. The ever increasing global temperatures are forcing these icecaps to fast melt and thus converting even this scarce source of fresh water into salt water. So where are we headed? Is the future going to be thirsty? And who is to blame?

 

Most of us live in cities and have access to potable water – good quality or not. Most of us are ignorant about the need to intake quality water. Lack of water purification facilities and rampant pollution of underground water (mainly due to poor sewage systems) is adding to these woos. And then there is the problem of unplanned, unethical, selfish and mindless drilling of bore wells. In Bangalore (India’s IT Capital), the depth of the bore wells have increased by nearly 500 feet in the past 5 years alone! The question is how deep can we go? And is there enough water down there?

Did you know that out of the 7 billion people inhabiting the earth, 783 million do not have access of good quality water? Did you know that about 3.4 million people die every year of water related diseases? Did you know that every 21 seconds a child dies due to lack of access of water?

So how is climate change going to worsen the situation? Well for starters, global warming induced sea level rise will reduce the availability of fresh water along the coasts by as much as 50%! (PS: 40% of the world’s population lives along the coasts). Changes in precipitation patterns will further aggravate the situation. Fast receding glaciers and ever decreasing mountain snow-pack would reduce the annual feed of perennial rivers. Failure of monsoons would lead to drought like situations even in areas considered water-rich. Scientists estimate that by 2050 nearly a third of the world’s population would be deprived of quality drinking water. Will I be on that list? Will our children be on that list?

Where are we headed folks? It’s a selfish world we live in and it is high time we wake up do something about it. 

The first question that you need to ask yourself – “Am I gifting my child a thirsty future?” No? Then please join hands and together we can ensure that our kids drink good water. Change begins at home. Be conscious about the use of water and encourage your neighbours to follow suit. But this is not enough. In developing countries like India, the poor sewage systems and lack of water recycling plants are fast reducing the quality of available ground water by mixing of sewage in it. Therefore the need of the hour is to pressurize the government servants and elected representatives into ensuring the purity of the already scarce ground water. Every parent must come together and ensure that the water bodies in their localities are devoid of pollution. Elected representatives must be put to task and questioned when they come begging for votes during the elections. What we need is a revolution like the Arab spring to secure the quality drinking water.

It’s a selfish world we live in, but if we truly love our children, then we cannot afford to be selfish. Change begins at home. Wake up!

Rising temper - blame it on climate change!

Are you increasingly turning out to be short tempered? Are your children becoming increasingly arrogant and violent? Is your relationship with your partner being hurt due to silly fights? Are people on the road tending to argue / fight for trivial reasons?

Have you ever pondered over these questions? 

No? , then please pause for a movement, close your eyes and think about your experiences. Are humans slowly turning out to be more violent?

Researchers from the University of California Berkeley recently published a paper in the journal Science, in which they suggest that humans may become more hostile as global temperatures rise. Their suggestion was based on strong evidence linking the recent regional conflicts and climatic changes. One of the most classic example of which is the fact that changes in the local weather pattern coupled by an acute shortage of wheat largely fueled the Arab Spring.

The researchers assumed an average increase of four degrees Fahrenheit and concluded that humans would do little or nothing to adapt, but simply turn violent and perish! The study also claims that occurrences of human and inter-group conflicts would increase by fifty per cent by 2050. We already know that humans would turn to cannibalism when climate change causes a food crisis, but would needless violence predate this by decades? Is the recent turmoil in the Middle East, the rising number of rapes in India, increasing terror related violence in Pakistan, the occupy wall-street movement in the west and the anti-government protests in China and Russia just the beginning?

Yes, the occurrences of such events will increase exponentially, but no government will understand the real reason behind them and take steps to mitigate climate change. This can be comparable to the attitude of the governments during the sixties when the first research linking cancer and cigarette smoking was published. Since scientists could not explain the exact phenomenon linking the two, every major government in the world chose to ignore it. The same is the case with this research. While our elected representatives time and again choose to simply betray us, the mammoth task of protecting our future and that of our children is in our hands. 

If you are a parent reading this, please pause and ask yourself – Is this the future you want your child to experience? I am sure your answer is no. But you would also immediately express your helplessness about the issue. After all what can an ordinary person like me do? Well, you are no ordinary person. You are an earthizen. And every earthizen has the moral responsibility to protect nature and the right to make decisions regarding this. We all live in a selfish world – where everything within my house in important. But nature has no boundaries, and therefore let’s not be selfish about this! Change begins at home. Start leading a greener life. Educate and encourage your neighbours to follow suit. You can start a revolution! Go for it!