Time is the greatest leveler. It can sooth us, console us and comfort us. It stops not for a second. The count down begins at the womb and continues till the tomb. Let us live every second. Let us fill life into the lifeless moments. I may not be visible to the world because of my size and reach, But the world is visible to me... My voice may not be audible to the rest as it is so feeble, But I can hear all the good voice from every corner... I may not have climbed big mountains, But I gain confidence on seeing simple clouds silhouetting them, I am not a moon or a sun or shining stars... But I am a star unto myself, Achievements need not be always of archaeological substance, My pressures and pleasures are my treasures for my future.
The earth is not made of a single rock but of simple grains of sand The big blue oceans of waters take birth in tiny drops of water... A jungle must have a leaf of grass, a curved creeper, a mammoth tree and many more and more, A single tree can never make a jungle. Let me celebrate the victories of others Let me rejoice at the joy of others, Let me search for truth that shines ever!
MH 370 Flight 17 QZ 8501 The safest mode of transport in the world is Air travel. The continuing mishaps involving Malaysia/ Airways is perplexing. The air passengers too have to be alert and have to have their Vests that would save them in case of the air craft landing in water. Sooner or later the truth would surface. The Airbus/Boeing companies have to ensure more safety measures. And the passengers who give scant respect to the mock exercise/instructions demonstrated by the crew must change and listen and learn the safety precautions.
A worker is silhouetted against the setting sun while installing an overhead electric cable pole on the banks of river Ganges in Allahabad December 26, 2014. REUTERS/Jitendra Prakash
It appears the friend in the picture tries to grab the sun to eat or to take it to his home. Precisely we have to do that.
Our Gandhiji declared that the world has got enough materials to satisfy the needs of everyone but not, to satisfy the greed of even a single person. As we go on increasing the requirement of energy the earth is going to die of suffocation created by man. It would be funny but please see where and all we use this precious energy derived by burning the precious fossil fuels.
Just to dry our hair we use driers.
( Some have only in countable numbers. A minute spared with a cotton towel or a pleasant sun bath would do.None of our greatest emperors had this luxury!)
Just to cut the hair on our heads we use electrically operated gadgets ( Our hairs are not 100 year old trees with 15 feet girth requiring saw machines)
After closing all windows and doors we switch on fans and AC machines
We need a Shoe Polishing Machine to make our shoes shine (What a pity!)
None has the time to look at the stars and appreciate ; but we illuminate all our homes and buildings with lamps that blink when none is there at dead of night
Instead of arresting the population growth and migration to urban spaces we go on digging tunnels and flyways or highways and compete with birds in flying.
We use vehicles for even a distance of 200 feet.
We look at our affordability of the energy costs, if not, we try to earn more and pay but never think ; it is not the affordability of the consumer but the availability, ability of the earth to sustain and avoid-ability of energy.
More speed means more fuel. What have we achieved with more speed?
Every train passenger or a flight passenger proceed to a restaurant only on arrival
Speed thrills but kills this earth and at times men too.
Instead of building our homes that can keep us warm, we build houses in such a way that either we need a cooler or a room heater.
Simply if we use an electric lamp during the day time ignoring the sunlight... there will be no light at the end of the tunnel.
Zoos in India are dangerous for animals as well as man. Incidents where men jump into the tiger or lion enclosures or fights among animals are common. In these days of Satellite channels which makes it possible even to count the whiskers of these majestic animals and from our own drawing rooms what is the need to keep a few animals to make fellow animals happier? Just release these voiceless creatures into their habitats.
The Crude price which was so crude and rude is slowly mellowing down to the levels of normalcy bringing cheers to all developing economies. Of course the developed too get benefited from the windfall. The oil and gas price bleeds many economies and nations crumble under the weight of this. As the modern men are powerless and immobile without this fuel, every nation around the world had to spend at least 20% of its savings on crude and gas imports. India is also a biggest beneficiary. India requires 4 million barrels a day of crude imports and the price almost at half the levels of January June 2014 at 60 dollars and gas at 5 dollars. The lower price of the fuel should not fuel the consumption of oil and gas worsening the pollution levels. The much debated Copenhagen or Lima decisions will go to winds as people would not listen to any type of education or instructions as they would go for more vehicles and for undertaking more journey. The R&D on fuel research may be slowed down as the pressure on the lid is not so high. Today every car maker of the world has its manufacturing facility in India. Millions of cars are made available locally and exported across the world. Similar is the case of two wheeler segment. Pricing of Oil Today the cost of petrol is around 65-70 rupees ( around a dollar or more with every day fluctuations) It can be further brought down to 60 rupees and then the accruals may be collected with taxes on imports raised to strengthen to reduce the fiscal deficit further. An economically confident government can go in for massive 1. Irrigation programmes with conservation of existing lakes and rivers and go for BUILDING MORE AND MORE LAKES. If the Modi government creates 3 lakh lakes in the remaining period it would be the greatest it would do for the humanity. Benefits 1. It would arrest the migration of people towards concreted jungles from the country side 2. In cities we need to travel 20- 40 kilometers a day like fools spending our time and spending fuel which is not there in villages. 3. Pollution levels would go down or at least not go up 4. The dwindling water tables levels would go up 5. The future water wars will not happen 6. Food production will increase 7. The much required green cover we will get 8. Positive climate change may bring in more rains 9. The ecology of the are will imporve 10. Rural employment will rise 11. Conflicts will go down 12. All can be happy. Hope good sense prevails. Hussain Sagar Lake, Hyderabad
Innocence at the altar of ignorance, Violence seen as the best weapon of peace, Darkness engulfing day light, Anger displayed and misplaced; Pens proving to be meek before guns, Books and notes soaked in pain, Love surrendering to the howls of hatred, Rivers of blood displacing waters; The shoulders that carried school bags Returning to homes as body bags, Kids expected to be in study rooms Bathed in bloody rooms; All in the search of truth, Traveling on the vehicles of falsehood And roads of violence with loads of hatred Preaching peace and breaching peace! When are we going to breathe peace?
At 4,841 years old, this ancient bristlecone pine is the oldest known non-clonal organism on Earth. Located in the White Mountains of California, in Inyo National Forest, Methuselah's exact location is kept a close secret in order to protect it from the public. (An older specimen named Prometheus, which was about 4,900 years old, was cut down by a researcher in 1964 with the U.S. Forest Service's permission.) Today you can visit the grove where Methuselah hides, but you'll have to guess at which tree it is. Could this one be it?
Sarv-e Abarqu
Sarv-e Abarqu, also called the "Zoroastrian Sarv," is a cypress tree in Yazd province, Iran. The tree is estimated to be at least 4,000 years old and, having lived through the dawn of human civilization not far away, it is considered an Iranian national monument. Many have noted that Sarv-e Abarqu is most likely the oldest living thing in Asia
Alerce
The Alerce is a common name for Fitzroya cupressoides, a towering tree species native to the Andes mountains. There's almost no telling how old these trees can get, since most of the larger specimens were heavily logged in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many botanists believe they are the second-longest living trees on Earth aside from the bristlecone pine of North America. To date, the oldest known living specimen is 3,640 years old.
The Senator
The Senator, located in Florida, is the largest bald cypress tree in the United States, and it is widely considered the oldest of its species known to exist. It is likely the largest U.S. tree of any species east of the Mississippi River. Estimated to be around 3,500 years old, the Senator was used as a landmark for the Seminole indians and other native tribes. The Senator's size is particularly impressive because it has endured many hurricanes, including one in 1925 which reduced its height by 40 feet. The tree gets its name from from Sen. M.O. Overstreet, who donated the tree and surrounding land in 1927.
( 'The Senator' has since been burned to the ground.)
Patriarca da Floresta
This tree, an example of the species Cariniana legalis named Patriarca da Floresta in Brazil, is estimated to be about 3,000 years old, making it the oldest non-conifer in Brazil. The tree is believed to be sacred, but its species is widely threatened due to forest clearing in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.
India imports four million barrels of crude every day. The third biggest economy of Asia is smiling after a long time. Oil burns engines and the cost of oil burns consumers and countries. It is estimated at the current level India can save 18 billion US dollars in the current fiscal in her oil imports. This may help contain the fiscal deficit by 0.9% which is a windfall.
But the falling oil prices should not lead to the rise in pollution levels. As of today almost every major car maker of the world has got manufacturing facilities in INDIA. They are for the local sales and get exported mostly to the third world. At this juncture the government has to think of introducing dual pricing for fuel. A BMW care owner and an old Ambassador taxi operator can't be charged equally for fuel. The rich can pay rich price and the poor should be made to pay the cost. The same logic must go for gas pricing too. The kitchens of Ambanis ( rich people) and Arukkanis (poor people) can't be on par. Here too dual pricing must be introduced. The sudden development which is purely temporary must not slow down our searches and researches on alternate technologies seeking energy. The windfall should not make the air quality fall.
For a long time I have been advocating that a leader should lead from the front. We are happy that our new leader chooses to speak to us on issues that bother us. A regular leader would take salutes and normally do what the bureaucracy would advise him, As a senior officer in a ministry he/she would have met a few more PM's and the new incumbent would be totally new to the environment and has to go by the advice of the assistants' guidance. Though there is nothing wrong in it the voters who have voted often would feel neglected and betrayed as the 'new leader' talks in a new tone and content.
It is not so with the new leader as he is seen guiding them and chiding them seeking performance report. Why India is important in the world? It feeds 17% of the world population. The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people (2011 census), more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing China, its population reaching 1.6 billion by 2050.Its population growth rate is 1.41%, ranking 102nd in the world in 2010. The Indian population had reached the billion mark by 2000.
We should realize that an Indian leader has to guide this much population where as the Europe with around 750 million population has got 50 leaders to take care. Of course Russia takes the major chunk of the land area with around 40%. Hence skirmishes are often expected. We see countries united by a religion but divided on political lines continue to fight civil wars for centuries. Here the diversities cement the people better.
Tomorrow the Hon'ble PM would be taking and taking on the Drug menace. Drug has to heal and it should not kill. Momentary pleasures should not lead some to monumental errors. It can attract any weak minded leaving him/her sick minded. The rich or the poor becomes a victim once and then always. Activists point out that one has to say NO to Drugs, First time and at every time. Normally the adolescents who love to take risk and feel adventurous venture into it to realize later that it was only a misadventure.
HOME IS THE KEY. Love should rule our homes and not rules. Rules are normally learnt but rarely followed. The adults or elders at home should have a connectivity with their kids ...beyond the mobiles or e-mails and a good rapport with their active support. Sharing and caring is so essential as the kids expect more and more affection from their parents and not more and more property. Value of money and the lessons the poverty can teach them should go into their minds so early. Luxury will ensure penury. Good habits and bad habits die hard. Hence it is the duty of the elders to be in constant path of love and be watching them without hurting their ego. The role of a parent here is not of a security guard but of a gardener. He has to tend and attend; prune and nurture for a healthy growth of the mind and the body.
Drug is a Devil We all would have read stories where we come across demons with insatiable hunger. The same is with the drugs too. They will distract and attract the young but will extract the blood till it is fully sucked. A drug addict who wants to come out often enters into a cruel conflict with the good of him calling to end the habit and the bad of it pulling harder to continue the habit. More than the drugs' evil effects this constant dilemma puts the addicts in constant mental pressure which prove to be detrimental to their mental health. At the same time if the external forces - good and the bad too start acting on the addict the problems get compounded. The pressures from family or relatives to end the habit and the stronger influence of evil friends continue to kill the spirit of the victim.
Banning the drugs, punishing the sellers or takers are superficial. The devil must not enter any one's mind/home. That's it.
Oil from a Bangladeshi oil-tanker is seen on the Shela River in the Sundarbans in Mongla.Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Image
Containing the Sundarbans oil spill
Time for decisive action has arrived
WITH plant and animal life dying as the water hyacinth of Shela and Pashur rivers turn black with the oil spill, the only steps taken by authorities has been the raising of the sunken vessel. People of the locality have been advised by Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) to collect the furnace oil using fishing nets, sponges and any other “manual” means. We are appalled at the lack of movement on the issue of clean up operation which needs to commence immediately to preserve the mangrove forest and its ecological diversity. Going by what has been reported in the press the navy is supposed to spray a powder adhesive to increase the density of the oil which could then be swept up by fishing nets. That plan apparently has stalled as requisite permission is still pending with the Department of Environment (DoE).
While the government has formed two bodies to investigate the oil spillage and make damage assessment and the “negative” impact of spraying oil spill dispersant, every day's delay is allowing the oil spill to spread to another 10-15 km area. And it is not only flora and fauna that are dying. Thousands of people who make a living off the forests and waterways of the Sundarbans are witnessing an end of their livelihoods. It is imperative that the DoE waste no more time to check the powder adhesive compound's chemical composition and whether it conforms to all international safety standards before using it in the affected area.
Spread over 10,000 sq km (3,900 sq miles), the Sundarbans is a Uesco-listed World Heritage Site and home to hundreds of Bengal tigers. The delta comprises a network of rivers and canals straddling Bangladesh and India.
The three areas were declared dolphin sanctuaries in 2011 after studies found they are home to some 6,000 of the animals. Fishermen are banned from making catches there, but tankers and other boats are allowed to pass through.The accident occurred inside one of three sanctuaries set up for the dolphins, said Rubayat Mansur, Bangladesh head of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society.
The journey began with nature. Immediately after birth I landed on a cow dung laced mud floor and after a few hours it was noticed by my mom that thousands of red ants were eating me alive. That must be my first encounter with nature. The house had walls made of clay bricks and had jungle grass for its roof. I still remember the narrow area where we used to have big earthen jars.
Then as I grew we had lot of buffaloes and cows. It was a pleasure to see the calves but a pain to retain them tethered to their places as quite often they would snatch the ropes they were tied with and run away. At times these cattle would travel longer distances to neighboring villages and as they often roam in a group people would help us identify and bring them back to our home.
Surrounded by paddy fields and lakes on either sides of the village and two rivers providing the required ambiance.... nature was never in dearth.
Today I'm saddened at the destruction of the greenery and all builders name their projects as Green valley,green vistas, emerald green, green hut, green orchard and so on after cutting down all the trees and destroying the paddy fields which are the real green.
Like this in millions of ways we destroy this beautiful earth. When people question the 'Clean India Campaign' how can we expect that there would be some affirmative action on this front. People say that the PM has given them a broom on their hands. This is sheer politics. None compels any one to go to a public place and clean the roads or parks. The message is that we should not throw garbage at our will and help save all the essentials of nature... water, air, soil.
The Hon'ble PM named some 9 celebrities and all of them have not done anything concrete so far. People who can help give ideas can never reach their portals. Ultimately people think nothing they got from the new government. Because here we are used to get something concrete in our hands whenever a new scheme is brought out. It may be a free laptop or cycle or anything that is good.
Hope the country realizes the need to conserve nature. As often told " The earth we occupy is not inherited from our forefathers but borrowed from our future generations"
Hearty gratitude to all those who read my posts which are mostly borrowed ones. I'm a teacher and hence left with little time for this campaign. I'd be happy to know what goes right and what requires change in this blog.
I can provide accommodation and make necessary travel arrangements for those who come abroad. Any one is welcome who would force people to avoid polythene and follow a lifestyle that strains this earth less. I welcome friends to share with me proven methods that helps protect the environment.
Wishing you, your family and your country men a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR. I'm reachable at: rvlkrish@gmail.com
Super stars should help spread important messages across peoples. I expect Sachin Tendulkar and Rajnikanth will extend a helping hand to make this earth a safer place for our future generations. The country has spent and invested lot of time for them. It is time that they repay to the society. For instance I want all lakes to be renovated and new ones in thousands to be dug up immediately. If I go on writing who is there to listen to my voice? People will heed to only stars. Let them do their bit.
Water is life. Simple. But how the humanity has successfully succeeded in killing, weakening and damaging the water bodies. Gujarat and Rajasthan with desert areas. But the people did not desert the state. Instead they have made these states stronger than ever with their hard work and missionary zeal. Hon'ble PM MR.Narendra Modi is the Al Gore of India who will be awarded with Nobel Prize in future for his Clean and Green Campaigns. Pl.do read his book which is in pdf format.
More than five trillion pieces of plastic, collectively weighing nearly 269,000 tonnes, are floating in the world’s oceans, causing damage throughout the food chain, new research has found.
Data collected by scientists from the US, France, Chile, Australia and New Zealand suggests a minimum of 5.25tn plastic particles in the oceans, most of them “micro plastics” measuring less than 5mm.
The volume of plastic pieces, largely deriving from products such as food and drink packaging and clothing, was calculated from data taken from 24 expeditions over a six-year period to 2013. The research, published in the journal PLOS One, is the first study to look at plastics of all sizes in the world’s oceans.
Large pieces of plastic can strangle animals such as seals, while smaller pieces are ingested by fish and then fed up the food chain, all the way to humans.
This is problematic due to the chemicals contained within plastics, as well as the pollutants that plastic attract once they are in the marine environment.
“We saw turtles that ate plastic bags and fish that ingested fishing lines,” said Julia Reisser, a researcher based at the University of Western Australia. “But there are also chemical impacts. When plastic gets into the water it acts like a magnet for oily pollutants.
“Bigger fish eat the little fish and then they end up on our plates. It’s hard to tell how much pollution is being ingested but certainly plastics are providing some of it.”
The researchers collected small plastic fragments in nets, while larger pieces were observed from boats. The northern and southern sections of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans were surveyed, as well as the Indian ocean, the coast of Australia and the Bay of Bengal.
The vast amount of plastic, weighing 268,940 tonnes, includes everything from plastic bags to fishing gear debris.
While spread out around the globe, much of this rubbish accumulates in five large ocean gyres, which are circular currents that churn up plastics in a set area. Each of the major oceans have plastic-filled gyres, including the well-known ‘great Pacific garbage patch’ that covers an area roughly equivalent to Texas.
Reisser said traversing the large rubbish-strewn gyres in a boat was like sailing through “plastic soup.”
“You put a net through it for half an hour and there’s more plastic than marine life there,” she said. “It’s hard to visualise the sheer amount, but the weight of it is more than the entire biomass of humans. It’s quite an alarming problem that’s likely to get worse.”
“Lots of things are used once and then not recycled,” Reisser said. “We need to improve our use of plastic and also monitor plastics in the oceans so we get a better understanding of the issue.
“I’m optimistic but we need to get policy makers to understand the problem. Some are doing that – Germany has changed the policy so that manufacturers are responsible for the waste they produce. If we put more responsibility on to the producer then that would be part of the solution.”
