RISING SEA LEVEL

Recent flooding in Thailand including Bangkok is clearly a manifestation of rising temperature and sea level.  Bangkok is among the top 10 cities of the world facing the biggest potential impact of coastal flooding over next 50 years. The other top 9 cities facing the threat of extinction due to rising sea level are: London, Miami, New York, Maldives, New Orleans, Mumbai, Cairo, Amsterdam and Tokyo 

Climate change is making its impact felt.  I understand, pumping ground water also raises sea levels.

Are We Responsible Ancestors?

Nargis, was the name given to the Indian baby who was symbolic of the 7 billionth baby born this year. As a world we have grown by 1 billion in the last 12 years!

Can anyone guess how we plan to meet nutrition, health, shelter, apparel and energy needs of next billion without depleting the world’s finite resources?

Happy Birthday Nargis!

TYPES OF WATER FOOTPRINTS

Overall a water footprint consists of three types of water: Blue, Green and Grey. Knowing the balance of these types in an overall footprint, as well as their distribution amongst the direct and indirect uses, tells us about the level of stress that a product or enterprise has placed on water resources.


• Blue water refers to the surface and ground waters and it is the water what we see in rivers and lakes.

• Green water, is the water held in the soil as moisture and cannot be extracted or piped away though it does evaporate from crop fields. Despite this, green water is essential for vegetation, whether it is natural or cultivated vegetation, and most of the crops grown in the world are grown using only green water.

• Whereas, the amount of grey water embedded in a product is the volume of water polluted as a result of the production process. It relates to the amount of water that is required to dilute the polluted water so that water quality is returned to an acceptable standard.

Not all Green House Gases are equally damaging

If Carbon Dioxide has Global Warming Potential (GWP) 1 unit,
then Methane has GWP 21,
Nitrous Oxide has GWP 310,
HFC has GWP 1,300 and
Sulfur hexafluoride has GWP 23,900.

Food for Thought !

Following are some of the activities that would add around 1 kg of CO2 to your carbon footprint:

• Driving your car for a distance of around 6 km
• Operating your computer for around 30 hours
• Use of 5 plastic bags
• Use of 2 plastic bottles


Some food for thought !

Basic Human Activities Leading to Carbon Emission

The chart below represents typical basic human activities that lead to carbon emission. (red pies reflect the primary foorprints and the green pies shows secondary footprints)

Food for thought !

War for water

Drying water, growing thirst. Will Asia’s new battles be fought over water?

Excerpt from an article in The Times of India today:

With about 20% of the world’s population within its borders, China’s water requirements are huge. However, it has access to only 7% of global water resources. With demand for fresh water expected to rise phenomenally within the next decade – and many of its lakes drying up – China has already hit the panic button and started eyeing rivers like the Brahmaputra.

Did I say this before: The next world war will be over water? Well, this is not my original thought, but the idea is fast gaining ground.