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.

How much carbon can a country emit?

“US, EU have gobbled India’s emission pie”, is the title of today’s story in The Times of India. The story refers to a paper titled Equitable Access to Sustainable Development: An Indian Approach. According to the paper the wealthy western nations have “over-polluted” the atmosphere. The paper says that “countries have contributed differently to the problem of global warming. Hence their respective responsibilities to protect the climate system are not the same but are varying.”

I think, yes, developing countries like India may feel that emission restrictions on them are unjustified because every individual is required to a share of the global atmospheric carbon sink. However, it is time that we leave the squabbling alone and invest in developing environmentally friendly technology to replace the current fuel guzzling, carbon emitting one.

Did You Know...

• One Unit (1 Kwh ) of thermal electricity consumption emits 0.6 Kg of carbon dioxide?

• 1 Liter of Diesel consumption emits approximately 3Kg of carbon dioxide?

Why is Biodiversity important?

 Does it really matter if there aren’t so many species?

Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play. Imagine if the only food was wheat, roses were the only flowers in every bouquet, and dogs were the only animals in the zoo!

Also, greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and history tells us that healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

Valuing Water

Hi Friends, here are some excerpts from a paper on Water Conservation from Knowldege Wharton.

Follow the link to read the complete paper: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/papers/download/031611_valuingwater.pdf

How Can Businesses Manage the Coming Scarcity?

Water is a paradoxical commodity: It seems free and plentiful, yet its supply is under tremendous strain. Use of fresh water has more than doubled over the past 50 years, and many fear that we are coming close to a frightening breaking point, a world where chronic water shortages for farmers, businesses and people is the norm. Some experts even see international conflict emerging over access to dwindling supplies. Recognizing these concerns, companies are undertaking major programs to realign their water use with core business and humanitarian interests. But while objectives like being “water neutral” and using “foot printing” — tracking the use of water throughout the supply chain — are ambitious, what is being done to achieve them? Are these goals realistic, and will they have enough impact?

In a Water-stressed World, Corporations Conserve

Global water requirements will outstrip supply in the years ahead. According to one report, a third of the world’s population will live where the deficit is greater than 50% just 20 years from now. Multinational corporations are taking notice of the compelling business and humanitarian reasons for having a proactive approach to water issues.

Water Neutrality: A Controversial Concept That Can Spark Innovation

With water use a potential deal breaker to doing business in certain regions, water intensive corporations are increasingly working to achieve “water neutrality” — the offsetting of water use through conservation, recycling, replenishment and community projects. Although criticized by some, such efforts are helping companies identify and reduce water use while educating the public about water scarcity.

Thirsty Power: Confronting the Energy-water Nexus 10

Water is a great hidden cost in energy generation. The reality of water-dependent energy means that any holistic impact analysis must take water consumption into account — and include impacts on water quality. Looking at water and energy together may in some cases solve two problems at once, experts say.

 Water Foot printing: Getting Serious about Water Risks to Business 15

Companies face substantial business risks related to water and investors require them to be forthcoming. For companies concerned about these risks, water foot printing measuring fresh water used to produce a product over a full supply chain — is a logical next step. But foot printing can’t be undertaken simply to bolster a corporate image: How well companies succeed in managing water use will be the true measure of foot printing’s import

Thought for the day

The CFL bulb uses 75% less energy than a traditional incandescent.
Is the energy saved worth the risk of mercury exposure from a broken CFL?

Thought for the day

Aquafina's bottles including the caps and labels are 100% recyclable.
How green can containers be when 80% of water bottles are not recycled?

Japan sets its Air Conditioners’ temperature to 26 degrees Celsius or higher. Can we?

If you were the last tree standing in the forest, how would you feel?

If you were the only human left on this planet how would you feel? You would feel miserable, dejected, lonely hopeless and helpless – wouldn’t you? Well that is exactly how I feel too. However, I feel something else too – I feel an immense sense of responsibility not only towards the continuity of my own race but also towards the continuity of yours. You see since I was born, I was conditioned to believe that my only purpose was to be of use to others. For what is man without the trees and the animals that survive on them; for whatever happens to us also happens to them – all things are interconnected. At such a time I would feel that burden even more.

I can see from my topmost branches that there is only clatter and noise in your cities. The mountains, streams and fields have been overshadowed by tall ugly buildings. There is only a cloud of smoke through which I feel the misery of your people. But perhaps because I am not a human, I do not understand your ways. This noise insults my ears and the sights bring tears to my core. This air that we all share is precious to you and me alike but I think you have become immune to its rotting smell as someone who has lived in decay is not affected by its stench.

When nature destroyed us in storms, it also rejuvenated us in spring. If rain and wind lashed our branches it also nourished us for the future. Our flowers bloomed in the heat of the sun even as the old leaves faded away. But every time one you your fellow humans mercilessly killed a brother or friend of mine, I cried. I cried not only for my own but what you were killing of yourself. When we are all slaughtered I wondered where would be all the deer and squirrels, where would be the sound and sights of the thickets, where would be the birds and beasts and above all where would YOU be? Perhaps if I was human I would understand who will be left to mourn for you.

Since I am not human, I feel responsible as the only tree to grow more branches and leaves to provide more oxygen to the creatures of this earth, to provide shade and shelter to the animals that laze beneath me, to the birds that rest and lay eggs on me and fruit to the smaller animals that climb on me. I recall how irritated I used to feel when a squirrel’s claws dug into a part of me that had no bark or when bird droppings fell on my clean leaves, but now I feel happy that another animal has survived because I am still there. When the drought would come I would dig my roots deeper so that I could get as much water for all the animals that depended on me. When floods would come I would hold on as strongly to the soil so that it would not get washed away so that man could still till the land. Perhaps if I was human I would understand that self-preservation and greed is what the struggle for survival is all about.

I often go into a reverie and recall the deeply exciting sounds and sights as the wind ruffled through us when we were so many that I could never count. The river-like flow of our tops was rendered so impressive and sublime as we danced it the music of the wind. Today when the wind blows, I am afraid it will uproot me, as there are no other roots intertwined in mine to support. I feel no exhilaration of swaying with my companions. There are no remarkable colors of the forest as the seasons change and the only shadows I can see are my own. The illusion of immortality I had as I surveyed the erstwhile ancient patriarchs has now given way to deep- rooted fear for mankind. When I look out for my parents and grandparents and don’t see them, I wish I would wilt and die with them – but I know that wherever they are they would have wished for me to go on living so that I could be of use to the very people who killed them. Isn’t that ironical? Perhaps if I was human I would know what dreams of the future the old men weave into their grandchildren for a better tomorrow.

Tips to retain Green Earth

Help retain our Earth for next generation like this:

 1) Cycle or walk to cover smaller distances.
2) Car Pool to go to office
3) Generate less trash by reusing waste
4) Plant one tree in your lifetime
5) Don't waste fresh water



However, if we allow our earth to keep getting warm under the pressure of
Development.

The day is not far when we will see our Earth burning and other natural calamities happening sooner than later.

Lets join hands together to give our next generation an Earth which we got if not better.

What made me interested in this subject?

It was during the course of my project on Carbon footprint that I fell upon some interesting facts on water consumption. Water footprint came as a natural corollary to my study on Carbon. When I went deeper into the subject, I got to know that fresh water consumption is done in two ways – direct consumption and indirect consumption. While direct consumption, at max, accounts for around 5%, it is the indirect consumption that accounts for 95% of total water consumption by an individual. The indirect consumption of water is in the form of articles that we consume – eat, wear, use etc.

I got this idea of creating this blog – ‘ALL4H2O’ on issues of water footprint when I realized that a cotton t-shirt of 500 gms consumes more than 4000 liters of fresh water. Through this blog I urge you to contribute your, ideas and opinions on the subject  so that we can help spread this cause.

To explore the subject further, I have given few links in the end.

H2O Conserve, Water Footprint, National Geographic

Ground Water Depletion - Where are we headed?

Freshwater is a scarce resource; its annual availability is limited and demand is growing, especially in Asia, Africa and North America. By 2025 these regions may face fresh water withdrawal, as high as 40% of total available fresh water in 1995 . With on-going growth of population and climate change on account of carbon emission/global warming, adversely affecting the rainfall pattern, coming era of water scarcity could adversely affect billions of people.

There are many spots in our country where serious water depletion or pollution takes place: rivers running dry, dropping lake and groundwater levels and endangered species because of contaminated water. India has 16% of the world’s population – but only 4% of the world’s fresh water sources. 90% of India’s rural water supply is from groundwater, which is reaching unsustainable levels of exploitation.

At this pace, I wonder what to talk of next generation, however, even our generation would find it difficult to survive.