Dessertification

Deserts worldwide are increasing as a result of warmer temperatures.At the end of Y 2007, Australia lost 25% of crop production due to desertification.

Plastic Waste - The Terminator

According to UNEP Report , every year plastic waste causes the death of 1 million birds, 100,000 marine mammals and incalculable millions of fishes. 

Fastest Destruction

According to scientific assumptions the Earth exists for 4.6 billion years. Scaling this to 46 years we come to 46 years of existence,which means that humanity has been around for 4 hours and industrial revolution has begun only one minute ago.In such short time of environment predating madness we have managed to destroy great variety of species and endanger a lot of those which have not been extinct yet, just on order to get raw materials and fuels.

Forest Wealth

The five most forest rich countries are the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the USA and China, and they account for more than half of the total forest area.

Earth Day

April 22nd is the first official day of Spring in the Northern hemisphere and of Fall in the Southern hemisphere and this is the reason for this date to be chosen as the Earth Day.

Fruit Basket of World

At least 3,000 fruits are found in rainforests ;of these  only 200 are now in use in Western world. The Indians of the rainforest use over 2,000.

World's Biggest Home

More than half of world's estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical rain forests.One Fifth of world's fresh water is in the amazon basin.

Say No to Crackers , Say Yes to Environment.

Lot of Diwali wishes were being exchanged last week. Diwali is to India, what Christmas is to Western World. Time for family reunions , merry making , exchange of gifts and fire crackers.

However, celebration of this festival through fire crackers is one aspect which could be changed and our environment could be given respite from this choking.

Considering the huge population base of India , the amount of emission produced because of fireworks would by any day larger than the US emission on 4th of July which is estimated at 60,340 tons. This is more than  the emission  produced by 12,000 cars is a year or 115,000 light bulbs left burning for a year.

And we are talking about only two countries and two events. Just think about the whole world and various events - Christmas , New Year , FIFA world cup , Super Bowl , Independence Days  etc.

Did You Know

Residential lawns and gardens are doused with 80 million pounds of chemical pesticides and 70 million tons of fertilizers , annually. Phew.......

Blink and ......... gone.

Experts estimate that we are losing 137 unique species of plants, insects & animals put together,every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. 

Recycling ......... A Kiss of life for Environment

      More than 20 Million Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of tinfoil. All that foil is recyclable,but not many people realize it.

Setting the Priority Right

It would cost about $ 13 Billion annually to satisfy the world's basic sanitation and food requirements.That's roughly equivalent to what half the world spends on perfume and cologne every year.

Reduce Reuse Recycle

The amount of wood and paper that we throw away each year is enough to heat 50 Million homes for 20 years.

Water Crisis in China

Was going through a report in Economist (Oct 12 , 2013 Edition) on Northern China's water crisis. The water table in Beijing has dropped by 300 meters since 1970's.

Beijing has the sort of water scarcity usually associated with Saudi Arabia ; just 100 cubic meters  per person a year. China's average water consumption is around 400 cubic meters per person which is 25% of what an average American uses and less than half the International definition of water stress.

Scary.....

Marine Debris - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Marine debris is any man-made object that enters the coastal or marine environment. From the tiniest piece of plastic to giant free floating fishing nets,ocean pollution causes many challenges for animals in the wild. The concentration of marine debris is called garbage patch.

Ocean currents and circulation pattern trap the material in a cyclone of water creating large areas of ocean trash.

There are two garbage patches located in the North Pacific Ocean. The  Great Pacific Garbage Patch is comprised of marine debris brought together by slow moving ocean currents. The patch's size is not known but some scientists estimate it to be twice the size of Texas (by the way the size of Texas is 696,200 Sq. Km.) and weighing approximately 3.5 Million Tons.

Lungs of our Planet

Amazon Rainforest has been described as the "Lungs of our Planet" because it provides the essential environmental world service of continuously recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen.More than 20 percent of world oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest.