There has been lot of attention world over about global warming, Earth not able to sustain high environmental strain because of increased human activity. Even I have written one or two posts on the same and related topic. If you like this post you can search and read other posts on related by using the search at the top or bottom of the page. In this posts I am going to write about what would happen if global warming continues or in other words affects of global warming. Then I would mention numerous ways and methods that have been suggested by humans all over the world to stop or reduce global warming. In fact some of these ideas are very innovative and most have been backed by sound rational and good amount of study.
Firstly talking about the affects of global warming. Some of these are already visible and some are predictions based on assumptions. There have been prediction of :-
1) Rising ocean level because of melting glaciers in the poles and even on mountain ranges.
2) Rising ocean level means human establishments near sea shore would be undress stress and substantial amount of populated land mass would get submerged. You can imagine the rehabilitation effort required for this.
3) Now coming to the impact it would have on areas which is in center of large land masses. These land masses depend hugely on river system and which in turn have their sources in the mountain glaciers. With rising temperature as these glaciers would melt faster, it would lead to flood and deluge initially followed by these river system becoming seasonal. It's estimated lot of fertile under cultivation will no more remain fit for cultivation. Think of what would happen to the world food supply problem.
4) Higher CO2 and other green house gases is leading to depleting ozone layer. There have been pointed holes even in the ozone cover and thinning of ozone cover above all of us. This is likely to result into living beings exposed to more radiation which is mostly harmful for us. Likely to lead to more deadly diseases and cancer is predicted to leading this. You can faintly compare this to being on the outer zone of a nuclear disaster or working in a radiation zone without protective gears.
5) It has been observed that wild animals and birds have started their migration earlier than ester years. This is believed to be because their bodies gets tricked to think of change in season earlier because of rise of world temperature. Again world food chain so intricately balanced that these events will disrupt the food chain.
6) There has even been report that earth to become like Venus over time. You might be aware that Venus is twice as hot as Mercury is but Venus is twice as far from Mercury. This is because of high CO2 in the Venetian atmosphere. But I think this is too far an extension of human imagination and studies.
There could more such predictions but what we see there are mostly two problems. Food & Water problem and temperature problem.
Now good part after this bleak picture that I have shared with my friends who read my blog posts. However it's good to be aware and prepared of this so that we thinking being can get cracking get our house and planet earth in order for future human generations to continue to inhabit the planet. So here are some of the most innovative ways that has been suggested. Some of these are really radical.
1) Burying trees might solve global CO2 problem:- Here the idea is that trees capture CO2 and it gets recirculated back into the system. So by burying the tree especially fast growing huge trees we are taking CO2 out of the system. Go to the below mentioned address to read more on it. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Global_Warming/Burying_trees_might_solve_global_CO2_problem/articleshow/3040186.cms
2) Obesity contributes to global warming, so get slim and trim physique:- This idea is simple but bold enough as human population is very sensitive towards their own looks. Obese and overweight people require more fuel to transport them and the food they eat, and the problem will worsen as the population literally swells in size. Go to the below mentioned address to read more on it. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Obesity_contributes_to_global_warming/articleshow/3045719.cms
3) Use a laptop to save energy:- As more and more human population have become dependent on PC as a necessary tool saving some energy here will save a lot of fuel because of huge population. Laptops use 5 times less energy than desktops. At least move to use LCDs instead of CRT monitors. This applies to mobile and other commonly used gadgets as well. Use fuel efficient vehicles and if possible use public transport. Inculcate fuel saving driving habits. Have you thought about it - Every litre of petrol saved keeps 2.5 kg of CO2 out of the atmosphere.
4) Ponds can absorb as much carbon as the world's oceans:- This one is really a savior if practiced well. This will go a long way is reducing CO2 from the atmosphere. A study has shown that small ponds absorb a lot more CO2 than trees, large ponds and oceans. So let small ponds sprung up everywhere. When ever you see one, feel good about it. Think of the way it is helping the environment which general public may not have been aware of. To read more about this go the below mentioned link. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Global_Warming/Ponds_can_absorb_as_much_carbon_as_the_worlds_oceans_/articleshow/3022430.cms
5) New grass to tackle global warming:- I am sure you knew that it's not only CO2 which captures heat in the atmosphere leading to global warming. In fact gases like Methane[CH4] capture many times more heat than CO2 but good thing there quantity is minuscule. How ever it would be good if we decrease it even further. Our benevolent cows emit substantial amount of Methane in their excreta and burping. This is because of their diet mostly consists of raw grass. So scientists have developed a grass which can reduce the methane emission by the benevolent cows who supply human the diary products and meat. To read more on this go the below website page. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Global_Warming/New_grass_to_tackle_global_warming/articleshow/3025084.cms
6) A solar bra to charge your phone. Use solar and wind energy:- Wow!! This is great. In Japan a bra is being marketed which allows mobile phone to get recharged as it captures solar energy and converts them into electrical. Anyway I think the underlying message is using more and more renewable sources of energy like Hydroelectricity instead of Thermal generated electricity. More usage of Solar energy, wind energy and tidal energy. In case you want to read more about the solar go to the this page. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3041080.cms
7) Use veggie diet:- Even if you can't become a complete vegetarian try to use more and more of vegetarian food. Use as little meat as possible. See food is still acceptable from point of view of food conservation. Underlying idea is that meat come from animals which are fed vegetarian food and same land can be used for producing crops for human population.
8) Growing giant veggies in zero gravity:- This one is also really innovative. If it can be brought into practice it will go a long way in serving to the food crisis. Scientists have said that vegetables grown in zero-gravity conditions in space can grow up to huge sizes, which could help solve the world’s food crisis. Go to the following page to read more about it. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthSci/Growing_giant_veggies_in_zero_gravity/articleshow/3038224.cms
So dear friends I hope that my article will help spread the message and we will pass on an inhabitable earth to future generations. Any comments from any one of you.
May 16, 2008
Innovative ways to save mother earth. Reduce global warming.
China Earthquake eclipse Myanmar Cyclone !!!
In this busy week in the back of head thoughts of Chinese and Burmese[Myanmar's cyclone] had been making rounds. I was more than happy when during my course of work this week there was something to be done towards the good cause of helping the Chinese people affected by the earthquake. It seems the death toll will cross all other previous historical earthquake to have befallen on Chinese people except for the deadly 1976 earthquake. I think this time the death toll will keep rising in days to come because of modernization drive that China has gone through over last 32 years since 1976. There are reports coming out of the earthquake affected area that Dams and Rivers seem to have been stretched and could cause more disaster if they break their banks and walls. I am happy for one of my co-workers who returned back safely from the tour to Sinchuan province in China where he was on Holidays when the quake struck. He just had to take round about arrangements as the airport does not seem to be operating any more. All most all infra structure has been badly damaged around the area. Good that it has not affected the facilities which was host 2008 Olympic events. Anyways 2008 Olympics seems to doomed as it has been marred by Tibetan up rest. It's also that during this Olympic record number of people will face the gallows as Chinese lead the world in dishing out capital punishment. If you want to briefly know about some of previous deadly events humans have have braved, go to this page. There have been news of entire generation of Chinese families getting wiped out, part of it contributed by one child policy that Chinese authorities have in place. Among these bad news there are pocket of news like - No damage was done to red giant pandas and to Olympic facilities. Chinese like Burmese counterpart have allowed foreign aid to flow into the countries but have denied foreign personals to come in.
Looking at the Burmese cyclone catastrophe which seems to be outnumbering populous China and Sinchuan in terms of death tolls. Here the government and authorities seems to have utter disrespect towards human lives and fellow countrymen. Indian ocean and Bay of Bengal have been facing violent cyclones recently. India, Bangladesh seems to have been braving them of recently. They have done much better when disaster has struck especially cyclonic disasater. Indian authorities claims to have given advanced warning to Burmese authorities of the Cyclone Nargis but they seemed to have ignored the warnings completely. This could be because poor countries may not have infrastructure in place to taken on massive evacuation to avoid human life losses. At least relaying this message should have allowed agile human race to make their own preparations to save them selves. There are reports that authorities have not allowed even local wealthy and influential people to distribute supplies to the local stranded people dying of hunger and disease in semi nude stage. Local people have been blaming authorities to be hoarding foreign supplies and dishing out mushed and rusted rice to locals in name of aid from foreign countries. Check out this page which talks about plight of Burmese people who have been forced to turn into baggers where alms comes only from authorities. All the UN could do was to suspend supplies when Burmese authorities seized UN aids supply. I think UN should either intervene militarily and led Democracy usher in in future soon if it could not muster the courage to do that in past. Let Myanmar flourish at least to the stage of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
If we do comparison between how things have moved in China and Myanmar during these time of crisis you will see that initially world media was flush with news of Burmese tragedy but soon all over the media there were talks of only Chinese quake. It was all because how the authorities have worked for their people post tragedy. Chinese government much to respite of our Chinese brethren have given wide coverage and have been very candid in reporting the situation on ground. This was in contrast to how China in past have been very close during such events. Remember the recent Tibetan protest and Chinese authorities coverage and reaction. World over there was so much foul talk about Chinese oppression and this time world is going gaga over Chinese authorities effort to save people. I think this time only thing where Chinese authorities have lagged behind is not allowing foreign logistics professionals to take charge of aids distribution and human life saving effort. I think world will surely understand this and allow Chinese some more time as this change has been very positive for human civilization. Secondly Chinese system can definitely be trusted for their know-how in logistics for aid distribution unlike Burmese who have no expertize to handle such mass human saving cause. Thirdly it could be remotely because of Chinese militarily sensitivities. Recently there have been media reports about two[one land based and other under water] huge Chinese missile facilities being uncovered by commercial satellites. If Burmese would have allowed media coverage and aid distribution then things would have been much better in Myanmar after about 1 and 1/2 weeks post cyclone. More media coverage would led to more aid and who knows this would have led even Economy turning for better and Burmese becoming a part of main stream world.
I would love to see reader comments on this. In case you want to know past Chinese earthquakes, take a look at this.
May 10, 2008
Is your PC a tool in your hand or your master
This simple but powerful machine entered into all our lives very dominantly over last 10 years or so. Advancement in networking and as a result improved internet connectivity made humans to remain glued to the computer more and more time. Slow a brilliant and useful tool discovered by man became its master. For most of us now it's difficult to comprehend life without PC and it's an norm to spend about 8-10 hours daily on the computer for work and social reasons. Let's take a while to skim through the health hazards and dangers for using PC or laptops for such long duration. I easily spend about 10-12 hours of my time everyday in front of the computer. What does it do is that it makes us sit in fixed posture for long hours and making few of our body parts go through same movement pattern and stress continuously. Over prolong duration these develops into different kind of body ailments and many different syndrome have been known to be named after computers and increased usage of computers. Lets go through few of them and how to save our selves from it while we go through our daily chores whether for work or other reason.
1) Mental problems:- These days our productivity, social circle, friends seems to related to number of hours one stares into the computer screen and rubs on the keyboard. There are even reports about young people attempting suicide when their parents have removed the PC or any of the associated parts like modem.
Likely solution to these is that from begin you have emphasize to your kids to look at computer just as another tool for work, fun and play. Reemphasizing this again and again would encourage them not to put in so many hours in front of the computer. when it comes to adults and if they are addicted I guess only option left out is to treat them for addiction at any psychological therapy institute.
2) Back or other related orthopedic problem:- Most common of these is back problem. As it has always been told for any one who sits long hours in front of computer or related job - treat your back with respect. You will find lots of material on this, use the search option at the bottom of the page. Do watch your neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, thighs and even feet as well in addition to the back. There have been reports about increase in problem from these body areas from computer professionals. Look out for other body joints as they remain in fixed position for long hours - wrist pain, elbow pain, and shoulder pain. Find proper position and resting place for all of them.
3) Eye problem - Most common computer problem:- All problems of the eyes associated with using the computer can be clubbed under the Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). Symptoms of CVS include headaches, blurred vision, neck pain, fatigue, eye strain, dry, irritated eyes, and difficulty refocusing the eyes. CVS generally occurs because we don’t give our eyes enough rest while staring at the screen, and also do not blink at regular intervals, to lubricate the eye. Use the search function at the bottom to find out more about it. Some simple advice would be to use LCD instead of a CRT monitor. Keep appropriate distance between monitor and eye. One very commonly observed habit is that during the course of work people get engrossed and slowly moves close and close to screen as of they are going to pluck out the problem from the computer and throw it away. Also keep the monitor at appropriate height, this will be soothing to your eye as well as neck. If there are window near your computer terminal and it gives you a good view, every hour try to look out of the window on some distant object for about 2-3 minute. This is good for eye-retina as fatugue must be building up for looking at close range for long hours.
So I would say exercising helps. Whether or not you are one of those who spends long hours in front of the monitor and chugging away at the key board it help. It helps more for some one who spends lot of time on computer. Try very simple exercise for your Neck, Wrist, Thigh, Hip, Elbow etc. Just ensuring that these body parts gets a healthy dose of all possible movement would be good. Don't try to strain your self doing it as aim is not to become a body-builder but to stay fit keeping your job and other responsibilities for spending long hours in front of computer.
Develop and inculcate good food habits. Don't addict your self to junk food to stretch the available time. As you have very less time to burn away calories it will not be good for your body to take in huge amount of junk food as they normally have lot of calories and undesirable quantities of fat.
Thanks...Take care and remain healthy.
May 5, 2008
Helpless US balmes rising food and oil prices on India and China
US president and their admistration blamed India and China for rising food prices. Some of secretaries there after tried to portray the same thing in a positive manner. Read this coverage by an leading Indian newspaper where by it's being reported that US president feels rising affluence in India and China is leading to increased demand for food and this is prime reason for the sky rocketting world food prices. This statement is coming soon after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's controversial statement about apparent improvement in the diet of Indian and Chinese people. So looks like it's a researched report to the US administration by the federal agencies and watchdogs. They argue that Indian middle class population is more than entire US population. Though they admit that diverting agricultural resources towards biofuel has a part to play but that seems to having a minor impact on the world food prices.
I did not read sharp response from Chinese goverment to these comments but Indian political class cutting across party lines including those who are not in power. I don't understand the silence on this by Chinese authorities who are very fast to rebuke or issue statements otherwise. How ever Indian side has retorted back data supporting their claims in this blame game started by US president. Looks at this report again in the Indian media. Report notes that as per US Department of Agriculture for Yr 2007:-
Total foodgrain consumption — wheat, rice, and all coarse grains like rye, barley etc — by each person in the US is over five times that of an Indian., Twice that of EU and thrice that of China.
In order to do past comparison as US president is blaming increasing prosperity report quotes US per capita grain consumption was 946 kg per year in Yr 2003 which increased to 1046 kg last year in Yr 2007. In comparison comparison, India’s per capita grain consumption has remained static over the same period.
Milk consumption, in fluid form, is 78 kg per year for each person in the US, compared to 36 kg in India and 11 kg in China.
Vegetable oils consumption per person is 41 kg per year in US, while Indians are making do with just 11 kg per year. These are figures for liquid milk, not for cheese, butter, yogurt and milk powders which are consumed in huge proportion in the more advanced countries.
Beef consumption, for example, is 42.6 kg per person per year, compared to a mere 1.6 kg in India and 5.9 kg in China. In the US, 45.4 kg poultry meat is consumed every year by each person, compared to just 1.9 kg in India.
In the European Union, 42.6 kg pork is consumed per person every year, while in the US, 29.7 kgs are consumed. Pork is a staple for Chinese, and so over 35 kg are consumed per person per year. It's negligible in India.
Indian politicians were taking potshots at US president remarks with comments like "President Bush has never been known for his knowledge of economy.....". Looks like these were double meaning words commenting on US president for where he has taken a strong US economy to in current days. Good that US Ambassador David Mulford dismissed suggestions that the president had made any critical comments and was quoted saying "hostile political commentary is not productive". Read another report where he tried to cool tempratures in the political blame game.
Shortly after this US administration has again targetted developing world like India and China for significantly contributing to soaring world crude oil prices. It remains to be seen how Indian media/politicians reacts this time. Looks like this will not draw so much criticism as US was mostly silent during the anti US comments in Indian media about food price except for a comment by US ambassador.
May 3, 2008
Hypermilling - Chip in to save earth and reduce emission
This is not an new concept but not too old an concept either. Hypermilling is becoming increasingly popular among drivers who are cost savvy and who are environment conscious. Undoubtebly it's catching everyones attention because of cost saving but think of it - amount of cost you save you contribute equally to save mother earth by reducing CO2 emission and other associated vehicular exhaust emission. Less fossil fuel you burn less you pollute. To me this is the biggest advantage of hypermilling.
I will not be explaining in detail about what hypermilling is as there is lot of material on internet to know how to get started and save your purse and the environment. I will still touch the basic steps so that my friends who read this and did not have time to read other related articles will still start praticing this concept to save money and mother earth. More about that down the line in susequent paragraphs.
Let close our eyes for about 5 to 10 minutes and go back in time as far as we can. You would be seeing your self as a kid playing in the park, walking across field, running across streets. You might be seeing your teenage years along with your favorite bunch of friends or that one special friend and sweetheart of yours walking across the spring holding hand trying to find a cosy corner for romantic chat. Are you with your bunch of favorite friends fishing and cycling. Or is it that you are getting across for shade against the huge tree and enjoying a ball game among mates passing to each other trying to hide from the blazing Sun. If you are old enough you might be seeing yourself teaching your kid at park or fountain or in the mooring who has grown into handsome or beautifull adult human being over time. Okay!!!! Let's come back from the dream. Do you still see those fixtures and natural stuff around you which you had enjoyed once with your lovely companions years back. Chances are that half of those stuff are not around any more. So looks like with time world has been slowly loosing beautifull things in the quest of economic growth and leaving us environmentally poor. If we continue at this pace which seems slow we may not leave what ever remaining left for future generation. Our future generation will be left even more poorer environmenatlly. Is this what we want to do? Don't we want our future generation to live in a more beautifull and natural world with good health and vigour and even longer life span. If you want and cherish all this, please act and be religiously serious about the environmental degradation that is happening around us and negative impact it's having on human life in terms of health and quality. Now lets learn some of the tricks of hypermilling amongst many other activities and ways to save environement and mother earth. After all human as an intelligent creature deserves to live longer on earth. If you compare time humans have been the dominant species on earth it's to small to other dominant species in past like Dinosaurus.
So here are tricks of hypermiling. If you start praticing, you will get nearly 30% more mileage from the tank fills and your purse will start filling 30% heavier and air you breathe will start getting 30% better in quality.
1) Start calculating your vehicle's MPG[Miles per Gallon]. Of course this is not going to increase the MPG performance for your vehicle but you will start becoming conscious and this is what you will measure you hypermiling performance against. How to calculate MPG? Try to crunch the numbers in your mind as you drive away from each gas station fillup.
2) Are you braking a lot? Possibly like other drivers you are applying breaks 10% to 25% more than what is required. To avoid this maintain adequate gap with the vehicle in your front. Braking turns motion into heat via the friction of the brakes, slowing down your car. Fuel was used by your engine to achieve motion. While driving if you can let up some of your thoughts and focus more on driving. Focussing more on driving will lead to apply less brakes.
3) How long is your engine running and your vehicle is static? Minimize the time that you spend with your car stopped. You get ZERO MPG when this happens. Let your foot off the accelerator the moment you see a red light in front of you. And think ahead, even if you don't see a red light: maybe there is a big street coming up, or maybe there is a 'stale' green light. The moment you see brakelights in front of you, take your foot off of the accelerator pedal, or hit the cancel button on your cruise control.
4) Are you in a traffic Jam or creating one? Learn to break traffic Jam. If you master this art of driving smoothly and breaking traffic waves you are not just saving some dollars slip out of your purse but because of you others too are saving their dollars and imagine how immensly you are contributing towards reducing fossil fuel emission. Entire fleet of cars and vehicles behind you are suddenly saving more than 50% of their fuel. So this *article* by William Beaty an electrical engineer in 1998 has the tricks. These have been proven in experiments too. Thanks for prarticing these driving techniques and giving us all clean air to breathe.
5) Fast accelerating burn more fuel. Do you really need to zoom off - I guess no. If you can control your testesterone and urge to zoom off you can save some precious fossil fuel. If you drive an automatic transmission vehicle give an extra second of pause when you switch between break pedal to accelerator pedal. If takes less energy and hence less fuel to speed up a moving object comapred to a static object. Accelearting a bit slowly will enhance the MPG significantly. This is the number you are gunning for a cleaner environment and lesser fuel cost for your trips.
6) Cruise Control. It's not for highways only. Mix it with item#4 above. Cruise control allows for slow accleration and brakes. This means less fuel requirement for doing the same job. How ever please master the cruise control functions of your vehicle before you start using it. Safety comes topmost in driving. Few things about cruise control - it work only above a certain speed. Once you apply the break pedal it's gets disengaged. How does cruise control work?
Thanks for reading thru this. Please pratice and share this article with friends and save mother earth and our environment. Help in the effort to reduce global warming.
