earthnow-aliya

B uddha’s Belly: Common Name: Bamboo Botanical name: Bambusa vulgaris O riginally from South China… the bamboo has 1200 different varieties.. .. Growing in very cold temperate climates to the hot tropics…. from jungles to elevated mountain areas. Bamboo is a grass… with different heights from a foot -- - to oversized timber bamboo that can grow to over 100 feet. Bamboo very rarely produces seed, so most propagations are by division or clump cuttings. In Mizoram, (small hill state in north-east India) they say when the bamboo flowers : famine and destruction follows . How the B uddha’s B elly Grows: The Buddha’s belly can be an ideal bamboo, by a pond in a beautiful landscape…. ..! It has Swollen internodes which are quite fascinating & draw attention…. This species of bamboo is reliable and consistent in producing new shoots after every few months or after a heavy spell of rain. The new shoots are protected by a sheath, which are commonly rounded and smooth. This bamboo spreads by ...

I n Feb 2008: Barack Obama said that as president he would spend $210 billion to create jobs in construction and environmental industries: Amount to be used as investment in 2 programs which would last for over 10 years. The $150 billion to create 5 million on "green collar" jobs to remodel environment friendly energy sources. Sixty billion would go to a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to rebuild highways, bridges, airports and other public projects. Obama explained that the money for his spending proposals would come from ending the Iraq war, cutting tax breaks for corporations, taxing carbon pollution and raising taxes on high income earners. Obama has also proposed a mandatory reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. {Which the Nobel Prize winning panel of scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate --have said must be done to avoid catastrophic climate impacts}. Propositions quite unique however application needs courage to resolve… Only time will tell if...

Friday,November 6th. & I quote : David Hales (director of the Global Environment Center of the United States Agency for International Development.) “Transition to societies that are sustainable and just will require rare courage and wisdom". Courage and determination is just what Obama requires, to make a change and do some thing for : as Obama himself mentioned “the planet in peril”. & Climate Change should take center stage, in his agenda. & yes some amount of aggressiveness..to reduce the consumerism. David Hales also adds that he was hopeful & there would be a significant change in U.S. position, very soon. Obama has to make sure to get the unemployed jobs but to begin with: A drastic C hange in the mechanics of the automobile industry, has to be brought about: typically through green initiatives .. alternative energy sources...solar energy and recycling . Let us hope that CONSUMERISM gradually dwindles ....

Sustainable use of Resources: I ts easy to talk... but let us all make it practical. Sustainability can be exemplified by: a. Substitution of non renewable natural resources by renewable natural resources. Eg substitute the use of coal by using solar energy. Substitute the use hydro electricity by wind energy. b. Renewability  using recourses in a way that the rate of utilization should be lower than or equal to the rate of regeneration or restoration or renewal of resources. c. Institutional change All levels of society should be educated on sustainable development as an individual cannot do it unaided. d. Adaptability Stop using Plastic. e. Interdependence The environment does not have any boundaries. Eg the air pollution in Pakistan or created in Pakistan will spread into India... Ie from one country to another Environment has no boundaries Let us all think globally.

Wednesday , October 15th 2008: Sustainable use of resources: --> by conserving energy --> by conserving water --> by conserving biological resources (ie protecting forests, natural vegetation ,ecological riches) --> Reflect on what is happening around the globe: Lack of vegetative cover is changing the global climate.. Lack of vegetative cover is helping soil erosion. Lack of vegetative cover is reducing the fertility of soil. Lack of vegetative cover is uncompromisingly reducing rainfall. Consequently..a global institutional commitment is required. Accordingly let us begin with reducing pollution. -->Let us begin with REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE *Reduce the energy being used. *Reduce population…...population control. *Reduce using plastic ..synthetic rubber…motor fuel. --> Let CONSUMERISM gradually dwindle … Let NOT CONSUME more than the production. At the moment,50 times more st...

This is the way that autumn came to the trees: It stripped them down to the skin, left their ebony bodies naked. It shook out their hearts, the yellow leaves, scattered them over the ground. Anyone could trample them out of shape undisturbed by a single moan of protest. The birds that herald dreams were exiled from their song, each voice torn out of its throat. They dropped into the dust even before the hunter strung his bow. Oh, God of May have mercy. Bless these withered bodies with the passion of your resurrection; make their dead veins flow with blood again. Give some tree the gift of green again. Let one bird sing. Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984) - translated by Naomi

Thursday,9th October 2008 Earlier the Rulers of Rajasthan were committed in conservation of natural resources through indigenous traditions and practices. JOHADS were built across a slope to catch rainwater . JOHADS were earthen check dams -- built to conserve water ,which led to increase in the groundwater level. JOHADS had high banks on three sides & the fourth side was left open for the rainwater to come into. & The KUND. A KUND’s shape is like an overturned cup positioned on a saucer.. A KUND was designed for the sandy Thar desert of western Rajasthan to harvest and gather ....rain water for drinking purposes.. In actuality KUND is an underground well... fashioned like a saucer , sort of catchment area which slopes down in the direction of the centre where the well is situated. Sides of the well are covered with lime & ash. More over, homes and hawelis in Western Rajasthan were constructed with rooftop water harvesting system. Rainwater from these rooftops was dir...