Blog

Conserve our water resources as fresh water scarcity will be a big problem in future due to climate change. Imagine if all glaciers that fed our rivers got melt and go into the oceans......from where you will get fresh water for your drinking and daily needs. so conserve water at your household level, implement the rainwater harvesting technology in your houses, use rural ground water recharge technologies if you have land and most important completely stop the wastage of water in your kitchen and bathroom......After all water is the base of life....

 Please find the link to the seminar brochure. seminar%20%20VBU%20l.pdf

The Joint Forest Management Committees under the Rupnarayan Forest Development Agency at West Midnapore in the state of West Bengal have enabled the forest protection and preservation at the very grass root level with the co-operation of the local people and this approach has also been a boon in case of dealing with the regional problems like elephant depredation and extremist activities. It is due to this that the Rupnarayan Forest Development Agency like other Forest Development Agencies of the state has perhaps been the only structural group which has been able to function successfully in these terror stricken areas.

DVD cover of the Documentary

Marching ahead with notions of development, sustainability and prosperity, there has been a reason for every villager to smile. From saving the forests to the gaining of livelihood opportunities and long term assets, as the new dawn approaches, there is an emergence of light also in the lives of the people, while when it comes to dusk, the villagers celebrate and rejoice, welcoming the dawn of the day ahead.

The documentary is presented by the Regional Centre, National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, Jadavpur University, Kolkata and sponsored by the National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India.

Are there laboratories in India certified to perform drinking water analyses for known contaminants? 

From the time we are born, we take up an aim...an ambition....a goal in life. These aims keep changing with age and situations. The higher we go up the ladder of life....the less chances prevail for those aims to come true...

I was thinking of some tool by which I could sensitize that 'child' in each one of us again....the child who was born to Mother Earth. If we were to take up an aim(lakhsya) to protect our Mother who gave birth to us and nurtured us to make us reach where we are today....i would call it a 'Green Lakhshya'...

And hence am using my thoughts, my feelings, and my passion to write articles for my blog: www.greenlakshya.wordpress.com

Even if one of you follow my 'lakshya'.......my aim for doing this would come true.

So please read and take up this 'lakhshya' of aiming green

Your comments and suggestions would take me a little closer to achieving 'my green lakhshya'

Thanks

Sreemoyee

HAPPY WORLD FOREST DAY friends.........
Plant more and more trees, protect our forests as they are the best sinks of carbon and help mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change......Go Green.

Need information on MBR (Membrane Bio Reactor) being used for treatment of Textile Wastewater.
Some journals published along with information would help....

Thanks in Advance,

Gunaranjan 

Of late, I have been thinking that one day goes by without a newspaper carrying an article or story related to environmental issues. If you live in India (like I do), such news is more often than not (very) depressing. After reading numerous such stories, I (almost) started questioning myself about whether anything "can go right" when it comes to environmental concerns. So, this morning, when I picked up the latest issue of Saudi Aramco World magazine and flipped through it, I was very pleasantly surprised to see something positive for a change . . . to read more, click here.

For those who don't know him, Guru Das Agarwal — with his flowing white beard and piercing eyes — might appear like a rishi. For those who know him, he's nothing less. Probably it is an indication of the kind of esteem in which the 76-year-old former IIT Kanpur professor is held that when he decided to go on a fast-unto-death to protest against the hydel power projects being built on the upper reaches of the Ganga, support began pouring in.

READ

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/16/dying-for-the-ganges-a-scientist-turned-swami-risks-all/

Hi,

I have heard of experiments in which certain species of earthworms have been used to degrade the human anatomical waste from sanitary napkins. Can someone tell me whether it is possible to use earthworms for degrading the human anatomical waste component of biomedical waste? If so, which  species of earthworm would be suitable for this? Of course, there are risks involved, but if it works out well, then it can become a solution to treat BMW (anatomical, pathological waste) at least on a small scale.

Dear all,

              Eager to know the scopes of agroforestry in India...............its growth parameters and Government ventures to support various agroforestry schemes thro pilot projects, its prospects throughout the country........thorough knowhow will be very helpful.................Thanks

Dear all,

 good evening,

 kindly provide the web site addresses/ free water modeling soft ware sites.

 and also guide its operation

thanq

Sir,

Environmental degradation is growing into a grave concern in various parts of the world today. Countries especially in developing regions are suffering from problems emanating from a combination of factors including population growth, concentration of population in cities, industrialization and poverty, resulting in air pollution, water contamination, decline in sanitation, degradation of forests and soil, loss of biodiversity, marine pollution etc. 

Moreover pollutants released in countries around the world are spreading across boundaries and transcending generations to cause problems of a wide range, such as climate change and acid deposition. These problems are not only threatening human health & living but also undermining the foundation of development for future generations with the diminishment of environmental resources. 

In order to eliminate poverty and preserve the benefits of the environment for the future, actions must be taken to address environmental issues based on the concept of sustainable development. We team of experts drawn from various fields started a non government organisation in the year 1998 by name “Green Universe Environmental Services Society" renowned as the “GUESS”.

We are one of the leading civil societies in India committed towards sustainable development initiatives. For the past decade we are fighting against various environmental degradation issues and initiating change through reinvention & innovation. Our objective is to make our planet free from happening series of disasters due to man made mistakes in the name of development & technological advancement.

Today climate change is great concern to the society. Global warming effects are too severe resulting in frequent natural disasters like uncertain rain fall, drought, cyclones, tsunamis, earth quakes, depletion of ground water, seasonal changes, climate shift, soil fertility degradation, increase in temperature etc.

Countries like India 70% of the population depend on agriculture and allied sectors. changing climatic conditions are transforming most of the agricultural fields & farm lands in to deserts. The farmers and rural masses are losing livelihoods and migrating to urban areas which causing lot of pressure.

India is going to face severe food crisis in near future due to high level growth rate of population and climate shift. World population touched 7000 Million and by 2050 expected world population would be around 14000 Million. Situation is alarming. 
At this juncture feeding 1500 Million population would be a hectic task.

Considering the above facts it is the time to react and to take up various sustainable pro environment & adaptive measures through climate resilient farming activities.
The forest cover is being reduced year after year. Let us join hands and take up sustainable income & employment generating massive plantation activity. We have wonderful such project plans on hand to implement. 

It is not about how much wealth we have created for our children but clean water, pure oxygen & disaster free world make the difference. “Let us arise, awake and stop not till the green globe is achieved.”   www.guessfoundation.org

Thank You

India continues to be rich in biodiversity. With better nutrition and health care, the life expectancy has gone up by almost 3 times since post independence. But the environment in India faces several challenges today. With poverty, low literacy levels and an ever-increasing population, the development and environmental challenges are enormous. While the population increase puts pressure on resources, the pressure of 'development' is perhaps even greater and the younger generation of our country will face an uphill task to tackle the same.

Thus environmental educators face stiff challenges, mainly the one about bringing awareness of the need that the country needs to develop in less wasteful ways in the current paradigm, apart from the obvious ones of environmental management & conservation. There are considerable initiatives in this field in India today. One such notable institute that has taken up the challenge of putting Environment Education on the agenda of education decision makers, is Bharati Vidyapeeth's Institute of Environmental Education & Research (BVIEER), Pune. 

With the objectives of strengthening environment education in the formal school system, a World Bank aided study was undertaken by the Indian government since 1999. Apart from Maharashtra, seven other states namely, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Punjab and Uttaranchal, were selected for the pilot implementation of this project. The project was designed in 2 phases. In the first phase, a critical content analysis was undertaken in order to find out the status of environmental content in the textbooks currently being used in the schools. On the basis of the findings, the second phase of pilot implementation was designed, to ensure that environmental education is covered through infusion in existing subjects and not as a separate subject. The eight states were selected for the project on the basis of their geographical spread, existing environmental content in textbooks and willingness of the state to participate in the exercise. Eight hundred schools in these states (100 schools in each state) were selected for the initiative.

Under this study, BVIEER did a two-year content analysis of more than 1,800 textbooks from all over the country, studying their handling of environmental subjects. Textbooks in General Science, Geography and Languages were analysed to assess the environment education inputs. The BVIEER content analysis identified 99 environmental concepts including Natural Resources, Biodiversity, Pollution, People and Environment, Energy etc. Each concept was assessed for accuracy, relevance to the text, appropriateness to the age-group, consistency, bias etc. Once the matrix was complete it was easy to identify the lacunae or 'gaps' in the curriculum.

While most of the Geography textbooks did discuss the importance of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere in detail, and focused on the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion etc, it was found that there is little effort to interlink environmental concepts and real life experiences. This meant that most students learned the subject by rote and did not identify or believe in the cause of environmental protection. There was a serious absence of locale-specific information and several gaps in the appreciation of ecosystems, their structure, functions, uses, degradation and conservation. There was hardly any information on sustainable lifestyles and what individuals can and should do for environmental preservation as a part of personal day-to-day activity.

Several simple environmental topics such as the variety of plant and animal species in the world, in India and in each state, did not find appropriate representation in the curriculum. Very often, information provided was outdated. For instance, DDT in most books is mentioned as a common pesticide, even though commercial production and use of DDT is banned in India. Comprehension and the will to teach these topics seemed dismal amongst most teachers. Most put this down due to lack of time, lack of environmentally relevant educational material, lack of institutional and parental support and a host of varied explanations.

The BVIEER team subsequently suggested changes in the textbooks. Dr Erach Bharucha, director of BVIEER stated and I quote, "Based on the analysis we made of the textbooks, the textbooks of standards 6, 7 and 8 have been redrafted in eight states of the country." In Maharashtra, BVIEER actually sat with the textbook writers to bring about changes in the curriculum.

For the pilot implementation of Phase II, textbooks of science, social sciences and languages at middle school level (standards VI to VIII) were targeted. The concerned textbooks in these states have been modified to strengthen the infusion of environmental concepts and have been introduced in the selected project schools in the eight states. The project also involved orientation for all the major stakeholders. This was done through workshops for the Educational Administrators, concerned officials of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) Textbook Bureaus and state education departments, besides school principals and parents of students. At the same time, workshops were also conducted for textbook writers and illustrators, where experts from the field of environment education provided inputs and helped the writers revise the existing textbooks.

Model textbooks have thus been created by each state for standards 6, 7 and 8. The 'good' lessons that need to be replicated across states were retained and the poor or incorrect concepts and identified gaps that need to be addressed in future textbooks were corrected. At a larger level, there is increased interaction between textbook writers, NGOs and government bureaus. The end result -- more than 100 schools in the state of Maharashtra, and 700 more around India, now have a syllabus that aims to improve children's understanding and knowledge of the environment.

Dr Erach Bharucha, a surgeon by profession, an ace photographer and a conservationist by heart, was aptly chosen for the Green Teacher's Award in the Vasundhara Film Festival held this year.

Vasantdada Sugar Institute is looking for a consultant for the accreditation of its Environmental Science Laboratories. Details are available at the VSI website www.vsisugar.com

“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.”

― C. S. Lewis

With the introduction of Environmental Studies in the Indian educational syllabus since the early 2000s, many of us have started appreciating the need for environmental education for children in particular. However, many of us are not aware of the good work being done by some organizations in this field for the past many years. One such stellar Non-governmental Organization (NGO) is Paryavaran Dakshata Manch. Started in July 1999, Paryavaran Dakshata Manch, the founders of this NGO recognized the need for continued environmental awareness raising and education much before the Supreme Court needed to step in to make the subject mandatory for school children.

The brainchild of a group of friends in Thane (a north-eastern suburb of Mumbai), the efforts of Paryavaran Dakshata Manch has been educating school children about conservation, biodiversity, and preserving and protecting natural resources such as forests and creeks for many years now. Simple exercises like educating children and citizens about the use of paper flags instead of plastic ones ahead of the Republic and Independence Days strikes a chord with them. Another popular festival with an eco-friendly twist is Rakshabandhan. Paryavaran Dakshata Manch encourages children to celebrate Rakshabandhan by tying rakhiaround their favourite tree. They then take a vow to take care of the tree and protect it, and further the cause of conservation.

The organization’s efforts are particularly notable due to the fact that it caters to a variety of students, including those whose medium of school instruction is Marathi. Since 2003, the NGO has been publishing the Aapale Paryavaran magazine, which is the only Marathi magazine devoted entirely to environmental issues. In a world where information on environmental issues is undoubtedly easy to find online, we forget that it is primarily available in English. Updating this material and presenting it to students in Marathi is of prime importance. Other noteworthy activities conducted by the NGO throughout the year include nature trails and camps, and the annual Nisarg Mela, a workshop-based event. Last year, close to 1,200 students from about 40 schools participated in the Mela, thus attesting to its popularity. Most recently, the organization introduced a scholarship programme called Nisarg to encourage students to conduct research on environmental issues. Under this flagship scheme, five groups of deserving students who have completed the tenth grade (SSC) are given a sum of Rs. 10,000/-. The research proposals are evaluated by a panel of judges and thereafter, the chosen groups receive guidance from experts on the basic principles of research methodology. Projects are to be completed within six months. Paryavaran Dakshata Manch hopes such efforts engender a spirit of inquiry and problem-solving within the younger generation.

Above: School students posing with a rakhi tied to “their tree” on the occasion of Rakshabandhan. By doing so, they promise to nurture the tree.

Paryavaran Dakshata Manch does not concentrate on school-going students alone. Last Diwali, it hosted two stalls, one each at National College (Bandra) and IBM Business Centre (Malad). The stall at IBM was a product stall where volunteers showcased friendly material like vermicompost, the “Magicbucket” specially designed by them to make vermicompost, paper bags, and artefacts made from wooden waste material by Pragati Prathisthan an NGO working in the Adivasi belt of Jawahar (Thane district). The stall at National College was geared towards raising awareness about environmental issues during the college’s Diwali Mela. In 2010, the NGO also conducted Nandanvan Sunder Gharghuti Baug, a competition of home gardens in Thane and Dombivli.

So how does this make Paryavaran Dakshata Manch different from the other NGOs working in the environmental education arena? For one thing, aside from a full-time small and dedicated staff, a large number of volunteers continue to find time to devote towards environmental issues. Professor Vidyadhar Walawalkar, one of the co-founders of Paryavaran Dakshata Manch,is particularly thankful for all the support the organization has received from various quarters, including its wonderful employees and staff, and the volunteers who help run its initiatives. Aside from donations from well-wishers, all its activities are funded through profits made by their common biomedical waste management consultancy located at Thane. Professor Walawalkar, who is also a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at Thane’s VPM Polytechnic, puts particular importance on the concept of “social entrepreneurship”. A social entrepreneur recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture to achieve social change. While a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a social entrepreneur focuses on creating social capital, particularly to further social and environmental goals. Typically, in such ventures, the management and employees are brought together by a common goal, and themselves become the shareholders at the organization. As a result, there is a greater stake at ensuring goals are met and that the organization continues to prosper.

If only we had more such organizations, we could change the face of India.

This article was contributed by Mahazareen Dastur. Based in Mumbai, she has been associated with environmental issues for over a decade now.

you can get the weekly data of atmospheric co2 conc. from this website -http://ning.it/A1t6nL