One of my favorite professors at school, Dr. Tim Henry, who practiced dentistry for a while, and now teaches anatomy & physiology, amongst other subjects, lent form to a nebulous idea that had been floating in my mind for a long time. He views the imbalance on our planet akin to imbalance in our body - disease as a dangerous shift from a stable condition of health or 'homeostasis'. As I read further into the wise writings of eminent scientists who have been diagnosing the illnesses of the earth over the past few decades, I realize some disturbing patterns...

Extending Dr. Henry's idea further, one may 'postulate' that the variety of afflictions now tormenting various segments across the globe are symptoms, in the least, of something much worse; only collateral damages - but not the root of the problem. Al Gore, the fearless knight of the American climate crusades, portrays climate change as a planetary 'fever'. It will be of interest for you to note that fevers are not diseases, but symptoms, and rather 'side effects' of a more insidious illness. The hysteria developing over climate change is much like the Western medical approach to resolving a situation where a patient suffers from a fever. To attack symptoms is a form of urgent action, which is not necessarily the right action always [especially when the disease is causing much more damage than just a merely harmless increase in temperature].

Our planet is currently suffering from a disease analogous to what ails humans in the form of Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome AIDS. The planet is failing in more than one way - the melting of ice bergs, hotter summers, stronger cyclonic storms, and more unpredictable weather, lower biodiversity, lower crop yields, spread of invasive species, and the like. The symptoms are numerous - much like the multi-faceted failure of the AIDS patient, our planet is probably unable to deal with a gang of remarkably varied criminals, each attacking a separate organ.

I cannot even begin to understand the complexity of this sinister issue - the climate scientist is just as much in a quandary as those doctors who faced the complex situations of diagnosing their first AIDS patients. The Earth-doctors feel similarly helpless and flummoxed, having never encountered something so powerfully devastating. What hope can they give? What hope can I or you give each other in times that we are numb to pain, but not immune to it? The quest for truth, for justice and fairness has already been lost in the din of the crowded marketplaces of a million glittering pieces of glass. We can live in denial - like the first victims of HIV that do not perceive the symptoms for quite a while before the deathly virus gains foothold. Isn't it so easy to deny such a misery than accept it and do what it takes to counter it? Does our civilization have the moral courage for such actions?

Does our civilization have any hope? What hope can we give to each other if our planet has been similarly diagnosed with an incurable, stigmatic illness - one whose effects are not even manifest completely yet. What plan of action does our world now choose - to keep exercising the economic 'biceps', bailing it out occasionally with protein shakes and steroids, while ignoring the crucial ethical leukocytes, and educational nerves? An AIDS patient might have avoided the illness by wrapping tight in a moral fabric too strongly knit to keep breathing in colorful freedom. What kind of devices would have kept the earth from contracting such a promiscuous illness that leads to its failure to sustain itself?

The reluctant messenger of truth has a short lifespan and needs more than bulletproof jackets. It would probably be worthy to criticize my ideas as pessimistic and nihilistic, only if it were true that we have been faithful to our planet. As messengers of the betrayal, climate scientists and writers are often caustically rebuked for throwing cinders onto a peaceful relationship. The enigmatic analogue I present herein may be meaningless and astringent, but I am hoping that a sharper intellect will dissect this piece of linguistic flesh in a future post-mortem to reveal deeper truths, or shallow lies, of the situation that presents itself to us today - an ailing planet, a sick economy, and the critical failure of intellectual courage to go beyond the symptoms and signs, and attack the germs of greed, anger, malice, envy, and lust. Are we training smart farmers who can cultivate a future world, uprooting evil weeds and destroying its sinful seeds? If we cannot be such farmers, will we afford the siesta that could be?

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water is one of the most precious natural resource of our mother earth. During this monsoon we have to harvest the rain water so as not to deplete our ground water table. Many people are unaware of this. can we all together bring a awareness camp in the villages atlease spending one to two days in a month apart from our routine work atmosphere.

If any one can join this mission, i will be very thankfull. if not also i request them to educate their neighbours atleast

Raghava

Dear All,

King Cobras Ophiophagus hannah are large, endangered serpents with an uncertain future mainly due to human-induced pressures on their populations and habitats. There have been reliable un-published reports of king cobra sightings in the North Coastal A.P - Orissa border.

Although this anecdote is basically about spotting a dead king cobra specimen in Srikakulam agency area of A.P, it is the first authenticated record of the species with photographic documentation from this geographical location.

You may access it by directly clicking on the link below

http://www.zoosprint.org/ZoosPrintNewsLetter/Reptile_Rap_10_28June2010.pdf

I hope this might be of some interest to you all.

Thanks & Regards.

Sincerely,

Murthy K.L.N,

Programme Officer,

Centre for Environment Education,

Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad - 380054.

Government CCAP sketchy to say the least’

BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa Government’s Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) has come in for serious flak for its “naive approach” to aproblem as multi-dimensionl as global warming and its impacts onagriculture and food security. Hosted on its official website for public response, the plancharts out actionable points for 11 sectors with budget outlines.Objections and reactions will be accepted till June 25. Thereport can be view at http://orissa.gov.in/portal/occap.pdf.

However, most find the document ill-conceived since it does not provide for institutional delivery mechanism for many sectors.

“The priorities section does not talk about targets leading to achieving the objectives.

There is no mention about the mechanisms to execute the plan. Furthermore, the document deals more with researchand studies and adequate emphasis is not given on action points,” saidOrissa Civil Society in its response to the Government.

One of the key challenges that climate change offers is food security and it has not been dealt adequately by the action plan giventhe state of Orissa’s economy, its vulnerability quotient and theextreme poverty levels.

The State being extremely vulnerable to natural calamities such as floods and drought which occur regularly, food security assumesserious importance because Orissa banks heavily on agriculture.

Issue of food security, challenges faced by small and marginal farmers in agriculture has not been given adequate emphasis in theaction plan.

Similarly, system of rice intensification which is emerging as a sustainable paddy cultivation practice and contributing positively toarrest climate change by emitting less methane should be promoted amongthe farmers. Such practices like Sustainable Sugarcane Initiativeshould be promoted but are missing in the CCAP. There is no system to enhance farmer’s participation inplanning and implementing.

Besides, drought being a major impact of climate change, any mitigation plan not finding place in the documentis surprising. No focus on indigenous seed variety and traditionalweather-resistant crops are given any focus. The action plan is silent on how low carbon economy can be brought about which ideally should be the thrust.Stating that the document is completely silent on the follow-upactions to be undertaken based on the research findings which thegovernment intends to undertake in the coming days, the critics said,the budget of Rs 143 crore outlined for reviewing the presentagricultural policy is big waste.

According to Bijay Mishra of Vasundhara, creation of more forest in revenue areas to compensate the loss on green cover to miningand industries will cost the State dear. The loss is that of potentialagricultural land which could have been used for growing morefoodgrains to address food insecurity. He also felt that the Governmentshould have ideally given more time for gathering response instead ofhurrying through it. The CCAP was posted on the website June 6.

Himanshu

Vasundhara

Friday, May 21, 2010

Draft

‘Regulatory Framework for Conservation of Wetlands’

Recognizing the value of wetlands and taking cognizance of the fact

that there does not yet exist a formal system for conservation and management

and wise-use of wetlands, the National Environment Policy (NEP), 2006 seeks to

set up a legally enforceable regulatory mechanism for identified valuable

wetlands to prevent their degradation, enhance their conservation and wise-use

by all the stakeholders. In pursuance of the policy resolution, a multidisciplinary

expert group was set up in the Ministry of Environment and

Forests which held a series of meetings to formulate a structure for regulatory

framework for wetlands.

2. After elaborate discussions on this issue, the Ministry came up with a

draft regulatory framework for conservation of wetlands. The draft framework

enlists some of the activities which are prohibited and others which need to be

regulated. Categorization of wetlands has also been proposed on the basis of

significance of the functions performed and for determining the extent and level

of regulation. In the draft regulation, there is provision for creation of Wetlands

Regulatory Authorities at the central, state and district level for granting

clearance for permissible activity and for exercising regulatory functions. It is

also proposed to have wetland appraisal committee for appraising the proposals

for identification of new wetlands.

3 The draft of the Regulatory Framework for wetlands was put up on

the website of the Ministry for 90 days on 10-07-2008 to seek comments

of all the stakeholders concerned. The comments received were

incorporated appropriately and the final draft can be downloaded from

the website. It has been decided to put the draft again on the website of

the Ministry for a period of one month for inviting comments from all the

interested stakeholders. The comments if any may be communicated on

the addresses given below by 21st of June 2010.

Dr. Siddharth Kaul, Scientist ‘F’ s.kaul@nic.in /DD(SR)

Dr. Shruti Rai, Scientist ‘C’ shruti.rai@nic.in;

Mr. A K Goyal, Joint Secretary akg@nic.in

*********

Dear Friends,

A small suggestion from my end.If we can make an earth hour a success in an year then what will happen if we all together voluntarily swithoff 10-15 minutes of power every day during peak hour.and have a candle light dinner with our family members together. as i have observed in my family itself that we eat at different time watching televison.

This may build relation between our family members and also conserve energy.

i am implementing this idea right now . i request all of you to join my small hand so that we can atleast start a begining

Raghava