Scrappy progress
Britain has failed to meet the April 21 deadline to comply with the European Union's (eu) directive on recycling cars. In fact, the uk isn't alone in non-adherence to the time schedule, with
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Can did endeavours
the Japanese (who else?) are stealing a march over other industrialised nations in recycling. While earlier it was the law for the promotion of utilisation of recy clable resources passed in 1992
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Environment friendly is far too often unfriendly
Disposable diapers and paper cups tax the environment, yes, but washing reusable diapers and china cups is just as environment unfriendly, say recent studies. Caught in the middle of this information blitz is the consumer.
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Friend in need
with problems of the disposal of plutonium reaching alarming heights in us and Russia, Canada has offered to help in its recycling. Both us and Russia have stocks of tonnes of the highly toxic fuel
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Herbal healing
millions of children crippled by polio may be able to walk without crutches. A herbal medication developed by a resident from Haripur Dak - a remote village in Purnea district of Bihar - holds
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EPA collecting air, water samples from sugar mills
Samples of air and wastewater belonging to the sugar mills of Sindh are being collected by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials for the last two days to check whether they are polluting environment, especially air and water. One of the sugar mills releases its toxic waste in a waterway that finds its way into the upstream Kotri Barrage. The samples are being taken under the directives of EPA Director-General Abdul Malik Ghauri, who has sent three officials, Ashiq Ali Dhamrah, Jehangir Hussain and Mohammad Hashim. An EPA official from Hyderabad, Irfan Abbasi, and two environmental inspectors from the district concerned are part of the team that is visiting different sugar mills. It was learnt here on Tuesday that the team had so far visited six sugar mills and one alcohol-producing unit. The mills included the Al-Abbas Sugar Mills, Mirpurkhas Sugar Mills, Matiari Sugar Mills, Digri Sugar Mills and Najma Sugar Mills. Their air samples and wastewater samples have been collected. The officials are travelling along with a mobile laboratory that had been gifted to Pakistan by the Japanese government. While confirming that the testing of samples would take some time, Mr Ghauri said: "Some samples are analysed in the mobile laboratory while some are sent to us in Karachi so that they can be tested at the main laboratory.' He said that the samples were being checked so that the sugar mills would improve their environmental standard. An official of the team told Dawn that one of the sugar mills was releasing its wastewater in a waterway that finds its way into the upstream Kotri barrage. A report said that the exercise of testing of air quality has been initiated by EPA in view of the on-going sugarcane season which began in December and would continue for another couple of months. According to environmentalists, smoke emitted from the chimneys of sugar mills pollutes the air and it causes various problems for the people who live in their vicinity. Mr Ghauri said that first air and liquid samples would be analysed and then the sugar mills would be graded. When asked whether any proceedings would follow if the sugar mills were found guilty of environmental pollution, he replied: "Certainly notices will be issued to the relevant sugar mill if the quality of air emission and wastewater don't conform with the National Environmental Quality Standards.' According to water technologist Dr Ahsan Siddiqui, the wastewater of a sugar mill is released on its own open ground by the mills management. He, however, added that the mill in question had no right to do that because wastewater through seepage contaminated water contained in the sub-soil, which is a natural resource of water for people who obtained water through suction pumps.
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Perils of eco-anxiety
If the proliferation of diseases and afflictions to do with lifestyles wasn't enough to give you palpitations at night, here's one more. It's called eco-anxiety. Al Gore has no idea of the havoc he has wreaked upon an unsuspecting world. His heart-stopping warning in his documentary An Inconvenient Truth that only 10 years remain to avoid an environmental catastrophe has only added to the growing number of people worrying themselves sick over issues like global warming, pesticides in food, nuclear waste, vehicle emissions and carbon footprints. In fact, eco-anxiety has even created a new breed of professionals: eco-therapists who counsel patients on making environmentally friendly lifestyle changes. The fears of the eco-anxious are fuelled by excessive and often hysterical media coverage of doomsday scenarios like the one outlined by Gore. In fact, we have a new phrase to describe such coverage: climate porn! The word was created after the US-based Institute for Policy Research analysed hundreds of media articles, news clips and TV ads on the issue. Climate porn refers to the use of apocalyptic language to describe the challenges posed by climate change. Pornography or not, what it has achieved is to give most people on the planet a serious complex about their contribution to global warming and the inevitable retribution that the environmental gods will hurl down on them from above. Image As a socially conscious citizen, my ecoangst has really changed a lot of things I took for granted. I work for a widely circulated weekly newsmagazine that prints on paper made from trees cut down in a forest somewhere. Am I committing a mortal sin each time I write? Should I petition the publisher to reduce the number of pages? It's a Catch-22 situation, similar to the feeling I get when I climb into my gas-guzzling car every morning. Shouldn't I be cycling to work instead? Actually, considering distance and time, that would mean waking up at 4 a.m. and getting home at 9 p.m. which is hardly conducive to good health and quality time at home. I also turn pale when I look at the greens sold by my local vegetable vendor. What foul pesticides have gone into their preservation and why do they look so unnaturally green, or yellow, or red? So, would it be better to reduce my living space and plant a vegetable garden even if it means sacrificing a much-loved and much used balcony? My best friend's apartment is on the 17th floor. Could I reduce electricity consumption by taking the stairs or would I be inviting a seizure? Going green and saving the planet is all very laudable but the anxiety is killing.
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Green laws resented
Report dubs environmental guidelines as obstacles to atomic energy projects
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Home is where the water is
Ten ideas for sustainable water management in layouts and apartments Play it safe: Check quality of water before use. As urbanisation spreads, layouts with individual sites and apartments are coming up all around our cities. It is clear that the mere presence of a large overhead tank or a brochure promising 24 hours water supply is not sufficient enough for buyers to be convinced that they will have water when they need it. What are the key questions that a potential site buyer or apartment owner should ask regarding water before making the big investment decision? What are the 10 key things that a developer has to address before a potential owner is satisfied with the way things are handled with water and its sustainability? 1) What is the source/s of water and how sustainable are they in the long run? Clearly multiple sourcing of water has come to stay. Water will be sourced through city mainlines, borewells, private tankers, bottled water and recycled water. How does one know that this mix is stable and will be available all through the year? Quality 2) What is the quality of water in the borewell? What are the treatment systems for the various waters sourced? As borewells are the main source of water in the periphery of the cities, the quality of water from them becomes important. What are the measures of monitoring water quality for everybody to know and take action accordingly. 3) What is the dependency of supply during failures of electricity on site? Are there back up generators or overhead tanks to assure you that water will be available even when there is no electricity? 4) Does the layout have sewage collection and treatment plants? Is it ensuring a quality of water high enough for it to be reused for at least non-potable purpose thus reducing demand on higher quality water? 5) Does the layout have rainwater harvesting systems? Has it put into place good rainwater harvesting systems to either collect or recharge water for reuse? Is this being measured or is this only a token gesture? 6) Is the storm water collected and recharged? Storm water drains can pick up, treat and recharge the groundwater so that it can be drawn again from open wells or bore wells for use. Is this system designed well and is it working? Are there measurements for its success? 7) What is the landscape plan to minimise water consumption? Does the landscape demand high water use? Will this cause water problems such as over draw from the ground water or high bills for private water tankers? 8) Are there separate water meters for each site and each flat? Will the system reward me for low water use and punish those who use more of it? This will only be possible if individual connections are metered and bills served individually. 9) Is there a good garbage management plan for the entire layout/apartments? Weak collection and disposal of waste is a problem that contaminates not only the landscape but also surface water and groundwater. Have adequate precautions and systems been put in place, for example, for source segregation composting and recycling. S.Viswanath, Bangalore
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THE PHILLIPINES
Tourism is taking its toll of the country's beautiful beaches. Environ mentalists are particularly concerned about Boracay, a small islet once famed for its white sandy beach. Over the years, wanton
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'I will not say Delhi is an environmental disaster'
Delhi is bursting at the seams from the pressures of rampant urbanisation. Everything that can possibly go wrong in this metro of 10 million people seems to have already gone wrong. The water, land and air everything seems to have been fouled up, the re
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Sweet torture
sugar seems to be a cause of tragedy in Buxar in Uttar Pradesh. Dumping of bagasse-ash by the Simbhaoli sugar mill at various sites around the town has caused severe burning accidents and
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A river polluted
ABOUT 157 villages in Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh are situated on the banks of the Sone river. But life for the villagers has become a constant struggle, as they are deprived of potable
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Ayurveda to the rescue
THE Indian Proctology Society in Orissa has succeeded in finding an ayurvedic cure for filaria and elephantiasis. Lakhs of people are afflicted by these two deformities in the coastal regions
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Bhopal: Industrial genocide?
The deaths in Bhopal caused by Union Carbide's noxious fumes should not have happened at all. Equally unnecessary and unwarranted is the continuing suffering of those who managed to survive. Situations that caused a tragedy of such magnitude could and should have been averted.
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In bad taste
EPA s animal farm air quality improvement plan
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Dial tol free
The 'innocent-looking' telephone directory has been the target of the ire of US environmentalists. Recently, they had much to cheer about when the city council of Santa Monica, California,
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Throwing a spanner
CHINA's hopes of completing the largest hydroelectric project in history, received a temporary setback when the Export- Import Bank of the us refused to help finance the Three Gorges
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Downward flight
BLEAK future awaits the aerospace engineering departments of the five Indian Institutes of Technology (11TS), which played a key role in the development of light combat aircraft, missiles,
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Reuse: a matter of economy
A recent move by the Mumbai-based King Edward Memorial Hospital to ban the reuse of disposable surgical items, following a consumer court directive. has served to create a flutter in various circles.