Highpoints of 2016 in Review: Looking Back Positively

On this the last day of 2016, a year which has been witness to many highs and lows, let us look at the positives to welcome 2017 on a highnote.
This illustration from The Better India shows some wonderful solutions to societal problems that have been highlighted and can be replicated to solve problems before us.

Cyclone Vardah may have uprooted a 100,000 trees in Chennai but the city is determined to revive the lost tree cover and re-green Chennai. 

The battle to rein in Climate Change is on and adoption of renewable energy options are growing like never before. "The 99 best things that happened in 2016, from Ebola’s eradication in West Africa to saving the manatees" in numbers 42 to 59 highlight how we are fighting back.

BRICS New Development Bank approved $1 billion in renewables investments in China, Brazil, South Africa, and India.

Many cities, communities, nations and institutions are going and pledging to go 100% renewable for the sake of a better planet. The COP of action the 22nd Conference of Parties to the Convention on Climate Change held at Morocco helped develop the roadmap to a cooler planet. The road is long but the parties have taken concrete action as well as pledging to do more.

As you go over the list of 99 best things you realize that good gleams amidst the dark deeds showing the way to a better world. A poverty, war and disease free world. This utopia can be created in our lifetime by scaling up these small steps taken.

Actions to save endangered species got a boost in Asia, first with the Panda going off the endangered list, and then was the news that the number of tigers in the wild rose for the first time in 100 years.
Let's hope 2017 brings in a lot more positive news for people, the planet and all earthlings!


By fighting poverty and pollution in cities, taking the fight against corruption and climate change to the rural populations, making health care and a healthy lifestyle and adequate nutrition accessible for all as well as providing quality education for all that creates job-creators not job-seekers we can make our planet the piece of heaven it was meant to be.

Here's hoping we take the high road to ensure Heaven on Earth in 2017.

Guest Post 1: FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE

Post by Venkatesh Ramanujam

With the advancements in technology, the world has shrunken. People can communicate and work across the globe. Still we haven’t won against hunger.

Reasons for failure of agriculture include

1) Lack of water

2) Climate Change

3) Awareness and Adaptability to the technology.

Selecting the best breed of seeds, designing better wells and bore wells, can elevate the situations faced by farmers.

Apart from the existing ideas, few ideas can be designed with the help of government and corporates help to save water.

1)      The water from the air conditioning systems can be treated and let out for the use to the nearby villages and farms.

2)      Installation of artificial ponds.

3)      Implementation of Employment Guarantee Scheme (Egs) - success story of Hizware Community

4)      Manufacture of fertilizers from the chemical factory wastes.

5)      Tricycle based tractors can be used in small farms.

6)      Vehicles that can be used on roads and on farms with slight modifications, i.e., with changes in wheels and attachment, can help to provide farmers with an alternate source of income.

7)      A simple investment in a Vacuum packaging vendor in villages can help a lot of farmers and can provide part time job for women.

8)      Usage of community based warehouse, built nearby.

 

Though we can come up with feasible solutions, still the poverty among the farmers exists because of lack of awareness.

There are a number of mobile apps, television and radio programs available, but most of them have failed to reach farmers. Most of these apps are not in regional languages, it’s difficult to understand, and the television programs get telecasted at odd hours. 

There is a need for community programs, with some modifications

1)      Telecast timing of the program needs to be changed.

2)      The content should have more interactive sessions,with guests and experts.

3)      By having a NGO tie up with schools the government can bring about a change in how they address the farmer’s needs. As part of the NSS and SUPW activity the school students can act as an awareness bridge between the farmers and technology. Application of design labs, helps in approaching the issue using innovation and minimizing the failures.

4)      Conveying the ideas to the farmers in local language and educating them with a basic mobile learning program helps a lot.

5)      Changing the end product, with value addition. E.g., groundnuts can be changed into a value added product by roasting it. Fresh vegetables can be cut and be packed. Small addition to a raw material will have an impact in the profit margin.

6)      Awareness on existing communities like Kissan Network needs to be spread where Interaction between the buyer and farmer will be done through websites and Apps.

It’s all about finding the right marketing and finding the correct technology in making a successful agricultural country.

References

Anticipating Climate Change in the Pamir Mountains 2015 (Climate Co-lab Semi-Final Idea by VenkateshRamanujam)

http://climatecolab.org/contests/2014/anticipating-climate-change-in-the-pamir-mountains/c/proposal/1313404

Bore-Well:

http://www.thealternative.in/business/sankalpa-rural-development-society-puts-end-farmers-water-woes-affordable-borewell-recharge-technology/

Bore-Well Scanner:

http://nif.org.in/innovation/low-cost-bore-well-scanner/763

Bi-Cycle Tractor:

https://www.bikerumor.com/2015/11/26/bicitractor-lets-you-harvest-parts-and-build-your-own-pedal-powered-tractor/

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/culticycle-pedal-powered-tractor-small-farms.html

Food Storage Tips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwcGb_Z9Ogk&spfreload=10

Vacuum Sealer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJU8Z9gmDw0&spfreload=10

Media Failing:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0060e/T0060E05.htm

http://library.ifla.org/1001/1/140-sokoya-en.pdf

https://factsreports.revues.org/678

Making a difference through radio:

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=SJh7xF_bZAMC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=why+media+fails+to+spread+awareness+to+farmers&source=bl&ots=SxGn4mzmOt&sig=wYNSHkppUWR0BNKhahCQPFRbWD8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjq77Kr_8_QAhVCNY8KHb81CkgQ6AEINjAE#v=onepage&q=why%20media%20fails%20to%20spread%20awareness%20to%20farmers&f=false

Value Added Products

http://www.agmrc.org/business-development/getting-prepared/valueadded-agriculture/articles/how-to-become-involved-in-adding-value/

http://www.agmrc.org/business-development/getting-prepared/valueadded-agriculture/articles/how-to-become-involved-in-adding-value/

Hiware Community

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/hiware-bazar--a-village-with-54-millionaires-4039

Kissan Network:

http://kisannetwork.in/

Community Supported Agriculture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture

Before the Flood: The Next "Incovenient Truth"

I just finished watching "Before the Flood" and was moved by it. It's been a while since I saw "An Inconvenient Truth" but the echo was there. It resonated and magnified the message of the Story of Stuff movies.

That's the power of celebrity. That's the power of Leonardo DiCaprio.

The poster from Romeo+Juliet that was on my cupboard door for years!

"Clean air, water and a livable climate are inalienable human rights. And solving this crisis is not a question of politics, it is a question of our own survival." 

- Leo DiCaprio

Before the Flood

Wonderful visuals, talks with the players and experts, personal experiences all bound together with Leo in front. From Ban Ki Moon to Barack Obama, Elon Musk, the pope and climate scientists and small island nations' leaders Leo arranges the players for us to see.

The floods, sea level rises, melting polar ice caps, dead coral reefs, drought, desertification, forest fires increased surface and ocean temperatures ... they are all there. Expressing with visuals more than words can say. The people, the animals, the ways of lives imperiled. All waiting the right choice, the right action.

Also are the hidden players - the king makers, the money spinners who push an unhealthy agenda for the people and the planet. Fossil Fuels and Fast foods and FMCGs that subsist on palm oil which in turn destroys rain forests.

I liked the fact that he accepted CSE's Sunita Narain squarely putting the ball back in the court of America (read Developed World) asking them to "put their money where their mouth is." To consume less, and invest in renewables.

Fight the Flood

There is a good collection of solutions on the Before the Flood website. But the message at the end stays with me:
 

Consume Differently

What you Buy

What you Eat

How You Get Your Power

(forgotten was what your drive and how you travel...but the renewable innovations in the automobile and aviation sector are just waiting around the corner, just a question of affordability e.g., Tesla Roadster, Toyota Prius, other hybrids, Solar Impulse, Solar autos, or solar boats/ferries)

And of course the Leaders We Choose. 

Timed just a week before the crucial US presidential elections and ahead of the COP22 at Marrakesh to put into effect the Climate Agreement reached in Paris and coming into effect in 4 days!

The carbon bomb of burning forests is a reality not just in Sumatra, Indonesia. It's ticking in the 700 million Indians who could opt for fossil fuels instead of inefficient biomass - cow dung cakes and foraged wood.
As the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon puts it,

"...addressing the climate challenge presents a golden opportunity to promote prosperity, security and a brighter future for all."

And entrepreneurs like Elon Musk are at the head of the curve. WE need to get on board and opt for 
The power to change is our power to choose. 

HEAT STROKE MAY BREAK THE BACKBONE OF THE MALDIVES

“Coral reefs are the backbone of Maldives, without coral reefs there’s no Maldives.”

 -- Maldivian 

Alarming when the world’s largest reef system – The Great Barrier Reef of Australia – is near death after overheating and beaching. Increased carbon dioxide concentrations and rising temperatures of the seas is putting the paradise isles of Maldives at risk. It goes beyond sea level rise which regularly make news.

The peril for the atoll of Maldives comes from the fact that every aspect of its being is intertwined with the life of the coral reefs that form this island system. Yet the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that 60 percent of the Maldivian corals affected.

Coral Reefs the Maldivian Backbone

The pristine white sand beaches of Maldives are formed of eroded corals. The tourists flock to Maldives to be awed these beaches and view the phenomenal biodiversity of the reefs. Bait fish for the Tuna that is staple to Maldivian diet and the only home grown food depends on supply from the reefs. Thus affecting food security. It is also a threat to the way of life – the Maldivian culture. The reefs protect Maldives from tsunamis and storm surges and other extreme weather over the seas.

While rains helped cool sea temperatures temporarily around Maldives and prevented irreversible harm from occurring to the reef system that sustains the atoll. But these acts of God cannot be always be depended on. The imperiled paradise faces the double whammy of increased ocean acidification – with the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide permanently crossing 400 parts per million as well as the effects of warm seas.

After just 1 degree rise in the temperature of the seas and the increased dissolved carbon dioxide the living reefs of Australia a world heritage bleached irreversibly and was declared dead. Heat stroke eliminated this system and poses a continued threat to the backbone of Maldives as well.

Can They Escaping This Imminent Heat Stoke?

The hope is to prevent the destruction of what little of reef systems are still left. While the rains in Maldives prevented irreversible bleaching, the reefs are still sensitive in the recovery phase. Dredging and reclamation of land as adaptation strategy may accelerate the degradation of the system.

In addition to hoping to curb global warming and the acidification by reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we need to really look at stopping the other threats to the reefs. No bottom trawling, no unethical harvesting and maybe more acts of god will make the sure the corals are protected from the effects of man.

Dushera and International Day of the Girl Child

October 11, 2016 Vijaya Dasami or Dushera marks the end of ten days and nine nights of festivities across regions where ever Hindus dwell. The period of Navratri (9 nights) and Dushera (Dasha Hara: Sanskrit for removal of ten bad qualities within you - Anger, Attachment, Cruelty, Ego, Greed, Injustice, Jealousy, Lust, Pridefulness, Selfishness) celebrates the victory of good over evil and the Goddess Durga. It also celebrates the victory of Lord Ram over the demon king Ravan who abducted his wife.

Internationally this date is celebrated as the International Day of the Girl Child.

                                             The Turtle Dove, Painting by Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1823–1903)

In a patriarchal nation such as India the girl child is still believed to be a burden. The goddess/whore dichotomy pervades into all aspects of life in addition to the dowry system which adds a tangible pricetag to having a girl in the family.The priority in many cases is to save for the girl child's wedding rather than saving for her higher education.

Government programs such as "Beti Bachao, Beti Padoa" [Save Daughters, Educate Daughters] target the gender gap in the sex ratio, nutrition, survival of infant-hood and education. With the wonderful medal winning performance by women athletes at the Olympics they have added a "Beti Khilao" [Let the Girl Child Play Sports] with some wonderful sportswomen as ambassadors.

Yet female infanticide, feticide and sex selection is common. Even with programs like the Cradle Baby scheme [where children can be left behind in care instead of killed] and others that pay pregnant women to have children in hospitals and immunize the child [Ministry of Women and Child Development and some state government programs offer upto INR 15,000/- in areas with poor sex ratios] the preference for boys persists. In disasters (natural calamities or conflicts) women, girls and children remain most vulnerable. Despite priority given to ensure the safety of women, children and the old in such situation they remain most at-risk. The recent floods in Assam during the south-west monsoons this year was witness to instances of pregnant women giving birth on boats and during rescue operations if they were lucky or even where they were trapped by the flood waters.

                                               Painting by John Everett Millais (1829 -1896)
Perhaps as long as the #WageGap, dominant patriarchy, rampant violence against women (#VAW), and #Dowry prevails the perception that the girl child is a burden will persist. This is a vicious cycle that feeds on itself and grows into a complicated Gordian knot.

As we celebrate the Female Goddess, the manifestation of the power of all the Gods, who succeeded in vanquishing a demon who dismissed the female sex as a credible opponent let us take the time to foster the girl children in our lives. Empower them to shatter glass ceilings and take back public spaces and stand up for their rights, consent, and safety.

A blight and blot that destroys social fabric is the treatment of the female sex as second class. Many social ills that plague our nation and others will be neutralized by investing in the girl child and nurturing her to change the world one girl at a time. Society must be educated and reconditioned to make equality the norm. This will be to the benefit of all. We need to celebrate the Sheroes - powerful female trailblazers and make HerStory the history.

Signed, Sealed & Delivered – Oct 5th: Climate Treaty Comes into Force Nov 4, 2016

On Wednesday, October 5, 2016, in New York, UN Secretary General  Ban Ki-moon announced that the Paris Climate Agreement will come into force within the stipulated thirty days on November 4th as more than 55 parties representing over 55% of emissions had ratified the treaty.  

With the instruments of ratification submitted at the UN General Assembly by the European Union, Austria, Bolivia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Malta, Nepal, Portugal and Slovakia the treaty was set on track to be ratified ahead of the Marrakesh Climate Summit (COP 22) to be held between November 7th and 18th. Thus with 74 parties (73 countries and the EU) ratifying the treaty representing over 55% of global emissions ratified the treaty signed by 195 countries on 46th Earth Day on April 22, 2016. 

The past month saw a whole spate of announcements of ratification of the treaty by big powers and Green House Gases (GHGs) emitters starting with US and China announced jointly by their presidents at Hangzhou, China, before the G-20 summit, then by Brazilian president Michel Temer, and Indian  prime minister Narendra Modi.

China represents 20.09% of global GHGs emissions
USA represents 17.89%
India represents 4.1%
Brazil represents 2.5%

This means that now nations will have to put into actions their intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs).

The 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Marrakesh, Morocco will require nations to provide the roadmap to "the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius."