Showing newest posts with label environment. Show older posts

In a new episode from the The Story of Stuff Project Annie Leonard tells The Story of Cosmetics.

"The seven-minute film reveals the implications for consumer and worker health and the environment, and outlines ways we can move the industry away from hazardous chemicals and towards safer alternatives. The film concludes with a call for viewers to support legislation aimed at ensuring the safety of cosmetics and personal care products."

Via Osocio Weblog

You might wonder, what a peculiarly named volcano (Eyjafjallajökull -how do you pronounce it?) in Iceland can mean to Europe.

Eyjafjallajökull is actually a glacier in Iceland which covers a volcano (1,666 metres or 5,466 ft in height) which has erupted relatively frequently since the Ice Age. The volcano eruption in 14 April (see pictures) caused massive disruption to air traffic across Northern Europe. From Wikipedia:

"On 14 April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull resumed erupting after a brief pause, this time from the top crater in the centre of the glacier, causing meltwater floods (also known as jökulhlaup) to rush down the nearby rivers, and requiring 800 people to be evacuated. This eruption was explosive in nature and it threw volcanic ash several kilometres up in the atmosphere which led to travel disruptions in northwest Europe on the 15th and 16th of April 2010 including the closure of airspace over most of Northern Europe."

The above picture (click to enlarge) will explain why the volcanic ash is dangerous for Flights.

The ash-cloud left Europe flights grounded for third day in a row causing disruptions to thousands of passengers. Airlines worldwide are losing at least $200 million a day in revenue because of this.

"The dust cloud from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano may affect 6 million passengers if the disruption extends to April 18, and the revenue loss may reach $1 billion, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a Sydney-based consulting firm."

Source of Images:
1) Volcano Eruption - by Flickr user Sveinn71
2) Hazards to aviation from volcanic ash cloud - by The Christian Science Monitor
3) Ash cloud impact in Europ - BBC News

Imagine you lived in a world of water. Your home is two-feet under. You wade through it, cook on it, and sleep above it. This is the reality for hundreds of thousands of people around the world, coastal populations on the front lines of climate change.

The latest PBS documentary called "water world" shows the effects of climate change in Bangladesh and how it threatens the world.

The situation has become so alarming that Dr. Atiq Rahman says that 'climate change', 'global warming' - these are soft words. We should be referring to this phenomenon as 'catastrophic climate destabilization'.

Dr. Atiq also talks about the climate refugees and the plea to the world to take them. Bangladesh wants $10 billion to fight climate change. But I think the climate refugees issue should be brought forward and plans should be made for their shelters and livelihood.

This video by Shahjahan Siraj of Machizo shows the victims of climate change:

What happens to your old TV when you switch to digital (LCD/Plasma) TV?

"The major digital TV switchover in north-west England has coincided with a huge increase in dumped analogue TVs" - reports The Guardian:

This year, the council has recycled 50,000 analogue TVs thrown away by households, of which 30,000 could have been upgraded to receive digital TV signals with a simple £20 set-top box.

The e-waste dumps in developing nations are piling up. US government is even thinking about asking electronics manufacturers to offer free door-to-door pick-up service of used devices. Tree Hugger reports:

In the US, only about 18% of the 23.9 million toxic CRT TVs thrown out in 2008 were recycled. And Sarah Westervelt, a Basel Action Network official, said about 80% will actually be shipped abroad to be "recycled" in China and Africa - and that is a violation of provisions of the Basel treaty that ban the shipment of toxic waste from the rich countries to poor ones.

Over the long run, it is likely better to have an extra set-top box and not a new TV. It's just a matter of actually telling people this, and encouraging them to keep what isn't broken.

Image via Jaymi Heimbuch, Tree Hugger

Today is the Blog Action Day and this annual event aims to unite the world's bloggers where they write about a single topic in a single day to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion on the subject.

I have posted a round-up of some of the Rising Voices projects discussing climate change in their blogs.

This is my third year of participating in the Blog Action Day. You can read my posts from 2007 & 2008.

Now the question is why Blog Action Day is important. We all take part in our share of activism in our everyday lives. But they hardly make any impact on the society. Sometimes we also miss out on important issues. Blog Action Day is the opportunity to unite our voices to a common cause so that we can shake the inertia and tilt towards a change.

Every day you will find many govt. sponsored events or international conferences discussing on critical issues. But do they have the capacity to engage every common people? The advantage of citizen media is that it is free and accessible to many who wants to raise their voice. And what bloggers write do not obliterate, they remain in webspace searchable by search engines. So Blog Action Day gives people the opportunity to speak out their opinions and it is an wonderful initiative to have more local perspectives on important issues.

One may wonder whether the Blog action day will make any impact on the policy makers. Slowly people are becoming more aware of citizen media. What bloggers can do is to discuss about the ground realities of the different policies taken by governments or authorities. They should share their personal experiences, observations etc which can provide important feedbacks to the policy makers.

The bloggers are part of the local communities. With the promulgation of initiatives like Blog Action Day, non-bloggers from their communities will be interested to read what the bloggers are talking about and take part in the discussion via comments or in real life actions. Writing about issues like environment in blogs is only a catalyst to some offline actions that need too be taken.

Now coming to the point - this year's theme - climate change. Bangladesh is in the forefront of the impacts of climate change. If sea level rises, parts of Bangladesh will submerge and millions of people will be refugees.

In my opinion we cannot avoid the consequences of climate change. What we can do is to reduce the damages through careful planning, save lives via strategic migration. Less resourceful nations like Bangladesh cannot do all this alone. The world needs to act, lend a hand and plan the right course of actions.

Bangladesh has already sought 5 billion US dollars from the developed countries in compensation for damaging effects due to climate change caused by global warming. But only money won't suffice. I would like to quote Shehzaad Shams of Bangladesh Corporate Blog in explaining strategic migration here:

We do want free money...as compensation..or fresh funds..whatever you call it. However, I am sick and tired of getting free alms which almost always go down the drain (or personal pockets and fortunes). Let the deal be fair.....we will train our manpower to serve your foreign labor markets, we will take care of all legal and social coverage issues...in return we demand preference in overseas recruitment selection and eventual settlement in foreign territories, provided the incumbent meets criteria set and agreed by host and source countries. The idea is to convert potential climate refugees from burden to skilled workforce and help them get (either local) job assignments in countries which are held culprit for the climate change fiasco. In other words, if a time arises that 5,000 people are displaced due to rising tidal waves in Satkhira district, they need to be labelled formally as 'climate refugees' first. These people are free to move to higher lands or even to capital to seek for security of life and food. They need to be trained and made export ready to countries which are primarily responsible for global warming.

We can also learn from the experience from the millions of environmental refugees from Bangladesh who lose all their belongings in the recurring natural disasters and have the courage to start all over again. This courage will be the key to survive in all the future natural calamities that are going to happen because of climate change.

Berlin is a city of lakes. Berliner Zeitung has published an investigative report on the quality of approx. 40 bathing locations in Berlin and found out the following (click to enlarge):



(Hat tip: Bowlerised)

The above is is the title of a brilliant website of Drishtipat which addresses climate change issues in the context of South Asia especially Bangladesh. According to Drishtipat:

The threat of 1/3 of Bangladesh getting wiped away and creating 125 million climate refugees are very real. As expatriate Bangladeshis, it is our collective responsibility, to highlight the injustice of the whole issue where Bangladesh will pay the price of Western excesses that is destroying our planet.

Please bookmark: Is Any Body Listening?

Kathryn Hummel writes in Pop Matters:

Bangladesh’s endangered rickshaws and wallahs serve as brightly colored, moving works of art, and as constant, mobile displays of human nature – often at its best.

In 1998 the data showed that Rickshaws took up 38% of road space while transporting 54% of passengers in Dhaka . The private cars on the other hand, took up 34% of road space while only transporting 9% of the population

So who would dream of waging war on the humble rickshaw and the colorful men who ply them? Car owners, traffic police and the World Bank, that’s who.

Voice of South writes about the environmental impact on the proposed Rickshaw ban in Dhaka:

For a better transport system in Dhaka we need to create a city wide network of Rickshaw lanes.

(Photo credit JoyBangla.info and Kathryn Hummel)

The way Dhaka city is being developed you know this was coming since long time. Every development, every growth is concentrated on this Mega city, which is the capital of Bangladesh.

Forbes Magazine lists Dhaka as the second dirtiest city in the world. The main culprit is lead-poisoned air. Traffic congestion in the capital continues to worsen with vehicles emitting fatal amounts of air pollutants daily, including lead.

The unplanned growth of city, more and more people pouring in from rural areas to the city slams and the narrow streets unable to cope with the traffic of these people have augmented the miseries.

The solution is simple, decentralize from Dhaka. Transfer the Government Secretariats to outskirts of Dhaka including housing compounds. Give importance to other commercial cities like Chitatgong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet etc. Encourages businesses to shift major portions out of Dhaka. Make special zone for Garments industries outside Dhaka and Shift the factories there. But will we able to see these changes in 10-20 years of time? Otherwise the number 1 spot is secure for Dhaka.

Baku in Azerbaijan has clinched the top slot with its life-threatening levels of air pollution emitted from oil drilling.

Here is the complete list of the 25 dirtiest cities of the world:

No. 25: Port Harcourt, Nigeria
No. 24: New Delhi, India
No. 23: Maputo, Mozambique
No. 22: Luanda, Angola
No. 21: Niamey, Niger
No. 20: Nouakchott, Mauritania
No. 19: Conakry, Guinea Republic
No. 18: Lome, Togo
No. 17: Pointe Noire, Congo
No. 16: Bamako, Mali
No. 15: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
No. 14: Moscow, Russia
No. 13: Bangui, Central African Republic
No. 12: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
No. 11: Ndjamena, Chad
No. 10: Brazzaville, Congo
No. 9: Almaty, Kazakhstan
No. 8: Baghdad, Iraq
No. 7: Mumbai, India
No. 6: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
No. 5: Mexico City, Mexico
No. 4: Port au Prince, Haiti
No. 3: Antananarivo, Madagascar
No. 2: Dhaka, Bangladesh
No. 1: Baku, Azerbaija

(Polluted Dhaka: Image copyright Ahron de Leeuw used under creative commons license)

I had another visit to Euro shop (everything priced at 1 Euro) yesterday. You get amazing things at one Euro for example a stainless steel (rust free) bowl something you will not get even in Bangladesh at this amount.

Did we ever wonder why are stuffs being offered cheaper and cheaper even less than the developing country standards?

A relevant video might provoke some questions:



The story of Stuff has answers to those questions.

Black Looks Blog points to the fact:

90% of the stuff consumed in the US is trashed within six months - now that is truly scary.

One thing I can urge to people (including me) please please buy less. How much do a human being needs?

Safia Minney runs the fair trade fashion company called People Tree. She describes about Bangladesh, the land and people she loves:

The politics of neighboring countries are intensifying the problems caused by climate change. In times of heavy rainfall or flooding India will use its dams to favour its own people and land redirecting excess water from its great dams into Bangladesh. And in times of drought when water is scarce Bangladesh will receive only a trickle. The politics of water are well underway and tensions will mount as rainfall patterns are disrupted due to climate change. In an agricultural country where people rely on fishing and farming water means life or death.
.....

The people of Bangladesh are so kind and holistic in their thinking.

Bangladesh has a lot to teach the world, but recently it seems that its “care taker” government lacks confidence in its own people and intellectuals. The world has moved on. Bangladesh and its people hold many of the answers for sustainability. It is the time for multi stakeholder initiatives and approaches when we all work together for change. But confidence is needed in a nation that offers so much, but ends up comparing itself with big business and a world economy system gone mad.

Bangladesh people may need help up as one of the poorest nations in the world but the nation has made great strides in the last 20 years, in terms of literacy and development. It also qualifies as the happiest nation in the world, so clearly there are other benchmarks that determine the true prosperity of a nation.

These and lot more in her blog.

Also don't forget to check the Sarah dress.

Image credit People Tree.

(First published in E-Bangladesh)



Yesterday was the Blog action day, a day when bloggers around the web were unite to emphasize the important issue 'the environment' that people tend to ignore. The campaign asked every blogger around the world to post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own local or international topic.

Why is the Blog day important? Kevin Stirtz writes in the American Chronicle:

Blog Action Day is important because it shows us the power, energy and diversity of many people to voluntarily propose ideas and start conversations about an important topic. It should add great value to the current conversations about how to protect our environment.

Almost 2000 Blogs:

19,974 Blogs have registered to be part of this campaign. You can get the list of the participants from here. Google Blog search lists around 13000 of the blog posts on Blog Action Day.

Here is a list of Environmental Blogs furthering the cause. Global Voices Online, Green Options, and Shouting Match have posted roundups on Blog Action day posts.

Bangladesh and Environment:

Most of the Bangladeshi Blogs were almost silent about this campaign. Probably because people in Bangladesh are battered with lot of issues like poverty, political instability and natural disaster, 'the environment' is one issue that seldom gets priority.

We have seen Bangladesh being subject to many environmental constraints which led to augmentation of natural disasters and diseases in mass scale.

The Farakka Barrage in India and the unilateral withdrawal of Ganges water during dry season by India resulted serious adverse effects on environment, agriculture, industries, fisheries, navigation, river regime, salinity contamination in the surface and ground water in the southwestern and western areas of Bangladesh covering almost 20% of its area.

Clean water source has been a perennial problem of Bangladesh. Starting in the 1970s aid agencies such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had built shallow wells throughout the country to help provide a safe source of drinking water to Bangladesh's population. However in the 1990s it was discovered that many of these wells were contaminated by arsenic, a poison that accumulates naturally in Bangladesh's alluvial soils. According to a World Bank estimate 25 percent of the country's 4 million wells may be contaminated by arsenic. Without a way to filter the water from arsenic these wells have become a nightmare for Bangladeshi villagers.(Source)

After the great flood of 1988 developments of a damn built around greater Dhaka city is protecting the capital but the rest of the country is still prone to floods which destroy millions of dollars worth infrastructure each year. Many unfortunates have to start again after each flood as their tangible belongings are destroyed.



During late Eighties and early Nineties we have seen many cyclone shelters were built up with the help of Saudi Arabian grants. But many of them are in shabby conditions today. We rarely see development budgets being used to repairs and maintenance of these shelters.

Bangladesh is located on a tectonically active plate and the potential for magnitude 8 or greater earthquakes on the nearby Himalayan front is very high. An earthquake in excess of 6.5 (Richter scale) will cause a disaster in the densely populated Dhaka city.

There is a widespread theory that:

If the sea rises by a metre — as some scientists say it will by 2100 — a quarter of Bangladesh will be submerged, forcing 30 to 40 million people from their homes.

I think Bangladesh is also lacking behind in planning a protection measure against this threat of Global Warming. This just shows that how relevant the issue is for Bangladesh. If the Netherlands can reclaim massive land from below sea level Bangladesh should also be able to take measures well in advance. However the Netherlands has also reasons to bother about it. Watch what Dr. Patrick Dixon has to say about it.


Bangladesh has also some achievements in protecting the environment. Its rural economy is still driven by agriculture. It has plenty of natural gas reserve which have been put to good use as fuels (CNG) for automobiles, cooking, electricity generating, industrial use etc. Use of polythene bags are banned in the country.

Although our main target is to reduce poverty and achieve a sustainable growth and development still there are lots of environmental issue we need to address.

Today starts another relevant campaign called stand up and speak out against poverty. I hope you will do your part as a responsible world citizen.

The movement of marine transport vessels in Bangladesh waterways have become extremely slow and risky because of rising river beds from siltation. After the establishment of the Farakka Barrage in India during the mid seventies, the length of the waterways of Bangladesh shrank from 24,000 kilometres to some 7,000 kilometres. During winter, due to the lack of water flow the water level has shrunk drastically and siltation took its toll by reducing the total waterways to some 3,000 kilometres. This is a grave news for Bangladesh where water transport is one of the main (& affordable) mean of transporting goods and people. Lack of govt. budget will make it difficult to dredge huge areas of silted waterways. Read more here.

That is the reason why Bangladesh wants India to abandon its proposed river-linking project.

Bangladesh is being hit by a cold wave across the country. At least 51 people, mostly children and the elderly, died in the last three days.

The temperature is not that low, as you would imagine hearing this news. It is around 9-12 degrees Celsius, the northern region being the lowest. But it is well below the usual average 15 degrees in winter. Extreme foggy conditions are making things worse specially hampering Air traffic and marine transports. Tiny dewdrops are falling like rain and its even biting in Dhaka where the temperature was around 11-14 degree Celsius. The fog is absorbing body heat and thus intensifying cold.

This cold is being dwelt in the urban areas well but in villages, many houses are not equipped to protect people from this cold (as they are made of Bamboo or wood/mud). The cold wave is taking its toll on the poor who does not have heavy blankets or winter cloths. The only recluse for them is to light bonfires to fend off the bite of cold and urban people are preferring to stay indoors.

The bad news is that the cold wave will last a few days more. We have seen some extreme temperatures both in summer and winter as the weather is changing. Hope the poor survives this winter. The people of Bangladesh, especially in village areas should now contemplate of equipping their houses with insulating materials to fight out severe colds in future. That would be a huge task for the poor households and I think govt. and NGOs should come up with an action plan.

There are programs of donating winter cloths and blankets to the have-nots being taken by some organizations. I think these programs should extend to all parts of the country and distribution of clothes and blankets in time should be ensured.