:: Delhi Greens ::

Yamuna River passing through the city of Delhi is polluted and every one is concerned. There is money spent on it. 1200 cr. worth of efforts were spent on Yamuna Action Plan Phase I and Yamuna Action Plan Phase II on creating the STP and physical infrastructure in treating the waste water that gets generated per day in the city. Setting up of Sewage Treatment plants along 42 towns and cities in the up steam of the river was part of the YAP I, while the Phase II is mainly focused on Delhi Metropolitan Region with Delhi Jal Board managing the project.

Serious deficiencies and back log in sanitation and waste water services have resulted in the dwindling of water flow and is 80% of the source of ‘non point pollution’ in the river. The usual rhetoric is to blame the victims: Of the total population of 13.9 million about 6 million or 45% lives in Jhuggi Jhompadi slums. They do not have piped water supply all the time and depend on hand-pumps and ground water for other uses and open defecation is a norm with them. They are not connected with drainage and so the waste water is not collected and treated before it goes back to Yamuna and hence this is the status.

What is missing in the rhetoric is empathy and compassion for the people who are struggling for survival, earning a livelihood and sending the surplus to villages they come from. Being tactful and not embarrass them, when you share with them your ideas about living in urban areas, among other things it involves defecating in enclosed areas.

What is possible is creating Ownership of the city in the minds of people who live in the JJ Slums. I want to share with you two initiative. Prakash lives in Ashok Nagar and is proud to be a resident of Delhi. He decided to take action in his lane. He had a meeting of 20 houses and they agreed to contribute to clean the open drain on a monthly basis and raise level of road in front of their houses. Second is by Ramesh who lives in a JJ Colony near Trilok Puri. He decided to plant trees in the plot reserved for public garden next to the local temple. He enrolled the Pujari to support him in this action.

This is a slow beginning and will take a long time to clean up the Yamuna. Many more need to take ownership of the city and clean it up and will need encouragement and support. But the fact is small localized initiatives coming together, is the only way Yamuna can be cleaned and remain clean, after all the pollution also took over 30 year to reach this level.

Toxics Link’s Environment & Health Public Lecture Series

A(H1N1), is a subtype of influenza virus A and the most common cause of influenza (flu) in humans. Some strains of H1N1 are endemic in humans, including the strain(s) responsible for the 1918 flu pandemic which killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Less virulent H1N1 strains still exist in the wild today, worldwide, causing a small fraction of all influenza-like illness and a large fraction of all seasonal influenza.

World wide A/H1N1 virus has been confirmed in 5,728 patients in 33 countries, WHO said. The United States has the most, with 3,009 confirmed cases in 45 states, nearly 600 more probable cases and three deaths. Mexico has 58 confirmed deaths and Canada and Costa Rica each have confirmed one death from the infection. India too has two confirmed cases.

India has decided to go ahead with mass scale production of a vaccine against H1N1 influenza as soon as it receives the seed stock —a strain of the virus on which the vaccine will be based.

Toxics Link invites you for lecture and panel discussion on “A/ H1N1 Influenza - the facts you should know”

Panelists:

• Dr. Gyanendra Gangol, Technical Officer, Communicable Diseases, Surveillance & Response, WHO Regional Office
• Dr. Arvind Taneja, Director, Paediatric Services, Max Devki Devi Heart & Vascular Institute, Saket
• Dr. Koninika Roy, Scientist

Moderated by

• Alexander von Hildebrand, Regional Advisor Environmental Health & Climate Change, World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia.

Date: 11th June 2009, Thursday
Time: 6:30 pm
Venue: Conference Room I, India International Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. (In collaboration with India International Centre)

For further information, please contact:
Pragya Majumder - pragya@toxicslink.org
T: 24320711, 24328006
E: info@toxicslink.org

World Environment Day and the shades of ‘Green’ has been the talk of this blog over the last week. Ever considered the non green, ‘garbage’ part of environment? What is it that we know of this phenomenon?

As much as garbage is a function and reality of man-made systems, it has always been a cultural fact and is, since the very beginning, part of the cultural history. Garbage is all pervasive in that each cultural system, or sub-system such as art, society, religion, including sociocultural and physical environment defines it, with its own logic, category and reality. Thus, garbage is defined and identified in quite different ways by different systems. This means that anything can be considered, or becomes garbage (or more appropriately ‘waste’) under certain systemic conditions.

In other words, the same object may be considered garbage in one system and a useful, functional cultural artifact in another. Yet both systems will have to decide where they draw the line between what falls out of order, what is considered impure, what has decayed from its “normal” functioning, what must be refused, rejected and evacuated, and what is part of the normal functioning of the system. It has to make decisions about inclusion and exclusion—and this, of course, on the basis of very complex systemic considerations and processes.

Once enough of it produced then the socio-culture-economic systems of that society takes cognizance of it. For example in any agrarian society agricultural waste gets produced in the production of food grains in large quantities. As long as there is substantial agricultural waste generated out of post harvest processing society takes care of it by composting it.

With industrialization and associated urbanization leading to increase in density of population, the waste, generated by human beings (not considering industrial waste) be it biological or solid municipal waste, is collected in enough volumes that it has a potential for a billion dollar industry. Along with this economic motivation for its collection and centralized treatment, is the sociocultural and public health justification created out of fear of death, disease, infections and pandemics. Hence it is in the interest of the cities to generate and collect enough of it so that money can be made from it. In case proven economically non-viable such projects could still be justified by playing on fear of death and disease.

This is not to say that the fear is unfounded or wrong, but to indicate how the systems are interconnected. This interconnection precludes any other possibility of treating garbage generated in cities.

To celebrate World Environment Day and to keep the momentum going, Time Out Delhi’s recent (June) edition has brought together the whole palette of green: hardliners, pragmatists, those who fight in the courts and those who make money off their green beliefs. The question it asks is, where do you fit in?

Click here to Subscribe to Time Out Delhi

The middle path

That environmental degradation has a human cost is by now universally accepted. That the eco-movement may have one as well is something that those walking the middle path strive to keep in mind, says Avtar Singh.

Practical environmentalism. Thank 24-year-old Govind Singh of Delhi Greens for, if not coining the term, then at least bringing it to this magazine’s attention. As far as Singh is concerned, that phrase encapsulates what he personally is trying to achieve. As he pointed out, environmental degradation is a consequence of human action. Hence, people themselves need to be made more sensitive, and need to work themselves to undo the damage where possible. That approach will only work “if environmentalism is something everyone can relate to and not consider to be anti-development”, said Singh over email.

Delhi Greens, for example, mobilised support for the Bus Rapid Transit System, perhaps the NCR’s most reviled public transport initiative in recent memory, slammed by the public, press and sections of the eco-community. The green hardliners didn’t see why Singh was going to all that trouble: after all, the BRT was cutting trees. Why support it? But the answer was obvious for Singh.

The only viable alternative to a bus-based public transport system in the NCR is the enormously expensive Metro, which involves the felling of many more trees and which cuts across floodplains and nalas, the full environmental impact of which will only be measured in years to come. Clearly, people still have to get around, so his organisation rallied around the BRT. To say that it’s the lesser of two evils is one (if uncharitable) way to look at it, but to Singh, it’s merely practical environmentalism in action.

Part of this position is its deliberately broad base. According to Usha Srinivasan, senior advisor (environment) to the NGO Development Alternatives and coordinator of the Clean India programme, it’s all about involving every single person you can. “You want something to happen, you can’t sit in isolation. You can’t say ‘I’m the expert’. You have to take all your stakeholders with you,” she said. Her stakeholders include the young people she reaches out to in schools all over India, the central and state governments and their agencies, teachers, DA’s own experts: in short, everyone.

Dr Faiyaz Khudsar, scientist-in-charge of the Yamuna Biodiversity Park, couldn’t agree more. The park he oversees has gone from being a wasteland to a self-sustaining ecosystem. In time, he hopes, the park will help replenish water bodies around it. Till that happens, the villagers around the park are given employment at the park itself. Livelihood support is part of the web that draws people into living more eco-friendly lives. Personally as well, Khudsar has another arrow in his quiver: he is highly approachable, something that those who walk the middle path share. At last year’s 48°C Public.Art.Ecology festival, a talk he gave began with three people in the audience: by the time he ended, more than a hundred were listening raptly. He knows his business, but he wears the mantle of expertise lightly.

In fact, an assumption of expertise serves only to alienate people, said Srinivasan. Even the term “sustainable development” sometimes causes people to switch off, because they feel that it has nothing to do with them, that it’s something only people like the boffins at DA understand and own. The trick is to stay positive and to suggest answers, rather than being negative. “We never say no unless we have an alternative,” said Srinivasan. “And we go with the positive: ‘why don’t you do this’, never ‘don’t do this!’”

Click here to read the rest of this story online!

Calendar 2010: Calling All Photographers

AID India is SEEKING photographs on the theme of Makaan for the 2010 AID calendar, part of a three-year series on the theme: Roti-Kapda-Makaan!

What does Makaan mean to you? What does it take to make a home? To lose one?

AID India invites pictures that highlight the myriad expressions of home,  the hopes, dreams, struggles and fears that are built into places people across India call home .. not only dwellings but also places of learning, and centers for family and community interaction.  

What ideas of family and community are reflected in the building and surrounding layout?

With this calendar, AID India wants to show India’s rich architectural traditions, such as structures that protect from the elements of nature as well as complement and utilize the ambient nature (climate) to the fullest, so as not to be dependent upon artificial energy sources.

Through the calendar AID India also wants to highlight issues such as use of natural and local materials in buildings, climate-responsive architecture, green and zero-waste buildings and techniques and age-old traditions that minimize impact of buildings on land and environment both during construction and usage.

The aim is to also highlight ways in which a large majority of people make their living spaces pleasing and comfortable for their use and the use of their loved ones. Last, but never the least, AID seeks to highlight the plight of the lesser sung people who bring these buildings to shape- the craftsmen, the artisans, the construction workers and others who are part of this supply chain of erecting the shelters we call home.

AID calendars reach thousands of people each year.  Previous years’ themes have been Roti: Sharing Food, Sharing Values, Kapda: Weaving Values, Nurturing Nature, Rural Livelihoods, North East India, Women and Work, Wisdom of the Grasroots, Inspiring Changes, and Narmada, and have included images taken by leading Indian and international photographers, journalists, and grassroots workers.

Guidelines for Submission

Printed photographs of size 8×10 may be scanned at 300 dpi and submitted to calendar.aid(at)gmail(dot)com

Digital photographs must be at least 300 dpi at 8×10 size [2400 x3000 pixels] and may be submitted to calendar.aid AT gmail DOT com

You may also submit prints or digital images on disk via postal mail. Please send in proper packing to:

Sonika Sethi
1900 S Eads St. Apt. #713
Arlington, VA 22202.

Please include:

• Description of photograph: what is important / interesting?
• Name of Photographer
• Year taken
• Place taken
• Full contact info of photographer
• Consent to publish in AID Calendar
• Consent to include in AID Gallery (optional)

 Please submit photographs as early as possible, but certainly by June 30th, 2009.

This year’s theme for World Environment Day (WED) is Your Planet Needs You! UNite to Combat Climate Change.
But too often we are presented with environmental problems without being given the tools to act. WED is about taking action to be a part of the solution. And the 30 Daily do something Tips below are a great start.

We can all do our part to protect the planet by using less and acting more. Going green is not as difficult as you might think. Here we walk you through 30 easy ways to green your daily routine, from the moment you hit snooze on your solar-powered alarm clock to the point when you crawl into your eco-washed, organic cotton sheets.

Make your WED commitment today. But don’t stop at today and don’t stop here. Try to incorporate all of these into your life as a matter of routine. Get others to do so the same. And get involved!

Environment Day Thought:

Only when the last tree has died
Only when the last river has been poisoned
Only when the last fish been caught
Only then will mankind realize that we cannot eat money.

IN GENERAL:

• Plant a tree! Help achieve UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign target of planting seven billion trees – one for every person on the planet – by the end of this year! Three billion are planted. Five billion are pledged. On every continent in the world trees can be planted in June, so start your efforts on WED.
• Find needy homes or charitable organizations for things that you no longer need or want rather than throwing it away.  Delhi Freecycle Network it!
  

DAILY ROUTINE:

AT HOME…

• It would seem to go without saying, but many of us forget that we can save water in simple ways like not letting the tap run while shaving, washing your face, or brushing your teeth.
• Insulating your water heater will help save valuable energy, and you can go the extra mile by installing showerheads with a low flow in your bathrooms for bathing purposes to help save water. You can also put a timer on your heaters to save power.
• Using an electric razor or hand razor with replaceable blades instead of disposable razors goes a long way to cutting back on waste. And plant a tree.
• Use towels for drying your face and hands instead of tissues that are used and thrown away. Also, hang your towels to dry so that they can be reused several times. You are after all clean when you use them!
• Juice or yoghurt lovers can do their bit by buying juice in concentrates and yoghurt in reusable containers instead of single serving packages.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Yamuna Biodiversity Park (YBP) invites the citizens of Delhi to celebrate the World Environment Day amidst the urban biodiversity and natural heritage that is supported and upheld by the Park.

Date: 5th June, 2009
Time: 0730 am
Venue: Yamuna Biodiversity Park
(Click to find clickable road map)

An excursion and a complete tour of the Park will be followed by a lecture by Dr. Faiyaz and his coordinators.

For more information, and to confirm your participation, please contact (Dr. Faiyaz): 9810511552

The Yamuna Biodiversity Park is a joint venture between the University of Delhi (DU) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA)

These days Amaltas or Laburnums are in full bloom. The lovely small yellow flowers hanging like a chandelier from the bare branches is a lovely site. Especially in the Chanakyapuri area where these are planted aesthetically along the main roads of the Panchasheel Marg. Delhi as a city is blessed with a collection of flowering trees. Each species blossoms at a different time in the year with different colours and size, big and small. They seem to cover the entire spectrum of the rainbow colours, Yes! even green. The Shirish or Rain-tree has two types of blossoms, pink and green.  The blossoms provide shade and beauty in almost all the seasons.

There was always a reason to plant trees and the planting was determined by the cultural ecology of trees by respective civilizations. For a tree to be useful to human beings, it will have to have flowers that are sweet smelling, or shade that protects the roads and houses or fruits and nuts that can be eaten or used, or provide fuel wood or timber that can be used for compound and roofs. But with the colonization by the British Raj, among other things, the cultural ecology of the trees in the capital city also changed.

When I mentioned this to a historian, she shared with me that all the trees in Delhi are barely a 100 or 150 years old. It coincides with the decision of the British to move their capital to Delhi in 1911. Delhi was back then covered with forest of Khejadi or Bahul trees, native to the region. So they planted trees brought from England which all died within a year. Over time and sustained efforts some survived, to decorate the streets of Delhi as we see it today.

The traditionally trees are planted to serve the settlement. So they bear edible fruits or nuts or have sweet smelling flowers. In and around temples, besides flowering trees there would be Neem, Peepal, Audumber (wild fig) and Banyan, trees with shade and water retaining qualities.  Whereever there are significant connecting roads there were Neem, Peepal and Banyan trees planted in the past, usually as ordered by the then rulers or administrators.

The most interesting study of cultural ecology of trees is by an anthropologist couple, in sub Saharan Africa. An earlier theory states that deserts are a result of the greed of human settlements, people who pulled down trees and hunted wild animals leading to desertification. These anthropologists pointed out that the greenery, tree cover and all moved with the settlements. It is true for India, including the JJ slums and villages in Delhi. Each, has a religious space, a small temple or a mosque where trees are supported or sometimes even a stand alone tree that is considered to give peace of mind by sitting under it.

Inspiring enough for you to exchange information on trees in your vicinity? Look forward to the exchange….

CALL FOR FREELANCE JOURNALISTS/WRITERS/STINGERS

Be a ”RAINSPOTTER” with GREENPEACE INDIA from 5th June to 30th July, 2009

Wanted: Monsoon-related stories from different corners of India

What is Rainspotting? India depends on the predictability and the stability of the monsoon system as the lives of millions and the economy of the country depends on this. Climate change is altering the monsoon in strange and unpredictable ways. Scientists are unable to estimate the future of the monsoons in the context of climate change.

In this era of ambiguity, Greenpeace is trying to capture how climate change and the resulting variations in the monsoon affect the common man and woman. Greenpeace is tyring to bring together stories/ photographs and conversations on the changing monsoon from the businessman in Mumbai to the apple orchard farmer in Himachal on ONE web platform termed the ‘Rainspotting’ blog.

To keep the site alive and dynamic Greenpeace requires ground reporting of people’s memories, concerns, hopes, photos, conversations and  sketches from key monsoon hotspots.

Time period: Rainspotting will run from 5th June – 30th July, 2009

Stories should be written in English or could be recorded in the regional language in digital format.

Story lines:

1. Monsoon connect with the lives of the people across the country-poems, nostalgia, crisis, loss, anecdote, analysis, expert comment
2. Changing monsoon patterns and the effects on the peoples lives, livelihood
3. Technical aspects / blogs on the monsoon
4. News reports on the present monsoon occurrences

Photographs should contain Caption, Location of story, Date and Time, Names of people on the photograph, location of photograph, brief story behind the photograph.

Interested writers are requested to mail 10 blogs of 250-300 words each on monsoon. Once blog each has to be submitted to Greenpeace on a weekly basis.  (Starting from the 25th of May)

Honorarium: For those who would like to get paid, Greenpeace will be offering Rs. 1/- per word on the final edited blog that will be uploaded.

Photographs: Rs. 150/- will be paid for every photograph uploaded

Mode of Payment: Payment will be made through cheque after the submission of 10 stories/photos and after 30th July, 2009.

Story Format: Will be sent to you once you are mutuallyappointed/ confirmed by Greenpeace as a rainspotter.

Vasudha Mehta
Communications Officer, Greenpeace India
Email: vasudha.mehta@greenpeace.org
Call at +91(0) 99589 80909

Image Courtesy sunjayausta via Flickr

The Goi Peace Foundation in Japan in collaboration with the United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) invite young people up to the age of 25 years to participate in the 2009 International Essay Contest themed on ‘The role of science in building a better world’.

The United Nations has designated 2001-2010 as the ‘International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the children of the World’ and 2005-2014 as ‘United Nations decade of Education for Sustainable Development’.  Scientific progress has brought many benefits to humanity, while some applications of science have adverse impacts. What kind of science and technology do you think is needed for realizing a more equitable, prosperous and sustainable world for all? Please express your vision for the future of science, including examples of studies or researches you wish to engage in.

Essays may be submitted by anyone up to 25 years of age (as of June 30, 2009) in one of the following categories:

a) Children (ages up to 14)
b) Youth (ages 15 - 25)

Essays must be 800 words or less, typed or printed in English, French, Spanish or German.

The first prize is a certificate and a cash award of US$ 1,000 and there are 32 other prizes to be won. The first prize winner will also be invited to the award ceremony in Tokyo, Japan scheduled for November 2009.

Deadline for submissions is June 30, 2009

Click here for further information