Green Diary

At last the polar bear seems to be getting its rightfully deserved protection under the Endangered Species Act according to which critically imperiled species are given protection against extinction. The decision was taken by The Interior Department of the USA just a day before the expiry of the decision making deadline set on the 15th of May by a federal court. The Endangered Species Act is expected to be enforced for the first time to protect a species from the effects of global warming.

The US Government is out to list the polar bear as a threatened species owing to global warming, but a recent study by scientist Kristin Laidre of the Polar Science Center (University of Washington) published in the Ecological Applications reveals that a lesser known arctic whale with a spiral tusk called the narwhal is highly vulnerable to extinction owing to the same environmental phenomenon. Inflexibility to environmental fluctuations, high specificity in habitat and diet are being viewed as the casual factors.

Scientists from Mauna Loa Observatory (Hawaii) and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have unanimously cautioned the world about the dangerous levels to which atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased in the last six years. Today, the level of carbon dioxide in the global atmosphere measures 387 ppm (parts per million) which implies a 40% increase since the industrial revolution and the highest in about 650,000 years. It is 35% more than the predicted value.

From 1970 to 2000 the annual growth rate of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 1.5 ppm, from 2000 to 2006 it was 2.1 ppm and in 2007 it was an alarming 2.14 ppm. The Mauna Loa Observatory has been recording the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide since 1958 and being located 11,000 ft. high up a volcano, it can be safely assumed that it is not in the vicinity of any carbon dioxide emitting source that might influence its readings.

A lot has been said, written and discussed about the effect of global warming on the life forms inhabiting the polar region. The polar bear was feared to become extinct on account of temperature rises. But, a shocking revelation by Curtis Deutsch (assisatant professor of atmosphere and oceanic studies University of California, Los Angeles) and Joshua Tewksbury (Washington University, who co-authored the study) in Proceedings (the National Academy of Sciences journal) states that the tropical insects are going to be the immediate victims of global warming. It is true that there will be greater temperature changes in the Polar Regions than the tropical regions on account of global warming, but the insects in the tropical regions are highly sensitive to even the slightest rises in temperatures. Even a one or two degrees rise in temperature is going to prove fatal for them.

Changing climate and the resulting rise in the level of water is the biggest threat that the inhabitants of the islands of the Torres Strait in Australia are facing. The worst affected ones are the low-lying islands like the Murray Island where the tides of the ocean are terrorizing children and adults alike, by barging into their houses like unwanted monsters and robbing them of their lives and/or their belongings.

When scientists keep warning us every now and then about the hazardous consequences of global warming, many of us dismiss it off as something that will take years to turn into reality. But the threat of floods, change in monsoons and rain patterns adversely affecting agriculture, increasing general temperatures, appearance of malaria and dengue fever that usually affect warmer places, and eventually the threat of closing down on hydro-electric power generation that have put Bhutan in the clutches of an impending natural peril; are all due to global warming. It is high time that we wake up to this reality and do something about it.

Stealthily the destruction of the islands in the Sunderbans due to the rise in the sea level has created the first global-warming refugees. 7,000 inhabitants of the Lohachara Island, in the Ganga delta, have lost their homes and lands to the rising sea and have shifted to the Sagar Island to the north.

Sunderban, the largest delta of the world is slowly being wiped out as the sea level is rising. Two of Asia’s largest rivers, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra roll into the Bay of Bengal forming the world’s largest delta. The Mangrove forest in the region is home to a large number of plants and animals species who are now threatened with extinction following the destruction of the forest. One-third of the Sunderbans lies in India and two-thirds lie in Bangladesh. The rise in global temperature is steadily melting the Himalayan glaciers causing rise in the volume of the water in the rivers inundating the plains and finally flooding the Ganga delta, as the network of river channels empty their water in the sea.

With Lohachara Island being erased from the face of the earth, the angry tidal water is now engulfing Ghoramara Island, one mile to the east. A third of the Ghoramara land mass has already succumbed to the sea. The Sagar Island at present houses 20,000 refugees from the tide. As the sea level rises, the mangroves are overexposed to the salt water. This is adversely affecting the ecosystem of the Sunderbans. With rise in the salinity, the plants are losing their red and green colors becoming like bare twigs. This is destroying the wild life of the region especially the number of Royal Bengal Tigers is fast depleting. In the late 1960s, there were around 500 tigers but currently only 250 of the big cats remain, although the Indian Statistical Institute suggests that the number can be much lower. The tigers of the Sunderbans regularly swim between islands entering villages in search of food. This has escalated the woes of the islanders with over 50 people having been killed by tigers over the last five years.

The ghast realities of global warming were splendidly picturized in the movie ‘The Day After tomorrow’. But the sad thing is we 6 billion individuals on earth are on brink of finding ourselves in the conditions shown in the movie. Moreover, we are least aware and bothered with the effects of the phrase ‘Global Warming’ and more importantly their horrifying pace, as the evidences indicate.

If electricity is so important why are the power meters located near the roof-top and coated with dust for 12-months round the year? Can’t there be some ‘artistic indicator’? Well, here comes a magnificent example of spreading environmental concern using art coupled with technology!

Swedes are the lucky ones to use this FlowerPod counter: a semi-transparent screen with an electronic flower display that grows, blooms or wilts according on how smartly the residents of a home are using heating, cooling, water and electricity. Designed by the Danish Designnord group, the FlowerPod at present is a concept that they might present at 2009 post-Kyoto climate agreement talks to be held in Copenhagen next year.

We already knew Global warming is going to cause serious damage. And we also have every reason to fear it. If we go by the biologists who met recently at the Annual conference of American Association for Advancement of Science, our underwater ecosystem is under a severe threat, and it could result in getting the predatory vicious sharks to Antarctic waters.

Antarctic water remains too cold for certain fishes like the Shark and other relatively smaller fishes to habitat. This has resulted in the evolution of a rather unique and less harmful soft bodied fishes to live and breed in these waters. These species of fish have been inhabiting these freezing cold water for ages before the shell-crushing predators started to dominate the sea water. This unique marine life has been living in the Paleozoic region for about 250 to 500 million of years.

We have been hearing and reading about animals and natural resources being in danger due to human activities from a long time. Many animal species have vanished from the face of earth, we are facing an unpredictable and harsh weather, potable water is scarce, oil and gas are depleting, forest cover is reducing at an alarming rate and new diseases are cropping up all the time. All these dangerous and alarming changes are happening around us every day and we are the ones bearing all the burnt. Though we humans are only responsible for all this, yet we fail on our commitments to saving our environment everyday.

Today there has been a startling exposure by National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, USA, that 96% of the world ocean has been damaged by human activity. The rate of damage is varying and directly depends on the degree of human contact.

This damage is caused by multiple factors like:

• Discharge of solid waste, toxic chemicals, manufacturing waste, fertilizer, radioactive waste, plastics, oil etc. in to the seas
• Passenger cruises disposing tons of waste every year.
• Polluting the sea water surface through air
• Dynamic changes in temperature and radioactive background
• Seismic surveys
• Industrialized fishing
• Oil containers spilling millions of gallons of oil
• Commercial cultivation of some species
• Destruction of the shore line
• Building new islands
• Sea floor drilling

Rain forests are fast depleting from the face of our planet courtesy deforestation from illegal logging and clearing forests for plantation. The problem in curbing deforestation is directly linked to the livelihood of the local community whether in Asia, Africa or South America. Unless an alternative livelihood is arranged for the poor population in these regions, any efforts of putting a hold on deforestation will not work.

In last December’s Climate Change Conference in Bali, a possible solution to the problem has emerged. It has been proposed to start an international negotiation by which countries plagued with destruction of their rain forests would be rewarded in their efforts in preventing further deforestation with monetary reward from a fund directly financed by the world’s rich countries. These countries will also be granted ‘carbon credits’ that they could trade with the rich countries. This new initiative known as Reducing Emissions and Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) is expected to save the remnant tropical rain forests and would curtail the rapid pace of global warming.

The lush green dense tropical rain forests spread across Africa, Asia and South America may soon be lost from the face of the green planet if ways are not implemented to stop indiscriminate felling. According to the latest data available from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), deforestation is wiping 13 million hectares of forest from our planet every year with Africa leading the way. Around 1% of Africa’s forests are lost every year. The situation is equally alarming in the Amazon and other South African forests where cattle grazing and soy cultivation is causing forests to be cleared. Palm cultivation in the archipelagos of Indonesia is causing devastation of the forests there.

The loss of the rain forests worldwide is paving the way for global warming to spread its devastating tentacles. In the recently concluded climate conference held in Bali, Indonesia, the environmentalists declared,

If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change.

Global warming is set to swarm across the world and certain to emerge as a disaster for the entire humanity. Not just one or two countries but the entire world will come under the shadow of its venom and the aftereffects seem to be getting clearer day by day. With a certain amount of increase in rains at one place, and drought at the other, for quite some time now, clearly prove that there is something wrong somewhere and that is climate change. A recent study by the journal Science has also pointed toward the disastrous effects of global warming, already visible today.

Whaling is the illegal practice of whale hunting for commercial purposes. The practice is prevalent since the 16th century and was condemned and declared illegal after five of the thirteen big whales were found to be endangered. In spite of this ban, Japanese ships are reported to have killed five whales in the Southern ocean.
The incidence has occurred even as Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith discussed the issue of whaling with his Japanese counterpart, Masahiko Komura in a meeting held between the two. During the meeting Mr. Smith is said to have strongly opposed Japanese whaling programs and Mr. Komura seemed to support him in his talks. According to a spokesman,

During the meeting the two countries have agreed to disagree on this issue.