Water pollution in Ganges the main source of cancer

We never heard earlier that water pollution is causing cancer in any part of the world in such a huge number. But it is happening in one of the biggest democracies of the world. Yes in democracies there is a government of the people by the people and for the people. But in India apart from poverty, diseases and riots, the menace of water pollution is also playing havoc with hapless masses that have nothing to do with the corrupt government practices.

Bad news for Ganges communities

This is a bad news for all who live along the banks of Ganges in Indian estates of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal. They are more susceptible to the fatal disease of cancer than their compatriots living in other parts of the India. Actually they have to pay the price for residing near the holy water of the river Ganges. Religiously its water is holy but from health point of view it has become poisonous and cancerous. They don’t have any choice but to drink the worst polluted water they get from their local water supply system which comes through this river.

Threat of environmental pollution due to attacks on a UK treatment plant

A strange threat of environmental pollution hangs in County Down, Northern Ireland when several incidents of vandalism were reported at its water treatment plan during previous few months. According to details, the plant in Annsborough was attacked couple of dozen times during the previous two years and caused damage up to one hundred thousand pounds.

Danger of spillage

It is feared that if unknown miscreants again make another damaging attack, the wastewater may flood the adjoining areas causing sever environmental pollution to the community. The plant treats the raw sewage of nearly 21,000 housing and industrial units of Castlewellan and Annsborough.

Moreover, if plant stops functioning due to another blow by the rogue elements over it, it is likely that plant may stop working for sometimes. As a result the backlog of raw sewage may rise in millions of tons causing not only its storage problem but also result in outbreak of several endemic diseases. Most of this sewage comprises of human waste, industrial waste and various types of wastewater. Its substance has several harmful bacteria that create many diseases of serious nature including cholera, gastro typhoid etc. Although it is located quite away from residential area but people working in the plant would be direct hit of environmental pollutin if any further wear and tear in it occurs.

Poor dolphin the latest victim of industrial pollution

Because of the recent wave of cold in US a dolphin lost her way and later life after being trapped into a polluted canal in New York. The canal has moderate amount of industrial pollution as being near to the factories and fuel refineries. This is the latest victim of factory pollution which has also been reported. Otherwise how much the whole world is suffering from this menace is yet to be known in exact terms. No one knows how much precious marine species have yet died because of the load of industrial effluent into the water bodies.

What is industrial pollution?

When all types of refuse including solid, liquid and gaseous comes out from the factory and mixes into our natural environment of water and air by reducing its quality we call it industrial pollution. It affects the health of human beings if we drink water polluted by industries and breathe air contaminated by factory emissions. Besides it also hits the marine life and flora and fauna apart from damaging the agriculture production.

Climate Change issue from Doha to Davos

If no action is taken on climate change, our future generations will be roasted, toasted, grilled and fried. This was the clarion call released by the Managing Director of International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde on the eve of World Economic Forum meeting in Davos Switzerland. What she meant to say is if we keep on just joining our heads at the august forums like WEF and Doha talks we would do nothing. Eventually our coming generations have to face the brunt of the rising level ofclimate change.

WEF Meeting

The WEF meeting has begun in Davos where top leaders of the world would discuss the issue of climate change. They have to discuss how to shift the energy sector from fossil fuel burning to renewable sources. Its cost is propagated so huge but no one is talking about the link between climate change and economy.

Pollution likely to hit pension funds

This is quite a new harm of pollution that is revealed by a study conducted recently by Aled Jones of Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK, and his colleagues. Save our planet, save our pension; it is the title of the report which says if governments do not respond to environmental problems effectively they may lose the value of their funds invested in various schemes. Ultimately the funds of the government allocated to dole out pensions to retirees may also drop in value by 2050.

How pollution will hit pensioners?

Its premise is very simple. If governments keep on continuing paying less heed to environmental problems they eventually would have to allocate more funds for this purpose. Secondly their negligence to solve environment problems of their jurisdiction would raise the level of pollution. It will ultimately hit both industrial and agriculture sector of that country. As a result the overall economic development will receive a hit. The rate of return on investment would decline and pension funds will also be affected by the low rates of profit. Eventually pensioners would get lesser amounts and will have to spend retired life with limited funds.

New Thames tunnel to shrink Londoners lungs with air pollution

The local government of London has an approved plan to construct a car tunnel under the Thames river to link the south and east of the city. The plan envisages reducing the congestion providing an alternate route to move from eastern part to the southern part in less time and without any traffic jam. The project will also boost local economy by creating new jobs and give a push to construction sector.

However, environmentalists have quite a differing opinion about this new development project. They call it a willful mistake to raise the load of air pollution just to smoothen the flow of the traffic. If this tunnel is constructed – they opine -  the people living around the tunnel area have to inhale smoke emissions of 30,000 more vehicles than the quantity they are suffering from now. They say the Town Planners are no doubt serious to solve the traffic problem of the city but are simultaneously enhancing its air pollution problem.

The plan of new Thames tunnel aims to build a dual carriageway tunnel starting near the Dome on the south bank of the river and emerging on the north side in Tower Hamlets with a cost of one billion pounds. The feasibility of the project is done and work on it would start by next year.

India’s Kumbh Mela rituals lift water pollution in Ganges

This is another problem of the least developed countries where several religious rituals equally contribute in raising various types of pollution. Either it is Diwali which pushes the noise pollution up, Eidul Adha that generates animal waste in huge amount or Christmas that produces solid waste; very little can be said about this issue because of their sanctity. But it is quite clear from the teachings of every religion of the world that all of them stresses upon the need of maintaining the cleanliness that is the foundation of the clean environment.

Cleansing of soul and body

In famous Indian city Allahbad a huge congregation of Hindus is held regularly after every 12 years that is called Kumbh Mela. In this religious ceremony the worshippers solemnly take dip in river of Ganges to purify their sole and body. Hinduism is famous for its lot of formalities while offering any kind of prayers. Actually its formalities in every religious activity make the Hindu religion so fascinating and quite impressive for the rest of the world. However, for environmental point of view it is little painful as most of the items relate to eating or burning of herbs to create aroma that directly or indirectly create any type of pollution if it is done in huge quantity.

From environmental activist to government official

US EPA very smartly embraced an environmental activist from Houston and appointed him on the post of Director Environmental Justice. It is a well established department in US environmental watchdog. Its objective is to provide environmental justice to those who are suffering from various types of the environmental degradations.

Matthew Tejada

It is a smart move because before being tapped as Director US EPA, Matthew Tejada was very vocal to raise voice against environmental pollution in his area. He was leader of an activist group Air Alliance Houston. He fought against pollution in poor neighborhoods surrounding Gulf Coast ports.

Is it a welcome move?

Analysts are watching this move by US EPA with mixed feelings. One group is welcoming this with the hopes that now Tejada would be more effective to further his cause through an official platform. They believe now he can register any type of environmental violation at the relevant forum and can authoritatively take action against the offence. They think that US EPA has to fully use his abilities for the cause of environmental protection and conservation.

Political interests resist air pollution control steps in China

The government of China has to face strong resistance of its public sector enterprises if it takes air pollution control measures. According to the latest reports, owing to the abnormal rise of smog pollution due to the recent wave of fog in the country the Chinese government mulled stricter legislation to control the atmospheric pollution. However, bosses of the several public sector enterprises started putting pressure on their government not to take such steps.

Bosses of giants are main hurdle

Most of them wrongly defend their role in environmental degradation and submit reports as if they are the champions of the environment. China has no private sector and political bosses have to rely on these public sectors giants to further their economic development. Secondly government has to depend on these enterprises for all industrial and consumer needs of the country. Besides, their production is also a source of foreign exchange because their surplus goods and services are exported to other countries. Chinese products despite having some low quality are in huge demand because of their cheap prices.

Obama from change to climate change

Obama is really smart. He knows what to say where and how. He did that in 2008 and repeated his feat in 2013. Both occasions were glorious for him. Taking oath for his first tenure as US President he vowed to bring the change. Now for his second term he expanded his promise from single word of “change” to two words of “climate change”. But performance wise he himself did not change. It means he is really a man of his own words. I am afraid after the end of his second tenure we might be repeating the famous proverb with a little alteration as “he came, he ruled and went away”.

His performance in first tenure as President was fifty-fifty. This I am not saying on the basis of reports made by the smart guys of his team or by his critics. This is revealed by a public opinion poll that was conducted by the New York Times and the CBS News. Nearly 51 per cent Americans termed his performance satisfactory. It is a simple majority but cannot be called a smart majority. It means he was not smart enough performing in first four years while staying in the highest office. Why did people elect him for the second time? He was the best of the worst that is why. American people didn’t have better option than him. At least he was tested once where he did not fully disappoint the public.

Ireland horsemeat burger scam; it’s a height of food contamination

One of the leading burger makers of the Ireland has to retrieve nearly 10 million beef burgers from the market over the suspicion of horsemeat in them. Earlier independent sources in Ireland tested in laboratory some samples of these burgers. They found horsemeat in few of them. This issue brought into the public notice and all of a sudden the referred burger company decided to get back all the burgers which it supplied in previous days. Its total quantity is said to be nearly 10 million. This is an open case of food contamination that is mostly rare in developed countries.  

Facts are facts

The European media is now defending the irresponsibility of the company by saying that horsemeat does not have fewer nutrients than the beef. But the main question is not the harmfulness of the contents you offered to consumers. This is the issue of food contamination because you are mixing the meat of lower quality with a higher quality meat. The meat of the horse is quite cheaper than the beef because horses are not grown to eat their meat. Usually they are kept for riding purpose and their most of the uses are purely commercial like keeping in defense forces and in some sports.

How many deaths by pollution in 2012?

No one to ascertain the number of deaths by pollution occurred in 2012. A German organization already issued the total count of deaths by natural disaster this year that come out to be 12,000. How many people died of terrorism has earlier been released by the different terror-ridden countries separately and obviously their total number would be the global losses of life. However, no any forum or outfit has released so far the devastation done by the environmental degradation to human life in outgoing year.

Though yearly estimates of the devastation by pollution to human life for different countries are available but there is no any yardstick to calculate its exact number at the global level. It was published in the beginning of this year that alone in London the total number of human casualties due to the air pollution may reach up to 5,000 because of the rising pressure of traffic. In poor countries this rate is more alarming and there is strong possibility that every second death in poor countries of Africa and Asia is because of any kind of pollution.

40 per cent natural deaths because of pollution

It is widely agreed that out of total number of human casualties occurred in a year nearly 40 per cent are caused by any form of the environmental damage.

Outdoor games to pause in China if air pollution rises more

Did you ever hear this type of the harms of air pollution? What if you are not allowed to play games because you may inhale a lot of polluted air while playing? This happened in China where owing to rising level of air contamination its sportspersons may be forbidden to play till it reduces back.

Yes believe me I am not kidding. Owing to the alarmingly rising level of air pollution in China the city government of its capital Beijing issued a warning to the sportspersons of the metropolis. They are directed not to play if contaminants in the air increase to the level of 500 particles.

Air pollution shot up in China

Right now the air pollution in Beijing is ranging from 176 to 442 as recorded on 12^th January 2013. Its level is considered not harmful if it is near about 50. If it crosses the level of 300 it becomes more dangerous to human life. Its escalating level promptly affects the people’s health by causing eye irritation, migraine, asthma, throat infection, skin allergy and respiratory disease including the deadly lung cancer in people. If people have to breathe fast because of a workout or sports they would be more vulnerable to this menace.

Air pollution in Iran is equally lethal like nuclear weapons

Western world under the leadership of US has been so much worry about the presence of the nuclear arsenals in Iran. Civilized world has all the rights to express doubts over the nuclear ambitions of any country. But is it a civilized approach to worry about simply arsenals that immediately kill the people. What about the pollution which silently and slowly kills the human beings and animals both. Where does civilization and peace-loving policies of the West disappear when the question of green peace comes to the fore? They all lack vision to fully understand the broad meaning of peace. The peace reflects a situation where all living and nonliving beings have all the rights to survive and thrive without any immediate or remote danger to their life.

Air pollution in Iranian cities portrays war-like situation

Do Iranian people have no right to breathe clean air or they just have to pay the price of the stubbornness of their fanatic leaders. Nowadays because of the smog pollution in most of the Iranians cities death toll has crossed the count of one thousand. People can’t walk on roads without putting a mask over their mouth and nose. Isn’t it a war-like situation where people have to cover themselves with protective shields?  

Now your cell phone would let you know the level of air pollution

How much gases of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane etc are in the air that you are inhaling? You don’t know the level of air pollution around you. That is why you are under direct attack of the lethal effects of the harmful gases present in excess of the permissible limits in the ambient air. You can’t take put a mask over your nose and mouth all the time to sieve the air before its inhale. You just have to compromise over this situation with simply contributing your role to mitigate the level of gaseous emissions by going green as much as possible.

Research under process

But now a research is going on in San Diego, USA to invent a handy device fixable in your mobile phone to let you know the level of air pollution around you. This new system is called Citisense which is being researched with significant success. The research over this system is being made under the leadership of a professor of computer science in San Diego. The sensor which would detect the level of air quality in your surrounding has already been tested by a group of people. The result of the testing showed that air is contaminated more where it has higher traffic load.

Obama faces hard choice of energy or environment in 2013

Energy or environment; Obama has to pick one of them while implementing the gas extraction plan where a procedure hydraulic fracturing is to be adopted for its implementation.

What is hydraulic fracturing?

Under the process of the hydraulic fracturing millions of gallon water along with the sand and certain chemicals are injected underground to split the rocks and extract gas from them. Owing to this procedure the mixture of the water, sand and chemicals pose big environmental threat to the underground water and other flora and fauna. It may also spill back to the surface in huge quantity and hits the land especially fertility of the agriculture land.

US EPA wants to regulate hydraulic fracturing

Environmental Protection Agency of USA has proposed to regulate this procedure of gas extraction. It suggested restricting the gas explorers to treat the mixture of the water, sand and chemicals before letting it come back over the surface. Similarly they have to adopt measures to make this mixture minimum harmful to the underground land and its environment. This proposal is in draft form which needs to be approved by the President Barrack Obama after its necessary approval from the US parliament.