UN nature meeting agrees on land, ocean protection

Representatives to a U.N. conference on biodiversity agreed early Saturday to expand protected areas on land and at sea in the hopes of slowing the rate of extinction of the world's animals and plants and preventing further damage to its ecosystems.

IYB-2010 logo by me-2

IYB-2010 logo by me

Real Hero of World Cup Football 2010, Paul the Octopus, dies

Paul the Octopus, the cephalopod who became a global sensation after successfully predicting matches at the World Cup, has died peacefully in his sleep aged two. [Source: Yahoo News]

Etawah is full of Natural beauty- see the beauty of the sunset

Blog Action Day 2010 Wrap-Up

Following e-mail was sent to me from Ms Maria of Blog Action Day, 2010:
Blog Action Day 2010 Wrap-Up
From:
"Maria, Blog Action Day 2010"
To: lovepeaceunity01@yahoo.com

Hey Blog Action Day bloggers,

For over 24 hours this past Friday, all around the world, water was king. From river conservation to the water crisis in Africa, people couldn't stop talking about water. Even those who had never heard of Blog Action Day before joined, caught up in the energy and enthusiasm of the Blog Action Day community.

The final count for Blog Action Day stands at over 5,600 bloggers from 143 countries, reaching more than 40 million readers. It was a remarkable display of support for an issue that gets woefully little coverage in the mainstream media.

There were countless noteworthy posts among the thousands we read, and we wanted to highlight a small selection of these to demonstrate the breadth of topics covered by Blog Action Day bloggers – which ranged from data centers and water conservation to issues of gender equality and water contamination:

"I don't remember how old I was when I learned that water is not supposed to have a taste. I grew up in a town that was surrounded by oil refineries and heavy industry, basically learning that water that tasted like chemicals and metals was normal."
- Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green for All

"One of key areas where we can make a contribution [to conserving water] is through our data center operations. Every year, our data centers save hundreds of millions of gallons of drinking water simply by consuming 50% less electricity than the industry average for technology companies."
- The Official Google Blog

"Each day, millions of females begin their trek before sunrise to gather water of poor quality, lugging 75lb jugs back to their homes across rough terrain and jeopardizing their health in the process... Even something as simple as going to the bathroom can be risky for women whose homes lack toilets and must venture to a remote location, risking sexual and physical assault, because of inadequate sanitation infrastructure."
- NRDC Switchboard

"When I was nine, growing up in my native Bolivia, I paused one day from a particularly active game during recess to quench my thirst at the school tap. What I didn't know was that the water was contaminated. The price I paid for that innocent drink of water was a serious bout of Hepatitis and three months of missed school."
- Maria Otero, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, on the State Department Blog

"The issues around water in 2010 concern scarcity, access, pollution and more. But it's not all grim. There are new opportunities for tech startups, engineers, investors and creative people to solve problems around the water crisis. Water and waste water technology is a hot market that could get hotter."
- TechCrunch

For a longer list of some of the most noteworthy posts from Blog Action Day, visit our homepage.

By being a part of Blog Action Day 2010, you helped focus the world's attention of the vital issue of water rights and water access. But this is just the beginning of a much larger process to create real change around water issues. Next year, keep an eye out for The World Walks for Water, organized in part by our Blog Action Day partner End Water Poverty. And, if you're interested in learning more, check out the water page of the Change.org Environment and Sustainable Food sections.

Thank you all for making Blog Action Day 2010 a huge success. We'll see you next year!

Maria & the Blog Action Day team

United Nations Climate Change Conference Cancun

The sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) and the sixth Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) will be held in Cancun, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010. [Source: UNFCCC]

Nine things you can do to help biodiversity

2010 has been declared the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) by the United Nations. The tenth global biodiversity conference [Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 10)] is going on in Nagoya, Japan [18-29 October 2010] where 193 signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity are attending the Nagoya COP10 global biodiversity conference to agree new biodiversity targets for 2020. Nine things you can do to help biodiversity.

Drought May Threaten Much of Globe Within Decades- National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), U.S.A.

By later this century, many of the world's most densely populated regions will be threatened with severe drought conditions.
[Source: NSF, U.S.A.]

Clean Kanpur, Green Kanpur

Kanpur is the commercial capital of Uttar Pradesh and remains one of the oldest industrial townships of North India. There is a big problem of solid waste management in Kanpur. But, the recent pact between Ato Z company and Kanpur Nagar Nigam is going to open the door for Green and Clean Kanpur. In Kanpur, this will be Asia's largest integrated municipal solid waste management project. The main aim of the project is to utilise the garbage after segregation and recycling as organic fertiliser, concrete cement blocks and also to produce coal-like fuel which would help in generating electricity. This will produce power from solid waste [majority of the fuel used in the plant will be RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel), which is derived from solid waste; detail can be read at European Commission Final Report on RDF ] and will be India's first municipal solid waste power project. The power plant is scheduled to be operational by March 2011 and will have the capacity to produce 15MW of power. It is an initiative under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Now, the company will collect approximately 1,500 metric tonnes solid wastes from home to home per day in the morning and will send it to the plant for management and power production; the garbage collection user charges for each household will be very nominal [between Rs. 30 to Rs. 50]. Although RDF have some pros as well as cons but these secondary fuels, commonly known as Energy from Waste (EFW), Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) and Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF), will considerably reduce the reliance on C02 producing fossil fuels like coke and will be helpful to provide green energy. This is also an EXCELLENT example of grass-root-level management of solid waste with the mutual co-operation of citizens, government and private sector. Within few months, Kanpur will be a GARBAGE-FREE CITY.

Animals too have Equal Right to Clean Water

Humans and other living beings are EQUAL parts of Ecosystem; so why humans should have more rights than other living beings. In summer season, many birds and animals get die due to lack of drinking water. Humans are self-centered so most of the rights to use natural resources are with humans. This resulted into biodiversity depletion due to unplanned urbanization-cum-industrialization and population explosion. Rest of the living beings are struggling on for the survival. In villages and forests, we are not giving importance to fill the dry ponds, lakes and other wetlands with water; animals and birds get die due to thirst. Today is Blog Action Day 2010; we should also write for the equal right to clean water to other living beings too. These animals survival is vital for our survival; they are balancing the ecosystems on Earth. Let's take oath that every human will provide equal opportunity to animals to drink and use pure water and will not pollute water bodies.

Clean Water- A Big Challenge

Since the advent of INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, the problem of CLEAN WATER and RELATED PROBLEMS get worsten. Unplanned URBANIZATION-cum-INDUSTRIALIZATION along with POPULATION EXPLOSION resulting into WATER POLLUTION, KILLING OF WATER BODIES, DEATHS OF AQUATIC FLORA and FAUNA, UNINHABITABLE RIVERS, DEATHS OF CHILDREN due to UNSAFE DRINKING WATER etc. Today, nearly ONE BILLION PEOPLE lack basic access to safe water. The problem of UNSAFE WATER is a MAN-MADE PROBLEM; so the solution must be developed by man. SAFE DRINKING WATER is the part of Millennium Development Goal under Target 7C ; the target under MDG 7C is- Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. On 28 July 2010, UN General Assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation as a human right.
We are facing a big problem of clean water in 21st Century; WE CAN BRING A MAJOR POSITIVE CHANGE by living ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY LIFE. New Urbanization and Industrialization must fulfill all the parameters of ENVIRONMENT AND WATER BODIES [ underground water, rivers, lakes, wetlands, oceans and glaciers] PROTECTION LAWS and ACTS; old cities and industries must adopt new technologies and infrastructure to treat sewage and pollutants and recycle these; there must be complete ban on release of sewage and industrial influents into water bodies. ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY LIFESTYLE and FAMILY PLANNING must be made a compulsory fundamental duty for every citizen. Blog Action Day 2010 has announced this year's topic as WATER, at the right time. Clean and Safe water is must for humans and other living beings survival and their right too; OUR FUTURE IS IN CLEAN WATER. Be helpful in achieving MDG target 7C and secure a bright future.

e-mail From Blog Action Day 2010

Hello Prabhat Misra,

Thanks for joining Blog Action Day! Now that you've registered it's a pretty simple process. All you need to do is put up a post relating to the topic of water on October 15th and link to blogactionday.change.org somewhere in your post.

Dear Colleague Letter Inviting RAPID Proposals for Analysis of Climate Model Simulations for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report

Dear Colleagues:

The Climate and Large-scale Dynamics (CLD) program is accepting proposals for one-year projects to analyze climate model simulations of present-day climate prepared in anticipation of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5). Our objective in writing this letter is to increase community-wide diagnostic research into the behavior of the current generation of coupled climate and earth system models used for future climate simulations and initialized climate predictions. Research conducted in these projects is expected to lead to more detailed model intercomparisons, better understanding of robust model behaviors, and better understanding and quantification of uncertainty in future climate simulations..........

[Source of image- National Science Foundation]

Blog Action Day 2010

We're one day away from Blog Action Day 2010. Tomorrow, on October 15th, thousands of bloggers from over 125 different countries will come together to write about water issues in their communities and around the world. [Source of photo- Blog Action Day 2010]

Stand for an International Water Treaty to Provide Clean Water Everywhere

Take action today in support of the UN’s work to supply clean, safe drinking water to the world’s poorest populations and urge UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to continue the UN’s life-saving work bringing water and sanitation to developing nations.

Who is responsible for the death of NAGESH, the Lion?

The death of a Lion NAGESH is shame for the humanity and environmentalists. Nagesh was not taking regular diet since 23rd September. Is this not the example of carelessness by the zoo administration? Who will return Nagesh to his partner Gauri? She is shocked. Is there any remedy for her? Everybody talk about human rights; why there are no enforcement of Animal Rights? Do animals have no rights to live equal to human facilities? Are zoo authorities are capable to provide complete protection to zoo animals or are just media to provide entertainment to humans through animals? Why there is no permanent and complete medical services in zoo? Questions are many but answers are LIMITED. Our zoos must provide complete safety to animals. Every animal has right to live equal to human. World community must frame the LIVING RIGHTS FOR WILD ANIMALS and BIRDS.