Moving Planet - September 24th, 2011: A Day to Move Beyond Fossil Fuels

MOVE to SAVE; Join Red Tape Movement at http://www.moving-planet.org/events/in/etawah/428 on 24th Sept. 2011.

Appreciation from British Embassies

British Embassies of Guatemala City and Ukraine appreciated our work on Earth Hour on 24th March 2011. We are thankful to British Embassies of Guatemala City and Ukraine and their respective respected Ambassadors for the appreciation and also thankful to our savings agents and peoples of Ekdil town area. My special thanks to respected Mr. Vijyendra Pandian, I.A.S., Dr. Rajeev Chauhan, Environmentalist and Mr. Sanjay Saxena, Press Reporter for active participation.

Earth Hour News: A message from our Global Ambassador Miranda Kerr

Earth Hour News: A message from our Global Ambassador Miranda Kerr: "I am pleased to have been asked to be the global ambassador for Earth Hour 2011. Each of us has a responsibility for the sustainability of..."

EARTH HOUR

WWF’s Earth Hour is a global campaign inspiring governments, businesses, communities and individuals to take a stand against climate change. It is the largest environment campaign in the history of our planet, successfully uniting the world towards taking collective action by switching off non essential lights for one hour in celebration of our planet.

Earth Hour was launched in Sydney, Australia in 2007, where 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour. Just a year later, Earth Hour reached 370 cities and towns in more than 35 countries across 18 time zones, and the campaign shifted from a ‘Sydney Event’ to a ‘Global Sustainability Movement’. Since then, every year Earth Hour sets new standards and breaks its own records on mass participation and support. 2010 received participation from a record 1.3 billion individuals across 4616 cities in 128 countries globally. Notable landmarks like Acropolis in Greece, Eiffel Tower in Paris, Hiroshima Peace Gardens in Japan, and Pyramids in Egypt switched off in support.

Earth Hour in India
India joined the Earth Hour movement in 2009, where 5 million Indians across 56 cities showed their support by switching off non essential lights and saving approximately 1000 MW of power in that one hour. Hundreds on educational institutions, 100 top public and private sector organizations, and governments of various cities participated.

With support from all sections of the society, industry and government, Earth Hour in India reached new heights, with 2010 receiving participation from 6 million Indian across 128 cities. 600,000 students from different institutions and cities volunteered to spread the message of earth hour and increase outreach. 120 top private and public organizations participated. Well known buildings in 125 cities, banks, local cafes, official residence of Chief Ministers, nation’s defence institutions like Indian Military Academy switched off in support.

Recognizing the success and impact of the campaign, Earth Hour was nominated for NDTV Greenies Awards 2010. It also bagged the ‘WOW Paradigm of the Year’ award for the best social campaign.

Earth Hour 2011
Earth Hour continues to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future. At 8:30 PM on 26 March 2011, the world will come together once again to switch off for an hour. But this year, we aim to move beyond symbolism. We call for your action to sustain commitments and responsible actions beyond the hour. With your support, we hope to make Earth Hour a self- perpetuating drive that inspires us to correct the way we live, every single day.

So SWITCH OFF for one hour

PLUS

SWITCH ON a low carbon lifestyle

Together our actions add up

Earth Hour 2011 provides a platform:

•For Individuals to take initiatives that benefit the environment.
•For Organizations to demonstrate responsible action and announce their commitment to reduce their impact on the environment.
•For Governments to show leadership on environmental issues.
Your support has made earth hour the largest global campaign in the history of the planet. There is no better example of the impact of collective human power and what we can achieve if we unite for a cause. It is time we take our actions forward, and commit to greater change.


Source- Earth Hour

Greg Barker- Climate Change Minister, U.K., visits Salford University

Read my comment here.

Climate Change- is there any solution?

Today, i posted few suggestions to tackle with Climate Change on Facebook discussion board of British Embassy, Guatemala City: 1. Artificial technologies will provide the temporary solution to decarbonise the environment and global warming. So this should be the primary duty of the world community to give preference to the afforestation and take necessary action to save the 'tropical rain forests' [world's most productive and carbon dioxide sinking zone]. Without forests, human survival is not possible; 2. The peoples participation movements can play very important role in decarbonising the environment and in lowering carbon footprinting. One such type of peoples participation movement is 'RED TAPE MOVEMENT' launched by me in Etawah [U.P., India], to make aware the people about the environment and to give the message that to cut the plants is harmful to the nature and biodiversity survival, by tying red tape on the trunks of existing trees. Such types of movements can change the current society into environment friendly society; 3. Just by changing our lifestyle we can bring a major change in decarbonising the world and can save billions of dollors which in turn can be utilised in R & D for climate technologies. So here is my suggestion that the "ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY LIFESTYLE" should be given the status of "compulsory fundamental duty" for every citizen. This minor change can bring a good change in decarbonising the environment; 4. The current problem of GLOBAL WARMING is the result of our past discovery of 'STEAM POWER' and 'FOSSIL FUELS' which resulted in to the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. At that time, the policy makers, scientists and engineers did not judge the fate and impact of that industrial revolution. Now, the current generation of flora and fauna are facing the survival problem due to harmful impact of GHGs. So it will be better to establish a 'WORLD COMMISSION FOR SCIENCE and DEVELOPMENT' to monitor and promote such discoveries which are environment friendly and have no harmful by-products. Our development should be scientifically approved and with environment friendly technologies; 5. One model has been developed by me is 'GREEN VILLAGE' model. In this model, atleast one member from every residence of the selected village do the tree plantation of atleast one tree and take care of it. In this way every residence of the village participate in the conservation of ecosystem and environment. In the future this will change into a big 'carbon sinking zone' and will be helpful in protecting our beautiful Earth from the detrimental effects of 'GLOBAL WARMING'; 6. N.G.Os. can play very important role in creating awareness about GLOBAL WARMING. They are pivotal in planning and project implementation. They can initiate awareness about key issues like carbon footprinting, afforestation, forests and biodiversity conservation through peoples participation. So Friends, Save ECOLOGY and Save FUTURE; it is in your hands.
[NOTE: My views are protected at "Act on Copenhagen" blog by Mr David Miliband, Former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs U.K.]

Leigh Turner: Brilliant energy-saving photography

They are the winners and honourable mentions of a photo competition called “Save Energy! Stop Climate Change! run by the British Embassy in Kyiv between October and December 2010.

घाट खुले, यमुना किनारे हुई सफाई

Read an important story-cum-news by just clicking the following part of the story below:

काम कितना ही कठिन क्यों न हो अगर संकल्प के साथ जुटकर किया जाये तो उसे पूरा होते देर नहीं लगती। यही हुआ कालिंदी व उसके किनारे स्थित घाटों की सफाई में। काम कठिन अवश्य था लेकिन नगर पालिका कर्मी जुटे और उन्हें जन सहयोग मिला तो अब स्थिति बदली है। यमुना के किनारे के सभी घाट मूल रूप में लौटे वहीं यमुना किनारे फैली गंदगी हटाकर पॉलीथिन मुक्त किया गया है।
[Source: जागरण]

Scientists Turning a Fungus into Fuel

Current biofuels are very different from fossil-derived fuels. Their use requires the modification of our current engines and infrastructure, which can be very costly. In addition, current biofuels are made from food sources.

At Yale, we study a fungus that grows on dead trees and makes compounds similar to gasoline. If we could understand how this fungus is able to produce these compounds, then we may be able to scale it up to be a cost-competitive source of biofuel. Read detail report here.
[Source: Armed with Science]

The Flight of the Sandhill Cranes

..........I just about ran smack into a flock of pterodactyls, flying low, filling that narrow space, honking and squawking.

Well, not pterodactyls, exactly. The raucous unidentified flying objects were sandhill cranes..........
[Source: Encyclopedia Britannica]

सफाई के लिए चलाया गया श्रमदान अभियान खत्म- Clean Yamuna river

करीब दो दशक से गंदे पड़े यमुना के घाट अब साफ नजर आने लगे हैं। यह जिलाधिकारी जीएस प्रियदर्शी के निर्देश पर सहायक निदेशक बचत प्रभात मिश्र के नेतृत्व में नेहरू युवा केंद्र, नगर पालिका तथा स्वयंसेवी संस्थाओं द्वारा चलाये गये अभियान का परिणाम है।
अभियान के अंतिम दिन [dated 10/01/2011] सहायक निदेशक बचत श्री मिश्र के नेतृत्व में नेहरू युवा केंद्र तथा स्वामी विवेकानंद सेवा संस्थान के पदाधिकारियों ने यमुना घाट से पॉलीथिन हटाने का काम किया। इस दौरान सुनील सक्सेना, संजय सक्सेना, डा. आशीष दीक्षित, श्रवण कुमार, सुष्मित मिश्र, तारा, पूजा, अभिजीत यादव, नेहा वर्मा, नीलोफर, शमशुल निशा, वारसी, आजम वारसी, राहुल, संजीव कुमार, विवेक रंजन गुप्ता, सचिन शाक्य, शिवशरण सहित दर्जनों युवाओं ने पॉलीथिन हटाने का काम किया।
यमुना के घाटों की सफाई करने के इस अभियान में लगभग एक हजार किलो पॉलीथिन को नगर पालिका के कर्मचारियों तथा स्वयंसेवी संस्थाओं के प्रतिनिधियों ने हटाने का काम किया है। व्यापारी नेताओं ने भी सफाई अभियान में हिस्सा लिया और व्यापारियों से पॉलीथिन का प्रयोग न करने की अपील की।

India releases list of Critically Endangered species

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has released a list of species that are Critically Endangered. Mentioned in the list are seven species of birds, one mammal and four amphibians/reptiles. There is also a sub-list of 22 species which are not endemic to India, but are Critically Endangered .