sharpeye

John Sellers, a vigilant resident of New York has post an item at Agit.Pop on 27 July 2010 which says that Gas extraction, made possible by hydraulic fracturing (or fracking for short), pumps dangerous toxins into our drinking water. According to this report, Natural Gas, our newest greenest and secure source of Energy is not “Clean Natural" Gas. Gas extraction, made possible by hydraulic fracturing (or fracking for short) has to sit right beside Deep Sea Drilling, Mountain Top Removal, and Dirty Tar Sands Oil in the pantheon of insane ways to get carbon fix. It is interesting to note here that Halliburton pantented fracking: a process that mixes millions of gallons of precious fresh water with a proprietary cocktail of toxics, injects it through our drinking water table, and into the ground at a pressure that will fracture rock? John Sellers has exhorted the citizens of New York to stand up against this. According to Sellers, fracking has brought the gas rush to New York. Some of...

Recently, Senator Loren Legarda of the Philippines has raised the alarm that water has become a national security concern. In order to meet acute shaortage of water he has proposed the following steps to be initiated: • Reforest not only mountains and watersheds, but also plant in urban areas; • Implement the Rainwater Collection Act; • Recycle water; • Introduce “Hydroinformatics” in schools; and • Clean Rivers and Bays through the initiatives of the local government units and the Metro-Manila Development Authority“The time to act is now!” While deploring the non-implementation of Republic Act No. 6716, otherwise known as the Rainwater and Spring Development Act of 1989 which has been passed twenty-one years ago, Sen. Legarda said that the law mandated the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to “undertake the construction of water wells, rainwater collectors, development of springs and rehabilitation of existing water wells in all barangays in the Philippines in such number...

The revelation by the Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in the Lok Sabha on 26 July 2010 that over 11,700 tonnes of foodgrains worth Rs 6.86 crore were found "damaged" in government godowns is astonishing in a country where many people go without food. According to data submitted by the Minister, of the foodgrains damaged, 9,141 tonnes was rice while 2,486 tonnes was wheat, while the rest of the 81 tonnes was paddy. The maximum damage of 7,066 tonnes of foodgrains was reported from Punjab, followed by 1,846 tonnes from West Bengal and 1,457 tonnes from Gujarat. Antiquated food storage methods and technologies have been costing India dearly. The chairman of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Siraj Hussain, admits that food worth Rs 50,000 crore is wasted every year. This comes roughly to 20 per cent of the total food produced by the country. Though this figure includes food that is lost in processing, packaging, transportation and even marketing, yet a substan...

It has been observed that some vested commercial-minded organizations take the rich and affluent segments of the society for a ride by staging so-called Rain-Dance shows for spinning quick money by offering fun and pleasure in the name of culture. Organizing such shows under artificial rain results in sheer wastage of precious water and amounts to crime against the water-starved society. Almost all parts of India in general and Metropolitans in particular are adversely water-affected areas where level of ground water has gone down too low and drinking water supply is so acute. Thus organizing such artificial rain festivals in those areas is prone to culminate in the wastage of millions of gallons of precious water just for fun for few hours. We strongly disapprove of such extravaganza in the name of culture. On the contrary, the local people should be imparted training in rainwater harvesting so that water is preserved and conserved for meeting the shortage. Such functions can be organ...

Dr Arvind Kumar* * Editor, SAR Economist. Gangetic Plain lies in the centre of Uttar Pradesh. Having highly fertile alluvial soils, this region is flat in topography and broken by numerous ponds, lakes and rivers. Gangetic plain stretching across the entire length of the state from east to west is regarded as the most important area from economic point of view. The entire alluvial plain can be divided into three sub-regions. The first in the eastern tract comprises 14 districts which are subject to periodical floods and droughts and have been classified as scarcity areas. These districts have the highest density of population which gives the lowest per capita land. The other two regions, the central and the western are comparatively better with a well-developed irrigation system. They suffer from water logging and large-scale user tracts. The Gangetic plain is watered by the Yamuna, the Ganga and its major tributaries, the Ramganga, the Gomati, the Ghaghra and Gandak. Mounting Water Cr...

By Dr Arvind Kumar Felton is a small town in the redwood hills above Santa Cruz, Califprnia in The United States. Felton had a privately run water system and its residents quickly experienced some of the drawbacks: skyrocketing rates, and little public recourse. It hadn’t been much of an issue until 2002, when California-American Water (Cal-Am), a subsidiary of American Water Works, took over Felton’s water utility. In November 2002, Cal-Am proposed a 74 percent rate increase over three years. Felton residents formed Friends of Locally Owned Water (FLOW), and with legal help from Santa Cruz County, fought the rate increase, which the utilities commission knocked down to 44 percent. But the threat of escalating costs loomed, so FLOW began working on a plan to buy the water system and turn it over to the nearby San Lorenzo Valley Water District (SLVWD), a public utility. By 2005, FLOW had enlisted the help of Food & Water Watch and was working on a ballot initiative to raise the esti...

11th July marks the World Population Day, which was instituted in 1989 when the earth reached the population of Five Billion on 11th July 1987. The United Nations authorized the event as a vehicle to build an awareness of humans and impact of humans on the environment. The world population is expected to reach 9 billion between 2040 and 2050. World Population Day is observed by taking up a theme for the year. Theme for the year 2009 was “Fight Poverty, Educate Girls.” There was emphasis on building awareness about importance of educating girls for economic solutions. World Population Day 2010 highlights the importance of data for development. The focus is on the 2010 round of the population and housing census, data analysis for development and UNFPA’s lead role in population and development. This is a day to think about population-related issues in an ever more crowded world. This also affords excellent opportunity for spreading awareness and advocacy on the issue of population stabili...

By Dr Arvind Kumar* *President, India Water Foundation, New Delhi. Recent months have witnessed fast pace of developments occurring in Afghanistan without pointing out towards any tabgible solution of the decade-long Afghan crisis. The last week of June this year saw shift of command from Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal to Gen. David H. Petraeus in Afghanistan. The US command shift is unlikely to yield any ‘wonderful, results in the near future because strategy, military personnel and equipment is the same. The present Afghan ruling elite, including President Karzai, has occasionally voiced its support for ‘reconciliation’ with moderate Taliban leadership, an idea which is gaining gradual support with European Union and some segments in Washington as well. There exist differences between President Karzai and the US and NATO command. President Karzai is doubtful of West’s capabilities to contain Taliban resurgence. The American war strategy rests largely on clearing ground held by the Taliba...

World Environment Day 5th June 2010 Programme