On Verge of Extinction

My kids won't see them, I haven't seen one yet! What I am talking about are no mystic rarities, they are just a few species of animal which were quite a common sight but are rapidly getting vanished. No, our eye sight is not getting weak. They are dying.

You knew them a few days back, but now look around. Can you see them? A sparrow, a mynah....they were everywhere...in our houses, on parapet...now not to be found, they haven't fled...they are just dead. And, we are responsible, we are doing it and we don’t even know what we are losing.

Today here I am talking about two very rare species which we are not sure will be seen after next couple of years. They are Tibetan Gazelle and Great Indian Bustard. What will change if they will not be around?  There are so many hue and cries when one human dies; if they are gone we are talking about a whole species vanishing off the face of earth. None of their kind will ever be seen again, they cannot be made again. Science has not reached there yet and Jurassic Park was only a movie.

Tibetan Gazelle

I don't know how much 1962 war affected Indian or Chinese people but they did face the brunt of it. Expert say the heavy movement of men on land in this area caused their peril. This antelope species found in Ladakh, Sikkim and endemic of Tibetan plateau has once ruled over an area of 20000 sq km large now they are residing in  a 100 sq km patch, numbered somewhere around 200. They are so endangered that even a severe winter can cause them to extinct. 

Great Indian Bustard

"What is so great about the Great Indian Bustard?" I read it somewhere. Once found in India in large number they are not to be seen today. The reason is destruction of habitat. How much land we need that we can't let these few live in peace?? Being the ground dwelling bird, it’s hard for them o survive under the human encroachment. Ghatigaon Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh which once enjoyed a large number of them has none today.  The total number of these birds left today is counted somewhere 400 to 500

I don't know how much importance you give to this but a very simple calculation on their combined population shows that one life amongst them is equivalent to 1 million human lives. 
Try to give your child this gift, let them see one of these.

Happy Diwali........Happy ??!!!!

35 died in Andhra Pradesh, factory blown up, 150+ casualties all over the country...carbon content in atmosphere shooting up...houses burnt...a full slum area brought down to ashes...people suffering from eye irritation...smoke every where and sky turning red, ecology and environment gone for a toss !!!! No we are not under any sort of attack. We just celebrated Diwali, Indian festival of light, of  triumph of good over evil.

I am running short of time so won't write much, but just a random thought. If suicide is allowed this way then why not in other ways?

Durga Puja, Climate Change and Economics !!!!

Kali Badi is the place to be in this festive season. Durga Puja are the 9 days when whole India forgets everything and swings in festive mood. But, when you talk about Kolkata it different..its a madness there. So, our kolkata niwasi were at it, totally at it in their true blue bangla ways. But the difference we saw this year was changing concerns and growing awareness. More than 20 puja mandals essayed various aspects of climate change as “themes”. Ranging from importance of greenery and afforestation to sea level rise due to global warming, everything was depicted. Great job !! I must say. Looks like we are now understanding what we are playing with. 

Optimism is a virtue which helps you getting good results out of everything..if not at least you believe that you have got something good out of every shit that happened to you. Somewhere I read a thing in which it was mentioned how Air India strike resulted in reduced emissions, though passengers faced lots of problems but then there was something good to it. After all every cloud has a silver lining. Good that people are getting an eye for climate. At least they are seeing what is helping and what is not. I must say we are going good.

The effect of a warming of the Earth's temperature by even 2 degrees Celsius could put up to 400 million people at risk of hunger and leave up to 2 billion lacking enough water resources.

At Istanbul, which was hosting World bank and International Monetary Fund meeting this year got World Bank Chief Economist Justin Lin speaking and world bank making statements such as climate change could depress the economic output of Africa and South Asia by as much as 5 per cent per year. The developing world will suffer about 80 percent of the damage from climate change despite accounting for only around a third of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at the presentation of world bank's new development report for 2010 entitled "Development and Climate Change".

All this sounds really great..we are awakening and understanding our responsibilities. Great thats really...great. But, this is not the point I want to make here. Even UNEP meet last week and I don't even want to mention here what talk they did there...thing is that they talke, they just talked and mu question is...where is the real work dude??

Everything I mentioned above was nothing but only talks in one or other form. Calculations, big terms but where is the ground work. It has become a ritual..every time when a high profile meet happens they pay a one session homage to environment and climate...talk about it and continue with their work. Enough people it enough now....stop talking...show me some work...all these people who met and talked at all these places. Set themes for events, made banners for so called green durga puja...get down, get down to some real work. These talks are not gonna help. What you all are required to do is just to plant a tree...all of you who have met these days...just one tree...trust me you will never need to meet again, set themes or talk. So, please...just one tree in the backyard.