Choking To Death

A study conducted by the team drawn from research centres in Asia including India and China, Europe and the United States, announced their latest and most detailed assessment of the phenomenon.

Asian cities from New Delhi to Beijing are getting darker, glaciers on the mighty Himalayas are melting faster and weather system is getting more extreme, a United Nations study has warned.

Brown clouds of pollution are hanging over Asia, making "cities from Beijing to New Delhi" darker, melting glaciers in ranges like the Himalayas faster and turning weather systems more extreme, the UN said today.

Formed as a result of burning of fossil fuels and biomass, the Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABCs), made of soot and other manmade particles, are more than three km-thick, said a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The layer that stretches from the Arabian Peninsula to China and the western Pacific Ocean, are in some cases and regions aggravating the impacts of greenhouse gas-induced climate change, a team of experts drawn from research centres in Asia, including China and India, said.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director, UNEP, said: "I expect the Atmospheric Brown Cloud to be now firmly on the international community's radar as a result of today's report".

The five regional hotspots for ABCs identified in the report includes the Indo-Gangetic plains in South Asia from the northwest and northeast regions of eastern Pakistan across India to Bangladesh and Myanmar, the UNEP said in a press statement.

New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai feature in the list of 13 megacities where ABCs are reducing the sunlight hitting the Earth's surface, making the cities "darker or dimmer".

In her private communication with me Anjuli Pandit, Project Manager, The Climate Project India, was kind enough to send me one of the most commonly used images when discussing Climate Change's impacts on the Tibetan and Himalayan glaciers. It shows the rapid decline of the Gongotri since 1935 especially.” We can say that on average Himalayan glaciers are receding at the rate of 10-15 meters per year. “

"The rapid melting of the Himalayan glaciers will first increase the volume of water in rivers, causing widespread flooding. But in a few decades this situation will change and the water level in riverls will declie, meaning massive eco and environmental problems for people in Western China, Nepal and Northern India." - Jennifer Morgan Director of WWF Global Climate Change Programme. .

We have reasons to be alarmed. Glacial Lake Outburst floods (GLOF) is common in many parts of the Himalaya region, because the glaciers are melting and form a lake. At some point the lakes outburst and create huge floods which have devastating results on the human, flora and fauna lives as well as the ecosystem.

Global warming is not a myth. Nor is it a myth that climate change is not going to affect all areas in the world especially wherever there are mountains the most. India and China are high risk aeras.

We have to act immediately. We cannot change the damage that has already been done by first world countries. We can only arrest further distruction of earth, its life and the beautify around.

We need to act NOW!

Source: http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=632885

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=633116


Good News: ‘Air New Zealand to trial biofuel in December
Wellington, Nov 14 (AFP) Air New Zealand said it will conduct its first trial of biofuel on one of its Boeing 747 aircraft on a flight next month.

The airline said this week the biofuel will include 50 per cent standard jet fuel and synthetic fuel made from the oil from seeds of the jatropha plant.

Air New Zealand's chief pilot David Morgan said the two-hour test flight would be held on December 3 with the jatropha blend fuelling one of the four engines.

"Various procedures will be carried out during the test flight to confirm and measure the performance of the engine being operated with this fuel," Morgan said in a statement.
Rolls-Royce fuels specialist Chris Lewis said the properties of the fuel would be virtually indistinguishable from conventional fuel.

The jatropha oil will come from plants grown in east Africa and Air New Zealand said they could be grown in a range of difficult conditions, including arid and otherwise non-arable areas.
The test flight is a joint venture between Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls-Royce and UOP, a Honeywell company, and the airline said it was part of efforts to make commercial aviation more sustainable, amid climate change fears.

British-based Virgin Atlantic became the first airline to trial a biofuel in February on a flight between London and Amsterdam, using a blend including coconut oil and babassu nut oil.

Doctor, Heal Thyself

Thank God it’s coming finally!

Doctors will soon get a template for treatment as the Union ministry of health and family welfare has begun drafting a set of standard treatment guidelines (STG) at the national level in an attempt to bring uniformity in medical care across the country.

Among other crucial directives, it will tell doctors which drugs to prescribe and which not to for various diseases. And in a bold move, it will recommend that doctors follow a line of treatment that doesn't involve prescribing drugs when medication is unnecessary. Or definitely too expensive when cheaper varieties, which guarantee the same results, are available.

In India, Doctors have been misusing their power over the patient starting from simple remedies to complicated ones.

As soon as a patient arrives at a Clinic, the Doctor’s mind begins to tick away as to how much monies can be extracted from the patient. By way of exorbitant fees, expensive prescriptions, unnecessary tests, hospitalization and ad-on. Patients are paranoid to visit Doctors. Add to that the regular practice – instilling fear in the minds of the patients, so that he never goes against the will of the Doctor. You never know, it might be a dangerous disease cropping up…it could be anything….etc, etc. Basically, unethical practices that go against the Hippocratic oath.

Indeed, most Doctors have become more diseased than the patients, with a virus, which has no cure - greed!

It is time the government woke up to the horrors of these ill practices.

Naturally, many of us have turned to the alternative medicine. While, Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Colour Therapy, even Reiki, is practiced as an alternative, one that is making headlines is Ayurvedic medicine. Yet again there is a danger. All and everyone seem to be selling Ayurvedic medicines. And nobody tells you the truth, because perhaps they themselves do not know. Mercury, which is one of the components of some Ayurvedic drugs, if not used in the correct measure can leave residue in your kidneys. This will cause further problems in the long run. No body tells you that if you take any drugs, Ayurvedic or allopathic, it is imperative to drink more water, in order that your system can flush out any residue from these drugs.

I prefer to stay with Himalaya Drug Company, whose research methodology I know and whose medicines I have tried and found effective. Plus, they lend themselves to free consultation. Or go to an Ayurvedic doctor, who has a Degree under his arm and whose Certificate I can see framed and hung on his Clinic wall. A Ramdev Baba will not do for me, thank you.

Unless a disease is hereditary by nature, diet, exercise and a few other small things can manage the disease simply. One and a half litre of water, consumed within the first two hours and before breakfast, every day, does a fine cleansing job. If the water is luke warm, even better. I, shuddered at the thought of drinking almost two litres of water, first thing in the morning, but after seven months of doing so, I can vouch for it. It is perhaps the most natural way to get rid of toxins in our body. We all know it is not only the virus outside that causes diseases, quite often it is the toxins inside which needs to get flushed out too. Or else, we might breaks into diseases.

Until 1989, I used to smoke forty cigarettes a day. After a great struggle, to quit smoking, I finally did it. Naturally, when I completed a year of no smoking, I was thrilled. But my joy was short lived, when I was told that the amount of toxins accumulated in my body over the last so many years of smoking, would take twenty years to actually get flushed out of my system. Only then could I say, that I was nicotine free!

Toxins not only flow in our blood, but they lodge themselves in our tissues as well. Hence, if the blood is cleaned, then the toxins come out from the tissues and flow into the bloodstream and get flushed out. This is a continuous process. Why not help the system then – Drink water! Abundantly!

Most of what we learn from outside is already available to us. Or we already know about it. Sample this one –

This Tibetan detox tip, for any exercise that draws a sweat, is so deeply rooted in common sense you wonder why you hadn’t thought of it yourself. You’ll be way ahead of the game in trying to rid your body of all the pollution we live with just by adding these two simple steps to your normal workout.

Rub sesame oil into the skin before exercise.

Following exercise, before showering, rub your skin with a lentil or chickpea flour to pull out the toxins that get attracted into the oil from the exercise. Shower as normal.( Health and Green Living http://www.care2.com/greenliving/tibetan-detox-tip-exercise.html )

Frankly, I could have slapped myself! This is exactly what I do when I have an oil bath or have a good message by the local malishwali!

Don’t you too?


References:
Chemical Ally
Outlook Magazine August 25, 2008
http://outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20080825&fname=Treatment+Manual+%28F%29&sid=1

Himalaya Drug Company
http://store.himalayahealthcare.com/aboutus/abouthimalaya.htm

Note: The views expressed here are the authors only. They in no way suggest any treatment. Just what has worked for her.