EGYPT
Egypt has made up its mind to arrest the onslaught of desertification. A controversial scheme to make the country's deserts bloom has found favour with it, when recently in an international tender,
Search Results
-
-
After abuse
A kiln is a blot on the village landscape
-
Tit for tat
Canada seems to have settled scores with the us by restricting imports of mop top virus-infected American potatoes. In 2000-2001, the us had imposed a ban on potatoes from Canada's
-
Chronology of a nightmare
1956: Discovery of Minamata disease 1959: Kumamoto University announces its organic mercury theory; Fisherfolks' agitation; Hosokawa feeds cats with the waste effluent from Chisso's
-
Green, but expensive
environment-technology is "nice to have but ugly to pay for', in the words of Peter Fritz, managing director of Preussag Noell, a German company which deals exclusively with green technology. His
-
Disposal nightmare
there seems to be some consensus on the means of disposing excess pluto nium, an issue which has plagued super powers like us. The us energy department will now encase about 50 tonnes of
-
ECUADOR
It was in 1993 that 30,000 Ecuadorian Indians and farmers filed a petition against Texaco, the multinational oil giant, for having denigrated their homeland by way of 17 million gallons
-
A green touch
YOU CAN now bank on the environment -- at least at the nine Punjab National Bank (PNB) branches that will underwrite projects friendly to both customers and the environment. In a trend-setting move,
-
Sealing the tomb
A foam spray can be used to seal the hazardous debris at Chernobyl, Ukraine, and also to safely transport radioactive wastes
-
Moneymakers
cleaner alternative: A biofertiliser plant has been established in Bharatpur, Raja s than, and it will start production by the end of September, 2000. The plant has been established by the
-
Trash takes its toll
Mounds of trash infested with flies have become a common sight on the streets of Toronto recently, thanks to a strike by the city's garbage collectors. Nearly 7,000 workers walked off the job,
-
Repackaging plastics
to broadbase the use of plastics in an eco-friendly manner, the ministry of environment and forests ( m o ef ) has cons tituted a national task force headed by D K Biswas,
-
Not amusing
Rs 25 crore water park in Kerala s Kannur district
-
Scrappy progress
Britain has failed to meet the April 21 deadline to comply with the European Union's (eu) directive on recycling cars. In fact, the uk isn't alone in non-adherence to the time schedule, with
-
Can did endeavours
the Japanese (who else?) are stealing a march over other industrialised nations in recycling. While earlier it was the law for the promotion of utilisation of recy clable resources passed in 1992
-
Environment friendly is far too often unfriendly
Disposable diapers and paper cups tax the environment, yes, but washing reusable diapers and china cups is just as environment unfriendly, say recent studies. Caught in the middle of this information blitz is the consumer.
-
EPA collecting air, water samples from sugar mills
Samples of air and wastewater belonging to the sugar mills of Sindh are being collected by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials for the last two days to check whether they are polluting environment, especially air and water. One of the sugar mills releases its toxic waste in a waterway that finds its way into the upstream Kotri Barrage. The samples are being taken under the directives of EPA Director-General Abdul Malik Ghauri, who has sent three officials, Ashiq Ali Dhamrah, Jehangir Hussain and Mohammad Hashim. An EPA official from Hyderabad, Irfan Abbasi, and two environmental inspectors from the district concerned are part of the team that is visiting different sugar mills. It was learnt here on Tuesday that the team had so far visited six sugar mills and one alcohol-producing unit. The mills included the Al-Abbas Sugar Mills, Mirpurkhas Sugar Mills, Matiari Sugar Mills, Digri Sugar Mills and Najma Sugar Mills. Their air samples and wastewater samples have been collected. The officials are travelling along with a mobile laboratory that had been gifted to Pakistan by the Japanese government. While confirming that the testing of samples would take some time, Mr Ghauri said: "Some samples are analysed in the mobile laboratory while some are sent to us in Karachi so that they can be tested at the main laboratory.' He said that the samples were being checked so that the sugar mills would improve their environmental standard. An official of the team told Dawn that one of the sugar mills was releasing its wastewater in a waterway that finds its way into the upstream Kotri barrage. A report said that the exercise of testing of air quality has been initiated by EPA in view of the on-going sugarcane season which began in December and would continue for another couple of months. According to environmentalists, smoke emitted from the chimneys of sugar mills pollutes the air and it causes various problems for the people who live in their vicinity. Mr Ghauri said that first air and liquid samples would be analysed and then the sugar mills would be graded. When asked whether any proceedings would follow if the sugar mills were found guilty of environmental pollution, he replied: "Certainly notices will be issued to the relevant sugar mill if the quality of air emission and wastewater don't conform with the National Environmental Quality Standards.' According to water technologist Dr Ahsan Siddiqui, the wastewater of a sugar mill is released on its own open ground by the mills management. He, however, added that the mill in question had no right to do that because wastewater through seepage contaminated water contained in the sub-soil, which is a natural resource of water for people who obtained water through suction pumps.
-
Friend in need
with problems of the disposal of plutonium reaching alarming heights in us and Russia, Canada has offered to help in its recycling. Both us and Russia have stocks of tonnes of the highly toxic fuel
-
Herbal healing
millions of children crippled by polio may be able to walk without crutches. A herbal medication developed by a resident from Haripur Dak - a remote village in Purnea district of Bihar - holds
-
Perils of eco-anxiety
If the proliferation of diseases and afflictions to do with lifestyles wasn't enough to give you palpitations at night, here's one more. It's called eco-anxiety. Al Gore has no idea of the havoc he has wreaked upon an unsuspecting world. His heart-stopping warning in his documentary An Inconvenient Truth that only 10 years remain to avoid an environmental catastrophe has only added to the growing number of people worrying themselves sick over issues like global warming, pesticides in food, nuclear waste, vehicle emissions and carbon footprints. In fact, eco-anxiety has even created a new breed of professionals: eco-therapists who counsel patients on making environmentally friendly lifestyle changes. The fears of the eco-anxious are fuelled by excessive and often hysterical media coverage of doomsday scenarios like the one outlined by Gore. In fact, we have a new phrase to describe such coverage: climate porn! The word was created after the US-based Institute for Policy Research analysed hundreds of media articles, news clips and TV ads on the issue. Climate porn refers to the use of apocalyptic language to describe the challenges posed by climate change. Pornography or not, what it has achieved is to give most people on the planet a serious complex about their contribution to global warming and the inevitable retribution that the environmental gods will hurl down on them from above. Image As a socially conscious citizen, my ecoangst has really changed a lot of things I took for granted. I work for a widely circulated weekly newsmagazine that prints on paper made from trees cut down in a forest somewhere. Am I committing a mortal sin each time I write? Should I petition the publisher to reduce the number of pages? It's a Catch-22 situation, similar to the feeling I get when I climb into my gas-guzzling car every morning. Shouldn't I be cycling to work instead? Actually, considering distance and time, that would mean waking up at 4 a.m. and getting home at 9 p.m. which is hardly conducive to good health and quality time at home. I also turn pale when I look at the greens sold by my local vegetable vendor. What foul pesticides have gone into their preservation and why do they look so unnaturally green, or yellow, or red? So, would it be better to reduce my living space and plant a vegetable garden even if it means sacrificing a much-loved and much used balcony? My best friend's apartment is on the 17th floor. Could I reduce electricity consumption by taking the stairs or would I be inviting a seizure? Going green and saving the planet is all very laudable but the anxiety is killing.