expressions august 2012 volume 3 issue 3

1ExpressionS AUGUST 2012

icareindiabringing people together

exclusive photo story

Birds & Wild of Kolkataby Ananda Banerjee

featuring

the Dark kNight did Rise by Yudhishter Puran Singh

Hydro Power Generation by Ruchi Kukreti Kaushal

2 ExpressionS AUGUST 2012


thereaders’expressions

In love with Abir Jain’s and Mahesh Gadia’s photographs.

Rahul Kumar, Bihar

Expressions should start a wildlife photography column for all budding photographers. Please if possible. Thank you.

Pulela Gahere, Assam

The girl with the green girl beautifully depicts how callous and irresponsible we are as citizens. Kudo’s to the author and whole concept.

Eesha Kapoor, Bangalore

The article on Grand giraffe just reflects the diversity of the content of Expressions. All the best to the entire team for the journey ahead.

Nehar Saxena, Gurgaon

How about switching over to print format? Have you all given a thought to the same?

Vivek Arora, New Delhi

From articles on Snakes to Giraffes to Turtles – hats of to the team for trying to focus and create awareness about the plight of different species, other than some magazines who just concentrate primarily on Tigers.

Richa Srivastava, Mumbai

I have been a regular reader at Expressions and I feel there has been a tremendous transition in your content, creativity from what it was to what it is today. Not wanting to be critical but you have not only raised the bar but also managed to sustain the same which is praiseworthy to say the least.

Sandeep Bhatt, New Delhi

I think there should be some contests or quiz section in the magazine. Please do think over it.

Arjun Nayak, Vishakhapatnam


A massive blackout that lasted for so long, affecting 600 million people across 19 states crippling society. Leaving them cursing whoever is responsible for leading them into the dark. How do expect a country to illuminate if the people in authority blatantly ignore their duty?

This attitude will only breed hostility towards those who have the reigns to this huge land but still not held accountable for bringing everything from metros to hospitals to a standstill. It was a dark sight. Such issues need to be addressed with caution and we must put the right people up there who can make truthful decisions. We need to give up on the vote bank politics, fooling the public and stand up tall against such a government.

Expressing dissatisfaction is one thing we would never fail to do, but even we have to be sensible while electing and not let them corrode and pollute a great country. Right leadership always paves a way for a bright future and we really wish that for our dear country.

Anyhow, we must all be aware about what we do, let us in our midst pledge to be accountable for our actions and that will decide what establishes in front of us. It is give and take in the right measure, if you really care, you will be rewarded but although this might work individually, it’s quite difficult to make billions of people agree on the same thing; there will always be differences and manipulation. How do we deal with that?

As you will notice that we have deliberately tried to make this special issue environment friendly by following the ‘The Dark Theme’. According to a study by the University of California, published in 2002, a dark color can consume less energy than displaying a light color and according to your screen, viewing/displaying a website or anything with a black background saves up to 48% of energy for a CRT and up to 15% of energy for an LCD.

In this issue of Expressions, we bring to you the stuff that we usually do, crisp articles about environmental affairs, pressing issues in India and worldwide, visual treats with photo stories but also leave you with questions of where we’re really heading and what could perhaps be done if we were a little careful too. Take a look and notice what’s happening around. That’s what we’re trying to do and demonstrate, to care. Even though it’s a minority who think they can change the world and the majority thinks it would never change, but mostly, it’s only them (the minority) who do. For all the remaining, we hope the light ignites them. Have a delightful read!

Yudhishter Puran SinghFounder & Editor

Pooja BhattSenior Editor

Best

from the editors’ desk


BEING AN ECOLOGICAL CITIZEN CHAPTER 4Fourth & the final installment of a series focusing on the importance of our everyday decisions on the evolution of our societies, dealing with buildings and transport in this issue

by Isabelle Richaud

HYDRO POWER GENERATION PROJECTSA comprehensive study of the greenest and the cheapest source of energy world over.

by Richa Kukreti Kaushal

THE AFRICAN WILD DOG

by Candice Bradford

THE BIRDS AND WILD OF KOLKATAexclusive photo story

by Ananda Banerjee

THE ELLUSIVE LEOPARD

by Christina Bush

8

13

18

38

24

18

ALL EDITORIAL QUERIESMUST BE DIRECTED TO

The Editor, Expressions,51-A Subhash Road, Dehradun 248140, Uttarakhand, India

PERMISSIONSFor permissions to copy or reuse material from EXPRESSIONS, write to [email protected] or call us at +919634796880

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICESFor subscription queries,write to [email protected] or call us at +919634796880

Founder & EditorYudhishter Puran Singh

Senior EditorPooja Bhatt

Creative Editor/DesignerAkshay Madan

THE EXPRESSIONS’ YOUTH TEAM


THE GIRL WITH THE GREEN HANDBAGA different perspective to the world’s worst blackout, the failure of the Northern Grid in India

by Priyanka Sethy

THE DARK KNIGHT DID RISE WITH THE WORST BLACK-OUTThere was a massive hue and cry all across the world over the ‘power crisis’ that left over 600 million people in India affected across 20 states and union territories owing to the National Grid failure. This incident was later on termed as the‘worst black-out in the world history’. An Insight.

by Yudhishter Puran Singh

A WALK ON THE BEACH

by Surbhi Arora

BAMBOO PIT VIPERDo you think Bamboo pit viper doesn’t affect you? If you know anyone who uses an ace inhibitor to control heart and blood pressure problems, then you should be grateful for these creatures!

by Amit Bijon Dutta

MEDIA IMPACT AT RIO +20reflections on the power of partnerships and commitments made towards The Future We Want

Organization Update

IN THE NEWS

62

66 70

76

Views and opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Expressions., its publisher and/or editors. We at Expressions do our best to verify the information published but do not take any responsibility for the absolute

accuracy of the information

This issue is specially designed to consume less energy with black base throughout.The emagazine is user interactive.Click on above page numbers to navigate to the respective section.

To arrive back on this index page, Click on the bottom left battery of anyeven numbered page.

Content EditorMonika Singh

News EditorHarshit Singh

Public RelationsRitika Passan

32

58


reg

ula

r fe

atu

re

Isabelle Richaud A 31-year-old citizen of the world, Isabelle Richaud works in Antwerp, Belgium for the European branch of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute, based in New Delhi).


reg

ula

r fe

atu

reThis is the last of a series of four articles focusing on the importance of our everyday

decisions on the evolution of our societies. We have focused so far on consumption and food as two key areas of action. This last chapter will deal with buildings and transport as two other such areas.

Transport is with no doubt one of the most important factors in contemporary environmental issues. This responsibility stems in large part from our excessive reliance on cars, which are responsible for 83.7 percent of the estimated total costs of transport1. Car ownership has increased steadily since 1970, so has the frequency and number of trips by car, while the average number of persons transported per car has dropped. Between 1950 and 2007, the global car fleet increased from about 50 million vehicles to 800 million vehicles – an increase more than 6 times faster than the growth in population2. (My next article will

deal more in detail with the adverse impacts of this trend on

urban development.)

Most of us, especially those living in urban areas, benefit from a variety of available transportation means: walking, cycling, two-wheelers, car, bus, tram, metro or train and airplane for longer trips. The choice we make between these various options is of a great environmental importance, because there are clear inequalities between different vehicles in their impacts on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. As a general rule, cars and airplanes are the most energy-intensive and polluting means of transportation, while boats and trains are relatively more efficient per kilometre travelled and number of people transported. Soft transport, namely walking and cycling, comes

with virtually no environmental impact, as it relies on human energy.

Among all actions tackling the environmental adverse impacts of transport, reducing the use of cars in urban areas is undoubtedly the most promising and beneficial action from any point of view. The recourse to automobile is in large part the result of habits more than a necessity. It is essentially from habits that more than 30 percent of trips made in cars in Europe cover distances of less than 3 km and 50 percent are less than 5 km3. For these short trips, the use of soft transport should become more systematic.

For those who are not in a position to relinquish the use of a car, opting for a fuel efficient car (e.g. a hybrid car) is becoming a must, and the primary concern of both car users and car makers. In addition, changing driving practices can lead to a substantial reduction in the fuel consumption of combustion engine vehicles, as insignificant as this action may seem at first sight: environmental-friendly driving, or “eco-driving”, can improve by 5 to 20 percent a car fuel economy4. A growing number of driving schools worldwide now provide eco-driving training as part of their curricula. In the Netherlands, this practice is compulsory for all driving schools5. The most elementary eco-driving techniques are summed up in the light box 1.

Next to the transport sector, and as closely related to our ways of living, the building sector also bears significant responsibility in terms of energy consumption, and more broadly on natural resource consumption, pollution and waste generation. As the object of ever increasing attention from authorities and public opinion, these impacts have led to numerous

1 INFRAS, 2004. External costs of transport. IWW, University of Karlsruhe http://www.infras.ch/downloadpdf.php?filename=UpdateExternalCosts_FinalReport_Summary_en.pdf 2 HAndrew McKillop, 2007. World Car and Land Transport Fleet - http://www.serendipity.li/fe/car_fact_sheet.htm; and IPCC, 2007. Fourth Assessment Report.3 IPCC, 2007. Fourth Assessment Report.4, 5 Idem


• Drive slow• Maintain a steady speed: avoid rapid starts and stops• Use the highest gear possible: step to a higher gear

when the engine runs at 2000 to 2500 tours per minute• Use air conditioning only when necessary• Shut the window glasses when driving• Avoid idling: shut off engine for any stop longer

than 30 seconds• Travel light: do not overload the car with unnecessary

stuff and equipments • Avoid powerful radios and other unnecessary energy-

consuming equipments• Keep adequate tyre pressure

ADVICE IN REDUCING CARFUEL CONSUMPTION6

Light Box 1

initiatives, regulations, norms and labels designed to improve the sector’s environmental performance. A number of assessment methods and rating systems have sprung up, including LEED in the United States, BREEAM in the United Kingdom, HQE in France, or GRIHA in India, in order to assess the performance of buildings, in terms particularly of energy, environment and health.

The more systematic adoption of mature, proven technologies is a key factor in the reduction of the environmental and energy footprint of the building sector. In the field of construction like in the field of renovation, numerous existing techniques now allow


considerable reductions in energy consumption and polluting emissions of buildings. By combining a high-performance thermal envelope with efficient systems and devices, 50 to 75 percent of the heating and cooling energy needs of buildings (as compared with buildings constructed under normal practice) can either be eliminated or satisfied through passive solar design7. Opting for renewable sources (solar, wind, wood) for energy production is a way to further reduce the adverse environmental impact of your house.

But the environmental impact of a building equally depends on its occupants’ behaviours. A study

showed energy use variations of more than a factor two between houses that were identical but had different occupants8. The most advanced technologies will be in a position to resolve the problems linked to the ecological footprint of buildings only when citizens adopt them more systematically, and when energy and natural resources cease to be daily used without much considering their precious nature.

For instance, electricity consumption in your home can equally be reduced by making good use of new technologies, as well as choosing appliances wisely and using them responsibly. The light

6 Eco-conduite.net, 2009. Eco conduite : Conduite économique et écologique - http://www.eco-conduite.net/ ; Consoglobe.com, 2010. Transport. L’éco-conduite en 10 leçons - http://www.consoglobe.com/bp112-4433_transport-eco-conduite-10-lecons.html ; Ecodriving USA, 2011. The Ecodriver’s manual - http://www.fs.fed.us/sustainableoperations/documents/TheEcoDriversManual.pdf7 IPPC, 2007. Fourth Assessment Project.8 Idem


• Look at the energy labels and opt for the most energy efficient electrical appliances from the same category.

• Opt for integrated fridge freezers, rather than a refrigerator with separate freezer. • Avoid American-style fridge freezers, with ice makers.• Choose household appliances that are the right size for future needs. • Only use washing machines and dishwashers when they are full. • Defrost cooling appliances on a regular basis.• Set refrigerator temperature at 5-6°C and freezer temperature at -18°C.• Put cooling appliances in a cool room, away from heat sources.• Wash laundry at low temperatures.• Avoid using tumble dryers.• Choose a dishwasher that allows dishes to be air-dried, rather than heat-dried.• Choose an inkjet printer, rather than a laser one.• Choose LCD or CRT screens, rather than plasma ones.• Completely switch off or unplug appliances that are not in use.• Switch lights off in rooms that are not being used.• Unplug electric chargers once appliances are fully charged.• Use direct lighting, rather than lamps that reflect light towards the walls or ceiling.• Use low consumption light bulbs, rather than incandescent and, more particularly,

halogen ones.

TIPS FOR REDUCING ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION

Light Box 2

box 2 summarises a number of general considerations to be taken into account with such aims in mind.

This closes our series of articles on ecological citizenship, in which we have seen that we, as citizens and consumers, collectively hold a tremendous power in influencing the decisions made at the political and economic levels; that commitment to ecological citizenship is

a growing movement that is slowly becoming the norm; that small changes in our lifestyles can substantially lower our individual (and, when aggregated – collective) environmental footprint. There is no better words to conclude this series and invite you to action than those of Gandhiji, one of the greatest promoters of citizens’ movements of all time:

“Be the change you want to see in this world”.

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


Richa Kukreti Kaushalis currently working with Rural Litigation & Entitlement Kendra (RLEK) an NGO based in Deh-radun. She has more than fifteen years of experience, working with premier Non Government Organisations in Directorial and managerial positions with a vast work experience of working on Gender, Local self Governance, Adult and Children Education, NRM, Renewable energy, climate mitigation and adaptation, livelihoods & policy influence, at the state, national and South Asian region level. She is the Recipient of the coveted UNESCO NLM award by H.E. the President of India, Smt Pratibha Patil as Chairperson of SRC-Uttarakhand for exemplary work

in adult education on the 8th September 2011.

fea

ture


The ho’ble Prime Minister put his entire government on stake to fulfill the national

mission to provide electricity to each household by the year 2012. Rahul Gandhi also mentioned in the parliament that he met one woman Kalavati whose house was in total darkness as there was no electricity. Thus the nuclear energy bill was passed. They assured the country through the parliament that each Indian household shall get electricity, now they have to decide whether the assurance given to the entire country in parliament is more important or the assurance given under religious pressure to some individual like G.D. Agarwal and the pseudo environmentalist.

Energy consumption of any state is an indicator of development and growth, To state the fact, the per captia energy consumption of USA is 13616 kwH , the world energy consumption is2752 kwH, that of India is 543 kwH and of Uttarakhand is 655 kwH. The state of Punjab is an example for the nation where it became an energy abundance state due to the generation of hydro electricity projects on the Bhakra Nangal Dam. Today the per captia energy consumption in Punjab is 907.30 kwH where the state has achieved enormous on the economic and social indicators - a sign of progression.

It is worth mentioning here that the central Government and Government of Uttarakhand state announced “Power mission 2012- “Power to All”, by 2012 but still there are 1220 villages in the state living in the dark or have not been electrified. Its heartening to mention that Uttarakahnd once was propagated as “URJA PRADESH” (Energy State) but due to petty politics in the name of religion, the situation of energy consumption is that the per capita energy consumption in the state of Uttarakhand is 654.84 this is even lower than the Chhattisgarh state. Whereas the per capita energy consumption in Goa is 1970.08, and in Delhi it is 1766.94

RLEK is an organization fighting for the rights of marginalized with the motto of reaching the unreached, so it took up the cause of power shortage affecting the development of the state and hence hindering upliftment of the poor and needy. RLEK wrote letters to all and sundry including Mr. Manmohan Singh - Prime Minister of India, Mr. Rahul Gandhi - M.P. and Minister of Power and Mr. Shushil Kumar Shindey to restart the stalled hydro-power projects in the state of Uttarakhand.

The Financial status of the state of Uttarakhand is also bleak. In the year 2001-02 the debt indulgence was amounted to Rs. 4430.04 Crores whereas in the year 2007-08, the debt amount is expected to reach upto Rs. 13087.5 Crores. The figures depicted in the graph pertaining to fiscal deficit, loan indulgence and loan services for the years 2001-02 to 2006-07 are actual while figures for the year 2007-08 are revised prediction and the figures for the year 2011-12 are estimated.

Vested interest groups are now propagating various alternates to hydro power electricity viz-a

fea

ture


Energy consumption of any state is an indicator of development and growth, To state the fact, the per captia energy consumption of USA is 13616 kwH , the world energy consumption is2752 kwH, that of India is 543 kwH and of Uttarakhand is 655 kwH. The state of Punjab is an example for the nation where it became an energy abundance state due to the generation of hydro electricity projects on the Bhakra Nangal Dam . Today the per captia energy consumption in Punjab is 907.30 kwH where the state has achieved enormous on the economic and social indicators - a sign of progression.

Light Box 1

– viz thermal energy project which we all know consumes coal which is a fossil fuel and is an air pollutant and non sustainable source of energy. Gas based energy is being looked upon, where the nation is not able to fulfill the domestic demand; solar energy where at the national level it maybe an option despite the fact that is a cost intensive and high maintenance alternative, and will not sustain in the state of Uttarakhand, where on an average it rains between 4-6 months with no sunlight for days. Small hydro projects are being proposed, since they would generate less electricity, the number of projects have to be more, which would lead to environmental degradation, and also not able to meet the consumption demand.

The hydel power projects are a must to achieve 100% Rural Electrification of villages and to all Rural household in the state of Uttarakhand which has a large potential of generating Hydro power. As a result, the State Government and the Central Government started major hydro power projects which have environment clearance, N.O.C from the Pollution Control Board as well as from the Forest Department. In most of these projects more than 50 % work has already been completed and thousands of crores have already been spent from the poor man’s money. The work on these projects has also provided much needed employment to local people thus minimizing migration.

The state government has already committed for the uninterrupted flow of the river Ganga and its cleanliness which is its priority. More over these projects are Tunnel not dams.

The Tehri dam which is an example of an economical and cheap, clean and green energy hydro electric project has also enriched the biodiversity after the increase in the water table due to the hydro electric project.

Each year the state is spending Rs 750 crore to buy 150 MW of electricity which has not been able to meet the domestic need of the community.

It is important to note that the state government owned hydro power projects – Palamenari (480 Mw) and Baironghati (381 Mw)and centre owned Loharinagpala (600 Mw) hydro power projects that were stopped by the state and central government due to the political and religious pressures. The state has already invested Rs.80 crores on Palamaneri, 120 crores on Bhairon Ghati and around Rs 1200 crores on the Lohari Nagpala projects.

The state and central government succumbed to the pressure tactics of individuals and abandonded the other hydro power projects of Uttarakhand purely on religious grounds. There are about six power projects namely Vishnugad

fea

ture


Peepal Koti Hydro Power Project, Himjyoti Hydro Power Project, Alaknanada Hydro Power Project etc, which were projected to supply electricity by 2012.

The above projects were never stopped by any court or by the National Ganga River Basin Authority. The work was stalled temporarily on the assurance of Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal Member of Parliament from Kanpur to Mr GD Agarwal to stop work until the 17th April 2012 and the decision would be taken by the Prime Minister on the 17th april 2012 on the closure, if any, there was no order to continue on the ban that has stalled the project.

It is an established and recognized fact that hydro power generation projects are the greenest and cheapest source of energy world over. Unfortunately hydro power projects in the

state have become a political issue resulting in unscientific decisions based on whims and fancies of Sadhus and religious God mans.

It is a well known fact the delay in resuming these project is escalating the project cost would cost the state and the nation dearly. The benefit of this escalation in the project cost is benefitting the contractors at the cost of the taxpayer’s money. The Tehri Hydro electric project’s estimated budget was Rs 300 crore which rose to Rs 9000 crores whereas the Narmada Hydro electric project’s estimated cost was Rs 7000 crores that finally got completed in Rs 47000.

The High Level Expert Group shall examine various technical issues involved in ensuring the required flow in the river Bhagirathi to keep the river alive and to ensure perennial environmental flow in the river.

fea

ture


Recommendations of the High Level Expert Group:

1: NTPC should provide a fish ladder in the Loharinag Pala Barrage to facilitate migration of fish. Pala Maneri and Bhaironghati project authorities also should identify suitable locations for fish farming in consultation with experts. Other project developers on river Bhagirathi should also provide such facilities.

2: loharinag Pala project authorities shall develop Ghats in project area at locations where river is accessible from existing road between proposed diversion and Power House structures for proper bathing facility. Possibility of providing neck deep water adjacent to the Ghats by suitable engineering methods like provision of weirs, dredging (if required) etc. be undertaken. Ghats shall be constructed at locations like Naluna, downstream of Pala dam site, Dabrani and downstream of Lohari barrage site (i.e. near Lodgad confluence). In addition to above locations, additional ghats, if considered necessary by district administration may also be provided by project authorities.The ghats shall be maintained by the State governments and funds for the same to be provided by Project authorities.

3: Project authorities shall also construct cremation grounds in the project area at locations to be finalized in consultation with district authorities and the same shall be transferred to district authorities.

4: In order to protect river waters from contamination or pollution, no new human settlements nor other developments should be allowed by Government of Uttarakhand on the hill slopes between road and river bed, directly draining in the river Bhagirathi.

5: The Bhaironghati, Loharinag Pala and Pala Maneri project authorities shall construct one Dharmashala each, along the Gangotri Highway and hand over to Government of Uttarakhand for maintenance and operation.

6: Bhaironghati, Loharinag Pala and Pala Maneri

Project authorities should provide suitable public convenience facilities at regular interval in their project areas, along the national highway, for use of pilgrims visiting Gangotri. The sewage treatment plants (to minimise pollution of river Bhagirathi) shall also be constructed. These facilities shall after construction be transferred to State Government/ Municipalities for upkeep and maintenance,

High Level Expert Group (HLEG) constituted on an order of the Union Power Ministry, to determine the flow required to keep the Bhagirathi river ‘alive and to ensure perennial environmental flow in the river’ and agreed to release 16 cumecs of water flow from Maneri I and II hydropower projects. The ministry also assured no other project would come up on the Bhagirathi.

“Dams are the backbone of any civilization-storing water for irrigation, municipal supplies and industry, generating power, flood control recreation navigation-river rafting etc, fish production and road bridges”

fea

ture


AFRICANWILD DOG

the


The African Wild dog or Painted Dog as often known is Southern Africa’s most endangered large carnivore and one of the most endangered carnivore species in the world.

• The Wild Dog is South Africa’s most endangered large carnivore.

• The total Wild Dog population in Africa is only between 3000 – 5000 individuals.

• Wild Dogs are considered to be extinct in 23 countries in Africa.

• Wild Dogs are particularly susceptible to snares and road kills.

• In natural areas the lion is the Wild Dog’s main enemy and competitor.

• A Wild Dog uses up twice as much energy as a working Border Collie.

Candice Bradford from South Africa is Qualified in Nature conservation, Wildlife Management, Game

ranging , Environmental Education. She runs an environmental education page with Christina austin

Bush. Her aim is to to educate and aspire love and ap-preciation of our natural world to our youth and she can be contacted at [email protected]

Candice Bradford


Alternative Name: Latin Name: Status: Lifespan: Habitat:

Cape Hunting DogLycaon pictus Endangered12 years.Wild dogs take prefer-ence to areas with few trees and short grass. They are found in sa-vannah, woodland and grassland biomes, as well as hilly areas.

AFRICAN WILD DOG

Light Box 1

The Kruger National Park contains the only viable South African population of Wild Dogs.

The Wild Dog is a highly social species that lives in packs. Normally only the alpha male and female breed and other pack members help to raise the pups. The packs inhabit large areas of 400 – 900 square kilometers in the Kruger National Park. Attempts are being made to improve the Wild Dog population in South Africa by introducing the dogs into other reserves and to managing these sub-populations as a single meta-population.

THEIR DIET AND FEEDING

Prey species include medium to small sized antelope such as waterbuck, impala, springbok and duiker as well as wildebeest and warthog.

Of all the large land predators, the wild dog is the most successful hunter with an average of 80% of its attempted hunts resulting in kills. Wild dogs hunt very efficiently as a pack and rely more on stamina than they do on strength and speed.

Once the prey has been targeted, the dogs then take turns in chasing after the animal at a fairly constant speed of 60 km/hour. The running prey is often forced into the direction of other members of the wild dog pack, who wait ahead to have their turn in chasing after the prey.

The hunted animal, exhausted from all the running slows down or stops, giving the wild dogs the opportunity to grab hold of it with their powerful jaws which they then use to tear off chunks of flesh resulting in the prey dying from loss of blood and shock.

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


OrderFamily Genus/SpeciesColorationHead and Body LengthWeightShoulder HeightMiscellaneous

African Wild Dogs Range throughout South Africa

CarnivoraCanidaeLycaon pictusmottled coat of yellow, black, white, and brown76–123 cm17–36 kg, average 25 kg61–78 cmlongitudinal black mark on forehead; large, round ears; bushy, white-tipped tail

AFRICAN WILD DOGS FACTS

Light Box 2

REPRODUCTION:After a successful copulation the female has a two-and-half-month gestation period. The pups are born underground, usually in old abandoned aardvark burrows. The average litter size varies from 7 to 10 young, with as many as 20. The large litter sizes may be as a result of the very high mortality rate of wild dog pups due to various diseases contracted by domestic dogs and predation by lion, hyena and leopard.

The young suckle for roughly three months but are capable of feeding on meat at 2 to 3 weeks of age. After a successful hunt, the adults then return to the den to feed the young by regurgitating the meat.

Time of Mating: In southern African usually around June, more variable in East AfricaGestation Length: 69–72 days

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


Wild dogs have very large home ranges, ranging from 200 square kilometres to over 1000 square kilometres.

Their respective areas / boundaries may extend into farm lands where they are seen as a threat to live-stock and are often destroyed for this reason.

Wild dogs are highly endangered and many attempts in breeding projects have been unsuccessful with most puppies dying in captivity. Direct persecution by man has, perhaps, been the single most important cause of wild dogs’ decline throughout Africa in the last century. Wild dogs were shot as vermin, even in national parks where: it was considered necessary, as it had often been elsewhere, to shoot wild dogs in order to give the antelope opportunity to develop their optimum numbers. Such shooting continued for many years; for example, wild dogs were

shot by the park staff.The survival and reproductive success of a wild dog pack will depend, at least in part, upon its ability to secure prey. However, no wildlife communities are known to exist in which wild dogs are the only large predators: wild dogs coexist with other carnivores such as lions, spotted hyaenas, leopards and cheetahs. Wherever they have been studied, the spectrum of prey taken by wild dogs is very similar to that of other predators living in the same area raising the possibility that wild dogs might compete for prey with other carnivores. However, it seems unlikely that indirect competition with other large predators has a substantial effect upon wild dogs in most areas where there are still resident populations .

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


Expressions has a readership of approximately 15,000 people from all walks of life, and is delivered online to public libraries and is also easily accessible to general population who cares for the envi-ronment. Expressions is also sent to consulates, govt. organization in India to help provide information to the people who really mat-ter i.e., policy makers. Our research shows that the vast majority of our readers regularly read the advertising pages, and respond well to adverts for products, courses and services.

Expressions online e-magazine that enables you to market prod-ucts and services to a select audience. The quality and consistency of Expressions ensures a longer shelf life, maximizing the number of times each issue is read and your advertisements are viewed.

Sponsorship of Expressions magazine gives your organization an excellent opportunity to both reach this desirable audience and be recognized as a supporter of ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, thus helping in building your social image as well.

For Advertising rates,visit us at www.expressions.icareindia.co.inor call +919411114921, or send an email to [email protected]


Christina Bushhas been featured by National Geographic, Animal Planet, ABC’s Extreme Home Makeovers, The International Anti-Fur Coalition, The Paw Project and many other organizations around the globe. A lifetime supporter of animal protection and education, she works with groups all over the world using her imagery to help save and improve the lives of animals everywhere, both in the wild and in captivity. This is a very rewarding way for her to turn tre-mendous value into her passion for wildlife, photography and art. Visit her photo-gallery at http://www.christinabush.com

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


The strikingly gorgeous leopard is stealthy and secretive, staying as far out of the sight of

humans as possible. Infamous for the ability to go undetected, it is very difficult and rare to ever spot one in the wild as tends to remain elusive up high in the trees or hidden in thick underbrush. Except for the head and legs, the leopard’s body is covered in a light colored coat with distinctive dark spots which are grouped in circles called “rosettes”, because they resemble the shape of a rose. This stunning spotted coat lets the leopard blend in with surrounding bushes and trees, but it can also be the cat’s death sentence. National Geographic has reported that over 2,000 leopards are illegally hunted each year in Africa for their skins. Leopard skins are often used in local rituals by witch doctors and are worn by presidents and church leaders as signs of nobility and power.

The name “leopard” was derived from the Greek words for lion (leo) and panther (pardos). They are graceful and massively powerful with long elegant bodies, broad chests, thick necks, short muscular legs, big paws, long tails and long white whiskers, which are stiff and very sensitive. The whiskers help the cat feel their way through thick underbrush in the dark and the tail is just about as long as its entire body, helping with balance and enabling it to make sharp turns quickly. Its head is massively large with high cheekbones and mesmerizing golden or green eyes. Although the leopard is not the largest cat in the wild, what it lacks in size is made up for in superior strength. Serious injuries can be inflicted on on the cat’s enemies using its sharp teeth and claws if challenged. Lions and tigers usually have no interest in engaging in battle against an adult leopard.

Today leopards inhabit regions of Africa, India, Central Asia, Siberia, the Middle East and China. They are very versatile and diverse animals that can adapt easily to all kinds of climates and conditions, living in ranges in semi-desert areas, rocky mountainous areas, tropical rain forests or swamps. There are nine remaining subspecies and four of them are on the Critically Endangered list published by the International Union for

Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They are the African, Amur, Arabian, Indian, Indo-Chinese, Java, North China, Persian and Sri Lankan Leopards. The Amur leopard that is found in Russia is one of the rarest cats in the world and is on the verge of extinction, with around only 30 left in the wild. Scientists place the mystical Snow Leopard in their own genus because they categorize it as an intermediate cat linking the great cats and the lesser cats.

Leopards are the smallest but most accomplished stalker of the four species belonging to the Big Cat family Felidae which also includes lions, tigers and jaguars. Only these four types of cats have the ability to roar. All other cats such as lynxes, bobcats and cheetahs can purr, but not roar. The four roaring cats are called the “Great Cats” to distinguish them from other large cats, called “Lesser Cats”. The cunning leopard is the ultimate cat and usually considered the top predator in its home range. The physical appearance of this cat is sleek, fascinating and very beautiful. They weigh on average between 130 pounds and 200 pounds and are, pound for pound, the most powerful cats in the world. They are the strongest climbers of all the big cats and also strong swimmers that are very much comfortable in the water, sometimes feeding on fish and crabs. Like house cats, they do not like stepping into water but can swim quite well if necessary. They can also jump up to ten feet straight up into the air.

Leopards mark their territory with urine and feces, as well as clawing the barks of trees. Their call is a distinctive a series of grunts sounding like a wood plank being cut with a saw, tending to occur in the early evening or just before dawn. This call allows territorial neighbors to stay out of their way and also allows males and females to locate one another. They will growl when aggressive then spit and snarl when feeling threatened. Of all the predators in Africa, the leopard is the second fastest sprinter after the cheetah, running up to 40 miles per hour, making up for their short legs with speed and massive power. Their exceptional hearing is more than two times better than that of a human and its

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


vision their six times better, making them superb hunters at night. On average, they live about 12 years in the wild and have been recorded up to age 27 in captivity.

Since adult leopards are such powerful animals they rarely have any predators in the wild, aside from humans. Because they are solitary, they occasionally may be surprised and killed by baboons, pythons, hyenas, lions or wild dogs . Eagles can also be a serious threat to cubs, snatching them up as they try to feed or drink water from watering holes. These cats are nocturnal predators that are most active in the dark, ambushing prey by using slow and cautious movements in the tall grass. They hunt from trees where their spotted coats blend with the foliage of the branches until there is an opportunity to pounce with a deadly vengeance. Prey is paralyzed with a lethal bite to the back of the neck that crushes the spinal cord, strangling the victim with their brutally powerful jaws. The diet of the leopard is very broad ranging from the dung beetle to the adult male eland, which can reach up to 2,000 pounds. The favorite meal choices tend to be antelope, warthog, baboons, hares, and vervet monkeys.

Most time is spent by these cats draped on tree limbs or lying in thick undergrowth to camouflage their spotted coats. They can live without drinking for up to a month, as their

need for water is primarily satisfied by the fluids from the prey the eat. Known for an amazing climbing ability, leopards usually drags their kill vertically to a safe place up in the trees to protect it from other predators.

They will scavenge when necessary, stealing kills from lone hyenas, cheetahs and other small carnivores. Leopards are not fond of eating fur so before opening the carcass to feed on the meat, they will pluck out the

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


animal’s hair. The massive power and strength of a large adult leopard means it is capable of killing prey up the almost ten times its own weight. They are so strong and comfortable in the trees that many times they will drag their kill, up to twice

their own weight, high into the branches to keep the meal safe from scavengers. The leopard lurks in the shadows waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce and will opportunistically take whatever

prey is available- sometimes having two kills at once. Small prey such as small birds and rodents can be swatted to death with a single strike of the paw. They have a very high success rate on kills made in hunts. If they miss, they will seldom chase

their prey.

Black leopards, commonly called black panthers, appear to be solid in color but when examining them closely you can see the dark rosettes in the coat. The black fur occurs due to color variation and they are not a sub-species. Zoologically speaking, the term panther is synonymous with leopard. Therefore, by strict definition, the term “black panther” refers only to the black leopard. Melanism is caused by a recessive genetic trait that is passed from one generation to the next and is thought by many to be a favorable evolutionary mutation for the species. A black leopard cub can be born if both parents carry the melanistic gene. If both parents are black, the cubs will always be black and quite often a black cub is born along with other fair-colored cubs. Black leopards are most commonly found in dimly lit dense tropical rain forests of South and Southeast Asia, where their dark color gives them greater camouflage.

In the early 1960s and 70s hundreds of thousand of leopards were killed for their beautiful fur causing the population of the species to decrease dramatically. It is currently estimated that there are only around 50,000

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re

30 ExpressionS AUGUST 2012cont

ents


leopards worldwide. The U.S. Endangered Species Act has since listed leopards on the African continent as “Threatened” (South Africa) and “Endangered” (the rest of Africa and Middle East & Asia). In the 1970s, all leopards were listed as vulnerable by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and international trade in leopard was prohibited.

In July 1975 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) banned the sale of leopard skins. Since then, the hunting of these cats has been prohibited by law in most countries but illegal poaching is still the greatest threat to the survival of the species. Because coats of leopard fur are extremely expensive, many poachers are willing to risk getting arrested and punished for the possible monetary reward. In recent years the wearing of leopard coats has become less popular as public awareness about the endangered status of leopards has increased. However, body parts such as the teeth, bones, claws, and whiskers are even more valuable today than the furs of the leopard. Some of the body parts are essential ingredients in ancient Chinese medicines and are a huge commodity on the underground black market.

Of all the predators the leopard in most likely to become a man-eater, as many of themhave established territories close to human settlements which results in regularencounters with people. Despite the dark side of the human race, these big cats are just trying to survive in a dangerous world.

Leopards, like all members of the big cat family, have no greater enemy in nature than human beings and their survival is greatly challenged due to the mounting threats against them. The habitats for leopards and many other species receive constant pressure due to habitat loss, poaching and intense persecution. Farmers have killed them with poison and traps to protect livestock or people. Hunters continue slaughtering them for sport and for their beautiful, precious coats. As more and more people continue to settle in developed areas, others have begun to move into the natural habitats of the leopards where they are clearing roads to build more towns and farms, diminishing the areas in which they live. Environmental contamination such as mercury and other chemicals is also a cause of death of wild animals all over Africa. Conservationeffortsmust be made to repopulate the leopard species and end poaching or they will all quickly be on the road to extinction.

Article & All Images: Christina Bush Animal Magnetism Wildlife Awareness column

Visit atwww.christinabush.com/tigers.html

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


Yudhishter Puran Singh23 year old graduate from Mumbai University, a young entrepreneur who loves to devote whatever time he can towards creating awareness about the need for preserving environment. Presently he leads the icare team and is also the editor of expressions


33ExpressionS AUGUST 201233ExpressionS AUGUST 2012


There was a massive hue and cry all across the world over the ‘power crisis’ that left over 600

million people in India affected across 20 states and union territories owing to the National Grid failure. This incident was later on termed as the ‘worst black-out in the world history’.

What is ironical that it was on Monday, the government said that this would never happen again but on Tuesday they proved themselves wrong. All this while the Indian media was going berserk over the power crisis which had struck India not once but twice in as many days, leaving half the nation in complete darkness – nearly one in 10 people in the world, which highlighted India’s horribly inefficient power sector. I have to admit that we have a habit of making a mockery of ourselves.

What baffles me the most is the callousness of the officials, ministers who

are responsible for the same and in all the interviews and stories which were aired on national television, I do not seem to

recall any instance where the Government of India acknowledged that somewhere

down the line they were at fault. The then power minister Mr. Sushil Kumar Shinde when asked about the power crisis was

first to point out that “ In America the grid doesn’t get repaired for four days citing

the 2003 black-out while here in India we repair the grid in several hours and thus

we should be grateful for the efforts of our engineers and bureaucrats”.

In all honesty, it seemed as if Mr. Shinde was trying to justify that everything is under-check rather than admitting that somewhere down the line this is a serious cause of concern for a country which wants to be the next superpower. Amidst all the chaotic mess the Prime Minister was quick to promote the power minister to the post of Union Home Minister, which to me could have been done at a later stage. It’s hard to imag-

ine any country where decisions of such magni-tude would be taken in such a hasty manner.

Although the power was restored within 10-12 hrs across various parts of the country but does that mean an end to future grid failures. Sadly no, many experts believe that due to the current mess in the power sector don’t be surprised to see the National Grid fail anytime soon. What is

co

ver

sto

ry


ironical is that while we are aware of such facts the government seems to be in complete denial about the same.

It’s important to study the current power sector for us to realize where the bottleneck lies. Did you know that - 300 Million people are without Electricity in India even after Restoration of Power Grid.

Not many would know that it is vote-bank poli-tics which is amongst the biggest reason for the mess that our power sector is in today. Confused how? About 70% of voters reside in rural India and half of them are dependent on agriculture as their main source of earning which is one area where government provides various sops in form of cheap, subsidized electricity to the farmers. States like Punjab, Maharashtra etc are under serious debt owing to such schemes but just because politicians are too greedy to win elections thereby they don’t care what happens as a result of the same.

Subsidized electricity or at times free electricity in exchange of votes often results in a situation wherein the price that the consumer pays per unit is even below the market rate and thus the companies which are responsible for distribution of energy end up incurring heavy loses. For instance it is believed that India looses as much as 30% of the power it generates due to poor infrastructure, illegal power connections and systematic inefficiency. Equipment at some power plants is old and faulty. Transmission systems are too old to take the required load. The country requires major investments towards procurement of huge network of cables, conductors and transformers. The power tariffs in most of the country need to be looked into. As mentioned above generation companies suffer heavy losses, owing to which they cannot invest for up gradation. Not many would know that poor infrastructure has been cited innumerable times by experts but the government seems to be in denial about the same. Just look around and have you seen any major up gradation from your local state government electricity department? The answer would be No, whereas on the contrary there should have been considering the amount of electricity consumed by households today has increased manifolds as compared to a few

co

ver

sto

ry


years back. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the distribution infrastructure in the entire country has not kept pace with regards to development on the power generation side. Lets assume there is enough electricity being generated but the sad part is that the power just does not reach the end consumer because the infrastructure for distributing that power is not in place.

Coming back to the recent power crisis, just after the national grid failure the government was quick to lay the blame on states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab etc. for over-drawing electricity more than the amount sanctioned. One wonders that was the power ministry not aware of the facts before the grid collapsed or was it just that the central government was not willing to take up the issue due to the volatile

nature of the current political crisis which has engulfed UPA-II by virtue of various scams. The national coalition government is unable to rein in powerful state chief ministers on whose support it often depends and thus as a result the common citizens are the ones, which are made to suffer.

Not many of us would know that Coal-India a major player which supplies coal to about 82% of India’s power plant has a shortage of around 140 million tonnes. The reason often given for the same is lack of environmental clearances and often talked about land acquisition problems. Though as per the official figures only about 1-1.5% generation is impacted due to coal-shortage but needless these issues need to be addressed sooner than later if India is to even dream of becoming the next Superpower.

co

ver

sto

ry


Enough said about current problems but now I guess one has to look into what are the solutions open to us. From where I see one has the following options available

1. Optimum utilization of Solar & Wind Energy2. Use of Waste Heat i.e. utilizing tail gas of all

furnaces3. Saving existing energy and most importantly

upgradation of the current infrastructure in the whole country.

There are countries which have invested towards putting up prepaid meters with existing sanction load lock in meter. As soon as the load-increases the metre stops working. This way people will be aware and save more with prepaid meters. This would also help in curbing losses as well and also help the government in providing adequate supply as per the demand.

In the end maybe the ‘National Grid Failure’, which has been termed as the worst blackout in the world history, may just be a shot in the arm as it has highlighted and brought to the fore the pathetic and horrifying situation the power sector is in today. We need to realize that if India has to rise and be regarded globally then it has to address issues. Reforms can’t wait any longer. This is a wake up call for immediate measures.

co

ver

sto

ry


anandabanerjee

Chestnut Munia

ph

oto

sto

ry


birdswildKOLKATA

THE

& THE

OF

Ananda Banerjee strives to garner support for conservation of the last tracts of wilderness and wildlife through articles, personal experiences and wildlife photographs. His passion and love for the subject makes him persevere and strive that much harder to establish an unwritten bond with my subjects. He uses the medium of photography as a method to cap-ture the beautiful things he witnesses in nature, placing a frame around something he has seen, letting the image convey the true beauty of that moment in time, that his words could never describe.

ph

oto

sto

ry


Chestnut Munia

Common Kingfisher

ph

oto

sto

ry


Red Muntjac or Barking Deer (Karkar)p

ho

to s

tory


Chestnut MuniaAlexandrine Parakeet

ph

oto

sto

ry

43ExpressionS AUGUST 2012Common Hill Myna


Chestnut Munia

Common Stonechat

photo story

45ExpressionS AUGUST 2012Crimson Sunbird


Oriental White Eye

ph

oto

sto

ry


ph

oto

sto

ry


Chestnut Munia

Oriental Garden Lizard or Changeable Lizard

ph

oto

sto

ry


Golden Orb-Weaver or Giant Wood Spider

photo story


Chestnut MuniaLeopard

photo story

51ExpressionS AUGUST 2012Indian Peafowl


Chestnut Munia

White Throated Kingfisher

ph

oto

sto

ry


Blue-throated Barbet

Golden Orb-Weaver or Giant Wood Spider


Zitting Cisticola

ph

oto

sto

ry


Scaly-breasted Munia


Gorumara National Park (An evening light)

ph

oto

sto

ry


ph

oto

sto

ry


Mrs. Surbhi Arora a UGC NET qualified faculty member, with around fourteen years of experience in industry and academics. She is a graduate in Commerce and Law. Presently she is pursuing PhD from UPES in the area of Oil & Gas Management. She believes that our thoughts lead to actions and actions to results. According to her, hard work and consistency have to be the two pillars supporting one’s achievement.

A WALK ON THE BEACHA WALK ON THE BEACH

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


A WALK ON THE BEACHA WALK ON THE BEACH

Last week after dinner at JW Marriott Hotel, Mumbai, with my brother, a walk on the Juhu

beach seemed to be a perfect end to a magical evening. The feel of the breeze on my face and the sound of the endless sea tempted me to ask my brother to take a walk on the beach. But who would know that it was in stark contrast to the place where we were just a minute away.

What I saw was not a pleasant sight. I was there in the same place, in early 90s, when the sea was blue and it was fun to go in the water. But now when I saw it - it made me think why we cannot respect and care for nature. After all it is an extension of us! The water was muddy, almost blackish in colour and one would prefer going to a mall rather than the beach for health concerns.

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


All across the place there was plastic, garbage, sewage water flowing and the unheard helpless cries of the sea. There is hardly any beach in Mumbai where you would happily want to go with family, specially kids.

Beaches have always been a source of

attraction for tourists. But with lots of litter and noise around, the joys of spending an evening on the beach are reducing.

I do hope that our people realize the importance of keeping India’s beaches clean. The oceans are normally a natural carbon sink,

Beaches have always been a source of attraction for tourists. But with lots of litter and noise around, the joys of spending an evening on the beach are reducing.

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide are increasing, the oceans are also becoming more acidic. The potential consequences of ocean acidification are not yet fully understood, but there are concerns that structures made of calcium carbonate may become vulnerable to dissolution,

affecting corals and the ability of shellfish to form shells.

Although marine pollution has a long history, significant international laws to counter it were only enacted in the twentieth century. Marine pollution was a concern during several United Nations Conferences on the Law of the Sea beginning in the 1950s. Most scientists believed that the oceans were so vast that they had unlimited ability to dilute, and thus render pollution, harmless. Marine debris is mainly discarded human rubbish which floats on, or is suspended in the ocean. Eighty percent of marine debris is plastic - a component that has been rapidly accumulating since the end of World War II.

The discarded plastic bags, six pack rings and other forms of plastic waste which end up in the ocean, present dangers to wildlife and fisheries. Aquatic life can be threatened through entanglement, suffocation, and ingestion. Fishing nets, usually made of plastic, can be left or lost in the ocean by fishermen. Known as ghost nets, these entangle fish, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, dugongs, crocodiles, seabirds, crabs, and other creatures, restricting movement, causing starvation, laceration and infection, and, in those that need to return to the surface to breathe, suffocation. Plastics accumulate because it does not biodegrade in the way many other substances do. They will photo degrade on exposure to the sun, but they do so properly only under dry conditions, and water inhibits this process.

Besides plastics, there are particular problems with other toxins that do not disintegrate rapidly in the marine environment. These persistent toxins are PCBs, DDT, pesticides, furans, dioxins, phenols and radioactive waste. Heavy metals are metallic chemical elements that have a relatively high density and are toxic or poisonous at low concentrations like mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and cadmium. Such toxins can accumulate in the tissues of many species of aquatic life in a process called bioaccumulation. They are also known to accumulate in benthic environments, such as estuaries and bay muds - a geological record of human activities of the last century.

The walk on the beach ended and so did my journey – but what was left inside was a feeling of helplessness. Would there be a day when I can feel the breeze on my face and the sound of the endless sea – without the stink and the noise from the vendors across?

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


the

Girl with the

Green Handbag

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


31st July will not only be remembered as the day the Northern Grid failed,

leaving crores of people across the country stranded without electricity, but also as the day a group of religious individuals decided to go all out commemorating our venerated Lord Shiva’s marriage to his bride.

The high point of it for me was that tuition was cancelled that day. Not because my teacher joined the fevered frenzy of mythological marriage celebrations, but because it was physically impossible to cross the gigantic cavalcade of people and idols and people carrying idols, that had taken over the better part of Chakrata Road. The parade stretched out from Clock Tower to the Cantonment; a seemingly impenetrable wall of humans. But not before it had crossed me did I actually realize what testament it had left behind in its wake.

A trail of paper cups and plates, and other such wastes was scattered all over the road from Bindal, and past Connaught Place. The grey of the road was barely visible under the debris of white thermocol and shiny blue and green wrappers. They fluttered lazily in the cool evening breeze, a blemish on the already quite dirty road. Chakrata Road lay silently in her littered state all day, bare for the world to see her indignity.

In the last month’s issue, I had written about the need to keep our roads clean. This, right here, is a ‘shining’ example. The parade was devoted to divinity, but how could the devotees worship God, and litter His Earth in the same breath? Such impertinence to our motherland, is it not contradictory to those moral values that we seem to profess in profusion? Adequate provisions could very well have been made; bags for waste could have been carried along. It is these habits that defeat the effort of those organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) that try to keep Dehradun clean. Yet, it is not a defeat of those organizations, but it is one of humanity and spiritualism.

Priyanka Sethy

Writing has always been her greatest passion. Lock her in a room with a pencil and a paper, with the occasional glass of tea, and she’ll be a happy person. Priyanka feels strongly about social issues like the degradation of the environment. She’s 16 and is currently studying in Dehradun and she hopes to pursue a literary career in future.

But lets come down to Mother Earth (pray excuse the pun) and worry about those issues closest to home and hearth. Regardless of the numerous Rajnikanth-charging-his-cellphone-in-Delhi jokes doing the rounds about the cause of the grid failures, the frequent and extensive power cuts in the city are a very pressing matter indeed. Whether it was the over-generation of power or its overdraw that caused the failure is immaterial to most consumers who are suffering from hot and humid sleepless nights. In fact, this issue brings to light our total dependence on electricity. And with theway things are in the world, it’s not something to be proud of. Eitherwefindasustainablepower source, or we reduce our consumptionof electricity.

reg

ula

r fe

atu

re


fea

ture

Just by leaving on one lamp in my

room while I went for tuition, I was using up 4,32,000 joules of energy

everyday.

Now, unless we all are undiscovered rocket scientists or genius prodigies, the latter would most appeal to practicality. It amazed me when I thought about just how much power I was wasting every second of the day. Just by leaving on one lamp in my room while I went for tuition, I was using up 4,32,000 joules of energy everyday. How difficult, I ask myself, is it to cross the room and turn off the lamp before leaving for tuition?

It all comes down to us, natives of this planet. If we don’t be the change we want to see, who will? According to the Gaia theory, our Earth is as one living self-regulating organism, where all the components work together to promote sustainable life. But from this incredible symbiotic relationship we shared with the environment, we are moving closer and closer to becoming parasitic dwellers of a bountiful, yet unforgiving host.

regular feature


BAMBOOPITVIPERBAMBOOPITVIPER

Amit B. Dutta is an Engineer by profession and a photographer by heart and can be contacted at www.amitbdutta.in

Amit Bijon Dutta


The Bamboo pit viper is an amazing snake found in the cool jungle regions of southern India, Western Ghats, Goa. It is distinguished by its green and yellow scales and by the pit organs found by the nostril. They usually grow about to two and a half feet, starting with a pointed head and ending at a three part tail. Being a smaller snake, the Bamboo pit viper is pretty shy, using camouflage and other adaptations to hide from its predators. It is said, if you are ever lucky enough to find one of these snakes in the wild, observe from a distance! These snakes are venomous and if threatened, have been known to strike out.

Do you think Bamboo pit viper doesn’t affect you? If you know anyone who uses an ace inhibitor to control heart and blood pressure problems, then you should be grateful for these creatures! The venom of pit vipers is an essential ingredient in these ace inhibitors that are used all over the world.

GEOGRAPHIC RANGEPit vipers span across a huge portion of the world. In Asia, pit vipers extend from Eastern Europe to Japan and Indonesia. Specifically, the Bamboo pit viper is mostly found in the dense jungles of Southern India, Western Ghats, Goa. Some individual snakes may be in other Southeast Asia countries like China and Nepal, but for the most part this species is isolated in southern India.

They are mainly found in the drier parts of the Western Ghats , Goa and parts of Eastern Ghats including Gingee in Eastern Tamil Nadu.

HABITATThe Bamboo pit vipers prefer the cool environment of a dense jungle or bamboo foliage. Bamboo pit vipers are often found close to streams, where small prey is in abundance. The thick foliage provides shelter for the Bamboo

Binomial nameCommon nameScietific Classification

Kingdom:Phylum:

Subphylum:Class:

Order:Suborder:

Family:Subfamily:

Genus:Species:

Trimeresurus gramineusBamboo Pit Viper

AnimaliaChordataVertebrataReptiliaSquamataSerpentesViperidaeCrotalinaeTrimeresurusT. gramineus

INDIAN TREE VIPER, BAMBOO SNAKE, INDIAN GREEN TREE VIPER, GREEN TREE VIPER, BAMBOO VIPER

Bamboo Pit Viper

fea

ture


pit viper to hide from the prey or predator, as well as protection from the unpredictable jungle weather. The climate in the Western Ghats, Goa, Southern India is mostly a warm, wet and tropical.

Like most snakes, pit vipers are solitary creatures, they get together only to mate. However, they have to interact with smaller prey and larger predator mammals from time to time. Ideally, a Bamboo pit viper would live in an environment where there is only prey and no predators. Obviously, this is unlikely, so they have many adaptations that allow them to hide from predators and catch their prey. They also share their habitat with other creatures such as the Asian elephant and the red panda,

though there is not much interaction between them and the larger animals.

Like many other creatures, the Bamboo pit viper is threatened by human encroachment into their habitat. India’s population is increasing very rapidly, and as humans tear down the jungles, they are destroying their home. Because these pit vipers are only found in a small part of the world, destroying their habitat can happen very quickly, and it could become

extinct shortly. Hopefully, laws will soon be created and implemented to protect the Bamboo pit viper’s home before it’s too late.

REPRODUCTION (Mating)Pit vipers reproduce sexually by means of internal fertilization. To do this the male penetrates the female with the hemipenes organ at the base of his tail. No specific rating ritual has been seen between the males and females, though males are known to sometimes fight for the right to mate with a female. Snakes are solitary animals, so the male leaves soon after mating and does not share any responsibility with the young one.


THE MIRACLE OF BIRTHPit Vipers are classified as ovoviviparous. This means the female produces eggs, but they hatch inside the female and thus she gives birth to live young ones. This is unusual in the Reptile class of organisms, a feature unique to certain families of the Squamata order.

The litter size of the pit viper varies, but is typically 4 to 5. Variation in litter size can be caused by both genetic and environmental factors. Studies have shown that females with a larger mass and more energy reserves will give birth to a larger litter. Likewise, in regions where resources are plentiful, larger litter sizes have been observed then in regions suffering from drought or other environmental factors. The young possess brightly marked tails which they use as worm-like lures to attract small frogs and lizards.

DESCRIPTIONBamboo Pit Vipers are pale green with a slight, uneven black pattern on the back. Their head is wide and triangular, placed on a slim delicate neck. The scales on the top of their head are tiny whereas the dorsal body scales are slightly keeled. These snakes are one of the most common varieties of the Green Pit Vipers of India. The Green Pit Vipers are mainly arboreal, living in vines, bushes and bamboo; but the

many-coloured ones like the Rock Pit Vipers are terrestrial, preferring rock cliffs, tree bases and stream edges. The diverse species tend to have temperature, elevation and humidity preferences.

HABITSThey are slow moving snakes and are active at night and sleep in the open by day. They protect themselves by camouflage. Although slow to defend themselves, they are capable of fast strikes and bites, if injured or seriously troubled. They often vibrate their tail when frightened or cornered.

FOODSmall ones feed on frogs and lizards. Larger ones tend to prefer rodents but seem to take frogs as well.

VENOMTheir venom varies between species in toxicity, but all are primarily hemotoxic and considered to be medically significant to humans. Urban legends of a “Two step viper” have been created around this genus suggesting that a certain species has the toxicity to kill a person within seconds, a reasonable explanation however, is that there is a possibility of major allergic reaction to toxins which might have been misconceived as a deadly new species’ venom.


Last month marked an important milestone in sustainable development. The United

Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Brazil, brought together governments, international institutions and major groups to discuss pressing global issues such as food security, freshwater access, sustainable energy, and biodiversity. Media Impact is honored to have been invited to Rio as an official partner to the Global Island Partnership (GLIPSA) and the Equator Initiative, which was celebrating its ten year anniversary. Launched in 2002 at the World Summit on

Sustainable Development, in Johannesburg, South Africa, the initiative oversees three key program areas: the Equator Prize, Equator Dialogues, and Equator Knowledge.

We, at Media Impact, are deeply committed to partnerships, as we believe that they are critical in driving sustainable development. The substantive discussions stemming from these fruitful partnerships in Rio highlighted the merits of such partnerships. From June 20 to June 22, Rio +20 marked the 20th anniversary of the original summit, which

mediaimpact at

reflections on the power of partnerships and commitments made towardsThe Future We Want.

Organization Update


first introduced sustainable development to the agenda. Rio +20 provided an open dialog for participating countries to rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection. More than 3,000 side events took place around the city in the weeks leading up to the summit. This year’s event brought together representatives of the 25 winners of the Equator Prize 2012, awarded to community-based solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities.

As an official partner of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Media Impact produced nine videos for the Equator Initiative Awards Ceremony – a vibrant celebration of local action in sustainable development, where more than 1,700 people recognized the outstanding achievements of international community leaders in advancing “best practice” cases of sustainable development.

This year’s gala ceremony, commemorating both the 10-year anniversary of the Equator Initiative and the 20-year anniversary of UNDEP’s GEF Small Grants Program, celebrated local

action in thematic areas such as food security, freshwater access, sustainable energy, oceans and biodiversity. The number of dignitaries and global leaders who attended the Awards Ceremony served as testament to the Equator Initiative’s reputation. Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, and Gilberto Gil, world-renowned musician and former Brazilian Minister of Culture, hosted the event, while Edward Norton, actor and UN Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity, and Camila Pitanga, Brazilian actress and environmental advocate, emceed the

ceremony. Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, and Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank founder and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, were among those who presented awards during the course of the evening. Media Impact’s videos, which captured the palpable enthusiasm throughout the evening, were well-received and helped to establish a promising, longer-term partnership with UNDP.

Furthermore, as an official partner of GLIPSA, Media Impact participated in a high-profile breakfast, co-hosted by the President of Indonesia and the Prime Minister of Grenada


which brought together the heads of state of six countries to make significant commitments to nature.

The event was coordinated by The Nature Conservancy and GLIPSA, which Media Impact supports through involvement in the Steering Committee and co-funding the Islands Communications Manager position. The breakfast proved to be highly successful, as world leaders and dignitaries agreed on bold commitments to preserve natural resources, focusing in particular on marine conservation.

“The blue economy is our next frontier,” accentuated President Yudhoyono during his opening address, empathically speaking to a room full of leaders ready to announce significant commitments toward achieving a “green” and “blue” economy.

“We are all united in our determination to see us do better to preserve and to nurture the world’s oceans. This really is a historic opportunity to come together to renew our commitment to the marine environment of our world,” emphasized Prime Minister Gillard of Australia.

The number of commitments to sustainability at the

summit was truly inspiring. President Yudhoyono reaffirmed his leadership of the Coral Triangle Initiative for coastal livelihoods, food security and climate change. He outlined a multi-pronged approach to recognizing the value of nature for coastal communities and Indonesia’s economy. Prime Minister Thomas announced that he would co-host a Caribbean Political and Business Leaders Summit with Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin

Rio +20 provided an open dialog for participating

countries to rethink economic growth, advance

social equity and ensure environmental protection.

More than 3,000 side events took place around the city in the weeks leading up to the

summit.


Group in 2013. The aim of the summit will be to expand the commitments of the Caribbean Challenge Initiative, placing 20 percent of near-shore marine area under protection by 2020 and developing sustainable finance mechanisms to finance the management of protected areas.

Prime Minister Winston Baldwin Spencer of Antigua and Barbados, formally joined the Caribbean Challenge Initiative after committing to protecting 20 percent of their near-shore marine area and 15 percent of their terrestrial area by 2020. The country has also committed to creating the Antigua and Barbuda Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (ABCCAT) and developing sustainable finance mechanisms such as user fees and debt-for-climate adaptation swaps to provide a sustainable source of funding. This support will help to protect marine and costal resources and adaptation to climate change.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Australia, committed to placing more than 3 million square kilometers of its oceans under conservation management, thereby establishing the world’s largest and most comprehensive network of marine reserves. Additionally,

Australia will help other countries achieve the “blue economy” by almost doubling their longstanding support of the Coral Triangle Initiative to $8 million (AUS) and an additional $25 million (AUS) in funding for fisheries and climate change adaptation in the Pacific.

Vice Minister Soto, Colombia, committed to reducing deforestation, protecting its Amazon basin, and ensuring that environmental impact compensation are made in the most strategic locations and actions.

Vice President Danny Faure, Seychelles, announced the Island nation’s commitment to establish 30 percent of its coastal zone as marine protected areas, with half of this area as “no take zones.” Seychelles also committed to providing three years of financial support to GLISPA and to continue to support the launching of the West Indian Ocean Challenge, established to mobilize countries behind island conservation and sustainable livelihoods. Finally, The Nippon Foundation, represented by Chairman Yohei Sasakawa, committed to provide resources to nations that have made “blue economy” commitments at Rio+20. The


Foundation, which has provided expertise and resources to improve ocean management in 110 countries, has committed to launch a new initiative involving a ten-year, high-level dialogue process and the development of new programs to advance sustainable use of ocean resources. “These commitments demonstrate vision and leadership in making the ideal of sustainable development real,” said Glenn Prickett, Vice President of External Affairs for The Nature Conservancy. “The value of natural capital has emerged as perhaps the most important theme of the Rio+20 conference... These leaders are taking tangible steps to invest in that value and that’s real cause for celebration.”

While Rio+20 may have not have met all international expectations, receiving some criticism in the press for failed agreements and weak consensus on certain issues, Media Impact saw the event as a solid step forward. We strongly believe that this important summit was successful in identifying the actions and making commitments to The Future We Want –a core focus of the summit and the title of one of Media Impact’s videos. In essence, Rio +20 brought us closer to achieving a sustainable and green future – The Future We Want.

Media Impact shares and believes in the optimism of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who insisted that: “Rio+20 has given us a solid platform to build on. Rio+20 has affirmed fundamental principles, renewed essential commitments, and given us new direction.” Moreover, the summit has us a renewed sense of appreciation in the power and impact of sensible partnerships.

Vice President Danny Faure, Seychelles, and Prime Minister Julia Guillard, Australia


Squids can drop arms as defensive tacticIANS, WASHINGTON, August 3, 2012

A small species of deep-sea squid can detach the tips of its arms when under attack, leaving them fastened on its predator as a distraction, says a study.

Stephanie Bush, post-doctoral researcher at the University of Rhode Island, said that when the foot-long octopus squid found deep in the northeast Pacific Ocean “jettisons its arms” in self-defence, the bio-luminescent tips continue to twitch and glow, creating a diversion that enables the squid to escape from predators.

“If a predator is trying to attack them, they may dig the hooks on their arms into the predator’s skin. Then the squid jets away and leaves its arm tips stuck to the predator,” explained Ms. Bush. “The wriggling, bio-luminescent arms might give the predator pause enough to allow the squid to get away.”

Scientists had speculated that they may release their arms, just as lizards can release their tails when attacked, but no one had seen it happen. Using a remotely operated vehicle in the

IN THE NEWS


Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon off the coast of California, Ms. Bush poked at a squid with a bottlebrush, according to a statement of Midwater Ecology Lab.

“The very first time we tried it, the squid spread its arms wide and it was lighting up like fireworks,” she said. “It then came forward and grabbed the bottlebrush and jetted backwards, leaving two arms on the bottlebrush. We think the hooks on

its arms latched onto the bristles of the brush, and that was enough for the arms to just pop off.”In further experiments, Ms. Bush found that some octopus squid appeared hesitant to sacrifice their limbs, but some did so after being prodded several times. When she provoked seven other squid species similarly, none dropped their arm tips. The squid are able to re-grow their missing arms.

Minor earthquakes seen near Texas injection wells: studyBy Deborah Zabarenko (Reuters)

WASHINGTON | Tue Aug 7, 2012 1:25am IST

(Reuters) - Dozens of small earthquakes occurred in central Texas over a two-year period, and 23 of them were close to injection wells where waste water from energy extraction was pumped deep underground for disposal, a new study reported on Monday.

The study used temporary seismographs to detect earthquakes of magnitude 1.5 or higher in a geologic area called the Barnett Shale, a swath of land the size of England that includes Dallas and Fort Worth.

Earthquakes with magnitudes of 1 to 3 would be felt by few people, and only under particularly favorable conditions, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Study author Cliff Frohlich of the University of Texas at Austin located 68 earthquakes in this area, more than eight times as many as the U.S. National Earthquake Center found over the same period from November 2009 to September 2011.

Of those, 23 were located within about two miles of high-volume injection wells that pumped more than 150,000 barrels per month of water underground, Frohlich wrote in the Proceedings of

the National Academy of Sciences.

His study did not examine any possible link between earthquakes and hydraulic fracturing - commonly called fracking - where water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground at high pressure to break up rock formations that contain oil and natural gas.

“Drilling never causes earthquakes,” Frohlich said in a telephone interview. “Fracking almost never causes earthquakes ... While there are probably millions of hydrofracking jobs, only a few have caused earthquakes and they’ve all been little tiny earthquakes.”

Many high-volume injection wells in the Barnett Shale were not near earthquakes, and the study does not specify what made the difference.

Frohlich theorized that injection of water only triggers an earthquake if a nearby fault is “experiencing tectonic stress” - that is, the fluid underground might relieve the stress by getting the fault unstuck, causing a mild earthquake. To test this theory would require data about subsurface faults that is not available now.


This research sparked interest in Britain, where shale gas extraction came under fire last year after tremors were measured in Blackpool, where fracking was taking place. The government temporarily halted fracking at the site.

British science and engineering bodies reported on June 29, 2012 that shale gas fracking is unlikely to cause big earthquakes or contaminate drinking water.

Cuadrilla Resources, a UK shale gas company, said on July 12 that it will improve monitoring of earth tremors at its drilling sites.

(Reporting by Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Marilyn W. Thompson and Eric Walsh)

India joins U.S. in opposing E.U. emission planPTI

WASHINGTON, August 2, 2012

India has joined the U.S. and 15 other major countries in opposing European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) which requires carriers flying to or from Europe to offset their carbon emissions.

The two-day meeting hosted by the United States to chalk out a common strategy against the E.U.’s emission trading scheme concluded on Wednesday.

“They (India) have been clear both in that meeting and any number of times thereafter that they are strongly opposed to the application of the ETS and have had quite strong and vigorous words concerning the application of the ETS to foreign carriers,” a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity.

Since the meeting was held under what is called “Chatham House Rules” — which is to say people are encouraged to speak freely and candidly because what they say isn’t going to be reported afterwards — the senior administration official was not at the liberty to divulge India’s point of view during the meeting.

India, in fact, has hosted meetings against E.U.’s ETS in New Delhi in the past.“So I think you can get a pretty good flavour of where India stands, looking at other things that they’ve said, but I’m not going to discuss what they said in this meeting,” the official said, noting that probably every country outside of Europe has opposed the emission trading system on both legal and policy grounds.

“But at the same time as we have opposed the application of the ETS in that manner, we have been strongly supportive and many countries strongly supportive of the objective of reducing emissions from aviation,” the official noted.

The meeting was convened in Washington with a group of major aviation countries for supporting the process of making progress on reducing emissions in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which is the multilateral body charged with handling international aviation.

“We wanted to bring that group together to discuss ongoing progress and continued progress that can be made and also to explore whether


there seemed to be some basis for an overall global solution that would have the additional effect of causing the E.U.’s ETS to be set aside with regard to foreign carriers,” the U.S. official said.

The meeting confirmed the very solid and strong opposition to the ETS as applied to foreign carriers, but also indicated that there was a lot of interest among countries in continuing to work on the suite of activities that ICAO has been working on.“And those include developing a CO2 efficiency standard for aircraft and engines.

“There was, in that respect, a quite important development just within the last week or so from the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protections known as CAEP,” the official said.

Experts are also working on the development

of the global standards needed to enhance the improvement of airline operations, things like air traffic management, which are actually enormously important, a big part of reducing emissions, the official added.

According to the U.S. official, a trading system by itself doesn’t cause aviation emissions to get reduced.

It might cause airlines to go into the market and buy reductions, buy allowances from their governments if the governments are supplying them or from other businesses, but there are a whole lot of steps that airlines can take — more efficient airplanes and airplane engines, much better air traffic management operations, the development of alternative fuels, the official argued.

Tummy bug outbreak due to climate changePTI, July 25, 2012

Man-made climate change is increasing tummy bug outbreaks in Europe, resulting in illnesses ranging from cholera to gastroenteritis, scientists reported recently.

Vibrio bacteria, which is normally found growing in warm and tropical waters, now thrives in the Baltic Sea bacteria strains and scientists believe it will multiply as seas warm.

Climate change is driving the growth of a group of water-borne bacteria in northern Europe that can cause illnesses from cholera to gastroenteritis, theDaily Mail reported.

An international team examined sea surface temperature records and satellite data, as well as statistics on Vibrio cases in the Baltic Sea.Vibrios bacteria can cause various infections

in humans, from eating raw or undercooked shellfish or from exposure to seawater.

The researchers found the number and distribution of cases in the Baltic Sea area was strongly linked to peaks in sea surface temperatures.

Each year the temperature rose one degree, the number of vibrio cases rose almost 200 per cent.

“The big apparent increases that we’ve seen in cases during heat wave years... tend to indicate that climate change is indeed driving infections,” study author Craig Baker-Austin from the UK-based Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, said.


Counting the carbon cost of the EU’s woods By Barbara Lewis (Reuters)

BRUSSELS | Wed Aug 8, 2012 5:10pm IST

(Reuters) - What do olives stones shipped from the Mediterranean to Sweden and a wooden bed have in common? They can both count as part of EU efforts to limit the amount of carbon leaking into the atmosphere and, as such, they are hotly contested.

Increasingly, the 27-member bloc, which has sought to lead the fight against global warming, is relying on biomass - covering anything from olive waste to old blackcurrant bushes to trees - to generate heat and power.

For the purposes of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, biomass used as fuel is counted as carbon-neutral. The underlying assumption is its emissions are offset by the planting of a new tree. Felled wood, until burnt, is a carbon store.

The reality is much more complicated, say environmentalists, who are concerned creative accounting is belying the true state of the world’s forests, while EU climate goals slip from grasp.

“You’re assuming the whole world has started reducing emissions from its own use and is improving its land management and that’s a total fantasy,” Pieter de Pous, policy director at the European Environmental Bureau, said.Demand for biomass, most commonly in the form of wood pellets that can easily be transported, has leapt since the EU in 2007 set its 2020 climate goals, which include cutting carbon emissions by 20 percent and increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix to 20 percent.


National renewable energy action plans drawn up by EU states show around 50 percent of green fuel will come from biomass.

Officially, the EU is meeting its carbon cutting and renewable goals. The first danger is that shipping wood pellets and then burning them adds to, rather than lowers emissions.

“The point to remember is that the smoke that directly comes out of the chimney burning biomass pollutes the same as the emissions from coal,” Robbie Blake, biofuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said.

Another consequence, the wood industry says, is that the demand for wood pellets is distorting the market.

The European Panel Federation, which represents makers of wood board, says costs for its raw materials have been driven up in nations, such as Germany, while use of wood for biomass is subsidized under policies to encourage renewables.

It wants the carbon life-cycle of wood to be taken into account and more wood to be used in construction and furniture.

The body quotes an industry estimate that a 4 percent rise in Europe’s use of wood as a material, rather than a fuel, would sequester an extra 150 million tons of CO2 per year.

A CARBON STORE CUPBOARD?

Whether treating furniture as a carbon store can help to save the planet is a moot point if it is shipped from countries where it is not accounted for at the point of harvesting.

Beyond the EU rules, the United Nations’ Kyoto framework does not cover all nations. The United States never ratified the 1997 Kyoto pact, while Canada and Russia have said they will not set new Kyoto targets.

These countries are likely to be the leading suppliers of wood, especially Russia, home to a fifth of all forests.

“One way or another, an awful lot of emissions from forests look like being completely overlooked,” John Lanchbery, principal climate change advisor for the Royal Society for the Protection of the Birds, said.He cautiously welcomed European Commission proposals to tighten its accounting, published earlier this year and up for further debate in the final quarter. Although they don’t close every loophole, they go further than U.N. rules because they aim to map the carbon consequences of changes to agricultural as well as to forestry land.

But they don’t set any targets for emissions or change the ETS assumption biomass-use for power is carbon-neutral. Efforts to over-rule that would be likely to meet stiff resistance from the woodiest EU nations, as well as the big utilities, which would be required to offset far more emissions through the Emissions Trading Scheme.

For all the vagaries in the current accounting, there are lobbyists on both sides who do not propose abandoning biomass.

Energy companies are experimenting with all energy forms. They say co-firing power stations to generate from biomass as well as coal is an easy conversion and they say it is better than just using carbon-intensive coal.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency says counting up the trees will become more scientific through trial and error.

“Rather than focusing on these uncertainties that are not straightforward to eliminate, we think that a bottom-up approach is needed that identifies those feedstock sources and production methods with clear CO2 benefits compared to fossil resources,” Anselm Eisentraut, bioenergy analyst at the IEA, said.“We recommend setting up intermediate targets for bioenergy, such as doubling global bioenergy supply by 2030 in a sustainable manner. Such targets are needed to gain experience,” he said. “These real-life results will be extremely valuable.”

83ExpressionS AUGUST 2012Advertisers can also advertise, with a link to their website, on our website at a nominal cost.

expressions august 2012 volume 3 issue 3

Documents

content of expressions

right people

billions of people

new delhi

dark sight

right leadership

right measure

great country