Are Green Homes in India only for the Elite?

Someone asked this question during a wonderful Q & A session with Dr. Chandrashekar-Hariharan, Executive chairman, BCIL Zed Homes, on the future of green homes in India.  The written transcript of the interview on "IBN Live" is here but I'd like to reproduce part of his answer to the question whether going green is a fashion statement.

He doesn't deny that is the general perception in India and then lets us know how and why that perception should change. It is obviously in his interest - he builds and sells green homes - to say so but I believe what he has to say about it being in our own interest to go green.

Human activities put gases like carbon monoxide, carbon-,sulpur-, nitrogen-dioxide into our atmosphere. Besides breathing them in we ingest them through our food chain because they have seeped into our soil and waters. Green Homes not only help us save on our bills, they also help us reduce the production of these gases.

[For articles on why these gases are deadly dangerous and what exactly they do to our health and medical bills please visit my page,  "Fumes We Breathe In Besides Oxygen". The same articles are on the "Green Dream Foundation, India" blog.]

And now, over to Dr. C-H

"... we are going green in OUR OWN interest. We must go green because it enhances our security on energy and water; because it saves us money on energy and water bills. We pay today nearly Rs 130 to Rs 180 per thousand liters when we import water by tankers! And this cost will only rise. We have to get smart on the demand for fresh water and energy. We have to reduce -- if not altogether eliminate -- our dependence on the city civic infrastructure for energy, water and waste. We must go on-grid with local solar/wind solutions for powering our homes and offices. The cost is very attractive today, and the savings are immense. We must stop exporting all waste from our apartment and office blocks, even from our individual homes. We must stop relying on the Govt water supply boards for fresh water. We must avoid making deep borewells, and work on shallow aquifers with water and watershed management systems that ensure water availability in open wells, like in our grandfather's home. Yes, there will be challenges at the extreme specific levels of a building in your personal context. That can be easily overcome with inputs from professionals who have domain expertise."

Here's the link to the rest of the interview again and it is absolutely worth a read. Questions are from ordinary Indians.


Finally, to end on a positive note, here's good news for our air, our soil and our waters. It is an innovation known as "Bloombox". It is just a tiny little box which has (to date) a small carbon footprint and has been sold to huge companies like Google, Ebay and others. This little box produces electricity and is the brainchild of K.R.Shridhar. His customers seem to be very satisfied with the bloombox claiming their regular electricity grids are at least four times more expensive. Go, KR.

Green Dream

As soon as the word "environment" is mentioned I see so many people switch off. And it is no wonder. So many who are enthused about and concerned for the environment might end up sounding just a tiny touch preachy. I am probably guilty too.

Keeping that in mind I've written a post that I hope is informative and not preachy. It discusses our way of life today, in the 21st century, and weighs up why that is under threat from the very activities that have made life comfortable so far. Do we have to give up our activities to try and clean up our environment and improve our health? Isn't there any other option?

I was pleased when Green Dream Foundation, India, published my post. Please head on over to their  website to read it. They (and I) will appreciate your thoughts, comments and opinions on this and other articles on the environment.



Links
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/greendreamfoundation 
website: http://www.greendreamfoundation.org
For my articles on their website go to:  http://www.greendreamfoundation.org/life-giving-activities-or-the-environment-do-we-have-to-make-a-choice/

In their own words Green Dream Foundation, in collaboration with its partners will develop a sustainability education and advocacy platform for young people to raise their awareness of the why and how of climate change. Our objective is to inspire, educate, and promote personal behavior alternatives to carbon-intense consumption and lifestyle habits, and empower young people to play a significant role in developing climate change solutions. All our endeavors have the sole objective of bringing about change for a cleaner and a greener world.

Details: You can contact Abhishek Agarwal (Co-founder at Green Dream Foundation) at 9958866676 or abhishek@greendreamfoundation.org to discuss more about this.

Support: Green revolution, aforestation, anti-pollution, environmental awareness, reducing carbon footprint, recycling
 

Credibility of Indian Politicians

What Platform will Indian Politicians Fight on in 2014? What rhetoric will they be able to spew out with conviction? 

The 1993 synchronised bombs in Mumbai left Indians in shock. The feelings uppermost in Indian minds were disbelief that anyone could hate us so much, and fear.  

Indian flag by gsagri04, open clipart

The attacks from gun totting Pakistanis in '98 left us reeling with the same feelings. But added to that was pride in the way Indians helped fellow human beings plus an awareness that our enemies wanted India to descend into chaos and a determination not to let that happen. Indian communities came together in a show of unity and strength. There was also a slow burning anger at the Indian government for taking so long to send help.

When the Zaveri Bazaar bombs went off in July this year, Indian anger at the government reached boiling point. Some government official tried to get a photo op. out of the whole hopeless mess - going to the scene of the bomb and giving a speech, calling Indians brave and suggesting the Indian spirit will survive. That was the final straw. Indian anger boiled over. They said "never mind our spirit, what are the government's plans for our safety?" and more words to that effect. here's one link out of millions - Bombed, Doomed and Living On 

Indians are aware that the first instinctive thought of any politician is to kill the opposition. Indians can live with that. They know leaders of major parties try and ensure that party line are followed. But safety is beyond petty party politics. Indians are angry that their safety and security isn't of paramount importance to our politicians. Political parties in any mature and responsible democracy throughout the world understand it is non-negotiable. This is possible in India too, according to http://ibnlive.in.com/news/devils-advocate-why-has-india-failed-to-combat-terror/183168-3.html 

The next elections are three years away. Can we afford to wait that long to ensure the safety and security of our country is on our politician radar screens? Indians need to see the two major Indian political parties hammer out differences on this vital issue now. Or, the Indian public is willing to look for someone who will - perhaps an independent. 

The other big issue is, of course, corruption. We've come to know how Indian MPs have been looting the Indian treasury. In states ruled by both major parties the degree of corruption is mind boggling. It involves lakhs of crores of rupees where 1 lakh crore is 

Sabsey bada Rupaia - Indian rupees by beshra, free clipart

Rs 1,000,000,000,000.
(At the current rate, that is 20,393,596,410 USD) 

And they get away because our anti-corruption agencies are hopelessly under-staffed, under-funded and not independent of the government. Files investigating MPs land on the desks of staff working under those very MPs. Who would investigate their boss? And there's more as explained by "India Against Corruption" or http://nevermindyaar.blogspot.com/p/india-against-corruption.html

The outrage and scorn for our MPs has boiled over. And the irony is that both major parties have declared in almost all their previous party manifestos they will fight ... you guessed it, corruption.

Here are a couple of links to Congress’s "common minimum programme" of 2004. http://pmindia.nic.in/cmp.pdf  straight from the PM’s office or http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3757269.stm from the BBC

A few points covered in the common minimum programme are, no privatisation, abolition of POTA (Prevention of Terrorism) that made the minorities feel threatened, uplifting the poor, education, economic reform and growth, women’s rights and corruption.

The BJP’s agenda in 2009 included life and job security to all citizens, prevent corruption and achieve speedy development. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-04-08/mysore/28057435_1_bjp-leader-l-k-advani-prime-ministerial-candidate
 
Is life any safer in 2011? Has poverty been eradicated? What about the quality of the air Indians breathe, the soil we grow our crops in or the level of pollution in our waters - factors that directly impact our health and our doctors' bills? Our factories to a large extent, know they can easily bribe our politicians to let them continue breaking environment laws instead of ensuring what they spew out or empty out into our rivers and soil as by-products of their cash-making ventures, don't harm the environment. What about electricity grids for our villages? Or pucca roads in India. Are India’s poor any better off, women safer or terrorists less able to execute their anti-human plans in our country? Would the BJP guarantee the safety, security and independence of minorities and women? Would they re-introduce POTA?  Most important of all, are any of our politicians less corrupt or did both parties mean to be the exceptions to their corruption platforms? 

Indians blame most of these issues on weak anti-corruption laws that govern our politicians. Funds for any project are siphoned off by individuals, thereby compromising the said projects. Indians are harassed for bribes at every step. There is determination that a strong anti-corruption bill will be passed to curb the ability of politicians to loot Indian funds and get away with it.

Glib politician rhetoric 

• without a properly spelt out action plan, 
• without a proper budget and 
• without indications where exactly the funds for any glib promise will come from

will not easily take in an enlightened Indian public any more. 

Neither major party will be able to use "corruption and safety-security" as the platforms they fight the 2014 elections on. Indians have openly started heaping scorn and disgust on such speechifying from corrupt and callous politicians.

The only hope Indian politicians have is to put these two issues - corruption in politics and safety-security in India - in order, well before the elections.

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The HOME project

One of the most comprehensive, hauntingly beautiful, yet frightening videos I've seen on the environment. You still come away with an upsurge of hope for our beautiful Earth, for life, for the only place we call HOME.

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  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU&feature=watch-now-button&wide=1 
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The Earth is a Miracle - image from the Home Project

Gombodorj Byambajargal (Mongolian) starts off the singing which is somehow so fitting to the stunning images. The music is composed by Armand Amar.

The video entreats us to get involved and join them at
http://www.goodplanet.org 

The commentary tells the story of Earth as it was, interspersed with compelling images of what we've done to it, how we've depleted our natural resources and changed the climate of our planet. According to the blurb under the video, We've got ten years to change all that.

"The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being.

For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film.

HOME has been made for you : share it! And act for the planet." Yann Arthus-Bertrand



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Environmentally Sound Innovation To Make NZ Company Rich

I have mentioned before that countries that come up with innovations to mop up poisonous, polluting gases from our atmosphere, our waters and soil, will be wealthy. Very wealthy.

Well, what do you know? New Zealand's  Lanzatech has come up with affordable technology to mop up carbon monoxide from the atmosphere and produce ethanol. Who wants this technology? India, China and the US of A for starters! They have already signed deals with the company.

Why are such huge volumes of carbon monoxide (and carbon dioxide) spewed into our atmosphere in the first place? They are the end product of human activities like transportation, oil refining, chemical production and manufacturing industries. Our mountains of garbage also release these gases. (links to why these gases are poisonous for our health are at the end of this article.)  That is why mopping them up from the atmosphere is of the utmost importance. 

Morning Glory

Countries the world over have strict regualtions about the quantities of carbon monoxide allowed into the atmosphere. They are aware of how poisonous it is to anything living (like human beings or this beautiful flower, Morning Glory by Netalloy downloaded from open clipart) and of the need for these regulations. Companies have had to take that one extra step of converting carbon monoxide their factories spew out into something less harmful. Yet others, although environmental laws are in place, have simply continued spewing carbon monoxide into the atmosphere as the enforcement of these laws in their countries have been lax.

Many companies convert carbon monoxide into ethanol. Ethanol is a reusable and clean end product that doesn't poison our atmosphere. It has many uses. If used as fuel in transportation, for example, it wouldn't release carbon monoxide as its end product. The Americans already sell cars that use either petrol or a mix of 85% ethanol and 15% petrol   

The technology for converting these poisonous gases into ethanol has been available for years. Put simply, this is what happens.

Carbon monoxide with the formula CO has no hydrogen (H) in it.
Ethanol (C2H5OH) has a total of 6H. 2C and 1O

Hydrogen would have to be added to carbon monoxide to form ethanol.

In many industries the unwanted end products are exactly the above two - hydrogen, carbon monoxide - plus other gases. In steel mills the end product is carbon monoxide but no hydrogen. Many steel companies to date have converted carbon monoxide from steel mills to ethanol by adding the hydrogen required. Lanzatech has developed a microbe that can circumvent this step of introducing hydrogen altogether. Its microbe can actually produce the hydrogen required by using the carbon from carbon monoxide and the hydrogen from water. The process is so efficient that a lot of the water they use is returned to the reactor for reuse. Whatever the industry, whatever the proportion of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, the Lanzatech microbe can convert it to ethanol. Also, the process is tolerant to any number of contaminents (other gases) present in the reactor.

The production of ethanol thanks to the L-microbe (whatever Lanzatech decides to call it) will now be commercially viable, extremely affordable and socially / environmentally sound.


There are some companies that convert animal and human waste in our sewage to ethanol. But where Lanzatech promises to be different is that its microbe is as harmless as brewers yeast and its process affordable and efficient. I have no doubts that the three countries that have signed up with Lanzatech - India, USA and China - would have done their due diligence because not only are they all astute and business savvy, they have scientists equal to the best in the world.

To conclude I'd have to say - 

Thumbs up by Balex, open clipart

Go Lanzatech!








See how carbon monoxide poisons our health here. 
How do we reduce garbage? http://www.nevermindyaar.com/reduce-garbage/ 
The seven secrets of good composting are a must read if you don't want a goey mess when you compost: http://www.nevermindyaar.com/7-secrets-of-good-composting/



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People who deny Climate Change Are Indirectly Helped by Media

So says Al Gore.

He describes how natural events like, droughts, melting glaciers, heatwaves, storms of stronger ferocity and floods have increased in the past ten years. For example the floods in Australia and Pakistan and the fact that the last ten years have been the hottest on record.

Environmental/Eco Globe and leaf Icon by Kendraschaefer, openclipart

In his own words, Here is the core of it: we are destroying the climate balance that is essential to the survival of our civilization. This is not a distant or abstract threat; it is happening now. The United States is the only nation that can rally a global effort to save our future. And the president is the only person who can rally the United States.

More important, the article outlines what we, the ordinary people could do. Here's the link: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/climate-of-denial-20110622?print=true


A strange twist to Al Gore's article is the one I read before it at the following link:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/al-gore-president-obama-has-failed-on-climate-chnage.php#comment-233376582

To me this article seemed like nothing Al Gore had said. It led one to believe that most of Al Gore's article must be a rave and a rant against Barrack. This it certainly isn't. And Maggie519, one of the commentators after the article seems to agree. Part of her comment is that according to Al Gore:

They (the media) gave equal time/credence to the climate deniers:false equivalency.  It's not hard to imagine how this was hijacked into an Obama hit piece by the MSM.   He actually PRAISED the Presidents efforts on this front in spite of all the odds.  The only criticism (one sentence by the way) was that Obama didn't use the "bully pulpit" to push back against the deniers harder.  

Makes one wonder about the intentions of the author of that article, Benjy something or the other. Never mind, the important issues are

• how rapidly some of our life-giving activities like cooking, keeping warm, travelling, transportation, our very way of life, are threatening the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil we grow our plants in, 
• how we could make changes so that we continue making life easy for ourselves without polluting the atmosphere
• how innovations for this is where our research efforts should be; not only will it help the environment, it is what will make the nation from where these innovations originate, the nation that invests in this kind of research, very wealthy.
• how educating everyone about these issues is essential so that we have ordinary people's buy in

and Al Gore, as usual, has pointed out only too well, the reasons why this isn't happening in the States. He has also pointed out what we, the ordinary people who believe climate is changing because of human activity, can and must do.

Here's the link again:





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The Environment or Life Giving Activities?

Do we have to make a choice?

Some of our life-giving activities involve burning fossil fuels like coal and oil so we can cook, keep warm, travel and transport goods made in factories to our shops and ultimately, our homes. This is our way of life. Unfortunately, this wonderful way of life is under threat from the very activities that have made life easy so far.

Also published on GD's website

Why are these activities adversely impacting our health and the environment? Very often, it isn't the activities per se. It is the by-products of our activities that are the culprits. To date what we've been doing is taking a resource, using it to make whatever is useful and ending the process there. We haven't had to think about what by-product we've created. All too often this has been a pollutant - poisonous for our health and for the environment.

Previously, it hasn't made such a huge difference to the quality of our environment. In recent years the volume of human activity has increased so much it is releasing too many of these by-products (pollutants) into our soil, waters and air.

The World Health Organisation has set safety standards for these pollutants. According to WHO, these pollutants cannot exceed a certain level in our air, soil or water. Besides WHO, our government has set safety standards and maximum allowable limits too. But where enforcement and implementation are concerned, our government is extremely lax.

We obviously cannot stop our activities but what we can do is complete the cycle of taking a resource from the earth, the atmosphere and waters we live off by giving back a reusable resource instead of poisonous ones as the end product of our activities.


To answer the question in the title to this post, "The Environment or Life Giving Activities?" it makes sense to say, BOTH.

======================================================

Let's take resources from our soil, air and water as long as we give back re-usable resources. Giving back pollutants is not an option any more as eventually pollutants will choke the life out of everything living. 

====================================================== 

Why, and to what extent are these pollutants dangerous for our health and well being? The following series of articles is to help us understand why they are deadly dangerous for our health and how they are created by us humans. Once we understand this, we begin to think about the simple solutions that are in our hands with innovative ideas and knowledge.

What exactly can we do? We could make informed choices. If we understand why some gases are deadly dangerous for humans and other living beings, we'd ensure they are not the end product of our activities. To find out more: https://nevermindyaar.blogspot.com/2011/05/why-some-gases-are-deadly-dangerous-co.html

-x-x-x-x-x-

I support "Green Dream Foundation". They are focused on generating awareness, drive action and influence formulation for a better environment globally. 

My environment posts are reproduced at these links

Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/greendreamfoundation 
website: http://www.greendreamfoundation.org
Website link:  http://www.greendreamfoundation.org/life-giving-activities-or-the-environment-do-we-have-to-make-a-choice/


In their own words Green Dream Foundation, in collaboration with its partners will develop a sustainability education and advocacy platform for young people to raise their awareness of the why and how of climate change. Our objective is to inspire, educate, and promote personal behavior alternatives to carbon-intense consumption and lifestyle habits, and empower young people to play a significant role in developing climate change solutions. All our endeavors have the sole objective of bringing about change for a cleaner and a greener world.

Details: You can contact Abhishek Agarwal (Co-founder at Green Dream Foundation) at 9958866676 or abhishek@greendreamfoundation.org to discuss more about this.

Support: Green revolution, aforestation, anti-pollution, environmental awareness, reducing carbon footprint, recycling







.

Making Informed Choices

It is possible to greatly reduce air-pollution. 

Often, it isn't our activities but the by-products of our activities that lead to pollution. Take our cars or our factories. They spew out gases which react with some of the gases already present in the air (mostly oxygen) to form noxious, un-breatheable, life threatening compounds.

Is there anything we can do about it? An unequivocal Yes.


Will the changes we make affect our way of life? To a degree. But it is easier than you think and the benefits far outweigh the inconveniences.

To start with, let me address the Indian perspective. When it comes to making hard choices, here's what some of us in India feel on an individual, business and government level. 

On an individual level we think  it takes too much effort to make a change in our lifestyles. Besides, we ask, how can one person’s actions make such a difference to the air we breathe? And we do get cowed by the wise-guys who level cynical comments at our puny efforts. [Click this link to find out what wiki says about cynics.]

As for our business sector, they don’t dare take that one extra step of recycling the toxic waste their products spew into our atmosphere. That might add to the expense, increase the price of their product or service, which, in turn, would spell disaster - losing out to less ethical competitors.

And our government? Their actions and words are geared to see what will make short term and visible gains for their party.

In the larger context, we feel India hasn't really had the chance to use technology and resources to our benefit like the Western countries have; that they should reduce their consumption of fossil fuel of coal and oil. Not us.

Why doesn't the government enforce some of the laws they've enacted to protect our environment? Laws that might, for example, force all businesses, without exception, to spew out less dangerous by-products into our environment (air, waters and soil); laws that ensure the health of citizens doesn’t suffer and individuals don’t fork out huge medical bills for asthma, deformities, cancer etc.

Unfortunately, some individuals in our government might see that as yet another opportunity to make money – a nice fat bribe from some businesses so they continue to spew CO2 and other life threatening chemicals into our air, earth or water.

How do we, the citizens, fight that? We could say, never mind, yaar. It is impossible to fight corruption in high places, crony capitalism and the like. 

But we could make INFORMED choices. Here are a few.

Buy from

• businesses that are known to convert their waste to re-usable, non-hazardous resources
• businesses that don't wait for government legislation to ensure clean by-products
• businesses whose products are wrapped in recyclable and LESS packaging.

Our instinct has been to buy the cheapest. Making informed choices means fighting that instinct as, in the long term, it is far too expensive. 

We could do other simple, but effective things like, buying recycled paper, using less plastic and changing light bulbs to the energy efficient LED ones.


Most important, we could reduce food, water and electricity wastage.This is what Dr. Johnathan Foley says about our need to reduce our use of all three. Take food - 45% of land on Earth and copious amounts of fresh water are used to grow food. Well, we can't stop eating, nor does he suggest we do. 

The action he suggests is simple and do-able - Cut down on wastage.

He suggests fifteen such easy actions we could take - a must read.

Dare I mention Diwali firecrackers? I've never enjoyed them because my mum used to be asthmatic and if there was too much smoke, she would suffer a severe attack. Watching her gasp for every single breath over three days, sometimes five, was hard. More recently, our little dog (who is no more) was unable to stop trembling at the loud noise. In those days I loved good quality taras (sparklers) and phulecheries (fountains). Unfortunately today, there are simply too many of us. I am not sure what that will do to our air quality. 

Converting our own organic garbage to a resource would help. Our raddiwalas (rag pickers and bottle collectors), do a wonderful job of recycling our non-organic waste in India. We could ensure our municipality doesn't try to benefit from political rivalries by holding our streets to ransom as happened to the streets of Delhi. One of its jobs is to reduce that huge mountain of smelly, rat-roach-fly-mozzie-germ and disease breeding eyesore from our streets, not add to it. We should not let our municipalities ever forget that.

Often, it isn't our activities but the by-products of our activities that lead to pollution.

Perhaps, we could help our poor start using alternatives to coal/kerosene for their cooking.

New innovations and technology are throwing up alternatives all the time. Electric cars are far less toxic for our environment says Shai Agassi on TED - not only are they better than petroleun for the air we breathe, they are cheaper to run. Hopefully, in the long run, they will be cheaper to buy. http://sustainabilityindia.blogspot.com/2011/04/car-20.html

To give you an idea of how a few deadly dangerous gases end up in our atmosphere and what their effects are on us humans, read this post.

A final word: Many of our schools and other organisations, NGOs and businesses already make informed choices everyday. 

We can, too.

If you liked this article, click on Tweety to Share.

Ideas for this article from an inspiring author who spoke on Ted.com. He wrote "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things". His name: William McDonough; The Ted link:
http://townsendlab.berkeley.edu/townsend-center-course-threads/videos/cradle-cradle-ted-talk-author-william-mcdonough









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Environmentally Sound, Two Cents A Mile Electric Cars

Here is an excellent TED talk on the future of the electric car and why it is imperative that Governments all around the world start incentivizing electric cars and the infrastructure needed to support them.

The speaker, Shai Agassi from ‘Better Place’ speaks about his company’s radical plan to take countries off oil by 2020.

Take countries off oil?? Impossible? Shai says it IS possible. What's more, the battery would give us

- 8 cents (US) a mile now,
- 4 cents in 2015 and
- 2 cents a mile in 2020

using a zero carbon, zero fossil fuel energy that won't cough up noxious fumes like those fossil fuels that are choking the Earth and Atmosphere and ruining our health. (For what exactly fossil fuels do, go to Why Fossil Fuels Choke Us

To find out how electric cars will result in clean energy, go to Akhilesh Magal's link to Shai's TED Talk at:

Shai on TED

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Why some gases are Deadly Dangerous-CO

Google Free Image Courtesy http://depletedcranium.com

Also published on GD's website

The last post asked what we'd do if we had to make a choice between the environment and some of our life giving activities. It is a tough choice to make. At a certain point in time will we have to make that choice? Not if we modify our activities to benefit both - us and the environment.

To be able to do that we first need to understand what exactly human activities have been responsible for. To date what we've done is, taken a resource from the earth, used it to make whatever's useful and ended the process there. We haven’t had to think about what by-product we’ve created.

All too often this has been a pollutant that poisons our air, waters and soil and damages our health.

1. This article tells us why certain gases like carbon monoxide are deadly dangerous for our health. It helps us understand why these gases shouldn’t be the end product of our activities.

CARBON MONOXIDE (CO)

How do human activities like burning coal emit carbon monoxide?
Ideally, burning coal should give carbon dioxide and water.
If you have a camp fire in the open air, there will always be enough oxygen to make the fuel burn completely, so you don’t have to worry about carbon monoxide. But, if you share the oxygen you breathe with too many appliances and people – for example, in an enclosed, crowded place, there isn’t enough to go around.
That is when coal or wood burns inefficiently; there is partial oxidation and instead of carbon dioxide or CO2, Carbon monoxide or CO is one of the end products.
CO is also naturally produced in volcanoes and forest fires.

============
Who is at risk? 
============

Anyone who works or lives in a very small or enclosed space, sharing it with many others, is exposed to harmful levels of carbon monoxide. People who work in factories, blast furnaces, who are in their vehicles in traffic - like drivers and traffic police, fire fighters and people who use coal and wood burners are at risk. In short, everyone in India is exposed to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.

• When it enters the bloodstream, CO reacts with the haemoglobin in our blood and forms carboxyhaemoglobin. This reduces the ability of haemoglobin to transfer oxygen to various parts of our body.

CO causes

• headaches, fatigue, dizziness, drowsiness, or nausea.

• Exposure to elevated carbon monoxide levels can cause impairment of visual perception, manual dexterity and learning ability

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning may occur sooner in those most susceptible - young children, elderly people, unborn babies, people with lung or heart disease, people at high altitudes, or those who already have elevated CO blood levels, such as smokers.

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Some other gases that are harmful to humans. Click on each

Carbon Monoxide  

Carbon Dioxide  

Sulphur Dioxide  

Nitrogen Dioxide  

Acid Rain

Particulate Matter  

Ground Level Ozone and Odours


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Why some gases are Deadly Dangerous-SO2

The last post asked what we'd do if we had to make a choice between the environment and some of our life giving activities. It is a tough choice to make. At a certain point in time will we have to make that choice? Not if we modify our activities to benefit both - us and the environment.

To be able to do that we first need to understand what exactly human activities have been responsible for.
To date what we've done is, taken a resource from the earth, used it to make whatever's useful and ended the process there. We haven’t had to think about what by-product we’ve created.

All too often this has been a pollutant that poisons our air, waters and soil and damages our health.

2. This article tells us why certain gases like sulphur dioxide are deadly dangerous for our health. It helps us understand why these gases shouldn’t be the end product of our activities.

SULPHUR DIOXIDE (SO2)

Google Free Image Courtesy http://depletedcranium.com

Sulphur dioxide, a chemical compound with the formula SO2, is a heavy, colourless, non-flammable gas with a pungent, irritating odour. Even though SO2 is very toxic to humans, it is extremely useful. It is used extensively in the preparation of sulphur compounds and solvents, as a disinfectant, a bleach, a refrigerant in the ice industry, for fumigation and as a preservative for beer, wine, dried fruits and meats.

How is it formed through human activity?

Industry: Coal- and oil-fired power plants, steel mills, refineries, pulp and paper mills, and nonferrous smelters are the largest releasers of SO2.
Transportation, Keeping Warm and Cooking: No burning process is ideal. All fossil fuels have contaminants. Since coal, oil and diesel often contain sulphur and nitrogen compounds, their combustion generate sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
Mining: Coal mining itself produces SO2. Coal contains pyrite, a sulphur compound; as water washes through mines, this compound forms a dilute acid, which is then washed into nearby rivers and streams.

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Why Sulphur dioxide is toxic to life 
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If we are exposed to 10ppm (parts per million) SO2 for about an hour, it
• irritates the nose and throat
• sometimes causes a choking sensation
• It also causes nasal discharge, sneezing, cough and increased mucus secretion
• In addition, sulphur compounds in the air contribute to decreased visibility.
• SO2 is also a primary contributor to acid rain, which causes acidification of lakes and streams and can damage trees, crops, historic buildings and statues.
• High concentrations of sulphur dioxide (SO2) affects breathing and may aggravate existing respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Sensitive populations include asthmatics, individuals with bronchitis or emphysema, children and the elderly.

In India, the levels in 5 years to 2014, were up by over 70%. Dangerous levels are 4 to 500 ppm and during Diwali, they go up to over 700 ppm in India

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Some other gases that are harmful to humans. Click on each

Carbon Monoxide  

Carbon Dioxide  

Sulphur Dioxide  

Nitrogen Dioxide  

Acid Rain

Particulate Matter  

Ground Level Ozone and Odours

Why Some Gases Are Deadly Dangerous-CO2

The last post asked what we'd do if we had to make a choice between the environment and some of our life giving activities. It is a tough choice to make. At a certain point in time will we have to make that choice? Not if we modify our activities to benefit both - us and the environment.

To be able to do that we first need to understand what exactly human activities have been responsible for.

To date what we've done is, taken a resource from the earth, used it to make whatever's useful and ended the process there. We haven’t had to think about what by-product we’ve created.

All too often this has been a pollutant that poisons our air, waters and soil and damages our health.

3. This article tells us why certain gases like carbon dioxide are deadly dangerous for our health. It helps us understand why these gases shouldn’t be the end product of our activities.

CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2)


Carbon Dioxide is beneficial to everything living.

It is necessary for plant life and photosynthesis. It is necessary for humans too as without CO2, the Earth would be too cold for life. This is how it heats up our planet. Carbon dioxide is completely transparent to sunlight and lets it pass through and strike the earth's surface. The sun’s light and warmth are partly absorbed by Earth but partly reflected back as infrared energy that radiates back into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is not transparent to infrared energy and it traps the heat on the surface of the planet like a blanket. The other gases that trap this infrared energy and warm our planet are nitrous oxide, water vapour and methane. Together with Carbon dioxide these gases are known as the greenhouse gases.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/steve_green/390180606/

So if carbon dioxide does so much for us, why is it considered bad?

It isn’t carbon dioxide that is bad. It is just the excess carbon dioxide that has been released into our air due to human activity.

For millions of years living vegetation has provided the balance by mopping up the excess CO2 during photosynthesis. But in recent years the cutting down of our forests has drastically reduced vegetation and as a result, there aren’t enough plants to mop up the excess CO2 from our air.

Also, we use a lot of fossil fuels like coal and oil which have been buried deep into the Earth for millions of years. In the last few hundred years our level of dependence on these fossil fuels has increased exponentially. We bring up these fossil fuels from deep inside the Earth and burn them for our factories, as petroleum for our automobiles, as oil or coal to heat up our homes and to cook. The carbon that is trapped inside these fossil fuels reacts with oxygen from the air to produce the heat we need. One of the by-products is carbon dioxide which is released into our air.

The number of people breathing our air has increased a million fold too due to increases in population.

Now the problem is obvious – for the above reasons, too much carbon dioxide is thrown into our atmosphere but not enough carbon dioxide is being removed.

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How excess Carbon Dioxide affects the Earth
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• With more and more infrared energy radiated back from our Earth trapped under the increased level of carbon dioxide, Earth is becoming warmer. This in turn causes changes in climate, currents, melting glaciers and ice caps. If enough ice melts, it could raise the sea level around the planet and low-lying coastal areas would become completely submerged.

• It disrupts our ocean currents which are caused by warm and cold waters meeting and mixing. With glaciers heating up and melting due to excess CO2 in the air, the difference between the cold and warm waters is greatly reduced.

• It increases the acidity of the oceans, which may interfere with the amount of oxygen that ocean life produces (the oceans are a far more important source of oxygen than all the plants on land).

By affecting the Earth, excess carbon dioxide harms everything living.

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How excess CO2 directly affects humans
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• Increased levels of CO2 in the air causes nausea, dizziness, headaches, blurred vision, stiffness and a terrible odour. These reasons alone are worth human beings monitoring their activities to keep the level of CO2 in the atmosphere at the normal of 350 to 450 ppm. Right now it is too much more.

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Some other gases that are harmful to humans. Click on each:

Carbon Monoxide  

Carbon Dioxide  

Sulphur Dioxide  

Nitrogen Dioxide  

Acid Rain

Particulate Matter  

Ground Level Ozone and Odours

Why some gases are Deadly Dangerous-PM

The last post asked what we'd do if we had to make a choice between the environment and some of our life giving activities. It is a tough choice to make. At a certain point in time will we have to make that choice? Not if we modify our activities to benefit both - us and the environment.

To be able to do that we first need to understand what exactly human activities have been responsible for.

To date what we've done is, taken a resource from the earth, used it to make whatever's useful and ended the process there. We haven’t had to think about what by-product we’ve created.

All too often this has been a pollutant that poisons our air, waters and soil and damages our health.

4. This article tells us why particulate matter or PM is deadly dangerous for our health. It helps us understand why it shouldn’t be the end product of our activities.

PARTICULATE MATTER (PM)

Google Free Image Courtesy http://depletedcranium.com

Particulates, alternatively referred to as particulate matter (PM) or fine particles, are tiny particles of solid or liquid suspended in a gas. The variety is huge.

• Sulfates, nitrates, ammonia, sodium chloride, carbon, mineral-dust and water.

• Dust, dirt, soot, smoke and liquid droplets directly emitted by factories, power plants, cars, construction activity, fires and natural windblown dust.

Sources of particulate matter can be man-made or natural. Some particulates occur naturally, originating from volcanoes, dust storms, forest and grassland fires, living vegetation, and sea spray.

Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, power plants and various industrial processes (déjà vu?) also generate significant amounts of PM. Sulphur compounds react with other compounds in the atmosphere to form particulate matter or PM.

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Why does Particulate Matter affect more people than other pollutants?  
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Particulate Matter penetrates deeply into sensitive parts of the lungs because they are easily inhaled and can cause or worsen respiratory disease, such as emphysema and bronchitis, and can aggravate existing heart disease by penetrating deep inside our arteries, leading to increased hospital admissions and even premature death. The smaller the PM, the greater its ability to penetrate deep inside our bodies.

Besides affecting our health PM can also
• damage materials
• clog stomata openings of plants and interfere with photosynthesis. This can stunt the growth of plants or even kill them.
• contribute to acid rain formation.
• form atmospheric haze that degrades visibility.

Facts and figures about PM that are a cause for concern:

The most concentrated PM pollution tends to be in densely populated metropolitan areas in developing countries. 

The primary cause is the burning of fossil fuels by transportation and industrial sources. 

Photo by Thunderror http://www.flickr.com/photos/thunderror/2463862190/in/photostream

Traffic exhaust is the single most serious preventable cause of heart attack in the general public. 

Children, seniors, and individuals with pre-existing respiratory diseases are most susceptible to these health risks.
 

In developing countries, exposure to pollutants from indoor combustion of solid fuels on open fires or traditional stoves increases the risk of acute lower respiratory infections and associated mortality among young children. 

Indoor air pollution from solid fuel use is also a major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer among adults.

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Some other gases that are dangerous to humans. Click on each

Carbon Monoxide  

Carbon Dioxide  

Sulphur Dioxide  

Nitrogen Dioxide  

Acid Rain

Particulate Matter  

Ground Level Ozone and Odours