From my scrapbook :: 3

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Talking trees

That trees help us fight climate change has been known for quite some time. They are seen in the role of being carbon stocks and carbon sinks. A report in the periodical “Down to Earth” indicated that scientists are now studying a more fundamental correlation – the direct effects the trees and forests have on climate through rainfall and cooling. The report continued, trees help retain moisture on the ground and produce cooling moisture which directly affects food security and climate change adaptation.

While further research in this regard is continuing, a book “Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohllenben reveals that trees not only can communicate, they can even think and have memories. The author says that forest is a “superorganism’ where “trees communicate and exchange resources      through roots and fungi networks”. Just like an organism they help each other in times of distress. The tree trunk, for instance, vibrates to alert its neighbours in times of water shortages.

Wohllenben goes on to say that trees can also taste, touch, smell, hear and feel just the way animals do. Water molecules are the media through which the tree trunk is made to vibrate just like animals use water molecules to vibrate their vocal chords. As for hearing ability of trees an experiment is reported to have shown that roots of seedlings moved in the direction of the ultrasonic sound waves coming from crackling of roots of other seedlings in the vicinity

Leaves of spruce, beeches and oaks feel pain when they are chewed on. A similar finding was once reported around half a century ago in Readers’ Digest. A lie detector attached to a potted plant made the machine shake violently when a leaf was torn off it. The plant, it seems, had developed the memory as on subsequent days as the researcher (in fact a policeman interested in plant life) would approach the tree to tear off a leaf its heightened distress would progressively be registered on the machine and on tearing off of the leaf it would be most violent. Apparently, as Wohllenben has observed, trees could “learn” and “remember” as exemplified by the mimosa tree that folds its leaves on touch but does not do so when water droplets fall on them regularly – a typical example of learning and remembering.

Another surprising finding was that trees are “social beings” and they can be “sad” and “happy” on the basis of their neighbourhood. Trees socialize largely because it is of advantage to them. A lonely tree cannot create or maintain a consistent local climate. Together, however, they can create a protected environment that shelters them from wind and weather.

Wohlleben goes on to say that isolated trees are “deaf” and “dumb”, having lost their ability to communicate and have a shorter life-span. He also says that trees in planted forests are like “street kids” because their roots are damaged and are incapable of “networking”. Trees surrounded by their “tree parents” live longer and are “happier”. Parents take care of their young ones and even other trees offer help, “nursing” their injured neighbours with nutrients.

The question, obviously raised would be whether trees are intelligent beings. Wohlleben says trees have brain like structures at the root tips which help them decide what to do when they meet an obstruction or face peril of some kind. While a majority of “plant scientists” are skeptical about these findings the contention of the author would seem to be confirmed by the videos of plants growing in dense rain forests rising from the floor avoiding obstruction and, if it happens to be their wont, latching on to another tree and coiling around its trunk or branches.

One might add, the finding of trees' ability to feel pain is not a new discovery. More than 90 years ago Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, an Indian polymath, developed automatic recorders capable of recording extremely slight movements which produced some striking results such as quivering of injured plants. Bose interpreted them as power of feeling in plants. Bose also wrote a book on “The Nervous Mechanism of Plants”.

Trees, hence, are as animate as us who claim to be the “roof and crown” of Creation. We have to have as much regard for them as we have for other living beings and willful destruction of forests should amount to a crime equivalent to downright mass murder.

Mossy Walls

Hyperallergic, a Brooklyn-based blogazine, has reported that the problem regarding air pollution is assuming alarming proportions every day. Around 4.4 million premature deaths occur in the world due to contaminated air that people breathe. India alone accounts for 1.1 million deaths because of the same reason. Things are likely to become worse because of President Trump’s pull out from the Paris Climate Agreement and his decision to put back the coal mine workers to work the neglected coal mines for reviving the coal-fired thermal power stations. Rising number of automobiles are also fouling up the air. This has given fresh impetus to researchers to look for ways to improve the quality of urban air.

One such recent green initiative is the “City Tree” by the Berlin based Green City Solutions. The proposed solution looks quite like the two walls with flowering plants on them that have come up in Bhopal behind Ravindra Bhawan and can be seen as one goes up towards the New Market from the Polytechnic Square. The City Tree is not a tree but a 13 feet tall wall of moss with the possibility of public seating on either side, with solar panels and rain water collectors. It is claimed to have “the same effect as up to 275 urban trees”. With its specific moss cultures with vascular plants that eat particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and ozone, it can offset 240 tons of CO₂ per year.

As many as 20 City Trees have already been installed in Paris, Oslo, Hong Kong, Glasgow and Brussels. The progress in planting them is tardy as they do not come cheap – costing around $25000 each. In that kind of money municipal bodies could plant many more roadside hardy

Moss walls in Dresden

trees. This is claimed to be a drawback but there is something in their favour too. There are many areas, even in European towns, where there is no space to plant conventional trees. In such areas City Trees could be of great help, more so as a city’s old areas are more congested generating more automobile emissions. In concrete jungles that are coming up all over our country with no scope for planting trees these moss walls could be of immense help to mitigate effects of air pollution

One wonders in our harsh hot and dry summers whether such mossy walls are suitable solutions. But, while the City Trees will be a greater strain on the human and financial resources of the local bodies, these would, if carefully nurtured, would certainly bring down air pollution in congested areas of our cities. In order to keep the City Trees effective the moss on them will have to be assiduously and carefully taken care of.

*Photos from internet

Our life our times :: 4 :: Air purifiers

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The national capital of India, Delhi, has been choking ever since the Diwali fireworks fouled up the air. That looked like a trigger, which in fact it was not, for the continuing spell of intense air pollution. With a blanket of smog settling down over Delhi schools have been shut, construction and demolition works have been banned, polluting power plants like the one at Badarpur have been closed for ten days. “The city has turned into a gas chamber”, that is how Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi, described the situation. I spoke to an 87 years old very old friend to inquire how he was doing. He reported that he and his 80 years old wife had sealed themselves in their second storey flat with doors and windows shut. One cannot move out even to buy the necessities. Even the warmth of the mellow winter sun that they used to enjoy in the approaching cold weather sitting out in an ill-kempt park, too,  has been denied to them. It is a horrid situation – an abominable turn of events during the season of festivities, flowers and fun and frolics. Children are suffering the most. For them there is no school, no fun and games and, what’s more, they cannot go out in the open and play. If they get out they have to wear a mask – a necessary encumbrance.

In such a circumstance, no wonder people would look for means to ameliorate their condition. In the process,s people are increasingly turning to technological assistance. Science has handed over to humans a very potent appliance in the shape of technology that can be used for satisfying various kinds of needs – from basic to the most sophisticated. Most being aware of them, it is not necessary to go through all the developments in the matter. What is something new in India, however, is the air purifier that is not all that well known. If one looks for it in the internet one would come across numerous brands with various specifications and several claims for the machines’ versatility.

This is the machine age and one cannot really live comfortably without their help. With economic progress even the middle classes in their tiered differentiations have acquired air-conditioners that control the hot or cold weathers within the confines of one’s living or bed rooms or even large halls. With cut-throat competition and proliferation of manufacturers to meet the rising demands the prices have fallen making them affordable for those who never could entertain a thought of acquiring one a few years ago.

It seems it is now the turn of air purifiers. Now, with frightfully toxic ambient air people are getting more and more inclined to buy air purifiers. One of the first of them was perhaps installed by the US Embassy in the capital. Progressively, as the air quality deteriorates even during the seasons when it is expected to be normal or slightly worse air purifiers provide an alternative to treat the pollution in the air. They do filter out the harmful particulate matters (PM 2.5 and PM 10), protect people from taking in foul air which has all the potential to seriously damage their health. But installing it at home will protect one only for a period of 12 hours or so. When one is out and away from it one remains exposed to the pollution.

Apart from dealing with very harmful PM 2.5 and PM 10 these contraptions also help in keeping out the allergens helping to make those comfortable who suffer from allergy or those who are asthmatic. Besides, they extend protection from dust, pollen, pet dander, mites and their faeces, etc. Regardless of their benefits, Indian households never perhaps ever contemplated to buy such a machine that rendered only limited assistance. But with heavily toxic air that has settled down over Delhi people are turning to these machines that are, unfortunately, of limited use. Besides, the other disadvantage is that these machines run on dirty energy, rising consumption of which exacerbates the pollution caused by coal-fired thermal power plants. It is a great irony; it is we who create polluted air  by our own indiscrete activities and then we have to have machines to filter it.

The whole sordid thing started with Diwali. With the pollution base already high the fireworks made it worse.  Delhi air is not free of pollutants even at the best of times. Diwali made it worse, as it does virtually every year. And, yet people do not draw a lesson. But the fillip to the deteriorating quality of air was given by the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. For want of cheap labour that they used to get from Bihar they switched over to harvesters for reaping their paddy crop that, unfortunately, do not harvest as the humans do; they leave a fairly tall stubble. That stubble reportedly is of no use and hence it is set fire to. The burning of the remnants of the paddy crop in the three states has raised the smoke that engulfs the entire region, the urban concentrations including the megapolis of Delhi. That and the usual sources like smoke from thermal power plants and incoming dust from the desert region in the west compound the problem.

People are having a terrible time. United Nations has come out with a warning that the record pollution levels of 999 micrograms of particulate matter per cubic metre is more than 15 to 16 times more than what is considered safe. PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulate matters, both clocked 16 times more than what is safe. The air has become toxic and with every breath adults and children are inhaling poison which can eventually cause the dreaded disease of cancer.

Air purifiers or wearing masks when out in the open are short term preventive measures – like palliatives. A more fundamental approach to cut down on the source of pollution is urgently needed. Already number of deaths due to air pollution in the country is climbing rapidly and has risen to more than a million and has overtaken China.

 It cannot be that the paddy stubble is absolutely useless. After all, it is an organic matter and has to have carbon as one of its components. No wonder, Nitin Gadkari, a central minister has suggested production of bio-fuel from it. This will eliminate the smoke and also be profitable to the farmers. Such plants need to be commissioned as soon as possible all over Punjab, Haryana and Western UP. Fireworks in Delhi need to be banned regardless of the fact that it is a demand of spring festivities or weddings or whatever. Public transport needs to be strengthened to reduce the dependence on personal vehicles. Delhi reportedly has 6,000,000 vehicles of all kinds – commercial, private, four wheelers, three wheelers and two wheelers of varied ages emitting into the Delhi atmosphere gases that are poisonous.  Promotion of electric battery operated vehicles seems to be the need of the hour. And, Delhi should go for an all out campaign for solar energy. All government establishments, their extensive terraces, the stadiums and their open spaces, the parking lots etc. can be used for installation of solar panels.

All this needs to be done on war-footing; there is not a day to lose as numerous lives are being damaged and lost to this Frankensteinian monster.

*Photo from internet

15th November 2016

Traffic police to get masks; what about aam aadmi?

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As the pollution levels rise in Bhopal, particularly in its congested parts, the

Pollution in Delhi

local Traffic Police have taken a decision to supply masks to the traffic cops. An admirable step as it indicates that the department cares for its employees. The department has, however, not thought of the general public. They too are exposed to the automobile fumes.

The Traffic department’s measure treats only the symptom, not its cause. One would have liked the department to force the wing concerned of the government to enforce rigorous checks on emission levels of vehicles plying on the city roads. The Bhopal Citizen Forum has taken up the matter with the government many a time but to no effect. Perhaps, it would have been responsive to a plea coming from one of its vital departments.

Perhaps, the government is waiting for the city to catch up with Delhi before it cranks up its rusty machinery into action. As has since been reported, Delhi has beaten Beijing in so far as atmospheric pollution is concerned and has replaced the latter as the most polluted city in the world.

Delhi seems to have lost the battle against air pollution that it had almost won a decade back on introduction of CNG in buses and autos. Since then the car population exploded, almost 40% of which are now diesel driven - a fuel that is far more polluting. No wonder, lakhs of people including children in Delhi suffer from bronchial problems, very well exemplified by Arvind Kejriwal who, during his sit in, coughed all the way to a hospital. But, Delhi alone is not the only polluted city in the country that should cause alarm bells to ring. Yale University's Environmental Performance Index for 2014 ranked India as one of the most polluted countries.

Hopefully, the MP government will not allow the quality of air in its urban centres to deteriorate to such an extent, particularly since two of its cities, Indore and Gwalior, are working their way up to match Delhi. Hence providing masks to traffic cops is not quite enough. What are needed are rigorous emission checks on vehicles and elimination of those which do not come up to the required standards.

Photo of pollution in Delhi is from the Internet

Outdoor pollution in Bhopal

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A

s Sultania Road was jammed with traffic I had to take a long detour to home the other day via Shahjehanabad. The air pollution there was something to be felt to be believed. The ongoing road works have made things worse for the already congested roads. I was reminded of Darya Gunj in early 1970s when passing through it one used to feel the pollution caused by automobile emissions with burning eyes and an irritated throat. That, of course, later spread to various parts of Delhi including Dhaula Kuan, Patel Chowk and many other areas. It was exactly the same feeling that I got with an old water tanker struggling up the Idgah Hills spewing voluminous dark smoke. And ditto was the case of an old auto-rickshaw that strained its every nerve to climb that hill with a gentle climb.

As it is, automobile emission in the city is on the rise. Those who do not venture out into its older parts, perhaps, are not aware of the seriousness of the problem. To this has been added the welcome move taken by the Municipal Corporation to rebuild the roads after perhaps decades. Having not been attended to for years it is taking longer than usual time with proper provision for underground ducts and things. Those who had seen the Golghar Museum a few months ago would be surprised to see a spanking new cement-concrete surface in front of it now. However, because of the road works at various crucial places of the old city traffic is being funneled through narrow passages forcing drivers to shift into low gear causing more noxious emissions.

A few months back a report of International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the specialised agency of World Health Organisation (WHO), indicated that it had classified outdoor air pollution as carcinogenic to humans. This is the first time that the experts have done so and claimed that there is sufficient evidence to prove it; the exposure to outdoor pollution causes lung cancer and they have found positive association of it with increased risk of bladder cancer. Particulate matter, a major constituent of outdoor air pollution, was evaluated separately and was found to be carcinogenic. The predominant sources of the pollution are transportation, stationary power generation, industrial and agricultural emissions and residential heating and cooking.

In Bhopal, surely, the outdoor air pollution is caused mostly by transportation. With practically no check on pollution control heavily smoking heavy and light vehicles as also three and two wheelers are running around in the town with impunity. Apart from being undulated the older parts of the city are also congested on account of trade and commerce and therefore face most of the brunt of the outdoor air pollution. The civic authorities, however, are seemingly blind to the problems of a major chunk of the city’s population, including school-going children who are exposed to it every day.

Bhopal Citizen Forum had taken up the matter with the government to introduce pollution control campaign and to certify vehicles running on the road after undergoing the emission tests. The government, if I am not mistaken, was even reminded but unfortunately to no avail. I think it is now time to take the matter up with the minister concerned.

At the same time, environmental groups also need to press the government to establish systems for checking emission levels of vehicles and keep those off the roads that do not conform to national parameters. This is needed to safeguard our health and wellbeing as also of our progeny

Photo: From the Internet

Increasing pollution in the Upper Lake

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The other day the Times of India reported the increasing pollution in Bhopal’s Upper Lake. It is choking with discarded plastic bags, bottles and other non-biodegradable waste. The Boat Club area is visited by hordes of people and they thoughtlessly leave behind waste unmindful of the consequences on the very water they might be drinking.

The Times of India’s “I lead India” campaigners have decided to clean up the 2 km stretch along the Boat Club as things have assumed serious proportions. This, however, will not help unless measures are undertaken to prevent pollution and cleaning it up on a regular continuing basis.

Apart from the wastes that are deposited every day by the visitors the Lake receives more than 140 tonnes of solid wastes in direct or indirect form. Limnologists, who have studied the quality of the water of the Lake, have now opined that its consumption is risky for humans. With so much of waste being pumped into the Lake, they fear, its waters will lose potability in (not too distant) future. If that happened it would be a serious setback to water availability in Bhopal 40% people of which are dependent on it for their water. Already, the researchers have found that aquatic life of the Lake has seriously been affected and a decline in its flora and fauna has been noticed.

The Municipal Corporation, the custodian of the Lake, has failed to take care of it. Over the last few years it had initiated crores-worth of projects to stop the inflow of solid wastes from drains that empty into the Lake but with remarkable failure. It banned the plying of motorised boats in the Lake years ago but has failed to implement it. No wonder, motorised boats and the cruise boat ply in the Lake regularly with impunity. One could hardly ever come across a more worthless civic body.

The mounting accumulation of filth and pollutants in the Boat Club area is a gift to the people of Bhopal from the minister of urban administration with whom the local Tourism Corporation admirably collaborated. Much against the well-accepted environmental norms they have, together, literally campaigned to get more visitors to the Boat Club area and consequently more filth pollutants in the Lake. Though they claim they were trying to get more tourists but the efforts resulted in hordes of local visitors landing up regularly at the Lake front only to pollute it. The minister went out of his way to get a vintage steam locomotive installed near the Lake along with a model of a naval warship to attract visitors. One wonders as to why he didn’t get an air force plane and a vintage omnibus for the Lake-side decor. The Tourism Corporation even organised functions at the Boat Club to get hundreds of people to witness the “tamashas” they staged even though a surfeit of venues is available in the town for holding such jamborees using the fig leaf of creating awareness among people for conservation of the water body.

Besides, with encouragement from the minister the Tourism Corporation created a massive amusement facility, “sair sapata” at Prempura close to the Important Bird Area of the Lake unmindful of the consequences on the Lake . Predictably, most of the migratory species have since given up the Upper Lake for roosting threatening the Wetland’s Ramsar status. (Birdlife International should take a note of It)The Ramsar organisation recognises a wetland as a Ramsar site only if it provides favourable conditions for domestic and migratory water fowl which the Upper Lake now fails to do.

The local government has been indulging in doublespeak. While claiming concern for the Upper Lake it has practically shelved all efforts towards its conservation. Even the development and conservation plan prepared at its instance by the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad has been kept under wraps till the next elections. The local people should realise that the Upper Lake and the Bhoj Wetland is under serious threat. I have been constantly writing about it for the last ten years or so. But there has been no change in the official attitude. The Bhoj Wetland Project – a 5-year project that ran for 9 years up to 2004 – achieved precious little. The advent of the new government in 2004 did not make a difference and, in fact, later it enhanced threats to the Lake. It should now be realised that soon the water body as we know it may cease to exist. It cannot be business as usual any more. The need of the hour is to arrange to have people’s pressure exerted on the government for effective action for conservation of the water body.  http://bagchiblog.blogspot.com

Air pollution in Bhopal

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A recent report in the newspapers about how fumes-spewing vehicles have caused 5, 71, 947 cases of acute respiratory infections (ARI) in the state in a yea was alarming. The figure has been made public by the Central Health Intelligence Bureau (CBHI). Commenting on these figures an Associate Professor of Chest Diseases of Gandhi Medical College said “Increasing cars and two-wheelers in cities and rural areas might have become status symbols but the vehicles are having deadly impact on people. Sudden outbreaks like (that) of swine flu are one(s) to watch out for, as suggested by World Health Organisation (WHO)”.

The CBHI has said that chances of deaths due to ARI are more in the state of MP on account of the want of adequate number of trained doctors. The side effects of increased pollution are asthma, cardiovascular diseases, change in lung function and even death. Children are at greater risk. Importantly, ARI is a disease group that includes pneumonia, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus – a respiratory virus and these cause, according to WHO, 4.5 million deaths annually

While Indore is reported to be more polluted than Bhopal, yet we cannot wait till we catch up with our sister city. The numbers of vehicles, including those propelled by diesel, are rapidly rising in the city. What is worse, in the absence of any emission control old, reconditioned two and three-wheelers, cars, delivery vans, trucks and buses that should have been banished from the roads have currently free rein on them, particularly in the older parts of the town and in commercial zones. Add to that the problem of adulteration of petrol diesel, both for cars and two wheelers and you have a lethal mix, something forbidding that can immensely harm regular commuters exposed these noxious fumes. All of us have become vulnerable, more so the children and the elderly. Emission control measures will not only protect such groups but will also reduce public expenditure on healthcare.

ome feeble efforts were made to check emission from cars almost a decade back but the whole thing was inexplicably wound up. No reasons were assigned. Eventually one came to know that the question of authority to check the vehicles and to impose penalties had not been finalised. The men and machines were withdrawn and I once came across one of them in the premises of Durga Petrol Pump. The government has never been serious about controlling vehicular emissions. If it does not care about what happens to the Planet Earth owing to global warming, it should at least care about its own people.

Bhopal Citizens' Forum had taken up the matter regarding pollution check of vehicles in Bhopal with the Department of Housing & Environment a few months back. Although a substantial amount of time has elapsed neither has it been apprised of the action taken nor is there is any evidence on the ground of the government’s effort to curb vehicular emissions. Hopefully, the Form will soon remind the government.

Phoograph taken from the comments recorded by Gulrez Raza Khan in Facebook

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