WWF Study on Glaciers and their retreat

Here's a report on Glaciers, Glacier retreat and its subsequent impact in the Nepal, India and China by WWF.

For more intersting articles of similar nature on related topics you hit websites of WWF India or WWF.


PS: This is a pdf document so make sure you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your machine. If not you can download it from here.

Sacred Ganges at the verge of extinction?

The Ganges, better known to us Indians as Ganga maa is on the verge of extinction. I had started collecting facts about Global Warming efforts in India and suddenly my current interest shifted to our sacred river.

It has been known for long that the Ganges is reeling under the pressure of pollution. Pollution was attributed to be one of the prime reason for the changing course at many places and receding water levels. The government still fails to launch a national intensive program to clean-up the river. The river depends on the disconnected efforts of a lot of NGOs and public bodies. Thought the river traverses 4 different states before it leaves Indian border, we have not seen any joint effort towards cleaning up the river. The river which holds a sacred place in the heart of Hindus lacks attention in this regard from the central governement. Even if there is something which the central government is doing, its not worthy and visible.

I came across a report by WWF which enlists The Ganges among the the world's top 10 rivers at risk. Another report published in Washington Post points out the receding glacial sources as the reason behind the progressing extinction. This all is attributed to global warming which is in all responsible for increasing average temperatures across the world and leading to receding glacial levels, which actually feed the large rivers. It has been evident that the Gangotri glacier in upper himalayas has been the source of 70% water for Ganges during summer. Faster melting levels mean flash floods in near future and an extinct river in the long run.

These events will have an impact on economic conditions also. That is evident from the fact that The Ganges is so interspersed with millions of lives in the region it passes through!

Who will save The Ganges is the biggest question. In a fastly developing country, the government has ironically little time for climatic issues and global warming. Nothing can be seen as being done by the central government, so how can I and others blame private enterpreneurs for overlooking all this?

Dont kill the Car!

Finally, it's out. The much awaited and much hyped people's car Nano by Tata Motors is here.

There's much criticism going on around this car. Environmentalist all around the world are saying a lot against the car. They are concerned that the car, if succesfull will add to world's woes in fighting against global warming. However, there is a lot of admiration and praises too!

I am not sure which group you fall in. But I have for sure all praise for this achievement by Tatas. Why dont you read this before being a critique of the car?