Blogs

Carbon Credits to account for a GREENER INDIA

Indian economy with fast track development and infra structural changes happening in the country coupled with the concept of carbon trading is indeed the road leading towards greener, cleaner India – both in terms of environment and economy. For starters, let’s begin with this. The Kyoto Protocol provides three mechanisms to help countries meet mechanisms to help countries meet their GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions targets: Emissions Trading; Joint Implementation; Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). {xtypo_quote}The future growth of the world’s carbon markets will not be determined by the success, or indeed likely failure, of the UN-led process to deliver a legally binding agreement but rather progress in climate legislation at the national level,{/xtypo_quote} ...
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Sunday,24 January, 2010 | Hits: 418

West Bengal grapples with polluting sponge iron units

The Left-wing extremists of West Bengal have given themselves a new cause to fight for - pollution control. On 18 December, the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) set alight a sponge iron factory at Jhargram in West Midnapore district. The next day, its top leader Koteshwar Rao told state environment secretary M.L. Meena on the phone that they gutted the factory because it was polluting the environment. ...
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Wednesday,13 January, 2010 | Hits: 255

‘IPCC should’ve checked glacier meltdown claim’

A top Indian Institute of Science climate expert J Srinivasan, who has also worked with the UN’s Inter-Governmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), has said that the system of checks and balances usually applied for scientific assertions ‘‘did not work’’ in the case of IPCC’s assertion that Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035. ...
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Thursday,21 January, 2010 | Hits: 177

Now, a system to forecast pollution

In Check Delhi to get India’s first noise/air polluting forecasting system To make Delhi an environment-friendly city like London or New York, the city will get country's first noise polluting monitoring system and air polluting forecasting system before Commonwealth Games in October. “Both the systems synchronized into each other will be in place by September,” said Rajnish Dubey, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF). ...
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Sunday,17 January, 2010 | Hits: 148

Government to set up climate panel

‘IPCC is insensitive to regional realities’ IIT network to be agency’s backbone Minister for environment & forests Jairam Ramesh said he felt “vindicated” by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) goof-up on the life of Himalayan glaciers. In an exclusive interview with FE, the minister said India would soon have a well-equipped national agency for climate change assessment, as the UN body has proven unequal to the task. ...
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Thursday,21 January, 2010 | Hits: 195

Community action can fight climate change

Villagers in Madhya Pradesh alter their daily-life activities to mitigate carbon emission, writes Awanish Somkuwar Miles away from Copenhagen, far removed from international dialogue and action forums, climate change is not a familiar term for rural communities living in tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh. Yet they are discerning a change in their immediate environment, not fully obvious but yet perceptible. 75-year-old Vir Singh, a farmer from Dubdi village around 60 km from Sheopur district headquarters, says, “The only change I feel is that nothing is on time. All seasons have turned deceptive.” ...
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Wednesday,06 January, 2010 | Hits: 161

What went wrong at Copenhagen summit

“The Copenhagen summit made it evident that governments are more concerned about traditional industries than about people” As we move into the new year, the hope for a cleaner and safer future fades away. With the curtains falling on the Copenhagen climate summit ’09, what came out was a lot of statements and assurances but without any concrete way to fulfill them. The Copenhagen Accord was signed and the world leaders (besides blaming one another for non-cooperation) announced that the deal has been ‘good’ and that they ensured their country did not lose out. ...
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Thursday,21 January, 2010 | Hits: 314

Hard times for climate scientists

Peer-review and data-sharing processes need strengthening Anthropogenic global warming (AGW) and consequent climate change is perhaps the most contentious issue in the world today. At the centre of it all is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which collates the work of thousands of scientists, assessed through peer-review and approved by 192 governments. IPCC’s findings have led to consensus on the potential for disaster. But nations remain deeply divided on the actions necessary to mitigate AGW. The policies mooted involve enormous, unevenly-spread expenses and opportunity costs. ...
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Saturday,23 January, 2010 | Hits: 238

TALKING GREEN 2.04, from MY GREEN CHANNEL

" TALKING GREEN " weekly e-Newsletter of My GREEN CHANNEL, an initiative of LAKSHYA [ issue 2.01, Friday, 22nd January 2010 ] Dear Friends, In a democratic nation we do have a right to express our views and opinions but sometimes opinions carries along with it disappointment and uncomfortable situations where attitude and ego of political faces and decision makers to whom we all of us look forward to for better decisions, sometimes takes the progress of the nation at stake [ courtesy our page 3 scientists !!! ] . Anyways there is always a new day when you can feel happy to see how few school children of leh organized a campaign with the villagers of remote ladakh to protect the glaciers and succeeded in catching attention and support of united nations. We still have hope from our future too and therefore we need not worry and just say ALL IS WELL [Aamir is not paying me in writing this but I genuinely feel the importance of this strong message of doing on your will and bring change. Let us be the change first and motivate the world to move in the same road. GREEN is the style statement of the day. with GREEN THOUGHTS ….………… ENJOY READING! Uzzwal Madhab President / Executive Director LAKSHYA Foundation, New Delhi , INDIA GREEN COMMITMENT PM calls for creation of ‘solar valleys’ to combat climate change In a bid to accelerate India’s efforts to meet its emission reduction targets and combat climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for the creation of “solar valleys” across the country and asked private investors to view the National Solar Mission as a business opportunity. “If the ambitious rollout of the mission is to become a reality, we will have to create many solar valleys, on the lines of silicon valleys, which are spurring our information technology (IT) industry across the four corners of the country,” Singh said. Readmore GREEN INNOVATION Climate change: Experts want new, practical ideas The stage is set to find young minds that can come up with ideas to wage a war against global warming. The Hindustan Times-Brightest Young Climate Leader (BYCL) summit has already received over 130 entries and more are pouring in from across the country. Readmore Environment clearance as patronage States resist the formation of national environment protection authority The environment ministry will, in the coming monsoon session, place a Bill for creating the National Environment Protection Authority (Nepa), an authority modelled on the lines of the US Environmental Protection Agency. Readmore Climate Calamity Lakshya Foundation The change in climate due to carbon dioxide emissions and deforestation is far worse than thought before, says Joydeep Gupta. GLOBAL alarm over climate change and its effects has risen manifold after the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Readmore GREEN RESULT Clear danger, unclear deals Even with its shortcomings, the Copenhagen Accord is a starting point for future commitments, writes Jayanta Bandyopadhyay. The spectrum of comments on the unexpected and dramatic end of the Copenhagen climate summit on December 19 is very wide. On a topic that is literally the burning issue facing the world, the countries taking part in the conference went home after “taking note” of the Copenhagen Accord - not a legally-binding document providing clear and time-bound national targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Readmore Western Uttar Pradesh rivers among most polluted in India Six rivers in western Uttar Pradesh figure among the most polluted in India. A study conducted by the World Water Monitoring Day Organisation (WWMDO) has termed the condition in Hindon, Krishni, Kali East, Kali West, Dhamola and Yamuna as “deadly alarming”. Readmore Who started the fire? Lakshya Foundation Lakshya Foundation Climate Change Did we or did we not? As mankind debates global warming at summits, holds meetings under water, on mountain peaks, the heat is definitely on. Ocean surfaces are getting warmer, the world’s ice sheet has started to melt, and black carbon from Asia threatens to melt Himalayan glaciers. Readmore GREEN VIEW ‘Without taking emission cuts, we are looking at targets we can make public’ in his first official admission that India is reworking energy efficiency and carbon intensity targets before climate change negotiation in Copenhagen, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh talks about India's attempts to appear constructive in the light of China declaring green targets ahead of the summit. He spoke to Neha Sinh Is the government working on declaring some targets on climate change apart from what we have heard on the National Action Plan on Climate Change? Readmore LEGAL GREEN Climate justice and emission cut Climate change resulting from high degree of concentration of green house gases in the atmosphere has become a matter of serious concern of governments and environmentalists throughout the world. Several research studies have revealed that global surface temperature has increased alarmingly in recent years due to rise in the green house gases (such as carbon-dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides, ozone, aerosols, CFCs etc.) Readmore GREEN BASICS Barking Up The Wrong Tree Climate is about more than just carbon emissions The Copenhagen Climate Summit was designed by its sponsors to create an international regulatory architecture for climate policy that would emulate the World Bank and the IMF in being controlled by the US and the EU. Next, to put in place carbon emissions targets that would increase the cost of production of manufactures in large developing economies such as India and China, and provide a climate rationale for protectionist tariffs in the developed world against products from such countries. Readmore GREEN VIEW GREEN REEL OTHER INITIATIVES © Copyright 2010, Lakshya Foundation. Newsletter Management by The Old Mans Furnace ...
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Sunday,24 January, 2010 | Hits: 952