tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66638828989479110702012-01-22T23:51:07.499+05:30An amalgam of personal reflections, news & analysis.... Focusing on water issues, food crisis, climate change and the socio-economics of environmental science ....with a bias towards GIS?Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.comBlogger241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-30088231468431456132011-05-31T19:56:00.012+05:302011-05-31T20:33:25.053+05:30

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Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-87954103831184476562011-01-03T13:54:00.007+05:302011-01-03T21:11:07.709+05:30

The year 2010 has witnessed a few climate records that has mounted evidence of climate change the world over. * It marked the end of the warmest decade since climate records were kept. * It has been one of the three warmest years recorded, since 1850. * It has also been the year with the most extreme climate anomalies. with 3 degrees above normal across Greenland, eastern Canada and the

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-19077766116159419702010-12-22T11:04:00.023+05:302010-12-25T18:23:36.856+05:30

Yet another UN Climate Conference came to an end at Cancun, Mexico, ten days ago. amidst the customary climate of 'cautious optimism' invariably relenting to 'an agreement to talk further' on the Kyoto protocol.In light of the Copenhagen conference that proved a fiasco with climate talks falling through, the Cancun conference is regarded in a favourable light even by sceptics. For Cancun has

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-32805561501112611412010-07-23T21:18:00.014+05:302010-07-24T09:45:58.971+05:30

Much has been written about the disappearing glaciers that will lead to the drying up of the Himalayan-fed river systems. Which has also been disputed subsequently by our Indian scientists, who claim there is no sign yet of a Himalayan meltdown. However, as we know only too well, our river flows are indeed reducing at an alarming rate. None of the above or related studies factored in, the

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-65665929688173556922010-06-15T11:26:00.008+05:302010-06-19T11:00:54.010+05:30

Climate change has been denied, labelled as a myth and a political manoeuvre, or synergised with individual weather events. While there has been a marked turnaround in the stand of climate deniers and sceptics, it has definitely been used as a political tool by the U.S. to bring pressure upon fast developing nations. Albeit, in the wake of the Copenhagen fiasco of December 2009, it remains to

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-25964849383314470032009-12-15T18:59:00.006+05:302009-12-16T17:14:26.745+05:30

For one who has been following the climate politics (with minimal carbon footprint) ever since a young Indian Kartikeya Singh accompanied Kapil Sibal to Bali precisely 2 years back, it has been getting too hot in the recent build-up to Copenhagen. Despite speculations and a series of international political meets, the Climate Change Conference began on the 7th to the accompaniment of plenty of

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-90605274574101185702009-10-22T23:47:00.006+05:302009-10-23T00:21:04.539+05:30

Indians have long since felt the effects of the capricious monsoons. However, it is only in the recent years that the predictions of weather departments have gone haywire, with every year ushering in novel situations that have no precedence for study and analysis. While monsoons are getting widely spread over the months June to September since last year, flooding in arid or minimal rainfall

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-24160674703866645612009-10-13T16:44:00.013+05:302009-10-14T00:36:20.322+05:30

Unlike the rest of the self-righteous developed world that is more occupied with finger-pointing at less developed nations than examining its own defaulting positions of large carbon emitting status, India has been adopting a pragmatic approach. The Indian minister in charge, Jairam Ramesh not only acknowledges the serious problems brought about by climate change in India, but has also

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-65502005326584391982009-10-06T14:54:00.016+05:302009-10-13T17:55:09.863+05:30

After months of playing hide and go seek with the Climate and Energy Bill, the U.S. Senate Climate Bill has finally arrived. The world's biggest polluter finally got working to shape up their act with the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. Albeit, climate skeptics think that the new climate legislation introduced on September 30th barely holds any weight, falling short on various key

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-2715161416677672982009-09-29T21:47:00.009+05:302009-10-04T01:01:44.750+05:30

The past week shall go down in climate history as the most active period in climate parley, punctuated with a frenzy of debates and compromises on the international table. The UN Summit on Climate Change hosted by the Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon at New York on Tuesday, was to effect a push in the right direction, in the run-up to Copenhagen talks. While Obama’s verbose speech espoused all the

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-84362134889805848072009-09-22T09:38:00.011+05:302009-10-04T01:03:58.929+05:30

Last week’s strategically timed declaration by India’s Jairam Ramesh, to set numerical targets for emissions, is a coup of sorts. Coming on the heels of U.S. administration’s shelving of the much hyped Climate and Energy Bill that the world was waiting for, this not only proves that India’s commitments on the climate front are more than honourable, but also places pressure on U.S. to perform on

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-82147149014197558202009-08-21T16:11:00.024+05:302009-09-22T10:26:02.110+05:30

[Credit: NASA News] The study of underground aquifers has often revealed some amazing information. In March, 2005, a report in the Geophysical Research Letters had revealed that the Egyptian Sahara covered the world’s largest freshwater aquifers, an almost million years old rain-fed reserve. In 2006, GRACE scientists noted a widespread loss of water in parts of Africa. However the

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-55730743750394054732009-08-06T15:10:00.016+05:302009-08-06T17:59:28.699+05:30

The West needs to decide whether India is a poor country whose plentiful eating is contributing to the global food crisis or a country whose fast-paced development is a threat to global warming. Statistics are thrown about at random, telling us Indians about our carbon footprint and what we ought to do, whilst it remains that the U.S. has the largest per capita carbon footprint, with a Hummer and

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-57905558494473175712009-07-25T08:32:00.035+05:302009-08-06T16:05:22.673+05:30

While the U.S. Senate has opted to put the climate policy hearings on the back-burner for now, President Obama’s climate lobbying can be tracked to U.S. Secretary of Energy, Stephen Chu’s visit to China and Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton’s recent call on India. Mrs. Clinton’s recent high profile meet at Mumbai could best be described as an imbroglio of sorts. While the expressions of

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-43168394572948923652009-07-11T23:17:00.009+05:302009-07-25T14:46:03.403+05:30

“Residents of Bundanoon, New South Wales, Australia have voted to ban the sale of bottled water in their rural town - probably the first in the world to do so.” [Mother Jones] Last Wednesday, this rural Australian town 100 miles south of Sydney, made history with its near-unanimous consensus to ban the sale of bottled water. At the town meeting of 350 voters, only 2 voted against the ban. This

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-54403176896579171282009-07-03T14:11:00.003+05:302009-07-03T22:14:59.452+05:30

It seems that India is not the only nation with the bright idea of using Climate Change as fodder for politics. One can recall how Climate Change played an important role in the election campaigns early this year, while in the U.S., it was pushing ahead with the controversial Energy Bill that formed a significant part of Obama’s campaign. And now, with the recent passing of the landmark Energy

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-38419191158390840302009-06-14T02:17:00.008+05:302009-07-11T23:36:44.154+05:30

When I read this article on the world’s largest water recycling facility in Orange County, U.S.A., it got me wondering. Can such a water utility ever be feasible in India? Perhaps no. The first deterrent would be a religious recoil from the very idea. The scientific and pragmatic folks would then come to the fore with suitable pontifications. Wasn’t the Municipality water

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-91503802106379587002009-06-05T23:26:00.009+05:302009-06-06T01:22:54.639+05:30

Ever since the Kyoto Protocol when the U.S. Congress refused to ratify the provisions, the climate roadmap has taken us through Bali and COP15, and more shows in the sidelines. Result, nada. Now however, in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit in December this year, said to be the successor treaty of the Kyoto Protocol, the scene is hotting up like never before. Delegates from 182 nations are

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-37519712898045304742009-04-14T14:14:00.010+05:302009-05-10T15:20:05.741+05:30

The triple whammy of energy, food and water crisis has certainly taken centre stage. All of which are the fallout of wide-reaching policies of the World Bank, local mismanagement and undoubtedly the vagaries of climate change! The world over, advocates of change are taking to writing eco books with an unprecedented fervor..... as green writing emerges as the hottest selling item on

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-73498491804234101922009-04-12T22:25:00.015+05:302009-05-10T15:29:23.272+05:30

"Corn or Ethanol? Food or Fuel?" An extremely inane and cliched rhetoric one would say. But going by the hype surrounding this alternative fuel derived primarily from corn and sugarcane, one could not be faulted to presume something is seriously wrong within the corridors of the policy-makers. Indeed, how could a food crop derived bio fuel take precedence as an optimal fuel choice

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-48620882642328151442009-04-08T18:10:00.006+05:302009-04-12T16:34:47.880+05:30

‘Climate Change’ has become the buzzword today. Whether as the hottest topic debated in blogs and forums worldwide or as the coolest conversation-stopper at drawing rooms, ‘Climate Change’ has finally been accepted as an global problem. Even our very own political parties in India are united over the need to develop sustainable measures for tackling and mitigation of climate change. A lot of

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-50484049586901743392009-04-03T16:01:00.021+05:302009-04-12T15:43:05.182+05:30

While the world over, experts debate on the geopolitics of food scarcity and crop scientists devise climate resilient crops, Bangalore (India) comes up with a first-ever brinjal festival to effect a re-think on informed food choices ..... protesting the recent introduction of the first Genetically Modified crop ..... the Bt Brinjal ! There is the tomato festival in Bunyol (Spain), pumpkin

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-23937729297878442642009-02-12T09:07:00.022+05:302009-04-04T08:30:30.973+05:30

It never ceases to amaze me how often education does not translate into awareness and cognizance. Irrespective of the degrees accumulated, newspapers consumed and social elevation, 'awareness' is an unknown word for the average individual. I recall how a friend said "Food Crisis? Whats that? Is there something like that around?" to my A to her Q what was I writing? I was glad I was within the

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6663882898947911070.post-63163706371624407222009-02-10T14:05:00.077+05:302009-09-30T08:20:30.449+05:30

While the 'go green' catchword of the 90s gets hotter by the day, DOING the eco-stuff is considered cool ....... whether you are the community honcho or an informed nit-picking homemaker . So in keeping with the cool-cool junta, you have to be conspicuously present in the green brigades rallying the trendiest eco-war whoops ...... AND you've GOT TO BE 'eco-chic' too, as my daughter says (who

Sangeeta Deogawankahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04649781195211685892noreply@blogger.com1