Water wars: Plachimada vs Coca-Cola

What went wrong?

As per the agreement struck by the company with the KSPCB, up to 1.5 million litres of water was drawn commercially from 6 bore-wells situated inside the factory compound. The permit granted Coca-Cola the right to extract ground water to meet its production demands of 3.8 litres of water for a litre of cola.

As a result, the water table receded, as did the quality of groundwater. Detailed sampling of the water collected from the region revealed high concentration of calcium, and magnesium ions.

Moreover, the colloidal slurry that was generated as a by-product was initially sold to villagers as fertilizer.

In 2003, the BBC, in its Face The Facts programme, declared that samples of slurry that was being deployed as fertilizer were found to contain dangerous levels of toxic metals and the known carcinogen, cadmium.

"The area's farming industry has been devastated and jobs, as well as the health of the local people, have been put at risk," said John Waite, the show's presenter, as he read out the verdict of scientists from the University of Exeter, where samples collected from Plachimada were sent for analysis.

Water quality in districts of Kerala

In a white paper titled Spatial Assessment of Groundwater Quality in Kerala, researchers from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore infer that Palakkad's groundwater fares badly on most counts, having a large number of dissolved minerals, above the desirable limit.

Plachimada has been mentioned for failing to meet the quality norms on salinity, alkalinity, and high traces of magnesium, and chloride, among other minerals.

Flamingoeees

The long-legged and long-necked birds were last seen about two-and-a-half decades ago.   | Photo Credit: HANDOUT

In addition, 236 species of migratory birds are spotted in and around the sanctuary

After a long a gap, a flock of five greater flamingoes has been spotted on the Coast of Hope Island, a part of the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary. The long-legged and long-necked birds were last seen in a group about two and a half decades ago, while a lone flamingo was recorded in the 2016 Asian Water Bird Census at Sirra Yanam village in East Godavari district.

Five Deeps mission

A mission to explore the bottom of each of the world's oceans.

Five Deeps, a submarine mission is going to explore the bottom of each of the world's oceans. Scientists are excited, because they believe humans have not found the deepest point in the ocean yet.

The mission will launch in December.

Check this amazing Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCdSZSYOGTA#action=share

461 elephants electrocuted between 2009 and 2017

Villagers in Dhenkanal, Odisha, looking at the carcasses of the elephants which died from electrocution. File photo  

States in the eastern and northeastern region of the country have accounted for most of these deaths.

Between August to October 2018, more than a dozen of elephants died of electrocution in the eastern and northeastern part of India, including seven in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district.

While human-elephant conflict remains a major concern for policy makers and conservationists, electrocution of elephants is turning out to be a critical area in the management of India’s elephant population.

Tigress Sundari

Tigress Sundari at the Satkosia Tiger Reserve. Photo: Special Arrangement   | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The tigress will be kept in a special enclosure set up at Raiguda inside the reserve.

After more than a fortnight of intense chase, experts on November 6 managed to tranquilise Sundari, the tigress brought from Madhya Pradesh as part of tiger reintroduction programme in Odisha’s Satkosia Tiger Reserve.

Sundari is said to have mauled two persons in villages inside the tiger reserve. 

Payyanur : Xplore the environment

Located on the banks of the Perumba river in the close proximity of the Arabian Sea, the beautiful town of Payyanur is a must-visit destination for every offbeat traveller. From unexplored backwaters to beautiful beaches and ancient temples to historic sites, it has everything within its boundaries to allure every traveller.

If you are bored of the same crowded and polluted beach destinations, then Payyanur would interest you to the core. As it is only known amongst locals and is only visited by offbeat travellers, it can assuredly help you soothe your mind, body and soul. As Payyanur has a history dating back to thousands of years, it boasts of its age-old culture.

Delhi Smog: Air quality worsens to hazardous category as Delhi-NCR again becomes a 'gas chamber'

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The smog over Delhi has thickened in last 48 hours, after the Diwali celebrations which led to an unprecedented increase in the pollution.

Alert! India may face an annual threat of deadly heatwaves that have potential to kill thousands

f the world becomes warmer by 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, India may face annual threat of deadly heatwaves as the country had faced in 2015 that claimed at least 2,500 people.

This was revealed by a report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Monday.

The report will be at the centre of discussion at the Katowice climate change conference in Poland this December where governments will review the Paris Agreement.

Pointing to the alarming increase of Global warming, the report was quoted by The Times of India as saying “Global warming is likely to reach 1.5 degree Celsius (above pre-industrial levels) between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the same rate”.

The report mentioned the name of two cities specifically that may face increase threat of heat waves.

The report noted “Karachi and Kolkata can expect annual conditions equivalent to their deadly 2015 heat waves. Climate change is significantly contributing to increased heat-related mortality”.

Delhi environment minister orders municipal corporations to undertake water sprinkling

Delhi government has ordered the intensification of water sprinkling on roads in the coming days. Regarding mechanical sweeping, the officers of municipal corporations informed that mechanical sweeping of roads, including PWD roads, is regularly undertaken for preventing suspension and re-suspension of dust due to the plying of vehicles.

Since construction activities are prohibited till November 10, all municipal corporations, local bodies and the PWD are asked to ensure that no construction activities either by the government bodies or private persons are going on and the violators are heavily penalised as per law.

PM Modi To Inaugurate 1st Multi-Modal Terminal On Ganga River In Varanasi This is the first of the three such terminals and two inter-modal terminals being constructed on the river, according to an official release today.(nov 10)

LUCKNOW: 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the first multi-modal terminal on the Ganga river in Varanasi on November 12 under a project aimed at promoting inland waterways as a cheaper and more environment-friendly means of transport.

This is the first of the three such terminals and two inter-modal terminals being constructed on the river, according to an official release today.

The multi-modal terminals are being built as part of the central government's Jal Marg Vikas Project that aims to develop the stretch of the river Ganga between Varanasi and Haldia for navigation of large vessels weighing up to 1,500-2,000 tonnes, it said.

The objective is to promote inland waterways as a cheaper and more environment-friendly means of transport, especially for cargo movement.

Has there ever been a "controversy" similar to global warming, in which the scientific community was in consensus, but many people considered it a lie? What was the outcome?

Yes, several. Among the most important are

• Lead from gasoline, paint, shot, and other sources poisoning people and animals
• CFCs depleting ozone
• Acid rain killing trees, lake life, and other vegetation
• DDT killing birds and other animals
• Asbestos causing cancer
• Coal dust causing Black Lung Disease
• Tobacco causing cancer and other diseases

How much of global warming is actually caused by humans?

The attribution question is of course a central one in the climate debate. 
According to IPCC 90-95% of the temperature rise is due to us humans through GHG and land use since the middle of the last century. At least, that is what is assumed in the climate models. So, the validation of this claim is obviously done by comparing the outcomes of the models and the observations. How are they doing?

Trimming the models through so called "hindcasting" and then releasing them into the future shows a discrepancy on the 95% significance level since about 1998.  (If the RSS and UAH satellite data set would have been used, the discrepancy would have been even larger). Looking at the trend - which really is the important thing - the observations do not differ from a zero trend since 1997. The models, however, do an upticking not seen in reality. Why? Two things are possible; the climate sensitivity assumed in the models is too high or the internal (natural) variability of the climate system is not properly accounted for. Either way, the high (human) attribution factor assumed in the models is given less and less support the longer the slow down or Hiatus is prolonged.  

Taking a look at one of the important natural climate factors, the AMO, and comparing it to the UAH global temperature data set (satellite launched 1979) gives the graph below: 

The Hiatus is clearly seen in both data sets, also the rise since 1979.  If this comparison would be used, the anthropogenic attribution factor would be close to zero. (AMO is assumed 100% natural variability). 

What is closest to the truth? An honest answer to the attribution question would be "we don´t know". It is not possible IMO to actually untangle the natural variations from the anthropogenic impact just yet. The anthropogenic signal haven´t manifested itself above the natural noise, not to any statistically significant degree anyway. The temperature rise and rate seen in the modern data are not remarkably different from what have been seen in historical data records. (See figure below). We can´t really claim we are "accelerating" things from this.

The question is, are we willing to take the risk or should we curb our GHG emissions? Are there other priorities in the society that should come first? I personally think so

How accurate have computer global warming models been so far? Is there consistency between models?

The main problem with modeling any type of behavior involves a very common base assumption, that things will go on as they have in the past.  Sometimes that means a trend will continue, or sometimes that cyclic behavior will continue.  The largest of most long term changes, however, are often caused by the catastrophic or unpredictable, something that isn't foreseen, and thus can't be built into a model. 

It is easy to build a model that suggests a trend will continue indefinitely, or that it will continue with minor cyclic variations.  It is also easy to build a model that allows for a one-in-a-million event.  However, it is really hard to "sell" that model.  You would be saying, in effect, my model predicts "outcome A"  99.9999 percent of the time, but we can instead expect outcome B to actually occur, even though the model barely allows for it. 

Unfortunately for models, and those who love them, a lot of big changes involve those rare events. 

Is there a scientific consensus on a model that accurately predicts the magnitude of global warming (assuming no policy interventions to reduce CO₂ emissions) over a given time span?

Is there scientific consensus on a model? 
Yes.

This is precisely what the IPCC report on.
Fifth Assessment Report - Climate Change 2013

This includes a whole chapter discussing modelling techniques and assessing their accuracy.

You can see that the models have been good at predicting temperature until the last few years, with the famous "hiatus" in air temperatures. Measured temperatures have been at the bottom end of predictions (but despite some people's impressions not below the predicted area, and temperaturews have not returned to normal).

There is a huge amount of research around how to improve the models, and to understnd what factors have led to the "hiatus". 

Wikipedia intro to climate modelling  Climate model

Climate models on the web

• CMIP: Coupled Model Intercomparison Project
• NCAR/CESM: Community Climate System Model (CCSM)
• NASA/GISS: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
• EDGCM/NASA: Educational Global Climate Modeling
• climateprediction.net, community climate prediction

If global warming is not happening, what's going to remove all the CO2 humans add to the atmosphere each year?

There are many good answers but I want to answer because I was asked to. Global warming is indeed happening, but I think that it can't stop this ice age. We are living a warm part of ice age and global temperature should be falling, but it isn't. Colder part of ice age is still going to happened if humans are't able to do something that could keep temperature from lowering. But for the next couple of thousand years, humans are warming Earth (assuming that we don't kill ourselves, because of huge amounts of refugees and smaller land area which can start wars). Things that can store (not remove) CO2 are plants, are plants, especially rain forests which are destroyed in a few years, because most of them don't grow back but instead become deserts. And, I have to mention that if a plant is killed it releases the CO2 that it has stored. Oceans are another thing that can store CO2 and when ice melts there is going to be more oceans. But the thing is that CO2 is not going to stay in oceans forever and it definitely is not the most dangerous. I think that the most dangerous greenhouse gas is methane, because it is about 20 times more effective than CO2 and most of it is under or inside permafrost and it is going to get to atmosphere when there is warm enough. There are many lakes that you can make 10 cm deep hole and light it. It can burn for years. And when developing countries start to consume as much resources as we do, Earth is going to warm a lot faster. There is nothing that can remove CO2. Plants and oceans can store it but it is not permanent. Global warming is not going to stop for the next few thousand years, but after that, Earth can be a longer distance away from sun that it is going to end. And there might be any greenhouse gasses left then. Like someone (I can't remember who) said: "We are doing an experiment that is possible to do only once and we might not be able to see the results".
Earth is going to survive but humans may not.

Earth's oceans have absorbed 60 percent more heat than previously thought

Since 1991, the world's oceans have absorbed an amount of heat energy each year that is 150 times the energy humans produce as electricity annually, according to a new study. The strong ocean warming the researchers found suggests that Earth is more sensitive to fossil-fuel emissions than previously thought.

For each year during the past quarter century, the world's oceans have absorbed an amount of heat energy that is 150 times the energy humans produce as electricity annually, according to a study led by researchers at Princeton and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego. The strong ocean warming the researchers found suggests that Earth is more sensitive to fossil-fuel emissions than previously thought.

Himachal :Highway dumping raises environmental concerns

Absence of earmarked ,designated dumping site for four - lane highway being constructed between Nagchala and Manali, has raised serious environmental concerns. Furthermore ,it has raised a question on the functioning of the National Highway authority of India. To get approval for any construction project, it is mandatory to have proper site disposal of the muck and debris ,however the NHA has not created any dumping site. The construction of the stretch of four -lane is around 110kms will also have construction of tunnels.

Four - lane Joint Action Committee(JAC) president Brigadier Khushal Thakur(Retd) said that the absence of proper designated landfill to dump the debris has come to light in the recent meeting held in Mandi with the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to resolve the issues of the four -lane affected families. To dispose the debris there is no official designated dumping site created by NHA which has raised doubts on the clearance the four - laning project.

The recent flooding in the Beas river is the impinge of the haphazard muck and debris dumping in the Beas river that led to devastation on 23 September during heavy rain blamed the Samiti. It also effected electricity generation in the Larji project due to sliting ,shutting down of drinking water scheme to Mandi town,besides debris flooding into the fields of the farmers.

                                                                                                          

Fisherfolk's protests bear fruit as CRZ denies clearance for port on Ennore Creek

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has rejected the Kamarajar Port's proposal to locate port facilities on the eastern banks of the Kosasthalaiyar's backwaters in Ennore Creek following a long struggle by local fishermen.

The fisherfolk ,however, said their battle to declare all of Ennore Creek off limits for industrial projects will intensify. The port had planned to develop facilities like office ,commercial buildings and parking terminals on the eastern part of the ecologically fragile intertidal salt pans. Environmental and CRZ Clearance accorded to Kamarajar port for its Phase 3 expansion dated 30th October 2018 ordered to relocate these facilities The environmental Ministry ruled "The water bodies and wetlands are more Important than the development activity."

However, the union ministry has allowed Kamarajar Port to construct facilities like coal yards on the western part of the Ennore wetlands.

                                                                                                       (Economic Times)