Old wisdom can be put to use to save water

Despite poor rains, people in the desert region of Rajasthan have water, thanks to an old system

Despite a drought-like situation across Rajasthan this year, farmers of a small village on the edge of the Thar Desert reaped good harvest from their fruit orchards. They are growing vegetables this winter. Just five years ago, residents of Khidrat struggled to arrange drinking water, let alone water for irrigation. Due to scanty rainfall (see table), groundwater was not only dipping, it had turned brackish. Even deep borewells would yield saline water. Every day, women and children would travel several kilometres to fetch drinking water. Beri is a pitcher-shaped structure that catches rainwater and stores it (Courtesy: Gravis) Those who could afford bought tanker water, which cost between 12 and 15 paisa a litre, depending on the distance and season. On an average, a family spent half of their income—more than Rs 1,250 a month—on buying clean water. “This was strange. For hundreds of years, people in this region had coped successfully with the harsh climate. They had a rich history of rainwater harvesting and groundwater conservation,” says Rajendra Kumar, programme coordinator at Gramin Vikas Vigyan Samiti (GRAVIS). The non-profit empowers communities in the desert. But the tradition had faded from their memory with the introduction of borewells in the late 1970s, and a few years later, with the Rajiv Gandhi Lift Canal that assured water at doorstep. A few villages, including Khidrat, however, did not benefit from the canal. The government assured water supply to these upstream villages through tankers. What was provided for free in the beginning soon became a paid service. “We had always depended on barter system for our needs. But with tanker water came the need for cash,” says Ram Kishan, a resident. People in Khidrat and adjacent villages abandoned agriculture and livestock rearing and became labourers to earn cash. “There was an urgent need to revive beris, a percolation well traditionally used to catch rainwater and store it,” says Kumar. The village had 34 beris, but all of them were defunct. In 2006 GRAVIS, with the help of Regional Housing Development Centre of Jai Narain Vyas Jodhpur University, revived the beris and began installing new beris. Source: IMD, Rajasthan water resource department, Rajasthan Government A beri is essentially a pitcher–shaped shallow well. It is about half a metre wide at the top and three to four metres wide at the bottom. The spot is strategically selected so that the percolated rainwater gets channelized towards the well. While setting up a beri, people stop digging once they encounter a layer of clay or gypsum. These layers prevent further percolation of the stored rainwater, while the narrow mouth prevents loss through evaporation. Beris can hold up to 500,000 liters of water, sufficient to meet the needs of 10 families for a year. People build raised concrete platform and cover it with a slab to prevent dust and surface runoff contamination. Depending on the size and structure, a beri costs between Rs 3,000 and Rs 15,000. When calculated, the cost of beri water comes to less than a paisa per litre, says Shrikant Bhardwaj, area coordinator of GRAVIS. The non-profit has so far built and revived 155 beris in Khidrat. About 90 per cent families of the village drink beri water. The effort has begun showing results. Mangi Laal, who boasts of owning the largest beri in Khidrat, says, “I dug it with the help of my brother and kids. All it took was two bags of cement, sand, a lid and two months of labour,” he adds. Dug to meet drinking water needs of the family, Laal’s beri holds enough water to irrigate his farm. Last year, he grew millets, pulses, watermelon and cucumber and earned Rs 7,000. By arrangement with Down to Earth

Organic food and responsible living

Organic living

Organic living is a basic common sense and conscious living , caring for our loving planet which has given so much to our mankind.
It is very important to use our minds to make informed decisions about what we are putting in our bodies, and working with nature rather than against it.

It will not only help sustain the planet, but mankind as well.
The moment we hear the word "organic" we automatically associate it with the words , "good" , "green" , or "healthy".

But what is really organic food?
Any food that is produced without the use of toxic chemical fertilisers, pesticides and genetically modified seeds is considered organic food. In addition to it even the farming practices also determine organic food production, like composting , green maturing , crop rotation , and bio pest control.

Organic food is not only healthy for people who eat it , but also for the health of the soil. Organic farming ensures the soil health is retained for a long time ! So it more sustainable in long run than chemical farming. 

The harmful chemicals used in the chemical farming cannot be broken down naturally . This endangers and pollutes the ground  water and soil.

The energy used in chemical farming is more.  More farm equipments and lot of fertilisers and pesticides need more energy to be produced . The logistics of getting all the chemicals to every part of the country adds to a deeper carbon footprint.
What is the difference between organic and natural food?
Natural food products are normally grown (with chemicals) but the next food processing happens in Eco friendly and natural way. .i.e food is processed with less or no preservatives, hormones, food colour and  additives.

Control of our choice:
Always encourage getting locally available and grown food products, rather than getting things which are produced halfway across the globe. If it is not seasonal, then may be they are grown in green houses which are more energy consuming.
If you are not able to get 100% organic food to meet your needs, you can at least get a certain percentage of it that is locally or easily available. This is a healthy alternative and also good for our planet.
Things you normally get organic from reliable sources:
Cereals , pulses, spices, tea , coffee, jam, pickles, almost all seasonal vegetables , cold pressed cooking oil, milk, washing powder, handmade soaps, agarbati, insect repellents  , shampoos, floor cleaners and even clothes . You also have a long list of stationary Items and gifting options .
Thus, Organic way is the healthy way , our best way of saying Thank You to  Mother Earth.

The real green man who created a forest

Indian man single-handedly plants a 1,360-acre forest

Jadav Payeng turned a barren sandbar in northern India into a lush new forest ecosystem.The forest, called the Molai woods, is a safe haven for numerous birds, deer, rhinos, tigers and elephants — species increasingly at risk from habitat A little more than 30 years ago, a teenager named Jadav "Molai" Payeng began burying seeds along a barren sandbar near his birthplace in northern India's Assam region to grow a refuge for wildlife. Not long after, he decided to dedicate his life to this endeavor, so he moved to the site where he could work full-time creating a lush new forest ecosystem. Incredibly, the spot today hosts a sprawling 1,360 acres of jungle that Payeng planted — single-handedly. The Times of India recently caught up with Payeng in his remote forest lodge to learn more about how he came to leave such an indelible mark on the landscape. It all started way back in 1979, when floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar. One day, after the waters had receded, Payeng, only 16 then, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles. That was the turning point of his life. "The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage. I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested," says Payeng, now 47. While it's taken years for Payeng's remarkable dedication to planting to receive some well-deserved recognition internationally, it didn't take long for wildlife in the region to benefit from the manufactured forest. Demonstrating a keen understanding of ecological balance, Payeng even transplanted ants to his burgeoning ecosystem to bolster its natural harmony. Soon the shadeless sandbar was transformed into a self-functioning environment where a menagerie of creatures could dwell. The forest, called the Molai woods, now serves as a safe haven for numerous birds, deer, rhinos, tigers and elephants — species increasingly at risk from habitat loss. Despite the conspicuousness of Payeng's project, forestry officials in the region first learned of this new forest in 2008 — and since then they've come to recognize his efforts as truly remarkable, but perhaps not enough."We're amazed at Payeng," says Gunin Saikia, assistant conservator of Forests. "He has been at it for 30 years. Had he been in any other country, he would have been made a hero."

Save Sparrow

Most of us remember those childhood days , where we would have seen small little sparrows in our terrace, windows and balcony.

Can you believe that there numbers are drastically coming down everyday.
This is global concern. This is reason every year march  20th is observed as WORLD SPARROW DAY(WSD) , there are close to 26 species of sparrow all around the world .

With the growing urban development, sparrows do not get place to nest , rest and feed itself. Affects of telephone towers and its radiation is also an on going debate. But the population of sparrows have gone down and this is a fact.

What we can do ?
We can make provision in your balcony , terrace or window for water and grains . Providing nest boxes with feeding stations really helps in supporting these small little sparrows.
More more interesting information check www.worldsparrowday.org

Recycle cars - Ford

Ford's Core Recovery Program diverts various car parts ( not in india) from dealers back to the suppliers who make car components

The  initiative covers the collection, refurbishing and reprocessing of parts from vehicles that Ford’s dealers across the United State have collected over time from car owners.

As is the case with its competitors, Ford has recycled and remanufactured various auto parts for decades. Metals including steel, in fact, are one reason why cars have a relatively high recycling rate at the end of their life cycles.

Ford’s managers saw the need to have a more aggressive and sophisticated recycling program. Moving beyond salvaging steel from its automobiles, Ford’s Core Recovery Program seeks to recycle or refurbish everything from tiny sensors to the engines from its large pickup trucks.

In addition, since car parts became more complicated and expensive in recent years, the different collection methods Ford had used reached the point where they became obsolete.

A few years ago, a damaged bumper or headlight would have automatically been ticketed for the dumpster and therefore the local landfill. But in addition to damaged parts such as fuel injectors and windshield wiper motors, those same bumpers and headlights are now gathered and either refurbished or instead dismantled and then recycled. Two years after they were added to Ford’s list, over 62,000 bumpers have been salvaged while 26,000 headlights were recycled.

Those parts are just a small part of Ford’s recycling initiative: the company estimates it has diverted 120 million pounds from landfills in the 9-plus years since the company launched what Mark Trombetta, manager of Ford’s Core Recovery Center network, calls a “one stop shopping process” to make recycling more seamless for everyone within the company’s operations.

The removal and recycling of headlights is just one example of how Ford’s car parts have changed. A generation ago, headlights were relatively simple: but now glass, plastic and the fasteners needed to allow those lamps to shine are joined by more expensive resins and new wiring systems. 

Furthermore, headlight systems are now often two feet wide and are an integral part of Ford’s vehicles and, hence, are more difficult to remove and recycle.Ford continually harvests old bumpers as part of its newly evolved recycling program. The company collects the bumpers, which are five to six feet long, and sends them to a vendor where they are broken down into pellets. With each bumper weighing about 20 pounds, Ford can reduce the amount of virgin materials the company requires for new parts. In addition to bumpers, Ford also recycles underbody shields, battery trays and carpets.Ford’s recycling program partnership with its dealers works like the bottle return systems of yesterday. Dealers pay a core charge on each new part they purchase from Ford to replace damaged ones. When a dealer returns the original damaged part to Ford, that same dealer then receives the core charge back as a refund. Meanwhile, a system of bar codes and scanners keeps tracks of the various Ford parts as they move across the U.S. Ford partners with several distributors across the country that act as clearinghouses for all of Ford’s damaged parts, large and small.For Ford, not only does the company reduce waste and improve its environmental credentials, but the improvement in recycling efforts has proven to be a money generator. The program has grown so quickly in recent years that Ford has had to hire more workers and work them more hours in order to not fall behind. Recycling, once seen as an annoyance and cost center by automakers, is now emerging as part and parcel of car manufacturers’ strategy as raw materials become more expensive.Why don't our car manufacturers come with such ideas,,,,,,

Country which imports Garbage !!!

Sweden runs out of garbage, forced to import from Norway
Sweden, a recycling-happy land where a quarter of a million homes are powered by the incineration of waste, is facing a unique dilemma: The nation has run out of much-needed fuel.
Sweden, the squeaky clean Scandinavian nation of more than 9.5 million has run out of garbage. The landfills have been tapped dry; the rubbish reserves depleted. And although this may seem like a positive — even enviable — predicament for a country to be facing, Sweden has been forced to import trash from neighboring countries, namely Norway. Yep, Sweden is so trash-strapped that officials are shipping it in — 80,000 tons of refuse annually, to be exact — from elsewhere.
You see, Swedes are big on recycling. So big in fact that only 4 percent of all waste generated in the country is landfilled.
Good for them! However, the population's remarkably pertinacious recycling habits are also a bit of a problem given that the country relies on waste to heat and to provide electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes through a longstanding waste-to-energy incineration program. So with citizens simply not generating enough burnable waste to power the incinerators, the country has been forced to look elsewhere for fuel. Says Catarina Ostlund, a senior advisor for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency: “We have more capacity than the production of waste in Sweden and that is usable for incineration.”

Public Radio International has the whole story (hat tip to Ariel Schwartz at Co.Exist), a story that may seem implausible in a country like garbage-bloated America where overflowing landfills are anything but scarce.

As mentioned, the solution — a short-term one, according to Ostlund — has been to import (well, kind of import) waste from Norway. It’s kind of a great deal for the Swedes: Norway pays Sweden to take its excess waste, Sweden burns it for heat and electricity, and the ashes remaining from the incineration process, filled with highly polluting dioxins, are returned back to Norway and landfilled.

Ostlund suggests that Norway might not be the perfect partner for a trash import-export scheme, however. “I hope that we instead will get the waste from Italy or from Romania or Bulgaria or the Baltic countries because they landfill a lot in these countries.

SAVE FUEL

How to save fuel !

Fuel Saving starts from a good fuel station:

Key Points to consider while selecting a fuel station:

Select fuel stations which are frequently visited by people. Risk of adulteration or contamination can be reduced.

Select fuel station which is paved - floor (concrete or tarred or tiled.). Fuel storage tanks at fuel stations are under the ground. Old and poor maintenance may lead to water seepage leading to contamination. (Water or any type of contamination reduced the engine life and consumes lot of fuel)

Fill fuel where the filling machines or dispensers are covered.  (Fuel station which is roofed)

Fill normal fuel no need to fill SPEED or additive fuels. It doesn't help much!!

 Avoid any distraction at fuel station by the people at the filling stations. You may be tricked and cheated with the amount of fuel filled.

Never use any fuel additives, which promises to enhances fuel mileage. Its our driving habits that can enhance fuel mileage.

Confirm the quantity of fuel by yourself at the fuel station. Get out of the car and confirm “0” and wait till you see the desired fuel you had requested to be filled.

How to drive to get maximum kilometres per litre of fuel:

1) Get inside the car , wear seat belt, adjust mirror, make yourself comfortable and then start the car. While moving out with family or friends , let everyone get it and when everyone is ready to leave , close the door and then start the car. ( Start your engine just before you leave )

2) Slowly rev the engine, do not push the acc pedal hard, smooth drive will always ensure good fuel mileage and increases the life of your engine.

3) Avoid hard braking, look up the road , check speed breakers, turns etc , frequent and abrupt braking not only leads to accident or poor brake pad life , it also reduces the fuel mileage.

4) Avoid resting your leg on the clutch , this will lead to poor mileage and also reduces clutch life.

5) Plan your trip well ahead and use GPS for finding the route to your destination. Searching for your destination burns more fuel than estimated.

6) If you have to pass thru a heavy traffic route, plan your timing or check the possibility of alternate route with less traffic.

7) Maintain your car properly, choked air filters and old engine oil may badly affect the fuel consumption.

8) For short trip avoid driving, best is walking. In short trips the engine is not warmed up, so the efficiency will always be poor.

9) If the car is parked under sun and when you get in, before you switch AC ON , open all the window glass for few minutes and then close and then switch ON the AC, this will help in cooling the car faster.

10) If you do not need fog lamp, audio or any other electrical load, please switch off, as this electrical load reduces the fuel efficiency.

11) Remove unnecessary weight from the car, a 50 Kg weight can increase the fuel consumption by 2%.

12) Do not fit local accessories like roof carrier/rails, bull guard, etc which hampers the aerodynamic of your car. Car makers develop accessories with design and aerodynamic sense.

13) In manual AC , keep the blower in full speed initially and bring down to less speed, also control the chillness less, this will reduce the load on the engine ensuring pleasant drive.

14) You can save close to 15% of your fuel consumption if you switch off engine whenever you stop your car in signals or traffic. ( any stops more than a minute –switch of the engine)

15) Frequently you apply brake, then you burn more fuel. Drive at a constant speed to avoid frequent braking.

16) Encourage Car pooling. This will help in reducing traffic on roads.

17) Drive at constant speed of 50 to 60 kms /hr speed. More than 80kms/hr speed you burn more fuel.

18) Use electric or hybrid cars.

19) Where ever possible, use public transport.

20) Maintain recommended tyre pressure. This will not only save fuel but also increases the tyre life. 2-PSI loss in tyre pressure may increase the fuel consumption by 1%.

21) Thicker or wider tyre may look good and also enhances the grip, but thicker tyres means more rolling resistance, means  burning more fuel.

22) Engines are more efficient around 1500 rpm to 2500rpm, so quickly move to the higher gear. At higher gear the engine efficiency is high so more fuel efficient.

25) If automatic Transmission , then switch to over drive option of Economy option ( if available) Do not rev up the engine , softly pedal the accelerate for better fuel mileage

26) AC can use about 10 per cent extra fuel when operating. However, at speeds of over 80 km/h, use of air conditioning is better for fuel economy than an open window

27) Share your fuel saving ideas with your society and friends.