EASTER GREETINGS

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST  is celebrated all over the world today.
It reminds us of all virtues,love,compassion and universal brotherhood.Our present day world is losing all values.A love lost world.Brutal and cruel actions are increasing.Killing the innocent has become the order of the day.The message of Easter is very very relevant today.

WORLD WATER DAY TODAY

"One person in six lives without regular access to safe drinking water; over twice that number—2.4 billion—lack access to adequate sanitation," said Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations. The event is sponsored by the UN to highlight important environmental issues facing the planet.

WORLD FROG DAY

WORLD FROG DAY 20th March 

Amphibians are among the groups hardest hit by today's many strikes against wildlife. As many as half of all species are under threat. Hundreds are sliding toward extinction, and dozens are already lost.

MARVELLOUS PLAYS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

ROMEO and JULIET

What will happen when two lovers disobey their feuding families and follow their hearts?The most famous and tragic love story of all time.

LAND AS A NATURAL RESOURCE

The land area of the earth is estimated to be about 140 million square kilometers.It occupies less than a third of the surface .Yet,it is vital for our existence.

• The land area preserves terrestrial biodiversity and the genetic pool
• It is the land that makes water available all the time over the whole planet by the process of water cycle.The land regulates the process.
• The carbon cycle is also regulated by land.
• The rain water and other sources of water running over the surface of the soil is filtered and stored underground by the land.
• More than 4000 minerals are found  under the earth which we utilise in different ways in every day life.
• The fossil fuels like coal,gasoline(petrol),natural gas that we use incessantly in our everyday use is stored under the land.These are basic resources.
• Land all over the world is a dumping place for all sorts of solid as well as liquid wastes
• Land forms the basis for human settlements whether it is on river banks, valleys,plains,mountains,ice covered continents or deserts.
• Transport activities also depend on land for terrestrial(road/rail),marine and air ways. 
• The top soil,just a few centimeters in thickness,supports all plant growth and is hence the life support system for all organisms,including mankind..
• Soil is a living system and not an inert bowl f or dumping chemicals.
• It is the land that supports the plants,trees ,and the whole living system.The world's total forest area is estimated slightly over 4 billion hectares.
• Russian Federation,Brazil,Canada,US,,and China accounts for more than half of the total forest area(53%).
• Land is inevitable for agriculture and food production.
• Land is the base for thriving forests.Forests have the potential to market and non-market based determinants of poverty reduction
• We use markets.every day buying ans selling goods to create economic value.It is done through the voluntary exchange of goods and services regulated by competition.Land is an essential item here also.
• The land absorbs as well as releases carbon.
• Each year,6 million hectares of agricultural land are lost due to desertification and soil degradation.This process affects 250 million people all over the world.
• Earth's surface is covered by crust Land is made up of continental crust between 20 and 70 kilometers thick.Most of it is made of granite.

POLAR LANDS IN PERIL

• From about 300 years ago,the polar regions were exploited by anyone who could get there.Vast number of fish,squid,as well as other animals were killed By the 1950's these creatures had become very rare, and in 1980 mass whaling was banned.

TODAY IS 67TH REPUBLIC DAY OF INDIA

This is an occasion reminding us all that we are all Indians,whether we reside in or out of the country,whether we believe in different religions or we practise different customs our unity and integrity is our strength.We shall strive forward to make our country number one in every fields.

JAI HIND.

LAND MINING

Mining is a boon as well as a curse to humanity.
A mineral is any substance naturally present in the earth's crust and is not formed from animal or vegetable matter.The geological processes are responsible for the formation of minerals.It takes millions and sometimes billions of years.That is why we say they are non-renewable.

• Gold,iron,copper,and aluminium are among the prominent metals extracted.Stone,sand and salt are examples non-metals.Over 100 minerals are mined like this.
• Coal is the major mineral mined from the earth.

IMPACTS OF MINING

• Mining leads to loss of land,livelihood,and even cultures
• Increased health risks due to contamination of natural resources such as land and water.
• Over the past 20 years 90 % of forest cover has been depleted due to mining
• Small Medium sized Enterprises play a major role in manually pre-processing the waste for isolation of toxic compounds and precious metals.
• World Health Organisation calculates that exposure to polluted soil water, and  air in 2012 resulted in an estimated 8.9 million deaths worldwide; largely in developing countries.

MINING IN INDIA

• Eighty per cent of mining in India is for coal.
• It is estimated that India has over 3500 mines operating legally.
• About 10 million people have been displaced from mining areas
• Over one million are employed in the industry..
• Mining industry in India produces 86 different  metals and minerals.
• Forest cover has been depleted by 90% over the past two decades due to mining.
• Globally the land surface is continuously degrading,soil is becoming devoid of nutrients and unhealthy,and desertification is increasing.
• Mining has become more intense and widespread and causes environmental and social problems. 
• Jharia situated in the state  of  Jharkand is a town surrounded by coal fires.

Coalfires occur like forest fires.Lightning,forest fires, or frictional heat inside the earth's crust can trigger the spontaneous combustion of coal.Burning of coal raises atmospheric temperature, and cause land subsidence.Smoke from these fires contain gases such as oxides of carbon,nitrogen,and sulphur.

• The fires have consumed 40 million tons of coking coal and rendered 1800 million tons out of bounds.
• It is estimated that the cost to extinguish the fire may go up to 10 billion rupees.
• It has become necessitated  to evacuate 3 million people of Jharia ,abandoning 100,000 houses.People are now hell on earth living in constant fear of subsidence that could cause the entire town to collapse..
• The impact of land use/abuse causes concern in the Air Quality.Higher levels of particulate matter in cities is a major concern all over the world.
• Dust storms have become regular between winter and spring.The amount of particulate matter in the Seol air is normally 70 micrograms of dust per cubic meter.1000 micrograms would cause breathing problems.On April 12, 2002 amount of particulate matter in the atmosphere in Seol,South Korea was 2070 micrograms per cubic meter.
• Dust storms are typically formed in desert areas and from there they can spread to places thousands of kilometers away.
• Land use pattern plays a key role in the environment.Overgrazing rangelands,overploughing the  cropland,overpumping the aquifers and overcutting the forests make land barren.
• In 2009,the levels of suspended particulate matter were worse than national standards in 91 cities in India.
• .In Delhi alone one out of every ten school children suffers from asthma.
• Most soil pollutants are agricultural chemicals,primarily fertilizers and pesticides.
• Dumping of waste including garbage, untreated sewage,industrial effluents,nuclear waste, and mining waste pollute the soil by leaking the danderous substances.
• Industrial discharges and agricultural run-off containing pesticides, fertilizers, and various toxic chemicals endup in the ocean.It comes to about 70 trillion lters a year.
• The future looks grim with respect to water,soil,and marine pollution.This calls for urgent steps.
• Human activities have changed sediment flows into coasts and the ocean.Deltas need sediments.But they do not get enough.While coral reefs are smothered by them.
• Land degradation and climatic changes convert fertile lands into desert soils.Fertile top soil takes centuries to form.But it can be washed or blown away in a short period of time.
• Over cultivation,deforestation and poor irrigation practices combined with climate change are turning once fertile places into barren land.
• Desertification has affected more than 50 million square kilometer of land.That is equal to one third of total land area of earth.
• The impacts of desertification remain a threat to one fifth of the global population.
• Cultivable land per person  is shrinking throughout the world, threatening food security and triggering humanitarian and economic crises.
• The UN Convention to Combat Desertification was adopted in 1994 which came into force in 1996.More than 190 countries are parties to the Convention.
• With increasing world population ,there will be intense pressure on land,especially in Africa and Asia.More intensive land use will be needed to feed the increasing population.More grass lands and forests will be converted to agricultural lands.
• Underground mining has little direct effect on the environment,but it can cause long-term problems like subsidence and pollution of aquifers.

EARTH HOUR IS OBSERVED TONIGHT  FROM 08.30 TO 09.30.THIS IS TO MAKE PEOPLE AWARE OF THE SERIOUSNESS OF UNPRECEDENTED INCREASE OF CARBON IN THE ATMOSPHERE COUPLED WITH THE ENERGY POOR WHO ARE LIVING  IN THE DARK.WE HAVE TO SEEK RENEWABLE SOURCES FOR ENERGY .THIS YEARS THEME IS SOLAR WORLD.A WORLD DEPENDING OR MAKING USE OF SOLAR ENERGY THE MOST.

The world's land surface is continuously degrading.Soil is becoming unhealthy, and desertification is increasing.
Mining has become more intense and widespread and causes many environmental and social problems.

THE ARAVALLI HILLS

• Spread across Haryana,Rajasthan,and Gujarat the hills are the lifeline of the three states.The hills  control the climate and drainage system.
• The hills act as the watershed for the region.

WORLD ENERGY CONSERVATION DAY.

TODAY IS WORLD ENERGY CONSERVATION DAY.

UN has declared 2014-2024 as Sustainable Energy Decade.

     Globally 143 million households depend on firewood for cooking.76 million  households have no electricity.In India out of 167.8 million rural households 85% are dependent on biomass for cooking.45% (75 million households ) have no electricity.Annual keresine consumption in India is 3.6 billion liters.

Our loss of energy during transmission is huge.Our electrical and electronic appliances are not energy efficient.We have to act now.

BIODIVERSITY

The variability among living organisms from all sources, including marine,terrestrial, and other aquatic ecosystems is called biodiversity.This includes diversity within species , between species, and of ecosystems.This  biodiversity represents the variety of life,whether in terms of different species of birds and mammals, and the variability across ecosystems.

• We currently use nearly 40,000 species of plants,animals ,fungi, and microbes
• There are about 250,000 species of plants known to science.
• Without biodiversity, humanity would cease to exist.The economic value of  global biodiversity is infinite.
• Valuing a loss of  biodiversity is  more difficult.The key economic questions concern  the marginal value of  biodiversity itself and the benefits of preserving a particular part of a habitat
• The benefits of preserving biodiversity derive from three sources.Direct values due to medicine and agriculture is the first one.

USES OF BIODIVERSITY

• Organisms  have a vast range of uses.For example,actinobacteria is used to produce a common form of antibiotics.
• We obtain the edible mushroom from fungi.
• Silkworms  are useful insects which have even commercial importance.
• The lady birds predate upon aphids.
• Animals like sheep and buffalo provide meat,milk,transportation,leather,and fertilizer.
• Higher plants provide timber,crop plants,insecticides,fodder and are also source of both traditional as well as modern medicines.Many common drugs are sourced from plants-

Aspirin is taken from willow bark and taxol used in the treatment of cancer is derived from the Pacific yew.Biotechnology has made it possible to take traits such as disease resistance from close relatives to crop plants,and incorporate these traits into commercial varieties.

• By destroying a habitat, we may inadvertently destroy a close relative to a crop species that contains valuable genetic material Zea diploperennis is a relative of commercial maize( Zea mays.)It  was unknown untill recently.It is on the verge of extinction.Its last remaining habitat is in the Sierra de Monantlan in Mexico.The plant has resistance to many diseases that affect the commercial crop.It can provide genetic material for new disease resistant crop varieties.
• Loss of crop genetic diversity over the last 50 years has been so rapid that there has been a call to establish a Red List of endangered crop varieties, based on the IUCN Red List For  endangered  species.
• Manipulating genetic codes of organisms biologically active chemicals can be exploited as the blue print for drugs that are then produced synthetically.
• In Costa Rica the ecosystem services related to hydrological regulation and drinking water is estimated at 2.5 million US dollar a year.

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Ecosystems  provide us with numerous direct and indirect services, including waste assimilation,water purification,and nutrient cycling.We are unable to assess the value of particular species in a complex ecosystem

• Ecoystem  cycles relate to energy input,circulation of the elements essential to life - carbon, nitrogen, hdrogen,, and so on (biogeochemical cycles) - and water circulation
• An estimated value of protecting an individual plant species on the basis of medicinal value of  7109 dollars.It is calculated based on the drug discovery made in US.
• Energy in terrestrial and most marine ecosystems must be constantly renewed from the sun.
• Plants capture the sun's energy through photosynthesis to produce tissue.Plants are called autotrophs.They live on inorganic elements,such as,carbon dioxide and water.
• 17 lakh species have been described by science.(250,000 plants,44,000 vertebrates, and 751,000 insects).Out of this 4000 are mammals.
• Current estimates are between 5 million and 15 million species. Of this large number of species, about 85-95% have not been discovered
• In a survey of ecosystem services conducted in 58,000 hectare national park area in Cocta Rica the hydrological regulation and drinking water were estimated at 2.5 million US dollar per year.
• Plants capture the sun's energy through photosynthesis to produce tissues.Plants are called autotrophs. They live on inorganic elements , such as carbon dioxide and water.All animals,insects and micro-organisms are directly or indirectly fed by plants,and are called consumers or heterotrophs.
• Trees in a rainforest act like a sponge,and moderate the local water cycle by retaining water in the soil and evaporating rainfall.
• Biodiversity loss involves more than the loss of a few high profile species such as elephants and black rhinoceros;it concerns any regional loss of species or any reduction in the geographical range of species that reduces their genetic diversity.
• Coral reefs provide protection to to coastal areas and protect delicate coastal wetlands and mangrove swamps from storms.Loss of significant part of the coral reefs by pollution ,or a sea level rise due to climate change would result in a significant loss of ecosystem services, where as the local loss of a species of fish would not directly.
• Mangrove trees are critical to the functioning of coastal swamps,as they stabilize sediments and filter the water.
• The loss of a species of mangrove,the primary producer in that ecosystem,would have a devastating effect on the local marine environment, since there are no close  substitute for these species in its role as a  primary producer capable of surviving in salt water and stabilizing the sediment  in coastal swamps.
• Benefits of functioning ecosystems to mankind is enormous.Natural resources,flood mitigation,pollination for agriculture,carbon sequestration, and reducing soil erosion are provided by the ecosystems
• Trees in a rain forest.act like a sponge, and moderate the local water cycle by retaining water in the soil and evaporating rainfall.In this way, they reduce the  frequency and intensity of floods.
• Other benefits include goods such as fish or fuel wood,and services such as recreational opportunities,storm reduction,water purification,and cultural benefits,all of which have economic value.
• Biodiversity can play a key role in the functioning of ecosystems,and thus in the quantity of services that they deliver.
• Worldwide 60% of the ecosystem services have become degraded.Major portion of this has happened in the last 50 years.

DECEMBER 10 IS WORLD HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
The Human Rights Act protects us from discrimination on the basis of race, religion or sexual orientation; it gives our patients in hospitals and care homes the right to be treated with compassion; and it protects us from the threat of an all-powerful state – here and anywhere in THE WORLD.(adapted from David Weaver's words)

We humans in Syria,Afghanistan,Somalia,Sudan and the like are  we respecting the act or the humans and their rights?Let the global humans respect ourselves and the brothers all over the world and keep peace.

In 1973, the Endangered Species Act(ESA)acknowledged that the ecological,educational,historical,recreational and scientific value of species diversity was inadequately accounted for in the process of economic growth and development.The act provides a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend may be conserved.

• Earth is currently undergoing a phase of mass species extinction due to habitat loss and disruption
• We are appropriating rich and diverse habitats for agricultural production and other disruptive forms of land use,humankind determines which species survive,which thrive, and which are pushed to extinction.

EARTH'S OXYGEN RESOURCES

• Rain forests are responsible for 28% of the Earth's oxygen supply
• 70% of the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by marine plants..

Species extinction is estimated to range from 5 to 30 percent per decade.

With it's thick forest cover and immense biodiversity,Bhutan is called the oxygen tank or the carbon sink of the world.
There is a crocodile bank in Chennai.It was established in the early 1970s by Romulus Whitaker.Because the  crocodile was facing extinction.Later it became an International Crocodile Bank.gathering species,which were endangered in other countries as well.
The Bank now has crocodile from all over the world and has become a gene pool for all species . Over 50,000 visitors come here every year.Whitaker's single but enormous contribution biodiversity conservation is so dedicated and unique.

• Seed banks,zoos,and botanical gardens are important for biodiversity conservation,but they are beset with many difficulties.
• There are a range of international conventions and agreements to promote biodiversity conservation , the most important being the CBD(Convention on Biological Diversity).

WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016

Let us take a pledge that we will not contaminate air,water,soil,and food articles this year

• Biotechnology  promises immense benefits for agriculture,food production, and health,but brings with it many problems too.