yes we can

Earth Hour is about taking simple steps everyday that collectively reduce carbon emissions – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.

Here are 10 different ways to spend Earth Hour and reduce your carbon footprint:

1. Attend a local Earth Hour event or organise your own by throwing an Earth Hour street party with your neighbours
2. Gather family & friends for a night picnic in your local park and look at the stars
3. Enjoy a family dinner by candlelight
4. Organise a treasure hunt in the dark
5. Take the dog for a night walk
6. Have a candle-lit bath
7. Sit in the dark and share stories
8. Organise a family night playing board games
9. Share a romantic night in with your loved one
10. Upload your ‘on the night’ photos and videos to flickr and YouTube respectively, and then add them to the Earth Hour flickr group and the global YouTube Group.

There are no hard and fast rules surrounding participation in Earth Hour. The only condition is that you flick that electric switch and have fun doing whatever you choose to do during that time.
courtesy: http://www.earthhour.org

welcome to a new world

a newsitem in today's indina express. Welcome to the new world order. we are worried about Indian culture where the very existence of Indian and the world is at stake.
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With a severe dust storm raging in Guwahati, airlines including Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Indigo, were unable to land here on Monday. The situation was compounded as the Instrumental Landing System was not functional at the Gopinath Bordoloi Airport.

“Nobody had ever imagined that dust storms would throw air traffic in Guwahati out of gear. And it is now happening almost every day,” SK Borthakur, a professor of Botany at the Gauhati University, said. With Guwahati reeling under the impact of duststorms he is worried that the government does not have a contingency plan to tackle this new disaster.

The dust storm follows a six-month long dry spell in the Northeast which has also led to rampant forest fires in the region. The fires have caused large-scale destruction in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim over the last few weeks.
“Increasing incidence of forest fire is an alarm bell for the Northeast. Forests are becoming dry and thus more combustible. But I think some of them are also man-made fires, with the intention of encroaching land by destroying forests,” Borthakur added.

The dry spell has also resulted in a severe water crisis. With most of the residents dependent on tube wells, depletion of the ground water table has only made things worse.
Scientists at the Assam Science, Technology & Environment Council (ASTEC) are worried about the impact of climate change which is behind these alarming developments. “Wanton destruction of forests and hills has added to the woes in the Northeast. “ said Ranjit Barman, a senior scientist with ASTEC.

Officials at the Regional Met Centre here have described the dry spell in the Northeast as unprecedented. DK Handique who currently heads the Regional Met Centre said that there had been a time when not a single day went by without it raining in some part of the Northeast. “But except for a few showers in the Upper Assam districts and parts of Arunachal Pradesh, there has been no rain at all,” he said.

MOONSTRUCK!

Yes, we can!

After the American elections a lot has been said, discussed and written with respect to India. A lot of people have lamented the state of affairs in India and wishfully wondered when will we have our own Obama - the one who will provide us hope and a message for change.

My reply to all such people is to read today’s newspapers: “INDIA TOUCHES THE MOON”. The 35-kg Moon Impact Probe touched the lunar surface at 8.31 pm on 14 November 2008. A true gift to the children of the world with Children’s Day being celebrated in India.
For the uninitiated, this is truly an inspirational and momentous moment for mankind. India did it right the first time – not a mean feat even by the best standards. This is from a nation categorized as ‘developing’ with the highest number of malnourished children in the world; a nation that was deprived of technology as some countries felt the world was being threatened due to our atomic testing. This is from a nation of immeasurable diversity – diversity that, some feel, poses a threat to the nation’s growth, and these people would rather every Indian follow a single religion and way of life. With all its encumbrances, the nation has been able to send Chandrayaan-1 through an astronomical distance of over 3 lac km. A number of people have been involved through its various stages – scientists, engineers, technicians, teachers, motivators, programmers, operators, invisible people plus one ex-President – people who lost sleep due to nervousness, people who lent support to the sleepless to forge on! Together, they could!

We are a nation so steeped in history... A lot of the young I have interacted with say they feel proud of the achievements in history. On the other hand, they are cynical about the present and are unwilling to lend a hand to creating their own history. A lot of them simple state they are proud without knowing exactly what gives them this lofty feeling – perhaps, the ‘proud’ feeling is handed down as cultural heritage. Well to all of them out there, let this be a day when the world says if anything is possible in the world, it is here in India! This is an event that makes every Indian proud.

Chandrayaan is not just about a probe landing on the moon - it is about hope, ability to surmount challenges and change for the better. We have our own Obamas here within us and for once, we don’t need to stand on the sidelines cheering for somebody else but our own.