The Most Polluted Cities in the World

In both the United States and Western Europe, the effects of pollution on human health have declined dramatically in the last half-century. Widespread industrial pollution persists, however, in many regions of the world. More than a million people still die each year from urban air pollution and lead poisoning, and over 80 percent of all diseases recorded by the World Health Organization are wholly or partially attributable to environmental factors (WHO 2006).

Earlier this month, the Blacksmith Institute's Polluted Places Initiative released an unranked list of the 10 most polluted cities in the world. More than 400 cities were nominated and evaluated for this dubious honor. The winners are not ranked, but are presented below, alphabetically by country.

These ten winners, along with 20 honorable mentions comprise Blacksmith's "Dirty Thirty." More information about the sites along with a map can be found here. The cities are selected based on criteria that include the toxicity and scale of pollution, the level of human exposure, and the number of people affected. Special consideration is given to sites that disproportionately harm children.

In Dzerzhinsk, Russia, toxic groundwater contamination
has reduced the average life expectancy to 42 for men
and 47 for women.

The Blacksmith Institute uses these rankings to raise awareness about pollution in the developing world and to engage local, national, and international actors to tackle the sources of pollution.

Recycle

Nokia introduces its Old Cell Phone recycling programme in India
Nokia has published a global consumer survey on recycling, having interviewed 6,500 people in 13 countries, and the results are pretty eye-opening with only 3% of us recycling our redundant mobiles.
The survey uncovered that the majority of us (44%) simply keep our old devices lying in drawers at home. A quarter of people are giving their old phones to friends or family, with another 16% selling them, and only 4% chucking them away. The reason for this lack of recycling impetus? Well, globally, half the people don't know you can recycle your old phones, and of those that did know around two thirds did not know how or where to do it.

Nokia's Director of Environmental Affairs, Markus Terho, highlighted this aspect of the survey and the significant eco benefits that could become a reality with more awareness and action:

"Many people are simply unaware that these old and unused mobiles lying around in drawers can be recycled or how to do this. Nokia is working hard to make it easier, providing more information and expanding our global take-back programs... If each of the three billion people globally owning mobiles brought back just one unused device we could save 240,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking 4 million cars off the road. By working together, small individual actions could add up to make a big difference."He went on to explain:

"Using the best recycling technology nothing is wasted. Between 65 – 80 per cent of a Nokia device can be recycled. Plastics that can't be recycled are burnt to provide energy for the recycling process, and other materials are ground up into chips and used as construction materials or for building roads. In this way nothing has to go to landfill.

"Sure, the biggest challenge is actually getting people to recycle their old devices. But, as well as shock methods such as this survey, most awareness and inspiration comes from us telling our friends and family about it, and actually leading by example. No doubt it takes a little effort, but the benefits are massive with a collective effort.Nokia has over 5,000 recycle points worldwide spawned as a result of its recently launched We Recycle initiative.

*Find your nearest recycling point in India,by clicking on the link below....

http://www.nokia.co.in/carecenter

Melting Videos - the hell

Greenland Ice Sheet Melting Faster Than Expected; Larger Contributor To Sea-level Rise Than Thought

The Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than expected, according to a new study led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher and published in the journal Hydrological Processes.

Study results indicate that the ice sheet may be responsible for nearly 25 percent of global sea rise in the past 13 years. The study also shows that seas now are rising by more than 3 millimeters a year--more than 50 percent faster than the average for the 20th century.

UAF researcher Sebastian H. Mernild and colleagues from the United States, United Kingdom and Denmark discovered that from 1995 to 2007, overall precipitation on the ice sheet decreased while surface ablation--the combination of evaporation, melting and calving of the ice sheet--increased. According to Mernild’s new data, since 1995 the ice sheet lost an average of 265 cubic kilometers per year, which has contributed to about 0.7 millimeters per year in global sea level rise. These figures do not include thermal expansion--the expansion of the ice volume in response to heat--so the contribution could be up to twice that.

The Greenland ice sheet has been of considerable interest to researchers over the last few years as one of the major indicators of climate change. In late 2000/early 2001 and in 2007, major glacier calving events sent up to 44 square miles of ice into the sea at a time. Researchers are studying these major events as well as the less dramatic ongoing melting of the ice sheet through runoff and surface processes.

Ice melt from a warming Arctic has two major effects on the ocean. First, increased water contributes to global sea-level rise, which in turn affects coastlines across the globe. Second, fresh water from melting ice changes the salinity of the world’s oceans, which can affect ocean ecosystems and deep water mixing.

“Increasing sea level rise will be a problem in the future for people living in coastal regions around the globe,” said Mernild. “Even a small sea level rise can be a problem for these communities. It is our hope that this research can provide people with accurate information needed to plan for protecting people and communities.”

So, let’s pledge to do at least 10 out these Earth saving measures as we all are citizens of Mother Earth.

1. There is a cute small round press button at the bottom right corner of almost all monitors: Please make use of this,





2. Stop printing out Harry Porter, Jeffrey Archer and other e-books. This is a classic example of paper wastage.



If you have forgotten to give double-side prints, make sure you make use of the empty sides as scribbling pads or for your kids' imposition

!




Take two minutes from your busy schedule before hurrying back home to shut down the computer.






All of us are big time Googlers. Have you heard of the Blackle search engine? Blackle (Google powered) is a search engine designed all in Rich Black so that your system consumes less power. So change your homepage.







Plastic bags these days indeed come in bright and flamboyant colors and tempt us to take them home with us. But the saying, "Appearances are deceptive" holds true for these plastic things too. Next time, hold back or go prepared to counter temptation with a cloth bag.






Roses, Jasmine, Hibiscus and Peas; All these saplings cost hardly between Rs. 10 - 20 each. Can't we afford to plant these in and around our houses? Also, more importantly, caring and maintain them as they grow?







Try to segregate the different kinds of waste into Bio-Degradable (Fruit or vegetable waste) , Recyclable (waste Paper, paper products) and Electronics (Floppy disks, CD-ROMS ). Once you have segregated your thrash, look for specialized trash cans to throw them away.




Try to minimize the use of horns. Honking drastically increased and this adds to the noise pollution and does not provide a conducive environment to live in.




Use rechargeable batteries though it's an expensive product, it's one-time purchase. Recharge when required. (Same applies to cell-phones, MP3s, iPods and Laptops)





The best pens to use would be ink ones. Though if you have to use a ball point pen, buy refills instead of buying new pens. Pencils are much better for rough use! (That's why we used it at school!!!)






Remember to close water taps before preening in front of the mirror. Of course you are beautiful, but Water is a precious resource!






Let's not just wake up and walk out of finished meetings and conferences with a sigh of relief, let us remember to turn off the lights and projectors too.





Take few minutes to learn about topics like 'Global Warming' , 'Air / Noise /Land / Water Pollution ' etc apart from constant surfing of News, Latest Gadgets, Movies and Music.






Spread this message; to your friends and foes. They too can make a difference.




The Earth has already become a dangerous place to live in for the animals and birds. Soon it might be our turn. So let's pledge to save our beautiful planet so that you and your future generations can live happily and peacefully ever after.

World’s next big climate pact begins to take shape

A two-year march toward a new treaty to combat global warming is pausing briefly in Bonn to give negotiators from 182 countries their first crack at tackling a rough draft of an agreement.

Despite differences over some difficult issues, there is cautious optimism that negotiators could make progress especially now that the US is playing what many see as a more constructive role than it did under the Bush administration.

Over the next two weeks, country representatives will debate and overhaul as much of a 53-page “negotiating text” as they can to get a draft pact ready for government ministers to consider in December at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) annual “conference of the parties” in Copenhagen.

The ultimate goal is to produce a new agreement that will cover developing as well as developed countries and will pick up where 1997 Kyoto Protocol leaves off. The protocol’s first – and so far, only – enforcement period ends in 2012. The protocol, which formally took force last year, calls on industrial countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by a combined average of 5.5 percent below 1990 levels.

The timetable and topics the new treaty must cover were set out at global climate talks in Bali in 2007. The Bali Roadmap envisioned a draft treaty that would be ready for consideration in Copenhagen, but now, UN officials speak in terms of an “agreed outcome” or talks leading to “a result” in the Danish capital.

Still, negotiations that began today in Bonn “represents a significant new step in the talks,” said Yvo de Boer, the UNFCCC’s executive secretary, at a briefing Monday. “Governments have on the table for the first time real negotiating text, which can serves as the basis for drafting an agreed outcome in Copenhagen.”

How would he define success at December’s meeting? First, an agreement must be clear about how much industrial countries aim to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020, Mr. de Boer said.

Then, it must be clear on what major developing countries – China, India, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa – will do to limit the growth of their emissions. It must be clear about providing stable and predictable sources of money for adaptation measures in the developing world and for aid in buying the green technologies that will help those countries meet their emissions goals. And it must be clear on how the financial institutions that provide that money will be governed.

Developing countries argue that they have no representatives on the governing boards of any of the climate-related funding agencies currently set up to serve them.

US back in the game

Not surprisingly, the top item on Mr. de Boer’s list – emissions reductions from developed countries – remains one of the most contentious.

In Bali, industrial countries minus the US “agreed in principle to reduce emission by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020,” notes Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. As with Kyoto targets, that’s an average across all industrial countries.

Now the US is back in the game, but the Obama administration speaks of reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The energy legislation that cleared the US House Energy and Commerce Committee last month would reduce emissions anywhere from1 percent below 1990 levels to 23 percent below, depending on how aggressively some of its provisions are used, according to calculations by the World Resources Institute in Washington.

By contrast, Europe aims to reduce emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and would sweeten the pot by dropping emissions to 30 percent of 1990 levels if other industrial nations took on aggressive 2020 targets.

Japan is currently weighing its 2020 targets, with proposals ranging from 4 percent above 1990 levels to 25 percent below 1990, Mr. Meyer says. And Australia is reportedly shooting for 25 percent if several conditions are met.

So far, the goal has been to put emissions on a path that would limit the average rise in global temperatures to about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit by century’s end. Based on the 2007 reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that amount of warming implies stabilizing greenhouse-gas concentrations at 450 parts per million (ppm). But some atmospheric researchers have since argued that to avoid dangerous human effect on climate, emissions must be stabilized at or below 350 ppm. Currently, the concentration of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse-gas posing the biggest concern, stands at 387 ppm.

Will emission cuts be enough?

The different targets and the various options for reaching them will make for an interesting conversation, Mr. Meyer says wryly. And a crucial one: Industrial countries currently covered by the Kyoto Protocol are unlikely to clamp down further on emissions unless they are satisfied with the changes the US and developing countries are willing to undertake.

With six weeks’ worth of negotiating time left, it’s likely that some of the financial issues could get ironed out first, analysts say, with the tougher issues of emissions and developing-country involvement coming later.

The UNFCCC’s de Boer says improvements in the negotiating climate give him confidence of a Copenhagen agreement. Among other things, the US is moving ahead with domestic legislation, which embraces many of the elements the Kyoto Protocol contains.

But he also strikes a cautionary note. At the last full set of talks in Poznan, Poland, late last fall, he suggested that the Copenhagen talks would fail if an agreement didn’t include deep additional cuts in emissions. The last IPCC report set out various temperature scenarios with differing concentrations of greenhouse-gases in the atmosphere and what it would take to stabilize them at each level. The greenhouse-gas levels with the highest likelihood of dodging dangerous human effects on climate involved deep cuts by industrial countries by 2020 and 2050, and a substantial change from “business as usual” in the developing world.

Do the proposals currently on the table include cuts deep enough to make Copenhagen a success? “No, they don’t amount to enough,” de Boer replied. The key challenge for negotiators, he says, is “raising the level of ambition.”