Le Question: Will you get me a new globe?

For his seventh birthday I gifted Shashwat a globe. It met a long-standing demand and soon enough he had charted the oceans, seas, continents, polar ice caps (the great melt, breaking ice shelf), the Pacific Ring of Fire (volcanoes), Polynesia (extinct flightless birds), Madagascar (the island and the movie), the Sahara (the Sidewinder’s abode), the Himalayas, France (local colonizer), England (the bigger colonizer), India, a few countries, major cities and Semri (our village in Uttar Pradesh – the approximate location in this case). 

All was well in our miniature heaven, now home to a miniature Earth. Until Le Question was popped. 

Thus it went:

Shashwat: So in a few years' time will you get me a new globe? 

Me: Why? Nothing will change, except maybe a few new countries (I am still in shock after the breakup of the USSR and the resultant mass-production of countries -- and careful never to rule out another such event). 

S: No, not countries. The shorelines may change, islands will disappear, and ice caps may not be there either. 

Me: Why? 

S: If global warming continues... 

Our heaven had been invaded by a dark malevolent religion practiced by the Eco-Warriors, and one of its trusted followers was now a full convert. It was like finding a pagan in the midst of priests. Not only did he profess a different faith, he was asking questions, extremely uncomfortable ones at that.

I wonder how he would have imagined the islands drowning. Waters slowly rise, everything gets cramped in smaller and smaller spaces, earth is washed away in chunks. Desperate to reach higher ground, predator and the prey are confined in ever-closer proximity. Short-term survival is pitted against eventual and certain doom. 

For a child it’s the stuff of nightmares -- and children have vivid imaginations.

Jane Resture, a poet from the Pacific Oceanic Islands, has felt sea levels rise slowly and surely in her time. She writes:

But as years go by we wonder why the shoreline is not the same
The things we knew as always true somehow do not remain
The breakers break on higher ground - the outer palms are falling down

The taro pits begin to die and the village elders wonder why.

I will read it out to him when I have the courage to do so.

I suspect -- actually, I am quite convinced -- that children, unlike us, lack the subconscious filing system that we employ so effectively when faced with inconvenient truths. Unlike adults they cannot tuck them away in the netherworld of conscious memory and then force them to stay put with firm ignorance, deliberate forgetfulness or simple rationalization until they cease to matter. Unlike us, each child who is aware of the state of the planet carries a heavy burden with which he or she tries to grapple, often with no help. Our every action is scrutinized and their minds are busy answering self-posed questions. It’s a continuous process into which grownups are not co-opted, especially since around them, they see scant evidence of any action even when global warming is now a part of our lexicon and every TV channel worth its airtime is blaring out the message 24x7. 

Maybe they prefer to preserve our respectability and hence keep the questioning on a tight leash, preferring internal dialogue instead. Shashwat thinks that the water used (or rather wasted) while shooting the “Jab life ho out of control” song in the Aamir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots must be special effects. Why would responsible grown-ups waste so much water when they know that producing clean water requires energy, and hence carries a price tag in terms of greenhouse emissions? 

The question has been posed and answered; our dignity is preserved, or is it? Mine is not, and I have the answer from him. 

Recently, faced with the prospect of riding pillion with our family of four, my wife asked me to carry on with the kids while she walked back home (I suspect it also had something to do with my riding skills). I rode on, circled the next block and crept up behind her. Uncomfortable questioning ensued immediately. 

S: Why did you do that? 

Me: I wanted to surprise your mom by coming up from behind her. 

Pause

S: And produce more global warming? 

My crime? I had driven the two-wheeler for an extra 500 meters than the absolute minimum needed to get home. Talk of marriage ending the romance, kids absolutely annihilate it! And ecologically-minded ones are out with the probing knives. It’s time for us to feel the pain.

Text and Photographs by Sahastrarashmi

Sen. John Kerry does an Al Gore

Stepping into the shoes that we think Al Gore has now vacated since accepting the Nobel Prize, Sen. John Kerry takes over as the Next Big American Voice Against Global Warming. But despite the big press, the noises he is making are no different. And particularly, coming from another Presidential also-ran, they seem too much like - excuse the loaded ecological simile - a carbon copy. But, of course, this being G8 (as opposed to F1) season, the air is thicker with allegations than vehicular exhaust. And it's not surprising for America to flex its sanctions muscle in order to thwart third-world stances on the issue. Writing in The Daily Beast, the senator warns:

Atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels have risen 38% in the industrial era, from 280 to 385 parts per million (ppm). Scientists have warned that anything above 450 ppm—a warming of 2 degrees Celsius—will result in an unacceptable risk of catastrophic climate change.

And the characteristic refrain, painted over with stars and stripes, goes:

The bottom line is that failure to tackle climate change risks much more than a ravaged environment: It risks a much more dangerous world, and a gravely threatened America.

Echoes of An Inconvenient Truth? Why aren't we surprised? Perhaps the good senator, who hails from the cornfields of Iowa, should have read The Stern Review instead.

With warmer winters, migrants shift north

A study among North American birds shows that more and more species are moving their winter migration grounds further north as a possible outcome of global warming. The Audubon Society has published a report (download) that clearly shows that species such as the Purple Finch (top), Wild Turkey, Marbled Murrelet, Red-breasted Merganser (below) and Spruce Grouse have moved their winter migration grounds northward by hundreds of miles. The trend may be similar the world over. Winter bird records in India have indicated that some wintering species have arrived later than usual in some of their wintering grounds. Photographs: Purple Finch - © Ashok Khosla Red-breasted Merganser - © USFWS, Dave Menke Audubon Birds and Climate Change Press Room

Soil replenishment secrets from ancient conservationists

As someone said, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. The last place to look for solutions is probably right where the problem lies.

PhysOrg reports on how the early inhabitants of the Amazon basin boosted crop productivity by enriching their fields with biochar.

Here's the whole story:

Ancient soil replenishment technique helps in battle against global warming from PhysOrg.com

Former inhabitants of the Amazon Basin enriched their fields with charred organic materials - biochar - and transformed one of the earth's most infertile soils into one of the most productive. These early conservationists disappeared 500 years ago, but centuries later, their soil is still rich in organic matter and nutrients. Now, scientists, environmental groups and policymakers forging the next world climate agreement see biochar not only as an important tool for replenishing soils, but as a powerful tool for combating global warming.

[...]

Technorati Tags: soil replenishment, soil conservation, amazon basin, biochar, global warming

When Bangalore winters were cold

A winters day In a deep and dark December - Simon & Garfunkel, I am a rock It's been a long, long time since my teeth have chattered in Bangalore. While the reason for that may be partly due to my accumulated reserves of adipose (I always tell anybody who asks that I'm fattening up for the winter), there's no denying the fact that Bangalore's winters are anything but cold anymore. As a child, I loved winter because it was the only time of the year when my breath floated out like fog. This time round, I waited and waited till winter showed itself, then took a break and reappeared looking washed out. Most days don't even pass my 'exhale test'. January was the month that school reopened after the Christmas holidays. I would walk 2 km from what was not yet known as BTM Layout to a bus stop in Jayanagar 9th Block every day at 6:45 AM to catch a bus that left at 7:20. I would chuckle at how the local people wrapped themselves silly in mufflers and monkey-caps instead of enjoying the cold, which was about 14 degrees at its coldest. The fog, in particular, was most enjoyable. I loved fumbling about in it, playing guessing games with the shapes of morning walkers, dogs, newspaperboys and flower-sellers. One day, when I was much older, I was cycling to the gym at 5:30 AM in dense fog. I hit something on the road and toppled over. As I gathered myself, I felt a hot blast of breath on my face and stared into the surprised eyes of a large but benign cow. There was one morning, in January 1993, when I was out birding near Maddur in southern Karnataka. Our group of 15 spent the night in a farmer's house. Next door, the farmer's oversexed ram brayed and bleated gruffly all night while his chickens kept up an insomniac clucking. And I kept thinking I could hear the silkworm caterpillars in their wicker baskets munching away at their mulberry leaves. Somewhere around 2 AM, I felt like a piddle. I remember climbing out of my sleeping bag and trudging towards the door with stiff limbs and standing there under the stars listening to my water trickle away. Also, most of all, I remember the sudden sensation of penetrating cold invading my body when I had compromised a bladderful of body heat. I shivered and shuddered for an hour before I was able to get back to sleep. And in the morning, my jaw had frozen stiff and made an embarrassing clicking noise when I opened it. Along with a lancinating pain that made me grimace. We met more birders that morning, and all those who were introduced to me did a double-take at the grimace and sound effects. It was only around 11 AM that the sun thawed me out. Our high-rises, vacant green lungs and traffic exhaust have taken the chill out of winter. Only 25 years ago, I'd play outside in the afternoon under a gentle hazy sun. Not so, anymore. I worry when my little daughter gets beads of sweat on her brow when I wrap her up. Will there come a time when Bangalore will have no winter to call its own?

Ice, ice baby... going, going, gone

The yellow rubber ducky in your bathtub can be more useful than you think. NASA scientists are using ducks like this to track the movement (read recession) of glaciers in Greenland and Canada. Duck out of water? Thumbing through some old articles, I've been pondering the fate of the world's glaciers (see this link for facts and figures). For those who think the future is too far away to worry about, watching the BBC Planet Earth series is highly recommended. One of the final episodes compares footage of polar bears hunting in the Arctic - one set was taken 20 years ago, the other goes back just a few years. In the first, the bears are shown rearing up on their hind legs, lunging down and breaking the ice to hunt seals under the surface. In the more recent episode, the fragile ice gives away under the bears' paws. The marooned bear swims several kilometres and finally lands amid a pod of walruses. Exhausted, the bear is unable to hunt. In a scuffle with the walruses, it suffers mortal injuries and quietly lies down to die - weary and hungry. Heartbreaking, yes. But don't miss the larger picture: The melting of Arctic ice is a reality we cannot ignore simply because most of us live too far away to experience the ill-effects of global warming. At the poles, where a mad scientist seems to be running amok in Nature's laboratory, the evidence of global warming is clear and the shocking effects more palpable than anywhere else on the planet. Warm day, huh? Image copyright: United Nations Environment Programme DEWA/GRID-Europe

What shall we tell the President?

With environment finally figuring in the US Presidential Election debates, Scientific American has a nice summary of how Obama and McCain, and Biden and Palin stack up in terms of their approach to environmental issues. Listen and read

Food crisis sets off killing spree in Guillemot colony

A shortage of fish is causing nesting guillemots to kill their neighbours' chicks. Scientists studying these hardy British birds in a colony in the Firth of Forth are anxious about an impending catastrophe.

Guillemots are highly social and huddle together in vast colonies to protect themselves against marauding gulls and jaegers that threaten their nests and chicks. However, depleting fish stocks in the North Sea are said to be the reason why the guillemots are turning on their neighbours' chicks when they are not looking. Usually, one parent stays behind at a nest when the other is out foraging. But food shortage has forced both parents to hunt, leaving the nest unattended.

How human!

More here

Technorati Tags: North Sea, Guillemot, fish shortage, catastrophe

Polar bear faux pas gets rubber dodo for Palin

Sarah Palin, whom we love to hate for at least two things - Republican and pro-hunting - has now been condemned by our loosely united fraternity of eco-enthusiasts as a 'global warming denier.' Cute. Arizona's Centre for Biological Diversity has awarded Palin the Rubber Dodo award for insisting that the polar bear population is in fact growing across the Arctic. Hmph. Is idiocy a reserved criterion for Republican runners? Vote her out without a thought, O citizens of the Land of the Free. WTF are you waiting for?

Worldwatch has a comprehensive analysis of Palin's environmental credentials Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin, ecology, environment, dodo

First tigers, now polar bears

It's curious how people who are nothing but voracious consumers for the most part suddenly develop an interest in the environment. Better still, they become experts and spokespeople for ecological issues. Nearly everyone worth their page three partywear is "doing something about the environment" - mostly attending glitterati-infested soirees and taking home souvenirs made out of 'green' material that helps "regenerate forests" and "cut down carbon emissions". My, my... what a lot of pillow talk among the strangest bedfellows. In India, everyone is batting for the tiger. No matter what measures real experts like Dr. Ullas Karanth advocate, everyone from the Prime Minister's uncle to some nut generating bites for a TV channel is campaigning for tigers. Now, everyone of the aforesaid ilk who is doing his or her bit for the planet is obsessed with polar bears. As late as last month, many of these people couldn't tell a polar bear from a grizzly. So much that Ursus maritimus poses a big threat to Barack Obama if he runs for president. Since a lot of our new converts to conservation cannot be ignored, WWF has released Polar Bear Facts and Fallacies, a publication that attempts to lay bare (bad pun, I know) the facts about polar bears. Worth the download, and worth circulating while you read it.