Lessons to learn!! From the 18th Century London to 21st Century Delhi.

I now recollect that day when I read news of India winning the bid to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, at Delhi. I don’t quite remember when this was, but I do remember to have felt awed at the thought of India hosting a mega event much like the Olympics, if not as big. Fast forward days, months & years, being at the juncture we are in right now, the awe has for long given way to anger, frustration and pity-ness towards the organizers who are responsible for all the current mess. There have been enough of filthy living areas, shameful corruption and the shocking failures to newly constructed structures like the bridge adjoining to the stadium.

I don’t think there is anything at all, that I can add about the already messed up event, all I can is wish and hope for a decent event which brings about at least a smile on the faces of those Indian and foreign athletes at the end of the 11 day ‘supposed-to-be-mega-event’. What I intend to spread by this post is a warning to the mega cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata & Chennai (the list doesn’t end here, just naming a few), and this would be a right time to work on it, I guess!

I recently found a friend of mine sharing a link in Twitter which was about the Top 10 filthy cities in the world and shockingly Mumbai headed the list. Delhi’s filthiness doesn’t require an explanation and the dirty environment in Chennai near the railway station and under the bridges, a few to name, is something I have seen quite a dozen times. Kolkata, the 4^th Indian metropolis, I have heard ain’t much different too.

India has been a place of diseases, even when the name and the viruses or bacteria’s causing it keeps changing, the end result have always been the same, wide spread panic and uncontrollable deaths. There has been the Chikungunya, the Dengue fever, the Rat fever, and the more recent H1N1 influenza. London has a story to tell us, let’s check what it is.

London as we know it is one of the best cities in the world and UK has set high standards as a nation for others to follow. I am sure one of those things that attracts anyone about London, either in the pictures or videos or movies, is the mere beauty of the places and the cleanliness and hygiene in the environment. This is the London we know off now, the world knows of now. There was a stage when thousands and ten-thousands died every year in each British city as a result of epidemics like Small Pox, Cholera, Tuberculosis and even fevers like Typhoid. Several websites point out that around 80000 people were killed by TB alone in the 18th and 19th century and other diseases were as dangerous too. Poverty was the most basic problem and unhygienic conditions and polluted & sewaged water bodies like the mighty River Thames, all contributed to these age old tragedies. It was then that the Europeans learnt of the necessity of a clean environment and the dangers a shabby place can cause. Since then, there has been no looking back and it has contributed to what we see as one of the cleanliest & wanna-be places in this planet earth.

To read further about the 18th Century London – Click Here.

Most Indian states receive huge rainfall every year and the Indian cities like Mumbai & Delhi are no exceptions. This year Delhi received the highest rainfall in 35 years and there is no real stopping for the flood water. I am sure almost everyone knows the adverse effects the waste water causes like the un-controllable breeding of mosquitoes, which are responsible for almost all these deadly fevers. W aste water is just an example and the list of those pollutants and wastes shall go on forever if I start naming them.

The current condition in present India may not be as bad as the old UK, but it must be remembered that it won’t take long for a epidemic to spread across a nation and considering the billion plus population, there can never be a bigger tragedy. As Prevention is always better than Cure; a few cautious steps won’t do us any harm, and is in fact the need & necessity of the hour.

It would be the best step forward to take a couple of lessons out of the London experience, and make efforts to clean our city as we do in our homes. Constructing big buildings and express roads do improve the outlook of any city and nation, but it must be remembered and understood that the form stating India as a developed nation cannot be submitted when the “Hygiene & Clean Environment” box remains unticked.

Commonwealth Games is sure to have taught us a lesson, and i wish this is the right time to re-construct our nation, for the sake of the billion people who take pride even at the thought of being an Indian.

Lend your Voice for the Nature.

Introduction to Environment Engineering is one of my subjects for this semester and at the end of the first lecture, the teacher asked all of us to write an essay, citing those things that we can do in our day-to-day life, to protect the environment, which in turn enhances the chances of some pleasant living conditions for the future generations. So I thought, how about publishing the same essay here and enlighten those who read this blog, about those little things they can do, to preserve our Mother Earth.

 

As per Wikipedia, the earliest forms of human beings took shape from Apes about 200,000 years ago and for the last 200,000 years human beings have been exploiting our earth in one way or the other. It all started with human hunting down other animals for their food and cutting down forests for shelter and other uses. As the race progressed, we became ambitious, striving for a better life, a better tomorrow and this ambition alone has been responsible for the comfy chair you sit in now and the computer you use now and the dress you wear and the car you drive and the posh flats you live in. But 200,000 years of exploitation of the natural resources have taken us to an irritating juncture, for now we are aware that the temperature is rising across the globe in a never-seen-before rate, the climate is changing all across in a never-expected manners, the reserves of those natural resources like the petrol,the diesel & the natural gas, those which fueled our vehicles for over a decade now are fast diminishing. Deforestation across the globe results in more and more CO₂ in the atmosphere and results adversely in the form of Green House Effect & Ozone Layer Depletion.

It must be noted that almost all the actions we do now a days destroys the environment in one way or other, and to live a life 100% environment friendly, you will have to boycott all automobiles, usage of paper, mobiles, electricity, wastage of water….well the list shall go on for ever. People are so used to all these luxuries that people starve for a day and they survive, but their mobile phones out of charge for a day and they might become mad. So lets look into those tiny aspects of life, which can be taken care of by a little concern.

1. Everyone quite know that wasting resources like electricity and water are not the best things you are doing as a citizen of this world, so please make it a point to switch off any un-wanted bulbs, fans & unattended computers, and ensure all the water taps are closed, when not in use. Use CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs) that draw almost 75% less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs.

2. Paper is one of the most widely used materials that you come across anywhere and almost everywhere, from your textbooks, bank cheque books, newspapers & magazines to the toilet paper. The list for sure goes on and on. Do you know the adverse effects of this paper? Paper is made by cutting down trees, which in itself is one of the big problems, called Deforestation. The next issue is that, the emission of Sulfur Di Oxide contributes heavily to air pollution, and this emission is largely due to burning coal in industries like that of petroleum products and paper production. So reducing the amount of paper you use could very well make a change. Recycling used papers is also a very economic solution.

3. Smoke contributes to air pollution heavily and some sources for this smoke like the heavy industries cannot be controlled by us, but we can do bits too. Please make efforts to use the public transportation system available in your town, instead of taking out your own personal car or motor bike. This not only reduces the air pollution, but also ensures the roads are lesser crowded, which in turn reduces the fuel consumption & occurrence of accidents too.

4. Every year one day is celebrated as the World Environment Day and each year, a new theme is proposed to be followed across the globe on that day. Last year, save power was the theme and the message was spread across to shut power at homes for one hour, voluntarily. Instead of shutting power for that one hour and utilizing the saved power the very next hour, make it a point to save an hour’s power every day. Similar to the “Save Power” are themes like “Plant a Tree”, “Save a Drop of Water” etc.

5. This might not be applicable to a student now, but keep this in mind. Airplanes burn 70 gallons of fuel per minute. So once you grow up and become a big business tycoon, teleconference can be an option for you, considering the amount of fuel saved.

6. Physical hygiene is as important as cleaning your room and saving the environment. Simple habits like washing your hands before & after meals, using a handkerchief, and staying indoors when you are sick, are little things that you can do to ensure that you do not pass on infections to others, as well as protect yourselves from other infections that might come by your way.

7. Keeping your home clean is one thing, but that doesn’t mean that you clean your home and throw the waste into your neighbor's courtyard. Treat the whole street as your own and don’t litter around, spit around or urinate. Try to keep it as clean as your own courtyard.

8. Reduce the use of plastics, and never burn them. It can destroy the Ozone layer and as a result, the earth could become one burning Oven.

It must be understood that the effects of you burning a piece of plastic here and someone cutting down trees in Russia & someone else polluting the water in Brazil, is not going to be faced by them alone, but by the whole earth.

I am sure you are aware of all the above mentioned problems and what you are supposed to do, this is just to remind you of your duties again. Understand them clearly and try to make all these simple steps practical, and spread the message to those who still exploit the nature for even their simplest needs, so that you can hope your children & your grandchildren also have the privilege to feel the nature & live in an environment like the way you do. Make a few adjustments to your life, be a responsible son of the Mother Earth and a responsible citizen of our great globe, or else, the future generations may curse us saying “ They destroyed everything and kept apart nothing for us, they destroyed the earth.”