Greenpeace expresses concern over global warming
Saturday, October 27, 2007

MP: Chennai, Oct 26 (ANI): International environmental watchdog Greenpeace organised a press conference here on Friday on how to reduce harmful emissions within 10 years to prevent further environmental damage.

Speaking on the occasion, G.Ananda Padmanathan - Executive Director, Greenpeace, said, "Within the next ten years, global emissions of the green house gases, which are responsible for climate change, has to reach the peak and start declining."

"If this does not decline, scientists are telling us that we will have very dangerous weather changes for centuries to come. So, we are in a strange position where if we do not act in the next ten years to stop the emissions not only us, but our children will have to fact very dangerous consequences," he added.

Padmanathan went on to say that the most important thing that would happen in India is that Himalayan glaciers will disappear. The river Ganges on which 200 to 300 million people of this country depend will be a seasonal river. Even the sea level will rise.

Global warming threatens the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people on the Indian subcontinent -- potentially one of the most seriously affected regions in the world.

Receding Himalayan glaciers could jeopardize water supplies for hundreds of millions of people and rising sea levels menace Indian cities like Mumbai and Kolkata, as well as neighbouring Bangladesh, scientists warn.

Nobel laureate RK Pachuri spoke at length about the harmful effects of global warming at a recent book release function.

Speaking on this topic, he said, "We have now reached a point where the damage and the danger of this are inherent and unsustainable. The danger is not something that is far away, it is something that is happening now."

He said its impacts were largely negative, as they were "cumulative." (ANI)

Labels: Science

Eco-friendly leather tanning technique
Friday, October 26, 2007

Washington, October 8 (ANI): Chennai-based scientists have discovered a way to make the process of tanning, which is used to transform perishable raw hides and skins into durable leather, far more eco-friendly. The complex chemical process used during tanning causes the discharge of high levels of pollutants into the water. Raghava Rao and his colleagues at the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) in Adyar have now found a cost-efficient method whereby tanning procedure can be made eco-friendly. The researchers say that simply reversing the order of the tanning and post-tanning steps can drastically improve the process. They also say that promoting non-chemical-based pre-tanning methods may help reduce the amount chemicals released by 82 per cent, and make an energy saving of nearly 40 per cent. “The significance is tremendous in the context of environmental challenges being faced by the leather industry,” Rao said. He also revealed that their methods did not reduce the leather quality when compared with conventional tanning methods. The method has been reported in ‘Chemistry & Industry’, the magazine of the SCI. (ANI)

Labels: Science

Captive jumbos regd with embedded microchips

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), Oct 17 (ANI): Forest officials in Tamil Nadu have initiated a drive to regularize and register captive pachyderms in the State by implanting microchips into their skin.The technique, officials said, will give the elephants a unique identification number that will help prevent manipulation of records, check elephant poaching and further domestication of wild animals.The concept will also help the forest authorities in making periodical assessments of the status of the elephants, as well as formulating policies for the protection of the captive pachyderms."In accordance with the directives of the Union Ministry and the warden's order, micro- chipping of elephants in Tamil Nadu has been taken up," said Manoharan, a forest veterinary officer in the state.Approximately 50 per cent of elephants have been embedded with the chip under this drive till now. The microchip, which is of the size of a rice grain, has a 10-digit number inscribed on it and it is inserted behind the left ear of the elephant.Home to 50,000 elephants a century ago, this population has dwindled to just 21,000 in India.Conservationists say the elephant population has fallen rapidly in recent years because of human encroachment into forest areas.The microchip embedded in the body of the animal will remain throughout the life of the animal and will not pose any health hazard."It is also a bio-compatible material which does not affect the animal at all, so there is no health hazard. Once inserted, the chip will remain embedded in the body of the elephant throughout its life time," added Manoharan.Elephants are deeply revered in India, with the elephant-headed god Ganesha being one of the most popular in the Hindu pantheon.But despite their divine status, not all are lucky and hundreds continue to be ill-treated and overworked at illegal circuses and temples where they spend 9-10 hours ferrying tourists and locals and some are also killed by poachers for ivory. (ANI)

Labels: Coimbatore, Science

Prez to open Jawaharlal Nehru Science Exbn

New Delhi, Oct 22 (ANI): President Pratibha Patil will visit Puducherry on December 21 to inaugurate the Jawaharlal Nehru Science Exhibition. The science exhibition is being organised by the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) and the Union Territory Administration. According to official sources, children from different parts of the country will come under one roof to exhibit their scientific inventions. This will be the first visit of Patil to the Union Territory after taking charge of the top post a few months ago. (ANI)

Labels: Puducherry, Science

Wind-powered battery charger for cell phones

Puduchery, Oct 7 (ANI): A team of seven engineering students at an all women poly-technique college in Puduchery has designed a mobile phone charger that generates electricity from wind energy. This wind-powered mobile charger replicates the wind turbine principle and consists of a fan, plastic box, battery back up, cordless phone battery motor and charging circuits.

"The turbine consists of a DC generator with a fan that will generate current in your generator. That generator current is stored in battery, internal battery in our project. That battery will again charge our mobile phone battery," said J. Gandhi Mohan, lecturer at the Electronics and Communication Department of the college.

The charger is claimed to prove a major help for train and bus commuters who take up long journeys but fail to locate any socket for recharging their cellular phone batteries. "During traveling, we can use this (charger).

There is no external DC supply to charge a mobile phone. During the train, bus or other journeys, we can use wind to charge this mobile phone," said Ashta Lakshmi, a student and one of the designers of wind powered mobile charger. This model has bagged the first prize at a competition organised by the state ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

India produces 845 megawatt (mw) of wind energy annually, a miniscule portion of its total power generation of 100,000 megawatts, which is nearly 12 per cent less than total demand. (ANI)

Labels: Science

Urge for reduction in coal burning

Chennai, Oct 23 (ANI): Greenpeace activists on Tuesday painted 'Cut Coal Save Climate' on a coal ship in Chennai to raise awareness about the environmental hazards arising out of coal burning.

The activists demanded strong action on the part of the authorities to reduce coal emissions to prevent further environmental damage.

"We need to reduce the increase in temperature levels to as much extent as possible. We need to keep the temperature rise under two degrees Celsius that has come out very clearly in the IPCC report," said Srinivas Krishnaswamy, Greenpeace activist.

Earlier, the activists had scaled a 250-feet smoke stack at the Kolaghat Thermal Power Plant in West Bengal to highlight the same threat.67 per cent of the country's total power is generated via thermal plants. India is the fifth largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world releasing around 1889 Million tonnes of it. (ANI)

Labels: Chennai, Science