Wishing you a very Happy New Year !

Calculate Your Impact !

Tick mark your answers to the questions below in either A, B, C or D box. You get 10 points for every tick in the ‘C’ column and 5 for every tick in ‘B’ column.

• How often do you take public transport like bus/train to commute?

• If you have a car, how often do you carpool?

• You switch off your electrical appliances instead of keeping them on standby mode.

• How often do you use an air conditioner at 24 ^oC?

• When you have to travel a distance of 1 km or less, do you walk/bicycle instead of taking the car/bike?

• How frequently do you carry your own shopping bags to the supermarket?

• When you are away from the computer, do you switch it off instead of using the screen saver?

• How often do you turn off the tap while you brush your teeth?

• How often do you regularly turn off the lights, music system, etc. when its not in use?

• How often do you use ceiling or table fans more than an air conditioner?

Total your points.

If your points are between 60 – 80, your impact on the environment is average.

If your score is lower than 60, you need to reduce your impact on our environment.

If you get more than 80, you can be proud!

Ever Wonder Why?

In our congested city of Mumbai, there’s an endless yen for newer and more cars per person, per family – in utter disregard to the fact that the island city cannot really expand breadthways to accommodate more road lanes.  Underground subways require digging into unmapped, disintegrating networks of aged sewerage pipes and an interlock of water pipes, gas piping and phone cables. Citizens of relatively underpopulated European countries like Switzerland for example have wholeheartedly embraced the bicycle as an eco-friendly, healthy, enjoyable  way of commuting - a trend  encouraged by separate cycle lanes and right of way to cyclists at crossings.  A trend that is increasing in the Western world. Yet we in India’s crowded cities continue to aspire towards bigger, newer and more cars. Ever wonder why?

In a world awakening to the compulsions of environmental responsibility, in a country whose people thirst and hunger in the midst of droughts and famines (while grain stocks rot and rivers flood), why is there so little environmental and social activism on individual, local and community levels? How come we, the country’s rising middle-class, have not thrown up mass movements of the kind spearheaded by India’s independence freedom fighters?

In a nation whose people pride themselves on a rich tradition of hospitality and generosity, how come we have such scant regard for life (other people’s)? Why is it that tragic loss of limb, life and livelihood in the wake of avoidable calamities such as floods, landslides, famines and droughts are mere statistics that we glance at and immediately forget?   Every wonder why?

In a country where the rich compete in outspending each other, how come there is so little “organized” philanthropy and philanthropists of the likes and scale of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet?  How come we don’t compete in outdoing each other in espousing and spending on causes which would benefit thousands if not millions? Literacy-wise… health-wise… environment-wise..?.  Have we lost our sense of fellowship with those less fortunate than ourselves? 

The slightest (most often misplaced and misguided) perception of injustice towards our deities, for example, agitates us to the point of violence (we will even kill to defend and avenge our gods ).Yet  we hardly blink  at the injustice and discrimination suffered by  human beings –  who are divinity’s  creations? Glaring inequalities - social, educational, legal …. malnutrition, child labour, starvation deaths, female infanticide  – none of these move us even an inch towards action. Ever wonder what our deities think about our dogmatic sense of right and wrong?

India’s streets should be paved with gold, going by the reported abundant black money in circulation and rampant spending. Yet so many of India’s people live below the poverty line in dismal conditions, without basic drinking water, sanitation and hygiene facilities – forget about shelter. Do we ever experience a twinge of guilt when confronted with  abject poverty that stares us  in the face?  Do we, so caught up in aspirational consumerism, ever reflect that the bills we run up on stuff that we don’t need at all,  could perhaps support a BPL family for a month …or more? 

Have the educated, the moneyed, the elite and the middle class, like the frog on a slow boil, become immune and insensitive to ground realities? Do we realise that our survival, in the grand scheme of things, is ultimately intertwined with each other and indeed every living being and natural resource?  Are we, known for our shrewd practicality, intelligence and innovation, moving uncomprehendingly towards lemming-like mass destruction because we refuse to see and think beyond ourselves,  beyond today?

The answers are not blowing in the wind. They lie with each of us. As do the choices. 

- Charmaine Sequeira

RESULTS!! - Children's Day Drawing Competition

Corporate Communications thanks all the Ion Exchange employees and children who enthusiastically participated! 

Every drawing was a wonderful expression of the child's unique understanding of environment and its protection. Scroll down and click on the images to view the drawings

Sayan Sarkar 9 yrs

Jenisha James 7 yrs

Mark Pinto 13 yrs

                                                              Rachita Naik 12 yrs

Siddhant Senapati 7yrs                                                  Advait Jadhav 8yrs

Aditi Yadav 7yrs                                   Advait Jadhav 8yrs                      Gargi Rane 8yrs

Hrishik Mukherjee 9yrs                   Ananya Badgayan 7yrs                                  

           Mahek Agarwal 9yrs                                                                        Namrata Agarwal 7yrs

Pushkara Sant 8yrs                                                                                  Nimisha Khairnar 6yrs

             Rushil Varade 7yrs                                                                            

Ragavi Sundaram 9yrs                                                                                 Shreya Nair 9yrs

   Siddharth Satheesh 10 yrs                                                                   Siddhant Senapati, 7yrs           

                               Apurva Agarwal 11 yrs                          Shivani Yadav 11 yrs

             Grishma Bhurke, 13 yrs                       Ashish Sharma 11yrs

                Noel Peter 11 yrs                               Jisha James 14 yrs

Shivani Yadav 11 yrs                                                     

Festival of Lights

As the beautiful daylight fades, darkness begins to show its colours.

Diwali falls on a new moon day, when stars are supposed to shine their brightest, a day where night sky looks the prettiest in the year.

After a long day of festivities, when children get exhausted from running around & bursting crackers, and adults from visiting relatives & supervising kids in their cracker-bursting ventures, one look at the fogged sky and thinks ‘there’s something that’s not right’.

There's more to that than what just meets the eye. The fume particles emitted during Diwali from bursting of crackers are less than 1 micron to down to 0.01 micron in size and thus can reach the innermost portion of the lungs. Statistics prove that more number of people fall sick around Diwali than at any other of the year. There's a 5-25% increase in number of asthma complaints in a normal population. Children hurt and burn themselves while playing with crackers and other fireworks. The constant ear-bursting sounds and polluted air make this s period a nightmare for the elderly and the ill, as well as for animals. Every year, we breathe in pollution & carp about the racket, and wish we could live in peaceful surroundings, far away from the city clatter. Unfortunately, we are the same people who cause all this.

Let’s rise above the noise and air pollution we generate every Diwali. Let’s create a better world for our children. A few years on, when they look up at the sky on Diwali, let’s hope they still can spot the stars twinkling at them.

Crow Clips

Bird-watching (the feathered variety) is an absorbing, relaxing and educational hobby for many. There are a number of bird trails and bird lakes in and around Mumbai, and I am sure, in the vicinity of other cities as well.  For example, the bird trails within and in the neighbourhood of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali the Tulsi and Vihar bird lakes; the Basein fort environs, the Mahim mangroves, the Manori-Gorai creek stretch, the Mulund – Airoli locale bordering the backwaters and mangroves, the trails at Belapur, Kharga and Nerul, the Koperkhairane and   Gadeshwar dams at Panvel, and further out, the Karnala Bird Sanctuary and the Uran area. 

However, as I’ve discovered, you don’t really need to venture afar to experience the enjoyment of  bird-watching.  There’s a lot you can observe about the avian world from the comfort of your own home….

Yes, I would never have thought I’d feel such benevolent goodwill towards the Indian house crow. Admittedly, not for the whole racous, aggressive, inquisitive, cunning, cheeky, beady eyed lot - just the few who have become, so to speak, feathered friends.

There’s the pair of bedraggled, fledgling crows who came “a-begging”, at the kitchen window one monsoon morning.  Having nothing more convenient at hand, they got a handful of namkeen kurmura (puffed rice) – which to the hungry pair must have been like manna from heaven;    they threw themselves on it, and got hooked onto that particular morning meal ever since (I buy a pack of kurmura regularly – not the plain kind, mind you - they prefer namkeen!  For a species that feeds on all things rotten by the roadside, these are remarkably pernickety about their dished out diet).  From then on, breakfast time finds them waiting on the window sill, patiently – but should the just-about-to-boil milk distract attention from them, acrobatics on the window screen punctuated with “don’t forget-about us” cawing ensures prompt service. 

I still don’t trust them not to peck at my fingers when I’m dishing out their meal, though, to their credit,  they’ve never yet   attempted  to snatch  at the plastic spoonful of “cereal” (remember, when you dine with the devil, use a long spoon) but always wait quietly for the hand out and then savour each mouthful -  quite like gentry.  The occasional intruder who dares to swoop in to gatecrash on the meal is however quickly put to flight with a sudden burst of characteristic aggression,that asserts territorial rights over the window sill and everything on it. 

The two are grownup now and have gone their separate ways, but tastes acquired in youth die hard so they still appear every morning, though at different times, for their daily pick-me-up kurmura dose.   Sometimes one will bring along a fledgling, and shove a beakful of masticated kurmura down its throat - have always wondered, when watching crows feed their young, how those sharp beaks don’t  puncture the young ones’ tender throats.

Then there’s the cheeky one who indulges in a wilful game of catch-me-if-you-can.  Perched  on the door, it will  keep up  a deafening cacophony of  strident, incessant cawing  until you get up, and threaten to  whack it with whatever is at hand -  but it will  wait until you are almost there, and  then, and only then,  fly from door to  window for a repeat performance.   Making a veritable game of it, never tiring - until you put on a show of complete disinterest (your -noise-doesn’t-bother-me-at all-I couldn’t-care-less-if-you-bring-the-house-down-with-it).

Another thing that never ceases to amaze is the haphazard way in which crows

literally throw together a nest   - of twigs, string, bits of cloth and random items, that stay attached to each other  and the branch, on the wings of a prayer! Nesting is usually during the monsoons, and it’s no wonder then that the crow is such a resilient  bird – the young ones have to survive in their  perilously placed flimsy  nests, buffeted by gusty winds and soaked by heavy downpours  

And how can I forget the sentry, who at the fall of dusk, patrols the terrace parapet, head tilted, peering every few seconds into  the street below – very much on  self- appointed duty.  And the ”cable guy”  who daily alights  onto   the corner of the terrace, caws a couple of times into the terrace drain and gazes intently and expectantly into  it –if there’s anybody down there, answer if you please!

Crows are remarkably intelligent and practical.  I catch sight of them ingenuously dipping pieces of bone-dry food in the water collected in plant containers, to soften and make them easy to eat.  While on the terrace, should we even glance in the direction of the nest on the overhanging tree, the roosting crows will quickly hop away from it to farthest branch - an attempt to distract prying eyes away from their nest. And, sometimes,  at Mahalaxmi station junction, you can  spot  a crowd of them  descend on the rooftops of  the buses that halt at the signal, to  hitch a free ride for a couple of minutes down  the road, saving  on wing power. 

These are just some of the many amusing, annoying, quick-witted and quirky traits displayed by the Indian house crow, as watched from a window.

Our “backyard birds” face the increasing challenge of finding sufficient food and nesting sites because their habitat is shrinking day-by-day due to human deforestation.  For example, the once common house sparrow has today become a rarity because it no longer can make its nest under the traditional cottage eaves. You can do your bit to make the life of the avian species a little easier by putting out water for them in the summer and of course, food –bits of chappati, water melon rinds, papaya skin, chikoo peel, over ripe banana, apple cores… these can be used to lend a helping hand in the daily struggle for survival instead of being consigned to the garbage can.

- Charmaine Sequeira

Water Alert

With 4 per cent of the world’s water resources and 18 percent of its population, predictions are that India will be severely water stressed and could far outstrip its supplies by 2020. Given the abundant rain and snow that we receive, our country’s  water related problems arise principally from unplanned use and misuse of this  natural resource, coupled with its  gross neglect and pollution.

Running Dry

Three quarters of our watershed forests have been denuded in the last 50 years and tree/vegetative cover reduced to less than 10 per cent. The result is fast run-off of rain-water, rampant erosion of precious topsoil and increasing severity of floods. Along with this there has been the abandonment of traditional rain water storage systems that existed in villages and served the needs people for more than 2000 years.

The consequent reduction of seepage and storage has greatly diminished the supplies to aquifers. The proliferation of energised wells has depleted ground water much faster than its replenishment and its ground water levels are dropping rapidly by 1 to 3 metres a year. Ground water is now the source of four-fifths of the domestic water supply in rural areas, and around half that in urban and industrial areas. Steep cutbacks in irrigation water supplies could reduce harvests by 25 per cent in two decades.

Annual per capita water availability which was 3450 cu. in 1951 and currently around 1800 cu.m, is expected to fall to 1600 cu.m by 2017 and plunge drastically to 1200 – 1500 cu.m by 2025. The total estimated demand for water in 2050 is over 1,000 billion cubic metres (BCM), up from 500 BCM in 1997.   Providing this would require investments of Rs. 5,000 billion during the next 25 years. India will need to double water supply by the year 2025 to ensure food, livelihood, health and ecological security for her growing population.

Tainted Streams

The quality of available water is also fast deteriorating. In 1982 it was reported that 70 per cent of all available water in India was polluted. The situation is much worse today. Both ground and surface water are  facing a  serious threat from contamination from industrial effluent and faecal matter, as well as chemical pesticides and fertilisers from farm run-offs, and toxic substances through wastes that are spilled or stored on land surfaces. 

Waste water generation has increased by 25 per cent in the last three years itself, to 33,000 MLD while treatment capacity remains the same at 7000 MLD with a huge gap of 80 per cent.

Over-extraction of ground water has also  led to salt water intrusion into coastal aquifers. It has also resulted in problems of excessive fluoride, iron, arsenic and salinity in water affecting about 44 million people in India.

The impending water crisis will affect the entire environment and every section of society.  It will severely impact food production, sanitation, hygiene and health. The water crisis also holds the potential for widespread unrest and instability.  

Unless priority is given quickly to creating an infrastructure to assure availability of water, there may be no water to meet the agricultural, domestic and industrial needs of a population that has tripled in 50 years, to more than a billion.

Where Does God Dwell?

The virtues of reverence and respect have always been fundamental to Indian culture. Irrespective of religion, caste, class, status or location every Indian accords great honour and veneration to divinity. We go to great lengths to ensure that nothing defiles the sanctity of a holy place. With actions like removing our shoes or covering our heads before we enter a place of worship we show respect to our deity.

And yet in a nation so full of love for God, we seem to detach the Creator from creation, giving reverence to the former and completely neglecting the latter.  Scriptures of various religions around the world stress the fact that the earth is God’s abode and the Creator is manifest in all of creation. If we really believe this, then every time we harm the environment we harm God’s creation and dwelling place. Shouldn’t we extend the same honour and respect that we give to a place of worship, to the earth and our environment?

Why do we fail to comprehend the connection between the Creator that we worship and his creation, our earth? How has a nation with such a tradition of appreciation of beauty, art and architecture failed to see how it has disregarded, neglected and even abused the environment? Are we so selfish as to believe that preserving and protecting the environment is someone else’s responsibility, not our own?

The earth has provided for us from the beginning of time; let’s pledge to protect the Creator’s creation! We are God’s instruments upon this earth and we have the responsibility and the ability to make the right choices. Let’s create a clean, beautiful and environmentally responsible nation. If we love our country and take pride in our heritage each one of us must strive to make India’s tomorrow better than today.

My country’s pride in my hands resides,
the home of God, the land on which I thrive,

I’ll bless her with my zeal

and work to make her glorious still.

And in her streets will dance trees and wind

and sing the sun in perfect sync

No not today! No not today!

No sewage dumps, no heap of waste

Nor stink of awful negligence

His home and house on this planet placed

Nature here will sway and twirl

and extend to kiss the brow of men;

Who for love of God served and toiled

and brought to blossom sun-scorched lands

-  Carissa Paul

Sustainable Water Security

Good water management is crucial to overcome the water crisis that threatens our country, expected to be severely water stressed by 2025.   The water treatment industry must necessarily go much beyond water treatment, to ensuring availability of water.  It  will, in fact, serve its own interests best by working to meet the basic need of people for water and protecting the environment on which life, and its business, depend.  The industry  must focus on  development  and promotion of  water efficient and water saving techniques that also reduce use of resources and thus the load on the environment;   it will need  to   promote watershed development and rain water harvesting which must receive top priority for  increasing seepage and storage, countrywide.  

We at Ion Exchange, with a mission of total water and environment management,are proud to be in a business which is of such beneficial service to society and the environment.


Water Conservation through Recycle
 
Water recycle is an effective and economical way of solving water scarcity.  Recycle of industrial effluent and domestic sewage, conserves vast volumes of water while saving on the cost of fresh water and protecting the environment by reducing pollution. As environmental concerns gain ground, more companies  are  seeking  solutions that incorporate water conservation, pollution control, energy saving and reduced chemical consumption.  They realise too that enhanced environmental performance also yields significant competitive advantage. 

 
10 milllion litres per day textile effluent recycle plant at a common effluent treatment plant

800   m ³/day sewage recycle (membrane bio-reactor) at a hotel

200 m ³/day sewage recycle plant( fluidised media reactor) at a hotel

World Ozone Day - September 16

Once upon a layer ….

The ozone layer is a layer of ozone gas which surrounds the earth.  Starting around 15 kms above the earth and extending to about 35 kms, its thickness varies seasonally and geographically. However, if the total ozone in the ozone layer were to be put under ground level pressure, though, it would occupy a layer only 3 mm thick!

Ozone (O₃) splits into a molecule of oxygen (O₂) and a single oxygen atom (O) when it reacts with UV rays and then combines again to form ozone. Thus, the total amount of ozone is maintained.  

Its depletion occurs due to increase of hydroxyl radicals, nitric oxide radicals, atomic chlorine & bromine and predominantly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that combine with the single oxygen atom, hence preventing the reformation of ozone.  

The ozone layer acts like a natural filter because it prevents most of the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays from reaching the earth. For every 1% depletion of the ozone in this layer there is an increase of 2% in the harmful UV rays that are able to reach the surface of our planet. This is dangerous because UV rays harm living beings, and can cause cataracts and skin cancer.