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.   

Recycle Your Way Into The Future

“Wow, this house is so beautiful, just the way we want it to be" said my parents when we moved into our new home. We carried the memories of our old home to the new one, and you know how? My parents decided we should try to recycle and reuse most of the many things that graced our previous home.

Beginning with the major ones, instead of scrapping the old furniture and wood we recycled them into the new tables, chairs, closet doors, TV stands, beds etc. The curtains that blew in the breeze reaching out to us to let us know that life is beautiful - they are now turned into pillow covers, reminding us how much more beautiful life can be when we wake up every morning. The old jeans that my brother and I no longer wear but won't throw away, have been transformed into patchwork grocery bags - very trendy and very strong. What about the shower curtains? They are now spiceproof/waterproof aprons in the kitchen.

As for things like toys, lamps, clothes, carpets and blankets accumulated over the years? These were donated to Ashadaan (a home for the orphans, aged, ailing, handicaps, addicts, homeless)

When our electronic units - the TV, microwave, audio/video decks, washing machine and other gadgets give trouble, we first try to fix them; if that doesn't help, we either exchange them for new ones or sell them at selected scrap vendors (bhangaarwala). By the way, they also accept the bottles, jars and cans.

Our greeting cards are constantly recycled and reused as decorations during Christmas, as "strings" of wishes. Even the newspapers, magazines and thick unwanted papers are sold off to the local bread supplier, who reuses the same to pack bread. Even when packing our boxes before shifting, we were very careful to use packing tape and stickers sparingly as they cannot be recycled.

And yes, our old memories that were saved on VHS tapes have been transferred to DVDs and we have exchanged the tapes and other plastic items with the garlic vendor (lasoonwala) for garlic in return.

My folks have taught me a lot of lessons in making the best of the least that we have - a value that will pass on in family tradition.

Getting the most from our resources through reuse and recycle paves the way to an eco-friendly future - a road we all can travel.

- Nicolette Richard LeVillard

Indian Idols - Naturally!

Celebrations of Indian festivals, like most of our customs, result in a lot of social interaction. Ganesh Chaturthi stems from a point in time, post Independence, when reformers were trying to bring about a dynamic change in societal practices. Lokmanya Tilak gathered together locals to celebrate the ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ festival as an occasion that would foster unity and community interaction.  Though this tradition of community celebrations is prevalent across India even today, it has ignored a very crucial aspect - the environment; in fact, many of our celebrations, now more commercial than social in nature, result in air, noise and water pollution.  

Take our celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi. Plaster of Paris used to create the Ganpati idols does not dissolve easily in water and hence they remain undissolved long after their immersion. The toxic paints used pollute water bodies, harm marine life and eventually enter the food chain. 

It is heartening though that in the past few years, increased environmental awareness particularly among the younger generation is leading to a welcome change. Hopefully, this year the idols will make their eco-friendly presence felt in a  big way. A Sindhudurg based sculptor, Pramod Palav got few of the basic raw materials in place – a mix of clay, fig tree juice, paper and glue – to create idols that will dissolve in water in less than 15 minutes. These eco-friendly idols are certified by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute.

According to the guidelines by the Central Pollution Control Board, idols should be made from materials like traditional clay instead of plaster of Paris or baked clay. You can also use natural colours like turmeric, geru and multani mitti. Once the idol is immersed in a bucket at home, you can use the water for your plants. The numerous flowers used for pooja can be replaced with plants, which could then be planted in your neighbourhood. The ‘nirmalya’ or offerings can be segregated so the bio-degradable component can be composted.

‘What's in our heart is what matters’, says Jeevanlal, who has switched to eco-friendly Ganesh festivities.

Perhaps this time the festival is set to bring about another social change, for the environment, for our sustainable existence.

For more details on eco-friendly idols you can look up for ‘Green Ganesha’ Times of India initiative at www.timesgreenganesha.com

“God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature” – Anne Frank

Blowin’ in the Wind

How many years will our forests exist

Before they end up in smoke?

How many years will our people exist

If they think the forest’s a joke?

Listen. How many crops will a desert produce?

And how much water to drink?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind

The answer is blowin’ in the wind 

This poem, based on Bob Dylan's famous song, was  written almost presciently 30 years ago,  by  G. Shankar Ranganathan, Chairman, Ion Exchange  as the lead-in to his  book 'Will India become another Sahara?''.

Let's Be Freedom Fighters

The concept of freedom is not new to living beings, especially humans. The fact that we strive hard for food, shelter & clothing but fight even harder for freedom speaks for itself. The joy of true freedom was experienced by the entire nation midnight 15th August, 1947. After being enslaved for 350 years, the bird flew out of its cage.

With hope in our hearts & heads full of dreams, we marched towards a new world, envisioning a world of progress, a better life. But progress came at a cost. Speaking from the Indian perspective, the industrial boom, then population explosion and urbanisation, poverty, illiteracy, corruption, pollution and environment degradation have all  been an inherent, interlinked and embarrassing truth.    Worse, these problems have only increased with time, getting deeper by the roots & stronger by the motives. Chained by reality, every passing decade has seen fundamentals wronged at every step.

Undoubtedly efforts have been made towards eradication of many of our problems.  And though they have not been sufficient or successful enough to take us from our darkest points to the "white" light of freedom, we must at least grasp the grey.  White may be unattainable...for now. But grey definitely shouldn't be.  And eventually, sooner or later, break all chains. And be free, once again.

Our nation’s freedom struggle has been a lesson to the world. Let’s be freedom fighters once again.  Let’s join hands and make a pledge – to freedom.

- Ruchi Sanganeria

With Hope & Faith – Save our Planet

As far as making a point is concerned, this one is direct - a funeral pyre on which a huge, charred ball is placed, the embers lying scattered around it. Former professor at JJ School of Arts and guru to some of the most well-known senior creative directors in advertising, Shantaram Pawar's installation aptly sums up the message: how man's greed and callousness, is leading to the earth’s slow but sure death.

Similar thoughts have been expressed by 25 other communication artists, most of them ex-JJites, to emphasise their concern for Mother Earth and the future of mankind, in the show titled Rutusamhar (destruction of the seasons). Visit Rutusamhar at JJ Art Gallery, from 10 am to 6 pm till August 8.
The idea for an art exhibition for the green cause came about six months back when Pawar showed his poem lamenting the state of the environment to one of his closest friends C Gangadharan Menon, a travel writer and ex-ad man. "He wanted to make leaflets of the poem and distribute it with newspapers or give it to students on campus. But it wouldn't have made any impact," says Gangadharan. The duo then hit upon the idea to pass the poem to professionals in the field, most of them Pawar's students and ask them to interpret it the way they desired. The result is art works in various forms: paintings, posters, sculptures, terracotta work and installations, each of which emphasises the artist's hope and anguish about the destruction of the environment.
The common factor lies in the simplicity of the artworks Ad professional Arun Amberkars installation of a skeleton of an umbrella looks like a bare tree sans the green canopy. Or Gangadharan's paintings which represent Brahma and Vishnu from the famed troika. You look out for the painting of the destroyer. What you get instead is a mirror. It couldn't get more stark than that.
(Mumbai Mirror, 4/08/10)

Promise to Nature On Friendship Day

For centuries nature has been the best friend we could have. On Friendship Day, what we ought to do is re-think our relationship with her. We have defaced and disrespected her, insulting her unconditional friendship. Let's all pledge to make a new vow of friendship with nature, and nurture her like she has nurtured us. The poem below summarises the message we must reflect on as friends of nature.

Nature - My Friend

Nature, to me a special friend

Shade and shine and rain afresh

Glade of peace

The sun in strength

The night song in beauty drenched

Beast & fowl in my hand placed

Plant and soil that grow with grace

From them my every need appeased

Even to fulfill selfish greed

The hidden stream, to quench my thirst

The forest green, to eat my fill

A child to her bosom held

She blessed in love - gave of herself

Woe, to me, the condemnable crook

Who in ungratefulness lays her glory waste

If my friend’s heart with fullness gave,

Why? Oh, why, did my human spirit fail?

The raging storm is testament

And so is the whirling hurricane

In her hand, and her creator’s,

is power to purge my covetousness

In her abode my home is made

With her resource my house is carved

Without her help in ruins will lie

My every plan; the progress which I pride

But still to me she bows her head

And the scepter places in my hand

Stubbornly she seeks in me

Justice, kindness and integrity

For my friend

From whom I gladly robbed

It’s time to reciprocate her love

With a healer’s touch

And a benevolent gaze

I’ll remedy each crime

And wipe her tears.

-  Carissa Paul