Picture: Smog in Los Angeles, Courtsey: Nathan via Flickr.com under creative commons license.

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Picture: Delhi Smog in January 2009

As I revisited the problem more recently, I was both shocked and saddened to see a decline so visibly and so quickly. Examining Delhi’s data, in January this year, I found an increase in vehicular pollution. I was not expecting this to happen in face of the phenomenal and difficult measures that Delhi had undertaken: like relocation of industries out of residential areas (something that had come about as a result of the developmental dream for Delhi in the 1950s) and conversion of the entire fleet of Delhi Transportation Corporation (DTC) buses into Compressed Natural gas or CNG (resulting in the largest CNG-operated public transportation in the world).

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Picture: Solar Panels on California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco

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As we evolve towards a new global climate change policy regime at Copenhagen later this year via the negotiations currently going on in Bonn, a willingness to step in each other’s shoes gets more and more critical and primary.

On one hand are the developing countries like India, where emphasis has been on highlighting how its measures conform to the needs of the hour and of the globe. Its adaptation initiative on Himalayas and other, mitigation initiatives (solar, water, sustainability, energy efficiency, etc.) all aim at moving India and the world one step closer to a better environmental situation.  It is a more practical way of doing things to plan on both environment and development together – rather than on viewing them in traditional typecast of development versus environment. So, the rural employment scheme under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) that generates bulk of (70%) employment in environment-improving schemes is particularly heartening.  NREGA’s green jobs in afforestation, sustainable agriculture, water harvesting, etc. will not only provide employment to one person in a family but will also do so in areas that will alleviate emission-problems. 

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Picture: A Coal Man in Mysore (India)

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Saving the tiger has become an issue fraught with much discussion — and much of it is ill-informed and misleading.  On the one hand are the tiger-farm lobby and the so-called “believers of free-market economics” such as John Stossel (ABC 20/20) , Terry Anderson (PERC) and Barun Mitra (Liberty Institute).  They want to lift the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) ban and favor open trade in tiger-parts.  They cite the apparent failure of the ban as the primary reason for lifting the ban.  Their arguments, they say, derive from free-market economics.  On the other hand are numerous (possibly insignificant because they lack the voice) individuals who, lacking voice, have opted for the exit option and have modified their behavior to save the most charismatic of animals, the wild tiger.  Alongside are many governments and many, many NGOs that struggle to save the tiger from extinction, that struggle to keep our world one species richer and which work to enable our future generations to look at the king of the forest, the tiger, in reality, not just in picture-books.  Apart from humane motives, their arguments are supported by economists, sociologists, zoologists, conservation-biologists, etc.

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Picture: Offshore Algae Harvesting in Semi-permeable bags

NASA’s design calls for using large plastic bags, made of forward-osmosis membranes, and filled with sewage for offshore harvesting of algae for bio-fuel.

My earlier post about leveraging nanotechnology for increasing the commercial viability of Algal bio-fuel opened me up a fantastic world of realizations. The wonderful technologies being developed by NASA have been time and again used to improve the quality of life for the people who inhabit this world and not just the journeys and stays of astronauts in the space. And particularly, because I felt that my hope for algae as commercially viable source of alternate energy had an even greater chance of being realized because NASA researchers too are pitching their effots in the same direction.

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Picture: Traditional Peruvian Wood-burning Mud-Stove

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The algae! Yes – the same slimy brown-green ‘plant’ that makes a pond or a lake look yucky – is the creating a great buzz as the most promising source of alternative energy. And now nanotechnology is being leveraged to add some more zing to the promise!

Algae are some of the simplest of the living organisms and can’t even be classified as plants as they lack any differentiation into various structures such as leaves, roots or other organs that characterize a plant. Yet this simple structure is the very reason for the alarming growth rate of the algae: Under optimal conditions, it can double its mass overnight.

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 Picture: Sign at a Delhi Metro Station

The seepage of doubt is such a difficult thing to stop. As I grew more fearless in my shopping and my bills became more respectable, plastic bags mysteriously began to reappear. And my regret grew-why had I not bought the other things earlier for fear of having to lug them unpackaged. Doubt turned to disbelief when the dust laden winds wrapped a dirty, worn out plastic bag around my ankle in one of delhi’s wild wind storm, the ‘andhi’of Delhi that I otherwise miss so much. The gulf of my disappointment only widened, when crossing the Yamuna I saw its coast littered by endless stream of plastic bags- as I had seen in a picture six months back. The sides of Yamuna are lined by plastic bags the same way as the coast of Dubai appears outlined by little lights when seen from the aeroplane.

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The plans to adopt the Solar Rickshaw, like the ones in Delhi, in other cities such as Chandigarh make one wonder about the misplaced focus and euphoria of reducing the carbon footprint of an already zero-emission vehicle, the cycle-rickshaw.

Picture: Soleckshaw: Solar Powered Rickshaw in Old Delhi

Soleckshaws are indeed a great step forward, but in this euphoric hype several important issues and questions are conveniently pushed under the rug: the soleckshaw is about three times as expensive as the cycle-rickshaw ($440 (Rs. 22000) as against $170 (Rs 8500)); secondhand ones or those remodelled from old bicycles are cheaper still. If the rickshaw-pullers could not afford their own rickshaw at $170 (Rs 8500), how are they more likely to become proud-owners by being able to afford the $440 (Rs 22000) one? How will the rickshaw-puller be able to handle the additional costs of electric-charging, batteries, solar-panels etc., on the soleckshaw if they could not look beyond the leasing-option on the no-such-additional-costs cycle-rickshaw? The dream of making the lessee rickshaw-pullers self-reliant, proud owners too needs greater planning and market research. If not, then the Center for Rural Development’s loans for soleckshaw may well turn-out to be as faulty and nearly as “toxic” as the US housing-market ones that are responsible for current economic woes globally.

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Picture: Soleckshaw: Solar Powered Rickshaw being piloted in Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi

My big fear from media in relation to technology is hype. Media hype completely puts things out of perspective. In the case of technology, I am afriad that such euphoria will kill the technology with raised expectations that will not be fulfilled. I fear the same for Delhi’s ’soleckshaw.’ The soleckshaw is being presented as the grand, all-in-one solution to all kinds of things: from respect for the rickshaw-pullers to global warming. Soleckshaw has also been discussed here on Ecowordly and Planetsave in earlier postings.

Soleckshaw’s obvious advantages seem to be speed, ergonomics (especially for the driver), better balance and strength, looks and accessories. If things go well, it could help a lot: the solar rickshaw is undoubtedly more humane than the existing human-powered rickshaw; it would encourage people to use public transport (like the Delhi metro spreading its tentacles to distant ends of the metropole of Delhi) by adding end-point to end-point strength to trains that otherwise leave people to fend-for solutions at the two ends. The big benefits will, probably, come from providing viable alternatives to private cars, scooters, motorcycles or small buses that shuttle people from metro stations  and are both the cause and victims of traffic jams. Naturally, its biggest gain would be a humane-gain: reducing back-breaking labor.

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(Photo: Hitachi Green Data Center Design)

Green tech seems to be the new hot thing: it is not only good karma but frequently it is also a good investment. Solar cars, hybrids, wind-energy, 95% recyclable Think electric car are all attracting investors more than consumers, and certainly attracting them before the consumers.

Data center energy needs have caught the eye not only as another green-tech idea but because of their very palpable financial threat: In 2005, 1% of the entire world’s electricity consumption was attributed to data centers alone. In a couple of decades the projections become quite scary both environmentally ( McKinsey study says “By 2020 the carbon footprint of the computers that run the Internet would be larger than that of air travel.”) as well as financially (Gartner study warns of a 1600% increase in data center energy costs between 2005 and 2025).

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(Picture: Encroachments on Yamuna Flood Plains.)

A couple of years back, when I was in Delhi, the city seemed abuzz with the activity for developing nearly a new township–a tall apartment building, a walking path along the water, and state of the art stadiums–on the bank of Yamuna. With the deadline of 2010 Commonwealth Games that the city had set for itself, such complete transformation would need much activity. Actually, I should say hyper-activity. The end-result seemed very attractive: I started dreaming of the Italian and French Rivieras.

At the heart of this vision (that I was dreaming up for Yamuna’s development) was a deep, rich and salubrious river–a river healthy enough to support varied marine life. Marine flora and fauna would not only help keep the waters clean but would also make the river (and rides on it) more attractive. The vision called for navigation on the river–like boat tours on the Seine or the Amstel rivers among other–to make the area more touristy and attractive. At a distance from denser areas, abandoned stretches of Yamuna could be developed as a marina or even a boat house park, to offer a very different lifestyle to Delhiites. It called for promenades along the length of the river: promenades sheltered by pretty trees; promenades traced alongside by seasonal flowerbeds; promenades that enabled a healthier lifestyle. The promenades would bifurcate to lead people into shopping and eating areas: after all, these are integral parts of any fun activity for Indians (as borne out by the burgeoning chowpatti culture of India). And while at it, I thought why not make the most of such intense development work and expenditure by providing ultra-luxe apartments with beautiful water-views that might help the public budget recoup some of the money.

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I am not in favor of widespread governmental micromanagement of anything and everything. So, I was initially happy to see the southern Indian cities – Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad (all of which are closely associated with the development of the Indian silicon valley) – boast of having the private sector involved in e-waste disposal. This demonstrated that sufficient economic incentives exist to invite private disposal of electronics waste. But then I started having second thoughts.

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Delhi, India is becoming the world’s e-waste capital. Delhi alone generates 50,000 tons of e-waste from recycled and discarded electronic parts. Mumbai and Kolkatta closely follow this lead.

The problem is only partly indigenous; imports into these cities from America add to the burden, with 50-80% of America’s e-waste being exported. California alone exports about 9,000 tons (20 million pounds) to the developing world.

Often, it’s the least desirable and most environmentally harmful materials that are the first to be shipped to other, less affluent countries. No one wants to do deal with them and yet everyone wants to pay the least price to dispose of them.  The economics of e-waste further encourage globalized waste dumping.

Satish Sinha, associate director of environmental NGO Toxic Link, told the Hindustan Times that for US recyclers avoiding the $20 cost of electronics recycling in the US plus raking in up to $15 paid by Indian e-waste importers “means a net gain of $35 for the US recycler.”

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A Delhi resident gathers plastic bags from the polluted Yamuna River.

As I read Laurence Wylie, I am reminded of the perennial dilemma of Delhi’s Yamuna River’s. In Village in the Vaucluse, Wylie shows the futility of teaching moral lessons that conflict with regional customs and practices. For instance, children in the narrative are taught to be “the friends and protectors of the little birds.” However, in that region, a favorite food is roasted little birds and a favorite boast is eating 50-60 little birds in one go. Simply put, lessons that contradict local customs are a waste of time.

I find a similar, fundamental contradiction inherent in Delhi’s Yamuna River clean-up. There is no denying that the flourishing river of forty years ago is more like a dirty “nallah,” or sewer, nowadays. That said, I do not subscribe to any of the political mud-slinging that tries to lay blame for this. The deterioration has been a long term, multi-source problem and no one party–political or religious, individual or group, industrial or residential–can be held entirely responsible for it.

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My vision is probably influenced by my life in a small Californian city and the ways of people here. In the recent times of energy crisis and skyrocketing gas prices, people are readily exploring alternatives such as scooters, mopeds, electric cars and small efficient cars. They are giving-up the comforts of large luxurious, air conditioned cars. A couple of recent articles on cheaper solar cars (in fact, hybrid ones running on solar energy mainly) really sparked hope in me - these solar cars would be ideal to try out in smaller cities.

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Delhiites are once again embroiled in a hot environmental debate–this time over plastic bags. Delhi High Court’s decision to ban plastic bags for all shopping sounds dramatic. However, there is no deadline for implementation. As of now, use of non-biodegradable plastic bags, even large bags and those with a greater than normal thickness of 40 micrometers, continues to be allowed.

The check and balance function of the different arms of the government (judiciary v/s executive) in a federal system is certainly eye-catching. On the one hand, the implementers appear to be skirting around the court-order by seeking deviations (allowing ‘degradable,’ more stringently configured bags); on the other hand, they seem to be abiding by court-order on containing the menace of plastic bags.

Plastic bags have become part and parcel of a Delhiite’s daily life. People reuse each bag numerous times — even after multiple washes. That is also remarkable considering that the bags are often made with very thin material. In the end, in the absence of proper disposal mechanism, the bag appears on the roads of Delhi, littering streets, clogging drains, choking rivers and peeping-out intact when any soil is dug-up.

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