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Showing posts from April, 2019

विष्ठेचे विश्वरूपदर्शन 

                              निसर्ग व पर्यावरणविषयक अनेक भल्या - बुऱ्या गोष्टी   आपल्या अवती - भवती घडत असतात. नैसर्गिक आपत्ती सोडल्यास   बहुतांशवेळा मानवाचा   पर्यावरणातील   हस्तक्षेप त्याला   प्रत्यक्ष वा अप्रत्यक्षपणे कारणीभूत ठरतो   .   आपल्या प्रत्येकाच्या जीवनाशी हे विषय   निगडित असले तरी ते आपल्यापर्यंत पोहोचतातच असे नाही. या विषयांना वाहिलेली काही मोजकी   इंग्रजी नियतकालिकं आपल्याकडे जरी प्रसिद्ध होत असली तरी त्यांची पोहोच या क्षेत्राशी निगडित   एका मर्यादित वर्गापर्यंतच सीमित राहते.   गेल्या पाच वर्षाहून अधिक काळापासून  ' हिरवं वाचन ' या सदरातून अशा   इंग्रजी   नियतकालिकांतील   पर्यावरणविषयक लेखांचा सटीक परिचय   करून दिला जातो . निसर्गस्नेही जीवनशैली आणि पर्यावरणस्नेही विकासनीती ह्यांचा   पुरस्कार   करणारं व त्या दृष्टीने विचार आणि कृती कार्यक्रम पुढे ठेवणाऱ्या   ' गतिमान संतुलन ' या मासिकात हे सदर   नियमित प्रसिद्ध होते.   गतिमान संतुलन मासिकाच्या संपादकांच्या पूर्व परवानगीने ते लेख ब्लॉगवर प्रसिद्ध होतात.   विष्ठेचे विश्वरूपदर्शन  ! नैसर्गिकरी

Climate: The fundamental force that shapes the life on Earth

News of extreme weather from all parts of the world like floods, famines, hurricanes are becoming a common factor today. Apart from sporadic climate fluctuations unprecedented long term changes like ice melting, rising temperature, desertification are bringing far-reaching economic, social and ecological consequences.   In our maiden article we will try to understand whether we - the human race - is responsible for this and if so, what can we do to avoid this disaster.   As we know now, Global Warming is the greatest threat to life on earth today. Climatic conditions around the world are being transformed by rising temperatures. Every place on earth is undergoing alarming changes, which is causing huge loss of habitat for plants, animals and human beings as well. Green house gases are heating up the atmosphere, affecting crops and exposing it to new deadly diseases. As the polar ice is melting at alarming rate there is a rise in sea levels due to which coastal areas and islands are ge

Global Warming and Its Impact

Looking at the fact from the evidences available, we can certainly arrive at a conclusion of human impact on climate. From prehistoric times until relatively recent past, all people had at least one thing in common. Irrespective of which part of the world they lived, they could not affect the climate, on the contrary the climate was the prime force behind their lively hood. But today, something fundamental has changed. Through their actions, - particularly due to burning of fossil fuels - human beings are now influencing the world's climate. The human induced climate change began in the late eighteenth century, around the time of James Watt's invention of steam engine and the beginning of industrial revolution. Over the period of last 200 to 225 years, with accelerating advances in technology and rapidly increasing population, people are now causing changes in regional climate with global consequences. The Earth has been growing warmer at an accelerating pace, yet the chang

Plants : The Basic Life Support System

With the prolonged monsoon and the first month of the rainy season completely going dry, the need to understand the climate change is becoming more and more relevant. With not only the farming community but almost every individual eagerly waiting for the rain, let us take a break from the current series and take a look at the world of plants - the ultimate 'weapon' to fight the root cause of global warming. We will also understand the method of plantation as well as care to be taken when the plants are young. The first step towards becoming a 'green soldier' can be taken by planting just one tree this rainy season and taking care of it to see that it sustains till it grows up well to take care of itself. The ultimate aim however should be to minimize, as far as possible, our materialistic needs, as most of them are fulfilled directly or indirectly through trees. It will automatically put less pressure on earth's invaluable resources if we adopt a nature friendly

Water : A Boon or Curse?

Life on earth depends primarily on water. May it be for human beings, or for ecosystems like forests and other organisms in all forms of life. The change in climate will dramatically affect the world’s fresh water supply which comes in form of rain and snow. Rainfall will increase in some places, bringing floods and will decrease in others, possibly bringing droughts. It could potentially affect to such an extent where conflicts between nations would be inevitable, over water resources. Some areas of the world would suffer from too much water, whereas others would face the scarcity. Thus change in world’s water balance would be a matter of universal concern.    Climate change will bring about imbalance in both, quality and quantity of water. The pace of water cycle will speed up, making evaporation more rapid, leading to intense storms and floods. It will also affect the timing of rainfall, the dry spells in between as well as quantity of down pour, thus profoundly affecting humans