Sunday, December 27, 2015

River interlinking schemes- The modern and the normal


Re:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/519696/interlinking-rivers-modis-priority-suresh.html
"... the 'Indian Rivers Inter-link' was proposed with an aim to link Indian rivers by a network of reservoirs and canals to reduce persistent floods in some parts and water shortages in other parts of the country."

The present state is a great abundance of the concrete jungle on drains and lakes-witness Chennai,Bangalore etc. We must examine the infinitely superior way of interlinking rivers and in fact basins with ecological forestation with people's cooperatives. For this one must subsume within one's true knowledge base the superior physiological properties of plants. See Thinking Outside the Box-Trees for Dams at
http://collateralsofclimatechange.blogspot.in/2015/12/thinking-outside-box-trees-for-dams.html
One must study how the gigantic pumping action of the sun using the osmosis and transpiration powers of plants redistributes the groundwaters via an atmospheric distribution network AUTOMATICALLY in proportion to the density of vegetation, given the highly disordered development which the present modern civilization's self destructive ways cause. The tree was created by the Lord just for this purpose so dams together with other contraptions of modern civilization(MC) dont go on a cumulative destruction of MC itself, like quakes which dams of the world cause to result in the extinction breeders like Fukushima which is expected to cause an excess of  330 million Indian infant deaths. Link rivers via nature or perish ye people rooted in MC

And now this:
Re: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kenbetwa-project-a-threat-to-wildlife/article8710664.ece?homepage=true

The average happiness created by the dams of the world is zero: They are extinction breeders. Replace them with forests. 

"Proponents of the project, led by the
Union Water Ministry, say that the proposed Daudhan dam and the 2.5 km
canal — the key structures of the project — that will transfer surplus
water from the Uttar Pradesh section of the Ken to the Betwa in Madhya
Pradesh are critical to irrigate nearly 7,00,000 hectares in
drought-ravaged Bundelkhand."
This is a waste of money and does not serve any purpose. See
Perfect Designs: The average happiness created by the dams of the world is zero:
They are extinction breeders. Replace them with forests.
But what foolishness to create more irrigation in droughty Bundelkhand when you
waste every year 60 million tons of fruits and vegetables? Grown on 6 million hectares? Repeat: Grown on 6 million hectares!
Have a holistic approach to governance, consult Piyushji - Power and engineers and
entrepreneurs working on creating air conditioned storage for fruits using
no electricity: Use solar energy in vapour absorption chilling systems! Learn from the Chinese tycoon(See Ref Chinese tycoon). Integrate this
with a national plan to convert air conditioning from electricity guzzling
catastrophe of extinction breeding machines like those in use in this self
destructive development of modern civilization. Redistribute these saved fruits among the Bundelkhandies and other parts of India and simultaneously reforest the whole of India and the world(May involve more travel sprees for Modiji). Think outside the box:
Trees for Dams! Allow the water to fly like God does when he moves through the trees to make the woodlands green! Learn from the teachings of the Gita.
Have some democratic practice replace these presumptive specialist governance!
Have referendum on development. Modiji please have a heart.
Forests should not be destroyed, not even for a good reason, dams are hell of a bad evil. Stop this mal-development. 6 million hectares wasted and catastrophe of dams to create 700000 hectares of irrigation?

Prevention is better than NO CURE! See what Ref on foodgrains observes very very pertinently:

Every year we spend crores of rupees out of public exchequer for preventing decay—but to no avail—and then spend a fortune again to dispose of the piled up waste. We would rather not produce the crop in the first place as production takes a toll not only on the natural resources like soil and water but also impacts environment because of green house emissions. On the other hand, we could produce other crops like pulses, which we import very often. The Prime Minister recently appealed to the farmers to grow pulses on part of their land. But such appeals in all likelihood will go unheeded as long as distorted incentives to produce cereals—wheat and rice—continue.

 

References

 

On fruits and vegetables:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/india-wastes-59-mt-fruits-vegetables-every-year-110122100215_1.html

On Area and Production of Different Fruit Crops

agriinfo.in/?page=topic&superid=2&topicid=970

On foodgrains:

www.business-standard.com/article/punditry/what-is-the-cause-of-huge-food-grain-wastage-in-india-115081301512_1.html

On the Chinese tycoon:

http://usenoelectricitytocool.blogspot.in/2010/07/in-summer-heat-waves-to-cool-demands.html

 

R. Ashok Kumar, Negentropist, Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, 299, Tardeo Road, Nana Chowk, Mumbai-400007

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Redesign living so no squandering of fossil fuel at ten percent efficiency occurs


Re:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/517979/sc-bans-suvs-delhi-till.html

90 percent of the fuel used is wasted in crawling at a kilometre per hour!


 
For an excellent book on the true costs of the automobile litter pictured above or our oil addiction see Terry Tamminen.2006.LIVES PER GALLON: THE TRUE COST OF OUR OIL ADDICTION. Island Press.Washington.
For a review of how air pollution causes infertility see
 



Air Pollution by planes.
See the airplane radar picture over India:



 And Worldwide:


Every minute or so a plane is taking off or landing in India! The problem is lead as it is spewed by the plane exhaust. Lead is also there in specialty fuels. Lead lowers sperm count and creates abnormalities in the rest. Lead reduces fertility in women and causes miscarriages.Children absorb lead more readily than adults do. As their brains and nervous systems develop, children may suffer significant learning disabilities and hyperactivity as a result of lead contamination. For all lead is a neurotoxin even at very low levels, affecting the circulatory, reproductive,nervous and kidney systems. These low levels bioaccumulate in bone and other tissues. Although these effects have been well understood for decades,oil companies continue to offer leaded plane fuel around the globe.
Though from jet fuels lead has been eliminated, other aviation fuels still contain lead as otherwise the planes would suffer damage as there will be no anti knock effect.
But airplane exhaust whether jet or not still contains all the pollutants that cause health damage and death that automobiles cause. 
Now take a look at Delhi PM 2.5 particulate matter smog where airplanes take off and land above densely populated areas like Vasant Vihar and Kunj every minute(wiki):



Exposure to particulate matter for a long time can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer and heart attacks. The Global burden of disease study for 2010, published in 2013, had found that outdoor air pollution was the fifth-largest killer in India and around 620,000 early deaths occurred from air pollution-related diseases in 2010(wiki). This confirms the data of Terry Tamminen for the USA: ...more than 100000 Americans died, or died early of air pollution related illness in 1994 and at least that many every year since. 
Children who live in smoggy areas like Delhi and Vashi,Navi Mumbai lose 1% of their lung capacity every year.Terry Tamminen wrote in the above mentioned book of his citing unambiguous scientific study(Ref1):"Preventable air pollution robs our children  5% of their ability to breathe by the age of 5, 10 % of their ability to breathe by the age of ten and so on. None the less no one speaks out against it in the United Nations and few ask oil and auto companiesto absorb the external costs that their products impose on the rest of us. Instead our governments spend billions of dollars to subsidise these industries, in turn subsidising our addictive self destruction." In reconfirmatory study(Ref2) the health of people of all ages improve with air pollution going down.
Also have a look at the air quality index bulletin of India at:
http://cpcb.nic.in/upload/Downloads/AQI_Bulletin_20161201.pdf
You must however verify the veracity of the figures cited therein by cross checking with data published via SAFAR data by IMD on a daily basis. This writer found out discrepancy in the data furnished by the bulletin and that published by SAFAR. 
See this for example for Navi Mumbai SAFAR data  for 2 December 2016 at 11:39:25 IST or 06:09 UTC: Navi Mumbai is very poor. And this was the state yesterday(December 1 2016 at 1600 hrs IST) average  for past 24 hrs which is also the time stated in the Bulletin ! The Bulletin however states "satisfactory" for PM 2.5 for December 1 2016 at 69 percent of 60  microgrammes per cubic meter.



Navi Mumbai

Fri, Dec 2, 2016 11:39:25 am
PollutantAQI
PM10185Moderate
PM2.5326Very Poor
NO2128Moderate
CO55Good
O311Good
Advisory
Preca





Airlines 2016 aviation fuel consumption 6.2 million tons as of October 2016.
See http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/aviation-fuel-demand-rebounds-116082800605_1.html
Data on aircraft in the skies and their use for India is at
http://dgca.gov.in/reports/rep-ind.htm

Dams bring in pollution from outside an area and make the local pollution that much more killing.  
See  PERFECT DESIGNS:  PM 2.5 AIR POLLUTION AND DAMS at
https://livingnormally.blogspot.in/2017/12/pm-25-air-pollution-and-dams.html?showComment=1513341761153

Shri Apte's Note: Apte's note below is an apt summary of how to go about for the All India situation.
To give a perspective of the All India pollution from coal fired stations
compared with All India vehicular pollution: Annual figures(December 2015): Of the 430 million tons of coal used to generate 860 billion units of electricity with a monitored capacity of 164752 MW,143 million tons of coal are lost in 33.3% transmission and distribution losses! Of the remaining 287 million tons of coal delivered as electricity, 224 million tons are lost in inefficiency! Thus only 63 million tons(14.65%) of coal appears as electricity usefully converted as final delivered goods and services or 367 million tons of the 430 million tons are burnt without utility in the air contaminating life! A 1000 MW coal fired plant is equivalent to the pollution of 300000 motor vehicles
and thus the 164752 MW of coal fired stations emit the equivalent of 50 million motor vehicles.
For comparison, the number of motor vehicles on Indian roads today is 20 million! The health of all life is affected by both the coal fired stations and the motor vehicles which crawl at ten percent efficiency wasting 90% of the fossil fuel input to them.
Dont jump to say go for nukes. Nukes give negative energy to society outside the nuclear industry apart from causing 330 million Indian infant deaths estimated just due to the March 2011 triple core melt of Fukushima's 2820 MW nukes caused by the surges of the World's dams resulting in a great 9 MM magnitude damquake!

But see how dams caused the Fukushima earthquake at
The science of dams causing earthquakes and climate change at
http://predictingquakes.blogspot.in/2015/04/the-science-of-dams-causing-earthquakes.html
And these same dams stabilize the grid because of based loaded thermal and nuke stations.
This is the suicidal destructive power of modern civilization in action foreseen by Mahatma Gandhi in 1908.











(1) All metro cities and even other cities have high pollution levels
and all need to have in place rules which regulate entry of vehicles. One can
understand why our apex Court is concerned about air quality of Delhi capital
region. (2) Considering high pollution, it
is time we take steps not only in Delhi but in all metro cities to reduce
pollution levels. There is clear case for restricting use of all vehicles, all
vehicles and not just diesel-run vehicles. In many cities like London entry of
vehicles especially cars in business districts is either banned or there is a
congestion fee which is substantial. May be that our car users have to get
mentally ready for such a ban or for paying a heavy congestion fee? But it is also
time we upgrade our public transport, make it efficient and then consider
restricting use of vehicles. (3) It is high time concerned State governments
take steps to reduce pollution levels in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune etc. The Supreme Court cannot be expected to interfere in matters which are essentially which the executive is supposed to handle.
 
References.
1. W. J. Gauderman et al."The effect of Air Pollution on Lung Development from 10 to 18 Years of Age," New England Journal of Medicine.351,no.11(September 9, 2004).
Abstract:
Background
 Whether exposure to air pollution adversely affects the growth of lung function during the period of rapid lung development that occurs between the ages of 10 and 18 years is unknown.
 Methods
 In this prospective study, we recruited 1759 children (average age, 10 years) from schools in 12 southern California communities and measured lung function annually for eight years. The rate of attrition was approximately 10 percent per year. The communities represented a wide range of ambient exposures to ozone, acid vapor, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter. Linear regression was used to examine the relationship of air pollution to the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and other spirometric measures.
 Results
 Over the eight-year period, deficits in the growth of FEV1
 were associated with exposure to nitrogen dioxide (P=0.005), acid vapor (P=0.004), particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 µm (PM 2.5) (P=0.04), and elemental carbon (P=0.007), even after adjustment for several potential confounders and effect modifiers. Associations were also observed for other spirometric measures. Exposure to pollutants was associated with clinically and statistically significant deficits in the FEV1 attained at the age of 18 years. For example, the estimated proportion of 18-year-old subjects with a low FEV1
 (defined as a ratio of observed to expected FEV1of less than 80 percent) was 4.9 times as great at the highest level of exposure to PM 2.5 as at the lowest level of exposure (7.9 percent vs. 1.6 percent, P=0.002).
 Conclusions
 The results of this study indicate that current levels of air pollution have chronic, adverse effects on lung development in children from the age of 10 to 18 years, leading to clinically significant deficits in attained FEV1 as children reach adulthood. 
 
2. W.J Gauderman et al. Association of Improved Air Quality with Lung Development in Children. The New England  Journal of Medicine. March 5, 2015 vol. 372 no. 10.
pp 905-13.
 
ABSTRACT
 


A Set of Haikus on oil in modern civilization in Nigeria, a mirror of Indian poverty
(C) 2017 Ramaswami Ashok Kumar
17 April 2017


AN AFRICAN PETROLEUM TALE

Adapted from Terry Tamminen. 2006. Lives per gallon: The true cost of our oil addiction. Island Press. P 93-96.



Haikus Nigerian Oil: The other side of modern civilization



I lived in Lagos
In early nineteennineties
Intensely crowded.

Cardboard huts lived in
More people live on the street
Less in apartments.

Vendors squat on streets
Sell bananas, rice, bushmeat:
Are large grilled rodents.

Vehicle exhaust
Gridlocked throughout day and night
Open sewers stink

Sewers topped with planks
Driveways into walled compounds
But the heady mix?

Life Nigeria’s
Petroleum pollution
Plus sewage tirtha.


Married with two kids
With Wanle , proud and regal
Off to funeral:

Of his friend’s mother.
Buffets exotic meat drink
Tasted roasted dog.

Sunny Ade played
With band from night ten to dawn
With no break at all.

In tune with the band
We danced on the outdoor stage
With musicians.

Honoured them sticking (dollars)
To the sweat on their foreheads
Guests gave food and drinks.

Trailer meat and water
Refrigerated, was Wanle’s
Gift for occasion.

Wealthy few live full
Satellite dishes cell phones
Lavish style mourning.

The majority
Live in abject poverty
Contaminated.

Contamination
Involuntarily thrust
Rights disregarded.

Highest level graft
Ubiquitous with rulers.
Incredible oil rich.

With Wanle the tour
Of Niger River Delta
Of Port Harcourt.

Port Harcourt is site
Of producing the oil.
Weather is real hot.

Hot, humid, sultry.
Hot dry winter with red dust.
From Saharan north.

But in Port Harcourt
Air attacks eyes, nose and lungs,
As locals describe.

Burned off daily are:
Open flares natural gas,
Pungent smell tickles:

Tickles the nostrils,
New galvanised rooftops caked
Rusted two years hence.

Acid rain rusts them
Kilometers of pipelines
Often leak or burst.

Sending down black streams
Sticky liquid into fields
With deadly effects:

Warri city tale:
A pipeline of oil did burst
Poor villagers rushed.

Growing oil pool
Oil for cooking, for cash
Serendipity!

Rejoice not dear friend
To reap oil bonanza
Thousands came in droves.

Vast pool of oil
By accident ignited
Flames engulfed people.

Seven hundred died
In minutes a tribe swallowed
By huge inferno.

20 meter high
Blaze consuming man beast land
Such dangers common.

Villagers murdered
Nigerians protested
The supari deaths.

The oil giant
Hired defence and police men
Who killed unsolicited!

The oil giant’s
Competitor lost a case
Leven years ago.

In Nigeria
The Niger River Delta
Polluted by them.

They must pay locals
One point five billion dollars;
Shell was to appeal.

Leven years have passed
Have local tribes received cash
Ordered by the court?

Wanle showed me all
Destruction wrought by petrol
Should I take a stand?

Bleak waste wrought by greed
Set against the great beauty
And diversity.

The nineteen nineties:
Gasoline cost fifteen cents
So rape Nigeria?

Nigeria earned:
More than 300 billions
Oil revenues.

Nigerians earn:
Less than a dollar a day
A nation’s lowest.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$