SOLUTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE(GROUP ACTIVITY)

 Deforestation Mitigation Plan

 (Reduction in paper usage)

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

            Average worldwide annual paper consumption is 48 KG per person. In this North America alone accounts for over 1/3 of it. Asia has surpassed Western Europe in paper consumption and will soon surpass the United States. It is estimated that 95% of business information is still stored on paper. As for how many trees are cut down each year, the 2005 report concludes that primary forest area was reduced globally by 60,000 square kilometers per year, which means about 3 billion to 6 billion trees per year. In the U.S alone 30 Million trees are cut down annually for paper. 10,000 trees are cut down annually in China just to make holiday cards. Paper products use about 35% of the world's annual commercial wood harvest. Despite of causing the issue of deforestation it also accounts to water scarcity as Paper manufacturing is the largest industrial user of water per pound of finished products.

            Though recycling measures have been undertaken it takes about 54 KG of newspaper to save just one tree. And the public consider this as an inconspicuous issue and most of the time fail to submit paper for recycling . About 40 million tons of paper that could be recycled is thrown away each year in the U.S

AIM :

            To cut down paper consumption by implementation of an effective plan and thus reduce deforestation on a major scale. Deforestation is an issue of major concern as trees are being felled at an increasingly alarming rate to suffice the needs of the enormously growing population. If this state continues ecological balance would be completely disrupted which in turn would cause bigger issues, global warming topping the list. Deforestation due to paper consumption also puts the lives of many animals at stake. Hence there is a crucial need to slack down paper consumption

SOLUTION :

            Computers have become an inseparable part of our daily lives. Thus if an effective solution to this problem could be rendered in the form of computers it could serve as a big boon to the human society .All books should be replaced with e-books. In restaurants paper notepads can be effectively replaced by tablets. The concept of Virtual classrooms can be instigated in all universities. This would save a large number of paper from being used as notes get automatically updated into every student’s personal account. Examinations could be conducted as an online test. PDF files can take the place of written assignments. The concept of e-paper already exists but not popularly followed. The concept of e-tickets should be followed on large scale. Banners can be replaced by electronic bulletin boards.

Every person holds a passport , driver’s license, Insurance papers, vehicle’s RC book etc. All of this could be integrated into a single card with a unique ID for each person(unique id could have person’s fingerprint and retina details as duplication or ambiguity can not occur in that case ). If implemented successfully this idea would cut down a remarkable amount of paper consumption. 

Robotized techniques could be invented to implement afforestation measures. A database could be maintained for every reserve forest area to hold count of the trees cut down legally every year. ( It is not possible to hold track of the number cut down illegally ). When the count goes below a pre-assigned value a message could be automatically sent to the concerned reserve forest area. This activates the robot functioning with the help of sensors and initiates new sapling planting. 

REFERENCE : http://www.id2.ca/downloads/eco-design-paper-facts.pdf

VERTICAL FARMING

“Vertical farming is a concept that argues that it is economically and environmentally viable to cultivate plant or animal life within skyscrapers, or on vertically inclined surfaces”-Wikipedia. Vertical farming is basically a plan developed to build high rise buildings, so that it would allow the growth of food crops in urban areas. We are expected to encounter a food shortage in the near future and hence this is an essential need.

Gilbert Ellis Bailey initially coined the term "vertical farming". In his book "Vertical Farming", he defined vertical farming as:

 "Vertical Farming is the keynote of a new agriculture that has come to stay, for inexpensive explosives enable the farmer to farm deeper, to go down to increase area, and to secure larger crops." So the farmer now concentrates on less land rather than opting for massive land usage and so becomes an intensive agriculturist rather than an extensive one. This means that he learns that doubling the depth of his fertile land obviously yields more profit than doubling the area of land. The best aid to a farmer serving this purpose would be a good explosive. Bailey believes that "The farmer is busy turning explosives from war to agriculture, from death dealing to life giving work."

Vertical farming is actually an old concept. People in South America have been using this technique over a long period of time. East Asians also follow a similar process for their rice terraces. But now the steadily growing population has increased the demand on vertical farming and has made it more attractive.

The main advantage is that it would give year round crop production. There will not be any weather related crop failures due to droughts, floods etc. Food is grown organically because no herbicides or pesticides are used. It reduces many infectious diseases that may be acquired at the agricultural interface. It also creates new employment opportunities.

Despite all these advantages they exist only in small scale. The main problem is light because sunlight has to be replaced by LEDs. So it will be sometime before vertical farming is implemented on a commercial scale.

My view : It has been estimated that by 2050 the global population will be shoot up to 7.5 to 10.5 billion. The vertical farm project estimates that to feed this large population agricultural area equal in size to nearly half of South America will be needed which is not practically possible. And besides as population grows more and more land will be used up for residential purposes and cultivable land will soon get exhausted. So there is an essential need to develop vertical farming.

PLANET OF THE APES (1968)

“Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. The film tells the story of an astronaut crew who crash-land on a strange planet in the distant future. Although the planet appears desolate at first, the surviving crew members stumble upon a society in which apes have evolved into creatures with human-like intelligence and speech. The apes have assumed the role of the dominant species and humans are mute creatures wearing animal skins.”-Wikipedia
A group of  4 astronauts Taylor, Landon , Dodge ,Stewart are fast asleep when their spaceship crash-lands in a lake on an unknown planet, after a 2006-year voyage . The astronauts wake up to find Stewart dead and their ship sinking. So they use a raft to reach shore. They take a soil test and it pronounces that the soil is not capable of sustaining life.
But despite of  this they start trekking in that unknown land and gradually encounter plant life. Suddenly,  gorillas wearing clothes on horseback charge through the cornfield, brandishing firearms. They throw nets to capture whatever humans they can and kill those they cannot. While fleeing, Dodge is killed, Landon is knocked unconscious, and Taylor is shot in the throat. The gorillas take Taylor to Ape City, where his life is saved by two chimpanzee scientists. Taylor wakes up to find himself housed in a cage with a girl, Nova.
Taylor discovers that the apes, who can talk, were in control of the entire city.  They were divided into a caste system where the gorillas were mostly the military, hunters and workers, the orangutans  politicians, lawyers and the chimpanzees were scientists. Humans, who cannot talk, were generally hunted for sport and either killed or used for scientific experimentation. He was astonished to find a planet that was an exact contrary of ours.
Two apes alone develop an interest in Taylor and his intelligence. One day Taylor manages to escape and during his flight through Ape City he finds himself in a museum, where Dodge's corpse has been stuffed and put on display. But he again gets recaptured by gorillas.
The apes hold a tribunal to determine Taylor's origins run by the President of the Assembly , Dr. Zaius and few others .Dr. Zaius privately threatens to lobotomize Taylor if he doesn't tell the truth about where he came from. Later with the help of those two apes Taylor and Nova are freed ,  and are taken to the Forbidden Zone, a region outside of Ape City subject to an ancient taboo that has remained isolated for centuries.
When they arrive at the cave, they are intercepted by Dr. Zaius who then agrees to enter the cave just so he could disprove their theories and also to avoid any physical harm to the apes accompanying them. Taylor identifies a pair of prescription glasses, a heart valve and to the apes' astonishment, a talking children's doll.
Dr. Zaius admits that he has always known that human civilization existed long before apes ruled the planet. He explains that  the Forbidden Zone was once a paradise, man made a desert of it ages ago. Once Taylor and Nova have ridden away on horseback, Dr. Zaius orders the gorillas to set explosives to seal off the cave and destroy the remaining evidence of the human society.
Taylor and Nova follow the shoreline and eventually discover the charred remains of the Statue of Liberty. It then strikes them that this "alien" planet, that previously had a human civilization long before apes ruled, was actually post-apocalyptic Earth.
My view : Man usually disrupts the peace of the fauna around him for his own selfish purposes, caging animals, conducting scientific experiments on them , hunting them down as a sport thus eventually posing a threat to their existence on the planet. This film is a wild imagination of how man would be in a hapless state if nature strikes back at him. The apes take control of the planet and humans are housed in cages and made to experience the agony that humans generally put them through. This film delivers an indirect message to mankind to treat mother nature with more respect.

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

From director Davis Guggenheim, “An Inconvenient Truth” is a passionate and inspirational look at former Vice President Al Gore's crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. In this intimate portrait of Gore and his "travelling global warming show," Gore comes across as never before in the media - funny, engaging, open and intent on alerting citizens to this "planetary emergency" before it's too late.Interspersed with the bracing facts and future predictions is the story of Gore's personal journey: from an idealistic college student who first saw a massive environmental crisis looming; to a young Senator facing a harrowing family tragedy that altered his perspective; to the man who almost became President but instead returned to the most important cause of his life.

But as I said, the movie is not about Mr. Gore. He is, rather, the surprisingly engaging vehicle for some very disturbing information. His explanations of complex environmental phenomena ,the jet stream has always been a particularly tough one for me to grasp are clear, and while some of the visual aids are a little corny, most of the images are stark, illuminating and powerful.
I can't think of another movie in which the display of a graph elicited gasps of horror, but when the red lines showing the increasing rates of carbon-dioxide emissions and the corresponding rise in temperatures come on screen, the effect is jolting and chilling. Photographs of receding ice fields and glaciers — consequences of climate change that have already taken place are as disturbing as speculative maps of submerged coastlines. The news of increased hurricane activity and warming oceans is all the more alarming for being delivered in Mr. Gore's matter-of-fact, scholarly tone.
He speaks of the need to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions as a "moral imperative," and most people who see this movie will do so out of a sense of duty, which seems to me entirely appropriate. Luckily, it happens to be a well-made documentary, edited crisply enough to keep it from feeling like 90 minutes of C-Span and shaped to give Mr. Gore's argument a real sense of drama. As unsettling as it can be, it is also intellectually exhilarating, and, like any good piece of pedagogy, whets the appetite for further study. This is not everything you need to know about global warming: that's the point. But it is a good place to start, and to continue, a process of education that could hardly be more urgent.
After having its U.S. debut at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and international premiere at Cannes, it also became a global phenomenon, one of the highest grossing documentaries of all time with a worldwide audience estimated at 5 million people. "An Inconvenient Truth" is a necessary film. With an emphasis on hope, An Inconvenient Truth ultimately shows us that global warming is no longer a political issue but rather, the biggest moral challenge facing our civilization today.

BHARAT ALUMINIUM COMPANY LTD(BALCO)

Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd. (BALCO) is an Indian aluminium company. The development of special aluminium alloys for “Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile” – Agni and “Surface Missile” – Prithvi have been significant achievements of BALCO. BALCO has been the first in the Indian Aluminium Industry to produce the Alloy Rods, which is a Feedstock for all Aluminium Alloy Conductors, very much needed for today’s power transmission lines.
If we look at anything in our environment, it's not free of aluminum and its compounds but at the same time they cause many environtmental hazards too.
Human Health Effects: It is evident that aluminum is widely used & most found metal in the Earth's crust. This Innocent metal has plenty hazards when people get exposed to high concentrations.  Aluminium are ready to form as ions which is easily soluble in water thus causing major health problems. They get inside the human body through injection, ingestion and inhalation. Long lasting exposure may cause Dementia, Nervous Disorder, Listlessness, Pulmonary Fibrosis, Alzheimer's Disease. etc.
Health Hazards to Flora & Fauna: The main challenge faced by the agriculturist is the acidification of the soil, which happens due to aluminum too. These aluminum readily forms ions that get soluble in water thus leaches the nutrients in the soil, leaving it acidic. These aluminum based acids still continue its journey reaching the herbivorous animals which eat these plants. These plants are already affected by the aluminum based acids. Not confining to this alone, it also cause hazards to birds which get fed from lakes which are acidified. These acidified lakes breaks the eco-system, causing decline in fishes and amphibians life. Thus the environment natural eco-chain is disturbed and leads to major disaster in some places.
Aluminium (Al), when present in high concentrations, has for long been recognised as a toxic agent to aquatic freshwater organisms i.e. downstream industrial point sources of Al-rich process water. Today the environmental effects of aluminium are mainly a result of acidic precipitation; acidification of catchments leads to increased Al- concentrations in soil solution and freshwaters. Large parts of both the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are affected. In the aquatic environment, aluminium acts as a toxic agent on gill-breathing animals such as fish and invertebrates, by causing loss of plasma- and haemolymph ions leading to osmoregulatory failure. Aluminium seems also to accumulate in freshwater invertebrates. Dietary organically complexed aluminium, maybe in synergistic effects with other contaminants, may easily be absorbed and interfere with important metabolic processes in mammals and birds. The mycorrhiza and fine root systems of terrestrial plants are adversely affected by high levels of inorganic monomeric aluminium. As in the animals, aluminium seems to have its primary effect on enzyme systems important for the uptake of nutrients. Aluminium can accumulate in plants. Aluminium contaminated invertebrates and plants might thus be a link for aluminium to enter into terrestrial food chains.
My views: Though Aluminium poses a threat to lives of many organisms and hence the ecosystem it is an inseparable part of our daily lives and so it’s production can obviously not be eliminated.  Even though it helps in cutting down the carbon foot print and GHG's, on the other side, it affects the human & other living organisms life. Every year “there are approximately 8,300 fires that occur in landfills, (University of Kentucky College of Law),” many of which contain highly flammable aluminium dross products. These hazards can be minimized or eliminated by careful attention to safe handling practices.

FAIR AND LOVELY

Skin bleaching is a high-profile issue in regions with dark-skinned populations like India . A worrying number of women are ignoring health risks and are using skin whitening creams, Fair & Lovely being the most popular among them . But what they fail to notice is the potential risk of using these products .

. A number of tests have been conducted and they reveal the presence of hazardous substances in some skin whitening creams such as hydroquinone , mercury  etc. Mercury is a popularly used ingredient in these creams because it blocks melanin effectively and works out to be cheaper . The point to worry is that hydroquinone is actually a banned chemical and mercury is poisonous. Frequent use might also result in loss of original skin colour.

 Most of the skin lightening products contain strong steroids like cortico steroids. Marketers may claim that it gives  better and faster results but such products with steroids have the chances to suppress the body’s natural steroids so the eventually the person may end up with some other side effects like permanent stretch marks , pimples, darkening of the skin, skin-allergy etc

In fact, many of these 'cosmetics that look harmless , contain products which if absorbed in big quantities can prove fatal.  The principle that most creams use is in eliminating the melanin present in the skin. But melanin is the substance that gives the skin its colour and also protects it from harmful ultra-violet rays. So reducing the presence of melanin can cause skin cancer.
“Allen is a Professor of neurology and  neuro-psychology at Harvard University, he is also an expert on mercury effects. His research led him to surprising findings: by studying mercury poisoning, he discovered that women from regions as different and as far from one another as Mexico, Nigeria, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and Tanzania, were showing similar symptoms of mercury poisoning. After further examinations, he found out about the common practice at the root of their health problem: the use of whitening creams.  “ -     

The irony of the story is that some users have complained that when they stopped applying the cream, their skin became darker than it was before starting the treatment.

Long term use of the product can cause a number of issues like diabetes, hypertension, acne, bone problems,  skin cancer, disturbance of the menstrual cycle, premature ageing of the skin, respiratory problems, pimples, and other skin infections. Obviously none of this is mentioned on the label. The reason for the side effects is because our skin absorbs this cream, after which it enters into the bloodstream, then it reaches the organs  and  thus creating hormonal disorders and other problems, just the way it would if you were consuming poison.

People who use of work with cosmetics may be flirting with danger.  “At the University of California, researchers studied 58,000 hairdressers, cosmetologists and manicurists and found they had four times the usual rate of multiple myeloma, a malignant bone tumour. “- Wikipedia

My view : If caste is less of a criterion for finding a life partner in contemporary India, fairness of the skin especially women's ,remains a sure value on the marriage market, sometimes even more prized than professional skills or wealth. Though this is a very wrong notion it is the ugly truth .This may explain why so much effort is invested by women to lighten their complexion. This situation is further worsened by flooding of the media by skin bleaching advertisements, leading to a sharp rise in the level of consumption. The advertisements, which clearly associate dark skin with romantic and professional failure, and fair skin with success, have to be taken off air and view of the public should change to have a safer better living because hiding behind these fairness tubes is a virtual toxic nightmare.
 

EPIDEMIC DISEASE

“Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.By the start of the 20th century, there had been six major cholera pandemics. The world is now fighting its seventh, caused by a new strain of the Vibrio cholerae bacterium, El Tor.”-Wikipedia

Causes of cholera: Cholera is mainly caused by a toxin produced by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The bacterium is part of the flora of brackish water and estuaries - it's when this water gets into the drinking supply that an outbreak can start. It causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting, and patients, particularly children and the elderly, are vulnerable to dangerous dehydration as a result. An outbreak of cholera can spread quickly in areas where there is poor sanitation and where water supplies can be tainted. It's a common problem in disaster areas where water supplies are disrupted. Most people infected with cholera don't actually get ill. Despite this, they are contributing to the problem because the bacteria remain in their faeces for up to a fortnight. It's only rarely spread by person-to-person contact.

Treatment of cholera: Treating the condition, or rather alleviating the severe life-threatening effects, requires only simple measures. Normally, rehydration salts (mixed with clean water into a drink) are the only treatment given, although severely dehydrated patients may need intravenous fluids. However, the clean water and rehydration salts required are often in short supply in areas where they are needed most. Antibiotics can reduce the amount of diarrhoea. There are two oral cholera vaccines, but these are mainly aimed at travellers rather than wider use in a community stricken by the illness. Control of an epidemic is difficult in a community unless clean water supplies can be restored. Systems for hygienic disposal of human waste also need to be brought in. Cooking practices need to be made as safe as possible - where practicable, food needs to be cooked thoroughly and eaten while hot, and raw fruit and vegetables avoided unless they are peeled first. Hand-washing after going to the toilet and before preparing food is a vital measure to prevent the spread of the disease. Oral cholera vaccines are safe and effective but must not be considered as a substitute for basic preventative measures such as clean water and sanitation

Our country has nearly 30 National programs to eradicate many epidemic.There are certain guidelines given by WHO for control,they are as follows

Verification of diagnosis. Medical personnel first need to confirm the outbreak, take the necessary culture test ,find strain i.e prescence of the bacteria. Health communities identifies and notify cases and should inform local health authority.Early case findings makes treatment  easier rather than aggressive case. Establishment of treatment centers is necessary, especially in a country like India where more than 50% of the population is below the poverty line and cannot afford medical expense .Once cholera occurs rapid treatment is necessary because metabolic status gets altered.In case of mild dehydration oral dehydration fluid is sufficient. In case of high dehydration IV fluids are required.

My views:Epidemiological investigation is necessary.The most effective measure in fighting against cholera would be in taking sanitation measures as soon as outbreak occurs.Water control and usage of clean water is a necessity. Excreta disposal must be done to prevent spreading of bacteria and prevent multiplication. As food could also serve as a source of infection food sanitation is also necessary. But in all these preventive measures health education tops the list as only an educated mind would understand the complexity of the issue and take necessary action.
(Reference : Swathi Balasubramaniam, 3rd year M.B.B.S, Chettinad Medical College)