No option, Anderson had to be freed: Pranab

CNN-IBN – Posted on Jun 13, 2010 at 13:26

New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has defended senior Congress leader Arjun Singh for his decision as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in 1984 to release Warren Anderson, former chairman of the American parent company Union Carbide Corp responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy.

“It is clear in Arjun Singh’s statement, which he had made then that law and order situation was deteriorating. People frenzy was on high, therefore it was thought necessary to move out Warren Anderson,” said Mukherjee on Sunday.

Mukherjee’s statement comes at a time when the Congress is under pressure to explain why Anderson was released after being arrested on 7 December 1984 when the deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leak from Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant had killed thousands of people just five days ago. Arjun Singh is believed to have ordered his officials to release Anderson but the Congress party’s critics allege that he was instructed to do so by the Central government which was then led by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Moti Singh, who was the District Collector of Bhopal at the time of gas leak, has said that Anderson was arrested at around 2 pm on December 7 but he was released the same day and flew out of Bhopal in a state government plane to New Delhi. Anderson was charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, grievous assault and killing and poisoning human beings and animals.

A Bhopal trial court on June 7 convicted eight Indian officials of Union Carbide for their criminal negligence that triggered the world’s worst industrial disaster, but Anderson was not mentioned in the judgment.

move Anderson out of Bhopal to maintain law and order? that is debatable.
but what was the need to rush him out of the country? could he not be held in custody anywhere else in India???

what garbage.
this arse-licker has no shame,
he will say anything to protect his congress masters – at the cost of all the misery of Bhopal.

BhopalIndian National CongressPranab Mukherjee

the only thought that could have gone through the mind of,

Warren Anderson, former chairman and chief executive officer of Union Carbide as he was being saluted up the steps of a private jet and flown out by the Indian authorities to jump bail and never to return to the scene of his ‘crime’ to stand trial.

Cops saw off Warren with salutes: Pilot

RASHEED KIDWAI: The Telegraph India: Thursday , June 10 , 2010

Bhopal, June 9: Warren Anderson made his escape from Indian law in a hail of salutes from senior Bhopal police officers and fell into a peaceful slumber during his 90-minute flight to Delhi on a state aircraft.

One of the two pilots, Captain D.C. Sondhi, told The Telegraph the police officers repeatedly offered to carry the American’s hand luggage as they escorted him to the plane at Bhopal airport. “Memories of that scene still make me angry,” said Sondhi, 72. “Here was a man responsible for the death of thousands, and our government officials were saluting him!” He added: “The buzz among bureaucrats was that US President Ronald Reagan had spoken to someone important in India to get Anderson out quickly.” The Union Carbide chief was arrested at Bhopal airport when he arrived four days after the 1984 gas leak that killed at least 15,000, but was let off within hours after an unidentified top government leader in Delhi made a call to chief minister Arjun Singh.

Captain Sondhi, then director of aviation in Bhopal, received the call from Arjun Singh’s office at 2.30pm. “I was asked to get the state government plane, a B-200 Super King, ready. Soon, city superintendent Swaraj Puri arrived with Anderson,” Sondhi said. “Anderson was carrying a garment box (containing a business suit) and a briefcase. I remember police officers repeatedly requesting him to let them carry these pieces of luggage. Anderson said, ‘No, no, I will carry them myself.’ When the plane was about to take off, the officers saluted him and wished him good luck.”

The other pilot, Captain Syed Hasan Ali, remembers Anderson dozing off mid-flight. “He was calm but in a hurry to reach Delhi,” said Ali, whose father had become ill after the gas leak.

never has there been the greater arse-lickers* like us Indians.
gosh, this makes me hang my head in shame.

it is not known who Mr Ronald Reagan rang to get this individual to escape Indian Law. we can only guess;
on that day in December of 1984,
Mr Giani Zail Singh was the President of India
Mr Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India
Mr Rajiv Gandhi was also the Foreign Minister of India
Mr Ram Niwas Mirdha was Minister of State, External Affairs

Just to refresh our memories:

The Bhopal Tragedy 1984

And justice will be done? – Greenpeace Feature story – August 1, 2003

On the night of the disaster, December 3, 1984, an explosion at Union Carbide’s pesticide plant caused 40 tonnes of lethal gas to seep into Bhopal. Six safety measures designed to prevent a gas leak had either malfunctioned, were turned off or were otherwise inadequate. In addition, the safety siren, intended to alert the community should an incident occur at the plant, was turned off.

As the Union Carbide boss, Anderson knew about a 1982 safety audit of the Bhopal plant, which identified 30 major hazards. Rather than fix them in Bhopal, only the company’s identical plant in the US was fixed. Neglecting these hazards in Bhopal caused the deadly explosion. Anderson flew to India after the disaster but to the company’s surprise, police investigating the disaster immediately arrested him. He subsequently jumped bail and was flow by private jet back to the US, never to return to India.

While fleeing the law in India his company abandoned the polluted factory site allowing it to poison Bhopal residents for 18 years. He did not disclose the composition of the poisonous gas (the company still claims this is a trade secret), thus preventing doctors from properly treating the 120,000 people who are still sick. Company lawyers ensured survivors only got between US$300-500 compensation each, if they were ‘lucky’, for their ruined lives. Dow Chemical took over Union Carbide in 2001 but it claims Union Carbide has ‘settled’ the issue of Bhopal.

*arse-licker:

Longman: Dictionary of Contemporary English
arse-licker – noun [countable] British English spoken not polite
someone who is always very nice to people in authority because he or she wants to be liked by them – used to show disapproval

BhopalUnion CarbideWarren Anderson

But we all have learn’t what each and one of us wants.
We have learn’t how to get those wants, at all costs, at any cost.
And only a single lifetime to chase after it, and still never have enough.

So give me a reason why we should worry about our planet?
Why should we make time to care for our environment?
What is it worth anyway?

It has always been there,
we didn’t ask for it, we didn’t have to pay for it,
we didn’t have to fight for it, we didn’t have to suffer not having it.
Yet.

How long will I be here, what is a lifespan compared to the eternity?
So why should I bother? The environment is melting down,
I will be gone before it turns too hostile to support life.

Someday, oneday, we will all have to die, won’t we?
The dreams we had, most will stay unfulfilled
the ambitions we had may stay unachieved
desires we had, not all fulfilled,
promises broken, perhaps
or unkept.

Just like those
unfulfilled dreams and desires, and unachieved ambitions
we will leave behind a half scorched planet, dying in an environment
so evil with the poisons that we have generously filled it over the years.

I know, for every one of us who will today promise to save our planet
there will be hundreds if not thousands who will not, or
many whose promise will be empty and worthless.

So why should I join a battle, that has already been lost?

We have new neighbours, they moved in yesterday.

In the house opposite; a smallish chalet style bungalow, almost hidden
from view by many lovely matured cedars of lebanons and numerous evergreen shrubs.

It belonged to a retired gentleman, lived alone, loved his house, loved his trees
I would see him pottering around fixing this and mending that.
And on sunny days, he would go for a spin in a lovely cream
open top vintage jag, with a cheery wave to all.

Then it was all silent, soon the house was up For Sale.
He had been to a party one evening, where he collapsed,
was rushed to the hospital with a heart attack, but he died.
Some distant relative inherited the house, and put it up for sale.

Having worked till late last night, I tried to catch up with sleep this morning,
kept dreaming hearing an annoying buzzing noise that wouldn’t go away.
I wake up to find, tree surgeons at work in the house opposite.
With a large mechanised shreddar in the driveway.

It’s gone
all that lovely dark greenery I was used to.
I can now clearly see the bungalow, and above a very grey sky.
Those trees had grown for years and years and years, till yesterday
not knowing the sale of house documents had also signed their death sentence.

We all are holding onto our dreams, our ambitions, our values, our ideals, our principles

lifetreesenvironment

Do we have to sign a deal with America,
do we have to buy American uranium to survive, let alone grow?

Not if you believe Mr Abdul Kalam’s speech of 2006.
It was not in his vision of Energy Independance of India by 2030,
it did not even feature as a part of his speech, at the inauguration of
The South Asian Conference on Renewable Energy in New Delhi 18 April 2006.

On the day, Mr Kalam is reported to have said,

“It’s unique, what he has done,” Mr. Kalam said on NDTV’s ‘Walk the Talk’ programme when asked whether the Prime Minister can be complimented for having clinched the deal. (Although) Asked whether he thought scientists opposing the deal were going too far, he evaded a direct response. “Fortunately, in our democratic set-up, scientists can always approach at the highest level.”

let us look back at some passages of his speech from only last year.

“Energy Independence is the lifeline of a nation”

The era of wood is almost nearing its end. The world energy forum has predicted that fossil based oil, coal and gas reserves will last for another less than ten decades. The unpredictable increase in the cost of oil continuously prompted me the study the Energy scene.
Based on the study I have discussed about Energy Independence as part of my Independence Day Address to the nation, on 15 August 2005. There I mentioned that Energy Independence has to be our nation’s first and highest priority.
Our target is to achieve Energy Security by 2020 leading to Energy Independence by 2030 and beyond.
…I would like to present the actions suggested to be taken in the generation of renewable energy for realizing energy independence in India as a case study.

Structure of Energy Sources:

For meeting the development targets of India our power generating capacity as to increase to 400,000 MGW by 2030 from the existing 130,000 Megawatts of power.
This has got to be achieved through three different sources namely hyd-el capacity, nuclear power and non-conventional energy sources primarily through solar energy.
The hyd-el capacity generated through inter-linking of rivers is expected to contribute additional 50,000 megawatts of power.
Large scale solar energy farms of 100’s of megawatts capacity in certain number could contribute around 55,000 MW.
The nuclear power plants should have a target of 50,000 MW of power.

 

The balance has to be generated through the conventional thermal plants through coal and gas and other renewable sources of energy such as Wind power, Biomass, power through municipal waste and solar thermal power.
The strategic goals for Energy Independence by 2030 would call for a shift in the structure of energy sources.
Firstly, fossil fuel imports need to be minimized and secure access to be ensured. Maximum hydro and nuclear power potential should be utilized, apart from the use of coal and gas based thermal power generation.
The most significant aspect, however would be that the power generated through renewable energy technologies has to be increased to 25% against the present 5%.
It would be evident that for true Energy Independence, a major shift in the structure of energy sources from fossil to renewable energy sources is mandated. I have given an energy independence mission to my country.
Also, I would like to share with you my thoughts on how the certain areas of both conventional and non-conventional energy can be structured together to meet our national development needs.

Solar Energy:

…massive applications in the agricultural sector, where farmers need electricity exclusively in the daytime. We also need to embark on a programme in solar energy systems and technologies, for both large, centralized applications as well as small, decentralized requirements concurrently, for applications in both rural and urban areas.
Carbon nano tube (CNT) based solar cells for higher efficiency:
One of the important need for achieving energy independence by 2030 is to increase the power generated through renewable energy sources from the existing 5% to 25%. Particularly, the energy produced through solar energy has to increase substantially.
The low efficiency of conventional photo voltaic cells has restricted the use of solar cells for large application for power generation … it is essential to launch a research mission on Carbon Nano Tube (CNT) based PV cell which has got higher level of promise in efficiency.
… Our scientists have to take up this challenge and come up with the development of a CNT based PV cell with an efficiency of at least 50% within the next three years so that it can go into the commercial production within five years.
In addition, they can also take up the development of organic solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells and third generation solar cells. There are lots of opportunities for research in fundamental science in this area and I would like to suggest the energy experts participating in this conference to work in a coherent, consorted way with a mission mode programme to achieve faster realization of commercial availability of CNT based PV cell with 50% efficiency.
In addition to this there is a need to create a “Rural household solar mission” which will provide LED based Nano Crystal lighting system through small solar PV Power Plants to the 70 millions households who are presently using kerosene oil for lighting.

Power through Municipal Waste:

In the Power generation Sector of the energy economy, we need to fully use the technologies now available for generating power from municipal waste. Today, two plants are operational in India, each plant generating 6.5 MW of electric power. Studies indicate that as much as 5800 MW of power can be generated by setting up 900 electric power plants spread over in different parts of the country (India) which can be fueled by municipal waste. Municipal waste is generally considered to be a health liability. The electric power generation using municipal waste can help in the creation of clean environment and also add to the incremental power.

Energy in Transportation Sector:

The Transportation sector in India is the fastest growing energy consumer. It now consumes nearly, and is critically important for Indian economy and security. We produce only 25% of our total requirement. In the scene of dependability of fossil material based systems, is becoming uncertain, it is essential energy policy has to evolve new energy avenues. They are the Bio-fuels, hydrogen based fuel, electric powered vehicles.

Use of Biofuel:

India has nearly 60 million hectares of wasteland, of which 30 million hectares can be made available for energy plantations like Jatropha or any other bio-fuel plant. Once grown, the crop has a life of 50 years.
Each hectare will produce about 2 tonnes of bio-fuel per year at about Rs. 20 per litre. Biodiesel is carbon neutral and many valuable by-products such as glycerin, oil cake and herbal products flow from this agro-industry.
Intensive research is needed to burn bio-fuel in internal combustion engines with high efficiency, and this needs to be an urgent R&D programme. India has a potential to produce nearly 60 million tones of bio-fuel annually using 30 millions hectares of land thus making a significant and important contribution to the goal of Energy Independence.
Indian Railways has already taken a significant step of running two passenger locomotives (Thanjavur to Nagore section) and six trains of diesel multiple units (Tiruchirapalli to Lalgudi, Dindigul and Karur sections) with a 5% blend of bio-fuel sourced from its in-house esterification plants.
In addition, they have planted 75 lakh Jatropha saplings in Railway land which is expected to give yields from the current year onwards. This is a pioneering example for many other organizations to follow. Similarly some of the States such as Chattisgarh, Andhrapradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttranchal and Tamilnadu have energy plantations in India.

Nuclear Energy:

The present nuclear power capacity of 14 reactors which is 2720 megawatts is expected to go to 7420 megawatts by 2010 with the completion of nine reactors which are now in progress.
Eventually as per present plan BARC is expecting the capacity to be 24,000 megawatts by 2020. Hence, there is a need to plan right from now to increase this capacity to 50,000 megawatts by 2030.
Nuclear power generation has been given a thrust by the use of uranium based fuel. However to meet the increased needs of nuclear power generation, it is essential to pursue the development of nuclear power using Thorium, reserves of which are higher in the country.
Technology development has to be accelerated for Thorium based reactors since the raw material for Thorium is abundantly available in our country. To maximize the thorium utilization the development of Fast Breeder Reactor has been rightly taken it up.

Conclusion:

The world has already realized that the peace and prosperity of any nation is secure only when the rest of the world is also prosperous and at peace. Similarly, the energy consumption from renewable resources has to be maximized for all nations irrespective of their economic status if the world has to remain a livable habitat for our future generations. Hence, sharing of knowledge of useful technologies without much of a concern for intellectual property rights for the good of the mankind should be the defining spirit for international collaboration in this sector.

It is important to note that he still believes in the benefits of Thorium reactors.

Mr. Kalam said he had met the Prime Minister before “finishing my assignment (as President)” and highlighted the importance of thorium reactors. “I told the Prime Minister that thorium reactors are very important,” he said.

renewable energytechnologyenvironmentnuclear energy

It is true that India now suffers and will in future face a huge energy gap.
But it is NOT TRUE that India does not have the resources
to meet our evergrowing energy requirement.

We not only have enough resources for solar and wind generated power stations,
we also have nuclear. We are the world’s third largest reserve of Thorium.

We have it in abundance in the coastal sands of Orissa and Kerala.
It is believed we have 290 000 tonnes of economically extractable Thorium.

Why Thorium?
Thorium is much more abundant in nature than uranium.
U-233 bred from thorium is the best of the 3 nuclear fuels, U-235, Pu-239, U-233
It is more eco friendly producing less of long-lived radioactive waste.
Thorium and its compounds are very stable. Its oxide melts around 3300°C.
This stability allows high burn-ups and high temperatures; less chances of accidents.

Why not Thorium:
Thorium needs a “match” to kickstart, that can only be U-235 or plutonium.
[It is an advantage as is an excellent way to use up the excess plutonium stocks]
Reprocessing is an integral part of a sustainable thorium fuel cycle.
Presence of hard gamma emitters makes the manufacture U-233 based fuels in remote gamma-shielded environment mandatory, a very expensive technique.

With our huge Thorium reserves, our scientists haven’t been just sitting around,
they have made utilisation of thorium for large-scale energy production our major goal.

THE THREE-STAGE INDIAN NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME

Quoted from Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India document:

“Shaping the Third Stage of Indian Nuclear Power Programme”

The importance of nuclear energy, as a sustainable energy resource for our country, was recognised at the very inception of our atomic energy programme more than four decades ago.

A three-stage nuclear power programme, based on a closed nuclear fuel cycle, was then chalked out.

The three stages are:
1. Natural uranium fuelled Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs),
2. Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) utilising plutonium based fuel, and,
3. Advanced nuclear power systems for utilisation of thorium.

For carrying out an efficient production of plutonium, the fissile material needed to fuel further growth in nuclear power capacity, a natural uranium fuelled heavy water moderated reactor is the best option.

In the First Stage: we started the indigenous development of nuclear power plants based on uranium cycle in PHWRs. At present we have twelve such reactors under operation, four are under construction, and several others have been planned. We have become self sufficient in all aspects of the PHWR technology. The capacity factors of our operating PHWRs have been close to eighty percent during recent years, an excellent performance even with respect to international standards.

As a part of the Second Stage, we started the FBR programme with the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), at IGCAR, Kalpakkam. This reactor, operating with indigenously developed mixed (U+Pu) carbide fuel, has already yielded a large volume of operating experience and a better understanding of the technologies involved. This has enabled us to design 500 MWe (prototype) FBR that will utilise plutonium and the depleted uranium from our PHWRs. Construction of this reactor is due to begin soon.

In preparation for the Third Stage, development of technologies pertaining to utilisation of thorium have been a part of our ongoing activities. Considerable thorium irradiation experience has been acquired in research reactors and we have introduced thorium in PHWRs in a limited way. With our sustained efforts over the past many years, we already have small-scale experience over the entire thorium fuel cycle.

An example is the KAMINI reactor, in IGCAR, the only currently operating reactor in the world, which uses 233U as fuel. This fuel was bred, processed and fabricated indigenously. Efforts are currently on to enlarge that experience to a bigger scale. We are now designing and developing advanced nuclear systems, which will utilise our precious plutonium resources in an optimum way to maximise conversion of thorium to 233U, extract power in-situ from the thorium fuel, and recycle the bred 233U in future reactors.

In India, both Kakrapar-1 and -2 units are loaded with 500 kg of thorium fuel in order to improve their operation when newly-started. Kakrapar-1 was the first reactor in the world to use thorium, rather than depleted uranium, to achieve power flattening across the reactor core.

In 1995, Kakrapar-1 achieved about 300 days of full power operation and Kakrapar-2 about 100 days utilising thorium fuel. The use of thorium-based fuel is planned in Kaiga-1 and -2 and Rajasthan-3 and -4 (Rawatbhata) reactors.

A paper was submitted by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) to the International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems (ICENES) held June 9-14 in Istanbul this year.

The BARC scientist have claimed that once the world’s uranium runs out, thorium - and the depleted uranium discharged by today’s power reactors – could form the ‘fertile base’ for nuclear power generation. And they are in the process of developing a Fast Thorium Breeder Reactor (FTBR) at the BARC in Mumbai.

They believe their FTBR is a ‘candidate’ reactor that can produce energy from these two fertile materials with some help from fissile plutonium as a ‘seed’ to start the fire. By using a mix of ‘seed’ plutonium and fertile zones inside the core, the scientists show theoretically that their design can breed not one but two nuclear fuels - U-233 from thorium and plutonium from depleted uranium – within the same reactor. This totally new concept of fertile-to-fissile conversion has prompted them to call it the Fast ‘Twin’ Breeder Reactor.

Their calculations show the sodium-cooled FTBR, while consuming 10.96 tonnes of plutonium to generate 1,000 MW of power, breeds 11.44 tonnes of plutonium and 0.88 tonnes of U-233 in a cycle length of two years.

BARC’s FTBR is claimed to be the first design that truly exploits the concept of ‘breeding’ in a reactor that uses thorium. The handful of fast breeder reactors (FBRs) in the world today – including the one India is building in Kalpakkam near Chennai – use plutonium as fuel. These breeders have to wait until enough plutonium is accumulated through reprocessing of spent fuel discharged by thermal power reactors that run on uranium.

The BARC scientists say that thorium should be inducted into power reactors when the uranium is still available, rather than after it is exhausted. The FTBR only needs an initial inventory of plutonium to kick-start the thorium cycle and eventually to generate electricity.

A blanket ban on India re-processing imported uranium – a condition for nuclear cooperation with the US – could make India’s thorium programme a non-starter.

Former BARC director P.K. Iyengar has one suggestion that he says must be acceptable to the US if it is serious about helping India to solve its energy problem. ‘The US and Russia have piles of plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons,’ Iyengar said, adding: ‘They should allow us to borrow this plutonium needed to start our breeders. We can return the material after we breed enough.’

The Hyde Act and the 123 Agreement
with its strict restriction on reprocessing the purchased fuel
binds us in a deal to be a purchaser of Uranium and its processing technology.
Instead of breaking free from the NSG cartel, we become chained to it for 40 years.

We have are own N-fuel, we do not need Uranium, we need enriched Plutonium.
To finish our three stage Nuclear Programme and be energy independant for ever.

This Indo-US nuclear deal will KILL off OUR 50 YEARS of reasearch and hard work.

It is not us who will suffer, we will be dead and gone, it will be our future generations.
It is now time for all us Indians to ask questions, and to find the truth for ourselves.

AmericaIndiaHyde’s Act123 AgreementThorium

On a September,
way back in the when
Three college friends and I,
on an impulsively adventurous mood
decided to walk in the mighty Himalayas,
breathe in the free fresh mountain breeze,
see the breathtaking views, do all those sort of wildy things.

This was from way back,
before trekking became ‘cool’.
Were we prepared? Of course we weren’t.
And did we care, no we didn’t. We were young,
the world was waiting; to boldy go, to seek, to explore.
We borrowed kits and garb that would make any museum proud,
and one morning with our vintage rucksacks slung across our back, we were off,
secure with a hand drawn map, an interpretation of someone’s travel log from years ago.

Out of breath, sweaty, thirsty, stiff with pain,
cursing ourselves for self inflicted torture, we soon lost our way.
There was no one to ask; to backtrack would have been back breaking
We plodded on and ended up miles away from where we should have been.
We were rewarded for our ‘misguided’ efforts with an amazing circular rainbow.
Was near day’s end, we ended up beside a lake, a lake like we had never seen before.

The water was dark, serenely quiet, unrippled and clearer than crystal.
It was almost completely hidden from view by a forest of mature trees.
There were no other soul around, the silence was palpable with fingertips.
There was a tiny wooden hut, about twenty yards from the nearest bank,
with couple of tree trunks laid across the marshy edge to gingerly walk across.

We had heard about the lake from the local people at the start of the journey.

Khecheopalri Lake:

aka Khechiperi Lake (the wishing lake);
West Sikkim district of the Indian state of Sikkim.
It is situated amidst an untouched forest at an altitude of approx. 5600ft. It is a holy lake to both the Buddhists and the Hindus of the region and beyond. It was said that wish made at the monastery on the lake side, would have it come true.

The clear lake water is used for rites and rituals only, and the water is kept clean around the year by the waterbirds, that pick up any leaves that falls into the lake. A fair at Khecheopalri lake takes place during the month of March every year, when a large number of local pilgrims visit the lake and the monastery, “Butter Lamp Festival” involves floating of butter lamps on the lake.

That tiny little hut was the gumpha! a buddhist monastery.
On a tiny pedestal sat an even tinier image of Buddha, peaceful in his loneliness.
A dhoop was burning; someone had left a few dhoops with a packet of matchsticks.
We lit a dhoop and made our wishes; (I try to remember, what could I have wished for?)
We stayed there for a while, lost in our thoughts, reluctant to disturb the silence
before moving on to find a place to camp for the night.

At some point during that trip I had fallen in love with the Himalayas,
returning to her, whenever I had time (and money that could only buy shoestrings)
but I have been to some amazing beautiful places, where very few people had ever been.
I had to leave behind my beautiful Himalayas, and came away with just the memories
of the places I loved to visit for peace, to escape from the city.

I read today,

ENVIS Centre Sikkim on Eco-tourism
The influx of tourists (to the Khecheopalri Lake) is high with visible impact of disturbance on the lake and its watershed. Beside visitors, there are 72 households and 440 people are now living near it and exploit the natural resources of the lake watershed by extraction of fuel, fodder and timber and by livestock grazing.

National Geographic
You can do both (eat and stay) at the Khecheopalri Trekkers Hut, Located 656 feet (200 meters) from Khecheopalri Lake. Which has cheap dorm beds and private rooms (with communal bathrooms) that are clean and comfortable.
The owners are helpful, and meals are available. A few simple snack stalls line the lake itself.

The tiny gumpha and its rickety walkway is gone, we now have
a majestic monastery, with prayerflags and wheels and a ‘boardwalk’!
a Trekker’s hut only a stone’s throwaway, snack stalls lining the lake’s shores.

Probably that ethereal peace that we had experienced is also gone; lost forever.

It is said, time heals everything, but Time also destroys.
It is destroying the Himalayas as I once knew, scarring her forever.
Tourism has touched all my favourite places, and changed them beyond recognition.
Organised treks have made the inaccessable easy to trample upon, to dig, tear or burn.

I consider myself lucky to have seen the Himalayas beautiful in an untouched desolation.

HimalayasSikkimIndiamemoriestourismenvironment

After
years of planning
hmming and haaaing
sacrificing and saving…

they are up at last
smiling up at the sun
gleaming fresh and shining
happy to generate clean electricity.

It is said,
almost half of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions come
from energy we use every day – at home and when we travel.
By saving energy we can all help prevent climate change.
[digg=http://digg.com/environment/green_with_pride/blog]
Solar PV (photovoltaic)
uses energy from the sun
to create electricity to run appliances and lighting.
PV cells requires only daylight, and not direct sunlight
and so can still generate some power even on a cloudy day.

PV systems produce no greenhouse gases,
each kWp of electricity generated can save
approximately 325kg of carbon dioxide emissions per year,
adding up to about 8 tonnes over a system’s functional lifetime.

These panels
now fully wired in
are adding power to the national grid.
Just a tiny step, to leave behind a slightly smaller carbon footprint.

Last time I looked at them panels,
I swear I saw them wink down at me.

technologyenvironmentsolar energyearthweather

We
talk,
argue,
we deny
the damage, the destruction
being done to our environment.

There are
learned people on
either side of the debate,
some honest some dishonest
who cannot come to a consensus.

And all the while the destruction keeps going on, reminding me these lines
“…don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got, till it’s gone…”

from a song by Joni Mitchell,
a singer, songwriter and painter from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Big yellow taxi – joni mitchell

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot spot

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

They took all the trees put ‘em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see ‘em

Hey farmer farmer put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees
Please!

Late last night I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi took away my old man.

The song was first released as a single in 1970,
and then was put on the album Ladies of the Canyon.

life environment lyrics

If it is springtime
or is early summer, and
you are near the southeast coast of Britain
maybe in a decidous wood, bushes and thickets,
or just a clump of tree, with densely tangled undergrowth

in the evening
leading on to dusk
when most birds have gone to roost
and you hear a bird singing in liquid phrases
interrupted with a few ‘choc choc choc’ notes,
unlike the song of any other bird music heard in this country,
that sounds like this…

Then you have heard the song of this bird

Lucinia megarhynchos

a brownish bird
with dull buffy underparts.
at 6 inches just larger than a robin,
in Britain very shy and remain in deep cover
only if you are very very lucky you may catch a glimpse.

They arrive in Britain in late April
they sing till late May or early June
sometimes thoughout the day and well into the night.
They sing till their babies hatch, and then they take to teaching them to call.

Their songs
consists of phrases
and often repetitions of phrases,
exquisite in variety and tune, especially the deep, low sustained notes.

Come September, they are gone
back to mediterrainian Europe, North Africa and further eastward.

A bird known to many a poet
a bird in many legends and tales,
the Nightingale.

So if anyone would like to hear
the singing of one of natures virtuoso
you may not find them in “Berkeley Square”
find a bird reserve or nature reserve in the SouthEast.

If you have the opportunity, do it now,
who knows, one day they too may be gone, forever.

[The bird song recording: is from thefreesoundproject.]

birdsbird songsnightingaleenvironmentRSPB

WWIII,
the best way of solving the problems the world is facing today.

Wars, so called terrorism, empire buildings, regime changes,
WMDs, or the lack of them,
jealousy, envy, greed,
religious hatred, racial hatred, ethnic cleansing,
poverty, world debt, humanitarian crises,
environmental disasters, holes in the ozone layer, global warming, glacier melting,
energy crisis, water crisis
bird-flu, HIV, cancers
euro replacing dollars as the world’s petro currency

I say, nuke the earth to hell and gone, and be done with it.

What is it all worth anyway?
Wealth in the coffers of <1% of the world’s population.
Nothing more than pain and misery, for the rest.

Why go through life being the perpetual victim,
of something, somebody or someone.
Being lied to, fooled into believing what eventually always turns out to be untrue.

To always have to (seek out and fight) an enemy,
be it communists or terrorists
or just windmills
To have to keep a war running somewhere, so that those in power can stay in power.

Only the innocents die
or the conscripts
those who never have the choice.
collateral damage we are told,
acceptable so that the rest of us live.

WWIII,
thankfully will not drag on like the previous two.
It should be over in days, if not hours or just minutes.

There should be enough nuclear weapons in stocks all around the globe,
that when launched against one or the other will finish the job quickly.

Short and sweet.
Mercy killing,
if you look at it from my perspective.

The power hungry warmongers,
who conveniently stays away,
and keep their near-and-dear-ones
away from the front-lines
will burn as quickly and as painfully as the rest of us.

Those hidden in bunkers, will emerge to survey and rule what is left.
A radio-active remains of this earth. RIP.

Why wait.
Let us get on with it.
Why live a life based on lies and lies only?

Before we discover technology capable
of carrying our evil policies out to the rest of the universe
and destroy whatever is good left out there.
Lets do it.

So why delay the inevitable, let us nuke ourselves and get it done with.

earthlifedeathenvironmenthumanitywarsthe end