As US Cleans BP’s Oil Spill In The Gulf, India Cleans Up Human Spill In Ganga.

Pic via: Fresh water ideas for a thirsty planet blog

When you see some of the pictures of the Ganga pollution it almost feel like it’s too little too late. Only time will tell. In the meantime, the Indian Government is pulling in Japanese help to cleanup the unholy mess left in the Ganga, the holiest of Indian rivers.

The project, under ‘Mission Clean Ganga’ of the National Ganga River Basin Authority, will set up a sewage treatment plant of 140 million litres per day capacity, lay 34 km of sewers and rehabilitate existing sewerage systems. (Full post at the Hindu)

June 5 is WED – World Environment Day.

Happy World Environment Day to all.

It is also Day 47 of the BP oil spill that is wreaking devastation across the gulf coast. As we watch videos and pictures come through we have alternated between sorrow, frustration and absolute anger against BP and its supporters.

We have to stay positive and committed to relieving our planet of abuse. For now this UNEP map of World Environment Day activities around the world remains our beacon of hope and call to action.

India Discloses Carbon Emissions – 58% Rise Since 1994.

Scary stats, but kudos to the attempt at transparency – the first step toward cleaner air for Indians.

The government study based on 2007 data showed a sharp increase in industrial activity since the last assessment in 1994 has made India the world’s fifth biggest emitter after China, the US, Europe and Russia. (Via Guardian)

Data Centers Powered By Cow Dung Are Possible.

Chandrakant Patel, a scientist at HP Labs in Palo Alto, calls [it]”a symbiotic relationship between manure and IT.” Patel, who recalls collecting buffalo droppings for fuel as a boy in rural India, says the ancient practice of burning manure for energy can be updated with new technology, in a process his team has outlined in a paper they’re presenting this week at a conference on energy sustainability, convened in Phoenix by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. (full post here)

Ancient civilizations have so many green answers to modern day problems. But do we have the will to try them?

Chandrakant Patel is an HP Fellow and director of the Sustainable IT Ecosystem Laboratory at HP Labs. The laboratory is focused on the creation of a sustainable IT ecosystem with the goal of driving the reduction of carbon emissions throughout the global economy.  Patel’s supply and demand side approach in creating a sustainable IT ecosystem builds on his pioneering work in the late 1990s on holistically managing available energy as a key resource in data centers. (Read his bio here)

Seasons Are Disappearing. Orissa Is Down To 2 From 4.

We’re screwing with nature so much that the birds, the bees, the rains and even the sun are getting confused!

Read this fascinating insight into vanishing seasons and their profound consequences at MoreIntelligentLife.com

After spring (basanta) and summer (grishma) came the rainy season (barsha). Between autumn (sarata) and winter (sisira) came a dewy period called hemanta. Each season lasted two months and the appearance of each was marked by religious festivals. […]

Lately the heralds of the seasons have become unreliable. Damselflies swarm not only in the rainy season but in winter, the driest time of year. The stork no longer appears just on Akshaya Trutiya, but at other times, too. Villagers hear the song of the oriole in summer and the rainy season, not just spring. And this, Mahapatra says, is because spring is no longer a distinct season. Instead of six periods of equal length, Orissa now has two, a brief rainy season and a burning eight-month summer.