Calcium Carbide - Mangoes, PCBs - Vadai !

Fruit Ripening using Calcium Carbide:

Even though fruit ripening is banned using Carbide, still Mangoes are ripened using Calcium Carbide without any conscience:

Calcium Carbide is a grayish-black, lump-shaped solid or crystal (sugar or sand-like), which has a slight garlic-like odor. It is used to make Acetylene and other chemicals, and in metallurgy.

HAZARD SUMMARY
Calcium Carbide can affect you when breathed in.
Contact can severely irritate and burn the eyes and skin causing permanent eye damage and ulcers on the skin.
Exposure can severely irritate the mouth, nose and throat causing sores, cough and wheezing.
Breathing Calcium Carbide can irritate the lungs causing coughing and/or shortness of breath.
Higher exposures may cause a build-up of fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema), a medical emergency, with severe shortness of breath.
Calcium Carbide is a FLAMMABLE and REACTIVEchemical and a DANGEROUS FIRE and EXPLOSIONHAZARD.
Calcium Carbide is on the Hazardous Substance List because it is cited by DOT, NFPA and EPA.
This chemical is on the Special Health Hazard Substance List because it is FLAMMABLE and REACTIVE.
It also has impurities which include Arsenic.

Cooking Vadai using Transformer oil(PCBs):
PCBs are a class of industrial chemical that contain 209 individual compounds or congeners.

Chronic inhalation exposure of workers to PCBs has been reported to result in respiratory tract symptoms, such as cough and tightness of the chest, gastrointestinal effects including anorexia, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, mild liver effects, and effects on the skin and eyes, such as chloracne, skin rashes, and eye irritation.

An epidemiological study of women occupationally exposed to high levels of PCBs suggested a relationship between PCB exposure and reduced birth weight and shortened gestational age of their babies; however, limitations of the study limit the strength of the conclusion.

They are also classified under potential Carcinogen:

Some days back I read an article that some hotels were using Transformer oil (PCBs) to fry "Vadai" for crispiness!!!.

???

One More Forest Resource Depletion in India

News: - (News India):
SALEM: In a novel campaign, farmers and environmentalists who have joined hands to fight an iron ore mining project at Kanchamalai in Salem, filed 530 applications under the Right to Information Act with the Department of Forests en masse on Tuesday.

Over 700 farmers with their families converged on the District Forest Office on Tuesday. Catching the officials unaware, they filed individual applications, seeking details of the proposed project to mine iron ore from the pristine surroundings of the Kanchamalai hills by a joint venture company floated by Tamil Nadu Industrial Minerals Corporation Ltd (TIMCO) and the private steel major Jindals.

The magnetite ore to be mined is to be used for manufacturing iron ingots at the Mecheri plant of the South India Iron and Steel Co Ltd (SISCOL), a Lakshmi Mills-TN government JV taken over by the Jindals.

Officials initially said only one application would be received. But the people insisted that every family affected by the project wanted to know to what extent the project would impact their lives.

The applications contained five questions pertinent to the project and the Forest Department’s response to the forest clearance petitions filed by the company, besides the department’s EPA (Environmental Impact Assessment) documents.

According to official sources, TIMCO and SISCOL joint venture wants 1,000 acres of mineral-rich hills in two places in Tamil Nadu. While 638 acres is sought at Kanchamalai, revered for the indigenous medical practitioners and rich herbs, 330 acres has been asked for at Tiruvannamalai.

Around 90,000 trees at Kanchamalai and 2 lakh trees in Tiruvannamalai (recently collector of Tiruvannamalai wanted to plant more trees) will be felled once the project is cleared by the Forest department.

Indicating that the Forest department has given its green signal for the project (which it rejected earlier), Forest department officials said, “Things are no more in our hands but with the Supreme Court, which sent its Empowered Committee on May 29, 30 to Kanchamalai to give its report.”

Some one has to take initiave to stop deterioating the already depleted small forest resources in India.

Effects of Iron Ore Mining:
Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
Volume 46, Issue 2, June 2000, Pages 218-224

Iron Ore Mines Leachate Potential for Oxyradical Production
D. Hamoutene, A. Rahimtula and J. Payne
Biochemistry Department, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, A1B 3X9
Science Branch, DFO, 5667, St John's, Newfoundland, Canada, A1C 5X1
Received 8 September 1999.
Available online 25 March 2002. Abstract
The ecotoxicological effects of mining effluents is coming under much greater scrutiny. It appears necessary to explore possible health effects in association with iron ore mining effluents. The present results clearly demonstrate that iron-ore leachate is not an inert media but has the potential to induce lipid peroxidation. Peroxidation was assessed by measuring oxygen consumption in the presence of a reducing agent such as ascorbate or NADPH and a chelator such as EDTA. Labrador iron ore is an insoluble complex crystalline material containing a mixture of metals (Fe, Al, Ti, Mn, Mg,…, ) in contrast to the iron sources used for normal lipid peroxidation studies. The metal of highest percentage is iron (59.58%), a metal known to induce oxyradical production. Iron ore powder initiated ascorbic acid-dependent lipid peroxidation (nonenzymatic) in liposomes, lipids extracted from rat and salmon liver microsomes, and intact salmon liver microsomes. It also revealed an inhibitory effect of NADPH-dependent microsomes lipid peroxidation as well as on NADPH cytochrome c reductase activity. However, nonenzymatic peroxidation in rat liver microsomes was not significantly inhibited. Cytochrome P450 IA1- and IIB1-dependent enzymatic activities as well as P450 levels were not affected. The inhibition could be due to one of the other components of iron ore leachate (Mn, Al,…, ). These effects of iron-ore leachate indicate that a potential toxicity could be associated with its release into lakes. Further studies are necessary to explore in vivo effects on aquatic animals.
Author Keywords: iron ore; peroxidation; cytochrome P450; liposomes; microsomes.

Above article was published as early as 2000 and still we did not learn the lesson. There will be several other issues with Air, Land, Water and Human Health while mining for iron.

We:
1) remove forests as fast as we could.
2) deplete, pollute water resources as much as we could.
3) import e-wastes as much as we could
4) put toxicity into air, water and Land as much as we could
5) have few people with environmental awareness, concerns and have very few environmental laws and implement them properly

When will we be environmentally conscious?

Boosting Rice Cultivation in Tamil Nadu, India

Email from worldbank on 06/17/2008:

India ’s agricultural growth has been stagnant at less than 2 percent since the 1990s, well below the growth rates of other sectors. Any significant growth in agriculture in India depends on increasing the efficiency and productive use of water. India is a water stressed country, 45 percent of all available water is utilized for agriculture. Among this 80% is used for Rice cultivation alone.

The World Bank is assisting the southern state of Tamil Nadu to improve irrigation service delivery and productivity of irrigated agriculture. Some farmers in the State are using a technique that requires less water and fewer seeds but grows more rice. It is a new way of cultivating rice, and it is raising hopes that the rice yield will increase without draining the country of scarce water resources.
India - A new way of Cultivating Rice

Water Management must be done properly before water scarcity comes into play. I have seen huge amount of rainfall destroying the Rice fields, esp, in Tanjore Delta. The fields should have proper drainage system and government should fund such systems along with world bank and should be properly maintained. The link 'A Small Drop' to Siruthuli and its Gallery shows how excess water can be saved and stored.

Eco-Justice for Elephants

I received an email from someone to give Eco-Justice for Elephants:

Eco-Justice for Elephants

Care for the wild

Since forests are shrinking, these majestic animals are running out space and enter into the near by villages near Anamalai and Mudumalai Sancturies. Some elephants came into Bharathiar university recently and also entered the farms and destroyed sugarcane fields. Solar powered electric fences were installed, even which did not stop these elephants.
Elephant crossing road:


Elephants_in_road:

Elephants in estate:


There are other natural ways to scare the elephants instead of the electric fence:
Tiger Urine Crystals (From Zoo animals) spread along the border and
Camel odors also scare elephants.

Hopefully one day human and elephants will live in harmony like the following picture taken in Top Slip, Tamilnadu, India:

EcoWarrior - Mr. Yoganathan from Marudhamalai, Coimbatore

Mr.Yoganathan, bus conductor from Coimbatore has planted more than 50,000 trees and created Environmental awareness in Tamilnadu especially among students and children.
He had been recognized for this achievement by Indian Government and was awarded "Eco-Warrior Award".
Mr. Yoganathan with his award - (www.dinamalar.com)

I had personally heard of his work from team members in Pollachi.

Good work Mr. Yoganathan.

Bharathiar University - Environmental Science Department - Near Marudhamalai - This is where I did my M.Phil degree and we planted these trees as small saplings during that time (1991):








Makesh Karuppiah, Ph.D
Environmental Scientist

Going Green and Environmental Awareness Catching Up

Going Green and Green Awareness Catching up:

The future is SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Dockers Pants made up of Cocono fabrics:

Coconut Fibers

The site indicates that Cocona fabrics provide comfort while utilizing natural technology.

Natural Dockers was as comfortable as other Dockers. Also saw some nature awareness from a.n.a clothing with words like "Hug a Tree" in shirts.

We are moving towards sustainable Green awareness world, which is a good sign.

Green Clothes:
Green JCPenney

In India:

Read a headline on 07/07/2008:
Collector for steps to enhance green cover of Annamalai hills - The Hindu:
TIRUVANNAMALAI: The district administration will take steps to provide green cover to the 2,170-metre high Annamalai hills in the Tiruvannamalai town, according to Collector M. Rajendran.

Mr. Rajendran, who climbed up the hills on Saturday to assess the vegetation, told reporters that a project on “greening the hills” was launched in 2001. Based on the project, steps would be taken shortly to increase the green cover by planting more saplings.

Of the 933.77-hectares on the hills, 699.03 hectares were under the control of the Forest Department and 234.74 hectares under the Revenue Department.

Some areas on the hills had less vegetation and some had no trees.

The growth of the trees had been affected by excessive heat conditions prevailing in the town.

The Collector suggested that tea gardens could be raised on 40 to 50 hectares of land in Thenimalai area.

The hills abounded in herbal plants, including single-leaf lotus, garlic, Keezhanelli, sambrani, vettiver and nannari.

Wild animals such as black-faced monkey and wild fowls are also found on the hills.

Steps would be taken to provide thick vegetation cover by planting saplings, sowing seeds and growing grafts, he said.

Forest Department and Revenue officials accompanied the Collector.





Also take a quiz on E-Wastes:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/trash-quiz-interactive

MakeSH

Rich & Poor

Rich: Diamond studed IPL Trophy:

Poor: A Village boy's hurt leg by playing cricket without shoes:


My View: With all the profits IPL made, they should atlease provide shoes, gloves and equipments to the underpriviliged children who play cricket in villages of the corresponding teams (Chennai Super Kings - to Tamilnadu Village schools, Rajasthan Royals - to Rajasthan Village Schools, something like that).

One more photo: Poverty leading to this - Child dangerously playing with a venomous Cobra to make money:(www.dinakaran.com)



makeSH