Who is in the Cage?

A typical July Sunday morning in Mumbai. Its raining on and off. Bright and sunny one moment and raining heavily the very next, as if a shower tap has been turned on. 

Heard the sounds of the rain drops and looked out of the kitchen window. And spotted an unusual sight. A squirrel moving around the kitchen grill, probably in search for food or shelter from this sudden rain or maybe both. Up and down the grill it went for a while. Long enough for me to run off, and get my phone for a picture. After a couple of clicks, it probably realized that the infiltration attempt had been noticed. And it disappears from sight.

Such a wonderful shot has to be shared immediately. And so the squirrel gets it moment of fame as its mugshot gets posted across social media. 

The picture got a couple of interesting responses

• "Hard to say who is caged"
• "They will be happy if we don't infiltrate their world"

And as is wont with the human mind, such philosophical thoughts lead to more philosophical thoughts. Yes, it is members belonging to the homo sapiens who have created cages for themselves with their endless needs and wants. As well as the tendency to accumulate for the future. Very few other species think beyond the present moment. Certainly no other thinks beyond the current season. All other species are capable of roaming around as is their wont, but homo sapiens have modified their existence to come back to the cages that they have built for themselves.

And as for the second comment. We have already infiltrated their world and the world of every lving creature on the planet. No other species has caused so much damage to the rest of the eco-system as us. Human activity has changed the very face of the earth, building artificial environments like cities and farms, depleted natural resources and in the process wiped out many plant and animal species. And in spite of having done irreparable damage to the eco-system, there are many amongst us who live in complete denial. 

Had read somewhere that Homo Sapiens are 99% animal and 1% human. And it is the 1% human which is the cause of nearly all the troubles in the world.

Cleaning the Augean Stables: Patna

As per Greek mythology, one of the labours of Hercules was cleaning the stables of King Augeas. The King owned thousands of heads of cattle, horses and goats. Every night they would be driven into a stable. which had become really filthy. Hercules managed to clean the place by diverting a river which flowed nearby through the stables and cleaned up the entire place in one go.

As part of the the ongoing Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan launched by our Prime Minister, a Swachh Survekshan has been conducted. The results are out and Patna comes out right near the bottom of this survey, ranked 70th out of 73 cities covered under the survey. The results are as expected. It just confirms what we already knew. The city lags behind on every single parameter covered in the survey (Details). 

On a recent trip to the city, found it filled with filth. Rubbish was thrown all around, there are open drains filled to the brim and mostly choked. All kinds of animals cows, buffaloes, dogs, chicken, ducks, goats were roaming around and eating from the same piles of garbage. Except for the modern cars plying on lanes meant for 2-wheeler's and bullock carts, it almost seemed as if the city was still living a couple of centuries behind the rest of the urbanized world, especially in matters of hygiene.

Below are few sample pictures from my recent trip.

(a) Housing complexes surrounded by standing water; (b) Cows munching in the garbage filled roads; (c) Unlit lanes; (d) Crumbling buildings - In all a picture of  complete squalor

Cleaning up Patna would be no less than the labour of cleaning the Augeon Stables. But we can't depend on a single Hercules to the task. A filthy garbage riddled city is not a unique problem. Most of the big European cities were in equally bad shape in the 19th and early 20th century. Urbanization had brought with it problems of waste management.  Lee Jackson's book "Dirty Old London" describes the state of squalor in London. London was described as having choking, sooty fogs; the Thames River was thick with human sewage; and the streets were covered with mud. (Sounds familiar). The book goes on to describe how the city came up with its innovations and fought its way towards cleanliness.

This is not just a European phenomenon. Though it is hard to imagine now, Singapore was equally, if not more filthy under the British rule (Singapore Sanitation). But the initiatives undertaken by former PM Lee Kuan Yew transformed it into one of cleanest countries in the world. The Singapore model was adopted by other developing South East Asian countries. It requires strong political leadership, public infrastructure development and strict implementation of rules to make the program a success.

Given Patna's size and population, the solutions would need to be even larger in scale.It is not as if nothing has been done in this regard. Patna has provided leadership in this regard earlier also. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak and his foundation Sulabh International were the original Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan campaigners. The work done by Sulabh in building sanitation systems has been globally recognized. However, we can certainly do with more such sustained campaigns for cleaning up this mess. 

An example can be taken from the city which ranked bottom of the survey, Dhanbad (another place where I have a personal connect). Post the results, the students of my alma mater have decided to take up the matter in their own hands. A waste management start-up called Total Waste Solutions or ToWaSo has been launched by the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship at ISM, which is working on the theme 'Utilize the Waste before it gets Wasted'. 

More such schemes would be needed. Only a joint effort by the administration and the citizens can accomplish this seemingly Herculean task of cleaning up the city. It is possible. There are parts of the city, the so called VIP areas which are models of cleanliness with no garbage dumps and wide tree-lined roads. But they are only tiny pockets in a huge city. It is necessary to ensure that these areas expand further. It needs a strong political will, dedicated funding for the development of public infrastructure, and strict monitoring with heavy fines for rule breakers. Patna has recently deployed lots of traffic police in an attempt to decongest and manage the traffic. Sanitation department also needs similar manpower to drive the cleanliness initiative. And the efforts need to be sustained over years for results to come.

And yes, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan would be considered a great success if this task is accomplished.

P.S. An old blog post on the subject of sanitation (Link) 

COP21 - The Global Climate Deal

Everyone agrees the world is on the brink of a climate disaster. Everyone also agrees that something needs to be done to avoid it. Unfortunately, everyone wants everyone else to take this initiative.

At the COP 21 conference in Paris, leaders from across the world got together and decided to do something about it. After lots of discussions and deliberations, they finally came up with a single agreement on tackling climate change (Proposal). The key areas identified are as follows

• To keep global temperature rise "well below" 2.0C (3.6F) and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5C.
• To limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100.
• To review each country's contribution to cutting emissions every five years so they scale up to the challenge.
• For rich countries to help poorer nations by providing "climate finance" to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy.

This is major first step but given that we are already losing the climate battle, more needs to be done. It is widely believed that 2C is the maximum global temperature rise beyond which the damage to the environment would be irreversible. Weather patterns are becoming increasingly erratic, floods and droughts are becoming common place and if this pattern continues, some of the small, low lying nations might completely disappear off the face of the Earth, and quite a few animal and plant species will become extinct. Given that the temperatures have already risen by nearly 1C, we are getting closer and closer to the environmental apocalypse. It is certainly a grim picture.

Although an agreement is in place, the action plans and targets set for controlling emissions for each country are voluntary. And this is where complications arise. The developed countries who have already contributed to temperature rise are now keen to ensure that no further rise takes place. The developing nations also aspire a developed status but that would mean an increase in energy consumption which would contribute to the temperature rise. But why would the likes of China and India wish to remain under-developed? They want the developed countries to take a larger burden while ensuring their development continues with the cheaper sources of available energy. 

Then comes the problem of funding. Who will bear the cost of developing more efficient energy sources when fossil fuels are still available cheaply. The world is not going to run out of coal and oil anytime soon. Only drastic climate constraints might lead to the closure of these industries. We certainly need cleaner energy, but it has to be low cost and efficient and easy to use. Till the renewables are able to fulfill these criterion, the hegemony of oil and coal as energy sources will continue.

While the bigger debates go on, as to who does what, there are ways in which individuals can reduce their own carbon footprints and do their tiny bit to save the environment. After all every drop counts. The most obvious way is to consume less, but that's detrimental to the growth of the economy. And if the economy doesn't grow, then investments into better energy resources can't be made, leaving us to consume more hydrocarbons. A vicious cycle. 

But we can as individuals certainly contribute to lower our wastage. And it doesn't even have to be at a very large scale. And these are already known to us - Minimize use of electrical appliances; Don't waste water; Carry a shopping bag to the market; instead of taking plastic bags; Plant trees; Walk instead of driving; Use public transport; Use paper instead of plastic; Do not take prints of every document in office. The printer certainly is the most environmentally-unfriendly item. We print reams and reams of paper, most of which is just thrashed. And there are many more ways we can all do our little bit. Reduce, Reuse & Recycle has to be the mantra.

The success of COP21 can only be measured in the years to come. It certainly is a major step, but we as citizens of the world can certainly do our bit to help the cause. Otherwise...