Curb Soil Erosion to Curb Environmental Erosion: World Soil Day 2019

The theme for World Soil Day 2019 is "Stop soil erosion, Save our future."

This day promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has, since 2012, hoped to raise awareness about the role healthy soil plays in "sustaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being." Ensuring "Good Health and Well-Being" #SDG3 as well as life on land #SDG15 can be achieved through healthy soil that produces healthy food and healthy people. Tending the soil can improve mental health and well-being. Thus the process of ensuring soil health - organic gardening and organic farming can ensure mental health. Healthy minds are vital for people to thrive.

As the member-states of the United Nations gather in Madrid at COP25 to discuss climate change, reports submitted there indicate that land degradation is a major driver of climate change.

Now while it's important to de-carbonize our economies and "Keep Oil in the Soil and Coal in the Hole." A major way that people and policy can help curb emissions and environmental degradation is by curbing soil erosion and restoring and rejuvenating the soil. Intensive organic agriculture and mixed agriculture especially cultivation amidst man-made mixed fruit forests or rice fields that farm fresh water fish in fields can help restore soil.

These fields of trees can provide shade on a hot day, fix soil and protect it from erosion as well as fixing water and carbon. The leaves that fall from them can bring in nutrition and organic matter to improve soil. This is permaculture harnessed to horticulture and agriculture underpinned by chemical-free organic restorative and regenerative cultivation practices. Agroforestry demonstrated by young Costa Rican farmer Alexander Retana, shows that we can increase green cover and produce food comfortably.

As Vandana Siva put it in the Year of the Soil in 2015 when we saw the signing of the Paris Climate Treaty, "we are nothing without living soil. ...If we make peace with the soil we make peace between people."

As the article in the Hindu Business Line indicates

In short, deforestation, which in itself raises carbon emissions by 25 per cent, along with all human activities pursued on the land, is the real cause of climate change in the form of extreme weather conditions like intense and untimely rains, floods, soil erosion, and high temperatures. 

Our lifestyle, the food we eat and from where we source it has an impact on the life of the planet and its soil. Unsustainable agricultural practices, industrial agriculture, deforestation caused by greed for more agricultural and grazing lands (Amazon and the Equatorial Rainforest in Southeast Asia being two key examples of vital primordial forests cut down or burnt down).

Ecological farming - restorative organic farming that puts organic matter back into the soil to keep it living instead of making a zombie out of it with petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides, can be the difference between life and death of the soil and of the human race.

We need to #StopSoilErosion in all its forms and unsustainable agricultural practices and unsustainable development are key reasons for dying soil.

via GIPHY

In a world where micro-hunger - the hunger for essential nutrients is as devastating to a different set of people as hunger is to the poorer populations, ensuring that the soil is healthy ensures that there is Zero Hunger #SDG2. Nutritious food can be produced through healthy and nutritious soil. Saving the soil can ensure that all the sustainable development goals are achieved. Smallholder farmers in the developing world must be engaged in preserving and restoring soil health. Making young farmers, women farmers, and small-scale farmers - usually marginalized and impoverished by industrial agriculture - should be made stakeholders who can benefit from ecological farming that restores soil health and ensures soil is safe from erosion. Organic ecological agriculture can be incorporated into climate adaptation and climate action measures that can be funded and trained by climate finance and green tech transfer.  These marginalized farmers can help #SaveOurFuture by saving the soil. Thus we can ensure social justice and climate justice by protecting soil.

Solarized & Electrified! Aiming for Emission Free Transport

The actions and lifestyles of the richest one percent of the world’s population in particular and the consumption patterns of those living in the developed nations in general have a profoundly negative effect on our planet and its environment. As the planet transformed into a global village, the movement of people and goods around the planet increased exponentially. This mobility was powered by fossil fuels. Hence, in order to combat climate change and embrace sustainable development a key change needs to happen in the transportation sector. The gas guzzling, air pollution and carbon emissions producing flights, ships, and automobiles need to embrace zero-emission renewable energy or at least hybrid tech.

 Adopting and promoting solar-powered transport, hybrids, hydrogen-powered and electric vehicles are game-changing climate action. 

[A solar array that powers MV Panamana]
Source: Eco Marine Power

As of 2018, SHIPPING accounted for 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and if the sector is not cleaned up experts predict this figure could rise to a fifth of emissions by 2050.

Despite the growing flight-shaming movement flygskam emerging from Sweden and Europe inspired by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and the move towards rail travel - tågskry [train brag] - the aviation sector is growing exponentially:

"2019 is forecast to be another record-breaking year for air travel, with passengers expected to fly a total of 8.1tn km, up 5% from last year and more than 300% since 1990."

• The aviation sector currently accounts for about 2% of global emissions, and is one of the fastest-growing polluters.

In 2019, approximately 40 million flights are expected to depart from airports across the world, i.e., more than 100,000 trips per day. The image that follows maps a particularly busy day in May 2019, with 162,637 takeoffs recorded

Source: The Guardian & flightradar24.com

• According to data from 2017, the transportation sector contributes to about 14% of global carbon dioxide emissions

Global mobility fuels the economy and it runs on fossil fuels - directly or indirectly! Travel is aspirational. As the middle class grows and populations urbanize mobility increases. Yet the means of travel are all fossil fuels dependent. Meanwhile the world leaders, millionaires and billionaires crisscross the globe at the drop of a hat. As the Guardian article shows, just one short return flight produces more emissions that a whole year's activity of a person from 56 countries. 

Thus, seeing news about solar powered flights circumnavigating the planet (Solar Impulse), or preparations for a solo solar flight around the world is heartening. As is news of launches of electric buses, subsidies for purchase of electric vehicles (Norway), cab aggregators and electric car manufacturers coming together to create a Unicorn of a venture - Ola Electric in India, and commercial launches of solar yacht, catamarans and shipping carriers in the maritime sector, as well as solar boats in tourists attracting water bodies across India. 

#Russian explorer Fyodor Konyukhov ends 1st #solarpowered #flight in Crimea. Flying Laboratory is fitted with Russian produced flexible solar panels & energy accumulating systems. Wingspan 25m, weight only 900kg
Prepping for its solo #RoundTheWorld flight
https://t.co/jWQfsyGzDQ

— Raakhee Suryaprakash (@10sunshinegal) July 21, 2019

See the world's largest solar powered boat - SolarPlanet's MV Turanor:

On July 19, 2019, 20 electric buses were flagged off from Srinagar the capital of Jammu & Kashmir, India's northern most state by its governor Satya Paul Malik and Aravind Sawant the central minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise. This was made possible by the Government of India's scheme: FAME India (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in India). 

In under two years Eco Marine Power, went from testing to launching its Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) solution system powering a solar commercial cargo ship - MV Panamana in 2019. 

Source: Eco Marine Power

A lot is happening but a lot more needs to be done. For example, unlike in Norway, in India the subsidies and tax breaks for electric vehicles purchase is only available for commercial vehicles not private vehicles. A missed bus if ever there was one!

Solarization and electrification and greening of the sectors that move the masses will have a massive impact in curbing emissions. Policy and practice to support all modes of travel going green must become the norm in climate action and the roadmap to sustainable development. This will cut greenhouse gas emissions from the sector and create opportunities and new jobs for green entrepreneurs, innovators and green industry pioneers. As we move, here's hoping our travels are planet-friendly! 

Beat Air Pollution - Beyond Environment Day

Since 1974, World Environment Day has been observed by the UN member-states to raise awareness about the threats to our environment. The theme for 2019 is #BeatAirPollution. The host nation is China which has made great strides in improving its air quality.

Beyond the stop-gap measures that included shutting down polluting industries, such as those manufacturing Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 to more concrete efforts in the long term such as shutting down coal power plants, installing massive air purification towers and monitoring air quality real time in multiple locations and increasing forest cover, China has made great strides to "Beat Air Pollution."

The documentary Under the Dome by Chinese journalist Chai Jing went a long way in highlighting the issue in China and effecting action to curb air pollution. Yet, today the air pollution  problem has become more insidious - Chinese use of greenhouse gases called chloro-floro-carbons (CFCs) is not only adding to global warming it also is causing the erosion of the Ozone Layer that protects us from the sun's ultraviolet radiation. A local act having global implications. Air pollution has no boundaries. Smogs regularly cross state and national boundaries.

Source: https://www.oneindia.com/infographics/india-houses-7-out-of-10-top-polluting-cities-the-world-2860123.html - March 5, 2019.

India as per latest reports has seven of the top ten cities with the worst air quality. But poor air quality is an urban human condition that's everywhere. Add to this indoor air quality is much worse. In this category rural households with smoky traditional stoves that burn on solid fuel are worse off.

The situation can be improved by adding plants and avoiding smoke generating items indoors as well as improving tree cover outdoors and petitioning policy changes that check activity that causes air pollution:

- Vehicles that run on fossil fuels
- burning of waste especially plastic waste
- burning crop residue
- forest fires
- Unchecked constructions that don't follow environmental norms
- Thermal Power Plants 
- Tree-felling 
- Deforestation
- Industries that emit polluting gases because they don't follow environmental norms
- use of CFCs in violation of Montreal Protocol.

Below are the holy trifecta of indoor air purifiers according to Delhi resident Kamal Meattle famed for his TEDTalk "How to Grow Fresh Air."

                                            


Polluted air is linked to premature death, lung disease, autism and cancer not to mention that air pollution lowers IQ, decreases productivity, costs the economy billions, affects mental health and even increased crime rates. Air pollution drastically reduces quality of life and life expectancy itself and must be a priority issue of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) of the Government of India and all governments. 

Of Birds, Bees & Turtles: Celebrating Biodiversity in May

In May we celebrate Endemic Bird Day on 4th, World Bee Day on 20th, the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22nd and World Turtle Day on 23rd. All these days are observed to raise awareness about the various at-risk species and at-risk biodiversity itself. Early in May, the report from Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), warned that the impact of modern civilization nature has put 1 MILLION plant and animal species of our planet's estimated 8 MILLION species at risk of extinction. Basically, 

"due to humankind’s relentless pursuit of economic growth!"

Source: Felix Mueller/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

The quest for convenience and easy living is unleashing a pogrom on all other life forms. Ironic, that under the UN declared period of pursuing sustainable development goals (#SDGs) human activity is predominantly unsustainable and putting life and biodiversity at risk. Be it the quest for "Responsible Consumption and Production" #SDG12, or even "Life Below Water" #SDG14 and "Life on Land" #SDG15, the pursuit of so-called SDGs 8 & 9 "Decent Work and Economic Growth" & "Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure" is putting other SDGs at risk in addition to biodiversity. The sixth mass extinction, a.k.a. the Holocene or Anthropocene Extinction is the existential threat of the 21st Century. Yet, powerful lobbies like Big Oil, Big Pharma, or as Vandana Shiva puts it the "Poison Cartel", Industrial Agriculture & Fishing, Manufacturing lobbies, FMCG and even Fast Fashion have worked to keep "Business as usual" even in the face of it's devastating impact on life on our planet and it's environment. 

The title of a recent paper by Jason Hickel of the Department of Anthropology, Goldsmiths, University of London, "The contradiction of the sustainable development goals: Growth versus ecology on a finite planet" summarizes the dichotomy and the dilemma best. 

Human greed and gluttony manifesting in the love for mass production and mass markets is causing mass extinction! We can't allow "business as usual" when life is at stake:

•  5G has been seen as most devastating of all mobile technology on biodiversity in general and birds in particular.
•  Chemical insecticides and pesticides that kill bees more effectively than pests or harmful insects. 
• Unsustainable agricultural and fishing practices in the quest for food security and profits is actually fueling "hunger" as well as "food waste."
• A glut of plastics chokes the planet and all life forms, including turtles and birds shown in iconic the viral videos to be choking on plastic waste, be it through the subsequent air, water and soil pollution of plastic waste.
• Rainforests - the ultimate biodiversity hotspots - are cut down to make way for monoculture hubs of agriculture, cattle ranches and palm plantations.
• Climate change fueled by continued dependence on fossil fuels in turn super-sizes natural disasters devastating life.

The PETA ad campaign - Killer Cows - may be graphic but is apt, in the quest for meat in ur meals we are endangering biodiversity itself: 

Source: PETA.

We share our planet with many life forms, we are all connected. When the "bell tolls" for other species, if we ignore it, it will soon toll for us too, extrapolating and misquoting lines from John Donne's famous poem,

any man's  [species'] death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind [all life forms], and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee [us all!!!].

Churning Waters: Women, Water, Myths & More

I attended the performance Churning Waters at DakshinaChitra on February 3, 2019. As I mention in my Twitter thread, this performance which was part of Australia Fest was an enlightening experience. It was art for a cause at its finest, for many key social justice, environmental justice and gender justice issues were highlighted.  Indian & Aboriginal women performance artists and dancers and storyteller collaborated to highlight issues such as pollution, inequitable growth, the legacies of colonization, loss of identity and loss language [mother tongue], corporate greed, fracking, plastic pollution, climate change, and water woes. 

 

The performances linked many stories from the Das Avatar (10 Incarnations of the Divine Protector Lord Vishnu) to environmental issues. The Bharatnatyam performance by Priyadarshini Govind held within the Chettinad House linked Krishna dancing on the head of the serpent Kalia which was polluting the River Yamuna to the Sterlite protests. This was in response to the one of the Aboriginal performers sharing the story of how indigenous resources and sacred spaces were being exploited and the water polluted by mining and other industries.

I particularly liked the concept of the story tree, where narrations by the performers of the synopsis of their performances were recorded like powerful podcasts.  As someone who loves Orcas - the largest of dolphins the so-called Killer Whale, I loved the linking of the Matsya (Fish) avatar of Lord Vishnu to the Dreamtime legend of the Orcas and aboriginal tribes of New South Wales the Uru and the Yuni who could speak to the Orcas and the Orcas and the Aboriginals would come together to hunt Sperm Whales the very epitome of sustainable fishing: 

The 'Law of the Tongue' was that once the whales were harpooned and killed the whalers would leave them overnight for the Orcas to eat the tongues.
The Orcas would leave the rest of the carcass for the whalers.

 
More such social justice, environmental justice and gender justice storytelling is needed  and has to be showcased to wider audiences. As the title suggests Churning Waters was linked the Hindu myth of Samudra Manthan (the reason for the Kurma [Turtle] avatar of Lord Vishnu] - or as this installation at the Suvarnabhoomi Airport in Bangkok puts it - the churning of the milk ocean:
 

The finale was particularly poignant, for it relates ocean clean up to Samudra Manthan – the Hindu mythic churning of sacred milk ocean that yielded great poison before yielding the ocean's treasures and its bounty. The Gods and demons came together to churn the sacred ocean, face down the great poison and benefit from its bounty including the nectar of immortality. Marine plastic pollution was depicted as 21st Century’s great poison. While clean drinking water is already at a premium we continue to pollute water bodies with plastics and all sorts of pollutants. Over-fishing and the exponentially increasing plastic pollution of the seas is drastically reducing marine biodiversity and reducing fishing yields. We are the guardians of natural resources and to ensure our survival and that of other living beings that share our home planet we need to work to protect water bodies, forests and the environment. The rights, stories and leadership of women and indigenous people in guiding mankind towards true sustainable development was beautifully conveyed by this performance.

Guest Post 3: Energy Innovations for Energy Security & SDG7

Guest Post by Venkatesh R.

Editor's Note: SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy is a key factor in facilitating development and improving quality of life. Constant innovation is vital in the quest to find newer, cleaner and cheaper sources of energy for sustainable development. Venkat highlights some innovations that help facilitate this quest for and access to "affordable and clean energy."

When It Comes to Saving Energy

Your Kinetic Energy to Electricity while working out - a la the Free Electric bike of Manoj Bargava but on a schievable scale: Instead of having the treadmill connected to a power source, a device to power it up like you would an electric bike to move the belt which in turn has your kinetic energy producing electricity will be a boon. Your workout could power-up batteries. In gyms and in homes if such a gadget is introduced then it's a win-win. Gyms will generate power instead of consuming it. 

Use Graphite in High Voltage Application as the Resistance Is Least

Use of graphite with solar cells to store the energy, probably more energy will be collected and stored.

 

Piezo Electricity for Street Lighting

Sound energy can be used to power up the street lights. In a major stage events where a lot of sound systems are been used, in the main road during the high traffic times as the energy been generated and been used within the place by charging the capacitors or some medium, the distribution loss are minimized.. So the distribution losses can be avoided. This can be done by using Piezo Electric devices.

Solar Panel Orientation 

 We have street lights powered by solar panel above the light, if we can place that panel, below the light; I feel there will be more energy but more research is needed to assess feasibility, because it is visible light that charges photovoltaic cells. So during the night as well they can be charged, though it is based on intensity mainly efficiency of such setup needs to be checked. Another way to improve productivity of solar panels is to use the wiper motors to change the orientations based on the sun's movement in sky, but mobile panels will more costly and you need to factor in replacement costs for wear and tear.

Drone-Based Energy

Self-powered drone, Flights with graphite-based solar panel body. As wind energy and solar energy are best at the higher altitude if they can be harvested from drones or even with passenger flights a lot of power can be generated, with so many flights flying across the world a small experiment on flights can prove to be useful.

River Horizontal Turbines

Sloping Architecture: harness energy of flowing water by constructing horizontal turbines across the river where it slopes. These horizontal turbines can use tangential forces and generate clean energy.

Guest Contributor Bio

Venkatesh R. is a Science and Social issues blogger with 10+ years of experience in the IT industry. Venkat is on a mission to create a better world for children. Venkat has won the "Beyond the Armchair" challenge conducted by the Red Elephant Foundation (REF), has contributed a number of articles in Voices of Youth, and has shared a number of ideas in climatecolab.org innovation labs, UNHSCR, GPY2015 and Openideo forums for the past 6 years. His writings and ideas can be accessed at: http://vramanusocialthoughts.blogspot.com/ (Social Issues); https://fissionminded.blogspot.com/ (His writings to bring a change in society through art as a medium); Science Blogs: http://randomthoughtsofvramanu.blogspot.com/  https://vramanu.blogspot.com/

Other Guest Posts by Venkatesh on the Sunshine Millennium Blog

https://sunshine-millennium.blogspot.com/2019/03/guest-post-2-save-water.html 

https://sunshine-millennium.blogspot.com/2019/03/guest-post-human-security.html

Guest Post: A Gender Equal Utopia - Wakanda Rulez!

Guest Post by Kirthi Jayakumar

Editor's Note: As the 63rd session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (#CSW63), the UN’s largest gathering on gender equality (#SDG5),takes place at UNHQ, New York, from 11 – 22 March 2019, Kirthi writes about how the Gender Equal utopia of Wakanda immortalized in Black Panther is an ideal that needs to be worked towards as a truly gender equal world can make life better for all. 

*

 

Watching Black Panther twice made me see something in Wakanda that we are missing out in the world around us, that we can certainly strive to create. No, I don’t mean vibranium. And no, I don’t mean the Dora Milaje (although I wish…). What I do mean I mean, is the status of women. 

Think about it: in Wakanda, gender equality is a fact that breathes and lives among the community. In Wakanda, women are badass and are not restrained from attaining their full potential. In Wakanda, women are respected. But most importantly, in Wakanda, women are not burdened with having to be culture signifiers. And yet, their cultural diversity is respected, engaged with and revered. 

In sharp contrast, many communities in the real world, continue to essentialize culture,[1] and focus on ways to keep culture a homogenous standard against which they hold their women accountable. In doing so, there has been a poor focus on the subordination of women and its social, economic and political connotations – coupled with the construction of culture within the confines of power-relations at all levels – local, national, regional and global.[2] Studies have shown that the cultural practices that are upheld, highlighted and celebrated across many of the world’s communities in countries that were once colonies, are largely those that were selected, promoted as generally applicable and privileged, by the colonial powers themselves. Consequently, a lot of the male leaderships in traditional spaces have tended to derive their authority and legitimacy from colonial power.[3] As a result, formalized legislative and policy frameworks tend towards cultural interpretations, and state institutions continue to define culture – subtly or otherwise.[4]

That women’s bodies are the primary vehicles of reproduction has been a basis for the confinement of their roles to being reproducers, or those that are tasked with reproducing the community. That women’s bodies are also primary vehicles to signify and embody culture has been a basis for the imposition of the task of reproducing the dominant culture of their communities, on women.[5] With the rigid gender roles, then, there come rigid structures, patriarchal norms and policing systems that police a woman’s body, identity, choices and movement. The norms that are assigned through unequal gender roles continue to manifest are cyclically perpetuated. As a consequence of being considered the “privileged signifiers” of cultural factors that differentiate communities,[6] women are forced to conform with the status quo. This conformity is equated with the larger goal of preservation of culture – and any attempt to challenge an existing norm is seen as a betrayal of culture – and the sanctions are painful. Women are likely to be bound by tradition when it comes to marriage, child birth and seeking employment, even if they may have access to education, and healthcare. Furthermore, some cultural and traditional practices that granted women rights – such as matrilineal ancestral descent, right to property and right to land – may be discarded, or weakened with the progressive weakening of personal agency.[7]

This form of structural violence leads to women facing a range of discriminatory treatment and violence. Everything from social restrictions and stigma, to honour-based crimes and other forms of violence and discrimination, keep the cycle of violence against women alive. In some instances, the imposition of the status of cultural signifiers takes precedence even over the rigid sex-specific role of reproduction. For instance, in India, a recent policy framework exempted cosmetic products used as cultural signifiers of Hinduism from tax, but levied a heavy tax on menstrual products.

In sharp contrast, Wakanda is very different. Representing culture is not a gender role – and there are no gender roles, either. Everyone is free to live and work to their full potential. For instance, Nakia rejected taking the herb and becoming the Black Panther only because she didn’t have an army and the herb was a good incentive to win the Jabari tribe over, not because it was meant only for men. Nakia also gets to travel the world and work without having to be a cultural signifier. Shuri was a woman in STEM, working to build and improve technology like a pro – she was not kept out of science like women in our world are. Okoye is a General, and the Dora Milaje are the forefront in Wakanda’s military space – not kept out of the army because it’s a traditionally male job. After Zuri is killed, a woman takes over position – not that his job is confined only to men. 

The key lesson to take home from Wakanda is that when culture and tradition bind certain aspects of women’s social lives, women may remain bound by these norms for long after other aspects of their socio-economic and political lives may have changed.

We see it in the world around us. And we need to change it. 

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[1] Farida Shaheed, “Citizenship and the Nuanced Belonging of Women”, in Scratching the Surface: Democracy, Traditions, Gender, Jennifer Bennett, ed. (Lahore, Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2007).

[2] A/HRC/4/34, para. 20

[3] Charu Gupta, Sexuality, Obscenity, Community: Women, Muslims, and the Hindu Public in Colonial India (Delhi, Permanent Black, 2001).

[4] Charu Gupta, Sexuality, Obscenity, Community: Women, Muslims, and the Hindu Public in Colonial India (Delhi, Permanent Black, 2001).

[5] Nira Yuval-Davis, “The Bearers of the Collective: Women and Religious Legislation in Israel”, Feminist Review, vol. 4 (1980), pp. 15-27.

[6] Deniz Kandiyoti, “Identity and its Discontents: Women and the Nation”, Millennium — Journal of International Studies, vol. 20, No. 3 (March 1991), pp. 429-443.

[7] Uma Narayan, “Essence of Culture and a Sense of History: A Feminist Critique of Cultural Essentialism”, Hypatia, vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring 1998)

Contributor Bio

Kirthi Jayakumar (Founder/Chief Executive Officer of The Red Elephant Foundation) is from Chennai, India. She is the recipient of the US Presidential Services Medal (2012) for her services as a volunteer to Delta Women NGO, from President Barack Obama. She is the two-time recipient of the UN Online Volunteer of the Year Award (2012, 2013). Her work has been published in The Guardian and the TIME Magazine. She was recognized by EuropeAid on the "200 Women in the World of Development Wall of Fame in 2016." She received the Digital Women Award for Social Impact in 2017, from SheThePeople, Person of the Year Award, 2017 (Brew Magazine) and the Yuva Samman in 2018 (MOP Vaishnav College).