A CALL FOR A CHANGE

Save choking Mother Earth, urge Greens

HYDERABAD: Vamsee J, 26, has just finished reading a couple of books on Hyderabad by the renowned Narendra Luther and even loved the way William Darlymple described its scenic beauty.

Keeping in mind, William Darlymple’s description of the view of Golconda Fort from Banjara Hills, he headed to the spot only to find mushrooming multi-storey buildings and disappearance of greenery. This in a nutshell explains the slow but steady deterioration of the environment in the city.

The world celebrated its first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 to mark a modern environmental movement. Thirty nine years on, global warming is not just an essay topic, it is changing our environment even as we blink.

According to a report titled Right to Survive, by Oxfam released on Tuesday, around 25.2 crore people are affected by “natural disasters” - not including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other emergencies unrelated to the weather at the moment.

“Global warming disasters will affect 37.5 crore people every year by 2015, while natural disasters caused by climate change will affect up to 40 crore people within six years,” Oxfam has warned, in the report. The report is based on a study examining more than 6,000 climate-related disasters in the last 20 years in order to calculate how many people on average suffer as a result of floods, droughts and other catastrophes.

“To measure the range of pollution in different parts of the city, we used to consider samples from Gachibowli and other outskirts areas in the city as pollution-free ones. With the ever-increasing construction activity and other developments, we are planning to shift our base from this year,” an AP Pollution Control Board official said, giving a qualitative picture of the situation. He, however, said that precise situation in a quantitative manner would take some more time.

Even as the latest reports on environment present a grim picture, some colleges, corporates and schools are planning steps to spread the awareness around eco-conservation.

“We are at a stage where ecological crisis has reached its peak and if nothing is done at this stage, healthy and sustainable environment would become a far-fetched dream,” said Suman Reddy of Pegasystems India and added that the dress code for all the associates in the office would be green on April 22.

While many educational institutions are conducting road shows, demonstrations and competitions to spread awareness, some of the hoteliers informed that they would be giving complimentary green drinks to their guests.

Conveying her feelings about Earth Day, a second-year PG student Arthi Kannan said, “People say that this is yet another day created by the US. But given the gloomy ecological situation, this proves to be a good reminder about our global responsibility to planet earth.” Again, there are some people who suggest that every day should be celebrated as Earth Day. “Our mission is to overcome a degraded environment in the dry tropics through better agriculture. So for us every day is Earth Day,” Icrisat Director General William Dar said.

Icrisat data over a period of time shows that rise in temperatures will lead to an eight to 30 per cent reduction in grain yields.