The curious case of food safety and factory farming.

The cola side of life

Click on the image to enlarge and read

Our memories are so short. Recently a panel has asked Coke to pay 216 crores in damages to the environment. And people say Coke is being made a scapegoat.
Really?
Did you forget 2003 and 2006 reports of CSE? Have a look at this poster to read what happened in short.
And click here to read what happened then in words of Sunita Narain.
You will also find the detailed report of CSE's findings on their site. Have a look and open an ice cold can of worms. They are delicious.

Anyone for a revolution?

Some images from our second entry to the EJC competition. Please read the entry here, and leave a comment, start a debate. We should discuss the ordinary Indian citizen's point of view at this international forum.

Hello, tiger conservationists

The death of the tiger points to a bigger, more sinister problem. The problem of people’s rights caused by our greed for land, and hunger for money. And the ease by which the creators of this problem divert our attention.

In the name of development we are violating human rights with an abandon only seen in savages of past. While poor people are being driven away from their lands, all sorts of justifications are available.

If Vedanta wants a tribal hill, it is necessary in the name of development to drive tribals out of there.

If Tata wants a factory land, they are given fertile land and farmers driven away from it.

The tiger is on the verge of extinction. And who do we blame? Tribals.

While the tribals right to forest bill has been passed (and diluted), the dissent in tiger conservationists voices is apparent. They have been crying hoarse that the tribals should be driven out of these forests.

And most of us believe and buy that argument.

It’s too easy to believe. Tribals crowd the forests, hence tiger dies. Foolproof.

Or, is it?

Here is an amazing story of how tribals and animals co-exist. And why we must go back to their culture if we want to preserve our country.

http://infochangeindia.org/Environment/The-paradox-of-environmentalism/The-tribal’s-right.html

The tribals aren’t stupid people. Their knowledge and ways of co-existence with the environment is what we need.

People’s rights to their land and environment are not conflicting issues. The conflict is brought about by corporate greed. And the blame falls on indigenous people.

In this confusion caused by short term solutions, we will not only lose the tiger, we will lose our country and all that it ever stood for. To the lowest bidders. The Great Indian Sale is on.

Don’t let them tell you that tribals are the sole reason for tigers going extinct.

http://infochangeindia.org/Agenda/Reporting-conflict/Is-it-really-tiger-vs-tribal.html

The Down to Earth story about tigers:

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/40407

And some more news on the Forest Rights Act:

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20080131&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=1#

And here's how they kill animals for fur in China. If you read the Time magazine story here, you can well imagine this is what the poachers do to the tigers in our own backyards.

A little idea to help bring electricity to villages.

Click on the image to read the idea in nice big font and see the images.

India is making all kinds of noises about climate negotiations. No, we won’t do it. The west will have to pay. Alright. The west should pay. Agreed. And what are we going to do with the money? Invest in alternate energy, clean energy. Yeah right. And how are we going to do that?

Let’s take wind energy for instance. For years now it has been sucked dry due to corruption. And the government can’t do better than to make committees which investigate how the wind turbines blow away the monsoon clouds. Did they employ kindergarten students in that committee? And what was the result? How dare politicians make such comments in the first place? We should have an immediate IQ assessment test of our leaders.

It’s been said here, and we will say it again. We need to cap corruption to stop climate chaos. Carbon’s got nothing to do with it.

Here’s the full story on wind energy. Do yourself a favour. Read it and start asking questions.

And while our rich look at wind energy as an ‘alternative’ way to save taxes, the poor of the world by their ingenuity are building wind turbines and generating their own electricity. See the amazing video below. If the poor of India were to do that, guess what would happen to them? They would be bollocked into jails and branded as anti-social elements.

Worried about power cuts? They will soon be solved.

The Great Indian Clearance Sale is on and the only thing in short supply is common sense.

We are getting away with this delicious sale because no one in our country listens to sense. Here are two people who can lead us into the future with our heads held high, but then, we love hanging our heads in shame don’t we?


First up, here is Sunita Narain:
Another big-ticket concern is dryland and rainfed agriculture. Most of India today, after years of public investment in surface irrigation structures, remains dependent on increasingly variable rain. The monsoon is the true finance minister for most poor Indians. We must recognize multipurpose agriculture as practised in dryland areas—combining coarse cereals with animal care and its products all mixed with off-farm products like artisanal craft—is one way to build affordable and resilient economies. Today our policies discount and destroy these local economies. Tomorrow, our strategies must build on their strengths. For instance, fiscal policies must recognize crops that minimize the use of water—more crops per drop —and include ‘coarse’ cereals in the public distribution system. Simultaneously, we must build local water security, to enhance productivity. We must do this not by increasing costs of cultivation but reducing costs and investing in resilience.

Here is the powerful editorial:

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/editor.asp?foldername=20090615&filename=Editor&sec_id=2&sid=1


The dispossessed in India have nowhere to go to. Vandana Shiva

If you have THREE minutes of your precious time, here is another amazing lady, Vandana Shiva. You will see how the west will sell us clean coal and other such, and we will lap it up, and we will get sold:



Oh and while you are on the internet, why don’t you check out some other videos of Vandana Shiva, and read what Ms. Narain says.

Good luck, if you don’t.

Selling now: Forests

Click on the image to enlarge.

Here are the facts:

No such thing as a degraded forest exists. Even in the terminology of the Forest Survey of India. But of course, if we 'degrade' the forests, it's easy to exploit them.
So lo and behold, we have 'degraded forests'.
Common sense tells us that we need forests. So what does it take to 'upgrade' forests? Do we have so much green cover that we can do away with 55% of our forests that our environment minister says are degraded?

Here are a few links:

http://bit.ly/xF6fh

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090620/nation.htm#7

and

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090619/main5.htm

An excerpt:

Sunita Narian-led Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and the National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (NFFPFW) say the expression ‘degraded forests’ was unclear and ambiguous, thereby making the decision controversial.

NFFPFW forest rights activist Souparna Lahiri termed it the move as a “preemptive kind of comment”. “The minister said around 55 to 60 pc of the forestland is degraded. I don’t know whether the data he is quoting is correct.”
As per Forest Survey of India classification, said Lahiri, no terminology as ‘degraded forest’ existed. “Forests have been classified as open forest, dense forest and very dense forest.