Yep! Right! Agreed!
Inescapable & logical conclusion. Need to do our bit & also depend on divine providence!!! For the sake of our progeny! Have a good day! Annette From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [SALIGAONET] The monsoon that nearly wasn't. Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:21:38 +0400 The Himalayas play a vital role in our rainfall. Those warm, moisture-laden monsoonal winds crossing the Indian Ocean strike the Himalayas, rise, cool and precipitate rainfall. And with such magnificence! The lush rainforest and mangroves of yesteryear would have been drenched, whilst tigers, gharials and other exotic sub-continental species took respite from the unbearable heat of May and early June. But wait: "There were 500,000 square kilometers of glacial cover in the Himalayas in 1995. At the present rate of shrinking, there will be 100,000 by 2030". The words of that great contemporary Indian scientist, Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC. http://climatechange.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/01/18/the-melting-himalayas/ Yes, two things happened this year. Two very, very worrying things. Firstly, the ice caps continued to retreat under the relentless pollution caused by the uncontrolled industrialisation of India and China. (The amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere on both sides of the peaks is truly remarkable. The ice caps don't stand a chance). In fact the amount of ice might have reached critical mass. And, secondly, the monsoon almost failed. It failed just enough to warn us all.... enough to permit a taste of the unimaginable. For, can one really imagine the size of the catastrophe that a consecutive couple of poor monsoons would unleash? The plains of the indian subcontinent, home to almost 1.8 billion people, parched and dry. Famine, malnutrition, war, disease ... 'hell' on a gigantic scale. A truly cataclysmic disaster. The recent Ethiopian/ Somalian droughts would be a walk in the park. If one thinks the process through, the doomsday conclusion I arrive at seems inescapable. There can be no monsoon without the magnificence of the Himalayan ice caps. No water flow in the great northern rivers when the glaciers have dwindled. And the proof they are melting is there for all to see. We are already a very environmentally-aware group and I'm sure many of us have heard this viewpoint before. But let us continue to push the 'green' agenda with renewed vigour after the monsoonal near-miss this year. The marvelous ecology of the subcontinent which supports so much of this planet's life is actually a very fragile system. We need to protect it and use whatever means we can to do so. This missive is my tiny contribution. I will circulate it as far and wide as I can. Some will take heed, others will not. Many will put their fate in divine providence. But at least a few more people will have heard the argument and the inescapable conclusion. Dilip With Windows Live, you can organize, edit, and share your photos. _________________________________________________________________ Share your memories online with anyone you want. http://www.microsoft.com/middleeast/windows/windowslive/products/photos-share.aspx?tab=1 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en Please post regularly to keep the e-village active! -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
