India: economy up, but at what cost to the environment?

India’s economy has been steadily growing over the past decade, but at a significant cost to the environment. The population is now exposed to tainted water supplies. Polluted air. Depleting resources and unstable ecosystems. These problems are only exacerbated by a growing gap between the wealthy and poor. So, what exactly does the country plan on doing about it?

According to the World Banks’ most recent report, environmental degradation is costing India approximately $80 billion per year. That’s 5.7% of the country’s total economy! At that rate, how much longer can they continue to grow and remain competitive on a global level?

Not very long, is the answer you’re looking for.

India, a country known for being a cultural melting pot, needs to start swaying its policy makers of the importance of appreciating natural resources.

A recent survey ranked India 126th out of 132 countries in overall environmental quality, and dead last in the air category. The survey concluded that India has the worst air pollution in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, narrowly edging out China, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

A whopping 13 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities can be found in India, where poverty is both a cause and effect of environmental degradation. Under-producing crop yields. Deforestation. Disease and famine. They’re all linked to the Earth. In order to survive, the poor are reduced to mining and pillaging the natural resources available to them, creating a cycle of degradation and destitution.

Since 2000, India's economic growth has reduced unemployment, allowing millions to make better lives for themselves. The country is not expected to veer from its current growth trajectory, meaning environmental sustainability is going to become the next hot button issue.

The report begs an interesting question: "Does growth so essential for development - have to come at the price of worsened air quality and other environmental impacts? Green growth is necessary. With cost of environmental degradation at 5.7% of GDP, environment could become a major constraint in sustaining future economic growth. Further, it may be impossible or prohibitively expensive to clean up later."

Muthukumara Mani, a senior economist at the World Bank, claims that "while the overall policies focus should be on meeting basic needs and expanding opportunities for growth, they should not be at the expense of unsustainable environmental degradation.”

There has to be a better way.

That’s why NRGLab has invested years and millions of dollars into developing highly-efficiently, environmentally-conscious methods of converting agricultural waste, natural gas, and even recycled crude oil into useable fuel. For more information, visit nrglab.asia. Learn what you can do to prepare for the future of energy independence.

Environmental group files lawsuit: fights coal

Yesterday, the Sierra Club, which champions clean air and water practices throughout the United States, filed a lawsuit against DTE Energy, one of Detroit's largest energy providers. The lawsuit claimed violations at four of DTE's coal-burning facilities. The other three remain shrouded in smog and mystery.

The Sierra Club made it's intentions clear way back in November at a press conference along the River Rouge, where one could see the thick columns of smoke being pumped into the atmosphere. Sierra's ultimate goal is to get DTE to switch from coal to a cleaner source of energy. Yet, as even simplest of TV political drama viewers can tell you, policy often gets lost in the entanglements of big business. Are we really expecting people with millions invested in coal mines, refineries, and drilling operations to willing relinquish the choke hold they have on our energy infrastructure?

You would like to think that the innate good in people will ultimately the better of them -- but when millions of dollars are at stake, 'good' goes out the window, and people become unpredictable.

The lawsuit filed against DTE calls for them to make radical changes in order to meet the standards set by the Clean Air Act of 1963. The Sierra Group found over 1,400 violations at four of DTE's coal-burning power plants: River Rouge, St. Clair, Belle River, and Trenton Channel.

According to Patrick Geans, a representative for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, the lawsuit “calls on DTE to live up to its often stated claim of being a good neighbor."

Not so fast, says DTE.

“The Sierra Club's announcement is clearly a ploy to grab some headlines and part of their crusade to end the use of coal," wrote DTE spokesperson Len Singer in an email last fall. "All of our plants, including those cited in the news release, operate in compliance with state and federal emissions regulations, which are designed to protect the environment and public health.

Although DTE has spent billions over the past decade taking measures to curb carbon emissions, COAL IS STILL A CARBON EMITTING ENERGY SOURCE. It's dirty by nature. Unclean, and out-dated. No matter if you slap the word 'clean' in front of 'coal', coal is still coal. You know -- the black clumpy stuff Santa Clause brings all the bad children? Ever wonder why he doesn't bring it to the good children? Or better yet, coal's wealthy investors? Because it's dirty!

It's important to ensure that corporations are meeting current environmental standards. But it should be imperative that we work towards a permanent solution to the current energy crisis. No matter what you may think of the available alternatives, no matter how many jobs coal and oil may create, the fact remains -- one day, the wells and mines will run dry. Where will we be then? (Assuming poisonous air and water hasn't wiped us out by then.)

Hopefully, the Sierra Club's lawsuit will send a shock-wave through the energy industry. People are tired of being force-fed the same-old routine and sound bites. They want real answers. Real solutions. Clean-energy.

Carbon out of control

According to a study published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), carbon emissions have increased by nearly three-million ppm (parts per million) since this time last year -- the second largest spike in over fifty years.  'Parts per million' equates to the number of carbon particles relative to oxygen in the atmosphere -- meaning the air we breathe is slowly becoming less breathable.

"So what?" you ask. "It's just air..."

Well, the increase also means "the prospects of keeping climate change below that 1.9-degree goal are fading away," said Pieter Tans, one NOAA's scientists, who operates out of their Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory. Current levels are 41% higher than the pre-industrial period. Since then, the global temperature has risen 0.7 degrees Celsius.

John Reilly, co-director of the Science and Policy of Global Change, estimates that temperatures will rise another 1.3 and 2.3 degrees Celsius between now and 2050. Were will the world be then?

Food production will become unstable because of unpredictable weather patterns. Super-storms will cease to be 'super' -- they'll be the norm. The oceans will rise. More UV rays will pierce the atmosphere, meaning more cases of skin cancer. High insurance rates. Leading to medical reform. And higher taxes.

The effects of global warming stretch far beyond the environment, which should concern people in the first place. But for those out there who have trouble looking twenty-five, fifty years into the future, just ask yourself why your energy bills and taxes have steadily increased during the same period the Earth has gotten warmer.

Everything is connected. This isn't just a philosophical principle: it's an aspect of our everyday lives. We've identified the source of this spike in carbon emissions: fossil fuels. However, as sophisticated countries like Singapore and Germany work towards alternative energy sources, addressing consumption concerns, developing countries, in a struggle to play catch-up with the rest of the world, are burning more oil than ever.

Again (and not to stress the point too far), but the climate crisis we're currently faced with can't be solved by any one nation. It's going to require a collaborative effort -- public, private, and federal partnerships coming together to face the harsh reality of what reckless oil consumption has done to our world.

By introducing the SH-box to market, NRGLab aims to bring global warming to a stand-still. Keeping the increase below 1.9 degrees Celsius will allow the world to focus on solving many of the other fundamental problems facing us today. Like war. Religious intolerance. Educational reform. Global warming is only the beginning.

Drifting winds & the air we breathe

Not convinced that air pollution is a global issue? Did you read our last post about China and think, “That’s another continent far, far away. How could anything they do possible affect me?”

Well, according to a study recently published in the Science Journal, dust particles blown thousands of miles from Asia and Africa have been discovered in California’s water supply. The increase in dust in the atmosphere has been linked to an increase in rain and snowfall in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, as well. The study took place over a two-year period, during which researchers collected samples of the atmosphere over the mountain range. What they found was startling.

“There was this sort of magical switch. The days with dust you see one thing, and the days without dust you see a different thing,” said Kim Prather, an atmospheric chemist who coauthored the study.

So, this has to be proof positive to the nonbelievers out there. Traces of PM2.5 in Beijing will, given enough time, make their way across the globe and into our air and drinking water. This is why the world needs to be watching China’s annual legislative hearing carefully. In fact, every country should be keeping a watchful eye on one another. Perhaps then, through sheer paranoia, the world will be motivated to work towards a united clean up effort.

“The fact that something happening on another continent, in terms of dust generation, could influence precipitation patterns in the U.S — that’s a challenging problem,” said Marty Ralph, the study’s coauthor and a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

How did they know the dust was from China, you ask? Well, all airborne particles carry with them a chemical fingerprint, which allows scientists like Prather and Ralph to track their movement from anywhere, to anywhere, in the world.

Again, this is why they call it ‘global’ warming. The environmental crisis we’re currently facing, which includes issues from gas fracking to carbon emissions, melting ice caps to outdated energy infrastructures, may seem abstract at times, but that’s only because it’s such a wide-spread problem with complex sociopolitical implications. But complexity is no excuse to give up. We must never forget that one person can make a difference. With vision, determination, and informed judgement, we can leave this world a better place than the one we inherited.

Because every person, regardless of race, religion or political affiliation, enjoys breathing.

Will China take the hint? Air pollution reaches dangerous levels

Mere days before China’s government is set to begin their annual legislative hearings, Beijing’s air pollution reaches a dangerous new high. Pollution is expected to be among the main topics to be addressed. Will China take the hint and get aggressive with their energy policy?

Increased air pollution means an increase of PM2.5 particles in the air. Prolonged exposure to these particles resulted in over 8,000 premature deaths in Beijing, Shanghai, Xi-an, and Guangzhou alone last year. According to the World Health Organization, a person should not expose themselves to PM2.5 levels of 25 or higher for more than 24-hours. In Beijing, levels are regularly recorded in the fifty range — nearly DOUBLE the recommended level.

On January 12th of this year, levels of PM2.5 in China rose to a mind-numbing 993. 993! People have been forced to wear masks to simply walk to the grocery store. Remember — the Earth only has one atmosphere. Their air will eventually become your air. That is why the issue of global warming cannot be confronted on a country-by-country basis. I requires inter-governmental cooperation to drastically reduce carbon emissions to ensure our air remains breathable, not just for another century, but for thousands of years to come.

And the problem isn’t just with our air, either. Pollution in the atmosphere makes its way to the ground in the form of rain, which seeps into our streams, and oceans. It pollutes our wells and drinking water. Like the first domino in a long chain of pollution, what we put into the air inevitably makes its way back into our bodies, one way or another.

This week, Chinese Newspapers protested the Environment Ministry’s refusal to make classified pollution information available to the public. The 21st Century Business Herald newspaper drew comparisons to the outbreak of SARS in 2003, which had also been kept secret from the public. It’s time for transparency in government. After all, isn’t government supposed to work FOR the people, not in spite of them? How can the public be expected to make informed decisions if the necessary information is kept from them? Change is never easy — let alone change in blind faith. It’s one thing to have to wear a mask to the grocery store. It’s another not to be allowed to know how many trips will kill you.

The chief pollutant responsible for China’s problem? Coal. Accounting for 19% of the total air pollution, the out-dated energy source continues to pump poison into our atmosphere. How little air has to be left before the world takes a serious look at our energy infrastructure? Sure, it may be China’s problem today. But tomorrow, it’s the USA’s. Next week, Europe’s. Air pollution spreads like cancer. What we need is an emergency procedure to remove the growth before it devours us from the inside, out.

Consider NRGLab’s SH-box the scalpel in this procedure. Without any grid modifications whatsoever, the SH-box is ready to start producing clean, natural energy from crystals. By converting environmental heat into electricity, these Boxes are capable of powering a community or a corporation. Because NRGLab thinks it’s about time we cleaned up our planet. Let’s start with our cities, and move on from there. Hopefully China takes the hint and the lead.