Chowrangi

Machar Colony is one of the neighborhoods of Kemari Town in Karachi. Its total population is estimated to be over 700,000 people, majority of them being children between ages 5–15. This is an important figure, and has to be seen in conjunction with the fact that Machar Colony is also amongst the biggest (maybe the biggest) of Karachi’s over 550 katchi abadis. Machar Colony spans an area of four Sq. km.

Most people in the Colony are employed as shrimp peelers, fishermen, fish cleaners, or laborers in the ship breaking industry. They all belong to lower middle class having insufficient health and education facilities. Many illegal immigrants live here belonging to various ethnic groups. Poor sanitation, unhygienic water supply and absence of natural gas in the area are common problems.

In an increasingly globalised world and economy, regional blocs and alliances have become a useful and influential building block towards the appropriation of homogenized regional concerns to a bigger and more platform. This also helps countries with common concerns address these on a united platform with experts and specialists at hand for guidance and policy development. It is in this spirit that a South Asian specific climate change conference is currently underway in Nepal. The Government of Nepal – together with DFID, ADB, DANIDA, and the World Bank are hosting this and given Nepal’s cordial relations with all its South Asia neigbours and its geographical location, locating the event in Nepal is advantageous. Nepal itself also represents a manifest illustration of climate vulnerability with threats posed by the melting glaciers of the Himalayas whose impact transcends political boundaries into regional environmental concerns for all its neighbours. Indeed Nepal is endowed with hydrological resources that could well prove strategic and significant in addressing clean energy needs in the region should regional cooperation and a united vision be secured.

After E mail and E commerce the next big E thing is probably the E cigarette. An electronic cigarette or “e-cigarette” is an alternative to smoked tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. It is a battery-powered device that provides inhaled doses of nicotine by delivering a vaporized propylene glycol/nicotine solution. In addition to nicotine delivery, this vapor also provides a flavor and physical sensation similar to that of inhaled tobacco smoke, while no tobacco, smoke, or combustion is actually involved in its operation.

Some people say that the gap between the world’s rich and poor is growing as fast as its population. They converse consumption crisis and unequal distribution of the world’s finite resources and a growing threat to the well being of much of the planet’s population.

The environmentalists have been warning about a threat of population growth for decades but whether or not you are experiencing the consequences depends largely on where you live. According to UN when a child is born, he/she has a 3 & 10 chance of being born into abject poverty and 4 & 10 chance of being only marginally better of. That body enters the world where the wealthiest countries are using far more than an equal share of resources.

“KESC bekaar hogayee hai. Aao in kee gaarian jala dey tay hain.”

We usually do hear something like this when there are power outages in Karachi and other parts of the country. Angry businessmen and their employees lose out on a lot of business due to power outages and indeed, they are not at fault.

But is burning down the vehicles we essentially pay for with our utility bills and taxes really bring any benefits? Also, if we burn the KESC vehicles down, rendering them useless will delay the process of bringing power back on even more.

Earth has gone through cataclysms before. Almost everyone who knows a bit of science has heard about the extinction of the dinosaurs (these were animals which our mullahs have never heard about). This event took place sixty five million years ago, when a comet crashed into the surface of the earth. The impact raised a huge cloud of dust, blocking all sunshine, and causing most living things to die. It took a long time for the earth to return to normal. But before this mass extinction ago, the earth had gone through another battering. This happened about two hundred and fifty six million years ago (the earth has been in existence for over four billion years, although your religious scholars on TV don’t know it). Thousands of volcanic eruptions spewed sulfhur and methane into the atmosphere, with the result that ninety percent of all living things died a sudden death. For ten million years, it was almost a dead planet. But then, since humans were not there to do any damage, it started to recover. Now, since global warming is proceeding so rapidly, the danger is that the damage will be irreversible. And it is doubtful if humans will survive the approaching catastrophe. Which may be just as well, considering that it is humans (people like Bush) who are responsible for the vast damage to the planet.

In the last 30 years, a large number of companies have appeared in the world of market. Concentration of entrepreneurs in the new dimensions is the basic factor of success. As compared to the previous years, entrepreneurs have acquired more awareness regarding their social responsibilities. Now companies not only focus on the needs of their customers but also the needs of society and environment.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), popularity is growing day by day, as more and more companies around the globe are turning their focus towards the sustainability of environment and resources at large. Companies now have come to realize that their future as successful, large companies is dependent upon the future of environment and society to which they belong and in which they exist.

Let’s add some of our knowledge. Have you ever thought that why sea is salty? And since it is so salty, how much salt it contains??

Well the answer is; if all the salt in the sea were spread equally over the land, it would form a layer more than 500 feet [150 m] thick for about 45 stories high! Where does all that salt come from??

Scientists have discovered a number of sources.

One source is the ground beneath our feet. As rainwater soaks through soil and rocks, it dissolves tiny amounts of minerals, including salts and their chemical elements, and carries them out to sea by means of streams and rivers. This process is called weathering.

Gorillas and underwater weeds are vanishing speedily. The world conservation union has issued a list of all such endangered species due to environmental changes. They have pointed out that they will vanish out in the very near future. Though several Governments have promised to take steps to stop all this till 2010 but they are doing nothing significant for it. The world conservation union’s director Julia Martin has also reported the same.

The American environmental specialists have stated that this is all because of the rising temperature of the environment causing the ice glaciers in the south to melt quickly. This will cause the species of bear in that region to reduce to one third.

Contribute something important to the nation’s well-being.

Almost everyone loves trees, but did you know that trees can help people heal faster? It’s true. According to the International Society of Arboriculture, hospital patients have been shown to recover faster when offered a view with trees. And while trees certainly benefit any landscape i.e. whether lining residential streets, dotting urban areas, or in full resplendence in the forest, they are actually important to our daily well-being.