ecology@work

 In this Issue COP 27 Reflections कडुनिंब Man-animal India River Week - Nov 21st - 27th 2022

 The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt from 7th-20th November 2022. COP, which stands for Conference of the Parties, is one of the largest annual international summits in the world to tackle the threat of climate change. As a PhD researcher in bioenergy & circular economy at University College Cork, Ireland, I was selected by UCC to be a part of the 10-member delegation for COP27.  Why is a global conference on climate change needed? Our planet is warming due to the increased emissions resulting from human activities over the last 200 years. Increasing concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), etc. trap heat and increase the temperature of the planet; much like how heat is trapped inside a car with closed windows standing in the sun. This phenomenon, called global warming, and the associated climate change has numerous detrimental effects on our environment. Some of which

 “अगं गीता, लिंबाच्या चार कोवळ्या डहाळ्या काढ. उद्या गुढीपाडवा आहे,गुढीला लावायला आणि निंबाच्या चटणीला लागतील ना.” अशी वाक्यं आपण आपल्या लहानपणापासून नेहमीच ऐकली आहेत आणि कडुनिंबाची कोवळी पाने-फुले, ओवा, हिंग, मिरी, मीठ, गूळ घालून केलेली स्वादिष्ट रोगनाशक चटणी खाऊन मराठी नववर्षाची सुरूवातही केली आहे. ‘चांदोबा चांदोबा भागलास का? निंबोणीच्या झाडामागे लपलास का?’ हे गाणं अगणित वेळा ऐकत - म्हणत आपलं बालपण गेलं आहे. हे लिंब किंवा निंबोणीचं झाड म्हणजेच कडुनिंब. ३० ते ६० फूट उंचीचं हे छायादार, शीतल विषुववृत्तीय झाड. मूळचं भारतीय उपखंडातलं म्हणजे भारत, पाकिस्तान, बांगलादेश, नेपाळ इथं सर्वत्र आढळतं. तिथूनच ते ऑस्ट्रेलिया, आफ्रिका, अमेरिका इथं गेलं.        आंध्रप्रदेशाचा तर हा राज्यवृक्ष आहे. आंध्रप्रदेश, कर्नाटक, महाराष्ट्रात याची खूप झाडं जागोजागी दिसतात.अनेक भाषांमध्ये याची अनेक नावं आहेत, जसं की इंग्रजीत Indian Lilak, Neem, Margosa,मराठीत कडुनिंब, संस्कृतमध्ये निंब, तिक्तक, अरिष्ट, पारिभद्र, हिंदीमध्ये नीम, कन्नडमध्ये बेवु, गुजरातीत लींबडो, तामिळमध्ये कड्डपगै, तेलगुत निम्बमु, बंगालीत नीमगाछ,

 We moved from Delhi to Mumbai in 1987, due to a Government job transfer of my father.  The huge official quarter, allotted to him, also included some Government type furniture along with it. The old wooden Sofa set with a cotton cover. It was very eco-friendly to say the least.  Little did we know, the extent of how it eco-friendly it was. Within the comfi sofa, came along a more comfortably tucked in female rat. She had her empire going on well before and before we realised, we had an army of rats living with us.  As the family of rats began to grown in our living room, I realised, the little Indian field mouse (M. Boduga) bears 1 to 13 pups per litter and breeds throughout the year. And slowly but surely the empire in our house grew upto 50 in number.  When we had guests visiting the house, we all went into a phase of duality, wherein we were expecting some sudden mishaps from the rat infested sofa, now seated by our guests; and none occurred! However we couldn’t keep this duality o

Fast urbanization has been a major cause for degradation of rivers all across cities including Pune. Excessive chemical pollution, insufficient sewage treatment plants, encroachment and limited water in rivers due to dam are now common woes in all urban cities. The continued effect of all these, leading to climate change has already reached our homes.  Understanding the severity of the issue, a lot of organizations have been working around these issues for past several years. India river week has been successfully celebrated by Jeevitnadi since 2015, under the banner of ‘Muthai festival’. This year however, a lot of other organizations joined hands, along with the support of PMC too and we worked around the prime focus of creating awareness among children.  The theme was ‘Pune River Revival’, and on flowing on these lines, the chief guest for the culminating programme was also the ‘river’.  To achieve this objective various activities are planned from 22nd of November to 27th of Novemb