This begins a series of discussions on Environmental hazards. This is a very important area. In fact a large number of questions were asked in the Prelims of 2011. Please go through what I have written, what others have blogged and add your comments. Remember that spending an hour a day on the blogs, each one of hem and going through all blogs is a very useful way to prepare for the exams.
Only students of our Institute can participate in this activity. Those who wish to participate must first enrol themselves as students,
Karachi was flooded in 2007 resulting in thousands of deaths. There was the inundation of numerous salt mines in India in 1998. Why did these occur? Should they be dismissed as natural disasters? Recent scientific studies show that it was man’s unbridled tampering with nature that caused the havoc. According to scientists, a thickening layer of pollution over the Indian Ocean is creating atmospheric conditions that promote fierce cyclones. As a result, powerful tropical cyclones that cause large numbers of deaths and massive property damage around the Arabian Sea are becoming increasingly common.
There has been a six-fold increase in fine aerosol emissions locally since the 1930s from forest fires, domestic heating and diesel use, creating a layer of pollution 3 km thick over the Indian Ocean. This layer of haze is creating conditions that intensify cyclones and increase the chances they will reach land. The haze, known as the Asian Brown Cloud, comprises soot and sulphates spewed by factories, diesel exhaust and poorly-burnt biomass. Previous research has implicated it in disrupting monsoon patterns and in glacier loss in the Himalayas.
A research paper published in Nature by a team of scientists led by Amato Evan of the University of Virginia holds this haze, which hangs over parts of the Northern Indian Ocean, India and Pakistan, responsible for the increasing devastation in the region. “We have found a clear connection between human activity and changes in atmospheric conditions that create favourable conditions for the formation of large tropical cyclones,” said Evan. We are responsible for this and must do something to rectify the situation, instead of blaming the gods.