News………………….
IndianWildlifeClub.com has teamed up with Macrographics Pvt.Ltd to bring out some beautiful calendars for year 2006. Right now we are taking bulk orders for corporates and those interested can contactsusan_sharma@hotmail.com
for further details. We are soon uploading the proposed designs onwildscapes.net
. One of our regular columnists and a painter,Ragoo Rao
, has contributed his paintings for use in the calendars.
A new feature on our website is “Film Corner” wherein we publish screening schedules of nature/environment films in any part of India . The Vatavaran festival which has just concluded will be traveling to 15 other locations and do not
miss the well researched documentaries that are on show! I will also request members to send us schedules of screenings in your part of the country so that we can publish it in our Events section.
Development projects in the country are being sanctioned and implemented at lightning speed with the result that the thinking public of the country are taken by surprise and dismay. The river embanking scheme in Bihar which has rendered
16% land in that state waterlogged, is still to receive the attention of developers. The facts of the degrading riverine ecology of Arunachal Pradesh due to diversion of waters from the Ranganadi, is still to be made public. It is no wonder that ouronline
chat on 18 November which was meant to sensitize members about the marine ecosystem turned out to be a loud thinking exercise on Sethu Samudram Project. Let me also remind everyone once again that we have provided an ongoing forum for members to air their
views and opinions freely at ourblog.
And Views………………………
“Some estimates indicate that the 2004 Athens Olympic Games generated half a million tonnes of greenhouse gases on top of what would normally have been generated.
This is 25 per cent more than a city the size of Munich would generate in a two week period.
The emissions estimate for 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany is 250,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases from within Germany . This includes international flights, and also factors in energy efficiency and carbon offset schemes that are being
put in place.
That's half of the Athens total, but still a significant addition to the environmental bill.
Let me give you another World Cup example: each event at a Bundesliga stadium will use approximately 10,000 to 20,000 cubic metres of water. That's as much as eight Olympic size swimming pools.
Each game will also use between 2 and 3 million kilowatt hours of energy. That's the annual consumption of between 500 and 700 households in Europe .
It is also estimated that each match will generate 5 to 10 tonnes of waste, as much as would be thrown away in one day by between 350 and 650 households.
The bottom-line is that sport has an ecological footprint that requires all stakeholders to think about ways of reducing the impacts. “
-Theodore Oben