FELLING AT ANNA UNIVERSITY

This was taken near the medical centre at CEG.

Once College Of Engineering was known for its garden and crops cultivated here were used to feed its students studying here.But this is the condition of our college now where trees are cut down for construction of hostels, etc. I think if this continues, our college will become deserted and loose our natural habitat for various animals living here.

PROJECT

Saving the environment through printers!

 

           There are so many people that i know who always want to print everything they see. They want to print out articles they write, text books from the net. They are so crazy about printing. It is of course fine to print everything but you do not print out of thin air! Paper and ink are used and the more you print the more you are indirectly destroying the environment. Another important thing to be considered is what will you be doing with the print out once you have printed it? Say, a train ticket. You will use it once and then just throw it away. If you are the sort of person who recycles the paper, we salute you but still it is a waste of paper.

        Fact is about 59% of the paper used for such purposes goes and ends up in landfills. Pathetic isn't it?!

      So we thought of a way to reduce on the number of pages used for printing. So, out project is an idea to reduce the font size and the print options to save paper and well, ink too!

       In this project, you will explore ways to print out the same document using less paper. You’ll change the font size in a document and see how it changes the amount of paper required for printing. You will also change the print options in your word processing software and see how that changes the amount of paper required for printing. Maybe what you learn can help you avoid "wasting" paper!

      This idea was already proposed and we thought it would be a simple and great idea to implement this because the field of software is where a lot of paper and printers are being used and hence our responsibility to pay back to what we take.

References:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/CompSci_p041.shtml

A VISIT TO PALLIKARANAI MARSH LANDS

                                Pallikaranai once used to be a small bird sanctuary like Vedanthangal in Tamil Nadu. But now the condition of this marsh land is pathetic due to human occupancy. It was first thrilled to visit a marsh land, but when i saw the actual place i was terrified. One side of it was totally dumped with wastes and the other side was in the verge of depletion. This condition is obviously due to urbanization, in which a large pool of people come to chennai.

                                 It is in our hands to save the remaining of the marsh land. It can be done with the help of governmental and non-governmental agencies. We can do our part by separating degradable and non-degradable wastes and dumping them. 

DISASTER MITIGATION-EARTHQUAKES

EARTHQUAKE:

We all know what earthquakes are, how they affect the life on Earth and we all have also seen many live incidents happening everyday across the world. This makes Earthquakes one of the deadliest disasters of all times. How can we prevent ourselves from damage when an earthquake occurs? Or can we really prevent ourselves from damage when an earthquake occurs? Read On.

Formalities first, what exactly as in scientifically is an earthquake?

The Earth has plates in its magma called tectonic plates that are floating. Earthquakes are caused when tension is released from the rocks in the Earth's crust and upper mantle. Now, this tension is due to the friction between the tectonic plates. Another reason for the earthquakes is when the rocks in the Earth's crust bend and break. This causes shock waves to travel onto the Earth's surface and results in widespread destruction.

Earthquakes usually occur in faults, a place where two tectonic plates meet. Earthquakes are mostly generated deep within the earth's crust, when the pressure between two plates is too great for them to be held in place. The rocks under the earth collapse,which sends shock waves in all directions. These are called seismic waves. The origin of an earthquake under the earth is called the focus of the earthquake.The point on the surface at which an earthquake originates is called the epicentre.

Too much of technicality right?

Onto some interesting facts about earthquakes,

· One of the  world’s deadliest  earthquake  occurred Central China in 1556. It occurred in  a region where most of its people lived in caves of soft rock. These caves collapsed and killed more than 8,30,000 people.

· The earliest recorded evidence of an earthquake has been traced back to 1831 BC in the Shandong province of China, but there is a fairly complete record starting in 780 BC during the Zhou Dynasty in China.

· When the Chilean earthquake occurred in 1960, seismographs recorded seismic waves that traveled all around the Earth. These seismic waves shook the entire earth for many days! This phenomenon is called the free oscillation of the Earth.

· Most earthquakes occur at depths of less than 80 km (50 miles) from the Earth’s surface.

· Each year the southern California area has about 10,000 earthquakes. Most of them are so small that they are not felt. Only several hundred are greater than magnitude 3.0, and only about 15-20 are greater than magnitude 4.0. If there is a large earthquake, however, the aftershock sequence will produce many more earthquakes of all magnitudes for many months.

The world’s greatest land mountain range is the Himalaya-Karakoram. It countains 96 of the world’s 109 peaks of over 7,317m (24,000 ft). The longest range is the Andes of South America which is 7,564km (4700 mi) in length. Both were created by the movement of tectonic plates. 

This picture the right posture to hide.

Earthquake preparedness : 

• To be prepared for a natural disaster is the most important thing in areas which are prone to them. 

               Here are a few mitigation methods and ways to be prepared in case of an earthquake.

• Community preparedness : Community preparedness is vital for mitigating earthquake impact. The most effective way to save yourself is ‘DROP, COVER and HOLD’. 
• Planning: The Bureau of Indian standards has published building guidelines in areas of high risk. These planning rules are formulated so that the building can withstand the effect of a quake. 
• If you are inside a building during and earthquake then move to corners or side walls. Try taking cover under a desk/table. Move away from window glass or anything that is liable to break and fall( chandeliers, fans, etc. ). 
•  If you are on a vehicle, stop the vehicle and move to open lands. 
• If you are outside then stay away from buildings, walls, power lines and other objects that could fall. Try finding open spaces to stand. 
• After an earthquake, it is advised to stay calm and follow instructions of the rescue team. Try helping the rescue team to find people who are buried or those who need first-aid after you have got yours.

                            There are many possibilities where a person is when earthquake occurs. Some of the possibilities are described below: 

• The person might be inside a building or the person might be standing outside somewhere or the person must be driving or the person might be in a mountainous area or a person might be in beach. 

• A plain area is the best area to be when an earthquake occurs. When the person is inside a building, it is better to hide under a heavy table and hold it. If the building is like a hotel, then it is better to go below the bed and be in foetal position and is better to keep away from windows. It is better to have pillows over the head to prevent head injuries. It is also not advisable to get down in steps because the steps might collapse easily in earthquakes. 

• When the person is outside the building it is better to stay away from large buildings and power lines because they have the possibility of falling down. If the person is inside a car, it is better to stay inside the car itself and avoid travelling on bridges which has a high risk of getting collapsed. But being inside the car also has a great risk since if there are some roads that are above the place where the car is being parked, it might collapse and fall on the car and the car might get crushed. 

• If the person is in some mountainous area, there is high risk since the rocks and trees might fell down at any instant. It’s better to stay away from high trees and rocks. If a person is in some seashore, it is better to move to a high lands since there is possibility of tsunami when an earthquake occurs inside the ocean. 

• After an earthquake has happened, the electric and gas connections must be checked thoroughly. Since, if there are some damages to the gas cylinders there is a risk of explosion of the cylinder which causes heavier destruction. The buildings must be checked for cracks and further damages. If there is huge crack in many parts of the buildings, it is better to get away from the buildings. It is not advisable to go near the seashores since there is risk of tsunami even after a long time after earthquake. 

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH:

                      This is an incredible movie by Al Gore, ex vice president of the USA released in 2006. This movie tells us about the truth about the earths situation, the damage that we humans have caused so far, and the consequences that we probably may face in the near future. The human activities from say from globalization to industrialization everything has contributed to global warming.This movie too revolves around global warming and its consequences. The effects of global warming that is depicted in the movie are the following:

This picture shows captured in 2003 shows a huge crack in the Ward Hunt ice shelf  at its northern calving front.

•  Change of seasons
• Change in ocean currents(ocean currents)
• Coral reef bleaching
• Species extinction
• etc...

                                   The movie also has the biography of Al gore at equal intervals.He has done many research on studying about the climatic change and the environmental crisis.He has even been successful in campaigning about the effects of this bitter truth around the globe. This shows how dedicated and caring he is towards the environment and our future generations.

WHAT TO DO?

                                

                            http://www.climatecrisis.net/take_action/12_tips.php This link gives us 12 simple bt important measures that we can do to save our environment to the most. 

                                     This movie had impacted me to a large extent that i don't waste papers and save water and electricity as much as i can. It had made me to think about the future generation's environment and what we leave for them.

STRUCTURE OF ECOSYSTEM

                   Ecology can be defined as the scientific study of the relations of living organisms  with respect to each other and their natural environment. In other words ecology is the study of the different types of  ecosystems.

ECOSYSTEM:
                    Biosphere is composed of smaller units called ecosystems. Ecosystem of a particular place includes all living and non living life forms including the natural habitat. It can be small or large in size. grassland, a multi-storeyed apartment, supermarkets, ocean(aquatic ecosystem),zoo,forest, etc. are all examples of ecosystems we find around us. 


                     In an ecosystem, there are various levels of organisation. The simplest form of ecosystem is an organism. Group of organisms form a population. Groups of population form a community. Different communities together makes an ecosystem.The place or the physical location where a community is present is called the habitat of the community.  


  
CLASSIFICATION OF ECO SYSTEM : 


                   An Eco system can be classified as follows:

  


STRUCTURE OF ECO SYSTEM:

ABIOTIC COMPONENTS:
                           The non living factors are called the abiotic component. They include the physical and chemical components. They are solar energy, water,CO2, temperature, humidity, pH, nitrogen, etc.


BIOTIC COMPONENTS:
                           The living components of the environment comprises the biotic components. Biotic components are classified as:

• PRODUCERS- These are the autotrophic organisms that are capable of photosynthesis. The are primarily the food producers.They make food for themselves and indirectly for other components directly or indirectly. Green plants are the primary producers. 
• CONSUMERS- They depend on producers for their food directly or indirectly. They are further classified as herbivores(feed only on plants), carnivores(feed only on animals) and omnivores(feed both on plants and animals). 
• DECOMPOSERS- They obtain food from the dead remains of other producers and consumers.They are very important to complete the food cycle.They include bacteria and fungi.

                  

                                The interactions between different components in the ecosystem happens through two processes:

1. Energy flow
2. Nutrient cycling

ENERGY FLOW:

                     Energy flow is an one-way process in an ecosystem. To the flow to persist there is a need of persistent input of energy into the system. Sun is the primary source of energy to most of the systems. Primary producers capture fracture of the sun's energy, convert it into chemical energy in the form of carbohydrates. Next the primary consumers and the secondary consumers derive energy when  the eat the tissues of producers containing carbohydrates.This process liberates heat as a by-product. This is an inefficient process as much of the energy is lost as heat.About 90%-95% of energy is lost during the transfer from to other. The food chain is one such example.Different food chain put together forms a food-web.

NUTRIENT CYCLING:

                              Nutrients are nothing but molecules required by living organisms. Eg. carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus,etc. Unlike energy the is no continuous supply of nutrients in any system, therefore there is a need to be used over and over again.Nutrients move through an ecosystem by the use of different biogeochemical  cycles( which includes biological, geological and chemical process).

                              Nutrients exist in either a reservoir or an exchange-pool. Reservoir is a store house of nutrients in an ecosystem. Nutrients here are not directly available to organisms. Examples are coral reefs, limestone, fossil fuels for carbon.

                              Exchange-pools are the place where nutrients are made available to the producers. Example-carbon in the form of carbon-di-oxide in the atmosphere. Nutrients released by decomposers get back into the exchange-pools.
                              One such example of a biogeochemical cycle is the carbon cycle.
CARBON CYCLE:

• Carbon is removed from the exchange pool by the producers through photosynthesis.
• Traverses through different tropic levels.
• Part of it is released back into the atmosphere by respiration and decomposition.
• Remaining part goes into the reservoir by carbonification.

                               This completes the carbon cycle. The below diagram depicts carbon cycle in detail.

MAN Vs NATURE(Deadly as Ever)

DANTE'S PEAK(1997):

                                  This movie is about a volcanic eruption of a volcano called Dante's peak located in the Northern Cascade Mountains of Washington,USA. The movie was directed by Roger Donaldson

and starring Pierce Brosnan as Dr.Harry Dalton and Linda Hamilton as Mayor Raychal Wando.

STORY LINE:

                                 Four years after the death of Dr. Harry's fiancee in a volcanic eruption, he was send to Washington to investigate its northern cascade mountains. Dante's peak is a mountain among them which was recently awarded as the most desirable place to live in America then. It was a dormant volcano. During his investigation to check the acidity of the water in the peak, he finds the volcano has been disturbed by the industries nearby and was in danger of  an eruption. The hot springs were boiling. When he reported to his higher official, he made the area under scanner.Since two weeks past the warning nothing happened strangely in the peak. So the warning was taken back.But suddenly the volcano started erupt. The rest of the story is how Harry, Mayor Raychal and her family escapes from the ashes.

CAUSE OF THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION:

                         Human occupancy in the volcano makes it more prone it. We build houses and industries for our comfort and disturb the tectonic plates.This adds to a cause of volcano eruption.Therefore, we should protect ourselves by not disturbing the environment and preserve the nature as it is.


CONCLUSION:
                              Human in making attempts to prove his superiority to nature fails eventually. We humans should remember that Nature is ultimately superior to all on earth and should not disturb its balance. 

ANIMAL TESTNG IN MILITARY DEFENCE

                       Wikipedia defines animal testing as " The use of non-human animals for testing".The most commonly used animals for testing are mice,rats,monkeys,apes,rabbits,etc.They are used for the purpose of testing chemicals and products in industries like pharmaceutical, cosmetic, xenotransplantation, research, education, defence, so on and so forth.
                 

              Testing animals in military defence has been there for decades. This is an area which is unrecognised but have a very devastating effects on animals. Military defence uses animals mainly for developing defensive weapons and vaccines. This testing is used for the development of better surgical techniques for the militants who are affected in war.

DEVELOPING WEAPONS & DEFENSIVE TACTICS:

                  The advent of chemical and nuclear warfare has prompted the defence force not only to test the need for the use of these weapons but also to test the effects of them if used in public. Some of these tests in animals have resulted in introducing nerve agents and chemical burns. The testing animals are even used to predict the damage of explosions and bullets in soldiers. Pigs are used generally for explosion testing whereas non-human primates are used to test the effect of bullet wounds.In addition, sheep and rabbits are used to test the effect of warfare.

CREATING VACCINES:

                  The potential of soldiers getting affected with numerous diseases which are highly contagious and lethal is exponential. Therefore the is a need to develop vaccines for these diseases using animal models for soldiers in war. The other aspect of vaccine creation is to treatment of lethal diseases especially like haemorrhaging (blood clotting) in battlefield.

CONTROVERSY OF ANIMAL TESTING IN MILITARY DEFENCE:

                   The number of animals used in British military defence experimentation has been doubled over the past five years. This has caught the attention of social and animal activists to look into the issue.Animal welfare groups such as People for Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA) in US have been successful in campaigning against the use of animals in military testing in US.

CONCLUSION:

                     My view point is that killing animals to improve methods and weapons to kill humans is unethical and should be avoided. Animal testing in other areas may be very crucial which is used to enhance and improve human living. Those kind of testing can be done under control and monitoring ofcourse.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROP: Bt BRINJAL

Brinjal also known as the king of vegetables, is the first Genetically Modified Food Crop in India. It was introduced in the year 2009 by a Maharashtra based seed company.India was chosen as the first country to market these GM brinjals because it is a tropical country and we are the people who consume brinjal the most in the world. Moreover brinjal being a native crop is easier to market.

SO WHATS Bt BRINJAL?

                     Bt Brinjals are nothing but food crops that are grown from GMO( Genetically Modified Organism). This brinjal has its genetic material modified with some bacterial genome which is responsible to produce chemicals that make the crop pest-resistant.

PROS AND CONS:

                        The following are the advantages of Bt Brinjal:

• Brinjal is cost effective ,can produce high yield.
• It can fight weeds and pesticides.
• It uses less herbicides compared to the original brinjals.
• As it can be cultivated in a small piece of land it can serve to the growing population.
• It also stays ripe for a along period of time than the usual brinjal.
• It offers more nutritional value and better flavor.
• It can withstand adverse climatic conditions.

                                Though these crops various advantages, they even have loads of notable health hazards. Scientists say that in addition to the Bt toxin, it also has a viral promoter (CA MV 335) and an antibiotic resistance marker (npt 11 gene) which makes us resistant to various antibiotics. The following are the disadvantages of Bt brinjal given by scientists when studied on rats:

• Allergenicity
• Tumorogenicity- ie.capable of causing tumor
• High mortality and infertility of off spring
• Poor growth
• Damage to liver, pancreas, and gut lining
• Affects immune system 

HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE?

                                 Bt Brinjals look just as same as normally grown brinjals.Therefore it is very difficuly or impossible to differentiate them by just looking. There are some very elaborate chemical experiments which can only be dine in laboratories to determine if a brinjal is genetically modified or not.

CONSUMERISM: SURF EXCEL ADVERTISEMENT

Surf excel range of detergents are one among the brands of HUL(Hindustan Unilever Limited).HUL introduced surf excel in 1954 in India. From then surf excel continues to hold 34% of the detergents market for household. Surf Excel remained to dominate the market through series of its Ad campaigns in media. Some of its advertisements to name are- 1990-“Daag doonthe rah jaoge”

1996-“Jaise bhi daag ho, Surf Excel hai na”                                                      

2003-“Ad campaign on shortage of water across India (2 bucket wash)”

2005-“Daag acche hai na”

2006-“Good news,bad news”

                        Among these “dirt is good”ad campaign was very successful in promoting the brand among all groups of people.

This figure shows the steep increase in the sales from 97 to148 after the prominent advertisement in 2005.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:

                 Unilever has declared the goal of decoupling its environmental impact from its growth, by:

• halving the environmental footprint of its products
• helping 1 billion people improve their health and well-being and
• sourcing all of its agricultural raw materials sustainably.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY OF UNILEVER:

                 Unilever launched Sustainable Living Plan in on November 15, 2010 at London, Rotterdam, New York and New Delhi simultaneously.The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan  has three major goals, which Unilever aims to achieve by 2020:

• Help more than one billion people improve their health and well-being
• Halve the environmental impact of their products
• Source 100% of their agricultural raw materials sustainably.
         The plan also sets out over 50 social, economic and environmental targets.
  http://www.sustainable-living.unilever.com/. This link gives further details about the policy.
  
  
  INDIA WATER BODY:

                 In May 2011,HUL launched the India Water Body, an initiative aimed to address the challenge of water scarcity in India. This plans in conservation of fresh water across the country.The Surf excel quick wash is been designed in such a way that uses only 2 buckets of wash clothes.this campaign was also been a  big hit.

                 http://www.hul.co.in/mediacentre/pressreleases/2011/HindustanUnileverlaunches-IndiaWaterBody.aspx. This gives details about the initiative.

                 

INDUSTRALIZATION: DOVE SOAPS

                    Dove soaps are a brand under Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). Dove soaps in India have made a great impact in changing the lifestyle of the women here. It is a mild soap with _ph level neutral and it has one fourth moisturizing milk.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF SOAP INDUSTRY:

•  The three prime soap ingredients by volume & cost are perfumes, caustic and oil. Oils & perfume are insoluble in water and if spilled can create problems.

•     These ingredients are transported through trained carriers. Whereas perfumes are transported by lined steel drums. There is always a risk of these vehicles being damaged.
•     The other important issue is the discharge of the by-product of soap which is animal and vegetable fats. These become a hazardous biological waste.

IMPROVISED SOAPS- (eco-friendly biodegradable):

                 The sulphonic acid and nonionic detergents that are used to produce both liquid and powder detergents have found to be completely biodegradable and comply with the relevant environmental standards and guidelines. The nonionic surfactants are ethoxylated long chain alcohols and the sulphonic acid is produced from a highly linear alkylbenzene, primarily dodecylbenzene. These ingredients are used to make biodegradable soaps.

VERTICAL FARMING

                            Vertical Farming is a concept of cultivating or growing plants on vertical structures.Skyscrapers and vertically inclined surfaces era a few examples of vertical structures.This type of farming is economical and environmentally viable.The several potential advantages of vertical farming, makes it very crucial for the present outgrowing population.

SOME ADVANTAGES:

•  The present population of the world has exceeded 7 billion. Therefore it is necessary for us to find an alternative and effective way of agriculture and farming to meet its requirements. The main feature of this farming is that it does not need the large land area as required in traditional farming.
•     Vertical farming can produce crops all throughout the year which means higher crop yield.
•        When this farming is done in indoors, crops can be protected from natural calamities such as wind, drought, cyclone, hurricanes and floods.
•       Organic crops can also be cultivated.
•        Attacks from pests and bacteria can be controlled in a clean environment and therefore pesticides and fungicides won’t be necessary. So, all crops would be very nutritious without any chemical fertilizers.
•        People who work in fields get affected by some funguses and bacteria which cause health problems in the long run. Vertical farming eradicates these health issues of those farmers which are of great use for mankind. 
• 
  

This snap was taken at the entrance of THE CHOLA HOTEL,Guindy, Chennai. Here vertical farming is done on walls for decorative purpose.

METHODS ADOPTED:

•  Aeroponics-it is the method of growing plants in air without soil.
•         Aquaponics-it is the method of growing plants in water without soil.
•        Skyscrapers
•        Green house
•        Composting