Financial Incentives for Improving Energy Efficiency

As we learn more about the details of the new economic stimulus package, consumers are finding that there’s help available for those of us who want to make our homes more energy efficient. It’s no surprise, of course, that utilities companies and businesses selling energy-efficient products would be among the first to spread this information.

Consider a solar installation to increase energy efficiency at your home or business.

Blue Planet Green Living received an email yesterday telling us that Andy Armstrong at Johnson Controls had posted a blog, “So What’s In the Stimulus Package for You and Me?” detailing some of the advantages of the new legislation. We were pleased to discover that Armstrong’s blog is both helpful and informative. But, if you’re seriously considering new appliance purchases or alternative energy installations, you won’t want to stop there.

As you investigate which product(s) to purchase for your home or business, be sure to check the ENERGY STAR website, sponsored jointly by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE). “Energy efficient choices can save families about a third on their energy bill with similar savings of greenhouse gas emissions, without sacrificing features, style or comfort. ENERGY STAR helps you make the energy efficient choice,” according to the EPA/DOE’s website.

ENERGY STAR appliances help save energy, money, and the planet.

For information on state-specific tax incentives and rebates that might help you pay for energy-efficient products or alternative energy for your home or business, one place to look is the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) website. Be sure to check on the page to see when the site was updated for your local information; it’s different for each program.

For example, in looking up Iowa, I found that the posted announcement about our local utility company’s program had expired. After calling the utility company, I found they have a page on their site that tells about “rebates for each newly installed energy-efficient natural gas furnace, natural gas boiler, natural gas water heater, central air conditioner, air-source heat pump, ground-source heat pump, refrigerator, freezer, clothes washer and dishwasher.” And that expiration date, like many other states’, is 12/31/09.

With tax incentives, rebates, and low-interest loans, replacing an older, inefficient furnace may be an affordable option for consumers.

You may find that your energy company is offering reduced-rate financing for energy-efficiency improvements. But make sure you understand what you’re offered before you make a purchase. In our case, what at first glance appeared to be a sweet combination of loan and rebates turned out to be either a low-interest loan or six-months-same-as-cash terms or a product rebate. Consumers have to make the choice.

Whether you decide to purchase an energy-efficient appliance from Johnson Controls or someone else, as Andy Armstrong says, “The bottom line is this: add up the tax credits, rebates and the money you’ll be saving on your utility bills, and you could end up paying back the cost of a new furnace in as little as two years.”

If you can afford the initial investment, this is an opportune time to do it. Replacing old, inefficient appliances or installing alternative energy systems makes economic sense for your family and ecologic sense for the planet.

Julia Wasson

Blue Planet Green Living (Home Page)

Notes from Iowa: We Are Gambling with Life Itself

As part of the National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions held at colleges and universities across the U.S., the University of Iowa invited activists and experts to participate in panel discussions. Blue Planet Green Living was privileged participate on a panel with Andrew Saito, a student in the MFA program in Playwriting. After a short reading from an original play, Saito read the following essay to the audience. We found the images and the message so thoughtful, beautiful, and powerful that we asked him to share it with our readers.— Julia Wasson, Publisher

"The oceans are facing at least a quintuple assault." Photo: B Geiger

Some twenty years ago and half a continent away, my father recounted memories from his childhood in Southern California. He told me about setting plastic toy soldiers on fire in dirt pits in his backyard. He told me about the Red Car, a light rail and streetcar system that crisscrossed Los Angeles from Long Beach to Downtown to Pasadena to Santa Ana. Profusions of Western toads would make regular nocturnal visits to his
house, a block from the Los Angeles River, in a neighborhood nicknamed Frogtown. When he would go to the beach, the water was so clear he could see not only his feet, but fish. Yes, fish!

Today, all of those memories are nothing more than that. The Red Car’s last operational line discontinued service on April 8, 1961. This was part of what is now referred to as the Great American Streetcar Scandal, when General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil, among other corporations, engineered the replacement of light rail and streetcars with buses, to pave the way for broad public ownership and use of automobiles and freeways. In all honesty, I did not shed many tears when GM recently teetered on the brink. We reap what we sow.

Indeed, that seems precisely the position we currently occupy. We are reaping what we sowed, what our parents and grandparents sowed, and what we continue to sow. How many of us drove here? I am flying to Kentucky for spring break. I spent winter recess in Peru. It was long flight. I do not exculpate myself from responsibility, or hypocrisy.

The toads no longer visit Frogtown, and haven’t in years. I had the fortune of seeing one or two here and there when I was a kid, but that pales in comparison with the dozens and, as rumored, hundreds of toads that overran Frogtown in the 1950s. Perhaps they were looking for quarters more comfortable than the concrete channel that replaced a once free-flowing river.

My memories of Los Angeles’ beaches – Venice, Santa Monica, Redondo – are of brown water, parking lots within striking distance of waves, and large metal trash bins strangely reminiscent of oil barrels. Today, we have far more to worry about than just murky water.

The oceans are facing at least a quintuple assault:

• Rising temperatures due to climate change — certainly not helped by the premeditated extinction of the Red Cars and their peers across the nation;

• Acidification of the oceans, again due to elevated and exacerbating carbon emissions;
  

  Plastic trash on its way out to sea.

• The increasing presence of plastic — I’ve read reports of supermarket bags and Barbie dolls appearing on once pristine beaches of unpopulated islands, to mention nothing of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a mass of trash twice the size of Texas that swirls in the waters midway between North America and Asia; in the long run, this plastic will break down to particles so small that they will be eaten by zooplankton, providing them with a fatal last meal, and thus threatening a foundation of the global food chain;

• Other threats include chemical pollution, from pharmaceutical, medical and agricultural sources, as well as petroleum and human waste — we deliberately dump this stuff into the home of blue whales, dolphins, orca, salmon, seaweed, coral;

• And, of course, there’s overfishing, when a human population forty times larger than when Christ lived demands ever more sushi, ceviche, lobster bisque and crab cakes from critically disappearing marine communities.

Let me not mention open-pit mining. Let me not mention deforestation. Let me not mention genetically modified seeds appearing in wild spaces. Let me not mention nuclear waste. Oops. My mind simply can’t keep these things in neat little boxes. Just as my father’s childhood has everything to do with my presence here at the University of Iowa, so do the disappearance of frogs, the rise of the automobile, and the assault on the oceans have everything to do with my life, and with playwriting. In Hamlet, Shakespeare describes theatre as “hold[ing] as ’twere the mirror up to nature.” While theatre has many functions, providing social commentary and an opportunity for introspection is a central one. I am a playwright. I love nature. I love life. I feel broken by the constant war we wage on our home. I feel broken by my own complicity in this war. Thus, I write plays about global warming. I write plays about rivers. I write plays about globalization. I write plays about the ocean. I write plays about life.

"Generosity is an essence of nature, of life..." Photo: Joe Hennager

Writing plays does not seem like a very effective or practical way to “combat” global warming, as Al Gore puts it. I’m not sure how we can combat something that will continue to affect us for a very long time, even if carbon emissions dropped to zero right now. Carbon emissions need to drop to zero. Right now. Writing plays seems like a terribly indirect way to heal the Iowa River or protect sea turtles or the Amazon rainforest, which has been so generous to me in providing adventure, inspiration, and insight. Oh, and oxygen. Of course, the Amazon has been generous to all of us, in so many ways, asking nothing in return. Let me say that every ecosystem, every animal and plant, mineral, waterway, mountain, and wind current has and continues to be generous. Yes, nature is also violent, but when to the point of self-annihilation? Generosity is an essence of nature, of life, which only asks that we reciprocate, by taking what we need, and giving what we have. When we die, we give our own bodies, our own selves, so that the physical matter that we borrow while living our unique and beautiful, irreplaceable lives, allows some other, or many other, beings the opportunity to live as fully and unforgettably as we do right now.

I suppose my writing, then, is an act of gratitude to the world. It is an act of fear, an act of grief, an act of anger, and an act of hope. Hope that I will become better at living what I write. Hope that we all learn to live in concert with life, and not as obstacles to nature, and therefore ourselves. I have read and studied a great deal about global warming and renewable energies, and somewhat on deforestation, water pollution, desertification, and extinction. I have taken introductory classes on building greywater systems and solar cookers; I have yet to put what I learned in either of those classes into practice. When I spent several months in the Peruvian Amazon, I felt a burning urge to support reforestation, yet I knew not what to do, nor who to turn to. This is a recurring frustration in my own life, what I view as a gap between thought and action, between passion and practice. I know more than enough, but I find myself having difficulty knowing how to get started. I recycle and compost and commute by bicycle, even in this cold — I refuse to own a car. I refuse to take plastic bags 99.99% of the time. In fact, I reuse plastic bags, generally until they are bedraggled with holes. This feels like scratching the surface. It is. I write plays about nature, and how we’re killing nature, and therefore ourselves. This also feels like scratching the surface. It is.

"Nothing exists in true isolation." Photo: B Geiger

And it will always be scratching the surface as long as I view my life and actions in isolation. I cannot do everything, despite how much I may pressure myself to the contrary. Self-flagellation and guilt are not helpful, and certainly harm my writing. But apathy and inaction harm more than guilt. I will say that the very American, very modern obsession with individualism profoundly violates nature and life. Nothing exists in true isolation, and the sooner we learn and live the lesson of interdependence, the better for us, and everybody.

I mentioned four stories my father told. Three are now memories, but perhaps not forever. The other is a nightmare. Plastic soldiers. Armies of them. Armadas. Armies of soldiers riding roughshod over Sudan and Somalia, over Afghanistan and Iraq, over Gaza and Guantánamo, over Ciudad Juárez and Chiapas, over Richmond, California and Washington, D.C. An armada of plastic suffocating Los Angeles and Orange County, Beijing and Shanghai, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, and the Pacific Ocean. We are killing ourselves for the fleeting convenience and ease that plastic provides. Plastic cups. Plastic forks and sporks. Plastic packing peanuts. Plastic bubble wrap. Plastic packages of Cheetos and Doritos, Oreos and M & M’s in vending machines in the UI hospital, a blaring contradiction in the hallowed halls of health. I must say, I doubt that Texas’s plastic doppelganger will prove particularly convenient or easy, now or ever.

Writing these words, I feel rage and despair. But I need to write them, I need to fight the urge to censor myself, to remain polite and politic, to smile and not offend. We are gambling with life itself. No. We are assaulting life, which is more beautiful than any play I, or anyone, will ever write. More extraordinary than any NASA telescope, or any cancer-curing discovery. More inspiring than Martin Luther King’s eloquence or even the Buddha’s enlightenment. Life is what I am, and my life is miraculous, but no more or less than yours, or the grass frozen and dormant, or the jungles of Peru, or the toads in Frogtown, or the bald eagle I saw fly overhead last November; I had never before seen our national symbol fly free. Life is a miracle, so I write in honor of life, to thank it, to defend it, to grieve its illness and to fight for its survival. Our survival.

"I need ... butterflies and bees, to pollinate the peaches and pears..." Photo: B Geiger

The human brain cannot function without human lungs, which cannot breathe without the human heart,
which cannot beat without the entirety of the body working in collaborative concert. Beethoven’s 5th Symphony cannot be played by a single musician. This university is far from a one-person operation. Theatre is never the work of the playwright alone. Just as my plays depend on actors, designers, dramaturges, producers, directors and audiences to bring characters and stories to life, so I depend on all of you. So I depend on the Iowa River. So I depend on the Amazon, and the Congo, and the Pacific and Atlantic. So I depend on Arctic ice and wild, unmodified corn in Oaxaca, Mexico, even if its kernels never grace my lips. Each of us is a collaboration of atoms, of organs, working together for our success. I don’t know about you, but I want a strong heart, and strong lungs, strong hands and legs. I want to work with strong actors and directors. Their strength enhances my own. Let me speak very selfishly now. I pray for each of your health, happiness, and runaway success because it will make this world better for me. I need strong rivers. I need strong forests. I need healthy bats and hummingbirds, butterflies and bees, to pollinate the peaches and pears whose juice I want to drip down my chin this summer. Me. Me. I want a healthful, beautiful planet for me. But in looking in myself, if I quiet my mind and really look, I see rocks. I see lakes. I see my father at five years old. I see you. I see the world.

"In destroying a river, I am destroying myself...." Photo: Joe Hennager

Al Gore argues that we need a shift in human consciousness. I agree, although that shift needs to occur on a level far deeper than installing solar panels and driving plug-in hybrids. These technologies are helpful, even vital, but alone are doomed to futility. The solution, or rather, point of departure, that I propose, as an artist and writer, very much untrained in science, is that each of us fall entirely and speechlessly in love and in awe with the world, recognizing that nature is beauty, and nature is sacred. Let me fall so in awe that I become appalled by the very thought of dumping toxins in a river, for in destroying a river, I am destroying myself, and destroying God. Let me fall so in awe that I will organize and communicate and sacrifice superficial ease for long-term health and prosperity.

My prayer today, and every day, is that I, and we, can find a way to become worthy of the Iowa River, worthy of the prairie, worthy of the oceans, of the Catskills and the Rockies, of the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef, of the Amazon, of the Earth. Let us be worthy of being alive. Let us be worthy of being who we are.

Andrew Saito

Contributing Writer

Blue Planet Green Living (Home Page)

Eco-Friendly Fabrics Make Green Fashion Statement

As consumers become increasingly concerned about the environment, the marketplace responds with new technology to fit the demands of a greener lifestyle: CFLs now provide a more energy-efficient alternative than the fluorescent light bulbs of a few years ago. Hybrid cars use less gas and emit fewer fumes than their gas-only counterparts. Solar installations and wind turbines create off-the-grid energy to power homes and businesses. Even clothing is becoming more eco-friendly.

Eco-fashion, also known as green fashion, features clothes made with respect for the environment. Environmentally friendly fabrics are woven from organic fibers that were grown without pesticides or artificial herbicides. In addition, organic fabrics, such as organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, and soy silk are not treated with harmful chemical dyes or bleaches.

Scarf made from 100 percent soy silk Infinity fabric by SOYSILK. Photo: SWTC Inc.

Green fashion and organic materials are gaining popularity. Several high-fashion clothing designers, including Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs, Jil Sander, and Versace include designs made from earth-friendly materials in their lines.

Vogue magazine recently compiled tips on how to help save the world — and still turn heads — by wearing eco-friendly textiles. Even popular stores such as TopShop and H&M are promoting organic fashion by featuring eco-friendly clothing.

Components that determine the environmental friendliness of textiles include sustainable farming practices, transportation of both raw materials and finished clothing, fabric biodegradability and, most significantly, the growth and manufacture of fabric fibers.

IMPACT ON THE PLANET

Most consumers recognize the role of transportation in the overall carbon footprint of manufactured goods. But the role of fabric manufacturing is less well-known, though extremely important to keep in mind. Here are a few ways that the fabric production adds to pollution:

• Conventionally grown cotton uses more insecticides than any other crop. Every year, cotton growers around the world use approximately $2.6 billion worth of pesticides, equivalent to more than 10% of the world’s total pesticides. Cotton growing also uses nearly 25% of the world’s insecticides, according to Pesticide Action Network North America. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that, in the United States, 1.2 pounds of insecticides and 2.1 pounds of herbicides are applied to each acre of cotton. These synthetic chemicals not only endanger the environment, they also put at risk the health of people and animals living near these fields.

• Sock manufacturers treat socks with nanosilver and ionic silver in order to kill foot odor. As an ongoing study by the University of California Davis shows, once the silver is washed out of socks, it may kill beneficial microbes in soil, groundwater, or streams.

• According to a January 2008 report by Textiles Intelligence, man-made fibers, such as nylon, accounted for 58 percent of fiber demand in 2006. These fibers are made of petrochemicals, and their production requires the use of declining oil and gas reserves. Synthetic fibers are non-renewable, do not biodegrade, and are not easy to recycle. Of even more concern, if these fibers are thermally broken down by being melted in a dryer or very hot water, they may emit a complex mixture of compounds including — but not limited to — carbon monoxide, ammonia, aliphatic amines, ketones, nitriles, and hydrogen cyanide.

• Manufacturing a ton of textiles requires ten times more energy than manufacturing a ton of glass, according to Recycle for Essex.

Yet, not every fabric is harmful to the environment. Incorporating fibers made from organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, or soy into clothing will minimize the impact of cloth manufacturing on the environment.

ORGANIC COTTON

Organic cotton fleece available at Clothworks in Iowa City, IA. Photo: Sabrina Potirala

By definition, organic farming doesn’t use pesticides or artificial fertilizers. An important benefit of growing cotton organically is that the lack of chemical pesticides promotes a healthier workplace. According to the World Health Organization, 20,000 deaths occur each year from pesticide poisoning in developing countries, many of these from traditional cotton farming.

Members of the Sustainable Cotton Project are dedicated to assisting farmers meet the demand for organic cotton by helping manufacturers become greener through The Cleaner Cotton™ Campaign. The SCP’s tactic for creating cleaner cotton focuses on replacing synthetic fertilizers, using innovative weeding strategies instead of herbicides, controlling insect pests with traps rather than pesticides, and finding alternatives to toxic defoliants in order to prepare plants for harvest.

Lynda Grose, marketing Consultant for the Cleaner Cotton™ Campaign, told this reporter that, because of high costs, growing organic cotton has had limited success in developed countries. The Cleaner Cotton Campaign has helped fund organic cotton as a micro niche for farmers in California, in order to give the market a boost in the United States.

Organic cotton cloth woven in a herringbone design, available at Clothworks in Iowa City, IA. Photo: Sabrina Potirala

Like its traditionally grown counterpart, organic cotton is used to make more than just clothing. Organic cotton can also be used in the manufacture of cotton puffs, ear swabs, sanitary products, make-up removal pads, towels, bathrobes, sheets, blankets, toys, diapers, and bedding. Although not yet at the level of traditionally grown cotton, demand for organic cotton is increasing. In 2008, organic cotton acreage in the United States grew from 6,786 acres to 7,669 acres, according to the Organic Trade Association.

HEMP

Because hemp requires no pesticides and needs little water, this plant has high potential to create eco-friendly textiles. Hemp grows quickly and densely, eliminating the need for synthetic herbicides or artificial fertilizers. Hemp has naturally long, sturdy fibers, making it long-lasting and durable. Clothing produced from hemp is also warmer, softer, more absorbent, and extremely breathable compared to other textiles. According to Lotus Organics, hemp does not contribute to the greenhouse effect; during the growing process, the plants absorb as much CO2 as what will later be released if the stalks are burned for fuel.

Organic hemp plants to be harvested for fabric. Photo: Votehemp.com

Adam Eidinger, Communications Director at the Hemp Industries Association, said substituting hemp for other materials is another way to reduce potential ground water pollution, because herbicides and pesticides are not used in the growing process. Eidinger also said that hemp is beneficial to the environment because “shifting away from fossil-fuel-based products is another way to conserve [natural] resources while introducing less toxic stuff into the lives of people everywhere.”

Harvested organic hemp stalks. Photo: Votehemp.com

The future of hemp in the United States is uncertain, because growing hemp has been prohibited here since the 1950s, when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency classified all C. sativa (hemp) varieties as “marijuana.” Eidinger said hemp will remain a blended fiber with organic cotton until the U.S. certifies industrial hemp.

China, England, France, Holland, Hungary, Russia, and Canada do not have the same restrictions. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States indicates that world production of hemp fiber grew from 50,000 tons in 2000 to almost 90,000 tons in 2005. Hemp currently accounts for less than 0.5 percent of total world production of vegetable fibers.

In Eidinger’s opinion, U.S. farmers will only grow hemp once they receive government assurance that they will not face prosecution.

BAMBOO

Like hemp, bamboo is an extremely rapid grower that doesn’t require pesticides and herbicides. Bamboo plantations require minimal energy because the plant requires very little water and can survive both drought and flooding conditions, according to the Environmental Bamboo Foundation. Because these forests are so dense, the stands release 35% more oxygen than equivalent stands of trees. Some bamboo sequester up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide from the air per hectare.

Organic bamboo cloth is colored with natural dyes. The fabric is 100 percent biodegradable, so it is safe for municipal disposal programs. Bamboo is naturally softer than cotton, is allergy-reduced, and has a natural anti-microbial agent that prevents bacteria from forming on it.

Bamboo is unique, said Adrienne Makita, manager of the Bamboo Fabric Store, because “it’s more luxurious than cotton, more breathable than synthetics, and more delicate than hemp.”

Mittens and hat made from 70/30 organic bamboo/ organic cotton fleece, available from www.bamboofabricstore.com. Photo: Sabrina Potirala

Several different processes can be used to transform bamboo into a fabric. The most environmentally friendly is to mechanically crush the woody parts of the bamboo, then use natural enzymes to turn the bamboo walls into a pulp. The natural fibers are then combed out and spun into yarn.

Bamboo can also be turned into a fabric using chemicals. This chemical process is not as green as the mechanical process. Michael Lackman, a reporter for Organic Consumers Association, wrote “it is important to consider that these chemicals when compared to the pesticides and defoliants used in conventional cotton are much safer on both the environment and arguably, more importantly, the farmers.” Lackman advises consumers to look for the Oeko-Tek certification when buying bamboo clothing, because the certification ensures that the textiles are free of any processing chemicals.

SOY SILK

A lesser-known, eco-friendly fiber is soy silk, which is made from tofu-manufacturing waste. Soy protein is liquefied and then extruded into long, continuous fibers that are cut and processed like any other spinning fiber. Because soy has high protein content, the fabric is much more receptive to natural dyes — eliminating the need for synthetic dyes. Soy silk is 100% biodegradable.

The model

In 1941, automobile pioneer Henry Ford, a strong proponent of soybeans, wore the first “soy suit” made of 25 percent soy fibers and 75 percent wool fibers. Today, the South West Trading Company, Inc. (SWTC) features SOYSILK®, a soy fiber and yarn used for spinning, knitting, crotchet, and weaving. Jonelle Raffino, President of SWTC, Inc., said the fabric is “as soft as cashmere.” Soy silk also wicks away moisture and has a soft, gentle drape.

DRIVING DEMAND

The future of our planet is heavily influenced by the decisions we make today. By insisting on clothing made from eco-friendly fabrics, consumers will drive more demand for environmentally responsible clothing. The benefits to the planet are undeniable. Besides, what could be better than looking good and protecting the environment at the same time?

Sabrina Potirala

Contributing Writer

Blue Planet Green Living (Home Page)

Notes from Nepal: Climate Change Reaches the Himalayas

In Jagdish Poudel’s first entry in the “Notes from Nepal” series, he told us that he would soon be going to the Himalayas to teach uneducated rural residents about climate change. Last week, Poudel, along with fellow environmental science M.Sc. students Aseem Kanchan, Raju Pokharel, and Mausam Khanal, journeyed to Khudi, high in the Annapurna Mountain Range. What follows is Jagdish’s second entry, in which he tells us about giving a presentation to Khudi villagers, who live in a place where the once-abundant snow has turned to rain, and the mountainsides are losing their coat of white.

Jagdish Poudel, Aseem Kanchan, Raju Pokharel, and Mausam Khanal pose in front of a snowless Himal (mountain) on the way to Khudi.

Nepal is rich in biodiversity and natural resources. While the nation leaps through the process of economic development and embraces globalization at an accelerated pace, she also demonstrates concern for biodiversity conservation and sustainability. Central to this process, however, is the understanding that it is never easy to balance the delicate relationship between conservation and development, especially given the complex effects of climate change.

As the environment warms, the survival of a large number of plant and animal species will depend on their ability to move to higher latitudes and altitudes. The ever-accelerating warming of the environment can, therefore, cause a loss of ecosystem integrity or destroy the habitats of certain species. Consequently, large populations of plant and animal species could be wiped out due to climate change and habitat fragmentation.

Rural residents take notes during the students' presentation.

Keeping these things in mind, three other M.Sc. students and I went to the village of Khudi to organize a workshop on climate change and its impact on the local people. We had an idea about the things that we would need to show to them. We had been wondering whether we could make them understand. We four friends gave three presentations, including some important points about temperature increases due to greenhouses gases; the melting of snow and ice; and changes in rainfall patterns, with increased frequency of extreme rains. People living in and around Khudi watershed are experiencing different rainfall patterns than in previous years, sometimes heavy enough to cause the loss of fertile soil, as well as flooding and landslides.

Poudel and his friends give a high-tech presentation in a Himalayan village.

Observers have noted an overall decrease in annual rainfall in the arid and semi-arid regions of the Annapurna Range. So far this year, there has been no rainfall in the area. Consequently, there is less snow on the Himal (mountain) and the water level in the river has been low. I saw that the Himal was bare, where there used to be a huge amount of snow just a few years ago. Meanwhile, there has been an increasing tendency of extreme showers and storms in summer, leading to severe flood disasters and soil erosion. Besides increased floods, there is also an increase in the frequency of other natural disasters, such as heat waves, drought, dust storms, and typhoons.

In the development process and expansion of human activities, lots of rangeland and forest areas have been, and are still being, replaced by agricultural lands. Besides the above-mentioned impacts of climate change, there are other direct and indirect threats to biodiversity from climate change. We anticipated that the local people would mention these at the workshop. Some points I was expecting them to mention included: widely spreading invasive organisms, especially weeds and pests; shortage and uneven distribution of water resources (we saw this at Khudi, when we took a look around the area); growing vulnerability of grasslands, forests, and wetlands, and of the people who are dependent on those natural resources; and a decrease in the health of the ecosystem.

Poudel explains climate change to the group.

Above all, the increase in climate variability and extreme events will alter environmental conditions and threaten many species that live in narrow habitats. We couldn’t find any data over there yet, but study has to be done on that area for this purpose. The giant panda, for example, has a very brief breeding period in the later spring and early summer. Changes in the timing of seasonal temperatures may upset its breeding season and place further stress on this species. This may apply to many other species, as well, such as the snow leopards and the red pandas that are found in Sagarmatha National Park, Annapurna Conservation Area, and Langtang National Park.

The people at Khudi told us that some vegetables and improved seeds of agricultural crops are growing better this year than before, even though they don’t understand why. People also experienced an increased number of mosquitos and insects around Khudi. This, too, is due to climate change.

A 71-year-old man listens intently.

As far as I could tell while interacting with local people, they didn’t know what climate change is. But in government and private schools, students are learning about it from their teachers.

I had a deep interaction with an old man of age 71. He was trying hard to understand the presentation I was making. After my presentation, he told me that he now knows what climate change is and how it happened. The old man was not in the mood to know why this is happening; he doesn’t even want to know more about climate change. But he was keen to understand about the mitigation techniques and precautions he needs to take to protect his land and his family from natural disasters that might occur if the Khudi river floods in summer.

The class poses for a group photo.

He is an old man. Even if he tries hard to know how all these things happen, he will hardly understand all our scientific data and facts. He does understand the pictures and videos that I took there to show the people. I am happy that he wants to know more about mitigation techniques and precautions against natural hazards.

But climate change is not a problem that can be solved just by the effort of a few people. It needs global support and determination. Educating the younger generation and school students is the most important thing we can do to stop further harmful impacts from climate change.

It was a nice workshop, where most of the local people and school students participated. I would like to do such work again and again in those places where people are directly affected by climate change.

Jagdish Poudel

Contributing Writer

Blue Planet Green Living (Home Page)

Related Posts:

Notes from Nepal: Teaching Climate Change in the Himalayas