The Intersection Between Sexism And Speciesism

Last winter, we were doing a Vegan outreach near Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. We were speaking about Veganism, and distributing leaflets to the passersby. We are against leafleting because of environmental reasons, and giveaway the leaflets only to the people who looks interested/asks for them. A group of teenagers where passing by. A girl in the group stopped by, and asked us for a leaflet. We gave one to her. After receiving the leaflet she went forward to join her group. One of her male friend snatched the leaflet from her hand, tore it into pieces, and threw the pieces on the road. He said something to her in an angry tone which was inaudible. The girl turned to look at us, she was embarrassed. I was furious at the boy for tearing the leaflet and wasting resources. He could have easily returned the leaflet instead of wasting it.

Little did I know then that it was more concerning than merely the wastage of resources. Yesternight, while reading a study on how womyn are stigmatized for being Vegan, I realized that it was underlying sexism at play. It is a well known fact that Vegans are stigmatized by malzoans for being Vegan, but unfortunately, womyn are more stigmatized than their male counterparts. This is mainly because of the sexist belief that womyn cannot choose for themselves, and that their male counterparts have control over them.

Speciesism is as bad as sexism, because non-humyn animals, the victims of speciesism, are considered as the property of the speciesists, the humyn, just like womyn, the victims of sexism, are considered as the property of the sexists, the men. There is clearly an intersection between both kind of oppression. For more understanding on the issue, one can read "The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory" by Carol J. Adams

Caritas, Lux, et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

Unchain The Female Bovine

Many people have told me that it is Okay to rape and sexually abuse/exploit a female bovine because in return we take "care" of them (i.e. bathe them, groom them, feed them, etc.). It is a matter of common sense that non-human animals can and have taken care of themselves very well, and they do not require any human assistance for that. It is also evident from the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pobAqWCc8Fo) that they can meet their basic requirements and if they feel thirsty then they can quench their thirst on their own given that the Homo Sapiens haven't chained them in the very first place.

They also say that it is Okay to chain them 24x7 so that they don't "wander off". It is a scientifically proven fact that non-human animals are smart enough to take care of themselves and that they have a great knowledge of direction, even better than we Homo Sapiens. So the point that they will get lost is totally void. By making the point that they will wander-off if they will be unchained, they are also making a subtle point which they themselves are unaware of, and that is that those female bovine do not want to continue being their slaves and be sexually abused/exploited. Further, it is quite evident from the video that they can and do suffer from thirst and hunger as they are chained 24x7 and there aren't anyone to attend their basic needs. (Which wouldn't have been required if they wouldn't have been chained in the very first place). Further, they DO have the right to movement as and when they like to. We cannot strip them from that very basic rights of them.

So let me make it very clear that we are NOT doing them any favor by sexually abusing/exploiting them. So if we are sexually abusing/exploiting them and are consuming dairy/poultry, I expect that we show some integrity and accept the fact that we are doing so only to fulfill the lust of our taste buds. PLEASE do not try to justify it because whatever point we will put forward in its defense will be totally void. It is NOT Okay to perpetuate/deny/defend/justify wrong just because we are not at the receiving end of it. And stop calling non-human animals stupid. It is a scientifically proven fact that they aren't stupid. If we continue to call them stupid, then we are being speciesist and just doing so to make a void point of our human supremacy.

We do not deserve the wrongs we do, go Vegan.

 ~Caritas, Lux et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

Something To Learn

Someone told me that since I am just 25 years old, I have much to learn. I personally believe that age has no correlation with the need of learning, and even if I would be unfortunate enough to live upto the age of 250, I will still have much to learn. I believe that everyone learn something new with every passing day. (Whether the things one learn is good or not is totally a different issue). And I really hope that what I will learn will be good things and not bad (including, but not limited to, indifference, hatred, speciesism, sexism, racism, perpetuating/denying/defending/justifying others suffering, etc.)

A couple of days back I had the opportunity of learning the fact that the name of a nation/religion/culture/race is more important then the well-being of the members of it. (Since this is not a good thing to learn, I am hopeful that I will unlearn it soon enough). There were people calling for the ban of a documentary just because it was exposing the atrocities the member of that nation/religion/culture/race were/are facing and thus asserting the fact that the name of a nation/religion/culture/race is more important than the well-being of its member. Also, some activists of that nation were offloaded, jailed and called "anti-nationals". It is really interesting to see how the people working for the better environment of a nation can be termed as "anti-nationals".

Now, at the same time, I also had the opportunity to learn about an incident where a nation ended a cruel and violent tradition of pig slaughter festival. The activists of that nation brought the issue to international attention. Did the expose brought a shame to that nation? It might have. But by bringing the issue to international attention, the activists made it sure that the issue is being addressed, and that people of the world will collectively voice for the end of it, which it did. Now it is very important to notice that because of it, the political heads of that nation did what was required to do, and stopped the wrongs instead of stopping the activist from voicing the wrongs, and thus asserting the point the well-being of beings are more important than the shame which is brought to a nation/religion/culture/race by the exposure of its wrong-doing.

I sincerely hope that we will make a world where people will be more concerned about the well-being of others rather than the shame the exposure of the atrocities of others will bring to a nation/religion/culture/race.

~Caritas, Lux et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet. 

One "Fortunate" Day

It was the summer of 2003, I was 13 then, and was travelling to Varanasi by train. There was a Hindu saint/priest in our compartment. I don't know whether he was travelling with a proper ticket or not, most of them are freeloaders anyhow. As the train was heading closer to the destination, many had already deboarded the train. There was very few people left in the coach, and only three people in that compartment. He drew himself closer to me. He put his bhagwa cloth on my lower, and from beneath it, started fondling my penis. I moved from there. Some people will try to assert that that wasn't a sexual abuse, but I am certain that that was a sexual abuse.

I had kept my silence till now. I am fully aware of the fact that being silent about the wrongs is a heinous crime, and I am guilty as charged. Our silence is the biggest weapon that they use against us. But this is not about my plight. My plight is not at all important. It is about the plight of others who have suffered/is suffering similar fate. I don't know whether what happened to me was right or wrong, but what has happened/is happening to other's is definitely wrong. We live in a very grievous world where beings (male/female, human/non-human) are being sexually abused/exploited. And there are people who are trying to perpetuate/deny/defend/justify it as they have the luxury of not being at the receiving end.

I have kept my silence about was done to me, but I'm not going to be silent about the wrongs that is happening to others. I am not against the materialistic luxury of people, but I won't let people have the luxury of perpetuating/denying/defending/justifying wrongs on others just because they are not at the receiving end of it. I'll speak against it and will make sure that one fortunate day they will be stripped off their luxury of perpetuating/denying/defending/justifying wrongs on others just because they are not at the receiving end.

Sexual abuse/exploitation IS sexual abuse/exploitation no matter how much they deny/defend/justify it. And we are all, in one way or the other, guilty of it. If we are consuming dairy/poultry we ARE contributing to sexual abuse/exploitation of others (in this case, non-human females). But you can bring an end to it by going Vegan.

P.S.: There are some people who assert that a sexual abuse/exploitation is not a sexual abuse/exploitation if the victim does not show any psychological disorder. Although I wish that everyone will be safe and no one will have face such fate, but if on some unfortunate day someone gets sexually abused/exploited, ask that being to show psychological disorder, or else the sexual abuse/exploitation won't be considered as sexual abuse/exploitation.

~Caritas, Lux et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

A Hike By The Moonlight

The woods have something new in store for us every time we give them a visit. Who would have known that by getting lost in the woods, we would have gained something that will stay with us for eternity.

Mesmerized by the beauty of minute details the woods presented before us by being sun-drenched, we lost our track. It became dark and at the time when we were supposed to report at the base camp, we were still trying to find our way back.

The moon was up, the stars were shining and the woods were drenched with moonlight. There was a serenity in the air and the fauna that were shy of the sun were coming out to embrace the darkness. In contrast with the minute details that were exposed by the sunlight, the moonlight exposed only the things that were abstract, revealing only those things that the moonlight wanted us to see, by falling on them, as opposed to the sunlight which reveals everything in its path, thus giving more room to artistic interpretation, which isn't possible in the presence of sunlight.

The outline of the trees and the mountain which the moon cast, looked more beautiful than the trees and mountain itself as it appears in the daylight. And the stars that appeared as jewel, shining up in the cloudless sky as if cast there by a mighty artist, "whose beauty is not their only trait, which about them is perceived to be great, but are also the direction to the travelers which they show, when the mighty sun fails to glow."

Taking help from the stars, we found our way back and after reaching the camp, we laid our head on the ground to witness, "chirping of cricket which sounded like a beautiful symphony, to which the blowing wind gave a company, hearing which the trees started to dance, and seeing which I fell into the trance." After a few minutes, coming out of the trance, I opened my eyes to find myself sitting in front of my computer. The memory of that trip, which will stay with me forever, tele-ported me back to the woods and, "made my body envious of my soul, which wandered in the wood, while reliving those moment in front of my computer my body stood."

All these years, we used to travel during the daytime only, limiting us to see what the sunlight has to expose, but after this trip, we started travelling in night also, surprising ourselves by seeing what darkness conceals and what it reveals.

~Love, Light and Truth;
The Unknown Poet

Election Season: Time To Reform Your Government

It's election season in India. Where ever you go, you will find people discussing about their prospective government. Discussion on political governance, corruption and communal violence is a common practice now a days. You will overhear people discussing dynastical politics, politicians building large personal estates out of public fund, prospective candidate buying votes, polarization of vote base, sparking communal violence, social development, economical development, democracy, bad governance, impotency of current government to deal with crisis (natural or otherwise), their inability to form new and better laws, policy paralysis, their stance on women rights, child rights, human rights, animal rights, environment, right to food, right to information, right to education, their inability to provide justice and security for all, poor state of infrastructure and health care, minority issues and equality. You will see people discussing these issues in depth (or otherwise) and making use of their voting power to form a new government or to reform the current one. In short, you will see people discussing about electing their national/state government.

But what you don't see is people discussing about higher government, also known as (aka) God. Their is no discussion on governance and corruption of God. You will not overhear people discussing how dynastical politics is so prevalent in political parties (religion) of higher government (more or less in all political parties) (the "Father" ruling after the "holy spirit" and the "son" ruling after the "Father"), how the political head (God/Goddess) of these political parties (religion) are building their large personal estates (Temples/Church/Mosques/Etc.) out of public fund, their candidates buying votes by providing false hopes of a berth in heaven (and 72 virgins), polarizing the vote base by stating that the head of other political parties are actually "Satan", sparking communal violence by using hate speech in their (never fulfilled) manifesto (holy books), the lack of social and economical development, the dictatorial/autocratic rule, the lack of good governance, their impotency to deal with crisis, their inabilities to form new and better laws and being policy paralyzed, their controversial stance on women rights, child rights, human rights, animal rights, environment, right to information, right to food, right to education, their inability to provide justice and security for all, poor state of infrastructure and health care, and their controversial stance on minority issue and equality. You won't see people discussing these issues even in the slightest and hence restraining themselves from making use of their voting power/rights to form a new government (God) or reform current one. In short, we don't see people discussing about electing their higher government (God).

So this election season, go out, make use of your voting power/right and elect a government and a God that you hope will do the best to bring some positive change or else use NOTA to government or God (no government or God suitable to govern properly) (atheism), but do not abstain from voting and please don't sell you votes.

And most importantly, do a thorough research about the candidates prior of casting your vote.

"Ungli uthao, duniya bachao."

Love, Light and Truth;
The Unknown Poet.

Edible Weapon

You don't need a bomb detonator in your hand to kill tens of thousands of people in a single day, a kitchen knife will suffice.

Food, along with water, which are the basic necessity for the survival of a human being can be used as a deadly weapon to control or to create mass destruction. Almost 1,50,000 people die every day and starvation alone accounts for 25,000 lives out it. This number is much larger than AIDS, malaria and TB combined or any terrorist attack till date. If any other country would have been responsible for so much death, countries would be waging wars against each other. But in this case, its not some other country which is responsible for death on such a large scale, but that country itself.

When a country is under an attack by a foreign force, it spends billions of dollars to offset the attack, but in case of starvation why don't governments do something to prevent it? Is it that the world doesn't produce enough to feed everyone? Mahatma Gandhi's answer to this question would be, “The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.”

The world produces enough food to feed everyone, but most of the food gets wasted. This happens mostly when cooked food gets un-utilized/uneaten or when raw food are fed to livestocks.

Food wastage by being un-utilized/uneaten accounts to 300 million tonnes of food while by feeding to livestocks accounts to nearly 760 million tonnes of food.

We can mitigate the wastage of un-utilized/uneaten food by doing weekly auditing of our grocery so that we don't buy new grocery before consuming the previous ones, by only cooking the amount of food that is actually required, by completely eating what is served in our plates and in the case of excess, by distributing excess of food among the needy.

The wastage of food by feeding to livestocks is the largest part of wastage and which poses severe threat to both, human health and environment.

We feed millions of tonnes of grain to factory farmed animals to filter nutrients through their organs and getting very less amount of food (meat) thus we are wasting a large chunk of food which would have been fed directly to the starving people.

In United States itself, some 95% of soybean and 75% of corn is used as livestock feed in order to produce 1 pound of beef from every 16 pound of grains. If this amount of grain would have fed directly to people, we could have ended world hunger by now.

Out of 22% of the global total Greenhouse gas emission which is caused by the agriculture sector, nearly 80% of it is accounted for the livestock production. As the available technologies for reduction of emissions from livestock production would reduce non-carbon dioxide emissions by less than 20%, we advocate a contraction and convergence strategy to reduce consumption of livestock products, mirroring the widely supported strategy proposed for greenhouse-gas emissions in general.

It is estimated that nearly 70% of the former Latin American forest cover has been cleared for grazing of the livestock, which takes 1/3rd or Earth's entire landmass and hence is the major cause of deforestation.

By choosing a completely plant base diet, we can not only safe billions of animals from terrible fate but will also be able to feed millions of starving people in addition to saving environment from a catastrophic destruction.

Philip Wollen have said, "Every morsel of meat we eat is slapping the tear-stained face of a starving child." Stop using your kitchen knife as an instrument for mass murder. The change is in your hand. Give priority to fork over knives.

Think before you eat and save the planet, humans and animal. Go Vegan!

By Harshad Gupta

Commentary On The Ban Of Vishwaroop

If a motion picture can be banned from public display on the pretext that it might hurt the feelings of certain religious communities, shouldn't religion be banned on the context that it has been hurting and has the potency to continue to hurt the feelings of one and all?
If one go through the religious scripture of any and all religion, one would find ample amount of evidence that clearly put forth the point that each and every religion condemns the believers of each and every other religion in addition to condemning non-believers and certain stratum of their own religious community.
Coming back to the point, although I haven't seen the motion picture yet, but what I have heard from the news channel, stating the reason for the ban of the motion picture is that the motion picture speaks about some terrorist organisation outside the political boundary of Indian Republic and some organisation inside the political boundary of Indian Republic feels offended by that.
I don't see any reason why any organisation inside the Indian political boundary should feel offended by whatever has been said about the fictitious/non-fictitious terrorist organisation until and unless they are affiliated to that terrorist organisation outside the Indian political boundary.
Some political organisation are playing political games in order to gain some political mileage out of the whole issue and hence have banned the motion picture from public display in their ruling state on the pretext that the public display of the motion picture will disrupt the law and order situation. Well, in that state, all I have to say is that the anti-social elements who disrupt the law and order situation should be blocked instead of banning the motion picture.
On this context, for the political organisation who have banned Vishwaroop I will quote Benjamin Franklin, "Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."

Embrace The Future

A sustainable future is spreading its arms to embrace us all, like it was doing twenty years back, when leaders from every corners of the world where flying down to Rio for the first Earth Summit, to witness an unprecedented political will and commitment among governments to make a paradigm shift to sustainable development.

In June this year, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will once again fly down to Rio to attend the Rio+20, which is offering us a unique opportunity for our mutually interdependent world to secure renewed political commitment for Sustainable Development.

At Rio+20, seven critical issues like jobs, energy, cities, food, water, oceans and disasters will be dealt with, by focusing upon two theme agreed upon by the member states:

1. Green economy within the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.
2. Institutional framework for sustainable development.

Out of these seven critical issues, food is an issue which when dealt, can help us in dealing with other issues like public health, climate change, forest preservation and social justice.

Food which is one of the basic requirement for the survival of a being, along with water and shelter, is getting scarce as the human population surges towards predicted 9.1 billion people by the year 2050 and thus there is a call for an immediate change in our personal dietary habits as well as governmental policies pertaining to agricultural industries.

Advocating a Vegan lifestyle is the most effective yet the most neglected strategy for reducing food crisis, climate change, and deforestation, and therefore organizations should consider advocating veganism as a major part of their global warming campaigns. At a minimum, environmental advocates should mention veganism in any information about the actions the individuals can take to address global warming. Government policy should also encourage vegan diets. Possible mechanisms should include an environmental tax on meat similar to one already recommended on gasoline, and a shift in farm subsidies to encourage plant agriculture over animal agriculture.

Albert Einstein, a noted physicist can be attributed for the quote, "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet" which clearly depicts that a shift from an animal-based diet to a plant based diet can help us in tackling following issues:

1) Food Crisis: In many reports, it has been estimated that an animal based diet will consume 20 kilos of grains to produce one kilo of edible beef, 7.5 kilos of grain for a kilo of edible pork and 4.5 kilos for a kilo of edible chicken. Thus, if we consume the present amount of grains directly instead of feeding it to the livestock in order to produce the aforementioned amount of animal based food, we will be able to feed more mouths with the same quantity of grain that we produce at present and hence can tackle food crisis.

2) Public Health: A recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that red- and processed-meat intakes were associated with modest increases in total mortality, cancer mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality, and that the higher the red- and processed-meat intake, the higher the risk.
The report states that the people who consume animal-based food are 27% more likely to have cardiovascular disease, 20% more likely to have cancer and 11% of deaths in men and 16% of deaths in women could be prevented if people decreased their meat consumption to 4 g/1000 kcal.

3) Climate Change: According to a paper by Prof. A J McMichael, PhD, out of 22% of the global total Greenhouse gas emission which is caused by the agriculture sector, which is equal to that of the industries and slightly more than that of the transportation sector, nearly 80% is accounted for the livestock production. Methane and N2O (which are both potent GHG and closely associated with livestock production) contribute much more to this sector’s warming effect than does CO2. Halting the increase of GHG emissions from agriculture, especially livestock production, should therefore be a top priority, because it could curb warming fairly rapidly. As the available technologies for reduction of emissions from livestock production, applied universally at realistic costs, would reduce non-carbon dioxide emissions by less than 20%, we advocate a contraction and convergence strategy to reduce consumption of livestock products, mirroring the widely supported strategy proposed for greenhouse-gas emissions in general.

4) Forest Preservation: Prince Charles on Deforestation: “We have 18 months to halt deforestation of the rain forests to preserve life on this planet.” (European Parliament, 14 February 2008)

According to a report by UN FAO, ranching-induced deforestation is one of the main causes of loss of some unique plant and animal species in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America as well as carbon release in the atmosphere. It is estimated that nearly 70% of the former Latin American forest cover has been cleared for grazing of the livestock, which takes 1/3rd or Earth's entire landmass and hence is the major cause of deforestation. Further, the loss of these precious forest area posses treat of extinction of wildlife that are to be found in those forest area.

5) Social Justice: Justice is a term that means "righteousness". When we speak of justice, we speak of justice for all, irrespective of any discrimination and not confining it only to certain strata of the society. So when we speak of justice, why do we forget the justice for the livestock animals? Why can't they enjoy an equal right of well-being? When we consider about the adverse effect of climate change due to food habits, not only on the lives of people living in USA but also on the lives of people in Africa, then why don't we consider the effect of it on the lives of all the billions of animals that are wasted just for few pounds of meat? I believe that if justice will fall upon these billions of animals then only there can be any genuine chance of social justice for each and every one of us, as Dr. King has rightly said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

So, more than anything else, we should shift from an animal based diet to a plant based for the sake of being just to these billions of animals that are wasted every year just for few pounds of meat.

It will be very interesting to see if our leaders and policy makers will take some bold steps to embrace a sustainable future, which have been waiting for years to be embraced, by making polices that will encourage plant based agriculture and discourage animal based agriculture and thus make a paradigm shift to sustainable development.

~Caritas, Lux, et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

[Image Courtesy: tcktcktck.org]

Say no to fire carckers.

LIVE & LET LIVE, LET US SAVE GOOD ENVIRONS TO OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS!

If you want to know “why you should not Burst Crackers”, kindly read through!

Firstly, some basics

Do you know really Deepavali is?

Deevali, or Divali is a major Indian festival, and a significant festival in Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism which means Deep (light) avali (rows), a row of lights that taught us to vanquish ignorance that subdues humanity and to drive away darkness that engulfs the light of knowledge. Deepavali is also celebrated by Buddhists of Nepal

In many parts of India, it is the homecoming of Raja Ram of Ayodhya after a 14-year exile in the forest. The people of Ayodhya welcomed Ram by lighting rows of lamps. Southern India marks it as the day Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura. In Jainism it marks the nirvana of Lord Mahavira. The Sikhs celebrate Diwali for a different reason; on this day, the Sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind Ji, was freed from imprisonment along with 52 Hindu Kings (political prisoners) whom he had arranged to be released as well. After his release he went to Darbar Sahib (golden temple) in the holy city of Amritsar. In happiness they lit candles and diyas to greet the Guru. In India, Diwali is now considered to be a national festival, and the aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed by most Indians regardless of faith

So, Deepavali was celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe as the "Festival of Lights," where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being.

But how do we celebrate it today?

Diwali today means.

.

More ‘air, noise, water, land & social’ pollution due to use of lots of fire-crackers.

Which mean more patients for hospitals during & after the festival, more darkness rather than light, more pollution and a significant rise in global warming.

More evil than good, more Ravan than Ram, more hinsa and asatya than Lord Mahavir and more ignorance than Guru Hargobind Ji.

Today, it is celebrated by us as the “Festival of Darkness".

Do you know what educated Indians think about using fire cracker (Pataka) (especially during divali).

Here are some of their thoughts:

1. What kind of celebration is that when you disturb little children and elderly people, when you pollute the atmosphere, scare animals, dirty the street, and encourage an industry that we all know depends on child labour (it's very easy to make a sticker that says 'no child labour'). Our country is already noisy crowded and crazy with traffic and stress .. why on earth do these people want to add to that?

2. The Festival of Lights, diyas are lit to guide the goddess Lakshmi into the home. Surely all the crackers exploding like bombs must make her think they are trying to chase her away!
3. I guess it is like the person said about getting drunk at Christmas parties, a true Christian would not do that. And similarly, I suppose a true Hindu would not burst crackers on Diwali.
4. We can't stop people from doing this, but I hope we can educate and make people aware of the dangers and the "rudeness" of bursting crackers.

5. I really don't understand why people simply waste their money on crackers, which is even dangerous to life some times.Instead of that we can light the candles or 'deepam' in and out of our house and make this festival even more grand with less money.

6. In many schools, teacher's are asking their pupils to take oaths that they won't light crackers. This is really positive move that every one should follow.
Perhaps crackers are for people whose souls are so numb that they need this outlet to feel alive .,,, I almost feel sorry for them

During this festival (3 to 5 days), It has become a custom to enjoy Diwali through “Lighting Lamps” “Exchanging Sweets & Gifts” & "BURSTING FIRE CRACKERS".

First two are better way to enjoy, but what about the third one??

Are you aware what is the impact of bursting Fire crackers on the environment??

.

It affects environment in the following ways:

1. Air Pollution affecting health especially to diseased persons, aged people, children & pregnant women.

2. Water & land pollution will pollute our resources rivers, lakes.

3. Increased Noise levels can cause deafness/stress to many.

4. It takes several weeks to bring back normal air quality.

5. Fire hazards causing heavy damages to life and property.

6. Social nuisance leading to community disharmony.

7. According to the CPCB, 95 per cent of the crackers available in the market violate noise and air pollution norms.

8. Thanks to crackers, pollution levels of Delhi rose to 10 times the permissible limit on Diwali day 2002, when noise levels touched 140 decibels.

9. Release of Greenhouse Gases which results in global warming which is responsible for floods, hurricanes, melting of ice, extreme hot and cold weather, death of polar bears (they starve to death because ice caps in Arctic are melting), migration of people of Tuvalu (smallest country which is just 5 m above sea level), etc , etc..

The indicators of depleting environmental quality are harmful gases in the atmosphere, degradation of land, global warming, ozone depletion, loss of species and habitat and air and water pollution.

Are you aware what is the impact of bursting Fire crackers on the health??

It affects health in the following ways:

.

Highly polluting nature of these firecrackers lead to a plethora of diseases………

Pollutants	Can lead to...
Suspended Particulate Matter	Asthma, cancer, restrictive lung diseases, pneumoconiosis
Respirable Particulate Matter	Respiratory illness (chronic bronchitis and asthma), heart diseases
Sulpher Dioxide(SO2)	Eye burning, headache, respiratory problems like pulmonary emphysema, cancer, heart diseases
Nitrous Oxides	Lung irritation, chest tightness, viral infection, airway resistance

There is a 25% increas in asthma patients at OPD after Diwali. Air pollution rises 6-10 times adn the after-effects last for weeks, according to Dr. Pramod V Niphadkar of St. George Hospital.

Most disturbing is the increse of heavy metals in the atmosphere. Studies show that he heavy metals remain in the atmosphere for long and then get oxidised before entering the food chain through vegetables and fish.

The level of suspended particles in the air increases alarmingly during Diwali, causing eye, throat and nose problems. Although most of us do not feel the immediate impact, these problems can later develop into serious health hazards, according to Dr Rajesh Chawla of Apollo hospital, New Delhi.
Suspended particulate matter (SPM) exposure to the level of 100 ppm results in headache and reduced mental acuity. The effects are more pronounced in people with heart, lung or central nervous system diseases. Sulphur dioxide is readily soluble and dissolves in the larger airways of the respiratory system. This stimulates a contraction at 2 to 5 parts per million (ppm). At higher concentrations severe contraction restricts the breathing process.
Nitrogen dioxide is less soluble and so penetrates to the smaller airways and into the lungs. They destroy the linings of the respiratory surface, thereby reducing the intake of oxygen for the body. These cause respiratory allergies like asthma especially to the susceptible population.
Causes throat and chest congestion, and are likely to aggravate problems for those already suffering from coughs, colds and allergies.
High decibel level results in restlessness, anger, fidgetiness, impulsive behavior and over-reaction to situations. Most crackers used have more than 80 dB noise that can cause temporary hearing loss, says K Agarwal, chairman, Health Care Foundation, New Delhi
Scientific data to suggests that noise pollution can cause leads to hearing loss, high blood pressure, heart attack and sleep disturbances. Normal decibel level for humans is 60 dB. An increase by 10 decibels means double the noise volume and intensity, says Agarwal.

Normal decibel level for human beings is 60. An increase by 10 decibels means double the noise volume and intensity.

Children, pregnant women and those suffering from respiratory problems suffer the most due to excessive noise. It results in making them hyperactive or withdrawn, says Dr Jitendra Nagpal, psychiatrist, Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (VIMHAS), Delhi.
Allergic bronchitis, acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis, ephysema, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases), allergic rhinitis, laryngitis, ssinusitis, pneumonia and common cold increase during this times, reports Dr Naarendra B Rawal, consultant chest physician and pulmonologist. The number of his patients doubles during Diwali. The firework is one of the provoking factors for childhood bronchial asthma, he adds.
The Toxics Link study pointed out that there is threat of exposure even from the unburnt material. These particles are very small (1 to 5 microns in size) and contain metals along with carbon.

Frightening, isn't it! Time we took a fresh look at the way we celebrate Diwali if we want to escape cancer, alzheimer's and other deadly diseases. The only way to do so is to educate the children who are tomorrow's adults. Let us not leave more carbon footprints than we need to.

Celebrate Diwali by all means but do it meaningfully. After all, we have to inhabit this planet for a long time and all of us would like our children to inherit a cleaner and safer planet.

Are you still not convinced that why you should not use fire crackers than this is for all animal and pets lovers.

Animals are fleeing in panic; some bump headlong into the next car hurting themselves severely. Others go and hide themselves trembling for fear. Others again grab objects thrown towards them with their mouth imagining they were toys, with the effect that they explode in their mouth; dogs die in the presence of their masters who remain shocked and dismayed ("Dog is killed by firework thugs")

The above description does not stem from a battlefield or an earthquake site: it is the vivid description of how animals experience fireworks.

For us human beings fireworks have become unbearably loud and have resulted to many thousands each year in inner-ear injuries and even in final hearing damage. Many animal species have an extremely sensitive ear and a cracker, therefore, impairs their hearing more than our human ear! Cats hear better than dogs and much better than human beings; they suffer from loud noises at least as much as a person with a heavy headache. A cat or a dog which is exposed to the bursting of a cracker can endure a long-lasting traume, even an irreversible ear damage. Fireworks lasting for hours are an acoustical torture for animals. Bunnies, guinea pigs, birds etc. are easily frightened and can suffer, as consequence of the loud noise, of a heart impact.

Fireworks can release heaviest health damage to animals up to shock conditions with death sequences.

Birds can lose orientation for quite some time because of the unexpected glare of fireworks rockets.

Animals which get too near to exploding fireworks become victims of burns and eye damage.

Some incidents:

1. At least two dogs died and more than 15o were listed as runaways during the weekend's noisy celebrations of Diwali.
2. A couple of days after Diwali’s fireworks displays, hundreds of birds were found dead on Beach. Finding so many dead birds in and near the ocean is so unusual that biologists believe the deaths were the result of the excessive amount of Diwali fireworks ignited this year. One speculation is that the noise of the blasts frightened the birds out to sea where they got tired, lost or confused, and then drowned. Another possibility is that the smoke drove them from their nighttime roosts and they died either from smoke inhalation or drowning when they became exhausted over the water.
3. A warning has been issued by the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association to alert the public to the dangers of frightening guide dogs on firework night. It says: "Numerous guide dogs are so frightened by the noise they have to be sedated, which means they are unable to work for days at a time. Worse, some are even forced into early retirement because they become so nervous of any loud bangs or noises.”
4. A woman, of Horse Rescue Centre, discovered one of the centre's mares lying in a ditch with a badly broken leg. It is thought she had fallen in the night before after being startled by fireworks set off in the area. A number of empty firework cartridge were found in the field where she fell. The vet had to shoot her because she was so badly injured. Her five-months-old foal was with the mare when she died. The foal is just traumatised.
5. A dog has been killed after a firework exploded in a street. Residents believe the incident in happened when a gang of youths started throwing the fireworks. It was not clear whether the firework had been thrown directly at the dog, or it hat picked one up in its mouth before it exploded.
6. About 12 horses took fright and broke out of their field after it's thought that fireworks were set off in the area. One of the horses (5) suffered serious chest injuries after colliding with a car, an other (who's in his 20s) will probably lose one eye.
7. The miniature Doberman leapt out of a bedroom window and ran off after a 15ft fall. Owner says: "There were loads of fireworks being set off and he is terrified of them. I think he just panicked."
8. Akhilesh still bears the scars after being attacked by his own German Shepherd dog in a city park when it was startled by children letting off fireworks.
9. Twelve horses were loose in a pasture when likely bottle-rockets were launched near their barn, bouncing off the roof of the building. The horses were spooked and ran wildly through the pasture. One of the horses suffered an injury to its legs and two horses injured hooves. Tenants renting a house on the property discharged the fireworks.
10. Levi, a dog, was so terrified by fireworks he chewed his way through the aluminium garage door, leaving a "massive pool of blood" behind him. The dog injured his paws and mouth in his desperate scramble to escape the fireworks near his home.
11. A dog died while trying to escape from fireworks. He had been tied up in a backyard and became so terrified it tried to jump a fence, hanging itself in the process.
12. Ringo, a seven-month-old puppy, has died after he was scared by fireworks set off by a group of youths and ran in front of a car.
13. A family says the eruption from an exploding firework frightened their dog Jony so much she died of a heart attack. Jony was being taken for an evening walk when a loud explosion terrified the poor canine. The dog's owner managed to get the dog back to her house, where Jony (9) died of a heart attack.
14. A farmer is demanding compensation after firework display killed one of his sheep and more than 20 unborn lambs. The loud noise of the fireworks display disturbed the sheep in the field next door and one fell into a pound and drowned. 20 ewes also lost their unborn lambs due to the firework display. The farmer was so distraught over the death of his sheep that he threw the carcass into a crowd of children and parents watching the display.

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Harmful effects of Chemicals Used in Crackers:

· Copper: Poison to humans by ingestion. Inhalation of copper dust and fume causes irritation in the respiratory tract. Absorption of excess copper results in "Wilson's disease" in which excess copper is deposited in the brain, skin, liver, pancreas and myocardium (middle muscular layer in the heart).

· Cadmium: Can be poisonous to humans by inhalation, ingestion, intraperitonial, sub-cutaneous, intra-muscular and intravenous routes. Cadmium absorption can damage the kidneys and can cause anaemia. It is a potential human carcinogen. Cadmium causes increased blood pressure and also a disease called "Itai--Itai", which makes bones brittle resulting in multiple fractures.

· Lead: Affects the central nervous system in humans. A poison if ingested, moderately irritating. It can cause cancer of lungs and kidneys and an experimental teratogen. When heated it can emit highly toxic fumes. In inorganic form, it is a general metabolic poison and an enzyme inhibitor. Young children can suffer mental retardation and semi-permanent brain damage by exposure to lead. Incase of lead levels in blood, the disturbing feature is that the natural levels are very close to the lowest safety limits.

· Magnesium: Poison by ingestion, inhalation of magnesium dust and fumes can cause metal fume fever. Particles embedded in the skin can produce gaseous blebs and a gas gangrene. Dangerous fire hazard in the form of dust or flakes when exposed to flames. Manganese in the air has adverse effects on humans. Poisoning takes the form of progressive deterioration in the central nervous system.

· Manganese: An experimental carcinogen and mutagen. Human toxicity caused by dust or fumes. The main symptoms of exposure are languor, sleepiness, weakness, emotional disturbances, spastic gait and paralysis.

· Potassium: Dangerous fire hazard. If there is any confinement, an explosion can occur.

· Sodium: In elemental form, it is highly reactive, particularly with moisture with which it reacts violently and therefore can attack living tissue. When heated in air, it emits toxic fumes of sodium oxide. Dangerous fire hazard when exposed to heat and moisture.

· Zinc: Human skin irritant and effects pulmonary system. Pure zinc powder is non-toxic to humans by inhalation but difficulty arises from oxidation (burning), as it emits zinc fumes. Zinc is perhaps the least toxic of all heavy metals, in fact an essential element in animal and human nutrition, still they become toxic when absorbed in excess. Zinc stimulates the sensation of vomiting. An exposure to 150 mg of zinc can stimulate the process of vomiting in an adult male.

· Nitrate: Large amounts taken by mouth can have serious and even fatal effects. The symptoms are dizziness, abdominal cramps, vomiting, bloody diarrhoea, weakness, convulsions and collapse. Small repeated doses may lead to weakness, general depression, headache and mental impairment. Also there is some implication of increased cancer incidents among those exposed. Highly inflammable and on decomposition they emit highly toxic fumes.

· Nitrite: Large amounts taken by mouth may produce nausea, vomiting, cyanosis, collapse and coma. Repeated small doses can cause a fall in blood pressure, rapid pulse, headaches and visual disturbances. When heated, emit highly toxic fumes of NOx.

· Phosphorous in PO4: Poison to humans. Dangerous fire hazard when exposed to heat or chemical reaction. Poison by inhalation, ingestion, skin contact and subcutaneous routes. Ingestion affects the central nervous system. Toxic quantities have an acute effect on the liver and can cause severe eye damage.

· Sulphur in SO4: Poison to humans by inhalation an eye, skin and mucous membrane irritant and corrosive, an experimental carcinogen. It chiefly affects the upper respiratory tract and the bronchi. It may cause edema of the lungs or glottis, and can produce respiratory paralysis.

Now if this is about the children & adults who play with firecrackers.

What about the 1000s of children who make them?

Here are some facts:

We are not doing justice to children of age group 6 to 14 years who manufacture these crackers who are the victims of this profession, will suffer from skin & respiratory disorders with shorter span of life.

Sivakasi in Tamilnadu produces more than 90% of firecrackers in India. More than 100 thousand children aged 3-14 work there 12-16 hrs a day for a meager Rs.10-15.

The corrosive gunpowder mixture with which they work eats away their tender skins first and their flesh later

So bear in mind that when we spend 100s of rupees on these polluting crackers we are also encouraging those who employ these little children & helping the 750 crore fireworks industry flourish!

In the process we are also denying these vulnerable children, their basic rights to read, write and play.

In the name of all those poor children who sacrifice their joy and even life please stop using firecrackers. And let the Diwali drive away our darkness that engulfs the light of knowledge…………

When we use these crackers we are also violating the directives of The Supreme Court in Sep 2001 regarding firecrackers.

In New Delhi during previous years Diwali, many of the school children took oath not to burst crackers.

The money you spend senselessly for buying firecracker, you can donate them for some social cuase, to poor children who don’t have money even to buy food for themselves.

In fact in 2005, 2006 & 2007 we got a very good response to this cause & found so many wise citizens in & around Bangalore not bursting crackers during this festival.

Please forward this message to atleast 10 of your friends & make them aware of not to burst crackers atleast from now onwards considering its ill effects on environment.

Being responsible citizens: Join hands with any environmental groups to prevent from bursting crackers in the city and celebrate "HAPPY DIWALI WITHOUT CRAKERS". Don’t ever purchase crackers which amounts to environmental degradation like air, water, land & ground water pollution. Causes health hazards, inconvenience to asthma patients, infants, pregnant women and senior citizens.

It is concerning to note that some environmental groups & government agencies are simply taking precautions for safe bursting of crackers, rather than its prevention. Are they aware of the real damage to environment even if used in safest ways?

By not purchasing crackers, we are doing humane service to society.

Do you know that many companies opting for ISO 14001 Certification are struggling to dispose small quantities of Hazardous wastes, by having material Safety Data Sheets?

Whereas the amount of hazardous chemicals out of these crackers is alarming! recklessly dumping the hazardous chemicals, without any control, creating environmental havoc.

Who is responsible for control & safe disposal of all these hazardous wastes from these crackers?

Is it the Government, NGO, Corporate community, or Citizens in general?

If already purchased, "DONT USE IT, RATHER DAMPEN THE FUSES AND WE SHALL LOOK FOR ITS SAFE DISPOSAL"

• Children, stop using firecrackers…instead demand your parents to buy toys, gifts, dress, & books in place of crackers.

• Parents & teachers, urge your children/pupil not to use it...

• Employers, Discourage your staff from using firecrackers by any means more importantly stop distributing crackers in the form of festival gifts.

• Television & other media, Don’t allow them to advertise on fire cracker’s, rather bring awareness in support of preventing cracker usage.

• Government, Discourage the sale, distribution & usage of Firecrackers.

• Common man... Use your common sense not to burst fire crackers and work towards sustenance of Mother Nature.

• Environmentalists & NGO’s. Kindly unite & work towards a common goal “reducing all sorts of pollution due to manufacture, sale, distribution & bursting of crackers during these diwali days.”

LIVE & LET LIVE, LET US SAVE GOOD ENVIRONS TO OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS!

We definately don't want all this to happen with you. So stay away from fire crackers.

----------------------ISSUED IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST-----------------------

Forward this message & protect your city from pollution.

Love, Light and Truth

Harshad Gupta

Love, essence of care!

Love is the most common word we hear. Many a times, we must have heard someone using the word "Love" for someone living (or in some case, that someone who is dead) like a mom saying to her child,"I love you", a child to his parents,"I love you", one friend to another,"I love you", a grandson exclaiming,"I loved my grand parents" and even a boy to his dog,"I love you". But sometime, we can also hear someone using the word "Love" for some non-living entity, like a student saying,"I love books", a footballer saying,"I love football", a painter saying, "I love painting" and even sometimes you can find me saying,"I love Physics".

As I have always been a dumb boy, I was unable to understand the meaning of love. So, I went out and asked the new age kids (not the "Indigo" ones, but the guys of my generation) about the meaning of love, to which they answered, "Love is spending time with 'Beautiful faces' that attracts us". But unfortunately, I was not quite convinced with the answer so I thought it would be better if I myself will try to answer this question.

So, I started my pursuit of finding what exactly love is. I googled love and the first thing I found about love was that love is an emotion. But this much knowledge was not enough, so I tried to find what is the effect of love on emotion. For this, I took help of Mathematics, one of the beautiful sister of Physics, and partially differentiate love to get what exactly love is.

So, what love comes out to be is like this:

Love is the beauty of your face. (from new age kid's frame of reference)

= Love is that we care for your smile which make your face beautiful (partially differentiating beauty with respect to smile)

= Love is that we care for your happiness which brings a smile on your face (partially differentiating smile with respect to happiness)

= Love is that we care for all those good times that makes you happy (partially differentiating happiness with respect to good times)

= Love is that we care for all those achievements of yours that makes up good time (partially differentiating good time with respect to achievements)

= Love is that we care for all those efforts put-in by you that makes you successful (partially differentiating achievement with respect to effort)

= Love is that we care for all that those requirement you need to put-in an effort (partially differentiating effort with respect to facilities)

= Love is that we care to work so as to fulfill all of your requirement (partially differentiating requirement with respect to work done by us)

= Love is that we care to love you which make us work for you (partially differentiating work done by us with respect to love)

= Love is that we care for all those people who loves you (partially differentiating love with respect to people who loves you)

= Love is that we care for all those care that makes people love you (partially differentiating love with respect to care)

So, love is that care that makes us care about everything that should be cared about to make you feel that you are being cared.

Now, this definition of love can hold good for someone living, but what about those time when we use the word "love" for non-living entity. For those time, we love something means we respect, care and appreciate the greatness of that thing because being with it makes us feel that we are being loved. Like when I say, "I love Mother Nature", I mean that I respect and care about Mother Nature because when I am close to her, I feel I am being loved and cared.

So, finally I got to know what love is and hopes that the "new age kids" can see the meaning of love from my frame of reference and understand that love is a very beautiful thing that can make us respect and care for every other thing in the world and which can make our world the best place to live where everybody lives in peace and harmony, being happy about other's success rather than fighting uselessly out of jealousy.

In the end, I would like to tell Holy Truth, Mother Nature, my parents, family, friends, Teachers, you, all living being and every other thing in this world that I respect you, I care for you and above all, I Love You.

~Caritas, Lux et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.