earthPoems
Environment, British Columbia and the PunjabArchive for October 31, 2008
Locals miss Ravi’s waters
By Ali Usman
LAHORE: Residents of areas adjoining the Sagian Bridge over the River Ravi have said that while they appreciate efforts by the Tourism Development Corporation Pakistan (TDCP) to provide Lahoris with entertainment, they long for the days when the river was filled with water.
The TDCP organised a jeep rally, the Lahore Rally Cross 2008, on the dry riverbed of the Ravi two weeks ago so Lahoris could enjoy the first jeep rally in their city. However, the stark contrast of a dry riverbed being used as a racing track has stirred feelings of longing in people living in localities alongside the Ravi. Talking to Daily Times, they said that it was good that the government was attempting to make use of the land occupied by the river. However, they regretted that the river had become so dry that it could only be used as a racing track.
40 years: Muhammad Rafique, a boater aged about 70, was born and raised in the area. He said that he still remembered the days when he used to row a boat across the river. “The river used to look beautiful back then. However, it’s been 40 years since I last saw water in the river when it wasn’t flood season. It was nice to see jeeps being driven on the riverbed, but it is unfortunate that the once mighty river has been reduced to a racing track. What was once a source of water now looks like a desert,” he said. He hoped that the government would formulate more ways to utilise the river land, saying that it now contained more sewerage water than river water. Muhamad Khalil, 69, works for a contractor who uses sand from the riverbed at various construction sites. He said that he remembered how the river used to flow during Ayub’s regime, adding that after that it had started to flow only during the flood season. He said that the river used to help reduce the heat in the area and was a source of great comfort for the city’s residents.
Khalil said that while he thought the jeep rally had been a great utility for the river, a dry river could never compare to a flowing one. “I am not very educated and don’t know much about complicated things. All I know is that the flowing river provided many utilities, while the dry river only provides sand that can be sold to contractors,” he added.
Ignorance is bliss: However, the youth, who have never seen the river flowing at full capacity, do not seem to notice the contrast. Inamullah, a student, said that he had been very excited by the jeep rally. He said that he hoped that such rallies would continue in future, adding that they were great sources of entertainment.
Inequality in US cities rivals Africa
Saturday, October 25, 2008
UNITED NATIONS: Major US cities including New York, Washington, Atlanta and New Orleans have levels of economic inequality that rival cities in Africa, according to a UN report published on Thursday.
The most balanced city in the world is Beijing, with the most egalitarian cities on average to be found in western Europe, the report said.
“The authors (of the study) find that though the cities in the United States of America have relatively lower levels of poverty than many other cities in the developed world, their levels of income inequality are quite high,” the report said.
In the United States and Canada one of the key factors in determining levels of economic inequality is race, the report said.
Iraq’s environment scarred by the war
Saturday, October 25, 2008
By Aseel Kami
Long after the shooting and bombing stops, Iraqis will still be dying from the war. Destroyed factories have become untended hazardous waste sites, leaking poison into the water and the soil.
Forests in the north and palm groves in the south have been obliterated to remove the enemy’s hiding places. Rivers are salted, water is contaminated with sewage, and land is strewn with mines, unexploded bombs, chemical waste, rubble and trash.
“When we talk about it, people may think we are overreacting. But in fact the environmental catastrophe that we inherited in Iraq is even worse than it sounds,” Iraqi Environment Minister Nermeen Othman said in an interview.
“War destroys countries’ environments, not just their people. War and its effects have led to changes in the social, economic and environmental fabric,” she said. “It will take centuries to restore the natural environment of Iraq.” The ecological destruction has already caused increases in rates of cancer and infectious disease. “Most of the infectious diseases and cancer are environmental diseases. When we talk about the environment we mean health.”
Although the fighting has not stopped, violence is now at four-year lows. Work has already begun to clean up after the war, but it is slow. With the help of the United Nations Environment Programme in 2005, Iraq identified 25 pollution hotspots that needed the most urgent cleanup, many of them military manufacturing sites. Two sites — the Qadisiya chemical factory in southern Iraq which was bombed in 2003 and saturated with toxic residue, and the al-Suwayra fertiliser factory south of Baghdad — have so far been cleaned up. Othman said it will cost billions of dollars to clean the rest of the sites.
The environment ministry has planted 17 million trees in Iraq so far this year — up from 7.5 million last year —helping to undo the damage in places where palm groves and forests were chopped down to remove hiding places for rebels. By far the biggest environmental success since the 2003 invasion has been the re flooding of Iraq’s vast southern marshes, where the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates flood the land before reaching the Gulf.
The marshes were drained by former dictator Saddam Hussein, to divert the water for agriculture and to make the long border with Iran easier to defend. That destroyed a unique, diverse natural habitat for wildlife and wrecked a centuries-old native Marsh Arab culture. “The drainage of the marshes is one of the ugly crimes against the environment of the world,” said Othman. With help from the UN, the Japanese government and local efforts, Iraq has re flooded and restored 55 percent of the marshland since 2003. Such successes are important, but a host of other environmental issues have yet to be tackled. Iraq is planted with 25 million land mines. Chemical weapons and depleted uranium munitions have created 105 contaminated areas, the minister said. Sewers need attention and more than 60 per cent of Iraq’s fresh water is polluted. Upriver dams built by Syria, Turkey and Iran have worsened the damage caused by neglect of Iraq’s infrastructure, increasing water shortages, salination and pollution.
“I do not blame the government’s emphasis on security because the security issue is important. But the environment is also important,” Othman said.
