GREEN  LIFE


               ' What is LIFE '  is explained somewhere in this web site. There it is stated that there are different types of people on the          
Earth like foresters, urbanites etc. Foresters due to their  
'all-green'  environment, lead an  'all-green'  life. Farmers or agriculturists of        
the pre-industrial times also lived  fully green lives. Modern urban lives are a consequence  of scientific and technological developments,      
industrialization, mechanised transports, concrete  buildings and electronic communication facilities. Almost anything in a city is artficial,      
even plants and trees are arrayed and trimmed architecturally to suit locality, offices, tourism etc. Hence urban lives are  fully artificial,             
going to extremes of uncontrolled effluents,emissions, noise and congestion. At present many cities have become problem ares in many     
parts of the Earth. Presently more than 50% of global population reside in cities. Seeing basically, all urban problems are caused by (1)        
high population density, (2) uncontrolled industrial development and pollutions,(3) income disparities which cause social imbalances and   
tensions, (4) uncontrolled growth of personal vehicles, (5) ecological imbalances and (6) speed, noise, congestion etc. The more                   
humans 'progressed' away from 'all-green', healthy forests to modern cities, the more they became unbalanced with nature and                    
destructive to environments and natural resources.   

                               The most serious global problem, threatening all on the Earth now  is global warming mainly due to green house            
gases,  pollutants from industrial units and fossil fuel uses.
Hence controlling and reducing pollution in cities is the way to clean and             
green cities and as a consequence to green the Earth. (Compared to cities, small townships and villages are less or negligibly polluted).     
Thus a global solution is arrived at;  GREEN  CITIES  MAKE  GREEN EARTH.
Then GREEN LIFE is possible.  




                     






                                   




                                 How to make the polluted cities clean and green? (See second-from-end paragraph). This needs a basic                        
understanding of urban pollution. The main causes of urban pollution are, (1)  emissions and wastes from various industrial units, (2)          
sewage, (3) emissions from vehicles and similar machines, and (4) various flourocarbons. Noise pollution, vehicle congestion,                      
particulate matter etc. are also big health hazards. Taking into account global warming alone, emissions which add to green house gases   
are only important. The green house gases are water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, chloroflourocarbons                   
hydroflourocarbons, perflourocarbons, and sulphur hexaflouride. The first five constituents occur naturally also on the Earth. These natural   
   gases or constituents are to be present in the atmosphere or the Earth in optimum and balanced levels to maintain healthy  background    
   temperatures for all living beings to live productively. If the concentrations increase or go berserk by natural or industrial reasons (e.g.         
   production of the last four constituents), plants and animals would suffer to various degrees.(Carbon dioxide concentrations increased by about 40% from 280 ppm during pre-industrial times to 391 ppm in 2010).Sea level rise, melting of glaciers, changes   
   in ocean currents, climate changes of various intencities etc. are predicted. Related social changes, poverty, diseases, militancy etc. also  
   are possible. This is only a small list of calamities predicted or feared now. But the exact nature of these calamities is not predictable.  If    
   the present harmful concentrations are not brought under control and balance, nature or mythically Gaia - goddess of Earth, (James            
   Lovelock  1995,  Gaia - a new look at life on Earth, Oxford University  Press pp.148)  would start reacting by various ways. Some scientists  
   say that some of the presently seen weather aberrations are due to this reaction.       

                                 If you ask any villager who just visited a big city, about his/her opinion on  ' what was the worst or most tntolerable           
thing in in the city' , the reply would be,
"I was horrified to see the huge number of speeding  cars, trucks, buses and 2 wheelers which           
make roads congested and breathing difficult ". Now ask a city dweller who returns from a holiday to a hill resort, about the most                      
interesting thing the person saw  during the holidays. The answer would be,
" I liked the fragrance of clean air and green fields and the          
simple rural people and their domestic animals". So the most contrasting  things  which are present in cities are polluted, dusty air and         
noisy, crowded roads. Both are due to uncontrolled growth in human population, vehicles and industrial units.

                                 There is nothing new in these findings or conclusions. These are known things, discussed or debated many times at   
different levels. Many governments and organizations took actions and are acting. Governments legislate and try to enforce to various             
degrees of success. Then ' why the failures?' , ' why the increasing deterioration or destruction of environments, social disparities and           
tensions' . The answer is certain fundamentals and basics of group life (professional, national etc.) are forgotten or not followed. The             
prevailing mood seems to be,
'let us not bother about basics or long term consequences, find out some temporary solutions or do some     
patchworks'.

                                 In 2009 I wrote in my diary, " All conflicts , problems and fights arise out of imbalances between individuals or                  
members(e.g. family members, citizens) of groups (e.g. families, nations, companies) and imbalances or conflicts between short term         
and long term interests of individuals and groups (e.g. children vs. parents, industry  vs. agriculture, taste vs. health)". In the case of a             
family, children being children and short-sighted, their long term interests are normally looked after by parents. So many of the family             
conflicts can be due to this short term  vs. long term perceptions. Similarly taste and health. A person should eat nutritious food for good       
health of the whole body ; tasty foods are only for  ' tasting-a bit '  to please taste buds (or as appetizer). Once the causes of a problem are     
identified, solutions are easy or nearby. What are they? Fundamentals and practical aspects of  projects (of both public and private                 
sectors) are to be thoroughly planned to match and balance both short and long term needs and cosequences. Evidently, pollution,                
environment  and public health come into the scene with high priority. Similarly, citizens'  aspirations and government's plans and projects   
are to be balanced for integrated growth of all sections. All citizens should  be educated about the long term consequences of  '                       
all-mechanised' or artificial life styles, use of personal vehicles and health, uncontrolled or wasteful wealth accumulation, imbalances with   
enviornment, consumerism and wealthy - unhealthy syndrome. Many urbanites lead fussy, confused and tensioned lives. They are to be       
educated on
healthy, balanced ways of life which is possible only in green cities.

                                 After  writing on developmental aspects like industrial pollutions, hydropower, organic farming and sustainable               
development in monsoon-fed countries, I   wrote in 2005 (Science of Asian Monsoon  pp. 130-143), " this present situation necessitates       
planning and controlling of industries, population, urbanization etc.". Considering forests and villages as clean and unspoiled, compared     
to urban areas and as only indirectly or secondarily polluted, cities stand to be cleaned, monitored and greened. How to do these huge         
tasks which needs inputs from all sections of national communities for many years?
Firstly, existing levels of pollutants are to be reduced    
to healthy levels by enforcing rules and regulations on industrial units, users of vehicles and other machines and agencies for sewage         
disposal.
Simultaneously, new industries and vehicles are to be permitted only on the basis of  ' nil  or no-net harmful pollutants'. Next,          
administrative and popular measures
are to be carried out  with high priority to reduce population growth. (Present global population of  >6   
billions  is perhaps 25% more than a sustainable global limit! See also www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimum_population).
Governments and city administrators should provide better public transport facilities limited to only 3 levels of comfort. Cut down productions of  vehicles which cause pollution and regulate tightly uses of      vehicles in city areas, taking into consideration congestion and noise. Encourage cycleing and walking by controlling movements and           parking of motor vehicles. Maintain lots of open spaces, public gardens and parks. These measures can ensure clean cities within a few    years. ( Transport experiments carried out in some cities for short periods showed significant reductions in levels of pollutants).

                                 Now what are the threats? They are, sectaranism or communal bias, selfish or partial attitudes, lack of long term           
planning, greed and existing establishments of consumerism, waste and corruption. Gandhiji long back wrote;  "the
(green) Earth has          
enough to satisfy the needs of all, but not for satisfying the greed
(on hot Earth) of some ". (Sorry for extra, but timely, words in brackets           
added by the author).                    







                                 TAKING INTO ACCOUNT  
PRESENT GLOBAL PROBLEMS AND AVAILABLE SOLUTIONS, NATIONAL AND GLOBAL,      
THERE SEEMS TO BE AN ESCAPE ROUTE;
 " GREEN CITIES MAKE GREEN EARTH "  







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WHAT  IS  GREEN  LIFE?  Fully or largely or balancingly natural ways of living wherein
citizens' health, both mental and physical, is considered as first priority and maintained
by all, personally and collectively,  and pollution is limited to harmless and absorbable
levels within atmosphere, land and water bodies.