On the night of December 2, 1984, the world’s worst chemical disaster devastated a small town in India. The Bhopal Gas Tragedy has gone down in history and few people are unaware of the facts. Of how 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas came swooping out of a Union Carbide pesticide plant. Of how the lethal fumes engulfed a sleeping town. Of how, by the time, people woke up and realised what was happening, it was too late for many of them. The gas had killed 3800 people and maimed another 11,000. The death toll continues to rise with 15,000 dead and 20 years on, tens of thousands still suffer serious symptoms from contact with the gas.

Twenty-three years later, the people of Bhopal are still battling diseases such as paralysis, partial blindness and impaired immune systems and waiting for justice. Dow Chemicals, the company that merged with Union Carbide, washed its hands off the Bhopal tragedy even though it was clearly proven that negligence had caused the disaster. After much fighting, they finally agreed to give survivors, who have to live with chronic illnesses or brain damage their whole lives, an average of $500 dollars each. In a press release, Dow spokesperson said that “$500 is plenty good for an Indian.” Splendid, isn’t it?

Here is a snapshot of how methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas affects the body.

To date, the abandoned factory continues to pollute the environment. Effluents poison the ground water. Lead and mercury float in the breast milk of mothers. Greenpeace has a detailed timeline. They don’t seem to have updated it after 2003 but it gives a snapshot of events until then. Read and weep.

Meanwhile look at Dow’s tremendous PR efforts here. Frankly, there’s something revolting about the public relations (or ‘crisis management’ as it is called) machinery that kicks into action at such times like a pack of well-trained hyenas. All laughing to the tune of lies.

This satirical website on Dowethics says it best.

We are part of an ever-evolving global society - one that values organizations such as Dow not only for our products and services, but also for the distinctive image we present to our world and its people. We don’t want people to think “chemicals” when they hear “Dow” — we want them to hear “Living. Improved Daily.” We don’t want them to think of a corporation striving to maximize profits, we want them to think of a good neighbor.

Therefore, our contributions must extend beyond profit performance. We strongly believe that if we are to be successful in the 21st Century, we must simultaneously excel in all three elements of development: economic prosperity, corporate responsibility and shareholder stewardship. And unless we’re frequently and visibly expressing a deep concern about Sustainable Development, we’re missing opportunities to position Dow as the caring, concerned global citizen our customers must believe us to be.

Yesterday, survivors marked the anniversary by going on protest marches to demand justice and holding a torchlight rally to remember the dead. They need all the voice they can muster because their own government is certainly not going to shout, or even whimper, for them. In October, a news article reported:

The centre is all set to pave the way for Dow Chemicals to invest in India, by removing all “legal hurdles” related to the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, one of the world’s biggest industrial disasters that claimed thousands of lives.

The Department of Industries has moved a Cabinet note asking the government to absolve Dow Chemicals of all legal liabilities.…. The note provides for withdrawal of the affidavit and out-of-court settlement. It is based on the Law Ministry’s opinion that the government can opt to settle out of court with Dow Chemicals as the latter does not own the financial liabilities of Union Carbide, the main accused in the case. The Chemicals Ministry has opposed this view.

The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal spearheads the protest on behalf of Bhopal survivors. Please read what they have to say, sign the petition to Dow Chemicals and send an email to Indian ministries involved in the sell-out. It’s the least we can do.

Images via BBC News.

We’ve been repeatedly told that climate change will affect some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. And yet another disaster has come along as hard, cold evidence. Cyclone Sidr swooped down on Bangladesh on Thursday evening, killing around 900 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless or injured. The actual numbers are probably far greater.

“We are expecting that thousands of dead bodies may be found within a few days,” Shekhar Chandra Das, deputy head of the government’s disaster management office, told AFP.

“We have not been able to collect information about casualties in many remote and impassable places due to the disruption to communications,” he said.

The irony , of course, is that these people have very little to do with burning fossil fuels. Never have so many been harmed by so few?

Meanwhile, the United Nations’ top climate change official has warned that the world will be in “deep trouble” if it fails to agree on any solutions at next month’s UN ministerial conference in Bali. Just how bad have the effects of climate change been so far? The UNEP has a factsheet on this here, which also talks about adverse changes in the hydrological cycle:

Rising temperatures are already accelerating the hydrological cycle. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, becomes less stable and produces more precipitation, particularly in the form of heavy rain bursts. Greater heat also speeds up evaporation. The net effect of these changes in the cycling of water will be a decline in the quantity and quality of freshwater supplies in all major regions. Meanwhile, wind patterns and storm tracks are likely to change. The intensity (but not the frequency) of tropical cyclones are expected to increase, with larger peak wind speeds and heavier rains.

I also came across this article which points out that the American media has been (unsurprisingly, in my opinion) quiet about the cyclone. It goes on to talk about a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Center for a New American Security, which connects the dots between natural disasters, socio-economic problems and latent extremism to make a compelling case for why the US should be taking cyclones in Bangladesh very seriously.

Meanwhile aid efforts are on and according to an official from the UN World Food Programme the most urgent needs are food, water purification tablets, and medicines. Here is the emergency appeal issued by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which is working in the area. You can also make an online donation towards the relief efforts here.

Millions of families have been affected by flooding in South Asia. The death toll continues to rise in India, Nepal and Bangladesh and hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes because they were submerged or washed away in the floods. The United Nations has described the flood situation in India and Bangladesh as “the worst in living memory”.

Even as the flood waters have started receding, the people here have to battle other dangers like disease and starvation. People are suffering from lack of food and shortage of medical supplies. Save the Children is trying to raise money for relief work and has made an appeal for donations. Click here to access the online donation form.

Across the region more than 20 million people have been affected - 6.9 million in Bangladesh, 13.7 million in India and hundreds of thousands more in Nepal, according to this report in the Guardian. Experts say that the excessive rains are a direct cause of climate change and that things will only get worse in the coming years. The problem was exacerbated by the collapse of dams and embankments.

Officials have said that aid efforts are insufficient so far. According to the BBC, governments in India and Bangladesh are trying to deliver supplies, but many areas cannot even be reached by boat, so air drops are the only way. Given that there is ample warning of the same situation recurring next year, governments should start developing better coping mechanisms in advance. There has been little talk about that in the media, however.

Meanwhile, there is more bad news. According to a study, the Asian Brown Cloud, a vast toxic blanket of smoke from factories, power plants and wood or dung fires that hangs over South Asia, is causing Himalayan glaciers to melt. While there is a way to tackle the problem–Asian countries need to to find alternatives to fuels such as coal, diesel, wood and dung–there is little evidence that steps will be taken towards this anytime soon. More on the Asian Brown Cloud here.

Update: According to the UN, more than 15 million people in India, Nepal and Bangladesh are facing a “health crisis” if food and medical aid to south Asia’s flood victims is not rapidly stepped up. And here is the news in pictures.

Further Update: The Rockefeller Foundation says it will invest $70 million over the next five years to help Asian cities and African farmers withstand floods, droughts and other global warming hazards.

Green is the new buzzword. The latest news on this front is that Japan has introduced the world’s first hybrid train. As the article points out, trains are a relatively small contributor to global warming but the popularity of hybrid cars, such as Toyota Motor Corp.’s best-selling Prius, is helping to boost interest in hybrid trains.

A hybrid car typically features a small fuel-efficient gas engine combined with an electric motor that assists the engine when accelerating. The electric motor is powered by batteries that recharge automatically while you drive. It also has a host of other features help conserve energy such as periodic engine shut off, advanced aerodynamics and low-rolling resistance tires. The emissions are cleaner, which means less pollution.

The hybrid train will achieve similar things. Of course, cost and scalability are big factors here and one train by itself is unlikely to have any large or long-term impact on the environment.

Meanwhile, here is a country willing to sacrifice significant amounts of money to protect the environment. The Tibet Autonomous Region has vowed to protect its glaciers, wetlands and grasslands even if it means compromising on the growth of major industries such as tourism, manufacturing and mining.

And this is just one of the things we can expect if we don’t clean up our act–and fast! An architect with a Bangkok firm has said that that in about ten years, the primary form of transport in the city may well be the boat.

Going green has many repercussions especially for international travel. There is increasing emphasis on eco-friendly tourism and growing concern about the effects of air travel to far-flung, exotic spots. With airline companies working on being more earth-friendly, hopefully there will be a time soon when our urge to see the world and our need to save it will not be at odds with each other.

It’s no secret. Our cities are growing at a furious pace.

As more opportunities are created in sectors that have their base in urban areas, more and more people are leaving their homes and farms in villages to find work in the cities. The World Urban Forum predicts that that in the next fifty years, two-thirds of humanity will be living in towns and cities.

This growth is often visible to us in ways that affect our daily lives: increasing traffic, crowded streets, longer queues at the supermarket. But there are larger ways in which this is affecting the world around us–a growing population of the urban poor.

These are the people who come to a city and become immersed in a cycle of survival. They clean our streets, guard our houses, get rid of our waste, drive our cars and buses, run our tea-shops. Usually, they go home to slums where they do not have access to even basic needs like ventilated rooms, safe water, clean toilets. The United Nations estimates that by the year 2020, 40% of the population will be slum-dwellers.

According to this story, in Mexico City, the second-largest city in the world, 40% of the people live below the poverty line. Mumbai, which is home to 19 million people, has half its population living in slums. Rio de Janeiro is home to 12 million people. One third of Rio’s population lives in slums, known as favelas. In these cramped living arrangements, poor sanitation leads to disease easily. But there are other ills that breed here as well–crime, drugs, alcoholism and violence. According to UN-HABITAT’s State of the World’s Cities Report 2006/7, Sub-Saharan Africa is worst hit where 72% of urban inhabitants live in slums rising to nearly 100% in some states.

Migration to cities is inevitable and unstoppable. People will move where they expect to have a better life, regardless of whether or not the reality lives up to their dreams. Expecting migrant populations and dealing with their needs is something that governments have long avoided, taking the easier route of demolishing slums or illegal tenements, and burying their heads in the sand, ostrich-like, the rest of the time.

What’s needed is realistic planning and provision of low-cost housing that provides a certain basic standard of living, and adequate monitoring to ensure that the right people are benefiting from this.

In parallel, they need to ensure that the larger infrastructure of a city is able to handle the burgeoning population. This means providing better roads, clean drinking water, convenient commercial and educational spaces, social and recreational facilities, adequate health facilities, and a healthy environment. A tall order? Not really. Poor planning, inefficiency and plain stupidity are often to blame for delays. In many places, the situation has been exacerbated by a deliberate refusal to deal with the facts, or worse, rampant corruption and lack of concern. Perhaps, it’s time to holler a little louder for the things we need. It just may go a little way towards saving tomorrow’s cities, if not today’s.

Live Earth, the much-publicized 24-hour rock concert, happened yesterday. The New York Times’ Arts Beat blog has the updates and Telegraph pans it as a huge yawn. Earlier, George Marshall at The Guardian talked about why rock won’t save the planet and readers gave their opinions here. Marshall pointed out:

This could be a revolution if it were a mass rally with clear political objectives. Imagine millions of people taking to the streets around the world with a coherent agenda for slashing greenhouse gas emissions. But it is not. It is a rock concert with climate infomercials spliced between bands singing about the people they fancy. The music will contain virtually no mention of climate change and will lack the anger, fear and aggression needed to galvanise change.

Apparently, the concert reached 10 million people online at MSN. What remains to be seen is whether these people will now cut down on car use, switch off lights more often, buy ‘greener’ products or do anything else remotely aimed at saving the planet.

It’s difficult for people to invest in issues that they can’t really ’see’ the ill effects of. For most people, global warming is a scary but rather distant reality. The very largeness of the issue makes it hard to grasp. And awareness building programs are inevitably a mix of doomsday prophecies and admonitions to ‘do your little bit’. Possibly, what is needed is smaller, more focused suggestions that take into account that people also need to live their lives today while trying to preserve the world for the future.

What do you think?