Green Thoughts

1am Hoilday Musings from a Swedish Couch

2011-08-17T04:21:00.002+05:30

At exactly 12.54am, I'm laying down all by myself in a couch that belongs to a close friend and feeling very content with myself. My day is over and soon sleep will come. As I listen to some happy sami tunes, I'm thinking of what I did today. My day was filled with late breakfasts, great skype calls with overseas friends, some warm hugs, and long conversations over tea, dinner and late night fickas. This is exactly what vacations are all about.

Its soon going to be over 10 years that I've been visiting Sweden, a place I fondly call my second home. A lot of people ask why I return over and over again, and I don't have all the answers, but I think I'm here because this is a place for me to relax and unwind. I've got a lot of people that I can call friends, and that's important too.

Most people here don't judge you. It's nice when people accept you for what you are. And while cultures and viewpoints differ, it makes interesting conversations. And its not just friends, but the silence and beauty of the country. Not knowing the local language can be an advantage sometimes as you can disconnect from everything around you and be in your own world, even if you are among many.

It's time for bed, and I shall rant on another day... goodnight!

Black Majik and Disappearing Tigers

2009-05-29T06:00:00.000+05:30

The Tiger Killing should not be forgotten, and those that are guilty need to be punished as this incident is linked to a number of human versus animal conflicts in Goa says Clinton Vaz

On a late Monday evening, I sat down with some friends at a Panjim cafe to unwind. Coming from wildlife circles, it was but natural to talk about recent wildlife activities, such as the Frog Campaign that is underway, however, we soon started to talk about the tiger that was killed in Keri recently.

Goa might have now acquired a reputation for mysterious and unsolved murder cases with the Scarlet, Mahaanand and Russian cases; however, it's not the police investigating the tiger murder, but the Goa Forest Department. And from what I’ve followed in the press, the investigating team is working in the right direction, having detained 4 people already. But let's not focus on the Forest Department as they need to investigate on their own. What about the village that was involved? What about the tiger?

There are many wrongs that have to be righted. It now appears that human versus animal conflicts are becoming more common in the hinterland of Goa. An increasing population over the years, destruction of forested areas for the purpose of planting orchards and plantations are already causing habitat reduction to the wild animals in the state. Making matters worse for predating wild animals, is the illegal poaching that goes on rampantly on the fringes of Goa's forests. Poaching of prey-base animals like the barking deer and sambar have only worsened the human versus animal conflicts. Take just this current month of May as an example:

On the 7th of May, wild elephants strayed into the villages of Vadaval and Amthane in Bicholim, destroying cashew plantations and paddy fields. The very next day, the 8th of May, two wild elephants destroyed farm and plantation property in another village, Alorna. Then on 12th of May, a Vasco based doctor came in close contact with a 4-foot leopard that grazed his vehicle as it strayed across the airport highway. On the 14th of May, a Malabar Giant Squirrel that was injured by a gun shot strayed into a plantation in Soliye hamlet at Honda- Sattari. The animal was rescued and rehabilitated by the Animal Rescue Squad (ARS). However, the most shocking incident occurred on 19th of May, when Uday Devgo a 40 year of resident of Dhave in Sattari was attacked by a Spotted Leopard as he got out of his home to rescue his dog being attacked by the same leopard. There probably were many more human-animal conflicts that were not reported in the press as well.

While driving out the elephants and trapping and translocation of the big cats offer temporary solutions, the long term solution to prevent such instances is to have a healthy forest, with enough prey-base for the animals not to stay out in hunger and desperation. At one such recent human-animal conflict site, Amrut Singh from the ARS appealed to the villagers that trapping the troublesome Leopard was no solution. Instead, he suggested, stop the killings of prey-base animals like the Sambar Deer, Mouse Deer, Wild Boar, etc. that are now routine happenings in Goa’s hinterland.

Many people residing in the villages that dot fringes of forest sanctuaries routinely set traps and hunt animals with illegal guns. The possession of illegal firearms for the purpose of hunting is rampant in the hinterland of Goa. Something needs to be done about this. However, most of the animals caught are not shot, but trapped instead. Using snares such as wire traps, they ensure that the animal is kept alive until the hunter arrives at the trap site (to keep the meat fresh).

I have also heard of trappers that are so cold blooded that once they have confirmed that they have an animal caught in their traps, they break the legs of the live animal to immobilize it and then go into town looking for orders for the meat. Once getting orders, and taking an advance, they return to slaughter the animal, making sure it's alive till the last bit to ensure the meat is fresh. This just shows how some of us have degenerated into cruel beings with a complete disregard for life.

Getting back to the tiger killing, facts are also established that the tiger killed was killed in Sattari, Goa and not Dandeli in Karnataka as claimed earlier. It now appears that these tiger was grievously injured after accidentally stepping into a wire trap laid by the villagers for a deer. As the tiger was of no use to the villagers, it was then shot in cold blood with many eyewitnesses, one who actually photographed the incident. Fortunately for wildlife protection enthusiasts, it was this photograph that got the skeletons tumbling out of the wardrobe.

It’s now openly known that the Majik families are the main culprits of the crime. Gopal Majik, a known poacher has been arrested before killing animals in the past. Apparently that did not dissuade him from stopping the killings. 3 others have also been arrested for active involvement in killing the tiger.

The Majik family has since then been frantic in trying to mislead and intimidate the forest department into withdrawing investigations. Evidence such as the carcass of the tiger, was hurriedly disposed at an unknown location to hide the evidence once the picture surfaced into the public domain. Similarly, other items used to record the crime have also disappeared. During interrogations, their statements keep changing, causing investigations to slow down.

Their latest ploy to get admitted into hospital appears to be a trend borrowed from Goan politicians that appear to have health problems just before they would be placed under arrest. Suryakant Majik and others that have got themselves admitted at GMC, called for a pres conference accusing the forest department staff of assaulting them. However, while they claim they have got themselves hospitalized due to injuries caused by slaps, kicks and sticks, it’s strange that the doctor’s report does not speak of any injuries on their bodies.

It’s time that people learn to respect our forests and the wild animals within. Illegal hunting of these animals has gone on without any hindrance for a long time, and now once caught; villagers appear shocked about the repercussions of their illegal activities. Perhaps education and awareness work done by wildlife activist Rajendra Kerkar and his Vivekananda Environmental Awareness Brigade (VEAB) members on the problems illegal hunting causes will help reduce their self inflicted problems.

Clinton Vaz, 28 lives in Benaulim and works on environment and wildlife issues in Goa. He can be contacted at klintvaz@gmail.com or +91 9890936828 This article appeared in the Goan Local Daily Gomantak Times on Friday, 29th April 2009

Preparing for the Monsoons

2009-05-22T06:00:00.000+05:30

The monsoons should arrive soon. Clinton Vaz suggests a few pre-monsoon tips to keeping your compost and recycling going through this monsoon season

Yesterday morning, as I woke up and stepped out to get the papers, I felt some tiny drops on me, and then the smell of wet earth. The unmistakable smell of the arriving monsoon. Now this is a typical Goa smell that one can smell only at the start of the monsoons, especially in the villages.

At this time of the year, everybody is busy preparing for the monsoons, a season of rainfall that could last for the next 4-5 months. Heavy rainfall can be paralyzing. The heaviest showers could be worse than standing under a shower, as the size and speed of the rain drops are sure enough to wet you to the bone in 10 second’s flat! But life in Goa still goes on, people get to work on time (mostly), houses leak a little, people still visit friends and the only change around is the raincoats and umbrellas that everybody carries.

But right now, in May, everybody’s busy getting roofs waterproofed, clay tiles replaced, and roofs ‘stitched’. Clothes lines are being restrung within homes and car wipers being fixed for the arriving rain. Similarly, you need to get a few things done for your composting and recycling too.

Harvest your Compost
Its harvest season folks! Try and harvest all the compost that you can over the next weekend! Drying compost in the monsoon is tricky, so dig deep and extract all the ready compost that you can from your composting unit. This freshly removed compost needs to be sun-dried before it’s sieved, so use the last few sunny days for that. Compost that’s sieved may be kept out in the rain, but a lot of its nutrient value would get leached away with the rain. Therefore, placing a plastic sheet over and under the pile would be a good idea. However, packing up your compost in sacks and storing it in a shaded area would be a better idea if you have the space.

Preparing for Monsoon Composting!
Composting in the monsoon is slightly different, especially in the peak of the monsoons, because of the high moisture content in the air. Too much moisture is not desirable as it extends the time required for composting to occur. Make sure that your compost bin has a waterproof roof above it. If that’s not possible, you could place a lid over the bin to reduce the direct impact of rain. You might also need side walls installed if your composting station exists in an open area. Look out for the direction in witch the rain comes from and place your anti-rain defenses in that way. The pre-monsoon showers would test your defenses, and you could make minor adjustments before the actual monsoons arrive.

Within the actual compost bin, you need a constant supply of dry absorbent material like leaves, or saw-dust to absorb the liquid matter from kitchen wet waste. This also helps balance the CN ratio. Since it is difficult to find dry leaves in the monsoons, you could stockpile dry leaves for the monsoons (for at least a couple of months) in a dry storage area. Pack your leaves in a gunny sack and then use it for the monsoons. In case you can’t do this, replace your leaves with bits of waste paper as your dry absorbent material during the monsoon season.

Make sure that your compost bin has good drainage. Excess moisture has to be drained away, so test this by pouring a bucketful of water and make the necessary adjustments. If your bin has a lower leachate collection unit, then make sure that the openings are not blocked and that you remember to empty the excess liquid at more frequent intervals once the rains arrive.

Recycling & the Monsoons
Make sure that your current stockpile of recycled materials is emptied at the recyclers. Unless you have waterproof containers, make sure that you move all your recycling bins to a dry area. Recyclable waste categories like paper, and cardboard tend to absorb moisture and gain weight. This means that these items simply weigh more than their actual weight. To compensate for this extra weight, recyclers often offer lower than usual rates for these items in the monsoons.

Plastic, Metal and Glass containers, and rubber tyres that are kept facing upwards collect rainwater and then encourage mosquitoes to breed, thereby increasing the chances for spread of vector borne diseases. To avoid this from happening, it would be a good idea to walk around your house, and around your garden and collect all your recyclable waste and place it in one area and make sure it gets recycled before the rains arrive.

Once you have done all this, you can grab and armchair, and put up your feet and enjoy the rain… or the afternoon breeze with a mancurad mango, until the rains arrive!

Clinton Vaz, 28 lives in Benaulim and works on environment and wildlife issues in Goa. He can be contacted at klintvaz@gmail.com or +91 9890936828 This article appeared on Gomantak Times, 22nd May 2009

Improving Recycling Systems in Goa

2009-05-15T10:20:00.000+05:30

Can we have a state of the art recycling system in Goa that functions locally without too much of effort. Yes, it’s possible and we can start right now says Clinton Vaz.

A few weeks ago, a friend diagnosed me as a person with an abnormal fixation on garbage. Now while that probably does not seem too appealing for one's self image, at a time like this, we need more and more people that get fixated on garbage... in a positive way.

It's not that bad really, if one actually looks at the things we've been upto. Improper waste management is a burning issue, and it's directly linked to climate change. In December this year, decision makers of the entire world will travel to Copenhagen to discuss ways in which the world can live better, and cause less harm. Globally, it’s a lot of promises to be made, and a lot of actions that need to be done too. A lot of people think, and I agree with them that this meeting at Copenhagen, might be one of our last chances to make a significant impact to combat climate change. Being that change is not difficult, starting is. Start in whatever small way you can. I'm sure you could think of a few ideas that you could implement already.

So going back to some interesting things that we've been involved with in waste, there's much to write about. This fixation's caused me to learn that Plastic PET bottles actually get converted into t-shirts, when recycled. Did you know that TetraPak Cartons become roofing sheets, and used plastic bags become trendy handbags after a conversion process? It’s also nice to see my neighbours in Cuncolim come up to my durig (compound wall), and curiously bend over to glimpse Babuni, our handyman and me sieve our harvested compost last week. 'It looks just like tea powder' said one and the other could not believe that we harvested 80kgs of compost from two small composting bins.

Yesterday, and today, I've been working on the final bits of some recycling labels specially designed for goa. This is going to be something new, and take recycling in Goa to a new level.

The thing is that if we are sincerely concerned and want to recycle our waste, today all we can do is separate our waste into wet and dry. In some cities like Panjim, this separated dry waste actually gets collected and recycled. However, the success of Panjim’s recycling is because waste is collected at source, door to door. If we actually put wet and dry bins on the street, it would never work, not with the people we live with. Mixing waste is not an Indian thing however, it's worldwide. In Portugal and Sweden, some streets and malls had bins with 3 or 4 separate waste compartments; however, most of them were mixed. What is needed however is awareness for proper separation, and until that comes, door to door seems to be the only way to ensure that properly separated waste can be collected for further processing.

If one wants to go a step further, its' possible to separate the dry waste into further categories of plastics, metal, glass and so on, but we often find it difficult to find people that recycle all those items.

Imagine if there was a system where you would take your waste to a central point, where you put all your dry waste into 8-10 separate categories of recyclable items. To make it convenient, each of these bins are colour coded, have a category name and sketches of the right items to go into each of the labeled bins. If you still get confused, a courteous staff comes by to help you separate this waste into the appropriate bin. There’s no need to worry about the contents of the bins being mixed, as the bins would be always manned and within a gated structure that accepts dry waste only during office hours.

Waste that’s pre-separated would directly go to recycling industries, ensuring that more than 75% of the dry waste entering the facility is recycled. Ofcouse, there’s always going to be a bin for items that can’t currently be recycled.

And the cherry at the top of it all? You get paid for your efforts. Your waste, after duly weighing and separating into each of the category has specific monetary values. A chart, displaying the recycling rates for each of the bins, would be displayed and the courteous staff would reimburse you the value of the items there and then.

This could also be replicated closer to peoples home, but slightly differently at housing colonies that want to make a difference.

Situated within a housing colony, the labeled but unmanned bins are locked, and only have access for waste to be put in and not taken out. To ensure bins do not receive mixed waste, the bins have appropriate openings, for example, the bin receiving paper would have a mail box-like slot opening. The PET bottle bin would have a round opening to ensure that only bottles enter. Once filled, or once a week, a recycler comes by to pick each of the recyclable fractions, paying the society the refund values of each of the bins. The local municipality would only need to come by once a week and pick up and empty the bin containing the non recyclable items.

Such a system might seem unbelievable here in Goa, but I believe that we are ready for such facilities are certain areas. In fact, this kind of system is already in existence in 4 different sites, and I’d be more than glad to show readers the workings of it. Interested? Let me know! In the meantime, I’m getting back to working on the final touches to the labels.

Clinton Vaz, 28 lives in Benaulim and works on environment and wildlife issues in Goa. He can be contacted at klintvaz@gmail.com or +91 9890936828 This article appeared on Gomantak Times, 15th May 2009

Reducing Wasteful Consumption and Consumerism

2009-05-08T06:10:00.002+05:30

While I was rambling over the internet, I recently came across and read an article titled ‘Consumption dwarfs Population’ by Fred Pierce. What was most interesting about the article was that it looked at over-consumption as the main problem for the scarcity of resources in the world, not the growing population. This is an interesting change of view that has come from the west.

I’ve been concerned about the trend of over-consumption for some years now. In the late 1990s there was an advertisement on Star TV, which had plastic bags falling from the sky, burying the people that had their hands up in the air, asking for some more bags. Yes, plastics are a menace, but we can’t ban them altogether. It’s not that simple. The real cause of all the plastic management problems is not the plastic bag itself, but actually, over-consumption and bad civic sense that are both caused by us citizens.

And that’s not easy to sort out, and perhaps that’s why the western countries have not addressed that problem seriously. And now look at what’s happened to them. An average American currently generates 5 kgs of waste per person per day. In Europe, that figure is about 3.5kgs per person per day. Now compare those figures to half a kg per person in Goan cities, and 300 gms or less per person in Goan villages. The difference comes in the picture when we look at the way people consume resources.

Yesterday, when I stepped out for a tea with some friends in Margao, I realized that the takeaway tea was in a plastic throwaway cup. Bad enough, but then I recalled myself having a tea 2 months ago in distant Europe. While traveling overland from one end of Europe to the other, one goes trough lots of cups of tea, especially if you are hitchhiking in the cold from Sweden to Portugal. Most of my takeaway teas consisted of the following items:
A Paper Cup
A Plastic Lid for the Cup
A Plastic Straw
A Plastic Stirrer
One Tea Bag
Two Sugar Sachets
One Milk Sachets
At least 2-3 paper napkins.

As a result of all of this, each time I sipped some tea, I would end up producing 300-400gms of waste!! That defiantly does not make sense at all! The trend however, is to replicate this wasteful consumption of resources here in India too. We better realize this soon, or else, we too would be responsible for generating increasing loads of waste per person per day!!

What if we don’t? Let’s do the math. Assuming Panjim’s population is 60,000 persons that live there permanently and about 40,000 visits the city, each generating an average of half kg per day. That works out to 50 tonnes of waste per day. If we start living the western way, Panjim would then have to deal with 500 tonnes of garbage per day. That’s 4 times the garbage the whole of Goa generates!

In the recycling world, the 3 R’s (Reduce Reuse and Recycle) is often mentioned, however, practically speaking, it’s usually only the last R, Recycling that we practice. What about Reduce and Reuse? Do we actually make an effort to practice reducing our need for resources? Do we reuse items to the maximum extent of their lives? Probably not. In fact, we seem to follow the western trends of doing exactly the opposite. We upgrade our mobile phones, computers, motorbikes and TV sets though they are in perfect running condition. At times, upgrading might seem senseless as we don’t really use all the features of the upgraded product.

In today’s world, the word’s ‘disposable’ and ‘use-and-throw’, only ought to be categorized as bad-words, as they encourage wasteful consumerism, in a world that’s rapidly running out of resources. You don’t have to go radical and change the world right away. Start small, and make a few decisions to reduce your unnecessary consumption patterns, but start today.

Tips to reduce plastic bags: Refuse plastic bags every time you are offered one. You will notice that there are lots of instances where you don’t need one anyway. Skitter, a friend says she always keeps a couple of cloth bags in her car in case she needs a bag. You could do the same. In case you have to really use a bag (for items like fish, or meat), wash and clean the bag at home and make sure it is recycled. There are lots of recyclers all over Goa that will recycle clean plastic bags and pay you for it too.

Clinton Vaz, 28 lives in Benaulim and works on environment and wildlife issues in Goa. He can be contacted at klintvaz@gmail.com or +91 9890936828 This article appeared on Gomantak Times, 8th May 2009

Why Save A Frog?

2009-05-02T21:45:00.001+05:30

A few reasons and some important information for those that think frogs are not threatened and not on the decline..

Last week we celebrated the international 'Save the Frog' day. In the south of Goa, volunteers from the Goacan network stood in the city centre with sandwich boards and passed on useful info-slips, educating passing citizens that frogs needed to be protected and that it was against the law to eat frog meat. In the north of Goa, Nirmal Kulkarni, Roopa Bandekar and Rajiv D'Silva organized an evening that focused on frogs. The event had a photo exhibition of frogs of Goa, messages from students taking part in the campaign, an informative presentation and finally a Frog Quiz that everybody took part in. All of this marked the beginning of a volunteer driven campaign that will continue through May and June this year.

Now while we rave and rant about the need for people to stop eating frogs, and that they ought to be protected, there are quite a lot of people out there that are still not convinced. In the last few days, I've been occasionally asked these familiar questions... "There's so many issues in Goa, and you want to add frogs to that too?" asked a passerby in Margao. "On what basis do you say that frogs are declining, if you have no hard data?" asked an editor recently. '(Eating) Frog-legs is part of 'Goan Culture', so why stop it? Asked a school friend. Why can't I eat frog legs, if I get it from farmed sources? Asked my friend's father. Humans have so many problems, is the life of a frog more important than a human?

While it might be interesting to get such queries, answers to all these questions is very important in clearing out misconceptions and false truths that spread faster than proper awareness.

Amphibians are canaries in the coal mine
Protecting frogs is directly liked to Climate Change. In 2004, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) completely assessed amphibians of the world under the Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA) initiative. The result was alarming: one in three amphibians face extinction. Amphibians being very sensitive are the first to get affected from impacts like climate change, and thus, like canaries in the coal mine, frog populations can warn us of disasters much before they could possibly occur. The Indian Bull Frog (Hoplobatrachus tigerinus) and the Jerdon's Bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus crassus) which are both found in Goa and hunted for frog meat are even listed on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species in the world that was compiled in 2008.

Biodiversity Assessments and Indicators Are Enough
Frogs in Goa are still very much on the decline. While hard data on frog populations in Goa does not exist, (but should) bio-indicators in Goa indicate the declining trend. Worldwide, as it is not possible to evaluate all known species, organizations like the Species Survival Commission (SSC) works with worldwide partners to cover key taxonomic groups. This collaborative effort between organizations provides an effective method for gathering and disseminating the most accurate scientific data available for biodiversity conservation. While hard data on frog numbers in the wild will aid in its protection, compiling the same will be painstaking, and take a few years to see any significant trends. While that is the need of the hour, we cannot wait helplessly and claim that all is well in the wild world.

Frogs help the control of vector-borne diseases
While frogs can sometimes eat spiders, crayfish and other invertebrates, the bulk of their diet is insects. Reduction in frog population can cause an increase in the spread of malaria, encephalitis and other diseases which are carried by insects. Taking frogs from the wild could have devastating consequences. Frogs are insectivorous and each one can eat more than its weight (about 200 grams) in waterborne pests every day. These pests destroy crops and carry diseases. In some areas of India, the spread of a plant disease known locally as "wereng" has been attributed to increased hunting of frogs. Fewer than 50 frogs are needed to keep an acre of a rice paddy field free of insects: they play a vital role in eradicating insect pests; they prevent illnesses, and are a natural biological agent. Insect pests increase precipitously where frogs are vanishing.

Frogs can reduce human-snake conflicts
Frog in the wild serves as food for snakes. These snakes in turn eat rats which live in the rice paddies. However, when frog populations decline in the wild, snakes turn to other areas for food, which are usually human habitations where rats thrive. This results in human conflicts with snakes. Most snake rescuers in Goa will confirm that the instances of human-snake conflicts in Goa are on the rise in the past few years.

Frog Farming does not exist in Goa or India
While a few people might claim that their last plate of frog legs was sourced from a frog farm, that's simply untrue. Frog farms can simply not exist in India unless there is a change of legislation. Frogs, being part of wildlife are property of the Government of India, and therefore anybody claiming to farm them is violating laws as he has Government property in captivity, even if it might be for a good cause. It's unlikely that India would permit frog farming, as frog farms worldwide have been responsible for being the source of disease and viral infections that soon spread to frog populations in the wild with devastating consequences.

Clinton works with environmental and wildlife issues in Goa. If you want to help in the save the frog campaign, do contact Clinton Vaz at klintvaz@gmail.com or +91 9890936828. You can report instance of frog catching or hotels serving frog meat to the Forest Department. Speak to Deputy Conservator of Forests, Mr. Devendra Dalai at 9423889890

Commemorating Environmental Days

2009-04-24T01:32:00.005+05:30

It is important for everybody to participate in or show the community their support for Environmental Events. Supporting environmental events is also a great way to learn about a cause, or help improve public perception of the same.

This week’s column seems to be sandwiched between a couple of internationally celebrated environmental days. While 22nd April was Earth Day, 28th April is ‘Save the Frogs Day’. So readers, how did you celebrate Earth Day? On Earth day, I woke up in the Wilderness, or Wildernest to be precise. Spending a day with the family, we made our way up North-East of Goa to the tri-border of Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Here in the deep forests of Keri, lies an eco-resort aptly named Wildernest. We all had a nice time unwinding in the midst of nature. The resort is nested in a deep section of the forest and some of the rooms have a great view of the valley below.

There’s no aircon or television in the rooms at Wildernest, however, we didn’t miss it a bit. That’s because the team at Wildernest have elaborately planned out a string of nature related activities that is well spread throughout the day… Birdwatching sessions before breakfast, treks to make you trim and mehindi art sessions just after your afternoon siesta are just some of the activities listed. Somehow though hot as hell in most of Goa, at Wildernest, it was breezy, shady and cool, just how a typical forest ought to be. My brother actually thought it was too cold that night!

During the day, they also organize treks to waterfalls, view points and more. Local cultural dances are performed by locals that live down in the village of Keri in the evenings. If you’re not game for it all, you could also laze in an armchair the afternoon breeze or swim in the infinity pool, a swimming pool with a view of a third of Goa! I swam there in the nights and could see lights in faraway Panjim and Vasco too! I appreciated the silence the most. It was nice to have absolutely no human noise around… it really clears and relaxes the mind.

Meals are served in a common dining area that’s overlooking the horizons. Simple, yet delicious meals are prepared by the cooks using locally sourced ingredients, and guests are asked to serve themselves. It’s self-service here, and once meals are done, used plates and cutlery need to be placed into a wooden tray at the corner. Though this kind of concept might be quite alien to guests used to full service, I think it’s a good initiative for people to help clean up after they’ve drunk and eaten to their hearts content.

Driving away from Wildernest, I could not help but notice the stark difference of getting back to civilization. Things got louder, brighter and dustier. Quite a stark difference to notice even though we were in the forests for just 24 hours! I’d recommend staying over at Wildernest for at least 2 or three days instead of a day.

In my opinion, it was a nice way to celebrate earth day, in the midst of nature. These specially appointed days might seem unimportant at first, but they make us realize the importance of respecting Mother Nature. It's also a great time to learn about a particular cause while helping improve public perception of the same.

In the next week, on Tuesday, the 28th of April is the ‘Save the Frogs’ day worldwide. There are lots of things that you can do to commemorate that day here in Goa .There are some that are writing in the papers, some like Roopa Bandekar and Nirmal Kulkarni who will organize related activities at their newly opened nature store called Earthworm in Porvorim. Ethel Da Costa has planned some programmes on Radio Mirchi and there’s an origami workshop planned in Panjim too. In the last few days, the WildGoa network is abuzz with ideas and suggestions for the 2 month campaign. Would you like to participate or get involved? Let us know and hop in!

Clinton Vaz, 28 lives in Benaulim and works on environment and wildlife issues in Goa. He can be contacted at klintvaz@gmail.com or +91 9890936828 This article appeared on Gomantak Times, 24th April 2009

The Death of a Goan Tiger

2009-04-17T08:38:00.000+05:30

Dear Readers,

I’m upset by an incident that came to my notice just a few days ago. It was just a few hours into Easter Sunday when I received a normal looking email into my inbox. It was a notification, asking if this mail could be sent out to the rest of the 375+ members subscribed to the WildGoa online forum. Opening the mail, I was shocked to see a grim picture of a dead tiger found in a forest in Keri, Sattari. This sadly was the only recent photographic proof that tigers did exist in Goa.

It was an odd hour, and as I sent it on to the rest of the members, I felt uneasy. A lot of thoughts came to my mind. That night, I recalled my participation in the wild animal census of 2002. Soon after an orientation course at Cotigao, I was selected to volunteer in the forests of Netravali, in Sanguem. Two other volunteers, Shrinivas Narayan, Shubhir and I made our way to the forest office in Sanguem. There we were introduced to the RFO, a Mr. Mashelkar. Mr. Mashelkar came across as a friendly person, and during an evening chat, mentioned that his ancestors had shot tigers. Apparently in those days it was considered something to boast about. Mr. Mashelkar even went on to bring out an old faded picture of a crowd of people standing behind a huge tiger that had been shot down. That, was the first Goan tiger that I saw.. dead. And now, this was the second… dead too. It’s a pity as we need to prove that Goa has tigers in its forests which give more reasons to ensure proper protection of Goa’s forest areas.

Back in those census days, for an entire week, we’d walk on transact lines through deep forests noting every animal, animal trace, and animal dung we saw. Netravali was full of wildlife. On the very first day we saw quite a lot of wildlife, however, what we also saw was plenty of illegalities. Open cast mines operating by the dozen, right in the middle of a forest sanctuary, small animals poached by miners, sections of the forest cut down for firewood. Months later I learnt later that Mr. Mashelkar was caught in a corruption case involving felling of forest trees.

There have been quite a few instances in Goa where the Forest Department has been blamed for allowing such things to happen, however in most of the cases, the blame cant really be put on the staff working there are helpless. Most illegalities occur with the knowledge of the higher up staff. If there are no proper directions coming from the top, then one can’t expect the ground staff to do much.

What makes this tiger death so disturbing is that while this picture surfaced up only a few days ago, it was actually photographed on a mobile phone in February 2009, when the tiger was killed. Why did it take so long to get out? From recent discussions on and off the WildGoa network, I’ve learnt that a lot of wildlifers, perhaps also including top forest officials in Goa knew about the Tiger’s death way back in February but it appears that the Forest Department tried to keep the matter silent. Why?

It’s really strange that the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) in a recent interview to the press makes it appear that the Forest Department was totally unaware of the Tiger’s death until the picture surfaced. It appears that the Forest Department chose to avoid a proper investigation and ignore the issue so that they could cover up their inefficiencies of improper forest patrols.

If one studies the picture carefully, it might be possible that the tiger was killed accidentally. By the nature of the wound on its rear, it is likely that it unfortunately stepped into a wire trap set for another animal, possibly a wild boar. Traps set this way have been used all over Goa for years now, and the Forest Department has done little to reduce this menace. On the 26th of February 2009, Fiona, a member of the WildGoa network found a total of three such traps after one of her dogs accidentally got caught in one. After photographing them as evidence, she got them destroyed to prevent them from causing more harm.

Tiger populations in India have shrunk and continue to fall at an alarming rate. This death, therefore, is very significant and a proper investigation needs to be conducted and systems are put in place to make sure that this does not happen once again.

Clinton Vaz, 28 lives in Benaulim and works on environment and wildlife issues in Goa. He can be contacted at klintvaz@gmail.com or +91 9890936828 This article appeared in the Goan Local Daily Gomantak Times on Friday, 17th April 2009 Pg. 12

Animal Speak

2009-04-10T16:49:00.005+05:30

Fighter Bulls, Stray Dogs & Frogs all have something in common. It’s time we think about their plight says Clinton Vaz

Yesterday afternoon, on a drive to a waste management project at Mollem I almost ran over a dog. The creature ran straight into my path, forcing me to brake, swerve and continue. Shaken, upset and angry by what had just happened I felt like stopping to yell at the dog. That probably would not have made a difference, but as I drove on, I began to think. It wasn't the dog's fault really.

Dogs were brought into human society by us. We have created stray animals by abandoning pets that we can't take care of anymore, or letting our animals breed and then abandoning the pups in a fish market or field. These poor animals are simply trying to exist, and they are bound to cause conflict with humans when they are at a disadvantage. It is our responsibility therefore, to look after these animals, as we collectively as a society have failed to look after our pets and have caused the stray animal menace. There are a few NGO's working in this line, and they need your support. Do donate some money, materials or volunteer some time to their cause.

While we agree that we need to respect one another, would everybody agree that the same applies to animals too? It's pitiful to see an animal that's been run over, yelping in pain, but would you stop by and take care of an injured animal? Fortunately I know a few friends that would. Quite often all one needs to do is call an animal-ambulance and stay by the animal comforting it and providing some water. If it were a human in the same condition, we would see a crowd gather and people rushing to provide assistance. Animals may look different from us, but they too deserve the same treatment and the right to live. They too are living beings.

Of late, we’ve had a spurt in animals in ‘sport’. Bullfighting is outlawed in most places in the world because of the cruelty to animals in the sport. The animals may be pampered at the stables, but they lead a lonely existence, often chained to a post in isolation for the entire day. When it’s time for a fight, the amounts of money bet on each side run into lakhs of rupees. With so much at stake, the bulls are goaded by their keepers to charge at the opponent. This induced fight often results in both the animals being gored and injured badly, and while I’ve seen distressing scenes of bleeding animals fleeing the fighting area, death due to bullfighting injuries have occurred both to the bulls, as well as spectators. Any politician that support’s such acts of barbaric cruelty in the name of traditional culture is foolish and bound not to get any vote from me or anybody that thinks likewise.

We should never take animals for granted. Followed by the sweltering heat, comes the monsoons, and to herald the monsoons come the frogs. For the frog, it's finally the season to wake up to after months of hibernation, to sing, eat and breed. But instead, their croaks invite trouble. Goan's have traditionally hunted frogs for a delicacy known as 'frog legs'. While the hunting and killing of frogs might have been sustainable before, today, it's merciless. Frogs are no longer caught just for the hunter’s family. They are now delicacies for rogue restaurants. Restaurants pay hunters to catch hundreds of frogs at a time, decimating the populations of frogs all over Goa. For the frog it's a horrible way to die. Yanked out of the field after being blinded by a torch, the frog is then stuffed into a gunny bag that's packed-full of unfortunate frogs. At the restaurant, the frog is held by its waist and its legs are chopped off, and skinned. The frog, still alive is thrown into the bin, allowing it to die slowly out of blood loss. It's hard to imagine that humans are capable of such cruel acts to animals. All this, to a species that's protected by law. However we’ve managed to right a few wrongs. In the past few years, the campaign to save frogs has been picking up steadily, and least year, besides the media focusing on the issue, the forest department actually arrested 10 people that were caught hunting. This Thursday, 16^th April, we will informally meet for an hour at the lawns of Kala Academy in Panaji at 5.30pm to chalk out the course for the 2009 Save the Frog campaign. Everybody that’s interested in the cause is welcome. See you there!

Clinton Vaz, 28 lives in Benaulim and works on environment and wildlife issues in Goa. He can be contacted at klintvaz@gmail.com or +91 9890936828 This article appeared in the Goan Local Daily Gomantak Times on Friday, 10th April 2009 Pg. 12

Get on the Recycling Cycle

2008-10-09T06:00:00.006+05:30

Summer sun down on my back and slurping away some vanilla ice cream, I found myself laying in a green meadow, engaged in a deep conversation on the subject of ‘recycling’ with Sorella, a close friend in Sweden. We were just back from an environmental discussion about consumerism and we were both upset about the continual increasing quantum of waste being produced by us humans world over. While I still think that we ought to first reduce our unnecessary consumption and reuse stuff as far as possible, the concept of recycling makes sustainable sense rather than disposing non organic waste in any other way.

“Here in Sweden, we try to recycle as much as we can.” explained my friend. She continued, “We put in our waste into different bins, and the municipality comes by and picks it away. Even bigger items like furniture and electronic appliances get recycled, but then we need to take it to a recycling center instead.” I’ve always tried to find out what happens to inorganic waste in every country that I visit and so, during my travels, I had seen many of these systems operate. In the city of Gothenburg in western Sweden, citizens pay a fixed fee to the municipality for recycling. Similarly, in Zurich, Switzerland, citizens pay as per the quantum of recyclable waste that they individually generate and the city authorities recycle waste for their citizens. In all cases, including in Portugal and Germany, the system worked only if people separated their waste into different categories. Countries similar to ours like Nepal and Egypt may seem years away from catching up, however this is where a lot of interesting developments by concerned individuals seem to take place in the field of recycling.

My friends there were surprised to know that here in India, it’s the other way around. Here, we don’t have any recycling system supported or set up by the government. And while we wait for that to happen, a few concerned citizens have already setup informal recycling systems that work better than the west. My friend however, was most interested to learn that we actually get paid to get rid of most of our recyclable waste!!

The difference is that recycling is not some new trend or some kind of activity that is imposed by law, as in the west. Here in India, it is a way of life. Recycling seems to be embedded in our Indian genes! Here everybody recycles our newspapers to the nearby grocer, and ensure that old clothes are reused by the less fortunate. In the villages, we sell our plastics, metals and glass to waste pickers.

But there have been problems. City dwellers have long disregarded these practices, and rather dispose everything in one big bag, citing lack of time. The recycling industry is blacklisted, and often blamed for causing local environmental pollution. Those interested in recycling usually do not know how to go about it. The fact is that there is a vast informal recycling industry in India that needs to be supported, improved and upgraded.

Provided you separate your waste into a minimum of two fractions, recyclers will pay citizens (per kg.) about Rs. 3-5 for Paper/Newspaper, Rs. 4-6 for Cardboard, Rs. 0.50-1.20 for Coloured/Uncoloured Glass, Rs. 8-10 for hard plastics & general metals, Rs. 8-10 for PET Bottles, and higher values for specific metals. Rs. 70-75 for Aluminum, Rs. 150-170 for Brass and Rs. 230-250 for Copper!! Recyclers in Goa are even willing to pick up these fractions from your doorstep provided you (or your community) have accumulated a cycle load or rickshaw load of waste before calling them.

While some might argue that the focus of recycling ought to be more on reducing waste rather than making money, demanding this minimum amount of monetary refund for your waste is a very important step in supporting this recycling industry. Firstly, recyclable fractions anyway have higher monetary values attached; therefore you are simply taking advantage of a small fraction of this value. Fixing values for each recyclable fraction also prevents unscrupulous recyclers from picking up mixed waste altogether and then dumping the non recyclable fractions in the open environment. This therefore, reduces environmental pollution by the recycling industry as waste is more streamlined. Source separated waste is more profitable and less hazardous for the rag picker as opposed to rummaging through mixed waste in communitiy bins that might contain sharps or disease. Finally, this additional money, obtained from recycling can also go towards your own households waste management infrastructure such as waste bins or a compost bin. Thus, in this way, everybody benefits, and recycling pays for itself to become a sustainable system.

Recycling also can happen with the assistance of Green Manufacturers & Producers. In Goa we have quite a few examples. Beer manufacturers in Goa take back empty bottles, providing a refund of Rs. 4-5 per bottle. The Goa Dairy offers to take back used milk bags in exchange for a pack of milk. 100 washed clean milk bags can be bundled and handed over to any Goa Dairy milk booth in Goa in exchange for a free milk packet. A joint collaboration by a few NGOs, Pepsi, CocaCola and Bisleri offer to take back used PET Bottles and clean plastic bags in exchange for a monetary refund. PET Bottles over 1Lt. fetch Rs. 0.30 each. PET Bottles under 1Lt. fetch Rs. 0.15 each while a kg of clean plastic bags fetch Rs. 6 per kg at the collection centers established in Colva, Margao, Panjim and Calangute. While both these initiatives have started since 2001, most Goans remain unaware as publicity has been poor. Since 2006, TetraPak takes back their drink carton waste at a collection center in Panjim while Titan takes back its watch batteries at all their service centers in Goa since 2007.

Recycling centers exist all over Goa, with most of them located around bigger cities. Visit one such recycler and give him your recyclable waste. Please contact me if you need specific details or if you need any assistance while using any of the services mentioned above.

Let's hear from you! Email klintvaz@gmail.com or arati05@gmail.com You can even post a letter to us at 'Goa Going Green' C/o Arati Das, Gomanatak Times, Gomantak Bhavan, St. Inez, Panjim, Goa

Photocredit: Clinton for 1, 2 & 3. This is the 5th article in the eco-talk series that appears on a weekly column on Gomantak Times. This article appeared on GT, 9th October, 2008 Pg. A10

Learn the Art of Separation

2008-10-03T06:00:00.002+05:30

Slowly but surely we seem to be making a difference. In the past few weeks, we’ve had a few proactive citizens call us up and let us know that they are interested in putting a waste management system into place on their own. Proactive citizens such as a few residents of the Nagali Hills Colony at Taleigao have already started to recycle their dry waste generated from their households. All I had helped them do was link them to a recycler in that area that would take the recyclable fractions of their dry waste, and they took it forward from there. On the other side of the Zuari, I recently got 3 months of my stockpiled dry waste recycled by a recycler that actually came to my home in Benaulim, weighed each fraction and paid me Rs. 260 for it all.

When I was researching the aspect of financial recovery by recycling, I had come to the conclusion that an average Goan household of 4-5 persons would be able to generate roughly Rs. 100 per month by recycling their waste. Recycling your waste is simple, if you know how to do it, and know who takes it for reuse. Unfortunately, not all your recyclable waste is taken by the same recycler. Therefore it’s important to know recycling details about each type of waste fraction.

After Separation At Source (SAS) is done, you need to get rid of your dry waste by recycling. Classifying your recyclable waste into different categories such as plastic, metal and glass is known as separating by waste ‘fractions’. While the most simple methods of waste SAS would require one to separate one’s waste into just 2 waste fractions (such as dry & wet waste), most of Europe ask’s its citizens to separate their household waste into 6-10 different fractions, and in Japan, certain municipalities ask citizens to separate it into as much as 38 different fractions!

While it is true that having more waste fractions help in better financial recovery, having more fractions need not necessarily be better, as it can sometimes lead to confusion in the minds of the household members. Imagine a small middle class family in Goa with 38 different waste bins, all colour coded for each category!

In Goa, due to an absence in any official system, it’s possible to set your own number of fractions that you want to separate your dry waste into. However, it is usually better to work from the bottom-up approach. Speak to a recycler in your neighborhood and ask him about the fractions he accepts. Then, accordingly choose the number of fractions you would use in your own Waste Management System at home. You also need to consider the amount of space required for placing a number of bins at your home.

At my home, I find it best to separate my dry waste bin into the following categories:
Bin 1 – Newspapers
Bin 2 – Mixed Paper & Magazines
Bin 3 – Cardboard & Cartons
Bin 4 – TetraPak Cartons
Bin 5 – Soft Plastics (Plastic Carry Bags)
Bin 6 – P.E.T. Bottles
Bin 7 – Hard Plastics (All grades & varieties)
Bin 8 – Metal (All types & metals)
Bin 9 – White / Uncoloured Glass
Bin 10 – Coloured Glass
Bin 11 – Electronic Waste, Batteries & Inkjet Cartridges
Bin 12 – Non Recyclable Waste

Based on the above separations, its possible for my recycler to come by and take the waste from bins 1,2,3,6,7,8,9,&10. He pays me a fixed price per kilo per assigned category. I then take waste from bins 5 & 6 to the Pet Bottle collection centers (located at two locations in Goa at Colva and Below the Mandovi Bridge) where I get refunded for both fractions. Whenever I visit Panjim, I usually take waste from bin 4 to the TetraPak bailing center at St. Inez. This leaves me with waste from bin 11, that I hand over to consumer forums that are campaigning for roper management of hazardous waste and I dispose contents of bin 12 in the nearest municipal bin, as that’s the most responsible thing to do rather than throwing it into the environment.

At times, it can be difficult to know what waste ought to be put in what fraction bin. It could also be dangerous or hazardous to put items in the wrong fraction. This is when sorting lists become useful. Sorting lists can be made on your own by first doing a household waste inventory, and then simply classifying what waste goes into what fraction with the help of a recycler or a waste management expert. Many progressive municipalities around the world have now developed their own sorting lists for their citizens. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that certain municipalities in cities such as Stockholm, Toronto, Auckland have actually come out with picture and info filled booklets devoted to helping their citizens sort their own waste!! I’d be glad to share my own household waste sorting list next week, and perhaps my list will help you separate your own waste easily. Until next week, happy recycling!

Let's hear from you! Email klintvaz@gmail.com or arati05@gmail.com You can even post a letter to us at 'Goa Going Green' C/o Arati Das, Gomanatak Times, Gomantak Bhavan, St. Inez, Panjim, Goa

Photocredit: Clinton for 1 & 2. This is the 4th article in the eco-talk series that appears on a weekly column on Gomantak Times. This article appeared on GT, 3rd October, 2008 Pg. A10

A Little Less Conversation, More Action

2008-09-25T06:00:00.001+05:30

When I was five, I wanted to be the captain of a multicolored ship. I pictured myself on a rainbow coloured ship sailing all over the world. Even the phone on my ship would have rainbow colours, I decided. It seemed pretty straightforward and simple. As I grew older, my fantasy changed to that of a Marine Engineer, and I even started to draw pictures of my container ship at sea. Unfortunately all that came to a full stop when I realized I absolutely hated math, a subject that’s very important if I wanted to be an engineer. With all those childhood dreams going to pieces, what would I do? In time, school was finished with and like a lot of 14 year olds, I didn’t know what path to choose, but eventually, I was advised to study engineering, and so I did.

The course was interesting, and practical, and 4½ years later, I was an engineer, working in an Industrial estate. The job was interesting, but after a while, I felt undervalued and frustrated. I didn’t seem to have enough time to work on things that I really liked doing… spending time outdoors, and learning more about the environment. I began getting upset, stressed and frustrated as I saw no real way out. Seems that our society only accepts engineers and doctors as the most respected professions, so could I find a respectable job by running after butterflies or recycling some pots and pans from home?

But strange as it might sound, I quit my 9-5 job, and that was the best thing I did for myself. At first, I didn’t know if I did the right thing, as I was homebound, and quite frankly a bit confused. I began pursuing my environmental thoughts quite randomly. I remembered that a school friend and I had once picked up junk from our own homes and cycled to a scrap yard to sell it for some pocket-money. We made 26 Rupees each, and it was an interesting experience too. I learnt that a lot of things could be recycled and later on that made me wonder if there were possibilities to recycle materials such as plastic carry bags. I had also attended a composting workshop organized by the Goa Foundation, and like most participants, I would have forgotten putting into practice the newly learnt skills of composting. Fortunately, I had saved all my notes in a folder.

Why not simply start just like that? I wondered. And so I did. Pulling in experiences from here and info from there, I began my first environmental steps amateurishly and on my own, I began working with a crude waste management model. My grandmother told me that difficult days had taught them to be thrifty. She reused what she could, and sold what she did not need like old tins, bottles, plastics and newspapers to household scrap dealers for financial incentives. I learnt that this system still functioned in villages and was an excellent way to recycle, earn some money and ensure that resources were reused rather than thrown into a heap of garbage. Jotting notes on what could be recycled and what got composted, I took some ideas from a visit to Sweden, and made my own sorting list. Once done, I began visiting scrap yards, and talking to recyclers who offered to buy my waste. My father helped me start our own compost station that cost just 500 rupees to make! Along the way, I found out that I was not alone, and I have to acknowledge a number of individuals, NGOs and networks mostly based in Goa for increasing my knowledge base. Most of this is done by comparing notes, or sharing information for improving waste management models.

Today, I still believe that actions speak louder than words. It’s always easy to talk about wanting to do stuff, but walking the talk is more challenging. There are ways to help you start though, make a timetable or set a deadline that you could stick to. Don’t bite more than you can chew. Perhaps it might be easier to take on a major project in smaller phases so that your waste management project does not overwhelm you. Ask for advice and information. We have a number of people in Goa that have practical experience in waste management. Finally, instead of waiting for the final push from somebody, surprise everybody and make a start on your own...

You still have a week more to send in your quantifying lists and receive an award as a token of encouragement. We then will move on to making your own sorting list.

Let's hear from you! Email klintvaz@gmail.com or arati05@gmail.com You can even post a letter to us at 'Goa Going Green' C/o Arati Das, Gomanatak Times, Gomantak Bhavan, St. Inez, Panjim, Goa

Photocredit: Internet for 1 and Clinton Vaz for 2. This is the 3rd article in the eco-talk series that appears on a weekly column on Gomantak Times. This article appeared on GT, 25th September, 2008 Pg. A10

Time to Quantify Your Waste

2008-09-19T06:00:00.001+05:30

Most people interested in sorting out their own garbage problem often say that they don’t know where to begin. Most of the common questions I have heard people ask are: Will it take a lot of my time? Should I buy a compost bin first? Where do I dispose the plastics? What about batteries? Can I burn some of my waste if I take care of the rest? Who are the people that I ought to contact for all of the above?

Waste Management basically has four main aspects: Proper Awareness, Collection, Transportation & Treatment/Disposal. And when planning to put an environment- friendly and sustainable waste management system in place, you need to first look at both ends of this chain first before you get to the middle. You can’t do much if you don’t have responsible places for the waste to go to. At the same time, you can’t do all of this, if you and those living with you don’t understand how to do it.

Per capita waste generation is on the rise because of our current lifestyles. As per today’s figures, an average Goan generates 200-500gms of garbage per person per day. We are fortunate not to live in American or European lifestyles, where the figures are much higher at 3,500 to 5,000gms per day. But we now know that we are responsible for the waste generated, but average figures aside, do we know how much we individually generate ourselves? After all, nobody can plan any infrastructure without the right figures. It’s also interesting to re-assess ourselves once in a while, to check if we still are on the right path to sustainability.

Waste Characteristics, Quality of Waste or Waste Inventories are all fancy words for looking into your bin to see what makes up your waste. In late 2005, while I worked in Panjim, a team of 180 sanitation workers helped me individually weigh and empty each of the city’s garbage bins and then to cross check, we weighed the garbage trucks too, to get fairly accurate quantities of separated waste over a three-week period. With smaller quantities, you should be better off, and quicker in doing the same in your own home.

Quantify your Household waste
Now here’s an activity that can be done by everybody in your household. More participation will lead to more understanding of your own waste problem, so involve the kids and maid too. All you need is a pencil & a paper and 5-10minutes per day of study.

Start with making a list of the various rooms and open spaces in your home. Next, walk around and list and count items in each of these rooms and spaces that can potentially be waste within the same year. As an example, the bathroom list would contain things like shampoo bottles, toothpaste tubes, and tooth brushes. You would add perfume bottles, toilet rolls and perhaps used soap wrappers. Make a note of them all and the quantity of generation in that room. You may mention common fixtures like light bulbs that are in all rooms once for the entire household.

In the kitchen, make note of the type of waste going into the bin. Roughly quantify the amount of vegetable waste, fish waste, meat, bones etc. Note the number of milk bags/cartons thrown away, the number of plastic carry bags thrown away, then number of other food item containers/bags thrown away as well.

If you have a garden or some household plants, include the leaves and plant cuttings into this list as well.

Sorting Lists
Once you have done that over a minimum of three separate days, you will have a comprehensive list of what waste you generate and the quantity of it generated at your home. Next week I shall help you classify these waste categories or fractions into a list as per local systems of treatment and disposal. This also helps you plan your waste management infrastructure such as the number of bins, and size of compost bin to use. This list, abroad is known as a sorting list. Sorting lists help households recognize the right fraction of waste when disposing their waste. A sorting list might seem unnecessary at first… we all know that a used pen would be placed in the hard plastic fraction, or an empty can be placed in the metal fraction. However, with more and more complex products coming out, the list can be useful. Examples of difficult to classify objects are items such as mobile phones, lighting bulbs and tubes or paper packaging with plastic or aluminum linings.

Get down to making your own quantifying list today. Sit down over your family dinner and discuss the makings of this list. Remember, there is a reward for this too. Every sorting list emailed or posted to us in the next 15 days, will receive a free usable wallet or purse made from recycled material as a token of encouragement. If you need any help in making this list, call me at 9890936828.

Let's hear from you! Email klintvaz@gmail.com or arati05@gmail.com You can even post a letter to us at 'Goa Going Green' C/o Arati Das, Gomanatak Times, Gomantak Bhavan, St. Inez, Panjim, Goa

Photocredit: Internet for 1, Pune Municipal Council & Clinton Vaz for 2 and Clinton Vaz for 3. This is the 2nd article in the eco-talk series that appears on a weekly column on Gomantak Times. This article appeared on GT, 19th September, 2008 Pg. A10

Goa Going Green

2008-09-11T06:00:00.001+05:30

'Environment' just seems to be the latest buzzword. Pick up any newspaper, and I can promise you that there will be at least three or four news or info articles on the environment with at least one of them focusing on a garbage disposal problem. And this welcome trend seems to be only increasing. Unfortunately, most of what you learn about is the one sided negative side. Starting today, I plan a weekly interactive forum where you and I discuss environmental issues. To get a balanced view, lets talk about the good, the bad and the in-between's too. Besides just reading this series, I'd suggest that you cut and archive it for yourself, as I'll give out useful tips, detailed instructions, and local information for you to go green too.

Goans, living in a smaller state, with higher than national education levels, are already aware about the biggest environmental problems facing Goa today. Thanks to higher awareness levels of emerging problems, we now see Goan's immediately reporting, stopping further degradation, dumping or pollution. This has often been noticed by others in India looking at Goa when finding solutions to their own state problems. We are fortunate to have cleaner cities and countryside's, (only when compared to the rest of India) however, the question is, will we follow the rest of India as we seem to be doing today, or can we collectively set our state as an example for the rest of India and beyond?

Back in 1999, I was just an engineering student when I started to notice stirrings of environmentalism in Goa. There were a handful of NGOs and problems were beginning to be noticed. Today, almost 10 years later, those very same environmental problems have only grown to almost unmanageable proportions and led to other imbalances, which will result in further environmental degradation. While some now claim that we are at the tipping point, a few like me believe that we've already gone beyond.

When confronted with such problems, we blame, condemn and point at people we think that are responsible such as the local authorities, builders, industrialists, and the Government. But rarely do we include ourselves as society in this responsibility failure.

While most of these environmental problems crept up, due to apathy by the concerned authorities and stakeholders, it was also worsened by the failure of collective society such as you and me that passed by, and did nothing to make things better or report any violations. In certain situations, such as garbage problems, we don't realize that we are the ones that generate garbage, and therefore should share some of the blame, but more importantly some of the responsibility in managing the same.

In June-July 2008, I was attending an international c onference on Climate Change in Sweden when I was told by a fellow delegate that we humans as a collective species really do care about the environment, but it's our lack of awareness that causes these problems. An aware citizen he told me, would do as much as he could to save the environment. The key to change therefore is combination of mindset change as well as proper awareness. Take the very relevant subject of Garbage as an example: Very few Goans know that we already have the potential to reduce our own garbage going to disposal by 85% or more by simple waste reduction techniques such as waste separation, organic waste disposal, recycling and changing our purchase patterns. Imagine, if Panjim and Margao's waste (together estimated to be 90-100 Metric Tonnes per day) was reduced by 85%, we'd just have to worry about disposing 10-15 Tonnes per day.

Instable governments, red tape, and misguided decisions are the main reasons that nothing seems to happen in Goa. Past and present politicians, irrespective of their political parties have proved to be ineffective in choosing the right technology for managing of waste. This has been seen by the failure of a lot of waste treatment facilities that were either improperly selected or chosen by the amount of monetary kickbacks. Projects or plants selected in the past have often utilized foreign technology that's highly mechanized which is good in the west but not necessarily here, or not localized to Goan climate and waste characteristics. Worldwide, most waste management technologies came into being after the 1960s, and continue to improve with experimental plants set up at various places in the world even today. However, history has proved that the ideal solutions for managing waste in Goa are tried and tested technology that's low cost, low tech, and localized to treat waste with Goan waste characteristics. It appears that civic authorities and politicians only look at environmental problems as ways to obtain money, rather than find solutions, and until then, working with the government is difficult.

There is light at the end of the tunnel however. Concerned citizens need not wait for civic authorities or the Government to put infrastructure and systems in place to make a difference as we already have solutions in Goa for waste reduction that function without Government assistance. Infrastructure as well as expertise is available locally, and next week, we shall discuss practical aspects to be taken into account of waste management in Goa, and even how YOU can begin putting a waste management system in place at your own home.

Do let me know your own opinions about local environmental problems in Goa. As mentioned earlier, this series hopes to be interactive, with do-it-yourself projects, informal workshops at a few locations in Goa and even an odd environmental crossword or quiz. You can join some 170+ GreenGoans on a free online forum called GreenGoa similar discussions and information.

Let's hear from you! Email klintvaz@gmail.com or arati05@gmail.com You can even post a letter to us at 'Goa Going Green' C/o Arati Das, Gomanatak Times, Gomantak Bhavan, St. Inez, Panjim, Goa

Photocredit: Clinton Vaz for 1&2 and GBA for 3. This is the 1st article in the eco-talk series that appears on a weekly column on Gomantak Times. This article appeared on GT, 11th September, 2008 Pg. A10

Jiri

2007-09-05T13:14:00.000+05:30

We are back in Kathmadu again!

The trip to Jiri is 8 hours long, but the scenes outside the window make it totally worth it. Getting on a bus at 6.30 am at Ratna Bus Park, Sorella and I are asleep when the bus moves out of the city. Soon we are climbing hills, mountains and we wake up to sights of mountains, green paddy fields and clouds floating in between. Life outside is on as usual, military police manning checkposts, women collecting corn from their fields, men busy with cattle, goats and field work. We spot a rainbow and then the bus climbs...we actually are somewhere over the rainbow! After a couple of chai stops, we are in Jiri. Jiri is the last town connected by road to so called 'civilization'. Its also the town from where Edmund Hillary started out his expedition to Mt. Everest. We however are less ambitious, settling in only for nearby Bhandar or Shivalaya.

We settle in at a lodge, and go out for a walk in the countryside. After taking in the scenes, lots of pictures later, we find ourselves sitting down for some chai. Sorella suddenly notices that my foot was dripping with blood...a juga (leech) bite!

Soon we discover that i've been bitten in 5 places, and she in 2. We laugh about it, and find three jugas prancing about. We let them out back into the street. Dawa, the lodge manager is puzzled.... 'why don't you kill it?' he asks!

After some rest, we wake up lazily at 11am. The next door Canadian trekker probably has reached halfway to Everest, but we are not 'trekkers'. We get going, armed with umbrellas, a daybag and our cameras. The trek provides some great views of the hills, step farming and life going by at a slow pace.

We stop after an hour at a chai shop for some lemon tea. Beautiful children ask for chocolates but seemed very content with a pencil that i give them. The rain keeps us at the shop for a little longer and we are in the company of some more beautiful children, a sherpa and a wood cutter with a huge kukuri. They have some county liquor called 'Roxy' & 'Chang' to pass away the time.
We are taking in the sights, stopping to look at butterflies, flowers and more and soon its 6.30. W e stop by a home in a place called Mali. The household has allowed us to stop over for the night, and we are provided comfortable beds in the store filled with potatoes and corn. Our dinner is dal bhat....simple and delicious. Mamita, the wife is my age and she is fascinated by the pictures in out camera. she makes us take pictures of us together before we are again asleep with the smoky smells of tea, and some delicacies that she sells to passerbys...

We wake up to the sounds of goats bleating, and we are soon in Shivalaya. Shivalaya is a small town by a river. We walk around, skipping all the commercial lodges and make friends with the locals. Sorella gets a Nepali blouse called a choli stitched. We walk to the river and back, and it's already ready. After some more dal bhat, and some discussions with an English teacher, a shop owner and an old man that just knows to say 'don't mind'.

We leave back for Jiri, wishing we could take another route back, but its not bad as we still find it interesting. Rain comes and goes, and its no problem. We've both slipped more than a couple of times, much to the amusement of the many Sherpas and Nepalis that overtake us along the way.

Going back, we see something on a ridge that looks like a gompha. We go there and look at the mountains in the distance when an old woman herding her cattle appears. She tells us in a mix of Nepali and sign language that this is actually graves of two of her little children that died. There's a lot of silence after that.

It does not take us so long to get back to Jiri. We are there a day ahead. Fortunately for us, we also find out that there are no night buses to Kathmandu, so arriving a day early was good. After yet another Dal Bhat, we play dice and cards over some 'Nepali' Tuborg Beer. The night has some unpleasant experiences, but its not too bad.

Early in the morning, we collect our backpacks and are in a cramped bus to Kathmandu. After a tyre puncture, we realize that we have some people stalking us. We are't too afraid, and we term them 'Robin and Backman'. Robin & Backman have an accident on their bike along the way, but they still manage to follow our bus that makes a lot of stops.

Finally, a landslide causes our bus to stop. We manage to loose the dynamic duo in the mess of people and traffic at the landslide spot. Realizing that our bus is stranded and there's no earthmovers coming to clear the landslide, we ditch our bus, and join the crowd that's crossing over to the other side. The buses there are crowded, so we climb atop a mini bus and get a birds eye view of the valleys passing by. Another tyre puncture does not deter us. its fun to be ontop of a bus and we make friend with the locals.

Bus prices are flexible. I pay 80, Sorella manages 60 and the locals pay just 40! By 7pm we are in Kathmandu again and our sweet new found friend Changu helps us find a microvan to Lainchaur where we walk 'home' to Chinans place.

Until next...

Clinton..

Day of the Departure...

2007-08-23T15:40:00.000+05:30

Day 01
Margao, Goa

The day is running perfectly on schedule. I'm not tired though I hardly slept 2 hours last night. I'm a little anxious though, as im unaware of what lies ahead in Delhi. as I've left for the train station, I remeber that i've forgotten to say bye to the dogs....well i'll see them soon anyway.

The train departs 20 mins late, and as soon as I'm out of Goa, I'm already missing people. The scene outside my window is green and still feels like i'm in Goa. I start work on writing the environmental book concept note, make a few calls and stare into the blankness outside the train. I'm finally falling asleep at Roha at 9pm and dreaming by the time Panvel comes around midnight...

Pack, Pack, Packin away!

2007-08-21T05:37:00.000+05:30

I'm ready! all done and for the first time...i'm not going to be hurrying till the last minute! :) Got it all stuffed in my backpack and there's plenty of space for more.

All i need to do is now weight the bag.

Now for some sleep!

Clinton..

Lame excuses and chikrypot!

2007-05-06T23:12:00.000+05:30

Now I really ment to blog all along since Feb 2006, but it was only because Rodney asked me to today, that I actually am.

Lots of things happned in my life since then, but i'm not in the mood to make this a big rant. A few months ago, i discovered flickr, and have realized that it is an easy way to preserve some of the pictures i take.

Last May-June, I had an accident with my camera at a Tivoli. Now what's a tivoli you ask... Its what Swede's call an amusement park. So back to the Tivoli story. Grönalund (Greenland in engleska!) was where i was meeting my young friends for a evening of fun and frolic. I have to admit, that some of the rides i took were downright kiddish...but there were some like the tilt that would scare anybody (besides me!). The rush you get when you come hurtling down makes you unable to even scream in fright!

Unfortunatly, one of those rides was one too many for my camera. The bag i was holding swung out, and smassed to the floor. The camera survived, but the lcd screen did not. Back in India, I was politely told that my camera was outdated and i could perhaps buy a new one. :_(

Well, the latest additon to the vaz family is a cheaper Canon Powershot A-430, which is excellent value for its price. Check out some of the pics that I've taken at my flickr account.

Until next,

Clinton..

And Then It Was Over

2006-02-13T23:43:00.000+05:30

After almost 2 weeks of planning, hectic trips to Panjim and back, 7am wakey ups and 1.30am crash to the beds, it's finally over.The Gagged by the Bag exhibition was finally over and all in all, it was a job well done.

This monday was my sunday, and i spent most of it sleeping away and catching up on my missed sleep. Woke up late, checked my mail, and had a nice relaxing evening by the beach with a Swede friend. Tomorrow's another day and I will be back to normal work tomorrow.

A Wedding On The Beach

2006-02-05T11:00:00.000+05:30

Last night, I was at Charlie and Nicole's wedding. Charlie’s a Goan from Kananguinim, while Nicole from Basel, Switzerland and they live close to my place in Benaulim. It was a refreshing change from the usual weddings I've attended. For starters; I was dressed in a t-shirt, jeans and sandals! The entrance was lit up with candles in paper bags...hundreds of them formed the driveway to the shack called Zeebop at Utorda beach. The atmosphere was multicultural and uncrowded and most of all uniquely fun!

We had the customary toast, but no silly wedding march. We had a ‘wedding special’ newspaper for sale which was filled with info about the bride and groom, funny pictures and cartoons too. The money from the sale was given to a home for special children. For entertainment we some of the foreign guests double up as performers and had cross dressers perform an Abba song in costume, a typically Swiss ‘Heidi-Dance’, and a martial arts demonstration.

At one side was a huge canvas and some paint for all the guests to leave their comments and cartoons and I put my palm impressions on and left a message ‘I had so much fun! C&N, do get married more often –Clinton’ Also met a few friends, Prashant Maurya and Sanjit (who talked to me about the Chaka-Chak Campaign much to his wife’s displeasure). Food was great and I went for a second helping.

We ended by going to the beach and setting gas balloons free. The gas balloons had sparklers attached to them so as they went up they also sparkled into the sky. What a nice way to end a perfect wedding!

2.54am, 130kmph, and 13 turtle hatchlings

2006-02-04T02:55:00.000+05:30

Thought i'd pass the blog phase in my life but i guess i was wrong. Got persuaded by a friend that blogs were worth trying out. Perhaps that it is 2.54 am in the morning and i don't know if i'm sleepy or not, but i won't put too much thought into that...

I've just returned home speedily from a beach in North Goa, called Morjim. So what was a benaulikar doing 70 kms away from his hometown at that ungodly hour you ask? Watching turtles hatch and crawl to the sea ofcourse!

Well it's not everyday that you see such a happening, so armed with a camera and a 4 wheeler, i made my way to Panjim for dinner and then to Morjim where i would witness this for the first time in my life. Sujeet, one of those in charge had informed me earlier that i would be just one of the 5-6 people that night, and you can perobably imagine my horror when i saw over 150 people at a desolate beach close to midnight.

It's a sad sight to see people jostling with each other trying to get a better view perhaps, a better camera angle and this special moment becomes just another touristic sideshow. At birth, hatchlings make their way upwards, crawling through the sand with their flippers. Instinct tells them to follow the moonlight towards the sea. But with so many meddilng tourists, and flashing cameras, they get disoriented and move in circles, wearing themselves out even before they enter the sea. It was a disa pointing experience as I could not get a picture in a natural setting with the crowds milling about, nor could i enjoy the sight.

At times like this I wish we ddin't have so many tourists or perhaps these hatchings should be kept secret, at least for the sake of the turtles. This night just 13 turtles made it into the sea. I wonder how many will survive till they return back to Morjim to lay some more eggs. Probably none, but by then i guess Morjim would probably be another Calangute.

Clinton..
klintvaz at gmail.com