Dialectical Tornadoes

Dialectical Tornadoes

Geography is
Supposed to be
The Mother of all Sciences
But to me
It does not
Simply because of
Its bizarre nomenclature
Cum misnomer of terminologies

For instance
From tornadoes in Toronto
To typhoons in Taipei
To cyclones in Ceylon
Are all manifestations
Of gusty winds
Why not call them
Cyclones and anticyclones
Moving either in clockwise
Or anticlockwise direction

It looks as if
The scientists have picked up
Topological dialects at random
From el Nino to la Nina
Without realizing
The confusion that
It creates

Instead of saying
Warm water currents moving
Westwards in the Pacific Ocean
In a countercurrent direction
To the normal
Eastward moving cold currents
El Nino and la Nina were born
It sounds nice to the Spanish
But shear nonsense to the English

Coming to hurricanes
Not sugarcane
To ones effected
But when it is
Known as a severe form of cyclone
And the anticyclone does not
Have the same deleterious effects
It is funny enough to
Ones who are not scientifically inclined

If the mother of sciences
Created this anomaly
One cannot blame the kids
For not taking interest
In Science or Geography
To say the least
All important weather
With global warming
Creating havocs
From China to Australia
To North America

It is high time
Scientist should get together
And rediscover the meaning
Of science and definitions
Of all grades
Not falling into the trap
Set in precedence
By ancient physicians
To confuse the patients with
Bizarre medical terminologies

Intermission

Latter search

Of my own

Has convinced me

That most of

American tornados

Would or could have been 

Preventable

If American did not

Dessimated

Its tree cover by

Ninety percent

In 70 years

From 1850 to 1920

At a rate of 2% per year

And believe it or not

America has the most

Concentrated population

Of Scientists

In the world

Forest Harvesting; Comparison of American Style and Sri-Lankan Style

I was bit inquisitive why there are so many tornadoes and hurricanes in America.

I just went to Google Earth and had a little peep from above of Americas’ West and East.

There is hardly any different of tree cover of the land.
Mostly farmland and build up areas.
That did not give me a clue to the state of the forest cover.
Then I went and searched deforestation.

American harvested the 90% of the land in 70 years from 1850 to 1920.

Entire East was covered with Forest and fair proportion of the West was covered with primary forest.

The deforestation continued to this century and America now has mainly secondary forest covering 10% of the land.

American knew that the CO2 problem started around 1920 and continues even today due to their exploitation of fossil fuel.

Did they tell the truth to the world?
Big No.

In Sri-Lanka we had 90% forest cover until around 1850 and British started deforestation for coffee and tea cultivation.

By the time they left in 1948 forest cover was over 60% but before they left they pass a law prohibiting encroachment of Crown Land.

From 1948 to 2000 we have decimated another 40 percent especially after 1970.

We are now below the minimal threshold of 22% to maintain our rivers.

This land now can be called President’s Land instead of Crown Land and the development goes on.

When the thermal power plant is operational we will be approaching 10% level which is the cut off point for desert classification.

Acid rain will do the rest even we stop cutting to Zero.

Then we can say we are better than America in case of deforestation and go for an IMF loan.

Very soon we will be no different from Dubai.

Regards to American tornadoes and hurricanes trees act as a wind breaks and control the water cycle better.

They should reforest America back to 1920 or continue to have this cycle every year.

Problem is there is no country rich American can go to avoid hurricanes since rest of the world is no better including China.

This is what I call the development of the Earth Crisis.

The prediction that world ends in 1912 should be rephrased that irreversible loss of biodiversity is in full swing from now onwards.

We Sri-Lanksn will be drilling oil with Indian help till sun goes down.

The cycle of destruction has begun and it is irreversible unless there is global consensus.

Next biggest crisis will be food crisis and that will be worse than 1973 (due to oil crisis and poor foreign balance) since this time it is related to failure of rain and land becoming dessert.

We are at a cliff edge.

Problem is politicians obsessed with development and energy do not want to see that in that way.

We have no plan for food security but have big plans for 100% energy supply which we will never achieve.

Children who are born today will see the consequences but we do not even have a population plan.

Filed under: Environment, Warning, Weather, Wind Breaks Tagged: | Wind Breaks

Cycle of Events

Humans and humanoids (a subspecies evolving out of global economic concepts with overpowering and obsessive desire to consume, usually white in colour but there are other shades including brown) think that they are rational beings but a simple observation made me to think otherwise. I was traveling in a bus from Peradeniya to Kandy in the morning. I had nothing else to do, I decided to calculate the speed of the bus. It took 45 minutes and the speed of the bus was 8 km/hour. It was an amazing speed for a person who loved driving at a speed of 100 km/hour on a highway abroad. Being myself bit inquisitive I wanted to find the average speed of a ‘push’ bike. At a leisurely pace it is 12 to 20 km/hour. So if I had a speed of 12 km/hour I could have gone to Kandy and come back in an hour the most, with a pint of milk and the Sunday Paper. Incidentally the pint of milk is roughly the energy and water requirement of my journey and the calcium is for my aging back (now aching after journey). To travel 12 kilometers on a bike the cyclist needs about 300 kcal. (It is sad but true that there are only two places where I can buy fresh (unsweetened) milk. Being a Dental Health Convert, I preach the value of fresh milk as against the sweetened milk).

I put a little teaser to my aging grey (brain) cells. To travel the same distance an average car consumes staggering 48,000 kcal (200 MJ) and a gallon of petrol. A colossal waste of energy just to pick the Sunday Paper (by car) which is thrown away the next day. (The amount of additional Oxygen consumed by me is about 3.5 moles and the amount of Carbon Dioxide exhaled is about 2.5 moles if I cycled). The amount of carbon dioxide produced by the car is staggering 400 moles ( I stand to be corrected if I am wrong in my calculations). The number of trees left in the town is not sufficient to absorb (use) this surplus of carbon dioxide (for photosynthesis) produced by a single car journey (even if they live longer than me). Coming back to humanoids rationale, the car which was invented for the purpose of speed and efficiency, is the biggest hindrance to efficiency due to the over use and congestion in the cities. The city planners and think tanks now work harder to built new roads and subways. This has been found counterproductive in M25 motorway round London. In no time congestion builds up again and we are back to square one and the drawing board. That is for our economists of “Regaining Sri-Lanka” and Television Pundits to ponder. The bigger the project still bigger is the disaster unforeseen.

There are about 500 million cars and 800 million bicycles in the world. The love of the car is phenomenal even though most of the people will never own car in their life time. It is a status symbol. The cycle is seen as a symbol of poverty in Africa. In China there are about 300 million cycles and a regime that favours cycling work force, now has taken a U-turn like the New Labour Party in England. The country that boasted production of over 36 million bicycles is now producing 30 million (20% less) and the rate of increase of production of cars which was 4% in 1996 will be reaching 10% soon.100 bicycles can be produced for the cost of building a car. In other words the bicycle is cheap to produce but the trend in China is in the opposite direction. Probably the children born to single child families (probably single parent too) are either ambidextrous or they were not taught which is left and which is right like the New Labour Party.

In our times bicycle was a popular mode of transport. Only problem was how to prevent Gajayas (friends) taking the bike away in the middle of the night. However, medical students (some of our professors came to work in scooters) had a penchant for scooters. Apart from health benefits, its convenience, cycling was a pleasurable pastime in our days. Oxford university somewhat similar (but not as beautiful as Peradeniya) is known for its bicycle commuters even today. Now only a few minor employees use this mode of transport regularly and the time has come (with the petrol prices going up) to question our wisdom. Unfortunately, with traffic congestion and so many three wheelers on the road cycling has become a potential hazard to young undergraduates. This has become a reason for the decline in bicycles in the campus. Bicycle perceived as a low status (artificial) symbol is used as an exercise (stationary though) machine in sports facilities defeating its rightful place as the poor man’s friend. Are we proving to ourself we are prudent in our choices?

The environmental pollution (air and noise) contributed by motor vehicles is accepted not as an evil but as a champion of development. Ironically, two way catalytic converters built to reduce carbon monoxide emissions and smog do not reduce oxides of nitrogen, (which is 300 times more potent in ozone depletion) only work on lead-free fuel. Catalytic converters do not work on diesel engines. The irony in India and Sri-Lanka is that there is higher taxes on petrol (which is environmentally less harmful) and subsidies on diesel (which promotes the use of diesel engines in preference to petrol engines). Cleaner and the environmentally friendly people pay taxes to the benevolence of the polluters. Norochcholay power plant, when commissioned would in a matter of 50 years destroy the remaining rain forest and our grand children would be pedaling (with a mask on) bicycles at school to power the computer they are using (hydroelectric power non existing due to drought; sipping water drop by drop from a bottle to prevent dehydration. The water is a scarce commodity). My grand child would be so advanced in his skills that not only he can ride, type, eat and drink in a stride, while also taking part in live chat with uncle Sam in America and uncle Albert in England, asking for a little loan for an electric bicycle (by now one of the most expensive presents for an average Sri-Lankan).

Shanghai one of the most polluted cities of the world would have more deaths related to respiratory illness if the present trend of increase of motor vehicles continues. It looks as if the policy makers of China let its comrades die (simply an altruistic urge) prematurely so that the young and strong can survive. I thought and believed that China produced philosophers and rational economists. Probably may have been killed in the cultural revolution.

Interestingly, United States has more bicycles than in China but only 2.5% of Americans use it for commuting to work. Instead they use it for sport and recreation. So in America there are only 2.5% rational and practical men in spite of so many universities. So how can the American Colleges that are coming up in Sri-Lanka produce rational economists and scientists of Sri-Lankan origin. It beats me the logic of going to an American College for Graduation if only 2.5% of them use their brains after graduation.

But there is an outstanding American called Lance Armstrong (I do not know to which college he went. I suggest any Sri-Lankan who is bright enough must enter that college in Texas) who made the Tour de France, the “Lance de France”. Battling illness and cancer with courage and determination he won the Tour de France with grace as a true world champion. He is one who is worth emulating, as a model of a rational man. This article is dedicated to him. French people deserve a special thanks for popularizing cycling as a way of life and sport.

I want the American and French Embassy to recruit our retiring political (unfortunately they never consider retiring as a healthy pastime) giants and train them in cycling either in America or in France so that they lose weight and live ever so happily thereafter. (They are overweight since they have undisclosed number of official vehicles to transfer from kitchen cabinet to the potato hotpot). I have an e-question to the current US President. How come an affluent country like US with high growth rates tend to be the most polluted and afflicted by public squalor at an astonishing speed, both at the same time? Should Sri-Lanka follow the same path?

P.S. My apologies to the executive committee that organized the march from Devinuwara to Colombo, for not sending this note for circulation earlier. I have calculated that the energy costs could have been cut down by 75% if the marchers cycled from Devinuwara to Colombo and the public waiting could have been cut down by 90% by reaching the Town Hall in double quick time. Present regime is known for coming (AL) always late. That alone would have been an antidote for our tsunami (sleeping) administrators.