M.K.Khushu
World Earth Day
Earth Day is an annual day and is observed on April 22 each year. Actually, the concept of Earth Day was pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. He proposed March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. However, a month later, US Senator Gaylord Nelson organized an environmental teach-in first on April 22, 1970 to promote ecology and respect for life on the planet as well as to encourage awareness of the growing problems of air, water and soil pollution and this environmental teach-in day called as “Earth Day”. The April 22, 1970, Earth Day marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Various groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, land degradation, deforestation, and air pollution suddenly realized they shared common values. Earth Day has become a launch pad for course-changing, positive environmental action and has activated individuals and organizations annually to strengthen the collective fight against man’s exploitive relationship with the planet. Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and is celebrated in more than 192 countries every year. The Earth Day campaign aims to combat climate change by driving substantive behavioral change and channel quantifiable action on behalf of the environment. This date was designated as International Mother Earth Day by a consensus resolution adopted by the United Nations in 2009.
For the last 40 years, Earth Day has been celebrated around the world to call attention to some of our most environmental and social problems, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and dwindling natural resources. On April 22, 2013, more than one billion people around the world are expected to take part in the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day. From Beijing to Cairo, Melbourne to London, Rio to Johannesburg, New Delhi to New York, communities everywhere will voice their concerns for the planet, and take action to protect it.
In India like world, environmental concerns are becoming a primary focus. Lawmakers and business leaders, consumers and producers, families and individuals, teachers and students, everyone has a vested interest in preserving the earth. The Earth Day Network, which coordinates the event, has chosen theme of Earth Day 2013 as “The Face of Climate Change” to highlight the mounting impact of climate change on individuals around the world. Agriculture, which is main source of food for all of us, contributes to almost 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental damage brought on by the agricultural sector poses significant threats to the industry itself. The way agriculture is practiced contributes significantly to global climatic changes. Conventional agriculture contributes to the production of greenhouse gases in various ways: by reducing the amount of carbon stored in the soil and in vegetation, through the production of methane in irrigated fields, and through energy-intensive activities such as the production of artificial fertilizers. To me, Earth Day is an opportunity to raise awareness among farmers about the challenges facing our planet, and to present and explore solutions. Adopting sustainable agriculture would reduce these impacts significantly which would help in protecting the earth’s environment.
In India today, wide-spread bio-research and development of new production techniques help farmers to plant, grow and harvest in a sustainable manner. Many traditional and most conventional farm practices are not ecologically sustainable, they overuse natural resources, reducing soil fertility, causing soil erosion, and contributing to global climatic change. Although, we have made great progress but still, there is further to go. India’s population continues to grow so there is constant pressure to produce higher yields and better nutritional value in what we grow. The soil and our fresh-water supply need our attention. Adequate food and fiber supplies in the future will happen only when we have a healthy earth to supply them. Sustainable agriculture systems can play a big role in preserving the environment by helping to improve soil health, protecting biodiversity, and mitigating climate change. Sustainable agriculture has several major advantages over both traditional and conventional practices for example.
Sustainable agriculture improves fertility and soil structure and prevents erosion which is a major problem in many parts of India. Its practices frequently involve mixed cropping, so increasing the diversity of crops produced and raising the diversity of insects and other animals and plants in and around fields. Improvements in water use efficiency, through measures such as irrigation system mechanical improvements coupled with a reduction in operating hours; drip irrigation technologies; and center-pivot irrigation systems, can significantly reduce the amount of water and nitrogen applied to the cropping system. This reduces greenhouse emissions of nitrous oxide and water withdrawals. In agriculture, use of pesticides is hazardous to human health as well as to the local ecology. Sustainable agriculture reduces or eliminates the use of hazardous chemicals; instead it controls pests with a variety of biological and agronomic measures and the use of natural substances. Modifications to grazing practices, such as implementing sustainable stocking rates, rotational grazing and seasonal use of rangeland, can lead to greenhouse gas reductions. Converting marginal cropland to trees or grass maximizes carbon storage on land that is less suitable for crops. Large emissions of methane and nitrous oxide are attributable to livestock waste treatment, especially in dairies. Agriculture methane collection and combustion systems include covered lagoons and complete mix and plug flow digesters. Anaerobic digestion converts animal waste to energy by capturing methane and preventing it from being released into the atmosphere. The captured methane can be used to fuel a variety of on-farm applications, as well as to generate electricity. Land restoration and land use changes that encourage the conservation and improvement of soil, water and air quality typically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Converting marginal cropland to trees or grass maximizes carbon storage on land that is less suitable for crops.
Earth Day offers a great opportunity to pledge – especially in the face of climate change – that we will continue to care for every part of our mother land. On Earth Day 2013, we are urging policy makers, researchers and NGOs to consider agriculture as a solution – not as a driver of global environmental challenges.
We Quotes Earth Day as:
Earth Day Is The World’s Birthday!
Love earth and earth will love you!!
A clean earth is a happy earth!
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need,
but not every man’s greed.
Keep it GREEN, Keep it CLEAN!
Green Jammu Clean Jammu
(The author Dr. M.K.Khushu is working as Chief Scientist, Agrometeorology SKUAST-Jammu)
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