Oct 27, 2021

The Straw Burning Solution

Issue #156 • View online

Weekly Roundup of Environmental News by Laveesh Bhandari

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My Take

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The Straw Burning Solution

Millions have died and millions will die and the health and economic impact are massive. And this problem will continue for some time to come, as there are few other avenues for the farmer. Crop burning for many reasons is perversely the ‘best’ action for a farmer to take. I delve into issues of incentives, information asymmetries, coordination failures, community action, and technology to assess ways that straw burning can be stopped and why has government been unable to stop this animal till now. And most importantly, I find why many initiatives cannot work as straw is inferior, useless, and costly for both the farmer and its potential user. And finally, I identify 5 different mechanisms that will yield long-term gains against crop burning.

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India among the most exposed to heat

This study finds an increasing trend of deaths due to heatwaves, significant impacts on the growth of agri crops, rise in days of labour lost due to climate related factors, and a bit more. Nothing new here in that we have always known that this would occur, but the key is, now we have significant quantitative data from the government itself that shows what we are in for. What to do? Prepare for it better than we have prepared for anything so far.

www.indiaspend.com • Share

Harvard professor asks all to bathe less

Daily bath or shower makes me calm,

But professor says helps little and may also harm

Water plus soap and I feel fine and fresh,

Smell better to all and the opposite sex,

Pour on the front and also behind,

Washes away the sins of the previous night

And yet the professor says that’s not right,

The soap kills the bacteria that are nice,

And body odor too others may like,

Cracks appear as the soaped skin goes dry,

Desist thy daily bath be it day or night

But my friends, not him, listen to what I say,

The ancients used herbs and sandal paste,

Rid that soap but daily you bathe,

So no more cosmetics on the skin,

For blessed is the country with watered skin :-)

www.timesnownews.com • Share

Global leaders will shout success but also whisper our collective failures

COP26 is when the world will finally give up. We tried but it was too little too late, and now it is time to let reality take over. What will humanity now do? First, it will still try to discipline the increase in carbon emissions and promise itself that in the future we will be reducing reductions of Net Zero promises. But COP26 will also finally force global leaders to admit that this is not good enough. And therefore there will be a new statement on encouraging methods of carbon sequestration through physical, chemical, and biological means. Like it or not, today there is no other way left.

www.moneycontrol.com • Share

Report on marine pollution released by UNEP

When there is too much information and solutions are too expensive or complex, the mind tends to freeze. And that is occurring with the global community’s response to the horrors of marine pollution. The solution requires us to change so much that is it convenient to not know more. But plastics are causing significant damage, and this damage is growing exponentially as more and more plastics enter the oceans. As a first step and very simple step, we would do well to heavily tax the key raw materials of plastics. But refineries and petrochemical companies will no doubt lobby hard.

caribbeannewsservice.com • Share

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