If the North Pole Melts, Do We Have A Third Pole?
The Third Pole is the largest freshwater reserve in the world outside the Antarctic and Arctic polar regions. It is located to the north of India, encompassing the Tibetan Plateau, and the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, and Karakoram mountain ranges.
Also, it is home to the Siachen glacier, the second-largest glacier in the world, and to the Mount Everest. This vital powerhouse is in danger. Do you know why?
Third Pole of Earth on the Tibetan Plateau
It is the source of 10 major river systems that supply water to 1.5 billion people in Asia – nearly 20% of the world population. These water systems support people in India, Nepal, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
Thus, the Third Pole directly or indirectly supports the lives of a fifth of the world population! It supplies water for agriculture, drinking and sanitation, livelihoods, and hydropower.
Watch this short video to understand the importance of the Third Pole for countries like India, China, and Pakistan.
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The Third Pole consists of 100,000 square kilometers of ice and 46,000 glaciers. However, 509 glaciers have disappeared in the last 50 years, according to the research of Qin Xiang, a glaciologist.
Climate Change and Rising Sea Levels
The rate of melting of glaciers in the Third Pole has doubled since 2005. One of the reasons being, the Tibetan Plateau is experiencing more heating than the global average.
First, it is sensitive given its high elevation. So, it absorbs moisture from warm, moisture-laden air.
By the end of 2030, the world is expected to see an increase in the global average temperature of 1.5oC. However, even if the global temperature rise is below 1.5oC, the Tibetan Plateau will experience a temperature rise above 2oC.
The Third Pole is not just in danger because of global warming. Also, because of emissions from vehicles and coal burners, and industrial pollution.
Besides, carbon particles settle on the glaciers causing increased absorption of sun rays, thus, accelerating the melting process.
Impact of Climate Change on Water
Research suggests that the initial melting of the glaciers would lead to flooding of rivers that originate from the Third Pole. In fact, some of the largest rivers like the Ganga (India), Irrawaddy (Myanmar), Indus (Pakistan), Yellow, and Yangstze (China) face the fear of flooding. While initially the rivers are feared to flood. Flooding will eventually be followed up by drying up of these rivers, and desertification, and a water crisis unleashed across countries.
There are deeper concerns about the changes in the Third Pole on the global climatic patterns. For instance, monsoons and El Nino could be affected. Water scarcity could also lead to further conflicts in regions already having a history of disputes.
Do you see how global warming and climate change lead to a domino effect on human lives, livelihoods, global climates, and relations among countries?
United Nations has held 25 global climate change conferences since 1995. However, global CO2 emissions have been increasing at an alarming rate since then. Also, countries have not been able to tackle climate change. To know why such climate change conferences yielded any efforts, watch this short video.
Climate Action Begins With Us
This is the time to wake up and sense the danger. And to work together to reduce our ecological footprint on the environment.
Keen to learn about global warming, climate change, and the need for sustainable living? Sign up for our courses on sustainable development here!
Greenhouse gases and carbon emissions need to be contained to save the Third Pole from melting. Not only to protect the Third Pole but to prevent all global environmental catastrophes.
Did you know that more than 200 environmental disasters were recorded this year globally, as per Global Catastrophe Recap: First Half of 2020. This was a 27% increase from the number of disasters that occurred in the same period in 2019.
These 207 disasters cost 2200 human lives. Moreover, $57 billion in losses. And, rampant destruction of natural resources. Together we can work towards a better, sustainable future.
Courses on India: Let us Work Together
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Private firms and corporate companies can come together to mitigate such economic losses. And, to protect the planet and to give back to the society that builds them. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one such way.
In India, CSR became law back in 2014. Consequently, private companies were able to spend a staggering amount of $6.8 billion on CSR activities in the next five years.
Watch this short video to know how CSR can help achieve sustainable development goals faster.
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Working towards a sustainable future for all living beings can happen with your contribution.
Wondering how to take the first step?
Learning about sustainable development and how about one’s role in fueling sustainable growth could be a good start. Sign up for our courses on CSR. This will help you learn about CSR and the opportunities it opens in India for a sustainable future.
References:
Sustainable Financing And The Economics of Sustainability
National Nutrition Week
Health And Nutrition
Since 1982, the National Nutrition Week in India is celebrated from September 1 to September 7. It aims to create awareness on the importance of nutrition and a well-balanced diet for the human body.
Mental and physical well-being, including the consumption of nutrition-rich food, is key for a happy life.
Various cultures of India and their rich diversity is reflected in Indian culinary delicacies. The 72-course Wazwan platter of Kashmir, to Irumba of Manipur, to the famous Hyderabadi dum biryani, to vada paav in Mumbai, to thepla in Gujarat, to avial in Kerala, to pongal in Tamil Nadu – there are delicacies galore across every village, town, and city of India.
Rich cultural traditions, concepts of food science, and interstate migration have enriched India’s food diversity over the years. Such food leaves one’s tummy and the taste buds happy.
India has 36 entities (28 states and 8 federally administered territories), and each one has a different food culture. That is the richness of India! However, outside of India, this fact is not well known. Lack of this knowledge results in an incomplete understanding of not just India’s diversity, but also of the immense treasure trove on information on nutrition and well-being. To understand how Indian food is much more beyond lentils, rice, and spices, you should watch this video which is short and will take less than 2 minutes of your time:
We aim to bring you such nutrition filled nuggets of info on our channel. If you liked this video, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos on Indian culture and economy. And do click on the bell icon.
Indian Culture And The Importance of Food
In India, food is key to the overall development of the mind and body. Food is an integral part of Indian culture. As per Ayurveda philosophy, you are what you eat.
Best practices for eating food –one’s posture while sitting for a meal, using hands to eat, cooking in clay pots, eating in moderation, the tableware one eats in, to the combination of food items being consumed – are important to Indians. In some areas, brass or silver tableware is used for serving and consuming food. In Kerala, for example, on social occasions, food is eaten on plantain leaves.
India is beyond the stereotypes used to define it. Test your knowledge of India here.
Cooking food involves a proper blend of various grains, lentils, spices, and condiments. Indians also use nuts, wild plants, herbs, seeds and fruits in their cuisines. Besides the main meal, curd, pickle, chutney, and Indian desserts also play an important role in our diet.
For you to improve your knowledge on India, it is important to get a holistic understanding of this diverse land. We bring to you e-learning courses on Indian business, culture, policies and on Hinduism. To learn about the diverse and vibrant Indian culture, and India’s economy, enroll for our courses here.
COVID-19: Nutrition And Well Being
In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, nutrition and well-being are more important now. With restricted access to outdoor and physical activities, it is difficult to manage one’s mental and physical well-being. However, it is also essential to take small steps towards good health and well-being. We elaborate 5 simple steps to improve health and nutrition.
1. Set A Routine
Routines help manage time well. Chalk out time for work, sleep, eating, preparing meals, and activities like reading and exercising.
2. Have Healthy Meals
With most buying activity happening online now, one may be tempted to have meals delivered at their doorstep. But, eating healthy has two-fold advantages. One can cut out junk and unhealthy food – unhealthy sugars, fats, and carbs. Cooking meals helps one take time off work and online activities and spend some time cooking what they prefer.
3. Choose Slow Food Instead of Fast Food
Slow-cooked food retains the nutrients and is more flavourful than fast-cooked food. It is good for the development of the mind and the body and is healthy. A leading NGO provides slow-cooked mid-day meals to students in Indian public schools. They are doing this to ensure that the students continue with their schooling. Yes, lack of access to food affects education and vice versa. Watch how they are ensuring education for 1.7 million students every day.
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4. Maintain Hygiene
Nutrition and hygiene go together for health and wellness. Ensure you clean your hands with a sanitizer or soap frequently and avoid touching your face repeatedly. Sanitize your house and workstation frequently. Given how zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 are on a rise, it is essential to be wary of unclean surroundings and practice personal hygiene.
While touchless greetings are in place in most of the world only after the pandemic hit us globally, it has been the norm in India since forever. This video tells you that.
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5. Don’t Waste Food
The discussion on food is incomplete without a discussion on food wastage. The UN estimates that globally, 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted every year. On the other hand, globally, 1.9 billion people fail to find access to regular and healthy meals thus are undernourished or malnourished.
Even across India, tonnes of excess food gets wasted or are lost in harvesting, transport, processing, or storage. This happens while 194 million people in Indian go hungry every year.
To know how food insecurity goes beyond food production, watch this video.
Food insecurity is linked to poverty, and in turn to undernourishment, wasting, and stunting in children. In the 2019 Global Hunger Index, India ranked fell to 102 out of 117 countries – the lowest in South Asian countries.
While the number of undernourished people has fallen across the millennium in India, there is a need to reduce food wastage and produce food sustainably.
70% of the world’s freshwater is spent on agriculture. Besides, by 2050, we will have to feed 9 billion people, which will need more water and more land. This calls for reducing food wastage on a personal front, and to grow food sustainably.
References:
Theories and Principles of Sustainability: Looking Back in Time
3 Differences Between World Heritage Sites in Europe and India
When I Visited World Heritage Sites
World Heritage Day is an international day for monuments and sites. I have visited many world heritage sites. I visited these sites in different geographies. Museum Island in Berlin, Duomo Cathedral in Milan, San Marco Venice, Jungfrau mountain Switzerland, Old town of Bern, Switzerland, Swiss Vineyards of Lavaux, Statue of Liberty New York, Eiffel Tower Paris and Tower of London are just some of them.
Travel is a great experience for those who have the privilege. I get to enjoy time with my family, and it is a learning–filled experience for my family members. On World Heritage Day, I look up the list of world heritage sites. India is one of the world’s last surviving most ancient cultures and has many heritage sites. If you look at the criteria UNESCO uses, these are what they are. There are six of them:
- Represents a masterpiece of human creative genius.
- Exhibits an important interchange of human values.
- Bears a unique testimony to a cultural tradition of civilization.
- Is an outstanding example of an architectural or technological ensemble throughout history.
- Is an outstanding example of traditional human settlement or interaction with the environment.
- Is tangibly associated with traditions, ideas, beliefs, and works of universal significance.
I noticed three differences in the heritage sites I visited in Western Europe versus the ones I visited in India.
- The number: Western Europe has more sites attributed to heritage and culture by UNESCO than the Indian subcontinent has. (See screenshot of UNESCO map)
- The diversity: While landscaping and architecture are very eye–catching in the heritage sites of Western Europe, heritage sites showcase a diversity of art-forms going beyond physical architecture alone, spanning across the whole of the Indian subcontinent, that is simply unmatchable.
- The focus on sustainability: The Western European heritage sites show the world the dominion of Man. In India, visits to all the cultural and natural heritage sites showcase a peaceful co-existence of all life forms, flora, fauna included; of life on land and in the water included.
Personally, I have had the good fortune of visiting these UNESCO World Heritage sites in India: Amer fort Rajasthan, Taj Mahal Agra, Big Temple Tanjavur (Brihadeeshwara Temple), Bharatpur Bird sanctuary, Airawateshwara Kumbakonam, Fatehpur Sikhri Agra, Meenakshi Ammal Madurai, and Qutab Minar Delhi. Let me then explain each of these three points further.
The Number
Apart from these sites which are on the list of UNESCO Heritage sites, there is a lot more to see in India. At the time of writing this article, many examples of Indian heritage aren’t yet listed by UNESCO. These unlisted places form a very important part of Indian culture and heritage. Numbers then become a subjective quantification. If you look at the list of sites available on the UNESCO website, Europe has almost double the number of sites than India has.
India is a much older civilization than Europe. Isn’t it curious that Europe would then have more sites? A big reason for this is the process that goes behind the World Heritage Site certification granted by UNESCO. It costs a particular culture significant money, time and resources for cleaning and conservation, and then invite a UNESCO team to visit a site to ascertain its heritage status. It is only obvious that countries with larger budgets at their disposal for conservation of their heritage will have more tangible UNESCO World Heritage sites.
The Diversity of Art
To give you an example of the diversity of heritage present in India, from the Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh in North India to the Great Living Chola Temples in Tamil Nadu in Southern India, I stood speechless. It is not just the impressive continuity of civilization one gets to witness. Indian art forms are diverse and many. My team and I made this short video that shares some of the classical arts that can still be seen alive and well in India. Some of these I have grown up watching, imbibing and even enjoying by doing! They range from temple frescos, rock–cut sculptures, saris, rangoli, jewelry, and paintings.
Watch: How Elegant is Indian Art?
India also has a very rich performing arts scene that has kept its ancient storytelling culture alive. Many of these performing arts are alive not only for entertaining the masses but also to pass on traditions of faith and spirituality that keeps India’s family values in place in society. Some of these traditions are so valuable that Sangeet Natya Akademi, India’s central body for performing arts, that is responsible for preserving Indian culture (and comes under Ministry of Culture), nominated the Durga Pooja for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage for 2020.
Durga Pooja is celebrated worldwide by the communities belonging to Bengal, the Eastern state of India, that was divided into West Bengal and Bangladesh. During Durga Pooja, the feminine divine is worshipped and celebrated by all genders in India, across all social divisions. In a significant role reversal, the woman is recognized as the creator, the one with the power to destroy and the power to sustain. She is recognized as the one with the power to give wealth and wisdom. It is a celebration that goes on for ten days. The same Goddess is revered in a traditon in Southern Indian state of Kerala called Mudiyeetu. Mudiyeetu is now a UNESCO world heritage as it is an intangible cultural ritual art form.
Watch this video, to get a glimpse of how various parts of India keep intangible cultural heritages alive, during just one of the many festivals that take place simultaneously across the land.
Here is a list of a few more examples of intangible cultural heritage of India that UNESCO has already recognized. However, there are many more examples of India’s intangible cultural heritage that does not have a UNESCO recognition. (more…)
Holi: A Festival Of Spreading Love With Colors
by Himanshu Shukla and Divya Badri
Holi is a festival of spreading love. It usually takes place during the month of “Phalguna”. This is a month in the Hindu calendar and usually falls around February or March. During this festival, people meet and greet each other by gently applying color. The traditional colour is called Gulal, and applied on each other’s face during Holi.
What is the Story behind Holi?
The festival of Holi goes back to the story of Lord Krishna; venerated all over India mainly in “Sanatan Dharma” (also known as Hinduism)
Why Do People Play With Colors?
Legend has it that when Krishna was a baby, he was attacked by his power-hungry maternal uncle. He survived the attacks as a baby but this resulted in the colour of his skin turning blue. Pre-teen Krishna had a very good friend, a girl named Radha. He was worried whether Radha and her friends liked him or not, due to the colour of his skin being so different. So, he went to his mother and asked for advice. His mother casually advised him to playfully put color on Radha, so that no one could differentiate between his and others’ skin colors. The plan worked and the friends played a colourful Holi happily!
Such a beautiful idea! Imagine a world full of people who look Green, Blue, Red or Yellow or Purple. A simple idea, given by Krishna’s mother to him, remains valid. Once you playfully colour another in vibrant Holi colours, you become unrecognisable. Differences based on class, caste, colour, religion, creed, sect, disappear. On Holi, everyone plays together inclusively. It demonstrates –
how playing with a little coloured powder and some water during Holi, could make one very happy!
Watch our Video on Holi:
Preparation for Holi Celebration
Holi preparations begin at home, one or two weeks in advance. All start making papad and sweets and many more dishes depending upon famous dishes in that region. People clean their homes and all family members come together to celebrate this happy festival.
Playing the game
On the morning of Holi, once the delicacies are ready, people visit each other. They greet by applying colors on each other’s faces and hugging. One welcomes guests with homemade sweets and dishes. Celebrators gather together in open spaces and dance to music to their heart’s content. The atmosphere is that of togetherness, positivity, and equality. You wear old clothes while playing Holi. They will be later reused for cleaning as mops or dusting towels. Isn’t that a sustainable way of celebration?! This concept of reuse/reduce have been practiced as tradition by Indians over generations.
Gulal and other Holi colours
Remember we spoke of Gulal, the colour? Earlier, Holi colors were made at home with materials available at home. With the industrial revolution in India, the manufacturing of artificial Holi colors came into practice and the traditional gulal took a back seat. Here is how, you can bring back organic colours into your holi celebrations.
Advice for Holi: How can Organic Holi Colors Be Made At Home?
Organic Holi colors are not only safe for the skin but also sustainable for the environment. Before running off to play Holi, make it a point to apply some coconut or sunflower oil all over your body. This will help you get rid of the coloured marks later. You can make Gulal (powdered color) by using any flour present in your home (wheat/non-wheat) and mixing in the right amount of organic colouring. Different organic colors made at home from vegetables and flowers are coming back in use. For example, boiling roses in water give red, green is possible from spinach and yellow from other flowers. These colors mixed with different flours and dried give you the organic Holi colours.
When celebrating Holi, you wish each other “HAPPY HOLI”. Diversity and inclusion as some of their biggest challenges in some societies. Cultural differences could make it hard for some to understand how inclusivity and gender equality are achieved, even celebrated in India. This blog on Holi focusses on the positives of an old Indian tradition, that has been coming down since generations, and now finding its way into different corners of the planet.
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This holi, we wish you all HAPPY HOLI. Let’s play Holi sustainably!
The Two Big Elections
Both lands are democratic and the people of the land chose who will represent them. Which two lands are we talking about here?
European Union and India
We have compared the two on similarities and differences on eight different points
- Periodicity
- Voter turnout
- Number of voters
- Number of seats being fought over for votes
- What is the term given to the elected representatives
- Number of geographies covered during the elections
- Duration of Polling
- Methods of voting
Get all this information in less than a minute in our video that is rich with visuals on the two biggest democratic elections that took place recently.
- Published in fäctli
Are Indians Unreliable?
Time they say in India is an illusion. Just a trick that the mind is playing on you! Could it be that these deeply rooted ideas of time play a part in how Indians perceive time even today? While some continue to think so, many examples from everyday life in India point in the other direction. Watch our video below to find out what the evidence says…
What has your experience been in working with India or Indians? Do they value time the same way as you do? Share your views with us and dont forget to tag your friends whom you think might have a view on this!
- Published in fäctli
Watching Sports Just Got A Lot Bigger
Live sports goes digital and breaks online viewership record
Swiss Learning Exchange India Bootcamp students were very impressed to see Digital India when they visited the spectacular studios of Star TV. Its online streaming and mobile platform Hotstar has broken a record of the largest number of streaming viewers for the cricket match semifinals between Chennai and Hyderabad Indian Premier League teams in May 2018. What does this figure of over 8M viewers mean? The CEO of Hotstar met the Swiss students and had us all understand how the digital revolution is unfolding in India.
- Published in fäctli