#indus river high flood | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fatehbaz · 2 years

Text

The Gando creatures -- the westernmost population of mugger crocodiles in Iran -- are a last outpost, bordering a “no-man’s land” without crocodiles stretching between southeastern Iran and the Nile crocodiles of Egypt. Muggers (Crocodylus palustris), the iconic freshwater crocodile of South Asia, are now extinct within Myanmar, Bhutan, and, likely, Bangladesh. There are about 500 muggers still surviving within Iranian borders, with a few also surviving in southern Pakistan; they are in unique peril, compared to the healthier muggers in India and Sri Lanka, given local drought conditions. Following the highly-publicized disappearance of the Zayandeh-Roud river in the metropolitan and cultural center of Isfahan, in late 2021, drought continues to endanger riparian corridors across Iran. But good news: Muggers continue to appear in drought-stricken Iranian refugia and in habitat near major metro areas near Pakistan’s Indus mouth.

From 29/30 July 2022, at Thatta, near Haleji Lake between Karachi and Islamabad:

-------

From 16 January 2022, in Iran.

Excerpt:

One would not usually associate Iran and its snow-clad mountains, arid deserts, high plateaus, lush green Hyrcanian forests and the Persian Gulf coast with crocodiles. But Sistan and Baluchestan, the country’s second-largest province by area, that borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, is home to the animals. [...] The BBC December 28, 2021 described how conflict had increased between crocodiles and humans in Sistan-Baluchestan due to extreme scarcity of water. Asghar Mobaraki, Iran’s foremost expert on crocodiles, noted in an academic article last year:

The (crocodile) population in southeastern Iran remains severely vulnerable to extreme climatic events, such as periodic droughts and floods. Iranian crocodiles are therefore directly impacted by climate change and are in critical need of immediate study to evaluate this threat. [...]

The province is home to the Baloch people, who make up the majority and overlap into the neighbouring Balochistan province of Pakistan. The province is also home to Chabahar on the Persian Gulf, where India is building a huge port. [...]

“The crocodile found in Iran is the same species that is present throughout the Indian subcontinent, the mugger crocodile or Crocodylus palustris. Regional differences are possible, depending on factors such as resource availability,” Sideleau said.

He noted:

The Iran muggers represent the westernmost population of mugger crocodiles and the westernmost population of crocodiles before you reach the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) in Africa. There is a “no man’s land” with no crocodilian species from Iran to Egypt, where Nile crocodiles are currently found in Lake Nasser, the reservoir created by the Aswan High Dam. This “no man’s land” is almost certainly due to the aridity of the region and the lack of habitat.

“Crocodiles in Sistan-Baluchestan are known by the Balochi term ‘Gando’, meaning ‘moving on a belly’,” Mobaraki told DTE.

“We estimated that there are 500 gandos in Iran currently, almost all of them in Sistan-Baluchestan,” Mobaraki said.

“An estimated 500 wild muggers remain within the southeastern part of Iran, in Sistan and Baluchestan Provinces (the Gandou Protected Area). They occupy ponds along two large rivers, namely Bahu-Kalat and Kaju, two dam reservoirs (Pishin and Zirdan), small artificial water dams, and some manmade local ponds in villages,” the article written by Mobaraki last year, noted.

He agreed with Sideleau’s view that the gandos of Iran were scientifically considered to be the same as the muggers of the Indian subcontinent. “But the Iranian populations are in an extreme habitat. Hence, they seem to be a bit polymorphically different. They are smaller than their Indian relatives,” Mobaraki said.

Iran had been in the news over climate change in November 2021, when the residents of Isfahan, the country’s third-largest city, had clashed with authorities over the ‘disappearance’ of the city’s river, the Zayandeh-Roud. [...] The Iran Meteorological Organization has estimated that some 97 per cent of the country is dealing with drought at some level, according to media reports.

-------

The preceding headling, image, caption, and text excerpt were published by: Rajat Ghai. “Yes, there are crocodiles in Iran and they are in trouble due to climate change.” DownToEarth. 16 January 2022.

The other two species of crocodilian in South Asia are the saltwater crocodile and the unique gharial. The saltwater crocodile has been eliminated throughout most of its Indian/South Asian distribution range, while the gharial has been driven to extinction in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Bhutan and now only lives in a couple of specific river systems in Nepal and the Ganges corridor of India. Though now apparently locally extinct in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Bhutan, small populations of muggers persist in Pakistan and Iran. Former historical distribution range and current distribution range:

#crocodile fan blog #mugger crocodile

18 notes · View notes

mrudula01 · 1 year

Text

Water Infrastructure and Repair Technologies: Closing the Gap

As per United Nations Environment Programme, more than 3 billion people globally are at risk of disease due to hazardous water quality in rivers, lakes, and groundwater. Moreover, the water availability in a 5th of the world's river basins is experiencing significant fluctuations, exacerbating the water crisis. Therefore, water infrastructure and repair technologies play a crucial role in the proper functioning of water delivery systems, resource management, flood protection, and other critical applications.

The global water infrastructure and repair technology market is expected to gain $165096.73 million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 6.49% during the forecast period 2023-2030. The global surge in population and the consequent influx in water demand have propelled significant growth in the market.

According to a recent study by the United Nations Environment Programme, approximately 80% of the world's wastewater remains untreated, comprising various contaminants such as organic human waste and hazardous industrial discharges.

The need to ensure efficient and reliable operation of water infrastructure systems has led manufacturers to develop advanced technological devices. WIRT solutions minimize water loss and contamination, and provide safe and reliable access to water for communities, industries, and businesses, ensuring the sustainability of water resources.

The category segment of the market includes assessment, replacement, rehabilitation, and spot repair. In 2022, the replacement category dominated the market with a revenue of $38898.63 million.

However, high operating expenses associated with the equipment is the key challenge to the operating players. Maintenance costs, plant monitoring costs, energy costs, and pollution charges can significantly influence the operational expense. In particular, the high operational cost of a water treatment facility can contribute significantly to the annual cost.

For wastewater systems, operation, maintenance, and monitoring of a wastewater treatment plant can amount up to 50% of the annual costs. To give an example, Veolia Group's increasing debt levels have resulted in the company having to allocate a significant portion of its cash flow from operations toward the payment of principal and interest on its loans, which reduces the availability of funds for other areas of the business such as working capital, capital expenditures, and acquisitions.

WIRT Innovation in Water and Energy Sectors

The global population is rapidly increasing, leading to widespread urbanization and a surge in demand for energy fuels, including petrol, natural gas, and kerosene. As a result, refineries are expected to increase their output to meet this growing demand. Incorporating water treatment in refineries has the prime objective of reducing utility costs and making water available for captive electricity production. For instance, The Port Arthur Refinery in Texas, one of the largest refineries in the US, implemented a water treatment program that treats wastewater using advanced technologies such as reverse osmosis.

Manufacturers in North America are exerting themselves to match the burgeoning requirement for municipal and industrial water infrastructure, as well as repair technology applications. Also, governments in the region are initiating steps to upgrade the water infrastructure system by introducing new incentives. The Canadian Government has initiated the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund (CWWF) which provides short-term funding of $2 billion. The program initiatives are to improve water treatment and water distribution infrastructure systems.

As per our estimates, the North America water infrastructure and repair technology market is full of untapped opportunities waiting to be explored and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.82% during the forecast period of 2023-2030.

From Scarcity to Sustainability: The Promising Future of Water Industry

With groundwater being exploited at an alarming rate, freshwater depletion has become a critical issue. The impact is witnessed across sectors, including agriculture, which is heavily reliant on water resources. The severity of the situation necessitates prompt action to promote water infrastructure and repair technologies (WIRT) that can help conserve, manage, and recycle water resources.

Few Notable Examples:

Coca-Cola, the global beverage company, uses advanced water treatment systems in its bottling plants to recycle and reuse wastewater, reducing its dependence on freshwater sources.

Intel Technology Company has invested in a water reuse system in its manufacturing plants, which treats and recycles wastewater for use in cooling towers and other processes.

Levi Strauss & Co, the global apparel company has implemented a water recycling program in the textile manufacturing process, which treats and recycles wastewater for reuse in textile dyeing and finishing processes.

FAQs:

1. What major hurdle does the analyzed market encounter?

The high operating costs are affecting the growth of the market for water infrastructure and repair technology.

2. What is the estimated value of the Global Water Infrastructure Repair Market?

According to Triton Market Research’s report, the water infrastructure and repair technology industry, with a valuation of $99284.73 million in 2022, is projected to expand significantly and reach an estimated market size of $165096.73 million by 2030.

#water infrastructure and repair technology market #water infrastructure and repair technology #Energy Power & Utilities Industry #Triton Market Research #Market Research Trends

0 notes

kumaradhikaryofficial · 1 year

Text

Avoid Plastics- Arise Cleanliness & Invite Happiness.

Stop Plastic Pollution.

If there is one type of waste problem, which is ubiquitous, it is Plastic Pollution. A few important facts about plastic pollution as per United Nations Environment Program (UNEP):

Since the early of 1950s, more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced. Only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled and about 12% has been incinerated. About 60% of that plastic has ended up in either a landfill or the natural environment.

About 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the world’s oceans every year. Rivers carry plastic waste from deep inland to the sea. This contributes to marine pollution. Rivers like Ganga, Brahmaputra, Indus, Mekong, Yellow, Yangtze, Amur, Nile and Niger are some of the major rivers carrying plastic waste to oceanic environment.

Globally about 300 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated every year. Half of all plastic produced worldwide is used only once and then trashed away. Most common examples of single-use plastics are cigarette butts, pkastic drinking bottles, plastic bottle caps, food wrappers, plastic grocery bags, plastic lids, straws and stirrers, and foam take-away containers.

Plastic pollution has become an all-pervasive problem, with some scientists suggesting that it could serve as a geological indicator of the Anthropocene era!

Developed countries like the United States, Japan and many European countries produce significant amounts of plastic waste. Per capita annual plastic consumption in the USA is about 100 kg, in Europe it is around 65 kg and in China is around 40 kg. This is much higher than the global average of 28 kg of plastic use per person annually.

However, developed regions like European Union, Japan and the USA are relatively good at managing plastic waste. Developing countries like China, Vietnam, Indonesia etc. are fast growing. As consumptions boom, plastic waste generation also increases.

The most worrisome feature of plastic pollution is that it remains in the environment for countries. Most plastics are non-biodegradable. Over time, they slowly break down into smaller fragments known as ‘Microplastics’. These are extremely small plastic pieces that are less than 5mm in size. Microplastics can come from multiple sources and can be either primary microplastic or secondary microplastic.

Primary microplastics are tiny particles designed for commercial use. One example is of microbeads. These are very tiny pieces of manufactured polyethylene plastic that are added as exfoliants to health and beauty products, like cleansers and toothpaste.

Secondary microplastics are those which are formed from larger plastic debris that degrades into smaller and smaller pieces. The breakdown can take place due to the sun’s radiation or the action of ocean waves.

Plastic bags can block waterways and exacerbate natural disasters like flooding. For example, one of the reasons for the Mumbai flooding of 2019 was plastics clogging the drainage system of the city.

By clogging sewers, plastics provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes and pests. This was because plastic bags can increase the transmission of vector-borne diseases like malaria.

Plastic bags are often mistaken for food by turtles and dolphins. Marine organisms like dolphins, turtles, whales, and fishes can ingest them and high concentrations of plastic materials, have been found blocking the airways and stomachs of hundreds of species.

Microplastics are a bigger problem as it is easily ingestible by fish. This way, plastics eventually enter human food chains. Microplastics have been detected in marine organisms from plankton to whales, in commercial seafood, and even in drinking water.

Styrofoam products are generally used for making disposable plastic cutlery like glasses, cups etc, It contains carcinogenic chemicals like styrene and benzene. These, if ingested, can damage the nervous systems, lungs and reproductive organs. The toxins in styrofoam containers can leach into food and drinks.

Disposing of plastic waste by burning it, in open-air pits releases harmful gases like furan and dioxin.

BEAT PLASTIC POLLUTION

To tackle the plastic waste menace, the theme of UNEP’s World Environment Day 2018 was ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’. World Environment Day 2018 was hosted by India. The objective was to build momentum to fight the plastic waste problem globally. Over here, India for the first time made a commitment that it will ban all single-use plastic by 2022. however, later at the United Nations Environment Assembly’s meeting (September 2019), this was revised and India committed to reducing plastic use by the year 2030.

Recommendations offered by the UNEP to policymakers to tackle plastic pollution were:

Government need to improve waste management practice. They may introduce financial incentives to change the habits of consumers, retailers and manufacturers.

Promote eco-friendly alternatives to plastics. Examples include biodegradable cutlery, and bamboo straws used in India.

Strong government policies are needed for encouraging a circular model of economy which places emphasis on reuse and recycling.

Educate consumers to enable voluntary plastic reduction strategies.

Successfully implement bans or levies on the use and sale of single-use plastics. Countries like Kenya, Botswana, Peru and Chile have already done that.

Later in September 2018, the UNEP along with European Union also launched the Global Plastics Platform to reduce plastic pollution. It is a network of member states to support countries and cities in establishing policies to reduce plastic pollution. Support will be provided for the transition to a more circular economy.

#stopplasticpollution #plastic pollution #climate change #saveenvironment #savemarinelife

0 notes

whatsonmedia · 2 years

Text

Environmental change struck Pakistan!

Environmental change struck Pakistan. The government of Pakistan has declared a national emergency. The national emergency is due to the massive floods that are continuing to devastate the country. The destruction has been massive. Reports suggest that 119 people have already died over the weekend. Floods have been increasing in the last few months. Considerable climate change is noticed in Pakistan which is unusual. Environmental change struck Pakistan! The flood is responsible for killing many lives. It brings the danger of death along with it for at least 1000 people. The change in phenomena has been noticed since June. It is recorded that more than 33 million people have been displaced from their original place. One of Pakistan’s top climatic official has described the flooding as a serious climate catastrophe. Floods have taken a toll on the regular life activities of the people. It has swept away homes, roads, and bridges across the country of Pakistan.Some regions in Pakistan have recorded very high rainfall which is more than 600% more rain than usual. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif exclaimed that it looked like the angry waves of the River Indus. The flood spread across the whole region of Pakistan. He further mentions that the flood of 2010 was a very huge flood for the people of the country. He says that was a great flood as recorded in history, but to his horror, this flood caused bigger damage. An extreme amount of devastation has taken place due to this flood. More than 900 people have died because of the flood which is not a usual phenomenon.The flooding from the Swat River overnight has affected northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where 10,000 have been evacuated from their original place. They have been taken to the relief camps set up in the government buildings for safety. Read the full article

0 notes

qaumisafeer · 4 years

Photo

پاکستان میں حالیہ بارشوں کے باعث خیبر پختونخوا کی طرح پنجاب کے بھی کئی اضلاع میں سیلاب کا خدشہ بڑھ گیا ہے۔ بالائی علاقوں سے آنے والے پانی سے دریائے سندھ میں اونچے درجے کا سیلاب جبکہ چناب، جہلم اور دریائے راوی میں درمیانے درجے کا سیلاب ریکارڈ کیا گیا ہے۔ اس صورتحال سے نمٹنے کے لیے ڈیزاسٹر مینجمنٹ اتھارٹی پنجاب نے الرٹ جاری کر دیے ہیں۔

#flooding #High-level flooding #Indus River #Ravi River #water

0 notes

csnews · 4 years

Photo

One of world's rarest dolphins is rebounding in Pakistan

Iman Sultan - June 18, 2020

In a secluded pocket of Pakistan’s Lab-e-Mehran park, the smooth waters of the Indus River break into circular ripples, and the head of a pale gray dolphin appears. The animal lingers briefly before diving back into the water, its dorsal fin gleaming in the sun. This quiet riverside park in the southern city of Sukkur, popular with families out for a stroll, is also home to the endangered Indus River dolphin, one of only four freshwater dolphin species left on Earth.

But a dam at the western end of the park restricts their ability to travel freely during the monsoon season, a crucial part of their life cycle.

It’s a similar story throughout Pakistan: Widespread construction of diversion dams called barrages have effectively destroyed the species’ habitat. The barrages were built in the mid-20th century to control flooding and provide irrigation, and in some cases have been repurposed for power plants. Now, they’ve not only cut off the dolphins’ ability to migrate; their diversions also can lead to dangerously low water levels. (Explore our beautiful graphic of the Indus River, a lifeline for millions.)

Once, the Indus dolphin swam across the Indus River and all of its tributaries, from the Indus delta near the Arabian Sea to the snowcapped Himalaya. Today, the 200-pound cetacean only occupies 20 percent of its original range. The remaining Indus dolphins are concentrated mostly in the Pakistani province of Sindh, in a 410-mile stretch of river between the Guddu and Kotri dams. Engro, an energy company that works with the thermal power plant connected to Guddu dam, did not respond to requests for comment about the dam’s impacts on the species.

Beyond dams, water pollution and industrial waste dumped into the Indus pose the gravest long-term threat to the dolphins. Studies have found DDT and other pesticides in the animals’ tissue, according to Uzma Khan, Asia coordinator for WWF’s River Dolphins Initiative. However, a rigorous government conservation program has educated local communities, rescued stranded dolphins, and is steadily increasing their numbers, Khan says. There are now 1,987 Indus dolphins in Pakistan, according to the most recent WWF survey, up from 132 animals in 1972. Another small population of at least seven animals live in India’s Beas River, an Indus tributary.

“If you go downstream from the Guddu [barrage], and you keep sailing, there comes a point where you see dolphins everywhere around you,” Khan says. “It’s overwhelming because they’re everywhere.”

At the same time, she says, “it’s a situation which can be challenging, because all these dolphins are just in one stretch of the Indus River.”

“A friend of humans”

Locally known as bhulan in the Urdu and Sindhi languages, the Indus dolphin “has been in the Indus for thousands of years, and is a mark of the Harappa civilisation,” says Mir Akhtar Talpur, a field officer for Sindh Wildlife Department, a government agency.

The Bronze Age civilisation, which blossomed in the Indus River valley, is known for its urban planning and advanced drainage systems. Modern peoples of the Sindh and Punjab Provinces are considered the Harappa’s direct descendants, and value the dolphin as part of their heritage.

Fishermen in these provinces tell an origin story for the species. In the legend, when a woman offers butter and milk to a mystic patron of the river, the waters part and she safely crosses to the other side. But once, she fails to make an acceptable offering—and the river spirit transforms her into a dolphin.

For fisherman Gul Mohammed Mirbar, the dolphin is a lifelong companion; he was 10 years old when he first saw one. On a sunny afternoon in February, he rows his wooden boat across the river at Lab-e-Mehran park, where he earns money giving boat rides to tourists and park visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of the rare dolphin.

As the water softly laps against the rocky riverbank, a pink dolphin surfaces with a splash, then disappears beneath the water.

Though Mirbar considers dolphins part of the environment, he and fellow fishermen also regard the dolphins as competitors that eat the very fish that are the men’s livelihood.

“You have to really put in effort [in fishing], or else you can’t catch up with the dolphin. That’s how fast she is,” Mirbar says, adding that the dolphins target large and small fish alike.

Until hunting was banned in the 1970s, some fishing communities hunted the dolphin for food or for blubber that they mixed with oil to coat their boats. The WWF reports that each year in the area, at least one dolphin dies when it’s accidentally trapped in fishing nets.

In general, “the dolphin is a friend of humans,” says Khadim Hussain, a representative of a fishermen advocacy organisation in Taunsa, a city in Punjab Province. “And it doesn’t pose any harm to fisherfolk. When the dolphin hears the sound of fishermen’s engines on their small boats, it approaches and swims with them.” (Read about dolphins in Brazil who help fishermen make their catch.)

An animal suited for the river

The dolphin has evolved to thrive in the Indus. Its colors—brown, a range of grays, or rarely, a dusky pink—help the animal blend into the sediment-laden river. And it’s nearly blind, as sight is unnecessary in the river’s murky waters. (Read about the first new species of river dolphin found in a century.)

The animal relies largely on an internal sonar system that bounces sound waves off objects to find prey, navigate the river, and communicate with other dolphins. The sonar is so advanced that it can sense the difference between a dead or living fish.

The dolphin’s long beak easily snaps up fish and other prey. On its sturdy body, a small dorsal fin maintains stability as it swims.

The Indus River dolphin is one of just two species known to lie on its side and flap its tail, a behavior called side-swimming. The maneuver allows the dolphin to move between shallow pools of water in the dry season—but it can’t help the animal cope with the Indus River’s dams.

Before dams fragmented the species’ habitat, the dolphins would swim upstream to tributaries during the monsoon and return to the Indus in the dry season.

Some dolphins can still move through dams if its gates are open—particularly if the animal is young or small—but then they often get trapped in irrigation canals, shallow pools, deep ponds, and sometimes even fields, where they can starve and overheat to death. (See videos revealing the power of dams—and dam removal.)

To the rescue

The Sindh Wildlife Department has spread the word to local communities to call a hotline if they spot a trapped dolphin in a pond or canal. Adnan Hamid Khan, the deputy conservator in Sukkur for the Sindh Wildlife Department, has participated in several rescues, perhaps the most notable in December 2019.

A dolphin calf had swum out of the river and beached in a field in Faiz Ganj Wah, more than 120 miles from Sukkur. Hamid Khan and his team placed the animal in his car, spraying it with water to keep it hydrated as they sped through traffic to release it back into the river. While the rescue was successful, it's unknown whether the animal survived.

The rescue process isn’t easy. For one, these marine mammals are very sensitive to loud noises and human presence, and can suffer from health problems such as high blood pressure when being evacuated. (Learn about the difficulties involved in rescuing wild animals.)

What’s more, faced with limited funding and outdated equipment, the small rescue team must get creative in saving dolphins—which often means investing their own resources, says Hamid Khan.

“In wildlife conservation, problems arise very suddenly. You have to give instant relief and make a decision in that moment on how you’ll resolve things,” he says.

What the rescuers lack in resources, they make up for in dedication.

Nazir Mirani, the son of a fisherman, has worked with Sindh Wildlife for 30 years; he has bite marks on his hands from past rescues. Mirani is the third generation in his family to help in conserving dolphins, offering the agency advice and knowledge from his years on the water.

“For generations, we’ve been living near the river and sailing in boats. We fish, and we take care of the dolphin,” says Mirani, as he sits in the shade of a tree and looks out at the sun-streaked river.

“In the past, some people used to eat the dolphin. My father told them, Don’t eat the dolphin, because this is an innocent animal, and it’s the beauty of the river.”

Finding solutions

Much about the Indus dolphin remains shrouded in mystery, including this: What happens to rescued dolphins once they’re set free in the river? Do calves find their mothers, for instance? (See beautiful underwater photos of freshwater animals.)

WWF has proposed putting satellite tags on dolphins to track their movements, learn more about their biology, and inform conservation efforts. “Every rescued animal needs to be tagged,” Uzma Khan says. “And we need to know, how many dolphins are dying?”

Another technology that could help conserve dolphins is planting “pingers” near the openings to canals. The devices make a ting ting sound, inaudible to humans, that dolphins avoid.

Pingers usually are used to warn dolphins away from fishing nets, says Uzma Khan, “but we want to test them near canals to see if they stop dolphins from swimming into them.”

For rescuers like Mirani, saving the Indus River dolphin is a civic responsibility. He remembers the gharial, a crocodile that once lived in the Indus but is now locally extinct. He doesn’t want the dolphin to suffer the same fate.

If that happens, he asks, “What will our children see?”

#news #wild #dolphin #cetacean #river dolphin #pakistan #conservation

175 notes · View notes

drram1952 · 4 years

Text

Sindhi Community in Pakistan

The ruins of Mohan – Jo – Daro speak of tremendous age of human civilization in Sindh, but the 1st written records of the region related to the invention of Alexander the great in 325 BC. Alexander seriously injured in battle with fierce tribesmen outside Multan, but after his recovery he proceeded on down the Jhelum and in Indus River with a fleet of about 2000 ships, captured by securing Sukkur, and the surrounding territory.

Eventually he made his way to the sea – to sail for home at a place that the historians call Alexander heaven, which was probably somewhere in the region of modern Alexander. The 1st major town that the travellers who followed Alexander historic route in to Sindh will come to his Sukkur, some seven horse drive to the south west of Multan its character is moulded around the river that flows through it on which high rigged, sabot – shaped boats place slowly to and fro across the current, here in the shadows of the grand Mosque, which casts the reflection of its shimmering minerals on the waters of the Indus, fisher flock river people lead proud and independent outdoor lives, exposed to the elements and the vicissitudes of nature.

Their settlements are strung out in a ranged line along the river banks thatched wooden huts on shore and huge leaking house boats afloat on the water. The fisher man looks gaudy caring and un-ruly hair seems to be the hallmarks of latter day pirate yet, on closure acquaintance, they immerse as gentle kind hearted people with delightful sense of humour and a calm and social fatalism. Pushing to smoke a home road cigarette with them and to drink a cup of tea you are aware of the beauty of the river in the early morning as

reflect un-hurried wavelets lap against the mud embankment. The shots of children bathing for a way in mid-stream carry effortlessly across the still sunny air and mingle with the rhythm of clothes being slapped dry by a laundry man against the flat black rocks.

Turning South from Sukkur the road runs straight and though some of the more fertile regions of Sindh. Cultivation here is plentiful but in the absence of effective irrigation, depends to a great extent on the modes of the Indus, through the river flows sluggishly for most of the year it has a tendency to flood and tendency that is the basis for more than 40% of Sindh agricultures over the millennia the Indus has deposited so much alluvium along its path that in many places its banks and even its bed are above the level of the surroundings plains.

One such change of courses dramatically improved the fortunes of Hyderabad. Some 320 km to the south of sukkur, in the mid-18th century Hyderabad was known “Nikunkot” and the Indus flow peacefully enough to the east of it. In 1758, however, the unpredictable river shifted into a new course to the waste of the town. A few years later because of the havoc further South, that had resulted from the change of course, Sindh rulers the saintly Ghulam Shah Kalhores moves his capital to Nirkot, at the same time remaining Hyderabad.

The Oval fort build by Ghulam Shah still stands today, in the centre of modern Hyderabad and bears very little evidence of the skirmishes that have taken place outside 1 km circumference of its walls around them. Traffic moves ceaselessly. Horse drawn carts mingle with more elaborate 6 seaters landaus. A whole local industry is given over to carriage making and the craft man are renovated for their painstaking attention to detail, it is an aborting experience to watch a master at work embossing a huge wooden wheel with bright nails and chrome or carving integrate designs into the tall boat of landau.

Karachi enjoys a splendid natural harbour, 1 of the best in the sub-continent. It has only seriously exploded the valuable asset in the 100 years, although it potential for great prosperity was visible somewhat earlier. “Yet be the glory of the East”, prophesied sir Charles Napier. The British General who conquered Sindh would that I could come again Karachi, to see you in your grandeur Napier 1st visit was in 1943, when the great city was an in –significant and un-appealing coastal town with population of the most, a few thousands called Kullachi. It has 2 gates, Mithadr facing sweet water well, and Khaddar facing the salty sea. Today, though the world 19th century town is long gone its (sweet and salt) gets to Karachi oldest.

In 1947 the new state of Pakistan was born and Karachi was established as the Capital, though Karachi is no longer Pakistan’s capital, having surrender that honour to Islamabad in 1959, its dominance in the national economy is behind dispute. The port handles is billions tons of cargo annually and is 1 of the most important shipping centre in South Asia, Karachi is also the main terminus of Pakistan railway system and the sight of the principal international airport, about 1 quarter of the centuries industries are located here.

Karachi cloth bazar is an excellent place to sample for the 1st time the intoxicating atmosphere of this great city.

Here amidst the food and drink stalls that seems to congregate where ever goods are bought and sold merchants from, all over Pakistan are to be found engaged in the business of making money. Textile are still century’s largest industry and Karachi is the largest whole sale centre for the products of

this industry. Products which are moved to retail outlet as far away as Peshawar and Ravalpindi, Kota and Lahore.

Karachi museum is a major repository of national treasury and a centre of Archaeological and Historical research situated in the heart of the city in pleasant garden it is divided into a pre-historic gallery, a Buddhist Hindu gallery, a Muslim gallery and Ethnological gallery, a manuscript hall and numismatist section. The Muslim gallery contains a particularly fine collection of miniature painting and art form that was in high vogue during the Mughal era. Manuscripts hall illuminated a number of extremely ancient copies of the holy Quran, illuminated throughout and characterised by delegate and imaginative choreography.

In Pakistan over all the Sindhi community is settled in Hyderabad, Karachi, Sukkur and many other parts of Sindh state. The lifestyle of the Sindhi people in Pakistan shows that they follow occupations like making clothes, ornaments, fishing, making wheel carts with decorations. They make beautiful vehicles decorate them and are involved in poultry making also. In a survey conducted by myself in Vadodara, Ahmedabad & Mumbai, I visited 35 families in different areas I asked them certain questions about life in Pakistan. Many people of Amil, Bhaibandh, Shikarpur, Hyderabad and these have someone which is considered so many Sindhi’s like Punjabis. Bhatia, Shikarpuri etc.

In Amil most of the families are working in Government sector and in the corporate sector. This community is mostly highly educated Sindhi families. Bhaibandh are businessman working abroad most of the people are engaged in business activities like, toys, clothes, electronics etc. These people are working in neighbouring countries also. People other than this caste have a different social religious future language in the Bhaibandh caste are more educated and mainly businessman. The life style is different from community to community.

In Pakistan the dresses of Sindhi women’s are the cap they wear etc and different from the other Pakistani people. After the partition the Sindhi celebrate in a way of similar to that in India. They continued the barter system in Pakistan even after the partition, even today many other states practice the same, in many Sindhi caste (dowry system) is still equivalent in this system like cash, ornaments, clothes and furniture are demanded from girl’s family. Due to this many girls get married out of caste which leads to failure of marriage as girls are not able to adjust out of caste. I have personally observed that many girls over 30 years of age are un-married. In Sindhi community girls are highly educated while the boys are not so, so their ideas lifestyle changes but those Sindhi’s still who live in Pakistan has totally changed.

#sindhi community in Pakistan

2 notes · View notes

globalcourant · 2 years

Text

Indus River in high flood at Taunsa and Guddu barrages

SUKKUR: Indus river has been in high flood at Taunsa and Guddu barrages and medium flood at Sukkur Barrage, quoting the Flood Forecasting Division (FFD), ARY News reported on Monday. The Indus River has been in high flood at Taunsa and Guddu barrages as widespread rainfall hits the country, the FFD said. The inflow of river water at Tarbela Dam has been measured 2,57,000 cusecs, while the…

View On WordPress

#barrages #flood #Guddu #guddu barrages #high #Indus #indus river #indus river flood #indus river high flood #River #Taunsa

0 notes

self-proclaimed-chaotic-good · 5 years

Text

As You Wish | Farm Boy!Bodhi Rook x Reader (1/2)

Trope Prompt: Time Travel

Words: 2064

Fandom: Rogue One (Star Wars)/Doctor Who Fusion

Summary: What was supposed to be an early summer weekend trip with the Doctor turned out to be an adventure that landed you in the middle of a field during the Indus Valley civilization where you meet a charming farm boy.

You bounded up the familiar blue police box and let yourself in. The Doctor looked up from her fiddling on the console and grinned at you.

“Morning. It is morning, right?” She greeted.

“Well, it’s close to evening, Doctor,” you said, checking your watch.

Her eyes widened. “Ah, I see. Well, how was school, (Y/n)? Dealt with any rowdy children? Had to put someone on time out?”

“I work at Cambridge,” you reminded her, “and no. But there is a new Astrophysics professor coming next week, which is exciting. I know everyone will miss Professor Draven, he was a pretty chill dude, but apparently the new professor had been one of Draven’s best students.”

“Those teachers can brandish their prestigious PhDs about, but experience and how they use their knowledge is what counts,” she said, waving her sonic screwdriver around.

“Is that a euphemism, Doctor?” you asked, raising an eyebrow. She waved you off. Maybe it was just you. Maybe it was from hanging out with Jyn, one of the assistant professors, too much. You skipped over to the console and leaned against it. “So where are we going today?”

The Doctor gave you a wide grin, swinging the console monitor towards you. “It’s getting a bit chilly here in London, so I thought somewhere warm would suffice. So how about India? We can go and meet the Buddha and check out the sights. Or maybe we can go to Petra?”

“Either one sounds great.”

The Doctor spun around the console, flipping switches and pulling levers. The TARDIS began to wheeze and rumble as it took off. You held onto the console tightly, watching the lights flash as the TARDIS shook.

You stumbled back as the TARDIS landed to your destination. You bounced on the balls of your feet as the Doctor parked her beloved machine then gestured for you to follow her out.

The summer sun hit your faces as the Doctor creaked the door open. She scrunched her face up and hummed looking around with squinting eyes. She raised a hand to shield them and stepped out. You stepped out and landed in a field of grass.

“Doctor, are we in someone’s farm?” you asked, spotting the wheatfields and livestock.

“Huh, I suppose we are,” she said, surveying the landscape. “But I believe I’ve got the right region. Just about.”

You frowned. “How can you tell? The distance between the Sun and the Earth? The distant dry areas beyond this fertile farmland that’s likely near a river? The sheep and chickens?”

“No, well, yes that, and look!” The Doctor pointed over at the farmers who had just now noticed them. “Long cotton woven garments and clothes wrapped around their head to shield from the sun using sturdy copper and stone tools.” She swung her finger towards a nearby settlement. “Mud bricks and straw roofs, the patterns on the pottery. I’d say Mid-East?”

“Ah. I see.”

One of the older men walked up to the two of you cautiously, his hoing stick held tightly in his hands. “Who are you? Why are you here?” he asked gruffly.

The Doctor smiled bowed her head slightly “I’m the Doctor and this is my friend, (Y/n).” You follow her lead and lowered your head as well. “We appeared to have taken a wrong turn in our travels,” she said, “Say, where exactly are we?”

He looked back at his fellow farmers who watched with curiosity then at you. “This is the village of Jedha, several miles away from the city.”

“The city of…?”

“Mohenjo-daro, of course.”

Your jaw dropped. The city of Mohenjo-daro? A major city of the Indus Valley civilization? The time could be between the twenty-sixth to the nineteenth century BCE. You’ve been volunteering at archaeological digs every summer but never had a chance to even see Mohenjo-daro. And here you were, in a farming village miles from the city.

“Forgive us for being so cautious, but you have arrived in such ill timing since strange things have been happening to our fields. If you are traveling to Mohenjo-daro, you may speak to our village elder and they can see to aid you for your journey. I,” He holds a hand to his chest, “am Sahim Rook. If you would follow me, please.”

You fell into step with the Doctor as Sahim walked you towards the village. You looked back and saw the others returning to their menial tasks, occasionally shooting curious glances at you and the Doctor. You did just land in the middle of their field.

“You said strange things have been happening here? Like what?” You asked him.

He hummed, scratching his graying beard in thought. “There seems to be creatures disturbing our animals and a sickness that would fall onto anyone who strays too far from the village. They become a different person, they get violent like they were possessed, then they become ill, near death.” He paused and turned to the two of you. “You say you are a doctor.”

“Right I am!” The Doctor said proudly.

“If you don’t mind, could you take a look at our patients?”

“Of course, it’s the least we could do.”

“Thank you.”

The village elder, Sahim’s mother, welcomed you and was delighted that the two travelers were willing to help in the mysterious illness. She led the two of you into a hut nearby filled with rows of straw beds covered in cotton sheets with the patients resting on each one.

“Sahim says that they were uncharacteristically violent when they returned to the village,” The Doctor said to the elder.

You scan the room, patients with droopy eyes, or coughing into bloody rags, or are still yet to wake. They shiver and scrunch their faces in pain, sweat soaking their body. It was horrible. What could do such a thing? Some sort of foreign disease recently introduced or a parasite? The thought it could have contributed to the decline of the Indus Valley civilization had crossed your mind, but it couldn’t be the main reason. Many theories suggest that settlements along the Indus river were affected by floods.

“Yes,” she said with a solemn nod. She swept her hand over the room and sighed. “They came back, vandalizing houses, disturbing the animals - some went as far as killed some, and wrecked some of the crops. When the sun began to rise, they would collapse with a high fever, sick to the point of bedridden. The others are understandably scared and worried. Other farms had been affected before us as well. It is devastating.”

“Leave it to us, Elder.”

The elder gestured towards a woman tending to a patient. She adjusted her delicate headwrap and stood. “This is Sassui, my daughter-in-law,” the elder said, “She has been working the hardest to nurse them back to health. Sassui, these are travelers that are making their way to Mohenjo-daro. They offered to help in any way they can before heading to the city.”

“I’m the Doctor and this is my friend, (Y/n),” the Doctor introduced us.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Sassui said softly. She had a small smile on her face, but it seemed forced. Dark circles under her eyes and her movements seemed to be sluggish. She had been working nonstop with barely any rest.

As if reading your thoughts, the elder said, “You need some rest, Sassui.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that my son hasn’t come back from trading in the market. I’m not sure what’s worse, that he had fallen victim to the sickness or he had fallen victim to gambling and spending money feverishly.”

The elder huffed. “That boy is going to get himself into trouble if he doesn’t sort himself out.” She then turned back to the Doctor. “Well, I’ll leave you in Sassui’s care.” With that, she left.

Sassui’s lips tightened into a thin line. “Shall we start with the first one?”

Luckily, some only needed herbal remedies and some rest to get their health back up. The rest needed something stronger.

You carried a bucket filled with dirty rags and plopped it down near their well. Sassui had asked you to soak them in water and get a separate bucket for the patients. You had just filled the first bucket when you heard galloping heading towards the village. You looked up and saw a young man, his face similar to Sahim with a dark beard outlining his jaw and black hair flowing down to his shoulders, riding on top of a camel with a satchel hanging at the back.

“Bodhi!” Sahim called out. The older man marched towards him and placed his fists at his hips. “It does not take this long to travel back to Jedha from the nearby city. Where are your cousins?”

The man, Bodhi, turned around and frowned. “Huh, could have sworn they were behind me,” he muttered. He hopped off his camel and tied them to the nearest post. “But, we did manage to sell a lot this week! Ah, there they are!”

His three cousins arrived much later, carrying the goods that they were able to buy at the market. They all headed over and tied up their mounts before unloading their satchels. “Hello, uncle,” they all greeted with a bow with their head before carrying their load over to the huts.

“See! And we used the money that we earned to buy the food and supplies that we need,” Bodhi said.

Sahim shook his head. “That much supplies are worth more than our goods could give us. What did you do?” Bodhi struggled to talk his way out of it under his father’s scrutinizing gaze.

“We sold all the goods and we got what we needed! What more do you want from me?” Bodhi snapped before carrying his satchel and storming away.

Sahim gave you an apologetic look before following after his son. You waited until they were both out of sight to continue your task for the second bucket. You busy trying to pull it back up from the well when a voice startled.

“Hey.” You let out an embarrassing squeak, dropping the pail down in the well again. You spun around and was met by two large brown eyes staring back at you in amusement. “Sorry about that. I’m Bodhi, by the way. My father says you arrived this morning.” He flashed you a bright contagious smile.

“I’m (Y/n),” you said, automatically sticking out your hand. He looked down at it and grabbed it tightly. You shook it and tried to let go, but he wouldn’t budge. “Um…”

Bodhi tilted his head to the side. “You’re very beautiful,” he said.

“Um.”

His eyes flickered to the well behind you. “I’ll help you with that. So you’re helping my mother with the sick, are you?”

“Yes. Me and my friend. Do you have an idea of how this could have happened?” you asked, watching him pull the pail back up.

“Well, many folks on my travels say that it’s demons. Spirits who’ve sinned before they died, coming back to spread sickness and anger. We call those the Pishacha.” He poured the water into the second bucket and lifted it up with ease. He gestured for you to lead the way.

“So, do you believe in those ghost stories?” you wondered, making your way back to the hut.

Bodhi shrugged. “Whatever it is, it’s costing the farm a lot of money. With less wheat and livestock to sell, means less money and not enough supplies to do repairs and care for the sick, let alone feed ourselves.”

“So, you try other ways to get more money,” you said.

Bodhi shot you a look. “Yes, exactly. You think differently of me now?”

“I never knew much about you to have an opinion in the first place,” you said truthfully, “But it sounds to me you still care about your family a lot. Enough to do risky things.”

You reached the hut when you noticed Bodhi wasn’t there. You turned around and saw Bodhi frozen in place with a curious look in his eyes, his arms hugging the bucket close to his chest. “Thank you,” he said softly, “You’ve been kind to me so far. Anything else you want me to do?”

“Well, help me finish up with these buckets and we’ll take it from there.”

“As you wish.”

#writersmonth2019 #Bodhi Rook x Reader #Bodhi Rook #Rogue One Imagine #Star wars imagine #Farmer boy!bodhi rook #Doctor Who imagine #Reader is the Doctor's companion #There were many wip ideas that I were able to get out and finish thanks to writer's month #This idea of reader meeting Bodhi in the past and... well spoilers #Anyways I've had this idea for a while and wondered I would be able to pull this off #Doctor Who #Riz Ahmed

16 notes · View notes

rjzimmerman · 5 years

Link

Let’s focus on one very relevant example of how we are wasting our groundwater. Construction has begun or will soon begin to construct trump’s stupid wall through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument along the Arizona-Mexico border. Making the concrete necessary to construct the wall through the Monument will require the use of 15 million gallons of groundwater and the probable depletion of the Quitobaquito Spring, which supports the Sonoran Desert ecosystem within and surrounding the Monument. For a stupid fucking wall, we are going to suck out 15 million gallons of desert water.

Or let’s focus on fracking. According to the United States Geological Survey, Water use per fracking well can be anywhere from about 1.5 million gallons to about 16 million gallons. According to the Energy Information Administration, hydraulically fractured horizontal wells accounted for 69% of all oil and natural gas wells drilled in the United States and 83% of the total linear footage drilled. Estimates of the number of wells in the US range from 1.7 million up. Do the math and be shocked at the amount of water, mostly groundwater, used in fracking.

Excerpt from this Bloomberg story:

Another slow-motion, man-made environmental disaster has been discovered, and it’s underneath your feet.

About 70% of the water pumped out of underground aquifers worldwide is used for agriculture while much of the remainder quenches the thirst of cities. As industrial development spreads at a speedy clip, the rate at which those critical reservoirs are emptied is far outpacing the rate at which they are naturally replenished.

But as with the climate crisis, there are plenty of disastrous side-effects on the road to a water catastrophe. A new study released Wednesday says that diminishing groundwater is causing the level of streams and rivers to fall as well. Like the shrinking aquifers, surface water is critical to farms, towns and cities for everything from food to trade to energy production.

With water systems all over the planet already strained by global warming and overuse, this new discovery poses an additional threat.

Watersheds are regions where a set of streams and rivers fed by rain and snow-melt all flow into a common, larger body of water. They include the groundwater underneath. By 2050, more than half of watersheds where groundwater is pumped out may see river flow drop, according to the study, published in the journal Nature.

In watersheds such as California’s Central Valley, the Midwestern U.S.’s high plains, the Upper Ganges and the Indus in South Asia, groundwater is already being depleted. And while 2019 saw record flooding across the central U.S., the study uses data that go back as far as 1960, and projects groundwater-pumping impacts to 2100.

The authors of the study, from universities in the Netherlands, Germany, Canada and the U.S., say their results “reveal the current and future environmental legacy of groundwater use.” The research is novel for its focus on the effects of pumping water out of the ground on the rest of the watershed. They define the threshold as diminished stream-flow for at least three separate months, two years in a row—or the point at which the flow can’t keep animals and plants in an ecosystem alive.

That threshold has already been eclipsed in as much as 21 percent of watersheds where pumping is common (about half of watersheds overall). Areas already in trouble, like those in the U.S. and India, belong to hotter climates that rely on groundwater for irrigation because rivers don’t supply sufficient volume. In America, the affected watersheds are also home to much of the nation’s agriculture production, a prime culprit in the drop in groundwater.

Scientists found that even limited groundwater pumping can have outsize effects on rivers, lakes and wetlands. This map shows how much water needs to be pumped around the world for surface water to be affected.SOURCE: "Environmental flow limits to global groundwater pumping." Nature.

#groundwater #aquifers #watersheds #rivers #water

7 notes · View notes

campingtrails-blog · 5 years

Text

7 Reasons to Choose Ladakh as Your Next Holiday Destination in India

Ladakh is a prominent region organized at taking off the rise of 11,000 feet. As to greatness and experience openings, this locale can diverge from none. The great and peculiar scenes, compelling snow verified peaks, explosive valleys and essentially a greater amount of Ladakh make a perfect outing opportunity to a wide scope of voyagers. Notwithstanding whether you are an endeavour fan or a nature sweetheart, Ladakh is an ideal spot to value a journey in the peaceful lap of nature.

With respect to the movement business, Ladakh is a paradise for every explorer. There are adequate reasons why Ladakh is seen as a heaven by development fiend. Allow us to research the reasons why you should pick Ladakh as your next event objective…

To investigate an assortment of elating trekking trails:

Ladakh has something for all kind of swashbucklers. This makes trekking in Ladakh a verifiable choice for the experienced wayfarers. There is an assortment of trekking trails which anyway changes in the partitions they spread. Thusly, this territory is perfect for beginner and ace trekkers alike. One may pick low ascensions that take a couple of days or can similarly go for something like Frozen River Trek which requires the trekker to go up against strenuous conditions. For the people who are students in trekking and need to cover a straightforward trail, there are a lot of choices, for instance, Lamayuru to Darcha Trek, Ripchar Valley Trek, Padum to Darcha Trek, etc. Trekkers in the mission of moderate trail can pick from sundry decisions, for instance, Lamayuru Stok Kangri Trek, Markha Valley Trek, etc. For the in-your-face trekkers with sound capacity, there are different extraordinary treks in Ladakh, for instance, Stok Kangri Trek, Kang Yatse and Dzo Jongo Trek, Rumtse to Kiber Trek, etc.

For the trekkers who are supernatural sweethearts as well, there are stores of compelling orders. Moreover, the nature sweethearts can soak themselves in the extravagance of nature nearby the charming scene containing driving peaks, splendid lakes, faultless dales and impressively more.

To observe extraordinary greenery:

Ladakh is provided with various phenomenal and stunning kinds of generally changed vegetation. Untamed life species, for instance, Tibetan wild ass, lithe ibex, unprecedented Tibetan eland, wild sheep, etc., make Ladakh no not actually an empyrean for all the regular life sweethearts. Hemis National Park is one of the best national stops in India and hosts an extent of interesting normal life species including the snow jaguar. The characteristic existence of the territory can totally be considered as a piece of the most huge clarifications behind picking Ladakh as an excursion objective by untamed life sweethearts.

To savour the inimitable accommodation:

Ladakh is commonly prominent for its sincerity and consideration. Local people of Ladakh are welcoming to the voyagers. As a result of this reason, there is consistent improvement of home-stays around the locale of Ladakh. It makes the tourists associate with the area culture and customs as well.

To investigate beautiful cloisters:

The wonderful religious networks are counted among the most trademark features of Ladakh. These flawless spots have been the spots of adoration for over a century and are simply worth visiting. There is a phenomenal vibe of serenity and power that radiates from these religious networks. Reliably, these religious networks are visited by both adjacent and all-inclusive disciples of Buddhism in immense number. A segment of the prestigious religious networks in Ladakh are Spituk, Tikes, Hemis, Alchi and Lamayuru. It is no misrepresentation that these shelters are a social and basic pleasure. There are complimented a couple of faithful festivals in Ladakh. The sincere festivals are yearly events of the genuine houses which the adjacent inhabitants excitedly foresee visiting, comparatively for accomplishing religious worth and as strategies for social redirection. Perhaps two or three the critical passionate festivals are Spituk Gustor 1, Stongde Gustor, Phyand Tserup, Thiksey Gustor, Losar, etc.

To appreciate photography like no place else:

Ladakh can be considered as a Garden of Eden for the specialists of photography. The photographic encounters with tranquil and splendid lakes, High Passes, driving mountains, culture, inundating valleys, etc make Ladakh photography visit a practised that outstanding parts cut in the minds of guests for forever. The most flawlessly awesome territories for photography in Ladakh are Pangong Lake, Nubra Valley, Hemis National Park, etc. The scenes contributed by the intense Himalayas prepare for tapping the photographs that perfectly get the copious nature.

To grip the rush of mountain biking:

Ladakh can be considered as a real part of the best goals for mountain biking in India. Mountain biking in this interesting district takes the explorers through the lovely levels, old religious communities, affable societies, provincial towns, and significantly more. Besides, the bikers can appreciate biking on the most noteworthy motorable street on the planet Khardung La. In Biking along the Zanskar and Indus River offers a chance to observe the Kings (Wild Ass). The elation and pleasure rendered by this experience are essentially flawless.

To revive yourself in a perfect atmosphere:

Ladakh parades a perfect environment for a friendly visit. It experiences alongside no precipitation all anyway the year and offers dry condition that is proficient for trekking. June to September, especially, is the best time to visit Ladakh when the rest of the country is hit by storms. The temperature extends around 25 degrees during the daytime. The mercury count can even dive to – 30 degrees at elevated structures during the night. Thusly, the chances of exhaustion adequately get maintain a strategic distance from. The weird presentation adds a cherry to the cake and makes Ladakh a perfect objective for nature sweethearts and trekking enormities.

When to visit Ladakh?

May to September is considered the best time to visit Leh-Ladakh. During summers, the climate stays easing and resuscitating. In any case, it completely depends on the inclination of the voyager. To research the virus environs, a pioneer may go in winters as well. The remarkable Chadar Trek is finished in winters when Zanskar River gets cemented. Road undertakings to Ladakh must be done in summers.

Pick exploring Ladakh as your next journey suspected and splash yourself in consummate adrenaline flood and reestablishing magnificence of nature!

1 note · View note

mostly-history · 5 years

Quote

The fertile floodplain surrounding the city provided an environment suitable for growing cereal crops, grazing domesticated animals, and for fishing, hunting, and the gathering of wild plants. Platforms for pounding grain, storage space for wheat and rice, and air ducts that may have been used to dry the grain also suggest a high level of economic organization. Craft workshops engaged in copper work, shell and ivory carving, and stone-tool production, as well as the manufacture of pottery and ornaments. Among Mohenjo-Daro's unique artworks were finely-carved stone seals decorated with animal motifs and writing, which may have been used as counters in trade transactions. Small stone carvings of seated male figures may offer clues about the city's government. One statue in particular, known today as the 'Priest-King', has a neatly-trimmed beard, a narrow headband, an armband, and a cloak decorated with a trefoil pattern embellished with red pigment. Though there is no evidence that Mohenjo-Daro was ruled by a king or priest, the statue's self-possessed and somewhat haughty expression suggests that he may be wearing ceremonial attire. Mohenjo-Daro's favourable position near the Indus River may have contributed to its decline. Today the Indus has shifted position and flows to the east of the city site, while the Ghaggar-Hakra River is dry. These changes suggest that flooding may have interfered with agriculture and contributed to the city's decline. By 1900 BCE the great metropolis of Mohenjo-Daro was all but abandoned.

The Atlas of Lost Cities: Legendary Cities Rediscovered

#history #geography #agriculture #indus valley civilization #mohenjo-daro #pakistan #indus river #ghaggar-hakra river

5 notes · View notes

heatherwitch · 6 years

Text

Random stuff I learned in Archaeology class

Fun facts about the Sumerians (Mesopotamia):

They had a Beer Goddess (Ninkasi).

They used (lead) straws to drink beer because it was so thick and the straws had a filter on the end. The same goes for the Ancient Egyptians. Queen Puabi was buried with a golden straw for drinking beer because she was extra™

Not to mention that Queen Puabi was buried with oxen and carts, games, jewelry, musical instruments and human sacrifices so she could live it up after she died.

One of the first forms of writing was called Bullae, and it was these little clay balls, that they kept in a clay envelope so it was obvious if it had been tampered with (it was for counting stores of resources - primarily food).

Each city had one (or more) patron god or goddess.

They were HUGE on irrigation, as they lived below the river and got less that 8″ of rain per year, it was necessary to have enough crops to live.

(More under the cut for other civilizations):

Fun (lesser known) facts about the Ancient Egyptians:

They used to get high af off of the Blue Lotus, and it can be found in many of the art pieces from that time, even ones that don’t relate to the lotus or the rituals it was often used for.

The rulers were never referred to as Pharaohs, ALWAYS King (regardless of if the ruler was a man or a woman). Pharaoh = Big + House according to Hieroglyphs. Some archaeologist decided that since the Kings lived in large dwellings, they should be called Big House People.

The Rosetta Stone is basically a load of crap, and was designed to calm down uprisings about having an outsider as King. It was during the Ptolemaic rule, and Ptolemy V was having some issues so the priests wrote this decree claiming how amazing Ptolemy V was, and all of the things he had accomplished (most of which, he had no part in).

Most Ancient Egyptians only got their protein from fish. The priests and Kings (and some pyramid builders) had access to meats such as goat and cattle. Turns out it wasn’t that great for them and led to faster deaths.

When the going got tough (during droughts), it was common for them to eat their children.

Taxes were based off of how much of the floodwater you received from the Nile each year. There was a stairway that led into the ground with lines on it that marked the amount of water, called a Nilometer. If you got very little, or enough that it poorly affected you, you paid less taxes.

Fun facts about Indus Valley:

The Harappan are the ones who domesticated aurochs into Zebu cattle.

Archaeologists who studied the site in the 20′s had no clue what stuff was for so they just gave them features random names, such as: College, Granary, Bath and Assembly Hall. We still don’t know what those features were actually used for.

They developed a standardized weight system, using small limestone cubes (mainly for precious metals and stones)

Made big bucks due to the draw of having luxury items from far away at this time, and objects like carnelian beads, bangles, and things with the Indus seal have been found in Mesopotamia, Iran and Egypt, among others.

We still don’t understand their written language. It is very short (around five symbols) and often appears on pottery and stone shards. Is believed to be related to economic transactions and claiming ownership on things.

Most of what happened in this civilization, and what caused their downfall is completely unknown because the Indus river floods frequently and the sites are buried under 3-10 feet of silt (the buildings are made of mudbrick so it’s very slow work)

Fun facts about Shang China (and onward):

Most of the writing was ideographic and was found on bones and Plastron (inside of turtle shells). They were divinatory: once heated up by a fire to the point that cracks occurred, the cracks were interpreted.

After Emperor Qin ‘unified’ (conquered) all of China, he became convinced that he was the greatest man alive. So great in fact that he decided he was better than death and brought in the finest alchemists to make him immortal. They gave him mercury tablets..

When he died a couple years late (mercury tends to do that), his eldest son was supposed to inherent everything. Instead, one of the other sons found the will, stole the royal seal, and rewrote it saying that the eldest son needs to kill himself, and that he himself inherents everything. The eldest son didn’t question the dying will of the great Emperor and immediately killed himself. The son tried his best to rule as his father did but kind of fucked everything up.

The first census ever was made during the Han Dynasty in AD 1, with 57.7 million people in China (300 million people in the world at this time)

Paper was invented!!

*Note that I am in Archaeology 101, and am basing this off of information from my professor, lecturers, and a textbook. Some information might be off.*

#archaeology #ancient civilizations #ancient egypt #ancient sumer #shang china #mesopotamia #indus valley #history #here's your history lesson for the week #history nerd

1K notes · View notes

sciencespies · 3 years

Text

Extreme heat exposure in cities has tripled in just a few decades, scientists warn

https://sciencespies.com/environment/extreme-heat-exposure-in-cities-has-tripled-in-just-a-few-decades-scientists-warn/

Extreme heat exposure in cities has tripled in just a few decades, scientists warn

Extreme urban heat exposure has dramatically increased since the early 1980s, with the total exposure tripling over the past 35 years.

Today, about 1.7 billion people, nearly one-quarter of the global population, live in urban areas where extreme heat exposure has risen, as we show in a new study released Oct. 4, 2021.

Most reports on urban heat exposure are based on broad estimates that overlook millions of at-risk residents. We looked closer. Using satellite estimates of where every person on the planet lived each year from 1983 to 2016, we counted the number of days per year that people in over 13,000 urban areas were exposed to extreme heat.

The story that emerges is one of rapidly increasing heat exposure, with poor and marginalized people particularly at risk.

Nearly two-thirds of the global increase in urban exposure to extreme heat was in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. This is in part because of climate change and the urban heat island effect – temperatures in urban areas are higher because of the materials used to build roads and buildings.

But it is also because the number of people living in dense urban areas has rapidly increased.

Urban populations have ballooned, from 2 billion people living in cities and towns in 1985 to 4.4 billion today.

While the patterns vary from city to city, urban population growth has been fastest among African cities where governments did not plan or build infrastructure to meet the needs of new urban residents.

(Tuholske et al, 2021)

Above: Urban population exposure to extreme heat and the influence of urban warming and population growth. Extreme heat is defined as at least one day with a wet-bulb globe temperature greater than 30 C. Wet-bulb globe temperature takes into account temperature, humidity, wind and radiation to gauge the effect on humans

Climate change is raising the heat risk

It is clear that there is a dangerous interaction of increasing temperatures and rapid urban population growth in countries that are already very warm.

How much worse will it get, and who will be most affected? Chris Funk explores these heat exposure projections for 2030 and 2050 in his new Cambridge University Press book Drought Flood Fire.

Urban population growth is expected to continue, and if greenhouse gases continue on their rapid growth path, we will see massive increases in heat exposure among urban dwellers.

The planet has already warmed just over 1 degree Celsius (1.8 F) since pre-industrial times, and research shows warming is translating to more dangerous weather and climate extremes.

We are almost certain to experience another degree of warming by 2050, and likely more.

This amount of warming, combined with urban population growth, could lead to a 400 percent increase in extreme heat exposure by 2050. The vast majority of people affected will live in South Asia and Africa, in river valleys like the Ganges, Indus, Nile and Niger. Hot, humid, populated and poor cradles of civilization are becoming epicenters of heat risk.

At the same time, research shows that marginalized people – the poor, women, children, the elderly – may lack access to resources that could help them stay safer in extreme heat, such as air conditioning, rest during the hottest parts of the day and health care.

Counting who’s at risk

To count the number of urban residents exposed to extreme heat, we used data and models that incorporate advances in both social and physical sciences.

More than 3 billion urban residents live 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) or farther from a weather station with a robust reporting record. Climate model simulations that estimate past weather were not designed to measure a single person’s risk; rather, they were used to gauge broad-scale trends.

This means the effects of extreme heat for hundreds of millions of impoverished urban residents worldwide have simply not been documented.

In fact, the official record states that only two extreme heat events have had significant effects on sub-Saharan Africa since the 1900s. Our results show that this official record is not true.

Extreme heat exposure increases in cities from 1983 to 2016. (Tuholske et al, 2021)

Reasons for action

Urban population growth itself is not the problem. But the convergence of changes in extreme heat with large urban populations calls into question the conventional wisdom that urbanization uniformly reduces poverty.

Historically, urbanization was associated with a shift in the workforce, from farming to manufacturing and services, in tandem with industrialization of agricultural production that increased efficiency. But in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, there has been urbanization without economic growth.

This may be due to post-colonial technological changes that improve health. People are living longer and more children are surviving past infancy thanks to medical advances, but post-colonial governments often don’t have or don’t mobilize the resources to support huge numbers of people moving to cities.

What worries us is that because urban extreme heat exposure has largely been left off the development policy radar, poor urban residents will have a harder time escaping poverty.

Numerous studies have shown that extreme heat reduces labor productivity and economic output. Low-income workers tend to have fewer worker protections. They are also burdened with high costs for food and shelter, and often lack air conditioning.

Steps cities can take

The coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement have amplified demands for greater political and scientific attention to inequality and injustice. Better data that helps to capture the true lived experiences of individuals is a key feature of more integrated and socially relevant climate-health science.

Collaborations across scientific disciplines like ours can help governments and businesses accommodate new urban residents and reduce harm from heat.

Implementing early warning systems, for example, can reduce risks if they are accompanied by actions like opening cooling centers. Governments can also implement occupational heat standards to reduce heat risks for marginalized people and empower them to avoid exposure. But these interventions need to reach the people most in need.

Our research offers a map for policies and technologies alike, not just to reduce harm from urban extreme heat exposure in the future, but today.

Cascade Tuholske, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia Climate School, Columbia University; Chris Funk, Director of the Climate Hazards Center, University of California Santa Barbara, and Kathryn Grace, Associate Professor of Geography, Environment and Society, University of Minnesota.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

#Environment

0 notes