The ways water is prioritized changed
dramatically over the years. Industries overrule farmers. Urban claims more
water than rural. The rich take from the poor. Lifestyles dominate livelihoods.
The scarcity of water is only strengthening these trends.

The country that pumps more groundwater
than any other has reached a water supply and food safety reckoning that
threatens to upend political and economic stability, and long-term public
health. In this special report, building on years of on-the-ground coverage,
Circle of Blue reveals how a nation of 1.3 billion people, by failing to
protect its water, is courting disease and economic hardship as well as social
upheaval. Hand in hand with the groundwater depletion and contamination, is a
food supply “toxic time bomb” of global implications. When irrigation wells go
dry, farmers turn to untreated wastewater that is laced with industrial
chemicals and human sewage.

Water Scarcity Essay: Water scarcity is a
fundamental issue faced by almost half of the population across the world. Like
global warming and climate change, water scarcity affects human lives in
different ways.

In some places, it disrupts smooth living.
In other parts of the world, it makes the existence of human life difficult. At
this point, it is beyond any argument that water is one of the essential
requirements for humankind to survive on Earth. But, as it seems these days,
probably humankind itself is responsible for its destruction. The scarcity of
water across the globe cannot be wholly attributed to the rise in population.
Irresponsible use of water is one of the significant reasons behind water
scarcity.

Water scarcity happens when people do not
save water or even lack the willingness to save it. In some countries of the
world, water is abundant. People in such countries do not reuse water. For
instance, water which is used for washing cars can be used for gardening too.
And the water which is used to clean floors can be put to use for other
domestic purposes. But in countries where water is abundant, people use fresh
water for each activity. This leads to indiscriminate use of water. In
countries where water is scarce, people save it in a lot of ways. Some
Governments make use of financial incentives to save water. The scarcity of
water affects people in a lot of ways. Some have to pay for water, while others
have to bear the hardships of bringing them from nearby ponds and lakes. Often,
there are cases of water poisoning. This happens mainly when people do not pay
for water and tend to use it without filtration.

Many of the water systems that keep
ecosystems thriving and feed a growing human population have become stressed.
Rivers, lakes and aquifers are drying up or becoming too polluted to use. More
than half the world’s wetlands have disappeared. Agriculture consumes more
water than any other source and wastes much of that through inefficiencies.
Climate change is altering patterns of weather and water around the world,
causing shortages and droughts in some areas and floods in others. At the
current consumption rate, this situation will only get worse. By 2025,
two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages. And ecosystems
around the world will suffer even more.

This is the second time I’ve read this book. The first was a copy I borrowed a few years ago, and now I’ve purchased one for my own library. I try to collect good books I really loved reading, and “War an peace” easily falls into this category.

It is an epic novel in the truest sense of “epic”. Stretching over a period of several decades, it masterfully describes the history of Russia from the end of the 18th century and into the first third of the 1800s. At more than 1600 pages, it is definitely one of the longest novels out there, but unlike many much shorter books, its length is well justified. I can barely count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times I felt some section is too long. Although Tolstoy is very thorough, his writing is easily readable and the pages just fly.

The books focuses on two main topics. One is the Russian-French wars of 1805 and 1812. Tolstoy describes the wars, and in particular the battles of Austerlitz (1805) and Borodino (1812) in vivid detail and apparently very accurately from a historic point of view. The characters of Napoleon and Kutuzov (the Russian army leader) take active part in the narration, with the lesser leaders (Bagration, de Tolli, Davoux) also getting enough attention to build a complete and interesting story. Specific events of the war are highlighted with the participation of the book’s main characters, like Andrey Bolkonsky, Nikolay Rostov and Pierre Bezoukhov.

The other is the high Russian society of that time. The book provides a very interesting and in-depth glimpse into this unusual society by today’s standards, somewhat modeled after, and thus similar to, other European societies (French, British, etc.). Tolstoy also presents the life in rural Russia a little, and the interrelations between the rich and the serfs, although he doesn’t spend on this topic nearly as much as in Anna Karenina.

The characters in the book are various and present the different ideas Tolstoy tries to infuse into his narration. They are all, without exception, extremely believable and well developed. I can’t think of many authors who know how to present and develop their characters as well as Tolstoy.

Additionally, the book presents plenty of interesting philosophical and scientific (“science of history”) ideas. The chief one is undoubtedly the question “What causes and shapes historical events?”. Contrary to the popular dogma that historical events are the result of actions of single notable persons (such as Napoleon or king Alexander), Tolstoy believes that such persons don’t really cause events, but rather can only affect them in some ways once they are already in existence. He claims that what really changes history is the amalgam of human actions, built from thousands, nay, millions of small decisions, desires and ambitions of the people. A historical version of chaos theory.

Well, this review can be arbitrarily long, and I have to wrap up at some point. I just want to address one important issue – the book’s name. In Russian, the book’s name is “Voina i mir”, which may mean “War and peace” but may also mean “War and society”, since “peace” and “society” are homonyms in Russian. There are differences of opinion as to which Tolstoy actually meant when he authored the book, as you can read here or more at length here (Russian). Personally, I firmly believe that the “War and society” translation is more correct. It is very obvious that Tolstoy places a lot of emphasis on society in the book. Pierre compares his experiences in the society with his war adventures to form philosophical opinions. The same for Andrey. I can barely see any mention of peace in its “non-war” sense in the book.

A very much known form of energy nowadays. Today’s article is about solar energy and it’s science and technology. As we all know the fact that Sun is the ultimate source of energy for every organism present on Earth. Sun provides the required energy to all and nourish them in the form of sunlight rays radiated on the Earth. For the balance of life, to make it happen sunlight is the most important part in the ecosystem.

The concept of solar energy evolves around trapping the light and utilising it in the form of energy that can be used by the people. Earth is blessed with biodiversity and the main sources are sun, air and water of this system. To live life every organism need these sources. Energy can be renewable and non renewable. Sunlight is such an example of renewable energy resource.

In context to India we see that India is a country where there is ultimate sunlight present. For understanding this, think on the facts that are as follows – We know that North India receives maximum sunlight in the month of April to June whereas Southern part of India receives sunlight all throughout the year, the desert areas are also an source to this. The conversion of sunlight into the form of electricity will be useful to the population of India as the demand of electricity is increasing day by day and will not harm the environment or increase the global warming.

For this government and environmental activists have given suggestions and a way to generate solar electricity by installing solar panels on the rooftop or on the land wherever they are comfortable with. It not only reduces the cost and demand of electricity but also creates a source of income for them. The implementation of this scheme will create new job opportunities also.

This concept has also been discussed at national and international conferences and many have supported it. By 2024 we’ll be generating solar energy at huge level. Solar energy is the future in the upcoming years and many have already started working on it. So what are you waiting for ,just try to get acknowledged with the facts and do it once, it will be a long term benefit. It can be proved as a major transformation in the field of science and technology.

Hope you will like reading it. Thank you!!!