Public Chronicles

Environmental pollution is the most evident issue of 21 st century across the globe. Degradation of resources rise in temperature, rapid industrialization, unregulated urbanization, ailing quality of fresh water resources and contamination of resources are resulting in reckless degradation of finite resources. While the research across the globe is focusing of developing better and cleaner technologies; developing nations deal with another crucial issue i.e. Access to proper sanitation. According to the Report on Stunting in Pakistan (2017) by Inter-Agency Regional Analysis Report, 1.9 million children are already stunted which is directly attributed to unhealthy environment for the children. The report on Impact of Clean Drinking and Sanitation on Water Borne Diseases in Pakistan (2018) by SDPI shows that urban zones show high prevalence of Diarrhea among children resulting in 31% among children with non-improved sanitation facilities. Open drains are the biggest and evide

The results of 6 th Population and Housing Census of Pakistan (2017) showed that currently 32 million houses are present in Pakistan. The rise in population is usually observed sue to informal expansion of cities due to numerous factors like topographical constrains, transportation infrastructure and biophysical characteristics in specific pattern. This pattern of expansion largely affects urban formation. Infrastructure development and services affect the emerging cities. Pakistan has been ranked as world’s most populous country in 2015. The growing population has not only overburdened the natural resources and economic growth but also contributed to increase in dissolute, unchecked and far-stretched cities in Pakistan. Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (1998-1999), Labor Force Survey (1997-1998) and Pakistan Census (1998) are the only data sets available to determine the demographic transitions. In short, no proper data records are available to determine the exact population o

What is Composting? Composting: The controlled decomposition of organic matter (food waste, grass, other organic municipal wastes) is termed as “Composting”. Organic matter is broken down through the action of microorganisms in the presence of adequate moisture and oxygen into nutrient rich soil like material. Composting is dependent upon temperature and required optimum temperature range. This activity can be carried out by in controlled conditions which can support a pile. The organic waste is broken down by earthworms, bacteria and microorganisms in the soil. Natural composting takes place without any human input however, water and oxygen is introduced to accelerate the activity. Once the activity id completed the product is termed humus.  (Cunningham, 2016) . This activity maximizes the recycling of existing materials and reduces load on landfills and incinerators . Composting requires both physical and chemical transformation of the organic matter. Types of Composting:

Dependent upon highly synthetic products has been increasing since last few decades. Industrious lifestyles are leading to more dependence on synthetic products than products with natural origins. Such projects are easily available and usually cheaper than natural products. These chemicals are insidious form of body pollution as they enter the body via multiple routes and may reside in organs for long time hence cause toxicity. These health care, cosmetics, toiletries contain many chemicals which are foreign to the natural metabolism of our bodies. Such items also contain certain chemicals which may have toxic effect on our body. For the sake of this study, I have identified a few daily use items and studied the harmful chemicals present in them. There details and (available) antidotes of some products are given below: Vaseline Healthy White: Vaseline Healthy White body lotion is commonly used in Summer for moisturization of the body. Its basic composition includes Isopropyl myri

The seminar titled 'Why Waste Water: Rethinking Water Resource Management in Pakistan' was organized in Islamabad with the collaboration of Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), World Wide Fund (WWF) and Nestle Pakistan. The current status of water related issues were discussed while focusing on the conservation of water in the region. While moderating the session on Why Waste Water: Rethinking Water Resource Management in Pakistan, Dr. Imran Khalid Research fellow at SDPI, stressed on the lack of implementation strategies for effective management and conservation of fresh water resources in our region. We have laws and regulations for water management but they are not being implemented properly. Head of Cooperate Affairs at Nestle Pakistan, Mr. Waqar Ahmed, emphasized on the water by addressing its application in agriculture which consumes 60% of the entire water of our country. Nestle and government of Punjab are collaborating in providing subsidies to

Cape, trade and Carbon dioxide: Cape and trade is the most environmentally and economically sensible approach to control greenhouse gas emissions. The "cap" is a limit on emissions; amount of pollutants release which is reduced over time while the trade creates a market for carbon allowances ( economic incentives) in form of permits, taxes, legal emissions limit etc. (per year) There are two reasons for the economic incentives: Money raising for further environmental friendly activities Discourage industrial and business individuals to emit less. Critics of direct tax believe that taxation is not a very effective measure for businesses as they pass on their taxes in their prices on the consumer ( though there is decrease in sales graph yet not very much effective). Critics of legal emissions believe that government may pace unfair burden on businesses while fixing taxes. Also the need of extensive monitoring may place burden of society's economics. These pote