Getting rid of e-waste

E-waste is an often used term nowadays. The electronic waste generated by mobile phones, computers and other electronic products is expected to create massive environment hazards in the future.

Electronic equipment such as mobile phones and ray tubes of television and computer monitors are said to contain toxic metals and harmful organic chemicals. These include lead, cadmium, mercury and brominated and chlorinated flame-retardants which pose hazards to the environment. When used equipment is discarded into the environment in an unregulated manner, over a period of time, these harmful substances, known as e-waste, can leak to the soil, water and atmosphere and turn harmful to human beings as well as other forms of life on Earth.

If such e-waste is not disposed of in a safe and environmental friendly manner, it could lead to serious effects on the environment through contaminated water and soil. The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) is now in the process of preparing proposals for constructing an e-waste facility together with the necessary legislation to ensure safe and environmentally friendly e-waste disposal and recycling practices.

CEA officials have been directed to submit proposals to construct an e-waste recycling facility to deal with unregulated e-waste disposals.

According to a Greenpeace International report, e-waste in Asia remains largely unregulated and its impact on recycling workers, surrounding communities, water bodies and soils have not been properly studied.

The report also says the annual worldwide generation of e-waste is about 20 to 50 million tonnes. However, the amount of un-recycled e-waste Sri Lanka discards to the environment has not been determined yet.

New irrigation projects

Three hundred new irrigation projects costing over 90 million rupees would be implemented by the North Central Province Irrigation Department with the objective of facilitating water to a large number of farmers who use traditional farming methods.

Once the project is completed, it would enable the cultivation of a large number of abandoned paddy lands. Abandoned irrigation projects and damaged irrigation canals will also be reconstructed under these projects, while irrigation systems and grids would also be renovated.

A man was calling a friend from a payphone booth and asked for the telephone number of another man that they both knew. Suddenly, the first man (the man who made the call) started breathing very loudly.

His friend got worried and asked whether he was all right. To this he replied, "I haven't got a pen, so I'm steaming up the window to write the number on."

Upstream-Downstream:

Wetlands connect us all

‘Upstream-Downstream, Wetlands connect us all’ is the slogan decided by the Ramsar Convention for this year’s World Wetlands Day, to be observed on February 2, on the theme river basins and their management.

The slogan will focus on how inter-connected we all are with the river basin, how we are affected by the activities of those upstream of us and how our activities affect those who are downstream. Some of the things to be organised by the Ramsar Convention Secretariat in connection with the day are posters, stickers, briefing notes, comic strips and activities and questions for young people.

World Wetlands Day is commemorated on the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention) in the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, on February 2, 1971.

It provides an opportunity for people to look around at their wetlands and their inter-connectivity with the environment around them.

They will be made aware of how a wetland benefits its surroundings and how activities throughout a river basin may affect the wetlands around it. The first observation of the event was held in 1997. Since then, governments, non-governmental organisations and community groups all over the world have got together to celebrate the day by taking action to raise awareness about the value and benefits of wetlands and to promote their conservation and wise use.

These activities include seminars, nature walks, festivals, launching new policies, announcing new Ramsar sites and promoting wetland conservation through media such as newspapers, radio and television.

Between 1997 and 2008, activities carried out by 95 countries had been reported in the Convention’s website.

The Ramsar Convention applies to a variety of wetlands such as marshes and peatland, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salty.

UNESCO acts as the depository for the Convention which is administered by a secretariat known as the Ramsar Bureau and is hosted by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in Switzerland.

The IUCN, Wetlands International, World Wildlife Fund and Birdland International were the organisations instrumental in setting up the Convention.

61st Independence Day celebrations

The 61st Independence Day celebrations would be carried out with full pomp and pageantry on February 4. This year’s celebrations would hold even more meaning than usual due to the liberation of many areas in the country which had previously been in the clutches of terrorists.

In the past, many of our national heroes of all races, religions and communities fought together for independence. Now the Armed Forces and Police personnel are waging war to free the country from the scourge of terrorism, so that we can all celebrate our Independence Day under one flag.

While the main celebrations on the day would be held in Colombo, many events would be organised throughout the country to commemorate the day in 1948 when we finally won independence from our colonial masters.

This is a day that we could all be justly proud of. So you could all get together and celebrate this day in peace and unity.

Birth and death anniversaries from February 1-7

February 1

*Karl Heisenberg Werner, who discovered the ‘uncertainty principle’ in physics, died in 1976.

February 2

*James Joyce, Irish novelist, was born in 1882.

*Death of Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, mathematician, historian and advocate of social reforms, died at 97 years in 1970.

February 3

*Elizabeth Blackwell, the first English woman physician, was born in 1821.

February 5

*Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae musician, was born in 1945.

*John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish inventor of the pneumatic tyre, was born in 1840.

February 6

*Queen Anne of Great Britain was born in 1665.

*Sir Charles Wheatsone, English physicist and inventor of the telegraph, was born in 1802.

February 7

*Charles Dickens, English novelist, was born in 1812.

*Ananda Rajakaruna, Sinhala poet, was born in 1885.

*Sir A. Francis Molamure, the first speaker of Independent Ceylon, was born in 1886.

Special events which took place in history, from February 1-7

February 1

* Queen’s House in Colombo was transferred to the government in 1804.

* Colombo Academy (Royal College) was established in 1835.

* The Social Services Department was established in 1948.

* The first edition of ‘Oxford English Dictionary’ was published in 1884.

February 2

* The war between U.S.A and Mexico ended in 1848.

* Idi Amin became ruler of Uganda in 1971.

* Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka was ceremonially opened in 1996.

February 3

* Luna 9, Soviet spacecraft, landed on the surface of the moon in 1966.

February 4

* Adolf Hitler took command of the German Army in 1938.

* Ceylon became an independent nation in 1948.

* J. R. Jayewardene took oaths as the first executive President of the Republic of Sri Lanka in 1978.

February 6

R. Premadasa was sworn in as prime minister of Sri Lanka in 1978.

Compiled by Asha Senevirathne