Subject to [Climate] Change

There was something very different about this year in northern India that prematurely ended the Menlo Abroad trip. 40 kilometers out of Ramnagar, leaving Jim Corbett National Park and ascending almost 1800 meters, fires appeared along the Himalayan hills. In my previous four years in India, I had never seen such things. Not once. And when we reached Ranikhet and got the students sorted with their host moms for their home-stays, I looked out with horror over the valley from my hotel balcony to see the northeastern section ablaze [see photos]. Flashbacks to the northern California fires that burned Paradise to a crisp last year ricocheted in my mind’s eye. Ranikhet’s fires, mostly burning underbrush and not the trees themselves, threatened more with toxic smoke than the actual fireballs of the menacing inferno of Butte County. Nevertheless, the consequence at least for Menlo School was the same: evacuation.

What is different? India has always been hot and dry before the monsoon rains of June, but the subcontinent is hotter, dryer, and more unlivable than ever before. Climate change -- what can sometimes feel like an abstract, future doomsday prophecy -- is coming to nightmarish fruition particularly for the 200 million, mostly poor, inhabitants of northern India. Just when we arrived, meteorologists were predicting a heat wave could last a fortnight or more in New Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand (where we spend the majority of our time). In fact, a severe heat warning had been issued for the capital as temperatures exceeded 46 Celsius. Water scarcity, frequent and prolonged fire events, and heatstroke are increasingly the new normal for Indians. The reality of climate change and its devastation on humankind is a real and present danger now.

In our home-stay village, the denizens of Ranikhet have been coping with effects of climate change for decades – it’s now getting worse. In the 90s, the rivers that passed through the Himalayan hills almost all dried up. Desperate for reliable water sources, wells were dug and dams built to mitigate water scarcity. Still, the problem persists. Experts from Gandhinagar city’s Institute of Technology warned last month that more than 40 percent of India faces drought this year. Indian weatherpersons report that not only is there less rain than average this year, but that rainfall patterns are more erratic in the last decade overall – frequent droughts, floods, and sudden storms. This is exactly what Thomas Friedman of the New York Times calls “global weirding,” and it hit particularly hard just as Menlo Abroad was pulling into town. The arid conditions exacerbate forest fires. According to the information presented in news18.com, the fires in Ranikhet were the worst experienced in two decades. The source quoted Mark Parrington, senior scientist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts who wrote about the fires in the state of Uttarakhand, “Looking at May monthly total fire radiative power, 2019 is second worst in 16 years after 2012.” In other words, the emissions of pollutants from these fires were now at their most severe in the twenty-first century. Unfortunately, this is a trend that will continue: Forest fires increased by nearly 2.5 times between 2011 and 2017 throughout Uttarakhand. Under such conditions, Menlo School vacated the region, back to Delhi, only to find that the capital was approaching 47-48 Celsius.

From this experience, three questions present as most salient. First, given undeniable, first-hand proof of anthropogenic climate change, will the nations of the world act radically and rapidly to curb carbon emissions to forestall the most tragic impending consequences wrought by our carelessness? As harrowing as it was for Menlo Abroad to be chased by fires and smoke in Ranikhet – moving from hotel to hotel for refuge – this authentic learning experience galvanizes our own personal advocacy for climate action now. Second, with billions lacking education in the dangerous affects of extreme heat and air pollution (e.g., there wasn’t a single accessible air quality index reading for the Uttarakhand region according to our partner NGO), how do privilege, power, and wealth demarcate zones of relative climate vulnerability and invulnerability? Menlo students received personal experience in global inequality; we had the information and means to escape respiratory damage when the locals almost seemed blithely unaware of these threats or lacked the capacity to do anything about them. Finally, how will climate change, as experienced in New Delhi and Ranikhet, affect the kind of powerful education sought in the Menlo Abroad program? This is “open air” learning, where students meet host culture in the market, the field, the temple, and the home patios to engage in conversation and develop relationships. Extreme temperatures and capricious extreme weather events make it increasingly difficult to plan and execute such transformative educational visions. How will we adapt? What needs to change?  

Beginning Homestays

May 29, 2019

Rosemount Hotel, India

Everyone with their welcoming host mothers

     Today was our first day of homestay, where we live with local host families and learn about everyday life in India by immersing ourselves in their culture and traditions. Every member of the group has differing first impressions and experiences; each family has different traditions, people, and amounts of spoken English.

     My (Kahaan) host family immersed me into their lifestyle, inviting me to all their activities. To get to the house, we first took a car to the main road. After leaving the car, we descended down a grassy hill and climbed down several steep flights of stairs. When I arrived, I was confused by how empty and large the house was, but I later learned that my family was achieving their lifelong dream of building their own hotel, which will be completed in a year. Once I found our house, I was introduced to my three new brothers, mother, and father, who all welcomed me into their home. The children spoke some English, so we managed to get around the language barrier, at which point, they invited me to play volleyball with their friends. Children of all ages were playing when I arrived, and together, they taught me their own rules, and we played together for an hour. Then, we all ate dinner together, where the mother insisted I stuff myself full. During dinner, the son told me he played carrem, an Indian board game similar to pool. After playing carrem for a while, we all fell asleep, satisfied.

     My (Evan) experience was similar yet different than Kahaan's stay. When I arrived, my host family immediately tried to help me with my luggage and offer tea and water. I learned that their family has two parents, two brothers, and two sisters. This was the point where the language barrier came into play. Nobody in the homestay speaks any English minus several common phrases from their 7th grade son. Through some basic charades and elaborate hand motions, we discussed their life and activities. Soon the brothers had pulled me away to play cricket and badminton on their porch for most of the afternoon. I loved being able to connect with the kids around my age through sports despite the language barrier. After playing games with the kids, my host mother invited me to eat dinner. They had cooked a delicious meal of chapati, mango chutney, and potatoes. With a full and satisfied belly, I went to sleep.

Stay tuned for our next posts in the next few days!

-Kahaan & Evan

Mitsuka's family cow

Doo-ing Our Doo-Doo Diligence!

         While in Corbett National Park, aside from our safari adventures, we were able to get a head start in learning about the Grassroots Pan-Himalayan Ecology biogas generator projects that several Indian families use for cost-efficient and eco-friendly energy. We began our learning around "poo-thirty", where we visited a home in a nearby village to experience their biogas generator first hand. We learned about the differences of burning pure manure versus using the biogas generator for a cleaner alternative for Indian families.
        Since many Indian families have cows, either stray in the village or belonging to their homes, families convert their manure into energy or heat.  How so, you might ask? The process begins with a tank usually dug into the ground. From there, the manure is added manually into the tank by the family. Then, through a fifty-fifty ratio of water added to the poop, a slurry of manure and water is made within the tank and it is sealed. The water is added to keep the manure from drying up in the heat. The methane gas produced by the cow's dung as it decays travels through a pipe in the closed tank that runs through the property into various rooms in the house. When the generator is in use, the methane gas comes out of the pipe, generating a pure blue flame for cooking, heat, and light. The flame can last for four hours, and can feed an entire family of 7 people.
       Biogas generators use methane rich cow manure to produce pure methane gas which can be safely and cleanly burned through the generator system. When cows digest grass, the material is very hard on their stomachs, allowing the stomach microbes to ferment within the cow's stomach, creating the gas. When the cow defecates, the methane produced in the stomach is now in the cow's feces. While traveling around India we have seen many "mud pies" where people will take the feces and shape it into a disc that can be used to burn a simple fire for food or heat. However, the mud pies, when burned in the open, re-release the methane into the atmosphere, contaminating our troposphere with a greenhouse gas thirty times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of heat-trapping ability. The biogas generators allow the methane to be completely trapped within the tank, while the gas is put through the pipe to burn as a clean flame. The methane will then burn clean, releasing carbon dioxide and water in the process of the burn. On top of that, burning methane is also a baseload power source, making methane a viable option for both humans and the environment when used in a biogas generator.
       The biogas units are extremely eco-friendly, cost efficient, and easy to use and install. In fact, the Grassroots people are facilitating the opening of a factory to mass produce the biogas tanks. Before this experience we thought, like many people, that methane was a gas that purely polluted our planet and did not help our energy crisis. After learning about these generators, we were clearly proved wrong as these Indian families showed us the simplicity of the methane power source. We were stunned at how clean it burned and how cost effective the entire process was, as well as how easy the whole thing seemed. If we were to implement this system across the U.S., we could be able to reduce global warming-causing gases by 4%. While the process is a little smelly, it's well worth getting the poo-wer!


- Georgia Paye and Sabette Grieve

"Dang Gina, that's some fine doo-doo!" - Chris Young

Slurry Tank

Blue Flame in Action!

Monday, May 27, 2019

Day 3: Natural Beauty

Peacocks strutting around, flaunting their brilliant feathers. Deers grazing in the green grass, feasting with their herd. Monkeys watching from above, leaping from branch to branch. Birds chirping merrily, soaring through the skies. Elephants trumpeting in the distance, lazily transversing the land. Everywhere we looked, we saw nature's magnificence uniting creatures of the Corbett National Park, granting them freedom, peace, and harmonious coexistence.  We were amazed to witness this utopian animal haven, but simultaneously lamented the rarity of such pristine places for most animals in India.

In our safari, animals would die at the claws of the tiger, as Mother Nature intended. However, as we were driving around in Rishikesh and New Delhi, we saw stray animals die because of the horrific conditions that humans created. Starvation and dehydration have plagued the population of animals in India, while humans stroll past without raising an eyebrow.  In the last 30 years, 14,000 square kilometers of forest have been destroyed, depriving animals of their homes, forcing them to live on the streets.

The stark contrast between the environment of the Corbett National Park and the streets of India led us to reflect on the importance of the preservation of nature. We need to ensure that we protect the few beautiful places that remain in India.

-Kahaan and Connor

Rushing to Rishikesh

05/25/19


On our second day in India, we travelled to Rishikesh in three vans. We weaved in and out of oncoming cars, people, cows and motorcycles. The journey was tough, as it took over nine hours to get to the city due to the traffic. The heat was also a challenge for our Menlo Abroad group, however each group solved in it in its own way. They shortened the trip either by lengthy conversations, loud music, or just staring out of the window. One group passed the time by aggressively directing Angela to swipe down, left and sometimes right in order to achieve the coveted goal of creating the 2048 tile in the online game.

The long journey behind us, we enjoyed a late lunch ordering the 15th naan for the group and indulging in the various dishes of the region, paneer (cooked cottage cheese), being my personal favorite. We met the approaching evening by bartering for tuc-tucs to take us to the center of the town where we began our urban trek. The city was overwhelming. Cars rushed towards us, children ran across the street in the midst of unrelenting honks. The small road was a shared space for vehicles, people and animals alike. Motorcycles weaved their way though the streets and cars sped towards each other with no regard for lanes, filling the air with shrieks and squeals of honks. The side of the road was not less busy. Shopkeepers invited us in to try their garments, a million bracelets shone out of other store windows. Incense burned though the air and this potent smell intertwined with that of the unfamiliar street food. Something was always sizzling, spitting, or sparking. However the city was most alive with the people. The color of their dress, their shouts, their beckoning, their laugher.

We walked though the crowds, crossed the Ram Jula bridge and headed further into the city. Here the colors, the smells, and the noise was even more intense and the bustle built until the street opened up to a square facing the river. The sun was drifting down towards the water, bathing the
square in a gentle rose-orange light. We had come just at the right time. The Aarti Puja - a fire devotion ritual to Shiva - had just began. Song, light drumming and strong incense filled the air, as the whole city celebrated the beauty of the river.

On my way, back I looked out at the river, where a few families had set burning lotus lanterns afloat in the water, and I wondered at the complexity of the city. It was diverse, bright and alive. On that evening I think we all fell in love with India just a little more.

Just heard from Matthew Nelson.  The group hit traffic this afternoon which delayed their schedule. After the safari and dinner, they will make a new post.  Matthew reports everyone happy and healthy.

Day 1: Shedding Our Ethnocentrism 

The air was thick. We took deep breathes as we rolled our luggage to the vans, stepping inside and noticing the lack of air conditioning. As the driver lugged our luggage on top of the car, we  exchanged worried glances... wasn't the luggage going to fall off of the car? The driver's response was a gentle laugh and a nod, and off we went. Honking. Honking everywhere. Honking used as expressions of gratitude, anger, and frustration. The small cars were everywhere, flooding the highway. A strong stench filled the stuffy car air, and we looked forward to arriving at the retreat. Once we did, we were pleased with our successful arrival and for the chance to sleep.

Throughout the hour drive, we witnessed the large distinction between the United States and India. While asking our driver questions about India and its contemporary culture, all of the students and one teacher in the van looked outside of the window, observing just a small piece of what life was like for a citizen living in India. What we immediately saw was the loose interpretation of traffic lights and lines. Cars flooded the streets, and most of the time our taxi was merely a few inches away from the next car. We also noticed the extreme number of stray animals lingering around the streets of New Delhi, from cows eating a patch of grass on the side of the road to dogs running in the middle of the street. We even saw a police officer about to fall asleep at the post with his rifle pointing up towards his head. Yet, one scene that struck the students in our van the most were the large number of people that were sleeping on the side of the streets; some were living on the side, some were working, and others were taking simple walks around the city. By just looking out the window, we were able to analyze India and our country's cultural differences, which led us to sympathize and appreciate the cultural pluralism in the two worlds we lived in. This scene also makes us wonder about the growing similarity between these two countries; in the Bay Area, we are also witnessing a growing number of people sleeping off the side of the streets, which makes us wonder how the improvement of economic systems grew or lessened the number of problems in our society. 

Written by: Mitsuka and Isabel 

This picture was taken at the Lotus Temple, our first stop of the day!