THURSDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2026

Bidding adieu

With the hullabaloo surrounding global warming, one has to ask oneself what the lighter side of the equation is. What guilty pleasures and indulgences will be no more? What are the things we will never see and whether we would even have seen them in the first place?

Wavefarewell to red wine: Those who love their red wine know that it ismade from a grape as temperamental as a woman in a bad mood. This fruit thrivesin cooler climates. A rise in temperature will ensure that one is more likelyto yield crops of raisin than grape.

No suchthing as a ‘tropical island vacation’: Scientific studies estimate that many tropicalislands could disappear by 2030 due to rising sea levels. So if you plan onvisiting the coast while on holiday in 18 years, a rapid change of plan may berecommended.

Sharks thatcan walk? Surely you jest: Recent studies revealed that there is anabundance of undiscovered marine life, primarily off the Indonesian coastline.These include species of coral, a fish reminiscent of a strobe light that changescolours, and types of sharks that apparently walk on their fins. With theadvent of global warming however, marine biologists fear that creatures of thesea such as these may become extinct before the opportunity to discover themeven arises.

Grab an unwelcome bite: Prepare to be feasted on. Mosquitoes love tolive in drains, soaked ditches, and puddles. As the temperature rises, these hideouspools that invite malaria literally become their watering hole. This in turndoubtlessly provides plenty of opportunities for resident blood-suckers tofeast. In typical fashion, these planetary changes also ensure a reduction increatures that eat mosquitoes. These include dragonflies and frogs.

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Vasco's swimming poo

With an increase in the sewage being dumped into the sea off the coast of Vasco, and the lives of the locals being affected drastically, questions are being asked as to why nothing is being done to preserve the fragile ecological balance

Jennifer Parras / The Goan
Published Sep 22, 2012, 11:23 AM IST
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Vasco's swimming poo

For Sanjay,Shaju and Abdul, their early morning dip in the sea after attending nature’scall was cut short, when their elders advised them not to do so. “We saw thedirty, gutter water from the Sewage Plant mix with the stream that flows intothe sea” says 11 year old Sanjay. 10 year old Abdul wonders “Don’t you see thatblack stream disappearing into the sea?”. That innocent statement lifts the lidoff Vasco’s most sinister secret.  The qualityof ‘treated’ water being…

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