Happy Thanksgiving: Let's not forget to be grateful for the planet we live on.

GLASGOW CLIMATE PACT: 1.5° C STILL POSSIBLE; COAL BEING PHASED OUT BUT WE ALL NEED TO DO MORE

COP26 concluded on November 13 with the Glasgow Climate Pact endorsed by 197 countries. While there was much criticism on the lack of major achievements, there was progress in keeping 1.5°C temperature goal alive.

Mitigation: The Glasgow pact emphasized stronger action by countries to achieve the 1.5°C goal. Countries agreed to a more aggressive and ambitious time table to present their National Determined Contributions (NDC). Instead of presenting their NDCs every 5 years as laid out in the Paris Agreement, the revised NDCs will be presented at COP27 in Egypt in 2022 and once again in 2023 in the UAE.

Coal and Methane: Significantly, coal and methane were mentioned for the first time in any COP decision document. Both India and China resisted initial language that mentioned coal being “phased out”, and the final document was amended to mention that coal should be “phased down”. In addition, 100 countries agreed to cut 30% of methane emissions by 2030. China, Russia and India did not join but may do so later.

Financing: The agreement pledged to finance low-income countries increase their reliance on clean energy and mitigate the effects of climate change. The Adaptation Fund, intended to finance adaptation efforts in developing countries, received $356 million in new support at COP26, much less than the US Environmental Program estimates of $70 billion a year needed for adaptation. Wealthy nations also blocked the establishment of a loss and damage fund to compensate developing countries for harm caused by

The repeal of the farm laws and the success of satyagraha and community kitchens

Prime Minister Modi's decision to repeal farm laws, which had lead to thousands of farmer protests since November 2020, is a true testament of the power of peaceful protests (or satyagraha) and a community that feeds humanity. Farmers had been peacefully camping by the New Delhi border for the past year and all throughout the day, makeshift kitchens run by volunteers were rolling out rotis and serving hot meals to keep the crowds fed. But this is nothing new for a community that is predominantly Sikh and believes in the concept of Langar at gurdwaras around the world. Langar is a community kitchen where hot meals are prepared by volunteers and provided to anyone free of cost regardless of their religion, caste, gender or economic status. Prime Minister Modi announced his decision to repeal the farm laws on Guru Nanak's birthday. It was Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion that introduced the concept of langar. The story, as relayed to me by Harpal Singh of the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in the heart of New Delhi, is that Guru Nanak used a small amount of money given to him by his father to feed the poor. When his father asked him why he wasted money, Guru Nanak responded that the it was not a waste; the people he fed will continue to feed others. This tradition of feeding, in a sense, was started with those initial coins given to Guru Nanak by his father. And the kitchen continues today! While the farmers were camping on the roadside in the cold Delhi winters and sleeping on hard floors, there was never a shortage of food. Even today, as the farmers remain at the border waiting for Parliament to officially repeal the laws, not taking any chances, the kitchens continue to provide daal and rotis.

On a recent visit to Bangla Sahib, volunteers (that's me in white!) roll out rotis by the thousands. On the weekend, the kitchen feeds close to 25,000 visitors! That's a lot of rotis!

Volunteers stop by and give any amount of time to make rotis. The concept of langar is rooted in the Sikh tradition. Farmers in Punjab, are predominantly Sikh, and continued the tradition of langar throughout the peaceful farmer protests, feeding 100s of thousands this past year.

Internship: Creating case studies of farmer's using the Happy Seeder

I spent the semester helping Kisan Sanchar, an NGO doing work in Punjab, to create case studies of farmer's who have successfully used the Happy Seeder as an alternative to crop burning. Here is one of 23 case studies, from the Northwest district of Gurdaspur.

I am Kashmir Singh son of Sardar Harbhajan Singh from village Chandu Wadala district Gurdaspur. I have been using Happy Seeder for the last 4 years and I mulch all the paddy remains in farm soil. In the beginning, before 2017 I used to mulch using reversible plough or harrow. After that Kheti Virasat Mission Punjab Agriculture University and KVK Ludhiana especially Dr. Sheena, Dr. Aulakh. Dr. Satwinder , Dr. Manpreet, Dr. Chopra guided me to buy my own Happy Seeder and started direct seeding using mulching.

Apart from this I motivated others to follow the same and many of them have adopted this technique. We got multiple benefits-- Firstly weed growth is very small, Secondly yield has increased, Thirdly consumption of fertilizer has decreased as paddy remains has been mulching and decomposing into the soil from the last 2-3 years adding bio matter and saving friendly insects, earthworms and bacteria. I am also practising organic farming according to my needs. There is a popular myth among farmers that it may increase the population of vermi insects but I haven’t seen any such side effect. My soil has become more fertile, needs less fertilizers and weed growth is nominal because of mulching. Last year we did not even sprinkle any weedicide. Large leafed weeds can be seen at scarce locations in the farm, also rodents can be a little problem but with first irrigation, they run away. I would like to suggest every farmer to sow wheat with Happy Seeder or Super Seeder to keep the environment clean and soil fertile. ‘Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh’