Bangalore
A Look into the Environment of
India's Tech City
Setting Fire to the Whole Town?
In ancient cultures across the globe, fire has been considered a cleansing force. Bodies full of disease are burned to avoid contamination, instruments heated by fire to prevent infection. Debri and leaf litter are burned; for heat, for fuel, and for a way to reduce the volume of combustible waste. In a deep, rich history handed from generation to generation, these values remain more or less in tact.
In India, it is a completely acceptable way to eliminate solid waste, carcasses, and organic material. Pile it up. Burn it. It is an interesting game to play on the move; count the amount of fires you can spot from the window. Small ones made from swept sidewalks, big ones from piled garbage. Trees are scarred with black charr, expressing the frequency in which flames encounter the urban environment.
Tendrils of flame exit the sewers and lap up from underneath, burning the methane that exists from the raw sewage. Flames burn for days without alarm or concern; fire departments seemingly rare on the streets by comparison to the number of fires.
In various countries, fire is viewed in different ways. John Muir, a founding father of American forestry, stated “fire has no place in a man-managed forest”. This thought process founded the 20th century fire management practices that are still being questioned in National policy of the United States.
Ceremonies of Havan or Homa still remain crucial to Sanskrit religions; the belief that the fire meets the air when sacrifices are burned, and cleanse the air. Sacrifices are thrown ritualistically into the fire; burning things like grains, flowers, and trinkets to bring luck and peace.
These rituals take place frequently throughout the year, and contribute to an idealistic view of fire being one of power, respect, and cleansing.
Several larger fires have taken place in Bangalore in recent news. The Bellandur Lake caught fire January 2018 due to its high pollution levels. The local fire department is unsure of the cause, though the current theory is spontaneous combustion due to the foamy buildup of chemicals. There is a more colloquial theory that a do-good citizen is simply trying to help by burning off the pollution. Whether true or simply a rumor, it shows the mindset of fire.
Governed by so many entities that it is technically governed by none, the lake is filled with a thick layer of invasive species. On top of this layer of weeds, there is trash and solid waste dumped by the citizens that live in the immediate vicinity. Within the waters, suffocated by the organic and inorganic structures, the anaerobic degradation of organic materials leads to a buildup of methane gases. Being highly combustible, it doesn’t leave much to the imagination of how such a fire could be started. Hypothesised to burn for over 12 hours, a black swath of toxic ash was left on the surface of the lake. This creates a concern for both the lakes, the air, and the future of Bangalore.
In the same fashion, piles of garbage being burned may actually be viewed as a peaceful and helpful solution. Taking a pile of smelly, useless plastic and reducing it to nothing but harmless ash in order to recycle the materials; supported by the idea that ash is simply the soil. Without truly understanding the cycle of airborne particulate released by such fires, that fall with rain and condense into the rivers, it may be difficult to see the detriment of such actions. To see microplastics inside every being in the ocean is perhaps too far removed for someone to understand organically.
Just as there are problems, however, there are devoted peoples working on solutions. Daily Dump, an organization founded on the idea of composting and recycling, is also fighting the stigma of fire. Releasing YouTube videos and comic books to the public, they try to break down why it is bad to burn your waste.
Using tangible examples of not burning your leaf litter, to compost the waste instead of burn it and lose it, they hope to spread awareness and slowly change the concept of environmentally applicable fire regimes. It would be nice to see the city with fewer fires.