#locust attack in bengal

[few-favorite-things]

locust attack in bengal: পঙ্গপাল হামলা থেকে বাঁচতে বর্ষাই বাংলার ভরসা – locust attack in bengal: monsoon will protect bengal from locust attack কমলেশ চৌধুরী বর্ষার জন্য বাঙালি কেন অপেক্ষায় থাকে? গরম কমে, চাষের জল পাওয়া যায়, জলাধার ভরে। এ বার বর্ষার কাঁধে আরও দায়িত্ব। মরু পঙ্গপালের হামলা থেকেও বাংলাকে দুশ্চিন্তামুক্ত রাখবে দক্ষিণ-পশ্চিম মৌসুমি বাতাস। হাঁফ ছেড়ে বাঁচবে কৃষক, রাজ্য সরকারও।

[thetrendynews]

Tremors were felt across Delhi and in the nearby regions of Noida and Gurugram as well on Friday late evening after two earthquakes hit Rohtak in Haryana

[mericurialthoughts]

#LocustAttack!

Corona virus, economic recession, cyclone and now... a locust attack. One problem doesn't get over and yet another one crops up.

So, what are locusts? Why are they attacking us? What are the reasons behind this? Some people in our country believe that Pakistan is responsible for thisPakistan has sent these terrorist locusts to India and these locusts are basically a conspiracy of Pakistan….hahaha

No, I am not joking. Hear it out.

"India asks the weak and cowardly Pakistan has Pakistan been resorting to the locust conspiracy after the terrorist conspiracy? So Pakistan is now turning locusts into terrorists and sending them to India. Has Pakistan been relying on locusts now instead of the army in order to attack India? Not only me, the whole of India raises this question" says Arnab Goswami!

Somebody please ask Arnab Goswami how this conspiracy works….Is there a nano GPS chip fixed onto these locusts with which Imran Khan is controlling them through a remote? How does that work?

It makes me laugh to think that people like Arnab Goswami consider their audience to be utter fools That no matter what rubbish they utter, the viewers will take that to be true. That's just too much!

Reverting to the topic, we will find out the actual reasons behind the locust attacks today and what innovative solutions are being used worldwide to counter it from which we can learn something.

Come, let us see

First, let us learn something about locusts: Locust is an insect which is quite similar to grasshopper and cricket. Infact, all these three insects belong to the same family. Locusts are generally found in desert regions and the unique thing about this is that as compared to grasshoppers and crickets.

It exists in two phases- It has two forms which is not seen in grasshoppers and crickets normally. These forms are- When it is present alone.This is called the solitary phase: But when it is present in crowds, and the environmental conditions are congenial. For example, wet soil after recent rains with trees and plants in full bloom, then they transform their forms completely.

This is called the gregarious phase. This metamorphosis of form changes everything about them- their behaviour, habits, appearance. Everything is different in the solitary phase and the gregarious phase. In a similar manner, it evolves into another phase if environmental conditions are congenial.

So, we do not have a problem with the ones in their solitary phase. A problem arises when they exist in crowds and are in their gregarious phase. They are yellow and black in color. Their eating habits change in the gregarious phase. They can eat more food and more varieties of food. Their endurance increases and their movements become more rapid.Even their brain size becomes larger

What's interesting is that they can transform into the gregarious phase from the solitary phase anytime. At any point of time in their lives as long as environmental conditions for it are congenial. The apt environmental conditions are- recent rains, moist soil and lush vegetation around. The swarms of these locusts are created in their gregarious phase. And these swarms destroy everything in their way. Because, like I said, their eating habits change so much that they can eat almost everything. Leaves, shoots, flowers, fruits, seeds, stems, barks- they can eat it all. They can eat almost all types of crops or non crops- be it wheat, grass, fruit trees or date palms. This is why complete destruction follows wherever they go.

How large can one locust swarm be?

The swarm found in Kenya in 2020 was 40 km by 60 km in dimension. The swarm can be as large as a rectangle of 40 kms by 60 kms. And in a swarm, there can be more than 150 million locusts within one square kilometre. A swarm can eat as much as 2,500 people in one day. So you can imagine the extent of its scale and how much destruction it can cause. And this is why it is said that the locusts are a kind of species that have the most economic impact on the entire planet as compared to any other animal species.

You can see the regions in which this happens- Africa, Middle east, Pakistan and the western part of India. They are found in larger numbers here because of the large extent of the desert areas in this region. and these are the areas in which they cause the most destruction. The locust attack in India today is the worst in the past 27 years in India. 1993 was the last time conditions were so bad. But this is not a recent phenomena. These locust attacks have been happening for thousands of years throughout the human history. Even ancient Egyptians had drawn locusts on their tombs which tells us that there had been locusts attack even in that age. These tombs are dated around 2400 BC. This is the reason why they are mentioned in a lot of religious texts. For example, Bible and Quran mention locust plagues.

It is believed that the locust plague mentioned in Bible happened in reality in Egypt in around 1400 BC. So, this is a problem that has been festering for ages, but climate change is indirectly held responsible for the locusts attacks happening today.

The sequence of events of how it actually happened is very interesting:The Indian ocean is warming up more than usual due to the climate change;The rains become more extreme due to the enhanced heating of the ocean;Torrential rains hit East Africa around the time of December 2019;Infact, there were floods as well;East Africa includes- Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia;These countries were badly flooded during December 2019;You can see how many people were affected due to these floods;Due to floods and torrential rains, congenial environmental conditions are created for the locusts; As mentioned before; the soil becomes moist and there is abundant vegetation around due to rains; So this becomes a great opportunity for the locusts to breed and change into the gregarious phase. So the locusts began to breed in huge numbers there and a plague hit East Africa. So Around February 2020, there was a huge locust plague in Africa. After which, these swarms of locusts began to travel east. It travelled to Iran, then Pakistan and now by the time of May, this plague has begun its move towards India.

The winds of the cyclone that had hit Bengal moved in such a direction and in such a way that they. They were further pushing the swarm of the locusts towards India. They wouldn't have normally travelled this way but they further moved in this direction because of the cyclone winds and this is exerting a very negative influence on Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana.

So the question is what are the solutions to fight this locust plague? 

The first and the most common solution adopted by most of the countries most frequently is simply spraying them with pesticides and insecticides either on the ground or in the air with the help of a helicopter and then they would die.The problem with this solution is that this has a lot of negative impacts. Spraying pesticides has a negative impact in general on the environment , the people and their food. It exerts a negative impact on other things as well. And pesticides need to be sprayed in huge quantities in order for it to show effect.

 Another solution could be the use of eco friendly pesticides. But experts have observed that the eco friendly pesticides- the ones that do not harm the environment-do not kill them as effectively.They take some time to show effect. Hence they are not as effective.

 The third is the use of loud noises. The locusts flee from any kind of noise.Djs, music on a loudspeaker or any kind of loud noise- make them scarper. This is a solution that our farmers have implemented. But the problem with this solution is obvious- It can be implemented on a very short scale. And if your drive away the locusts from one place then they are going to attack another..

 But there's another unique and interesting solution which was tested out in Pakistan. This solution was tested out in a small scale in Pakistan's Okara district. Basically, the farmers were asked to trap these locusts and collect them and submit them in bags. They would be paid in return for this and then these locusts would be milled and used as chicken feed. That is, they would basically become food for chicken and help in feeding them because locusts are an extremely great source of protein. Now, this solution is extremely innovative.

Think about it- The farmers are also making profit in the form of money given to collect them and it is also generating profit when it is being used as a chicken feed. The credit of implementing this solution goes to Muhammad Khurshid. He is a civil servant in the Ministry of national food security and research in Pakistan and Johar Ali- a bio-technologist of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council. It was his idea. And he says that when he first broke this idea to the people, then everyone laughed. Nobody thought that this idea could seriously be implemented in real.

 So what is the math behind this idea?

The math is that he believes that first of all, the farmers can trap them easily with and these locusts do not fly in the air at night time. So they can be trapped very easily at night. They say that when the farmers collect these locusts and deliver them in bags, then they are paid 20 Pakistani rupees per kg

In India, this would amount to be around Rs 9 per kilo. The farmers are being this amount when they collect them in bags and submit them and he also believes that the number of locusts a farmer can trap overnight.

He can earn 20,000 Pakistani rupees, (that is, around 9,000 Indian rupees) in exchange for that. He also claimed that these locusts are a source of profit for the animal feeding industry as well because when these locusts would be used as chicken feed, they have 70% proteins. As compared to soybeans which are presently used in chicken feed and have only 50% protein content. Such a high level of protein (becomes available) when Pakistan imports soybean from the other countries. So this is profitable for even Pakistan as a country. Since, it would not import then it could save up on its foreign exchange. Animal feeding industry can also save up as well by using locusts. So this idea was tested out in a small village of a district and it was extremely successful. Now talks are in progress for its implementation on a large scale. And I believe that the Indian farmers can learn a lot from this too.And please do not brand me an anti national for bringing forth Pakistan's idea. I'd like to point out even the RSS members are exhorting to take inspiration from this idea if its successful. So this is not a matter of being anti national.

They say that a successful idea should be taken inspiration from, no matter which country it comes from. I adhere to the same belief. That if an idea is so great, interesting, innovative and is successful, then we must try it out as well.

Content Credit: YouTuber Dhruv Rathee

 source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJMVPpXnDo

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/news-updates-live-technology-is-helping-us-deal-with-agricultural-challenges-says-pm-modi/

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[loyallogic]

Laws relating to Environment

This article is written by Aditi Khandelwal, an advocate practising at Rajasthan High Court.

“Together we can!: Putting sustainability into practice”.

Introduction

Our environment is the most precious and beautiful jewel to survive, on this planet “EARTH”.  We human beings often forget that we are largely dependent on Mother Nature and become ignorant towards taking care of it. The environment is the only thing that can make life sustainable. Without it, we cannot survive even a single day. For instance, our skin will burn, the lungs will get ruptured, our blood pressure would rise.

“If the Earth were our savings account, we would be on the brink of bankruptcy.”

World Environment Day is celebrated on 5th June every year. People from more than 100 countries come forward to celebrate this day. The world environment day is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since the year 1974. A healthy planet depends on all of us.

“The main ideology behind celebrating this day is to spread awareness about the conservation of our environment at utmost levels”.

Centuries of irreparable loss caused

The forest cover all over the world is being consumed rapidly on an ever increasing pace. Trees are cut down for paper, fuel and to expand farming areas, the land is used for development of industries and factories. The land left behind is deprived not only of trees, but the plants, animals and insects that lived in that particular ecosystem. Such steps of deforestation further aggravates the ecosystem imbalance as there are no plant roots to hold the soil in its place, the valuable soil washes away with rainfall leading to excessive soil erosion.  The forest cover plays an important role in regulating global climatic changes, the trees helps in removing the carbon dioxide, one of the major greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, while at the same time the trees cycles oxygen back into the atmosphere. However, it is important to understand that when trees are cut down the carbon dioxide is released again in the atmosphere. It is very sad to know it has been estimated that almost 25% of the total carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere every year is released from the trees being cut and burned. Thus, saving and protecting the world’s forests is very essential for solving the global climate change problem.

In the recent past we have all witnessed that our mother Earth has suffered a lot with the major cause being Global Warming. Global Warming has become the root cause to ruin and destroy our environment at a very fast pace.  It is pertinent to address the environment issues like deforestation, acid rains, wastage and losses of food, pollution etc. Therefore, it is our duty to protect our environment and to stop all the exploitation that is destroying it. Because in the end, it is our basic need for our survival and our generations ahead. Indeed it has been rightly said, “The earth is all what we have in common”.

As a new pandemic i.e. Coronavirus sweeps the planet, leaving suffering, loss, and uncertainty in its wake, we are reminded that this is not the first global pandemic and likely not the last. We need to respond on many levels, to act collectively to end the global health crisis. Our long-term response must include our stewardship of each other and our relationship with the earth. It is chilling to think that only a quarter of this planet remains intact for the other species which inhabit it. Amidst the lockdown and the Covid-19, the environment made us all realise that the series of sufferings and problems which we have made our environment suffer from so many years showed an impact in many ways. There were innumerous climatic problems faced all over the country, the Typhoon cyclone which had severely affected the West Bengal and Odissha region, the locusts attack all over the country which had destroyed nearly 20,000 acres of agricultural produce and many other such instances. 

It’s clear that we need to address this trend, both for the sake of the non-human world and our own. The Covid-19 lockdown imposed throughout the world has struck a chord in every one of us and it has made us thinking, how nature is so important for our day to day living. In the present days of quarantine, photographs have been making the rounds of the Internet which throws light towards the global changes that our environment underwent during the lockdown including the improvement in the air quality index all over the globe, dolphins spotted near Kolkata ghats, the number of Flamingos increased in Mumbai, Ganga water has become fit for drinking in Haridwar and various other miraculous environment changes have happened during the global lockdown. Indeed our first reaction is to applaud these appearances as a sign of nature coming back. The tangible improvements in nature have made us believe that the Earth can be saved. However, I suspect that our wild counterparts have long been there, unseen on the fringes, searching for a place in the territory that they have lost. We all have witnessed that from year to year there has been tremendous increase in the global warming, yet for once lets pause and ask ourselves were we actually aware of it or did we continue to contribute to the degradation of our environment in all these times. If the answer is yes, then I strongly believe that we should and we must start making out contributions to save and replenish the nature in all possible ways we can. Perhaps the only difference now is that the world has become still enough to pay attention.

The mass recovery of ecosystems can also reestablish the life-supporting functions that they provide, including clean air to breathe, unpolluted water and healthy soils, dense forests without hazardous gases and dust. It is very beautiful and interesting to know that out mother nature has its own sufficient system to replenish itself, but with all the hindrances which the human society has from time to time caused has led to such environmental degradation leading to never ending environmental problems being faced all over the world. The temporary reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has shown us that it is possible to take the necessary steps to live differently, with more intent, to achieve a better quality of life. The lockdown has proved to be an opportunity to return to equilibrium for the planet. Thus, post lockdown it shall be a better world to live in with each one of us having a better vision to save and protect our nature.

             Click Above

NGT: The Law relating to Environment

The Indian Government and the judiciary together felt the need for setting up of special environmental courts which shall be completely dedicated to environment related issues and disputes arising thereto. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) was therefore set up in the year 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act (2010) for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources. NGT is equipped with the necessary expertise to handle multi-disciplinary environmental disputes including enforcement of any legal right relating to the environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. India is the first developing country in the world to set up a specialized environmental tribunal, only after Australia and New Zealand. Presently, the NGT has five places of sittings, New Delhi is the Principal place of sitting and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai are the other four.

NGT covers issues related to:

The NGT deals with civil cases under the seven laws related to the environment, these include:

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974,

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977,

The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980,

The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981,

The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986,

The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, and

The Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

Role of NGT in saving the Environment

Over the years NGT has emerged as a critical player in environmental regulation, passing strict orders on issues ranging from pollution to deforestation to waste management. NGT offers a path for the evolution of environmental jurisprudence by setting up an alternative dispute resolution mechanism. NGT is less formal, less expensive, and a faster way of resolving environment related disputes. It plays a crucial role in curbing environment-damaging activities. The NGT has been instrumental in ensuring that the Environment Impact Assessment process is strictly observed.

Key Highlights of NGT

Ban on old vehicles

On April 7, 2015, the NGT had passed and order that all the diesel based vehicles which are 10 years old will be not permitted to ply in the Delhi- NCR region.

Ganga breathing back

The NGT in 2017 had passed directions to rejuvenate the Ganga, declaring a stretch of 100 meters from the edge of the Haridwar- Unnao region as a “no development zone” and also restricting and prohibited waste from being dumped within a range of 500 meters.

Yamuna Revitalization Project

The NGT in early 2015, passed directions in order to rejuvenate the Yamuna river, the Tribunal had imposed a fine of Rs. 5000, on any person who will be found throwing waste or religious items in the river and the Tribunal had also imposed a strict ban on dumping of construction material into the river and had further imposed a fine of Rs. 50,000 on violators. National Green Tribunal (NGT) also ordered that every household in Delhi will have to pay a monthly environmental compensation to clean up Yamuna River.

Say no to Plastic

The NGT, imposed a ban on plastic bags of less than 50-micron thickness in Delhi because “they were causing animal deaths, clogging sewers and harming the environment”, this was later implemented by other states also.

Silence at Amarnath

The NGT Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir as a “silence zone”, and prohibited religious offerings beyond the entry point.

The Art of Living’s World Culture Festival verdict

The green tribunal, held the Art of Living Foundation “responsible” for the damage caused by the World Culture Festival to the Yamuna floodplains in 2016. The order stated that the Rs 5-crore fine paid by the organization will be used for restoration work by the Delhi Development Authority.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned mining or removal of sand from river beds across the country without license and Environmental Clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. 

The NGT is working and pronouncing its judgment brilliantly on the cases related to environmental issues and challenges. The government should make it more autonomous and efficient in a view to the growing concern regarding the environment and climate change. 

Conclusion

At last, quoting the words from Franklin D. Roosevelt, “A nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself.” Let us all come forward together on this Environment Day and make our contributions to save our soil to save our nation.

On the individual aspect I strongly believe that it’s the alarming time for all of us to focus and take steps to save our environment from its degradation before things are beyond our control and situation worsens. Nature’s gifts are rare and cannot be purchased from money.

It is important that each one of us wake up before it’s too late. Don’t smoke in the public places or dump garbage in the open area. These small beginnings will certainly lead to a better place for survival. Let’s make together efforts to make a this planet sustainable so that our future generations are not deprived of these resources and the beauty of our nature and have a chance to enjoy by making a judicial use of the same without wasting these precious resources.

Wishing you all a very Happy Environment Day! “Each one plant as many as you can” should be the 2020 Environment Day’s mantra. Live life more sustainably by being in sync with nature. A life lived consciously is a life best lived! At last but not the least let’s wake in India to make in India. 

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[pickcpodcast]

16 Show Notes - Which would be the worst horseman of the apocalypse?

Welcome to the end of the year and, more importantly, the end of WIDPC’s first season! To celebrate, we decided to wrap Season One by talking about the biggest end—the End, capital E. (Episode here if you haven’t listened to it yet.) We know it’s coming—we’re millennials, after all—and clearly the best way to cope with times like ours is to spend an hour discussing what would be the absolute worst way to go. (Again, millennials.)

Our answer choices are:

A.      Pestilence

B.       War

C.       Famine

D.      Death

First, let’s knock this out of the way—yes, we know the first horseman is technically Conquest, not Pestilence. At least according to the King James version of Revelation 6:2, wherein the first horseman has a bow and crown and explicitly “went forth conquering, and to conquer.” But (1) Pestilence makes for a more diverse selection of end-time scenarios, and (2) we figure you can interpret this horseman as disease, since disease strikes people like arrows and can affect or “conquer” pretty much anyone.

Now that we’ve got that bit of pedantry out of the way, let’s dig into it!

Option A: Pestilence

In the episode, we discussed a lot of different ways disease could bring about an end-times scenario. In an attempt to minimize alarm, we’re just going to link the sources we drew on while talking about how likely it is that human civilization as we know it will go out via disease.

Check out this article for more on how climate change and good ole human curiosity may be defrosting old diseases from the (not so) permafrost.

Also, don’t forget that measles and polio are back, even in OECD countries, due to the anti-vaccination movement.

Old diseases could also come back as a tool of biological warfare! There are still samples of the world’s deadliest diseases in labs all over the world, kept mostly for science purposes. But we’ve all seen Jurassic Park. We know.

And lest you are a non-human reading this and thinking you are safe, remember that disease does not affect humans alone. Plant and animal diseases like the so-called “olive tree leprosy” exist and pose a serious threat to your habitats and food supplies!

…Oh did we say minimize alarm? We meant maximize. Merry Christmas!

Option B: War

This horseman, dear friends, is already upon us, and has been to Earth more times in history than we could possibly count. Since you can find way more than we could ever tell you in the History/Military History section of your local bookstore, we thought it’d be more interesting to focus on some aspects of warfare that you might not have considered.

Specifically, we were interested in unconventional tactics of warfare, such as cyber-attacks on important systems. As sci-fi as that sounds, Ukraine’s power grid was hacked in 2016, leaving about 230,000 people without power in the dead of winter. The hackers disabled not only the distribution stations and substations but also backups and fail-safes, crippling the people normally in charge of responding to such emergencies. We don’t know about you, but we think that’s pretty scary stuff. You can read more about infrastructure hacking here, here, and here.

Another aspect that’s super interesting (and super terrifying) is the relationship between warfare and the natural environment. Environmental damage is both a weapon of warfare and a major fallout. One of the best-known cases is World War I, which was the first war to cause such  drastic  environmental  destruction. We’re still learning about the impact of the deforestation and toxic materials left behind in Europe, but there are also bright spots: nature does seem able to bounce back, as it has in vacated areas such as France’s Zone Rouge. You can go here and here to read more.

Option C: Famine

Like War, Famine is already out among us. A major famine that’s currently in the news a lot is the one in Yemen, where they’re facing such a severe shortage of clean water and food that citizens were apparently thrilled to get a plague of locusts in October, because those things pack a lot of protein.

One major thing that we think a lot of people miss about famine, and that we discuss in the episode, is that it’s just as much a human phenomenon as a natural or environmental one. Sure, things like natural disasters, crop failures, and plant/animal disease can create conditions of scarcity, but it tends to be human actions—habitat destruction, warfare, and willful neglect of the vulnerable—that causes people to starve to death. For an in-depth historical example of how that works, we recommend William Rosen’s The Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century, which looks at one of the worse famines in English history. For more recent history, you can look at the Bengal Famine of 1943, wherein Britain killed millions of Indians by refusing to stop exporting Indian rice or provide relief. You can also look at the very recent water crises in Flint and Newark, which will have ramifications for years to come.

Further reading for some of the stuff we mentioned in the episode:

You can read more about the fallout of the California power shutoffs here, here, and here. While it’s true that PG&E shut off power due to safety concerns—they didn’t want their equipment causing or exacerbating wildfires—we think you’ll agree that you shouldn’t have to choose between having electricity and not dying/losing your family and property to wildfires. Not in a day and age when underground power lines and other safety measures exist.

We also touch on the awesome R&D coming out of Africa that is changing the game for water acquisition and purification. These include a device that pulls water from the air and new formulas for carbon water filters. You can also get more of a bird’s-eye view here and here.

Option D: Death

Obviously, we’ve covered Bad Ways to Die in all the previous answer choices, so for Death itself we thought we’d look at it the way Revelations’s author probably meant it: the big stuff, mass extinctions and such. The kind of calamities covered by the “Acts of God” clause buried in your insurance paperwork.

It’s probably not so hard to believe in these things when climate change is a thing. In addition to being generally terrifying, climate change may also lead to mass extinction by destabilizing our water supply (and thus our food supply), killing or displacing millions of people currently living in coastal cities, and also by acidifying the oceans, which will quite literally cause a massive amount of marine species to go extinct. As we discuss in the episode, one of the most important of these species is phytoplankton, which accounts for anywhere between 50 to 85% of the oxygen in our atmosphere and is also one of the major reasons our CO2 problem isn’t as bad as it could be. If they die, though…  

Furthermore, we couldn’t possibly talk about mass extinction events without talking about meteorites. (Meteorites? In my atmosphere? It’s more likely than you think!) These can, in fact, cause mass extinction; just look at the Cretaceous-Tertiary meteor of dinosaur-eradicating fame. A Tulane University study estimated that, based on the geological record, over 50% of all species existing on earth at the time were wiped out by the impact of that crash. Even when they don’t touch Earth’s surface, meteor explosions can have the force of a nuclear or atomic bomb. And even when they don’t get quite that close, they are perfectly capable of causing massive damage and injuring/terrifying thousands of Russians. So they’re nothing to be sneezed at, no matter how far-fetched it might seem.

To read more about the efforts currently underway to defend Earth from meteor impacts, you can go here, here, and here.