The  Holy smoke arising from Hindu funeral pyres, Muslim cemeteries and Buddhist temples are responsible for almost a quarter of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming on the Indian subcontinent and the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, a new study has claimed.

The  study report  was published at London on 28^th.Oct?13 in the Telegraph . 
Researchers have long suspected that the rituals of religious devotion in India, Nepal and South Asia, may be a factor in the level of brown carbon and soot which pollutes the air in the region, but until now little work has been done to quantify the size of the problem.

According to researchers from US state Nevada's Desert Research Institute and the Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla University in Chhattisgarh, the impact is "huge" - 23 per cent of particles from human burnt fossil fuels in the atmosphere and a major source of carcinogenic volatile organic compounds, a report in the Telegraph said.

But  our question :-  How much the Global impact of such religious function ? Have researchers ever thought about the impact of  burning of forests . Every year more than 5 million trees are  burnt due to caught fire in forest in  various counties.   Many countries have  shown their helplessness ,  but hardly any control on such repetition.  

In the Indian subcontinent  region for religion prayer  are conducted  with support of  very limited dry wood / dry trees are burnt, once / twice in a  month .  In many places    electrical furnaces are being used for reduction of   air pollution  and consumption of wood for burning of dead bodies.  

Our opinion :-  With respect of  burning of  huge trees in forest , the impact of  such  religion customs  has very less impact.  

As per the  published report , b

etween 2011 and 2012, the researchers measured emissions from marriage ceremonies, funeral cremations, incense sticks in temples and graveyards, and found mango bark, cow dung, camphor, leaves, vermillion, and cow urine being burned.

They identified fourteen "deadly" volatile organic compounds, including formaldehyde, benzene, styrene and butadiene, they told Nature magazine.

They discovered that funeral pyres emitted large amounts of 'brown carbon aerosol' gases, regarded as the second largest contributor to global warming, which absorb sunlight and give out heat.

As per the study their dark particles settle on snow and glaciers causing them to warm and melt.

Much of this pollution is overlooked because it is shrouded by human loss and religious worship and identity, but the research team has warned the scale of its environmental damage demands further study.

"There are three million religious places of worship in India alone and over 10 million marriages take place every year in this country according to the 2011 census.

Looking  for  sharing   opinion of our friends .