Environment

Now that the unbridled frenzy over Earth Hour – the most-hyped annual event the world perfunctorily celebrates – has petered out, it is time to look at the tokenist event through a prism of sanity. When one talks of the world with a future in mind, it is important not to miss the big picture. Unfortunately, in spite of the unquestionably noble intention behind Earth Hour, it has degenerated into a mindless and ritualistic bash. It is a “lights out” carnival that keeps people in the dark about...

The United Nations climate panel seems condemned to the same inescapable fate as Cassandra of Greek mythology was. It has the power of prophecy, and the curse of never being believed. For close to 25 years, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been documenting climate change and predicting the consequences of insatiable human over-consumption and reckless depredation of the environment. Except for scientists and activists in the know and understanding of things, the...

Flouting of environmental norms and forest laws in the construction of irrigation projects in Karnataka are now going the mini-hydel projects way. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) is organising a public hearing for this irrigation scheme long after the project was completed for all practical purposes. And that too without an environment clearance from the Centre. It's not as complicated as it may sound. Proponents of any project of a particular scale are supposed to start work...

This comes as a spanner in the works of those working night and day to evolve policies and mechanisms to arrest climate change. The implementation of climate engineering technologies as a last ditch effort to combat the escalating effects of climate change could, in fact, make things worse, assert a team of researchers. This comes as a spanner in the works of those working night and day to evolve policies and mechanisms to arrest climate change. The implementation of climate engineering...

Scams revolving around mini-hydel projects (MHPs) in the Western Ghats region of Karnakata get weirder by the day. And there's nothing sublime about any of the preposterous projects; each dam scam in fact is more ridiculous than the previous one. The latest one that's come to light is a two-in-one project. This one is a single project masquerading as two different hydel projects on paper. The 24MW Perla Mini Hydel Project and the 24 MW Shamburi Mini Hydel Project on the Netravathi river have the...

Most river basins in India are under duress, and stand in the mortal danger of moving to the "extremely high" level of baseline water stress. Though India does not figure in the list of 37 countries which face “extremely high” levels of baseline water stress, using more than 80 percent of their available water supply every year, it is close enough at 41 position, according to the first-ever global water stress rankings. The rankings, created by the US-based World Resource Institute's Aqueduct...

Development is taking its toll on birds, and it is getting worse every year. Fifteen bird species that are found in India have been declared 'Critically Endangered' in the just released IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. If that's not all, three other bird species now face greater danger than before. These have been uplisted to Near Threatened (NT) and Vulnerable (VU) categories. Earlier, these were better off and classified under the Least Concern (LC) category by IUCN. Four of these birds...

Just 90 companies have been responsible for almost two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions generated since the Industrial Revolution began, new research has suggested. It found that 83 of these companies are energy companies producing oil, gas and coal. If that is not worrying enough, the study by Richard Heede of the Colorado-based Climate Accountability Institute has concluded that half of all emissions have been produced in the last 25 years alone. What has got the goat of climate change...

It’s one thing for the corrupt and the indolent to circumvent the system. It’s quite another when the government itself subverts processes to serve vested interests. But that is just what the Indian government has done with small hydel projects, or SHPs for short. And few know about it too. Hydel projects, big or small, are just that – hydel projects. The only difference between a big and small one is the scale; everything else – from the concept to the issue of environmental impact – is the...

A conservationist, just recognised for his untiring efforts in saving the biodiversity-rich and ecologically-important Bhadra-Kudremuch landscape, says 'low-impact tourism' is the need of the hour. DV Girish, a coffee grower from Chikmagalur, has just been awarded the 'Protect the Tiger' award under the RBS Earth Heroes Award for 2013. Girish has been working closely with forest officials in the Bhadra Tiger Reserve area, and has emerged as an influential community leader in protecting the...