Green Humour | Photo Credit: Rohan Chakravarty Green Humour | Photo Credit: Rohan Chakravarty Rohan Chakravarty is a cartoonist and illustrator from Nagpur. His series, ‘Green Humour’, consists of cartoons and comics on wildlife, nature conservation, environmental issues, sustainability, and all things green. Published – June 05, 2025 11:00 am IST
Over the years, designers and manufacturers have explored a range of eco-friendly materials such as bamboo, cane, and wood. Now, they are agri-waste such as rice husk and wheat straw are being turned into cutlery, planters, pet bowls, and more. We explore three Bengaluru brands working in the segment: Sippers and more It was about … Read more
A squirrel has scooped out a tiny hole in an Imam Pasand mango that farmer K Baskar has set aside. “I had left the box outside just a few minutes ago!” he chuckles. Animals and birds make away with a lot of the produce at his 40-acre organic farm that borders Dindigul district. But he … Read more
A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashley Quiz | Easy like Sunday morning: World Oceans Day Paul William Walker was passionate about marine biology but he was more famous as a Hollywood star. START … Read more
A street vendor sits next to water cans in Kochi, Kerala in February 2025. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT The story so far: As we observe June 5 as World Environment Day, one takes stock of how the previous decade has exacerbated/mitigated existing environmental crises. What are main environmental crises? The world is grappling with … Read more
Residents clean up a mud-and-debris-covered street after flooding hits large parts of the country on October 31, 2024 in the Paiporta municipality of Valencia, Spain. | Photo Credit: Getty Images The story so far: A global mean temperature rise of 2ºC is enshrined in the Paris Agreement as a safe level of global warming by … Read more
Image used for representation (This article forms a part of the Science for All newsletter that takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Subscribe now!) A new study has unearthed strong observational evidence that industrial pollution is altering nutrient cycles and ecosystem boundaries in the ocean. According to the researchers, from … Read more
“If a woman-owned business has a male co-founder, her ability to access credit significantly improves. This, despite global evidence that women make better borrowers” | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s recent call for greater innovation among Indian start-ups highlights an important challenge — and opportunity — that often gets overlooked: the need … Read more
The climate crisis has changed the idea of energy security. A country’s energy sources must stand firm on four planks: availability, accessibility, affordability, and environmental acceptability. Environmental acceptability focuses on the trade-offs policymakers and the public are willing to make in terms of pollution, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, renewables have … Read more
Even as one of the world’s largest manufacturing hubs, the Indian textile industry faces challenges in sustaining its global presence due to geopolitical tensions, fragmented supply chains, and product price volatility. Climate change or evolving consumer demands are not the only causes, but also the fundamental values that influence business decisions. In this evolving landscape, … Read more
The focus for World Environment Day in 2025 (June 5) is on ending plastic pollution. Micro-plastics represent one of the many thousands of chemical, physical and biological hazards that lurk in the air, water and living spaces for which we have neither the sensory capabilities nor sensing technologies to measure exposure and assess health risks. … Read more
Recently, on a trip to Arunachal Pradesh, we were amazed by the diversity of greens in the diet — all freshly plucked from the forest and fields. Similarly, across rural and tribal areas of our country, one can find many varieties of millets, beans, legumes, tubers, wild fruits and green leafy vegetables, which the urban … Read more
Dr. Kalyan Rudra, Chairman of West Bengal Pollution Control Board, at the Special Session on “Fostering Climate Consciousness: Business and Beyond organised by Bharat Chamber of Commerce on June 4, 2025. | Photo Credit: Debasish Bhaduri In an ambitious move to combat pollution, Kalyan Rudra, Chairman of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board, announced … Read more
With an installed capacity of over 17 GW as of April 30, rooftop solar (RTS) is starting to play a significant role in India’s renewable energy transition, especially in urban areas. However, its scalability is constrained by the limited availability of shadow-free rooftop spaces. Boosting solar adoption in densely populated cities therefore requires us to … Read more
A herd of deer cool off under a water sprinkler in their enclosure amid heatwave conditions, at the National Zoological Park, in New Delhi. File | Photo Credit: PTI The Congress on Wednesday (June 4, 2025) demanded answers from the Government on whether the proposed agreement between the Delhi Zoo and animal rescue and rehabilitation … Read more
A high-powered committee of experts, chaired by Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) Ajay Sood, has recommended that India do away with a decade-long policy of mandating equipment, called Flu Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) units, in all coal-fired thermal power plants (TPPs), according to documents perused by The Hindu. These FGD units are required to be retro-fitted in … Read more
To live a cozy life on the earth, a temperature of around 25° to 30° C is ideal. But during a heat wave, where temperatures can cross 40° C, the consequences can be deadly. Humans and most complex multicellular organisms are not built to tolerate such heat. That doesn’t mean no living thing can, however. … Read more
Life on the earth depends on plants. Microscopic aquatic plants and algae make most of the oxygen on the planet. The land plants are the primary producers of human and animal food. This is why it’s important to understand how they grow and reproduce. In the last 450 million years, as plants slowly evolved from … Read more
Smoke rises from wildfire LWF090, the Caribou Lake Wildfire, in an aerial photograph northwest of Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada on May 28, 2025 | Photo Credit: Reuters Exposure to wildfire smoke may increase lung cancer patients’ risk of dying from their disease, particularly among non-smokers, but the effect may be mitigated by certain cancer treatments, … Read more
A team of researchers from Microsoft and WSP Global has published a groundbreaking study in Nature demonstrating that advanced cooling methods like cold plates and immersion cooling can cut data centre emissions by 15-21%, energy use by 15-20%, and water consumption by 31-52% compared to traditional air cooling. The life cycle assessment, led by Husam … Read more
Every summer, a familiar question surfaces across India, echoing from homes to newsrooms: is it genuinely hotter, or have we simply become more sensitive? This isn’t just some nostalgic lament or biological quirk. The evidence is clear and uncompromising: India’s heat is intensifying, creeping in earlier, stretching longer, and striking deeper than ever before. What’s … Read more
The Shillong cascade frog, a new-to-science amphibian recorded from an urban environment. Photo: Special Arrangement GUWAHATI Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya named after a deity of the indigenous Khasi community, has leant its name to a new-to-science ‘urban’ frog. Scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and their local collaborators have recorded a new species … Read more
Noted wildlife and tiger conservationist, Valmik Thapar, 73, died in Delhi on Saturday (May 31, 2025). He was ailing from cancer. Thapar was well-known for his evocative photographs and scholarly ouvré of nearly 50 books on the tiger, particularly those in Ranthambore, Rajasthan, for nearly four decades. He served on several government committees, was member … Read more
Representative image | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Levels of black carbon — ultra-fine particles of carbon that come from vehicles, stoves and wood-fire — in the Himalayas have been rising for most of the past two decades, according to a study by the think-tank Climate Trends. This is contributing to warmer snow, increasing the risk … Read more
Calotes zolaiking, a lizard recorded for the first time in Meghalaya. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement A lizard species newly recorded in Meghalaya has become the catalyst for a community-driven conservation effort in an area of the State long impacted by limestone mining and a defunct cement plant. Calotes zolaiking, a species of garden lizard, … Read more
The Organic Shandy, Mylapore Native mango varieties reign this year says organic farmer and co-founder of Organic Shandy, PB Murali. He adds that the mango season in Tamil Nadu has been quite the disaster so far, with farmers managing only about 20% of the expected yield. However, as they are all discovering, the heritage varieties … Read more
Nilgiri Chilappan | Photo Credit: Special arrangement At the intersection of art and science, lies the realm of botanical illustration. For Suresh Ragavan, a bird artist, who has served as a botanical illustrator at the Botanical Survey of India for over 33 years, this realm has not only been a source of his bread and … Read more
An intense opposition to a proposed mega-dam in the Siang River belt has set off a chain of protests against other hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh. Photo: Special arrangement. An intense opposition to a proposed mega-dam in the Siang River belt has set off a chain of protests against other hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh. … Read more
There is more to World Environment Day than corporate jargon and planting a tree (that you forget to water for the rest of the year). If you are looking at fun and engaging ways to connect with Nature, here are a few activities you can sign up for — outdoors, and from within the comfort … Read more
This bird’s eye view shows the severely contaminated Adyar river flowing into the Bay of Bengal after cutting through Chennai’s Marina beach. Less than half a kilometre on either side, the river mouth is flanked by urban settlements. | Photo Credit: Google Earth Through history, human civilisations almost always erupted near bountiful rivers. The waters … Read more