India and the U.S. should expand TRUST to climate risk: Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman

NITI Aayog’s Vice Chairman Suman Bery. File | Photo Credit: PIB India and the United States should consider integrating “climate risks” and related technologies into the TRUST framework that was signed recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump, Suman Bery, Vice-Chairman, Niti Aayog said at a conference on Wednesday. Also Read … Read more

Long-term actions rare, poorly targeted to deal with heatwaves in Indian cities: Report

Image used for representation | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K A study on heatwave preparedness of nine Indian cities, including Delhi, has found out that long-term actions are rare and where such actions exist, they are poorly targeted. Also, all the nine cities focused on immediate responses to heatwaves. Sustainable Futures Collaborative (SFC), a Delhi-based research … Read more

Watch: Gearing up for electric public transport: Tamil Nadu’s case

Tamil Nadu gears up for electric buses: Climate Economy | Video Credit: The Hindu As has been pointed out in earlier episodes of this show, the transport sector is also the second largest contributor to carbon emissions in India. Several States nationwide, have been attempting to decarbonise it with multipronged strategies – one of them … Read more

‘There is very little understanding and tolerance for snakes’

Gerard “Gerry” Martin remembers the first snake he held when he was three or four: a red sand boa. “I can still see my fingers and that red sand boa in my hand,” says the Hunsur-based herpetologist and conservationist, the founder trustee of the Liana Trust, which has recently set up India’s first serpentarium focusing … Read more

Congress targets govt. over air quality report ranking India as fifth most polluted country

The Congress on Sunday (March 16, 2025) attacked the government after a world air quality report ranked India as the world’s fifth most polluted country, and demanded that all “anti-people” environmental law amendments over the past 10 years be rolled back. | Photo Credit: AP The Congress on Sunday (March 16, 2025) attacked the government … Read more

Why has India got another tiger reserve?

On March 9, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav announced that the Centre had declared the Madhav National Park in Madhya Pradesh as the country’s 58th tiger reserve. This is the ninth tiger reserve in the State, the highest among the States. Maharashtra has six; Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka have five each. What is the rationale … Read more

Raising the rusty dust of red soil

The Ajgaon zila parishad government school library in Sawantwadi taluka, in Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra, is over 100 years old. On the first floor of the building, about 40 people between 20 and 70 are gathered from the villages around. On the walls are painted pictures of Savitribai Phule, C.V. Raman, and other social reformers. People … Read more

Organic tag opens new European markets for ‘Araku Valley’ coffee farmers

The differential rate fixed for organic coffee and that produced using pesticides and fertilizers is attracting more tribal growers back to organic cultivation, says the Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of GCC Kalpana Kumari | Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak The Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) securing the ‘organic certification’ for its ‘Araku Valley Coffee’, has opened … Read more

‘Frogs carry the weight of our environment on their tiny shoulders’

Suhas Premkumar regularly encountered frogs while growing up in the town of Shikaripur in Karnataka’s Shimoga district. “Frogs coming into our kitchen was a day-to-day story,” says the Bengaluru-based filmmaker, photographer and naturalist whose film Little Planet: A Tale of Frogs premiered in the city on March 2 at the Dr. Ramdas M. Pai Convention … Read more

Green Humour by Rohan Chakravarty on wildlife and conservation

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 – March 13, 2025 02:13 pm IST

The promise of mycelium bricks

The mycelia of an oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) growing in a petri dish of ground coffee seeds. | Photo Credit: Tobi Kellner In the light of climate change, the construction industry like many others is considering how it can reduce its carbon footprint and become more sustainable. One opportunity is concerned with bricks. Fired clay … Read more

New eel species discovered off Thoothukudi coast named after Tamil

The species, belonging to the genus Ariosoma, was found off the Thoothukudi coast and was named tamilicum. Researchers at the National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR), functioning under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), have discovered a new species of Congrid eel and named it after Tamil. The species, belonging to the genus … Read more

New, greener electrochemical process turns urine into plant fuel

In the 17th-century, a German alchemist named Hennig Brandt was on a quest to find the “philosopher’s stone”, a mysterious object that could turn any ordinary metal into gold. When he realised the golden colour of urine, he believed it contained tiny particles of the precious metal. Brand then collected urine from himself, his family, … Read more

Farmers advocate for biotech adoption, urge science-based policy

A farmer, Dayavari Narayana, at a press meet at Press Club, Somajiguda, Hyderabad on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: By Arrangement Amidst the ongoing national debate on genetically modified (GM) crops, several farmers from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have called for a policy framework that prioritises scientific advancements in agriculture. Speaking at a press conference organised … Read more

’Nervous and rushed’: Massive Fukushima plant clean-up exposes workers to high radiation, stress

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s radiation levels have significantly dropped since the cataclysmic meltdown 14 years ago on March 11. Workers walk around in many areas wearing only surgical masks and regular clothes. It’s a different story for those who enter the reactor buildings, including the three damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. … Read more

Oncologist Nori Dattatreyudu’s contribution to society is remarkable, says A.P. CM

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and oncologist Nori Dattatreya at the release of the latter’s autobiography, ‘Mantada to Manhattan’, in Vijayawada on Monday (March 10, 2025). | Photo Credit: K.V.S. GIRI “There are a few people who charted new paths, created history with their contribution to society and set an example for others and renowned … Read more

Admissions to kindergarten section in Nature’s school now on

Bronze winged jacana young at Karani Thangal in Ottiyambakkam on Karanai Main Road on March 4, 2024. Photo: Prince Frederick  | Photo Credit: PRINCE FREDERICK In this image taken at Karapakkam on February 24, 2025 are two moorhen chicks, both displaying a hint of purple on the breast. Photo: Prince Frederick    | Photo Credit: … Read more

Environmentalists raise concerns over high mortality of rare horseshoe crabs along Odisha coast

Horseshoe crab which has survived for over 445 million years without undergoing any morphological change is a living fossil and is only found only on select coasts of the world. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Raising concerns over hundreds of Horseshoe Crab carcasses scattered along the coast of Balasore in Odisha, environmentalists warned that the … Read more