India must harness its “best resources, advanced technologies, and expertise” to becoming a developed nation by 2047 while ensuring a low-carbon pathway. However, it shouldn’t shut its coal-fired plants “without adequate alternatives,” the Economic Survey noted. | Photo Credit: The Hindu India must harness its “best resources, advanced technologies, and expertise” to becoming a developed … Read more
The study says India has achieved significant success in conserving wildlife, even as global wildlife populations have declined. | Photo Credit: file photo A new study has found that the tiger population in India has increased by 30% over the past two decades. The study, which has been published in Science, was led by Senior … Read more
Carpooling at Cognizant in Siruseri, Chennai on August 29, 2018. IT majors lead the way in carpooling. sRide and Quick Ride among several carpooling apps cater to the corporate sector in India. | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Economic Survey 2024-2025 tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday (January 31, 2025), stated that carpooling could reduce 380 million litres … Read more
An anti-smog gun sprinkles water in New Delhi. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu Focusing on climate adaptation as a key goal, the government in the 2024-25 Economic Survey, tabled in Parliament on Friday (January 31, 2025) said that India will need to continue “efforts to maximise the efficiency of its existing fossil fuel resources … Read more
On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump withdrew the United States, the largest historical greenhouse gas emitter and second-largest annual emitter currently, from the Paris Agreement for the second time and promised record fossil fuel expansion. With that, the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal that was already on life support earlier is now decidedly out of reach. … Read more
Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine cools off with some ice between games at the U.S. Open tennis championships last August, in New York. | Photo Credit: AP For four decades I have been travelling the world reporting on sports from cricket to Formula 1. In the early days I took it all for granted, oblivious to … Read more
Farmer’s friend Organic farming often requires round-the-clock work. This is apart from extra care in the form of natural inputs added to the soil to aid in crop growth. V Dharani Vendhan makes the process easier for farmers by concocting these soil inputs himself. The 33-year-old is based in Aarani in Tiruvannamalai district and has … Read more
Originally intended for small and marginal farmers, the PM-KISAN was later extended to all farmers who owned lan | Photo Credit: G.N. Rao The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), which provides yearly income support of ₹6,000 to eligible farmer families in three instalments, has been through highs and lows both in terms of coverage … Read more
A recent study conducted by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay analyzed the financial impact of floods and cyclones across 25 states in India. The study, which covers a span of 23 years (1995–2018), highlights how the damage caused by these natural disasters severely affects the states’ budgets on an annual … Read more
The southwest coast of India has witnessed a steady rise in extreme rainfall events, going up at a rate of 0.23 mm per season. | Photo Credit: file photo India’s southwest coast has seen a steady rise in extreme rainfall events, increasing at a rate of 0.23 mm per season, according to a study by … Read more
How climate change is keeping millions of kids out of school | Video Credit: Zeeshan Akhtar The United Kingdom’s Climate and Nature Bill, which would have made its climate commitments legally binding, fell through in Parliament last week. The Climate and Nature Bill was introduced by Liberal Democrat MP for South Cotswolds Roz Savage. It was … Read more
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 – January 30, 2025 02:17 pm IST
‘The Trump withdrawal from the Paris accord fits well within the frustrating pattern of weak commitments and weaker climate action, accompanied by aggressive intervention in multilateral platforms, under Democratic presidencies, followed by the spurning or withdrawal from even these commitments under Republican incumbents’ | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto There can be no doubt that U.S. … Read more
A rooftop solar plant installed on the terrace of a residential house in Puducherry. | Photo Credit: S.S. Kumar Nearly a year after the Centre launched the ₹75,000 crore PM Surya Ghar scheme, 8.5 lakh households have installed rooftop solar connections, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Pralhad Joshi, said at a public event … Read more
Representational image only. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Punjab Government has formally rejected the Centre’s draft policy on agricultural marketing, asserting that it is an attempt to bring back the “contentious” provisions of the three farms laws repealed in 2021 after a year-long protest by farmers. The State Government noted that since agriculture … Read more
The sun set over the Pacific Ocean. | Photo Credit: AP A new study has found that the rate at which oceans are warming has become four times faster as compared to the last four decades. Published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the study showed that ocean temperatures are rising at 0.27 degrees Celsius … Read more
Indian ocean squid. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement/The Hindu The ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) on Tuesday said that it has successfully decoded the gene expression pattern of Indian squid (Uroteuthis duvaucelii) which will have major implications for various fields ranging from neuroscience to environmental science. The institute, in a release, said that the … Read more
By annulling the Nayakkarpatti tungsten block auction in Madurai, the Union Government has halted protests against a project that was red-flagged, tardily, by the State citing environmental and cultural concerns. Rarely has the Narendra Modi government made a swift ‘U-turn’ in the face of opposition. Nayakkarpatti was among eight critical and strategic mineral blocks put … Read more
Seven years before wildfires tore through opposite ends of the Los Angeles area, the Tubbs Fire in Northern California’s Sonoma County jumped a six-lane freeway and decimated Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park subdivision, a suburban enclave similar to Pacific Palisades and Altadena. The fire destroyed about 5,000 homes in Santa Rosa and the surrounding area in … Read more
It’s that time of the year when forested areas are aflutter with the high-pitched sounds of the wispy little greenish warbler and the guttural teek teek of the Indian blue robin. One can also catch a glimpse of brown shrike that comes from Japan, the blue-tailed bee eater from Europe and Russia, as well as birds like Indian pita and paradise flycatcher that come from the Himalayas. Bird watching … Read more
Rajib Barman, 39, had heard that the job of a rat-hole miner was hazardous, but he chose to do it because he had a debt of ₹60,000 to pay off. A resident of Sitlabazar village in western Assam’s Kokrajhar district, Barman decided to work at the Kalamati mine in the Umrangso area of Dima Hasao … Read more
Homemade with fresh produce, these jams, concentrates and preserves are not the run-of-the-mill sweet spreads that pass off as fruit treats in the market. These fruity treats capture the warmth and sweetness of the sun and the rain in glass jars. Made without preservatives, artificial colours or flavours, these homemade delicacies celebrate the fruit in … Read more
The story so far: On January 2, Madhya Pradesh government authorities moved 358 tonnes of hazardous waste from the defunct Union Carbide facility in Bhopal to the Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district. On December 3 last year, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had set a four-week deadline for authorities to dispose of this waste, … Read more
Image used for representative purpose only | Photo Credit: Biswaranjan Rout Poor households globally lose 5% of their total income in an average year due to heat stress and 4.4% due to floods compared with households that are relatively better off, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations said in a report … Read more
On January 17, a tinkle in a WhatsApp group of Madras Naturalists’ Society (MNS) made Gnanaskandan Kesavabharathi jump out of his seat. A tidbit of information that arrived with that tinkle demanded an immediate response and GK (as he is known in naturalist circles) was on to it, promptly keying in an instruction that elbowed … Read more
Spotted locust in a farm at Konnathay panchayat in Idukki. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT The changing climate pattern in the hill district poses a threat to its farming sector. Amid the crop loss suffered from incursions by wild animals – and miscellaneous creatures like Malabar parakeets and snails – farmers in Idukki are now … Read more
Newly recorded blood-sucking flies from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Researchers from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have identified 23 species of blood-sucking flies, 13 of them recorded for the first time in the country, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These tiny insects, also called midges, are similar … Read more
A vendor selling tomato. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma A combination of decline in sowing and an unusually high rainfall in late September meant mandi arrivals of tomato fell sharply in October. Due to the demand-supply mismatch, wholesale and retail prices of tomato skyrocketed, with the prices relatively higher in northern and eastern regions of … Read more
A boat carrying domestic tourists passes through hyacinth at Central Beach in Lake Naivasha in Nakuru county, Kenya’s Rift Valley, December 13, 2024. | Photo Credit: AP For someone who fishes for a living, nothing says a bad day like spending over 18 hours on a lake and taking home nothing. Recently, a group of … Read more
Udayakumar K.P. at his farm at Mahadevikadu in Alappuzha. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Fifteen years ago, carpenter Udayakumar K.P.’s life took a drastic turn when a freak workplace accident robbed him of sight in his right eye. Undeterred by the setback, Mr. Udayakumar from Mahadevikadu, near Haripad, in Alappuzha shifted his focus to agriculture, … Read more