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
Chennai’s skies and waters are in a never-ending tussle on who wears the colour blue best. But at the Chennai Port today a first-of-its-kind vessel is docked, its imposing blue-and-white hull inviting curious glances. The vessel, sized somewhere between a ship and a boat looks decidedly out of place among the bulk carriers and container … Read more
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
The Pacific Ocean as seen from an altitude of 35,000 km above mean sea level by the NASA GOES-18 satellite on September 23, 2023. | Photo Credit: NASA It’s that time of the year again. India waits eagerly for the summer monsoon forecast, tinged with some anxiety about whether it will be ‘normal’. The fate … Read more
A study by researchers at IIT Delhi has found that air pollution and climate change will impair solar panel performance in India. It was published in Environmental Research Letters in November 2024. According to the paper, India is the fifth-largest solar power producer worldwide. The country has set a target to produce 50% of its … Read more
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
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
The nightjar is generally considered an elusive bird. But it is often found in the thickets of the HMT Estate in Kalamassery. With no flamboyant feathers or a musical call to boast of, it has a few fans who go looking for it. This medium-sized nocturnal bird has a unique camouflage technique that involves it … Read more
A beekeeper shows a hive full of honeybees. Several entrepreneurs displayed products for the beekeeping industry at the conference. | Photo Credit: File photo For Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal, a farmer and beekeeper from Punjab, beekeeping was never part of his future plans. It was a hobby that changed into a profession. He started beekeeping in … Read more
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
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
A total of 60 hatcheries have been established for nest protection, the highest number to date, leading to a greater number of hatchlings emerging. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu After a slow and concerning start to the Olive Ridley turtle nesting season in Tamil Nadu this year, the situation has significantly improved. Volunteers and … Read more
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
As the first light of dawn enters the Biodiversity Park at Rani Chandramani Devi Government Hospital in Pedda Waltair in Visakhapatnam, the air hums with life. The rhythmic call of the cuckoo punctuates the morning stillness, as a gentle breeze flows through the lush expanse. A pair of spotted owlets peer curiously from their hollowed-out … Read more
Purnima Devi Barman, a wildlife biologist from Assam, is the unexpected commander of a large, and powerful army. Globally, she is now known as the Stork Sister. The only Indian woman featured in TIME’s Women of the Year 2025 list for her contributions to conservation, Barman is renowned for her pioneering efforts to save the endangered … Read more
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 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
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
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
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
Rescue crews work on site after a cargo ship was hit by a tanker carrying jet fuel for the U.S. military off eastern England, on March 10, 2025, setting both vessels ablaze and sending fuel pouring into the North Sea. | Photo Credit: AP British officials were concerned about possible environmental damage on Tuesday (March … Read more
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
Children play near a brick kiln on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. | Photo Credit: AP Only seven countries met World Health Organization (WHO) air quality standards last year, data showed on Tuesday, as researchers warned that the war on smog would only get harder after the United States shut down … Read more
Climate change is already causing all sorts of problems on Earth, but soon it will be making a mess in orbit around the planet too, a new study finds. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Climate change is already causing all sorts of problems on Earth, but soon it will be making a mess in orbit … Read more
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
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
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
The tea plantation industry in the Peerumade hills of Idukki in Kerala has reached a historic milestone, marking 150 years since its first recorded commercial cultivation in 1875. | Photo Credit: JOMON PAMPAVALLEY The tea plantation industry in the Peerumade hills of Idukki in Kerala has reached a historic milestone, marking 150 years since its … Read more
India recorded its warmest February in 124 years this year. The India Meteorological Department has already raised an alarm for March, saying that the month will experience above normal temperatures and more than the usual number of days with heat waves. The period coincides with the beginning of India’s wheat harvest season, and extreme heat … Read more
Madhav Tiger Reserve is Madhya Pradesh’s 9th Tiger Reserve. Photo: X/@byadavbjp The Centre declared the Madhav National Park in Madhya Pradesh as the country’s 58th tiger reserve on Sunday (March 9, 2025), with Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav making the announcement. The newly added national park was also the ninth from the State to get … Read more