Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
A cheap, effective technique to remove toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from contaminated soil has been developed in the US by scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee. The technique is considered an important advance since, unlike the biological remediation (disintegration) process developed by research workers in the early 1990s, it …
Hungry molecules inhabiting pores in minuscule ceramic beads could soon be cleaning up vast amounts of contaminated soil and water. Researchers at the Energy Dept.'s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNL) in Washington, believe the beads may be the best pollution fighter yet. Ounce for ounce, the ceramic beads can gobble …
Scientists at the Institute of Microbial Technology in Chandigarh have identified a new microbe which converts hazardous hydrocarbons into harmless substances.
A team of researchers has discovered a novel biochemical mechanism for carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning that may someday lead to new clinical approaches for dealing with exposure to the deadly gas.
Russian scientists have developed a filling agent for biofilters in wastewater purification facilities. Micro-organisams are filtered through porous ceramic assemblies of claydite clay, which process the environmentally hazardous compounds contained in wastewaters. These biofilters can purify municipal effluents and wastewater from processing industries.
Ebara Corp. of Japan has developed solar powered desalination equipment that can produce drinking water at a lower cost than that of bottled water. The system uses thermal energy collected and stored by solar panels to heat sea water in vacuum tubes, producing steam vapor. As the vapor condenses into …
A software package than can help locate plants, especially thermal power stations, in reasonably less polluted areas has been developed by BHEL at Hardwar. Scientists at the Pollution Control Research Institute(PCRI) of the BHEL unit said the software would be useful in identifying areas where air quality deterioration could be …
chlorofluorocarbons (cfcs) are not the only threat to the ozone layer. Nitrous oxide (n2o), also known as laughing gas, has been quietly eating into the layer that screens out harmful ultraviolet radiations. The gas has a tremendous global warming potential, with a heat absorption capacity 250-290 times that of carbon …
Burning and recycling of waste is contaminating the environment with the lethal chemical dioxin, according to a three-year study conducted for Britain's Environment Agency by AEA Technology in Oxfordshire, UK. A 1991 European Union directive on waste management had led to the promotion of incinerators across Europe. But it overlooked …
Scientists in the US have identified a toxin produced by a strain of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) which could delay development of resistance to Bt pesticides by insects. Bt produces a class of toxins called CryIV. However, insects had started developing resistance to these toxins. Researchers at the University of California …
The European Union has recently agreed to fund research to evaluate methods and techniques which rank pesticides according to their environmental impact. One such system is being evaluated by the University of Hertsfordshire in the UK. The software, which will be available by early 1998, is called the pesticide eco-rating …
Sorting of waste by robots may soon eliminate dumping sites in France. One of the companies that have developed such a system is Pellenc. The robot has a sensing system to separate various types of household packaging, including glass and plastic bottles, cardboard cartons and aluminium cans. Waste is tipped …
agricultural scientists at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (crida), Hyderabad, have identified neem clones which yield a substantial amount of the chemical azadirachtin, used as a biocide and in health care products. Scientists were looking for seeds with azadirachtin content higher than 0.4-0.8 per cent. Neem (Azadirachta indica) …
while environmentalists worry about Brazilian rainforests, thousands of acres of lush forests are being cleared away in southern Brazil to make way for tobacco cultivation and production. Brazil is the world's largest exporter of tobacco, with exports touching 282,500 tonnes in 1996, and the world's fourth largest producer after China, …
colour is all when it comes to mating. The cichlid species of fish depend on the ability to distinguish colours for mate selection. But eutrophication of the Great Lakes in Africa
A software company has developed a program that can help companies calculate the net costs and savings from recycling and waste reduction. The program allows users to feed in basic information and calculates, among other things, projected reductions in waste by volume or weight, avoided disposal cost, the net annual …
eliminating weeds using conventional techniques is difficult. But alternative techniques like biological weed control may prove costlier. In 1968, Canadian and us state agencies released the Eurasian weevil (Rhinocyllus conicus) in the countryside to control some introduced thistle species. But the results were more than they had bargained for. Scientists …
rapid urbanisation and development pressures plague China today. Ironically, the pressure to increase farm productivity to meet the present and future food needs is threatening the future of arable areas in the northwest. Scientists believe that by the end of this year China could lose more than 2,000 sq km …
from killer algae to mind-altering microbes, coastal areas worldwide are facing an assault of some of the strangest micro-organisms known to humankind. While scientists have yet to establish the cause of this phenomenon, it is highly likely that human-induced changes to the coastal environment and pollution have disturbed the natural …
a coalition of Scottish environmental groups under the banner of the Scottish Wildlife and Countryside Link (swcl) has called for a review of the environmental impacts of marine salmon fishing in Scotland. The main cause for concern is the wide and indiscriminate use of chemicals to control sea lice, parasites …
