Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
In my previous article I wrote that India should demand an ambitious climate-change deal, because we need the world to stay safe-below the guardrail of two degrees Celsius rise in temperature. I also said that for the deal to be effective, it is necessary to ensure that every country has …
Ever wondered how poor is the air we are breathing? A comparison of cities across the globe reveals the capital's dismal condition. Around 4pm (IST) on Tuesday, Delhi's Anand Vihar had an air quality index (AQI) of 399 which falls in the hazardous category. At the same time, Beijing recorded …
Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), which recently reviewed the Delhi government's air pollution action plan, has found that the government is not equipped to deal with the city's severe air pollution. EPCA has now asked it to take three emergency steps to battle smog this winter—increase public transport vehicles, especially …
PUNE: India is locked in a frenzy of construction to meet the demand for homes, offices, and shops. A staggering two-third of buildings that will stand in India in 2030 are yet to be built. Unless policies minimize resource guzzling and wastes with appropriate architectural design, building material, and operational …
Council to focus on action for assessment, adaptation & mitigation of climate change Barely three weeks before crucial negotiations in Lima, the government has reconstituted the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, reducing its size and dropping members, including sole industry representative Ratan Tata and Centre for Science and Environment …
‘Particulate matter in air not within safe limits’ If you have been battling a nagging cough/cold or worse an upper respiratory tract infection this season, the city’s poor air quality could be the culprit. Official data has revealed that since the onset of winter, the city has not managed to …
Hyderabad: Particulate matter pollution has risen almost three times faster than previously expected in Hyderabad. Though faring better than cities like Delhi, where particulate matter pollution has risen by an astronomical four times, the rise in the city is still among the highest in the world. The average annual concentrations …
The current haze-like condition in Delhi could be linked to agricultural waste being burnt up north in Punjab and Haryana. Images released by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration from its moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer (MODIS)'s aqua-satellite suggest a thick blanket of aerosols lying over northern Indian states …
Thick smoke hung over New Delhi this week as millions lit firecrackers to mark the Diwali festival, but calls for a boycott highlighted growing concerns over air quality in one of the world's most polluted cities. Pollution in the Indian capital reached "severe" levels on Friday, the day after Diwali, …
India's democratic depth was evident this past week as the entire establishment, left and right, came together to congratulate Kailash Satyarthi for his Nobel. All of them, from Narendra Modi on, did so without any qualification. But why should this be unusual? Shouldn't our nation celebrate a rare Nobel? It …
“Many don’t qualify even for one-star label under BEE programme” Green-rated buildings are falling below the minimum benchmarks of their official star rating by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), says a report — “Building sense beyond the green façade of sustainable habitat” — by the Centre for Science and …
One item on the agenda of the much-discussed Narendra Modi-Barack Obama meeting that has Indian commentators flummoxed is hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The joint statement issued after the meeting of the two heads of states says rather ambiguously that the two sides agreed to cooperate on "next steps to tackle the challenge …
In late August, India's environment ministry rejected a proposal to build what would be the country's largest hydropower plant in a remote and pristine part of the country's northeast because of the potential damage to an area rich in biodiversity. Less than a month later and, according to two environment …
The water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation minister, Uma Bharti, suggested on Tuesday that "electric" crematoriums should not be used on river banks and instead bodies should be burnt in a traditional way with minimum use of wood. She said that religious leaders - "sadhus" - have not approved …
Leading health experts have called for policy changes in several sectors ranging from food to transport in order to combat risk factors of heart disease in India. Wrong policies add to problem The problem of rising numbers of heart disease in the country can’t just be tackled by the health …
Developmental gains will crumble if India follows a model of growth that is resource-and-energy-intensive. As it is, rivers are degraded, pollution is growing, forest cover's thinning. Overhaul of green governance is the need of the hour Here is a fact that should alarm you: Of 180 cities monitored for air …
The ministry of environment and forests has asked for the public's comments on reviewing five crucial environmental laws, including the Air and Water (prevention and control of pollution) Acts-any amendment to which will impact the city massively. Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), the pollution watchdog that implements these acts in …
Even though the waters of the Jhelum river have begun receding, there are still around over 100,000 people marooned in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir. The fear of water-borne diseases is now rising and doctors in medical camps are facing shortage of medicines like antibiotics and life-saving insulin, reports …
The devastating floods in Jammu and Kashmir could be a manifestation of extreme weather events induced by climate change, the Centre for Science and Environment said Wednesday. Sunita Narain, director general of CSE, said the calamities in Mumbai (2005), Leh (2010), Uttarakhand (2013) and now Jammu and Kashmir show a …
Changing rainfall pattern part of a trend: Centre for Science & Environment The worst floods in Jammu and Kashmir in the past 60 years and the subsequent devastation are due to a combination of unprecedented and intense rain, mismanagement, unplanned urbanisation and a lack of preparedness, Sunita Narain, director-general, Centre …
