Two seminal books, John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York’s The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth and John Bellamy Foster’s The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with the Planet suggest that the rift between humanity and nature must be analysed in its intertwining with other kinds of alienation, …
Two seminal books, John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York’s The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth and John Bellamy Foster’s The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with the Planet suggest that the rift between humanity and nature must be analysed in its intertwining with other kinds of alienation, …
Pioneers and trailblazers, whose work has had a significant and positive impact on the environment, are set to receive the UN's highest environmental accolade, the Champions of the Earth award.The prize is awarded annually by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to leaders from government, civil society and the private sector. …
Verghese Kurien, who passed away recently, will be best known for building Amul into one of India's most valuable brands which is an organisation of nearly three million smallholder dairy producers and a Rs 12,000 crore farmer-owned business. He will also be remembered for creating the National Dairy Development Board …
Mrinal Gore, veteran politician and leader of the women's movement in Maharashtra, who passed away recently was the quintessential grass-roots leader who could also hold her own in the state legislature. A call from her would mobilise thousands of women on the streets of Mumbai and she tirelessly raised issues …
If architecture is 'design for living', one of its greatest challenges is how to live with the masses of waste we excrete. Four pioneers in green sanitation design outline solutions to a dilemma too often shunted down the pan.
Urban campaigner and architect Arif Hasan has been central to a sanitary revolution, transforming Orangi, Karachi, from informal settlement to thriving community. Using his technical know-how, residents built a sewage system, sparking vast social change. Now chair of Pakistan's urbanization task force, he discusses incorporating sustainable design into poor cities.
Gangadharan Menon travels to Kheechan to meet Ratanlal Maloo - the man who has single-handedly called over 15,000 Damoiselle Cranes to his little hamlet in Rajasthan from their homes in Mongolia and Eurasia, as annual guests, and created a sanctuary worth visiting. The love and care he showed the birds …
In the summer of 2011, Seth Berkley moved from New York to Geneva as the new chief executive of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). For over a decade previously, Berkley had run the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), an institution he had founded. This experience confirmed his …
Joe Bast and his libertarian think tank are a major force among climate sceptics — but they just can't win the battle over science. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110727/full/475440a.html
Mahendra Singh Tikait, a small-time farmer from western Uttar Pradesh’s Jat belt who rose to become a formidable leader in his region and symbolised farmer power for about a decade, then got reduced to irrelevance due to a lack of political tact and a parochial worldview, died on May 15 …
Human rights activist Binayak Sen spent two years in jail before being granted bail. Charged with sedition, waging war against the Indian state, as well as being a Maoist supporter, both under normal laws and under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and the Unlawful Activities Act, the evidence has …
Bal Krishan Keayla, a key figure in the National Working Group on Patent Law and an indefatigable campaigner for two decades against the GATT/WTO agreement on intellectual property, died on 27 November. A colleague in the working group reminisces.
ABOUT 15 years ago, I read in a newspaper how handloom weavers of Varanasi were mortgaging their daughters to moneylenders because of poor income. The government supported mill cloth at the time. When I discussed the matter with Lakshmi, he had tears in his eyes. Tears because he had spent …
It was 3 pm. I was on top of a mountain in the middle of the only green expanse in the cold desert in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. For the last 50 km I saw only mountains of stones and sand, and I would see only desert for the …
