Plastic Overshoot Day marks the point when the amount of plastic waste generated exceeds the world’s capacity to manage it, resulting in environmental pollution. In 2024, the global Plastic Overshoot Day is projected to occur on September 5th. Each country has its own Plastic Overshoot Day, which is determined by …
ARE flowers no longer pure symbols of beauty or spirituality? The facts revealed in the book, though preliminary, present a sad story of the flower export industry in the Third World countries. The economic, social and ecological issues of flowergrowing and its role in sustainable development in the countries of …
A month ago, I had written how Indian environment ministers spend little time on the larger questions of natural resource management - issues dealing with the mainte nance and enhancement of the health of our lands, water resources, forests, air and wildlife, and the disposal of our wastes. These issues …
Chastened by the state High Court's orders on its apathy in disciplining effing polluting units, the Gujarat government has taken belated action and cut off water and electricity connections of about 240 polluting units located in Vapi, Nandesari and the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation estates. The government action was prompted …
What is the main area of work of the International Joint Commission (IJC) and the purpose behind its creation? The International Joint Commission was created by a treaty between the United States and Canada, who agreed that neither country would pollute the waters on its own side of the lipe, …
Swamped by petitions, seeking environment redressal across the country, the Supreme Court has sought the help of lawyers' associations to devise means for reducing pollution and cleansing the environment. The call for help was in the wake of a petition filed by the 'Ganatantrik Nagrik Samiti'of Howrah, West Bengal, which …
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Delhi, has developed lien acoustic sounder to facilitate remote sensing facility for measuring meteorological data and forecast pollution dispersion patterns. A series of experiments regarding this were carried out from 1992 to 1994. Also termed 'sodar' (sound and detection ranging), the sounder has been developed …
PARIS, the pride of the immaculate and stylish French people, is growing dirty: it has joined the ranks of the world's polluted cities. For some time now, the pollution monitoring equipment around the city have been displaying nigh readings, but the message was driven home very sharply only on July …
ETHICS is a relatively unheard of issue in the field of international environmental politics. This is troubling because the ethical angle explains the dynamics of transnational environmental affairs. The silence on the subject of justice is mainly because of the intellectual traditions of international relations, ie, realism and liberalism. A …
While scientists debate whether electric cars are environmental saints or sinners, New Jersey-based Engelhard Corp has invented a catalyst that may turn gas-guzzlers from air-foulers into clean-up machines. Conventional automobile catalysts reduce smog-forming gases such as volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides before they leave the tailpipe. The new catalyst, …
The closure of 25 polluting units in Gujarat on the orders of the High Court in early May and its subsequent fallout has caught the state government on the wrong foot. The 50-page order castigated the state government, Gujarat Pollution Control Board and the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation in carrying …
FOR the first time in Pakistan, public pressure has given industry notice that it cannot remain free from its environmental responsibility. A heady new sense of confidence is in evidence among Pakistan"s environmentalists, ever since a 9-month campaign concluded successfully last November. The fall-out of the battle: a move to …
The planet's amphibians are under threat. Declining populations of frogs, salamanders and toads have been reported from all over the globe and some of the amphibian groups are disappearing completely from their natural habitats. Frogs are in close communion with their surroundings - both water and soil - at different …
THE Arctic Ocean could be another Chernobyl in the making, says Alexel Yablokov, head of Russia's Interagency Commission on Ecological Security, pointing a finger at Russia's environmental callousness. He reports the scut- tling of nuclear submarines in shallow waters, careless storage of spent nuclear fuel rods, and nuclear pollution from …
THE people of Panama City are losing their battle against pollution. An everincreasing number of automobiles, overburdened roads, lack of housing and an apathetic local populace are making a problem with no easy solutions. Studies indicate that some sectors of Panama Bay, which receives the city's wastes through 21 sewage …
WHILE world leaders squabbled over global strategies at the climate change summit in Berlin, an ambitious and significant effort was initiated in Tokyo between April 5-7, aimed at achieving a zero emission industrial situation. The founding of the "Zero Emissions Research Initiative" (ZERI) -- proposed earlier this year by the …
BY THE turn of the century environmental criteria and public opinion will become the decisive factors for industrial siting in the country. A "zoning atlas", the first of its kind, is to be used for identifying sites for "ideal industry location". Sources in the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which …
Factories in Pakistan's Faisalabad city are spewing one hazardous pollutants, while the water and garbage disposal systems seem to have virtually bid goodbye. Rapid industrialisation has spiralled the number of local industries from 4,533 in 1977 to 34,123 at present. These include environment-unfriendly agricultural implement manufacturing units, soap factories, fertiliser …
THE noose is tightening around the 1 lakh odd industrial units in Delhi. Close on the heels of its closure orders served on 9038 polluting industrial units in the non-conforming areas, the Supreme Court served notices on March 27 to polluting units in Wazirpur and Ashok Vihar industrial estates to …
ANTI-POLUTION GIZMO: Diesel engines will be spewing less nitric oxide fumes, promise KMH, a Doncaster-based business house, and Leeds University in the UK. They have jointly developed a steam-based anti-pollution device, which they claim is cheaper and requires less maintenance than catalytic converters. The De-NOX device, as it has been …
ALARMED by the increasing level of environmental pollution in the country, and the failure of existing organisations in tackling the problem, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment has suggested levying pollution tax and shifting polluting smallscale units out of residential areas to industrial sectors. The 42-member committee, headed by Syed …
