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 …
A LARGE number of dead whales were found washed up by whale scientist Roger Payne in Patagonia, Chile. The cause of death was apparently skin infections. The mysterious human-AIDS-like plague, which attacked the whales' immune system, was also reported in large areas as diversely located as the South Pacific and …
WHILE Europe continues its efforts ID reduce electromagnetic pollution, dw European Commission (EC) has gritated a four-year reprieve to mWons exporting electronic equipMonts. The Commission recently wowded the deadline for imposing %@&restrictions; against import of shm2rouic goods that do not adhere to standards for electromag interference or pollution (EMI) md …
POPULAR demand for informative and entertaining science fare is constantly rising. And, any doubts on this score would be dispelled by the public response to Doordarshan's recent invitation to write in and say what they would like to see on the extended transmission that becomes effective early next year. More …
REMOTE sensing is slowly changing the contours of planning in India. In time, it could do away with conventional methods of data collection involving laborious field studies and replace dusty files in the large cupboards of officialdom with computer tapes, discs and video monitors. Providing such relatively easy access to …
THE GENERAL degradation of Goa's environment is symbolised by the damage being done to its khazan lands, a unique, coastal, estuarine agro-system that plays a crucial role in the state's coastal ecology. Though Goa must import foodgrains to support its 12 lakh population, agriculture is the most important occupation in …
A WORLDWIDE study of fertility research says men today have just about half the sperm count of men 50 years ago and there has also been an appreciable drop in the average volume of seminal fluid. These findings raise worries that male reproductive organs may be getting adversely affected by …
WEAVERS of Tibetan carpets in Nepal have been named the primary polluter of the Kathmandu valley. In a May notification, the government demanded that it set in place the mandatory pollution control measures or pay a fine of NRs 50,000 (IRs 30,300) or face closure or both. Started as a …
GIRISH CHANDRA REGMI THE ORIGINAL inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley were the Newars, whose culture was distinct from other Asian cultures. The Newars developed unique building methods, resulting in high, narrow houses quite unlike the architecture of other societies. The Newars were master builders, especially skilled in handling space and …
KATHMANDU has more temples per square foot than any other place in the world, wrote Pico Iyer in his travelogue Video Night in Kathmandu. But that reality may soon fade as Nepal strives to deal with the growing pressures of urban life in its capital. Nowadays, only monuments which have …
THE Bagmati, one of nine rivers in the Kathmandu valley but its main source of drinking water and hydel power, is so heavily polluted, local residents have given it the unflattering sobriquet, "Toilet Bowl of the Valley". Though holy to the Hindus, who cremate their dead on its banks, the …
THE KATHMANDU valley, for decades the showpiece of Nepal, is literally gasping for breath in a highly polluted environment. Long-time residents are concerned that the host of problems plaguing the valley will also keep tourists away, thereby losing an estimated US $70 million in tourism-related earnings. Overpopulation is the popular …
ANXIETY over ozone-layer depletion and global warming have inspired numerous studies into the changing nature of the earth's atmosphere. Indications are that increasing air pollution has not just dirtied the air, its graver effect has been its influence on the capacity of the various atmospheric constituents to oxidise or burn …
DESPITE strides in asthma treatment, the incidence of the disease and deaths due to it are escalating. Researchers now feel that growing industrialisation and pollution could well be responsible for this increase worldwide. Every year in USA alone, some 4,000 asthma victims die and another 500,000 are hospitalised. In 1977, …
I HAVE been uncomfortable with the "transfer of technology" demands of developing countries during their environmental dialogue with the North. Let me explain: We do stress, based on irrefutable data, that the North is responsible for the bulk of the perturbation that human beings have caused to the properties of …
THIS book is part of a project on technology transfer, transformation and development implemented by United Nations University (UNU), a UN organ established in 1972 to conduct research related to pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare. UNU undertook a project to study the Japanese experience between 1978 …
IF SO-CALLED ecological subsidies were halted in India, the true cost of paper would double immediately and the price of thermal power would soar an electrifying 60 per cent. These are the findings in a study __ the first of its kind in India -- sponsored by the Administrative Staff …
DESPITE resistance from his country's religious leaders, Pakistan's Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, is going ahead with plans to implement a comprehensive family planning strategy. And this is being done through Pasbaan, the social development wing of the Family Planning Association of Pakistan (FPAP). Pakistan, with a projected population growth of …
SINCE 1989, the state of New Jersey in USA has issued US $5 million worth of fines and handed prison sentences amounting to 165 years for environmental crimes. It could do this thanks to the Green Police, New Jersey's answer to the growing menace of indiscriminate toxic waste disposal. The …
BIG BROTHER government has decided to work towards removing two more 'hurdles' for industrialists in the country -- the state pollution control boards (SPCBs) and the ministry of environment and forests (MEF). Indian and foreign industrialists have long bemoaned the inspector raj of the SPCBs. Partly to get around this …
WIDESPREAD deforestation and heavy siltation are steadily destroying the beautiful, but ecologically fragile, coral reefs of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. The islands experience high rainfall, 50 per cent to 90 per cent of which runs off into the sea. Bad land use practices result in high turbidity which then …
