Greetings on World Environment Day

by June 4, 2016 Environment

To all our friends,

Puttenahalli Lake, May 2016

​

For many of us, every day is Environment Day. Still, it feels good to see the whole world pause on 5th June every year and focus on raising awareness about environmental issues and concerns.

From the World Environment Day website

“This year’s theme for WED – Go Wild for Life – encourages you to celebrate all those species under threat and take action of your own to help safeguard them for future generations. This can be about animals or plants that are threatened within your local area as well as at the national or global level – many local extinctions will eventually add up to a global extinction! Whoever you are, and wherever you live, show zero-tolerance for the illegal trade in wildlife in word and deed, and make a difference.”

Some of you may be aware that I am currently not based in Bangalore. I was there recently for the summer holidays and managed a few visits to the lake. It was thrilling, to say the least, to see so much water. Also, I finally got to see some of the birds and flowers at the lake, that I had seen only in photographs shared by others. I spent a fair amount of time watching the beautiful Spot-billed Ducks and took lots of pictures. Some of these are in my blog posts… birds and flowers that may be considered commonplace, but important in the lake ecosystem. For those who have not had a chance to visit the lake, here is some of what you will see when you do.    

https://arathimy.wordpress.com/2016/05/25/residents-at-puttenahalli-lake/ https://arathimy.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/in-bloom-at-puttenahalli-lake/

Here’s hoping that the theme for this year’s WED stays with you for ever. Read more on the WED website here.p

Best wishes,

Arathi

(for the PNLIT Team)

Sections:

About Arathi Manay Yajaman

Arathi is a market researcher who loves to run and write. She has been actively involved in issues that affect citizens, including apartment management, waste management and lakes. She used to live in Mumbai and is now based in Bengaluru, working as a Community Anchor with Citizen Matters.
Read more by Arathi Manay Yajaman

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Story

The trees we forget: What a city loses when the canopy disappears

by May 14, 2026 Environment
Bengaluru's trees are more than shade; they are memory, identity, and resistance. Their loss leaves the city harsher and emptier.

Summer in India has been merciless this year, with many states recording temperatures above 42 degrees Celsius and rising reports of fatalities. Despite these harsh conditions, urban support continues for development projects that clear trees, wetlands, mangroves, and forests near cities. A recent Article 14 report provides data on thousands of trees that will soon be sacrificed nationally for infrastructure projects. Those opposing such unscientific large-scale tree felling are often labelled 'tree-huggers', 'anti-development' and 'anti-nationals'. While capitalism accelerates environmental degradation and the world faces a growing climate crisis, societal divisions deepen.  Yet, we give trees too little credit: Beings necessary…

Continue reading

Similar Story

Bengaluru’s flowering Tabebuia Rosea trees: Think green, not just pink

by May 6, 2026 Environment
Cities must not confuse beauty with ecology; Bengaluru’s pink weeks are lovely, but unchecked ornamental planting could make the city prettier but less alive.

Late each winter, Bengaluru briefly transforms into an Indian Kyoto, as roads blush pink, office parks turn photogenic, and social media buzzes with claims of a local “cherry blossom” season. But the star of this spectacle is not cherry at all. It is Tabebuia rosea, the pink trumpet tree, a neotropical ornamental whose native range runs from Mexico to Ecuador. What seems like a harmless aesthetic win is, ecologically, far more complex. The history Bengaluru’s pink canopy is not new. Much of it can be traced back to the 1980s under forester S G Neginhal, who drove a major greening…

Continue reading