Environment

Pic: Deepa Mohan I've always been drawn to owls. The Rock Eagle Owl, also called the Indian Eagle Owl, has been one of my favourites; I've sighted it at Bannerghatta, Turahalli, and at various other locations. For the past few years, we've been watching some of these majestic birds making their homes on the rocky outcrops of the highway built by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE), around Bangalore. As we were returning from our trip to Sakleshpur, where we did a bird census for a coffee estate (a very satisfying assignment, more about it later!) we decided we would detour…

Disaster struck two nautical miles off Ennore’s Kamarajar port just before dawn on January 28 when two cargo ships--LPG-carrier** BW Maple bearing the flag of the UK’s Isle of Man and MT Dawn Kanchipuram, the latter loaded to the brim with petroleum oil and lubricants, collided due to poor inter-vessel communication. The LPG tanker, on its way out of the port, suffered a major dent. The incoming Dawn Kanchipuram was left with two holes that tore through it. Pregnant with oil and lubricants, the cargo ship released a considerable amount of the furnace oil stored for fuelling purposes** into the surrounding…

Harini Nagendra and Seema Mundoli from Azim Premji University, and Vijay Nishant, Project Vruksha, conducted a study of trees to be felled for Jaymahal Road widening and proposed steel flyover. According to government documents the number of trees to be cut was estimated to be 1668. But an independent survey by citizens done between October 2016 and January 2017 estimates the number to 2244, and 205 saplings, all belonging to 71 species and 26 families. The report prepared by the team also lists out the number of trees to be cut, their species, scientific names etc,, and the environmental impact…

Over the past few years, Chennai has witnessed one natural disaster after another. Every time, officials and citizens themselves come up with knee jerk reactions and post mortem analysis of the underlying causes, but strangely, scant little is noted about the big picture of ecological damage in the city. Understanding the natural resources of Chennai and addressing their degradation in a sustained, systematic way is critical if the city wishes to avoid a Doomsday scenario in the future. In an earlier article, we had discussed the rich heritage and long history of Chennai. Since 1639, Madras has expanded vastly in…

Sandy beaches are a prominent feature along the 7500 km coastline that envelopes either side of peninsular India. These are dynamic zones that support coastal communities as well as marine and terrestrial life forms. Could these local communities play an active role in monitoring the shoreline, creating a knowledge base and eventually, a baseline for appropriate action towards disaster risk reduction as well as recreation of a healthy coastline? This will be the focus of 'A Tide Turns' -- an interactive and exploratory event organised by SNEHA and LAW Trust of Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, the volunteers of Karaikal and Cuddalore…

Bangalore city has various famous landmarks. One of these landmarks is KR Market in Bangalore city also known as City Market. KR Market is Asia’s largest flower market and also is one of the largest areas in Bangalore which sells fresh produce.   Every Mayor comes with an agenda to clean-up KR Market, yet it remains dirty. The main reason is there is no proper disposal of waste. Fruit and vegetable vendors throw rotten or reject produce onto the street or on top of existing heaps of garbage around their stalls. This garbage is then collected by pourakarmikas and is…

Sometimes, the departure of one of the circle of friends comes as a shock, and so it was when I got the news of the sudden passing of Ashok Hallur, just short of his fifty-first birthday. Ashok, in his short life, had already made a name for himself as an active wildlife film-maker and avid conservationist. He was born in Bagalkot, Karnataka, on 25 February 1966. He received early schooling at his village, Hanamapura, with a short stint at Kavalur, later moving to Bijapur. One of his teachers noted his artistic ability and advised him to go to art school,…

“I would always get into fights with my mother, about having separate bins for waste segregation, switching off lights and all those things.” Prateek Agarwal has been passionate about the environment for as long as he can remember. That passion has manifested itself in his current venture. Together with Subham Agarwala and Siddhant Khetan, Prateek co-founded “Green Strips,” an initiative which aims to replace plastic bags with paper bags, subsidised through advertisements placed on the latter. The twenty-year old likes designing and travelling, and pines for the Delhi food he left behind when he went to study in Kolkata. But…

NERALU, a citizen-led tree festival, is being organised on 18th and 19th February 2017, at Natonal Gallery of Modern Arts (NGMA) and other city-wide venues. Come February, Bengaluru’s trees burst into spectacular blooms. The first of its kind in Bengaluru, Neralu, which means ‘shade’ in Kannada, is being planned to coincide with the blooming season in the city, and will bring together citizens to celebrate the garden city’s glorious natural heritage. Bound by a common love for trees, naturalists, ecologists, artists, technologists, storytellers, homemakers, photographers and many more citizens from all walks of life are working together to organise Neralu.…

On January 8th 2017, over 4500 people from across Bengaluru visited Kaikondrahalli Lake to connect with their friends, community and nature. Lake festival, or Kere Habba, is a completely volunteer-organised event aimed at raising awareness, increasing community participation and fostering an appreciation of lakes in Bengaluru. Kaikondrahalli celebrated its third lake festival on January 8th, 2017. A bird living in the Kakondrahalli lake premises. Pic: Shree D N Over a hundred students from Renuka school situated on the banks of the lake, involved themselves in many activities; they organised a Halli Games session, to teach visitors how to play traditional…