Environment

A huge loss in his pressure cooker manufacturing factory and the financial crisis that followed made Ajay a migrant, or footloose informal worker. Eight years ago, he moved from Delhi to Bangalore. Having to start life from scratch, he became a waste picker. Bangalore offered him the veil of anonymity from his past. After a few years in the profession, he met a Hasiru Dala activist and became associated with the organization. Recognizing his potential in running a micro-enterprise, organization offered him to operate one of the 33 Dry Waste Collected Centers (DWCC), located in Gottigere, installed by Municipal Corporation…

  With just a day left for Gandhi Jayanti, various citizen led groups have planned to organise cleanliness programmes in various locations of Bengaluru on October 2nd. Here are the list of cleanliness programmes to be organised across the city as part of the Bengaluru Swachh Utsav 2016. The programme is organised by the Solid Waste Management Round Table in association with BBMP and KSPCB. The campaign which will be kicked off on the day of Gandhi Jayanti, will continue for the next one year, to create awareness about waste management among citizens. It includes, emphasising on door-to-door waste collection,…

Air pollution on Outer Ring Road. Pic: Mayur Channagere Air pollution in Bengaluru has become so severe, that it is forcing people with lung problems to even leave Bengaluru. Dr Padma Sundaram, pulmonologist at Manipal Hospital, says that some patients leave the city for months, to get better. She says that cases of asthma and respiratory infections are increasing, and that people with lung problems sometimes need ICU admissions when pollution levels peak, such as during winter smog and Diwali. “People from highly polluted areas are coming for treatment more often,” she says. A lung test on 503 Bengaluru school…

Whitefield Rising hosted an enlightening session on Sunday, September 26, with eminent environmentalist A.N. Yellappa Reddy, who connected the dots among environmental consciousness, waste management, sewage treatment, lake purification, biodiversity promotion, and reconnection with nature. Held at the serene campus of Ecumenical Christian Centre, the session titled ‘Increasing Urban Greenery to Promote Healthy Living’ was attended by more than 60 citizens of all ages from different parts of the city. Yellappa Reddy addressing the residents of Whitefield Mr Reddy explained the various ways in which citizens could make a difference—through the choices they made and by questioning the administration. He told…

With consumerism at its peak and humans wasting more than utilising, it’s time to relook, to reflect, to repair. Repair Café is based on the very idea of sustainable living, to promote the judicious use of natural and personal resources in a bid to save this planet. Thanks to Whitefield Rising, the concept came alive recently near Hope Farm, set in the lap of the serene The Ant's Store– a perfect venue bathed in natural charm. People learning to repair electronic equipment at Repair Cafe event in Whitefield. A team of volunteers comprising a teenager, a banker, a techie, a homemaker,…

  GM-Free Karnataka and the Karnataka Alliance for Safe Food have announced a 'Sasive Satyagraha' event in Bangalore on October 2, 2016, to be held at the Gandhi Statue at  Anand Rao Circle, Bangalore from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. This is primarily a citizens' awareness and call-to-action campaign to protest against the approval of the commercial release of genetically modified varieties of mustard (GM Mustard) in the country. The fight against genetically modified food has just been revived with renewed vigour around the country, with activists and experts raising strong opposition to the introduction of GM Mustard. The commercial…

Bengaluru is growing, but at a much faster pace than expected. With such rapid urbanization, peri-urban areas are concurrently growing faster beyond the planned rates of infrastructure development of local ecosystems. The random expansion of cities by dissolving or merging the boundaries of nearby cities, towns and villages in a disorganized manner without any foresight poses various social, economic and environmental risks. In Bengaluru and its vicinity too, this has predictably led to an imbalance in terms of growth versus maintenance, witnessed by increasing slums, growing threat of newer and virulent epidemics, and poor access to basic services such as…

He has an air of spirituality and wisdom that is beyond his 29 years. As he sits in his office and tells me about the journey of Environment Foundation of India, I cannot but help wonder what I was doing with my life when I was his age. Nothing important comes to mind. And here I am, face to face with this young man, who has already helped save and restore over 39 lakes and 54 ponds in the country! Arun Krishnamurthy is one of the world’s youngest awardees of the Rolex Award for Enterprise. The award recognised his contribution…

Ten weeks have flown by and my internship with Citizen Matters has come to a quick end. Tomorrow, I will board a flight, but I will not be leaving India just yet. I am looking forward to three weeks of travel around the subcontinent to see what else this country has to offer. The author on the beach in Goa. Pic: Kate Clark But soon enough, I will be struggling to nap on 16-hour flight back to Dallas, Texas. When I picture exiting the Dallas Fort-Worth airport, driving a few miles toward my parent’s house in suburban Texas, I can…

We launched the crowdsourced Blackspot Mapping Project (garbage dump mapping project) in the last week of August, 2016. Two weeks into the project, we are already nearing 200 spots. As we reached out to people for help, we also faced many questions: Why are you doing this? What’s the intent? What will this data be used for? So many apps to map garbage and other issues - why should we contribute data to this project? In this article, we try to explain it all in detail. Why are you doing this? What’s the intent? Our cities suffer from multiple problems.…