Environment

On the March 13th, we went to Arekere Reserve Forest (aka Doresanipalya) and while there, we found this baby Black Kite, badly injured, upon the ground. It was so badly off that it could not even clamber to its feet as it lay there in the grass clutter. It was heart-rending to watch the poor little one look at us with terrified, mute appeal. But alas! Very often, one cannot follow up on one’s emotional impulse to intervene in wildlife... whether in urban or forest areas. In this case, the very fact that it was so immobile told me that…

How do the cricketers keep a track of their team mates at the Malleshwaram ground? Pic: Rajesh Kallaje Sports encompass every aspect of life in the United States. From the time we can walk we start playing at least one sport. Historically baseball has been America’s sporting pastime like soccer has been for much of the rest of the world. There are two main sports that parents start their children out on the first, is teeball/baseball and the second is, surprisingly enough, is soccer. As American children get older those that continue to stay interested in athletics expand their horizons…

Malleshwaram market. Pic: Manu H S Heggodu Following the success of green festival celebrations like Ugadi and Bakrid in Yelahanka zone last year, the BBMP along with citizen groups has this year given a call for Green Ugadi celebrations across the city. The idea is to ensure that the wet waste generated during Ugadi does not get mixed up with dry waste and is collected and composted separately. To make this work, citizen volunteers are deployed in each ward who will take up the work of supervising and collecting wet waste in their respective wards. Interested to be a volunteer?…

On 31st March 2016, a 40-year-old African Tuilip tree in Indiranagar 1st stage, home to hundreds of parakteets and scores of nests nurturing young ones, was brutally felled by the BBMP. The reason: it was dried up and a possible threat to passers by. Only a stump of the tree remains now. Pic: Arzu Mistry A view of the tree stump from a house it provided shade to. Pic: Arzu Mistry This variety of tree sheds its leaves and looks barren in the summer months – but it's not dead! And considering that Bengaluru is in the midst of one…

Government of India has kept a major step towards sustainable waste management, by making it mandatory to segregate waste at source. According to a Press Information Bureau press note, the new waste management rules are stricter than the rules notified in the year 2000. Exerpts from the press note: The Environment Ministry has revised Solid Waste Management Rules after 16 years. Addressing a press conference to announce the revised Rules on April 5, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar said that the Rules are now applicable beyond municipal areas and will extend to…

Having been living in India, and more specifically Bangalore, for almost three months now, I have grown increasingly more comfortable with the social norms and practices here. For the first month or so these norms took some time to sink in and become common practice. For example, the concept of “Indian stretch time”, at home it is considered very rude to be late, or not needing to say thank you every time someone does something nice for you, an omission of “thank you” in the United States is also considered an offense. The following is a story of how, as…

Bengaluru lets its sewage into valleys, rivers and lakes. Little sewage is processed, while much of it is unprocessed in nature. Navin, a villager from K Channasandra, believes that the Maragondanahalli Lake is the savior for the villagers and their animals. Pic: Perumal Venkatesan Rampura Valley is one of the valley systems of Bengaluru in the north east of the city. This valley gets a mix of treated and untreated water from the raja kaluve (storm water drain) sewage treatment plant, which has 40 MLD capacity and uses Extended Aeration Process. The wastewater from north-eastern parts of Bangalore flows into…

Bangalore, India’s garden city, has slowly become the garbage city - like most major Indian cities and towns. One of the main culprits has been single use disposables like plastic carry bags, plastic and paper cups, plastic and Styrofoam plates, etc. The 'Single Use Plastic Ban campaign' has brought together MLAs and Corporators, BBMP officials, RWAs, citizen groups, activists and social organisations to stop the menace of single use disposables, and implement the waste segregation at source rule in their rspective wards. As of date, more than 20 wards in Bengaluru have already launched this campaign and almost an equal number are in…

Karnataka High Court. Pic: Akshatha M The Karnataka High Court has dismissed the petition filed by plastic manufacturers and traders challenging the State government’s decision to ban single use and non-recyclable plastic products across the State, based on technical grounds. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice Ravi Malimath dismissed the plastic manufacturers plea to grant a stay on the plastic ban. The court cited that an alternative legal remedy lies before the petitioners to question the government notification banning the manufacture, supply, sale and use of plastic products. The alternative remedy lies in the form…

Swacha Graha is a citizen-driven campaign initiated by the Solid Waste Management Round Table Bangalore to address Bengaluru’s garbage woes. The campaign challenges you to make you look at the waste you generate as a resource, just by starting three green spots. What are the three green spots? Green Spot 1: Your composting spotGreen Spot 2: Your garden where you use your compostGreen Spot 3: Your kitchen, where you cook with vegetables and greens from your garden How is Green Spot 1 beneficial? Composting is a smell-free, non-messy process which will reduce your carbon foot print. 60% of the waste…