Environment

A group of ten children, was seen cleaning up a dirty plot in BTM Layout on Ramzan . They managed to pick twelve large bags of trash. Here is their story. Two 16-year-olds, Vivek and Adhesh from Sri Kumaran’s Children’s Home started Bangalore Trash Mob as a social action project for schools, and this has now become an ongoing community service with the help of their friends. Despite being busy with board exams, they found time to conduct two mobs last year. On Ramzan holiday, while a majority of children spent time with their gadgets, hung around in malls or…

A sacred fig tree used as a place of worship. Pic: currentconservation.org It is a common sight to see a tree protruding onto a pavement, often onto the street and sometimes even acting as a divider in the centre of the road. These are trees that have survived the axe-happy city-planning authorities just by their nature of being classified culturally as Sacred Trees. Divya Gopal, Harini Nagendra elaborate on the importance of these trees and the reasons they have survived the onslaught of development in the city, in an article, Sacred trees in the urban landscape of Bangalore, India, published…

This article intends to understand how discarded vegetables and fruits in supermarkets of Bengaluru can be provided to cattle rather than letting them wastefully rot to become a breeding ground for diseases in rainy days. Common vendor and big marts inefficiently handle vegetables/ fruits rather than utilising them better. They don't know how it can be prevented from rotting. Many a times they simply sell the rotting stuff at lower costs to consumers who can't afford higher prices. In most big retail marts, fruits like apples are often concealed by covering them with labels/stickers, by applying wax at the places…

The monsoon is a love - hate season. You may hate the wetness, the puddles, the sniffling noses, darkness of the skies, the difficulty in waking up, but you can't deny that it is magical time with the cooing of the cuckoo, dancing of the peacock, crispy pakodas, hot chai ... the list is endless! Let's celebrate the Magical Monsoon!! Paint your favourite monsoon scenes!! Tell your rainy day tales!! Date: Saturday August 9th Time: 5 pm to 6 30 pm Venue: Gazebo, Puttenahalli Lake (of course!) Admission is open and free, however, we do welcome your donations to PNLIT!…

In Bengaluru, vehicular pollution and dust are the major contributors to air pollution, and as listed earlier in this series, they cause several health and environmental problems. While the dust is mostly from construction activities, the air currents and constant vehicular motion keep the pollutants in circulation all the time. There is no single solution to mitigate air pollution given the number of government agencies involved and the heterogenous mix of vehicle users and commuters. In this article, we look at the role individual road users play. On an average, 6734 BMTC buses ferry 49,50,000 passengers in 79677 bus trips…

The 124-acre Doddabommasandra Lake (located in Vidyaranyapura area of north Bangalore) is now richer by 1500 saplings! Yesterday morning (Sunday, 27th July 2014) more than 950 people of all ages participated in a major tree planting activity, as a part of the neighbourhood's lake rejuvenation efforts.  For the senior citizens, the event was one that evoked memories of old Bangalore, when everybody participated in "community" activities without having to be invited. The message just carried in the air and everyone would be there!  Though the event was not widely publicised, word of mouth proved to be very effective. People brought…

The High Court directed Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to reopen the processing unit in Mavallipura, by allowing upto 300 tonnes of pure segregated wet waste to be composted. The two-judge Divisional Bench headed by N Kumar and Nagarathna gave the order in the special hearing that took place in High Court of Karnataka on July 17, 2014. The 40-acre landfill has been leased out to Ramky Infrastructure Pvt.Ltd for 25 years, in which there is a part that has a processing unit. The Judge, N Kumar said that instead of lying unused, this should be used to process pure…

There are finally corporators who are walking the talk on managing waste. Smt Nandini Srinivasa and Sri ME Pillappa (BBMP Wards 9 and 10 respectively) are taking a personal interest in trying to alleviate the Mandur mess. On the Facebook page Vidyaranyapura-The Original, Smt Srinivasa's post reads: We all know that most of the waste collected in Bangalore is being dumped near Mandur and that is creating health and environment problems to Mandur residents and nearby villages. To avoid this we request you to attend an event “From Waste to Wealth” on 20th July 2014, Sunday at Narasipura Lake. We are thankful to…

Compact Fluorescent Lamps fall under e-waste category, however Bangalore does not have a system to recycle them. Pic: Wikimedia and Wikihow We feel good about the savings Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) achieve in terms of energy efficiency and cost, and the bright lights that light up our homes. The city of Bengaluru sees high CFL usage. However, once a CFL loses its life, what does one do? Throw it carelessly into dustbin away from one’s eyes, and forget it? What happens to it then? Here’s what happens. The CFL light joins a pile of garbage, tied inside a plastic cover.…

Vehicular traffic causes maximum air pollution in Bangalore city. Benagluru’s air may not be the most polluted in the country, but it is among the top 15 polluted cities in the country with its particulate matter increasing over the years and nitrogen dioxide levels way above permissible limits. It is a known fact that the transport sector is a major contributor to air pollution in the city with the vehicular population inching towards 50 lakh vehicles on the roads. Ozone, carbon, ions, molecular markers of particulate matter, sulphates are significantly high at many locations were studies have been conducted. In…