Environment

The receding rains and the advent of summer is the time when the lush green landscape in Bangalore turns to crisp brown. Rain-fed lakes are just about holding out, trying hard not to become parched playgrounds. This summer-time drying kills off aquatic weeds and gives fresh life to the lakes before the next rains. Lake care-takers get an opportunity to attend to the lake beds, repair silt traps, clear out water inlets, and do other things that need to be done before the onset of the next monsoon. The grass, weeds and many of the plants on lake revetments, dry…

Today, March 20, is World Sparrow Day. During my childhood in Bangalore in the 1970s-80s, sparrows were a part of our everyday life, much the way rock pigeons just merge with the high-rise landscape today.  Scores of sparrows would be all over the backyard, chirping on the pomegranate and guava trees. Unafraid of humans, the sparrows hopped around on the ground whenever mom cleaned the rice, in expectation of falling grains. (Yes, the rice used to have stones that needed to be removed, and chaff that would blow away in the wind as the rice was tossed up and down on…

The residents of Bellandur, Koramangala and HSR Layout in Bengaluru, who have been fighting over the months to get the government to stop the mega project coming up on the wetland lying between Agara and Bellandur lakes, finally are resorting to a massive protest, to make their voices heard louder. The protest will be held on Sunday, March 23, 2014, at 10.30 am. The project is said to be violating the conditions set by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board, namely not altering the sloping pattern, not encroaching the drains etc. Despite this, the project developers Mantri Techzone Pvt Ltd…

One of the major challenges encountered in the maintenance of Puttenahalli Lake, JP Nagar is water weeds. Some months ago, the blog post "Grappling with Water Weeds" described the experiences of PNLIT in managing the weeds at Puttenahalli Lake, along with thoughts for the future. Read the full post here.     Weed control at Puttenahalli Lake is generally done by manual removal of weeds, though Biological control has been tried as well. Weed removal, if not done regularly, is expensive. Regular weed removal needs a regular labour force, which is difficult to get. Labourers and contractors are not interested in…

To understand what unexpected thing V and X did next, and why they did it, it is essential to know what they had done the previous day, at the same garbage dump. They had done a quick session of garbage forensics – or dump fingerprinting! If you saw the recent movie – Zero Dark Thirty – on the capture of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, it had one crucial garbage-related clue that revealed Osama’s hideout in the compound at Abbottabad, a stone’s throw away from the Pakistani military academy.  It was the “absence of garbage” emanating from this particular compound…

Lakes in Bengaluru invoke the same awe as does the Ganga at Varanasi or the Yamuna in Delhi. Indeed lakes are very special to the city of Bangalore. Without any river passing by, lakes were the natural source of water for the plateau, now called Bangalore. Lakes have been the lifeline of the city and its surroundings till recently. Credible accounts exist as to how the Sankey Tank served as a source of drinking water till quite recently. The dependence on the lakes started easing in the sixties, thanks to bountiful supply from the Cauvery.   Bangalore has grown exponentially…

More than 500 residents of Yelahanka spent a few hours on Sunday 9th March 2014, learning how to grow vegetables and fruits at home, and in the process, manage their kitchen waste too. This was at the gardening and waste management training, organised by Yelahanka United Environment Association (YUVA) at Allasandra Lake park in Yelahanka New Town. The programme was conducted by the Department of Horticulture, Government of Karnataka under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana scheme. Dr K. Ramakrishnappa, Additional Director of Horticulture, Govt of Karnataka spoke about the benefits of kitchen and terrace gardening. In this age of pesticide-driven agriculture, he said that many of the…

630 am, the sun rises, and suddenly there is activity. A gaunt man in a white shirt and dhoti emerges from a dilapidated colonial bungalow and sets up a tea stall outside the Coconut Grove restaurant, and soon there is a swarm of customers huddled together in the morning cold. Security guards, street sweepers, sanitation workers, newspaper delivery men suddenly materialize. V and X desperately need a chai. They blend in, making small talk with this motley group – there is a certain warmth among the customers of a roadside tea-stall in the morning quiet, and V and X were…

My memories of Neralu, Bangalore's first crowd funded tree fiesta held in around Cubbon Park on 8th and February 9th 2014.   We walkedand talkedabout trees,birds and bees There were songs and dancesof green romancesplays, talesand tree inhalescrafts and artsseeds and plant partshugs galorefor our beloved trees of Bangalore So, let's say "1, 2, tree"And set ourselves free!

Pic: WCG Avenue trees have provided unconditional shade and shelter, not only to fauna and avi-fauna, but also to human beings from time immemorial. We have depended on these old pillars of nature who've existed for centuries. Today we might not feel the need for them, because we have air-conditioned environments inside cities; but they continue to give so much to the living world around.   To ensure that we are reminded of the presence and importance of trees, the Wildlife Conservation Group (WCG), a local group interested in conservation, is organising a Tree Documentation event on March 8th and…