Environment

Nishka recently turned six and to celebrate her birthday, she and her dozen friends, spent the evening at Puttenahalli Lake. Yes! It was an excited all-girls group, accompanied by Nishka's parents. The lake tour was a part of the birthday party schedule and the little girls were thrilled at being outdoors during a party.When asked why she decided to take the children to the lake, Nishka's mom, Nupur said that she wanted to do something different. "In the house we entertain them with art and craft or a video. Nishka's friends had not been to the lake and I felt the…

We all know the delight of having good food to eat when we are hungry; it must be the same for the other creatures who share our living spaces.Nature provides such a variety in the food for her various children. The food chain generally ensures that each type of creature makes another its food, and in its turn, becomes food, too. Bees on a flower. Pic: Deepa Mohan You can see, in this photo, the bees buzzing around the stamens of the flower. At the base of the stamen is the nectar that is their food, and while they get…

Prof. Elinor Ostrom, recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Economics, passed away in Indiana, United States, on 12th June, after a short and intense battle with pancreatic cancer. Her life and her ideas hold deep significance for us in Bangalore. Prof. Ostrom visiting Kaikondanahalli lake in February 2012. Pic: Harini Nagendra In February 2012, Prof. Ostrom visited Bangalore for a few days, giving the T N Khoshoo Memorial Lecture at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE). In addition, she was very keen to visit one of the sites of a recent research program that…

A new waste management centre ‘Kasa Rasa’ was inaugurated at Koramangala 5th block on 9th June 2012. This is located in the parking lot next to Hotel Empire, under the high tension lines. KSPCB chairman A S Sadashivaiah, civic activists like Meenakshi Bharath, Sandhya Narayan, N S Ramakanth and local corporator Kokila Radhakrishnan also participated. MLA Ramalinga Reddy inaugurating the newly built Kasa Rasa center at Koramangala. Pic: Sankar C G The centre is an initiative of Saahas, an NGO working for effective waste management, supported by BBMP and KSPCB. The Centre has an organic waste converter (OWC) for composting…

It has been four years since Bangalore’s Lake Development Authority (LDA), put forward a bill demanding more power and funds to protect the city’s lakes. The wait seems endless for the cabinet’s approval of the proposed LDA bill. If passed, the bill will provide both resources and enforcement power to the LDA. Construction debris being dumped on Agara Lake bed. Pic: Sankar C G Strangely the ‘authority’ was formed under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, with practically no power to act against violators. “LDA is working like a society. Lack of resources is not allowing us for a full-fledged functioning.…

On June 9th, HSR Layout 19th Main was bustling with a group of people who got together for a green drive. This was not the first such drive in Bangalore. Balbir Bora, an environmentalist and an engineer along with Kapil Sharma and several others formed an organisation called ‘Say Trees’ in 2009 and have been organizing such tree planting drives around Bangalore. Children volunteering in the event. Pic: Say Trees What was interesting about this event in HSR Layout was the huge number of young volunteers that turned up. The children helped us in digging, securing the tree guards and…

It's been two years since we formed PNLIT!  To commemorate Founder's Day, today we launch our PNLIT LAKE=LIFE T-shirts.T-shirt designThe purpose of the T-shirts is to increase awareness about the importance of lakes and PNLIT's model of citizen participation in the preservation of our Public Open Spaces. The money generated will go towards the maintenance and improvement of Puttenahalli Lake.Our thanks to Nagesh of Opus CDM for the creative design - concentric ripples of water, the reflection of the clouds with the shadow of a bird and a tree-leaf... together signifying "life" at a lake.  These "Anniversary Limited Edition" Unisex T-shirts are available in Green…

Bengalureans celebrated World environment day by contributing towards tree planting and getting an eco-friendly cloth bag in return. Citizen Matters in association with Prakruthi, an NGO focusing on ‘eco centric infotainment’ held this event at Jayanagar shopping complex on 5 June 2012. Organisers and celebrity with the eco friendly bag. Meera k (from right) Co-founder of Citizen Matters, M S Prasad, co-founder of Prakruthi, Prakash Mendoth Jayanagar Trade Association President, Vasundhara das actress and singer. Pic: Sankar C G The green event got a touch of glamour with actor-singer Vasundhara Das, actor, Bhavna, actor - singer Sunil Raoh and actor…

We have a lot of birds around us in the city. Some eat seeds, some fruits and some eat live prey. We’ve all seen sparrows pecking at the grain in the market areas, or seen parakeets pecking at ripe fruit...but some birds are predators.Even in the city, we have several predators; the most common, of course, is the crow, which will often raid the nests of other birds to eat up their eggs. But there are two common birds that actually help human beings in our city....and at least one does not deserve the bad reputation it has. Barn Owl.…

There was a shower That shook a treeA branch broke free And shut out the powerKids gathered noisilyAdults responded quickly The police arrivedThe loggers followedThey sawed the wood But left the leavesTea was servedJokes were sharedKudos were heardPictures were clickedWhile Nature witnessedAll that happenedWill this recur?Will the tree go next?Will that hurt someone?Will anyone help?Don't just wait and watch!