Environment

Garbage is now a resource for residents of Mayflower block in Brigade Millennium apartment in JP Nagar. With our Zero Waste initiative, we are getting revenue instead of paying for garbage clearance. Zero Waste Management Team: (from left) Sharanappa S, Gayatri Gopalkrishnan, Swarupa Daithankar, Prakash P. Pic: Sanjeev Daithankar The initiative started in 2008, but was not successful because of low response from residents. Earlier we had a common chute facility to push down waste. Today segregated waste is collected door-to-door from all 220 flats, and we have closed the chute. We thank residents for their support in achieving this.…

Bangalore-based Environment Support Group was given the 2012 UN-Water "Water for Life" Best Practices Award for it unprecedented legal work on protection of Bangalore's lakes. ESG's trustee and coordinator Leo Saldanha received the award at a ceremony held at the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, at Rome on 22nd March, World Water Day. As some readers may already know, ESG has been on a major initiative for several years to protect Bangalore's lakes. Its litigation work has led to direct supervision of local government protection efforts by the Karnataka High Court itself. Leo Saldanha (right), Coordinator, ESG,…

March 20th is International Sparrow day, to mark this special day BCIL-ZED (Biodiversity Conservation India Private Limited- Zero Energy Development) foundation and Zoo authority of Karnataka, is holding an international conference on sparrows. The conference being organised in association with Gandhi Krishi Vignyan Kendra, Department of Forests, Department of Urban Development along with institutes such as Christ college and St Joseph college at St. Joseph's college auditorium. The objective of this event is to conserve bio diversity, understand best management practices to sustain wild life and to identify different species of sparrows, their food, feeding and habitats. Around 1200 delegates…

Nature is sometimes only as far away as one's window! Here's the view from an apartment balcony: I can see four kinds of trees. Pic: Deepa Mohan One can see the roads and transport and one can also see four different types of trees in the picture.Framing the photograph at right and left, are some of the most common trees in India, the coconut palm. What a wonderful tree it is, with every part of it being useful to us...the palm fronds used for thatches, brooms and pandals for auspicious occasions; the coconuts being useful as one of the few…

There's been plenty of loss felt at the cutback on trees due to Bengaluru's rapid expansion. Equally, there has also been anger felt at the enthusiasm of city authorities to build all over the city and uproot trees, virtually at will, on questionable projects. Bengaluru's ‘Garden city' tag has thus been under a cloud for a while now, especially for new comers who only find a city jammed with traffic and dust-laden air. Citizens have tried to hit back. While the most evident form has been increasing protests and action at the High Courts, another movement has been quietly mushrooming.…

Rajee Shanker, a resident of Kalyan Nagar is troubled by falling leaves on all roads and empty sites, “For the past 5 months,  nobody has been entrusted with cleaning of roads and removal of leaves".This is a common issue in all residential areas in the city especially the winter/post winter season. BBMP workers often burn the leaves, so their job becomes easier, inspite of the Commissioner’s order otherwise.BBMP’S RESPONSEResponding to complaints of leaf burning in the Organic Terrace Gardening Forum, Bangalore's composting evangelist Vani Murthy (who has documented her leaf composting process here) shared the contact details of the BBMP…

The Byrasandra lake, situated in Jayanagar, which was once almost sold, is now set to be rejuvenated. The lake area was under a land dispute as it was allegedly sold by Indian Overseas Bank in an auction for a sum of Rs.7.60 crores. Citizen Matters's 29 Jul 2010 article has a detailed report on the various developments of the lake. Pic: Deepthi M S With the local people's initiative, the lake is now moving towards development. The fencing work at Byrasandra lake has started from 17 February.The lake development project was inaugurated by Ananth Kumar, MP, BJP. It will be…

We'd taken our birder friend from Kerala to the Kaikondanahalli Lake. We were greeted by the spot-billed ducks and purple moorhens. And at twilight a big flock of Lesser Whistling Ducks took off (about 200); the sight and sound of a big whistling flock is quite a sensation. It was fairly dark when we reached the swamp area. "Sandpipers" and a friend pointed to activity in the swamp. "Sandpipers" quicky turned to "ringed plover? Painted Snipe!". We could hardly believe our luck. We did try our luck at shooting them too (Snipers, we are not!). We saw at least 3…

Did you know your city was a rocky, barren plateau 250 years ago? Since then, starting with the Tigers of Mysore, followed by botanists and horticulture authorities, Bengaluru managed to become home to one of the greatest collection of trees from around the world. Vijay Thiruvady. Pic: Rajeev Rajagopalan This is the foreword in a new book, Heritage Trees, in and around Bangalore, by Vijay Thiruvady, 70, Koramangala-resident and Trustee at the Bangalore Environment Trust (BET). BET is also the book's publisher. Thiruvady is an engineer-turned naturalist better known in recent years for leading the Lalbagh Green Heritage Walks.No less…

For a BBMP pourakarmika, this would perhaps rank as the worst time of the year as s/he would be constantly required to sweep the streets. Those in independent houses with a garden and trees would be filling the leaves in several black garbage bags everyday, perhaps even having to pay a little something to have it cleared. As apartment dwellers, leaves shed from the tree probably do not feature as easily on our radar. But if you are trying to learn all things related to creating and managing a healthy terrace garden, like me, you would rush to collect and…