Environment

In 1978, as the city of Seoul in South Korea 'developed', a 6 km. long river called the Cheonggyecheon was covered up. An 8-lane street was built over it, and an elevated expressway built over the street. The road was called Cheonggye Road, in memory of the late river.In 2005 the elevated expressway and the road were broken up and the river restored. It took two  years and the equivalent of Rs. 4000 crore for the restoration. 2002 : Seoul's Cheonggyecheon river in its avatar as a road. Pic source: G V Dasarathi. 2005 : Seoul's Cheonggyecheon river after its…

It was 7:30 AM on June 1st, when Anush Shetty spotted a Pied Cuckoo at the Valley School campus on Kanakapura road, just perched by the trail. The Pied Cuckoo is associated with monsoon in India, flying from Africa across the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean every year around June. Shetty has also spotted other migratory birds such as Ashy Drongo and Verditer Flycatcher at Lalbagh and Valley school campuses in the last few months. Shetty, an engineer working at a startup firm near South End circle (Jayanagar), is part of a volunteer team or citizen scientists, taking part…

Green Commandos, in collaboration with Green Connect, kick-started its ‘Say no to Plastic’ campaign at MC Hall, Building 1, Infosys Campus, Electronic City, Hosur Road. The campaign would cover around 700 areas in Bangalore. Justice Venkatachaliah, chief guest of the event inaugurated the campaign.Green Commandos is a ‘Bottom Up’ program of change where people need to get involved to change the system. In all 700 locations where they propose to launch this initiative, Green Commandos will engage local people in their respective areas to make their neighborhood plastic-free. Each area will range approximately 2 km with 1,000-1,200 people being pulled…

In early 2006, many non-profit and community based organizations like SICHREM, ESG, Sangama, OpenSpace, Stree Jagruti Samiti et al and individuals (like yours truly) working with marginalized persons and social issues in and around Bangalore felt the need for an open, informal gathering and expression of life, our spirit and beliefs. The idea crystallized into Namma Jathre, Our Festival signifying that it is an event by and for everyone. When we first held the Jathre at Cubbon Park in November 2006, nearly 40 citizen's groups and 7000 people including the general public participated. This increased to over 40 organizations and…

Most festivals irrespective of religion are these days scrutinised for the impact they have on environment. Ganesh Chaturthi is one such festival. Environmentalists say that the plaster of paris and toxic paints used in making Ganesha idols, when immersed in lakes and pond harm the environment. Cycle Race at National College Grounds. Pic: Deepak. But this unique celebration at National College grounds in Jayanagar was not merely environment friendly but also encouraged the use of cycles which is one of the most humble and powerful solutions to the grave environmental problems we face today.RideACycle Foundation (RAC-F), organised a cycle race…

Doesn't it look like the two trees at Lalbagh Gardens are dancing arm in arm, or rather, branch in branch! ⊕

Amidst the colourful displays of dinosaurs, teddy bears and the mermaid, this cacti plant stood out, at the Independence Day Flower Show at Lalbagh. ⊕

  The Social Responsibility Committee (SRC) of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bangalore, conducted a Biking Awareness Workshop at their campus on the 31st of July in association with Ride A Cycle Foundation, B-Twin, Merida & Bangalore Bikers Club. The event was a continuation of the Go Green Campaign conducted by SRC, SIBM-B. Last year, the campaign focused on sapling plantation. This time around the objective was to sell 'biking' as a cool option which is environment friendly. Bangalore Bikers Club is currently the largest biking club of its kind in the country, with a membership base of more than…

There are those who use plastic bags (saying they had little choice), those who re-use plastic bags and then those who refuse plastic bags. Or so I thought, till I met Trupti Godbole and heard of the work she was involved with in her neighbourhood.Two years ago, as part of the Republic Day celebrations organised by their Residents' Welfare Association – Uthkarsh - Trupti and her neighbour Sarita Kotagiri listened to the invitee speaker P Venkatramanan of RISE (a resident association in Indiranagar) talk about the menace and danger of using plastic bags. Shocked to hear that on an average,…

The other day, a friend from Hasiru Usiru got news that some trees were being felled at a construction site near the Indian Express building. A few people including me went to investigate and see if we could do anything about it.  It didn't take us very long to discover the site. When this group reached the spot, we discovered that trees had not been felled as yet, but branches of one tree had been pruned and pruned rather extensively. On asking the contractors if they intended to cut the trees which were in the vicinity, they said that they…