Environment

Home to several prominent hospitals, malls, office complexes, restaurants and residential areas, Parel is a busy, bustling ward in central Mumbai. With more public spaces, the responsibility of waste management and effective ways to manage it rests largely with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). And the civic body has done well. Parel, or the F/S Ward of Mumbai, has the best performance in solid waste management, according to recently released report on civic issues by Praja Foundation. The report goes into the details and statistics of solid waste management (SWM), sewage treatment, and pollution among other civic issues. The report…

I have been living, eating, breathing, and sleeping plastics. And I am not saying this, as a campaigner or as an anti plastic advocate, or because I have been following the discussions of the #GlobalPlasticTreaty. I am saying this literally. “We all are”. The latest pointer to the all pervasiveness of plastic pollution being the discovery of  microplastics in human blood. There have been other studies that have shown plastic ingestion by fish and other marine mammals, by insects and birds, apart from studies that plastic is in our water and food.   So, how much more proof do we need? Do…

In a bid to increase the green cover in Chennai, the Greater Chennai Corporation started setting up Miyawaki forests in different parts of the city in 2020. It has been three years since these green spaces cropped up. As per the last Annual Forest Report in 2021, Chennai has 7.24% of forest cover out of its total geographical area. The report also notes that the forest cover has increased by 26% from 2011 to 2021 in Chennai. What is a Miyawaki forest? It is a Japanese method of creating a forest by planting native trees close to each other to…

"Plastic found in the stomach of fish" read a recent, alarming headline. The increasing instance of such findings shows how the issue of marine litter poses a growing threat to marine biodiversity and the health of human beings, as marine litter in its various forms makes its way into the food chain. A study conducted by the Tamil Nadu government found that people living around 19 estuaries in the state, including those around Ennore Creek, Cooum and Adyar estuary, could be ingesting microplastics by including fish in their diet. A total of 23 polymers were identified across all the estuaries.…

A recent post by the Greater Chennai Corporation on Instagram read: "Avoid stepping out between 12 pm and 3 pm" to escape the harsh effects of the heat wave. However, Raasathi*, a GCC conservancy worker, says that she begins at 5.30 am and ends work at 2 pm. There has been no intervention to change their work timings from the civic body. She is forced to go to work during these hours, failing which she will not get that day's wages. Many of the civic body's own projects have workers working during these hours, under the menacing stare of the…

The last winter was probably Shimla’s strangest and most disappointing one in a long, long time. The only snow the city got was in two or three mild spells. There were no scenes of the pretty snow covered Shimla streets and homes. “This is a big change we are seeing in the weather in the course of one lifetime” says Raaja Bhasin, Shimla author and historian. Not just Shimla but other parts of Himachal Pradesh have also been witnessing strange weather. Primarily more wet days than expected and abrupt increases in daily temperatures. Una for instance, a district bordering Punjab…

Many key players in the space of Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services (IT & ITES) in Chennai are located in OMR, Perungudi, Thoraipakkam, Navalur and Siruseri. Over the past few decades, the number of offices in the area has grown exponentially. With many jobs available, large apartment complexes began to be built to cater to the needs of the people. The population along the IT corridor now runs into lakhs. Unfortunately for the residents, the area is also home to the Perungudi dump yard, one of the city’s two dump yards. Much of the solid waste from all…

For years, the environment and earth have slowly been decaying, slipping away from our grasp little by little. A few noticed, and many didn't.  The global surface temperature has been measured since 1880 at a network of ground-based and ocean-based sites. Over the last century, the Earth's average surface temperature has risen by about 1⁰C. The eleven warmest years this century have all occurred since 1980, with 2016 being the warmest on record. Coastal regions are getting warmer in summers and colder in winters as the years pass. The average temperature margin between summers and winters is increasing everywhere. Hundreds…

Tracing the truth behind the claims made by the previous government that "47 lakes had been developed under the Nava Nagarothana scheme at the cost of Rs 317.25 crore”, the author of this series, in a ground report, examines the state of Bengaluru's lakes. In the first part, he provides a detailed insight into the actual condition of three lakes, where rejuvenation was supposedly carried out. These were: Doddakallasandra lake, Kothanur Lake, Chunchaghatta lake, and Yelachenahalli lake. In the second part, the author--who is a birdwatcher, a naturalist, and a passionate conservationist--gives detailed reports on the status of two other lakes: Gowdanapalya…

For nearly eight to nine months in a year, the mangrove swamps by Thane creek become a sojourn for the seasonal exodus of flamingoes that migrate from Kutch. It is said that Rann of Kutch is the breeding ground and Mumbai, the feeding ground of these majestic birds. Mumbai Metropolitan Region has two IBAs (Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas) in Sewri Mudflat and Thane Creek. According to Deepak Apte, former Director at Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), these areas sustain about 70,000 waders and 1,20,000 flamingoes during peak ‘wintering’ months. These hotspots are well-known, but there are lesser known ‘sanctuaries’…