Environment

“I have cleared my house of all the plastic bags. I cannot afford to pay Rs 5,000 as fine.” “Madam, they are saying that they will come to check our houses to see if we have plastic. Do you think they will come?” “Everyone on the road is carrying cloth bags today. Who wants to pay fine? ” “Vegetable vendors are telling us to go home and bring a bag. None of them have plastic bags.” “Will it be alright to carry this water bottle? I won’t be caught and fined, right?” The Maharashtra Plastic and Thermocol Products (Manufacture, Usage,…

Green index of Kolkata is in danger more than ever before. Management of  energy to water to waste is on a southward spiral in the developing neighbourhoods. Kolkata generates about 4000 metric tons of waste per day. Solid waste disposal is becoming a serious concern in the city since Dhapa Landfill, where most of the waste goes, is already filled to the brim. The landfill, which was set up in 1941 and has 50-feet-tall mountains of garbage, needs serious scientific reconstruction and restructuring. Firms from abroad have been consulted to start this process but they advised stopping usage of the site to get the…

This summer, Jaipur’s temperatures are soaring upwards of 40 degree Celsius. Jaipur witnessed its hottest day (as of June 4, 2018) on April 26 when a temperature of 43.2 degree Celsius was recorded. Of late, at least some parts of the city are beginning to exhibit signs of climate change typical of large cities. With more concrete and asphalt replacing natural vegetation, “urban heat islands” are becoming a reality and Jaipur is a good example of this. Urban heat islands are pockets of densely populated areas in a city where temperatures are higher than the rest of the city, thanks to packed…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship Even as green cover in Bengaluru has been steadily declining over the last few decades, some efforts to reverse this phenomena are gathering momentum. The Government of Karnataka drafted The Karnataka Tree Cover Enhancement Policy, 2016 that targeted increasing forest and tree cover from the current 21% to 33%; in cities planting was to be done in residential and other layouts, institutional lands, private lands, etc. This policy is yet to be formalised, though the Forest Department has offered to take direct charge of afforestation and tree conservation programmes instead…

Everyone agrees that Metro is an excellent mode of public transport. It improves connectivity and is good for the city. It is environmental-friendly. However, we have lost quite a number of trees at the time of Metro construction and we need to take some steps to regain the lost greenery. Most of Namma Metro is not underground. Bare metro pillars and beams have become an eyesore of our so-called Garden City. There have been news reports of BMRCL planning some vertical gardens, in which a huge metal frame holds a large number of small containers in which a variety of…

Solving their civic-woes has been a challenge for the 12 lakh residents living in the 110 villages on the outer circle in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits, in Bengaluru. Not only has the struggle to get drinking-water been unfruitful, the lack of drainage network lets the sewage accumulate in open drains and lakes, causing irreversible long-term ecological and health problems. There is, however, about to be a slight change in their plight. The infrastructural work to lay underground drainage facilities in the five zones — Mahadevapura, Byatarayanapura, Bommanahalli, Dasarahalli and RR Nagar — officially commenced on March 15,…

The districts of Tiruvallur, Chennai and Kanchipuram once boasted of a landscape densely dotted with wetlands and a lifestyle that was closely linked to the survival of these water bodies. With the boundaries of the Chennai metropolitan area considerably distended and concrete slowly creeping into the city’s many tanks and ponds, there is an urgent need to retain whatever little waterscape we are left with. The NGO Care Earth Trust, along with The Nature Conservancy and the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, has embarked on a project to restore one of South Chennai’s prominent waterbody—the Sembakkam lake. With a current water-spread area of around 100…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship On April 22nd, World Earth Day, around 400 volunteers gathered at a Government High School near Bommasandra in Bengaluru, to plant 5500 saplings that will result in a forest by 2028. This Earth Day plantation drive was organised by Say Trees, a Bengaluru-based NGO that’s actively involved in tree plantations in India. This was their 8th plantation drive using the Miyawaki method of creating a forest, introduced by Akira Miyawaki, a Japanese Botanist. This method includes planting a variety of native species close together in a small pit. The advantage:…

The theme for World Environment Day is ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ and water bodies face serious threat from plastic waste not only polluting them but also affecting the water inhabitants and ecosystem. Kere Utsava is a citizen centric event and is to create awareness, promote sustainable alternatives to plastic, educate about the impact of plastic on our environment and water bodies. We are expecting over 7000+ people including school & college children to visit the event all through the day from 6am to 5pm. Many NGOs, farmers and social enterprises will attend the event. List of activities: Event: Kere Utsava, Agara…

Pattandur Agrahara, a huge lake off ECC Road in Whitefield, is in danger of getting swallowed by land sharks. The lake is encroached by vested interests, and is also being dug up by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to build an 80-feet Road. Citizens have been protesting and taken the matter to court to save the lake. The history of Pattandur Agrahara Kere An almost 1000-year-old inscription stone dating back to 11th century was found in Pattandur Village recently. It threw an important insight into a dispute which is in court right now. Udaya Kumar PL, a Bengalurean who has…