Environment

Many of us have small gardens or even potted plants at home, to add a touch of greenery and, as we hope, to purify the city air.  Houseplants play several beneficial roles in our home environment. They provide visual interest to the home, purify the air, and may be edible or medicinal. What many of us may not know, however, is that some of these plants can be poisonous! Toxic plants can be a hazard to children and pets, as well as to elderly persons with dementia. Though  it would be better  to keep all plants out of the reach…

His shy demeanour belies an extraordinary amount of compassion and resilience. Vignesh Mahadevan is all of 16 years old, and one of Chennai’s most passionate voices for the rights of birds and animals. Vignesh started feeding strays when he was seven years old. His first rescues were puppies that were stranded or separated from their mothers during the floods in Chennai in December 2015.  Slowly he started to rescue dogs as well. Only about 60% of the rescued dogs survive, often they have infections such as distemper and parvo (which may have prompted the owner to abandon the dog in…

In 2012, Hyderabad became the first Indian city to have a City Biodiversity Index (CBI), at least on paper. As an assessment tool, the Index is an invaluable tool for city authorities to monitor and evaluate biodiversity with a view to aid conservation efforts. Launched amid much fanfare to coincide with Hyderabad hosting the UN Convention on Biodiversity in 2012, the Index is now defunct. It has not been updated or used since its launch by Hyderabad’s civic bodies. Similarly, the Biological Diversity Act (2002) has provisions for establishing Biodiversity Management Committees in all local bodies, whether Panchayats or city…

As the new Goods and Services Tax was rolled out, sanitary pads were listed as attracting 12% GST. Following this, many women activists demanded the government waive off taxes on sanitary pads, while many others went all out to defend the taxes. As a result, the nation is finally talking about sanitary pads! A raging debate in particular was fuelled on social media by the media statements of Kannada actor and member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Malavika Avinash. A clip from Prajavani, a Kannada newspaper, made it to social media, which quoted her as saying that sanitary pads were…

Chennai’s character is defined by its resilience. The city powerfully rose to the occasion when it was hit by floods in 2015. Nature was not any kinder in 2016. Cyclone Vardah stripped the city of its green cover in December 2016. At least one lakh trees were uprooted in Chennai during Vardah, resulting in about 21 to 28 percent loss of green cover. It was observed during Vardah that native trees survived the disaster but exotic trees perished in the calamity. This is because the former have a deep-rooted system while exotic species generally have shallow roots and cannot withstand…

In this edition of CTRL Z, listen to Peeyush Sekhsaria. The artist blends his interests and training in architecture, wildlife conservation, environment, photography and drawing into a beautiful body of work that he says has become a 'toolkit to live life more meaningfully'. He also talks about how his visits to Panna Tiger Reserve resulted in the children's book 'Our Tigers Return'. https://soundcloud.com/radioactivecr90-4mhz/ctrl-z-with-architect-environmentalist-and-multi-skilled-artist-peeyush-sekhsaria

If you just happen to drive along the wide, tree-lined Southern Avenue -- aptly named for its location in the southern part of the city of Kolkata and the giant trees that form a canopy along much of its stretch -- you may not be able to fully fathom the beauty of the 192-acre lung space of the city that you have just passed by. But if you have a moment to spare and enter the sprawling precincts of the Rabindra Sarobar Lake to the south of the main thoroughfare, you will undoubtedly be drawn forever to this verdant sanctuary…

Vasanthi shares a little about her background - working in hospitals as a link worker, and in Mythrei, an NGO, prior to joining Hasirudala. She first started a Compost Santhe in Banashankari II Stage. She created awareness among those who came about how kitchen waste could be converted into compost using drums, coco pit, etc. Vasanthi talks about the challenges she faced with respect to trying to spread the message of waste segregation and composting. Listen in to know more.  

I saw this beautiful moth on the staircase of my apartment building,  day before yesterday.... I called it the military camouflage moth, but the correct name for this is the Oleander Hawk Moth, in the Sphinx moth family Sphingidae. The scientific name of the moth is Daphnus nerii. Military camouflage moth was simpler, perhaps? The caterpillar of this Moth, like that of many others, has several "instars" or forms. Here's one: The head of the caterpillar is actually towards the right...the "eyes" are probably to fool a possible predator with that appearance of fierceness. These caterpillars actually feed on the Oleander…

District Lions Service Foundation (DLSF-317 A) has built a 'Lions Centennial Clock Tower to commemorate successful completion of 100 years of service to mankind. The Lions Centennial Clock Tower is built at RBI Layout play ground, Phase 7, JP Nagar. The centennial clock tower comprises of a large clock with an hourly chime, bust of legendary Lions founder Lion Melvin Jones and large Lions logo which stood as a common identity for Lions over the last 100 years. It was inaugurated on 30th June 2017, by M Krishnappa, MLA , Bangalore South Constituency in the presence of Shashi Rekha Jayaram,…