Development/Growth
Kannaiyan writes: In July 2014, in his first public event as a newly-elected prime minister, Modi called for a standing ovation for India’s farmers. He wanted to craft an image of a farmers’ leader. Two years on, I’m sitting in my farm in Gattawady village, Erode, Tamil Nadu, filled with mixed feelings. Here is why….
Read More about A farmer’s message for Narendra Modi
Thermal Power Station at Raichur, Karnataka
ENERGY
Shripad Dharmadhikary reports: As the summer has progressed, stories of the impacts of drought and water scarcity have been coming up, mostly highlighting the conditions of farmers, cattle and problems of domestic water supplies in villages, towns and cities. However, what’s not reported is the situation with industries, particularly the coal based thermal power plants….
Read More about Thermal power plants: Giant water-guzzlers in drought-ridden India
Construction on the Yamuna floodplains by Art of Living Foundation
Conserve/Resist
This March, the central government set the ball rolling on a new set of rules intended, supposedly, to protect India’s wetlands. In this special feature, we present articles that look at the state of wetlands, and critically examine the new legislation, which many fear is a case of the cure being worse than the disease….
Read More about Spotlight: New legislation threatens India’s already endangered wetlands
CLIMATE CRISIS
While the economy has achieved resilience from drought impact, rural communities across the country continue to face the wrath of monsoon failure, leading to distressed selling of lands, movable assets, and migration. This is aggravating poverty of the people affecting their nutritional standards rendering them more vulnerable to disease and ill-health and loss of productivity….
Read More about Warming world: Can India cope with drought?
Representative pic
Conserve/Resist
EcoWatch reports: Norway has become the first country to ban deforestation. The Norwegian Parliament pledged May 26 that the government’s public procurement policy will be deforestation-free. Any product that contributes to deforestation won’t be used in the Scandinavian country. Norway’s action plan also includes a requires the government to exercise due care in biodiversity protection….
Read More about Norway becomes world’s first country to ban deforestation
Culture/Cognition
Aseem Shrivastava writes: A species that endangers other species endangers itself. This simple lesson in interdependence is the first principle of ecology, a commonsensical science of such far-reaching and enduring contemporary significance as to merit a compulsory education for all humans; for nothing is more perilous for human destiny today than ecological illiteracy and myopia….
Read More about Who is the dumb primate, really?Economy
There’s No Tomorrow is a half-hour animated documentary about resource depletion, energy and the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet, a theme that rarely finds its way to the mainstream media. Inspired by the pro-capitalist cartoons of the 1940s, the film is an introduction to the critical energy dilemmas facing the world today….
Read More about Video: There Is No Tomorrow: A short film on resource depletion
Conserve/Resist
Nihar Gokhale writes: In environmental policy, there’s one Supreme Court case that beat all others: TN Godavarman Thirumalpad versus Union of India and others. Writ Petition (Civil) 202 of 1995. On 1 June, days before World Environment Day, the man who lent his name to the most iconic environment case in the country, passed away….
Read More about Obituary: TN Godavarman: the man behind India’s biggest environment court case
ALTERNATIVES
Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell, said the author Edward Abbey. This quote provides perspective into the human paradigm responsible for our current ecological crises, including climate change. These multiple indications should be enough to stimulate our common sense into believing that immediate actions are to be taken….
Read More about Red alert: Why we need to act now to counter climate change
Economy
Gail Tverberg writes: Growth in energy consumption is dependent on the growth of debt. Both energy and debt have characteristics that are close to “magic” when it comes to economic growth, which can only take place when debt (or a close substitute, such as company stock) is available to enable the use of energy products….
Read More about Debt: The key factor connecting energy and the economy
Sea level rise has washed away more than 50% of Ghoramara island, Sunderbans
Daesung Lee
CLIMATE CRISIS
Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy writes: Droughts, floods, heat & cold waves will keep threatening India. We can’t expect the Paris agreement to solve the crisis associated with these extreme weather events. The way to minimize their impact is through adaptive measures by understanding the mechanism in which they occur, by quantifying the agro-climate of a region….
Read More about Precautionary measures for natural calamities: A letter to the Prime Minister
Education/Awareness
Daniel Fagella writes: Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence have led to fears of elimination of jobs or destruction of life as we know it. But are these fears legitimate? To help shed light on this, TechEmergence asked over 30 AI researchers on what they believe is the most likely AI-related risk. Here are their responses….
Read More about Just how scary is Artificial Intelligence? A survey among the expertsECOCIDE/EXTINCTION
Forty-four years ago, representatives of 114 countries met in Stockholm. It was the first time the world had come together to think about climate change at the UN Conference on the Human Environment. At the conference, Indira Gandhi, the only head of state in attendance, gave a seminal speech on climate change and poverty alleviation….
Read More about Video: Scenes from the 1972 conference that led to World Environment Day
ALTERNATIVES
Frances Moore Lappé writes: The primary obstacle to sustainable food security is an economic model and thought system, embodied in industrial agriculture, that views life in disassociated parts, obscuring the destructive impact this has on humans, natural resources, and the environment. The emerging alternative, relational approach —agroecology— has already shown promising success on the ground….
Read More about Farming for a small planet: Agroecology now!
NEWS ARCHIVE
Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, secretary of the Union ministry of earth sciences, tells Nitin Sethi in an interview, “We did an analysis of observational data of temperatures in different parts of the country. We found that the frequency of heat waves is increasing in the key April-June season. Duration of the heat waves is also increasing.”…
Read More about NEWS UPDATE #98ALTERNATIVES
In Defence of Life follows the struggles and triumphs of four rural communities resisting large-scale mining projects in Colombia, Philippines, South Africa and Romania. Courageous environmental and human rights defenders from these communities describe how they have suffered and why they are standing firm to protect their families, land, water and life from destruction by mining….
Read More about Video: In Defence of Life: Stories of community resistance to mining
ALTERNATIVES
Shonali Muthalaly writes: After all, ‘natural’ is an easy term to manipulate — bio-fertilisers and bio pesticides are technically natural too. When the farmer controls the entire process, using dung from village cattle, neem cakes and local earthworms, it’s a simpler, cleaner, and more straightforward process. It also means that the farmer has full control….
Read More about Does buying organic food also mean you are eating responsibly?
ECOCIDE/EXTINCTION
Colin Todhunter writes: Powerful corporations hold sway over a globalised system of food and agriculture from seed to plate. The narrative about farming has been shaped to benefit this handful of influential corporations. With major mergers within the agribusiness sector in the pipeline, power will be further consolidated and the situation is likely to worsen….
Read More about From the Green Revolution to GMOs: Living in the shadow of global agribusinessENERGY
Akhil Kumar reports: Citing an investigation conducted by the finance ministry’s Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Ashish Khetan, AAP member and vice-chairman of the Delhi Dialogue Commission, has written to PM Narendra Modi demanding swift action in what he says is a massive scam in which major Indian power companies have been siphoning off public money offshore….
Read More about Video: AAP Leader Ashish Khetan alleges “massive power scam” involving Adani, Ambani and Essar
CLIMATE CRISIS
This year is the hottest in history: every single month in 2016 so far has set a heat record. Slow, linear change is giving way to non-linear lurches. Extend the present temperature trend for another few months and we may go beyond the threshold of 1.5 degrees. How long until we get to two degrees? Three?…
Read More about Richard Heinberg: The boiling pot: A graphic story
