CLIMATE CRISIS
Bhamy Shenoy writes in Deccan Herald: There is a comforting thought that the fall in solar energy and wind energy prices, and their greater adaption will provide solution to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Often ignored or overlooked reality is the difficulty in reforming the existing energy scenario both in the developed and developing countries….
Read More about Paris Climate Summit: A success? A failure? Or a fraud?
CLIMATE CRISIS
We are already seeing chatter about whether this is our last chance to “save the world” or keep us below 2°C of global warming. But that’s the wrong way to think about Paris. They’re not designed to do that. The actual goal is more modest: to add structure and momentum to efforts that are already underway….
Read More about NEWS UPDATE #75 (Climate special)
Protesters near the Kudankulam nuclear plant
Reuters
Digests/Specials
India drastically lowers nuclear energy target Deccan Herald With little progress on ground since the 2008 Indo-US nuclear agreement, the government has drastically cut the nuclear energy target from 63,000 Mwe by 2032 to just about 14,500 Mwe by 2024. Quiet Burial For India-US Nuclear Deal? Amit Bhandari, Gateway House Solar power developers have offered…
Read More about Special: Nuclear power wanes as solar rises worldwideCLIMATE CRISIS
Outlook Magazine Mangroves in peril Navi Mumbai airport site How The NDA Is Whittling Down Green Norms Change in definition of no-go area in dense forest, leaving more area open for project Keeping powers with the Centre to even allow projects in ‘no-go areas’ of dense forests Proposal to allow firms to take over afforestation,…
Read More about In the news: Modi govt and the state of the environmentCLIMATE CRISIS
Sajai Jose As Greenpeace India struggles to stay afloat, the real reason why the government wants to shut down the global environmental NGO hasn’t got much attention: Coal, the single biggest source of primary energy in India, is at the heart of the Narendra Modi government’s ambitious plans to ramp up industrial production in the country. Source: World Resources Institute…
Read More about Why Greenpeace is first on the chopping blockCLIMATE CRISIS
Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Extend the Age of Oil Peter Waldman, Bloomberg.com Last Novemeber, Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s petroleum minister and the world’s de facto energy czar, told his OPEC counterparts they should maintain output to protect market share from rising supplies of U.S. shale oil, which costs more to get out of the ground…
Read More about News update
Conflict/Dispossession
Rohini Mohan reports: In under a year, the Modi government has begun to undo policies of fair land acquisition, undermine environmental protection and reverse the fight for tribal rights. The finance, environment and rural-development ministers, and Modi himself, have called these safeguards to protect people’s property, the environment and tribal rights “roadblocks” to economic growth….
Read More about Narendra Modi’s war on the environmentCLIMATE CRISIS
India Struggling Between International Image & Equity at Lima Climate Talks Dispatches from COP 20, Lima by Kabir, What’s With The Climate Indian government delegation is warming up for a test match like scenario at COP 20 in Lima. It seems that India in coordination with other developing countries will push for Adaptation, Adaptation, and Adaptation…
Read More about News update
Conflict/Dispossession
Basudev Mahapatra writes: Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, has “delinked forest clearance from clearance by the National Wild Life Board and halved NBWL clearance requirements from 10km to 5km around forest reserves, besides emasculating the Board by replacing eminent experts and concerned NGOs with rubber stamps. He has also relaxed procedures of the Forest Conservation Act….
Read More about Rohini Mohan: The Modi Government’s war on environmentCLIMATE CRISIS
Ebola: Uncharted territory for a system in overshoot Mary Odum, Prosperouswaydown.com We are in uncharted territory with the Ebola virus disease (EVD). This pandemic signifies a turning point for society in response to peak oil, highlighting the problem of globalization for a planet of 7 billion people. We have lost control of a deadly outbreak, and our responses to…
Read More about News updateCLIMATE CRISIS
Could Fighting Global Warming Be Cheap and Free? Paul Krugman, The New York Times In his latest column, well-known NYT columnist Krugman attacks, among others, the Post Carbon Institute, a leading think tank on Peak Oil and Climate Change, as wrong-headed and inducing “climate despair”. In a piece titled Paul Krugman’s Errors and Omissions the Post Carbon Institute’s Richard…
Read More about News update
Conflict/Dispossession
Basic protections to safeguard the environment, that were not particularly strong to begin with, are being wiped out. While in general, faster moving transparent government processes are required, the Modi government’s predilection for protecting private corporations at the expense of public welfare, does not bode well for the environment nor the well-being of India’s peoples….
Read More about Modi and the Environment: The 100 day reportCLIMATE CRISIS
Greenhouse Gas Pollution Sees Fastest Rise From The Scientific American Despite some recent regional reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and other industrial nations, the total concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continues its upward march at an unprecedented rate, the World Meteorological Organization has announced. Stand by for the ‘megadroughts’,…
Read More about News update
CLIMATE CRISIS
Kabir Arora writes: According to Modi, it is not climate which is changing, it is humans who have changed. And for the same reason, a meagre Rs. 100 Cr. have been set aside for climate change adaptation. Yes Mr. PM, humans have changed a lot, and have made climate far more variable than ever before….
Read More about Exposing the hypocrisy of Modi government on the environment
Development/Growth
Jay Mazoomdar writes: Narendra Modi does mean business. So his government has gone about eliminating the policy paralyses that many claimed ailed the previous regime. This meant dismantling roadblocks that hamper economic growth. But here is what also happens to be under fire: laws and rules that safeguard India’s environment, forests, wildlife, and tribal rights….
Read More about 11 environmental disasters Narendra Modi blessed in his first 100 daysALTERNATIVES
ENERGY STRATEGY FOR INDIA BY 2035 Presenting a new vision for a totally clean and green, fossil fuel-free energy strategy for our COUNTRY (by Concerned Members of NGOs) There is a pressing need to think about a fossil fuel-less future, because according to many experts, fossil fuels have already peaked, and may be exhausted by 2030…
Read More about Proposal: An Alternative Energy Strategy for India
Conflict/Dispossession
Papri Sri Raman reports: The new environment minister, Prakash Javadekar, met Defense Minister Jaitley on June 10 and later announced a policy that would enable India’s border states with Pakistan, China and Burma to clear defense projects falling within 100kms of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), without approaching the union government for environment clearances….
Read More about Environment Under Siege in New India
Conflict/Dispossession
Avay Shukla writes: The most disappointing and worrying aspect of the recent elections, for me, has been the almost complete absence of any debate or discussion on the environment. Some political parties, the BJP included, did make weak proforma noises about it in their manifestos but there was no mention of it in their campaigning….
Read More about Mr Modi and the environment – A green vision or a grey area?
Conflict/Dispossession
The lion, tiger, turtle, butterfly, orchid, mudskipper and one-horned rhino will need every helping hand to survive the development ambitions of a nation that believes that economic ambitions can be fulfilled at the cost of its wildernesses. We know that’s not possible and hope that you will move us away from the subcontinent’s biological-climate precipice….
Read More about Bittu Sahgal: Narendra Modi’s development plan: Will it hang India’s wildlife?
Conflict/Dispossession
Jay Mazoomdar writes: In its “classified” report titled ‘Impact of NGOs on Development’ sent to a host of government offices including the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), on June 3, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has named a long list of organizations and activists under its watch, from well-known environmental and anti-nuclear groups to little-known localized outfits….
Read More about IB’s NGO Report: Not a time for intelligence or dissent
