Conserve/Resist
Christian Schwägerl writes: According to data for 452 species, there has been a 45 percent decline in invertebrate populations over the past 40 years. So far, only the decline of honeybee populations has received attention, mostly because of their vital role in pollinating food crops. The rest of the insect world has been widely ignored….
Read More about Vanishing act: Why insects are declining and why it mattersALTERNATIVES
‘ From Uniformity to Diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems’, calls for breaking the chains that lock monocultures and industrial-scale feedlots to dominant farming systems in order to unleash truly sustainable approaches. In the accompanying video, Food MythBusters show why we really don’t need industrial agriculture to feed the world….
Read More about Video & report: Time to ditch industrial agriculture: here’s the evidence
CLIMATE CRISIS
Two years of NDA government have meant a mixed bag for environmental governance in India, according to a performance review by the non-profit Centre for Science and Environment, While there was commendable progress on pollution control and waste management, forest governance took on a more industry-centric approach and the Paris Agreement was a missed opportunity….
Read More about Report card: Environmental governance under NDA governmentCulture/Cognition
Scroll.in reports: Sofia Ashraf, the artist behind the Kodaikanal Won’t video (bottom) in 2015 has a new video out. Dow Vs Bhopal: A Toxic Rap Battle describes the US Government’s complete blanking out of the Bhopal tragedy, when a poisonous gas leak from a Union Carbide plant led to the death of some 16,000 people….
Read More about Video: Rapper Sofia Ashraf takes down Dow Chemicals for the Bhopal tragedyConserve/Resist
Europe recently took an extraordinary vote, refusing to grant Monsanto a license for its main product and cornerstone of its empire – the cancer-linked weed killer glyphosate. A key role was played by a massive campaign initiated by activist organization Avaaz, with 2 million signing their petition to the EU. Here’s how they did it….
Read More about How a mass campaign helped vote out glyphosate in EUDigests/Specials
Valiya Chirakula Pakshikal (Birds With Large Wings), directed by Dr. Biju, has been declared 2015’s Best Film on Environment. It explores the disastrous environmental and public health consequences of pesticide use, based on real-life events in Kasargode, Kerala. On this occasion, here’s a look back at the manmade disaster that continues to haunt Kasargode residents….
Read More about Special: A look back at Kerala’s endosulphan disaster
NEWS ARCHIVE
Nihar Gokhale reports: Rainfall across India in March has been 300-500% higher and often were accompanied by hailstorms. As a result, winter crops across six Indian states – Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra – stand destroyed. Rain and the accompanying hail has damaged upto 60% standing winter crops across the country….
Read More about NEWS UPDATE #88
NEWS ARCHIVE
The Guardian reports: According to a new NASA study, the average global surface temperature in February was 1.35C warmer than the average temperature for the month between 1951-1980, a far bigger margin than ever seen before. The unprecedented leap led scientists, usually wary, to label the new record a “shocker” and warn of a “climate emergency”….
Read More about NEWS UPDATE #87ECOCIDE/EXTINCTION
Colin Todhunter writes: A new paper by Rosemary A. Mason in the Journal of Biological Physics and Chemistry, titled ‘The sixth mass extinction and chemicals in the environment’ indicates that a ‘sixth extinction’ is presently under way (The Sixth Extinction, describes the ongoing extinction of species during the present Holocene epoch – since around 10,000 BCE). Download paper: The sixth mass extinction and chemicals in the…
Read More about The sixth mass extinction and chemicals in the environment
Frans Lanting
Bookshelf
From the blurb: Around the world, people are increasingly facing a future that is crowded and hot, subject to violent weather extremes and a changing climate, where the rich and poor inhabit separate spheres and governments are unable or unwilling to confront these most vital challenges. For India, this reality is the very tangible present….
Read More about New book: Elemental India : The Natural World in Crisis
ECOCIDE/EXTINCTION
In this tribute, Colin Todhunter writes: Bhaskar Save died on 24 October 2015 at age 93. Emphasising self-reliance at the farm/village level, Save was regarded as the ‘Gandhi of natural farming’. Masanobu Fukuoka, the legendary Japanese organic farmer once described Bhaskar Hiraji Save’s farm as “the best in the world, even better than my own!”…
Read More about Obituary: The Passing of Bhaskar Save: What The ‘Green Revolution’ Did for India
CLIMATE CRISIS
NASA: World ‘Locked Into’ at Least 3 Feet of Sea Level Rise Common Dreams New research underway indicates that at least three feet of global sea level rise is near certain, NASA scientists have warned. That’s the higher range of the 1 to 3 feet level of rise the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change…
Read More about News update
