By Bhavani Prakash 2011 is the International Year of Forests, and I thought it fitting to conclude the year with a final piece on some of the environmental effects of deforestation and subsequent land use that I observed and learnt about during my field trip a few months ago, to the area of Janda Baik, [...]
By Bhavani Prakash A historic tribunal, the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) was held in Bangalore, India from 3rd to 6th December, 2011 to indict Agrochemical Transnationals (TNCs) for gross violations of human rights. Here is the trailer to the Tribunal: Video link here Victims and survivors of the pesticide industry from all over the world were [...]
By Bhavani Prakash This has been a week of climate pessimism. First, The Guardian on Wednesday, 9 Nov 2011 quoted the International Energy Association (IEA)’s warning that the world is headed for irreversible climate change in only 5 years. The article says: “If the world is to stay below 2C of warming, which scientists regard as [...]
Rice means life and survival for billions of people. Relying on a narrow range of rice strains grown in monocultures has led to increased pest problems and erosion of rice biodiversity. Anitha Reddy shares a story of a farmer from India, Ghani Khan, who has successfully eschewed modern hybrid rice seeds to return to traditional varieties of rice [...]
By Bhavani Prakash “It is the people who must save the environment. It is the people who must make their leaders change. And we cannot be intimidated. So we must stand up for what we believe in.” -Wangari Maathai (April 1 1940 – 25 September 2011) It was with immense sadness that we heard of [...]
By Bhavani Prakash Prof. Philip H. Howard, Assistant Professor at Michigan State University has created an interesting infograph on the Structure of the Seed Industry from 1996 to 2008. Not surprisingly, it shows an oligopolistic industry with a small number of large players such as Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta, Limagrain-Vilmorin, Land-O’Lakes, KWS and Bayer. As an [...]
With over 50,000 bikes available to rent, Hangzhou in China is aiming to reduce pollution, cut congestion, and keep its people healthy – all while making a profit! By Jeremy Torr If you thought Paris had a lot of city rental bikes at 20,000, think again. The city of Hangzhou in China beats that hands [...]
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups native to a land or region. Usually they have a close relation to the land and live in consonance with nature. They believe that land and people are inseparable and interdependent. It is this aspect of their lifestyle-the intertwining of their lives with their natural surrounding that are a subject of fascination to modern man. Today at a time [...]
Brendon Sing grew up in South Africa, became the youngest dive instructor in Asia at 18, and an instructor trainer at 25. Apart from being passionate about diving, he lives and breathes saving sharks, and is single-handedly funding his own Shark Guardian education and awareness programme. He talks to Mallika Naguran in Koh Lanta, Thailand. [...]
by James H. Wandersee and Renee M. Clary It is considered admirable when people pick-up litter and discard their own trash. Clean cities and homes are considered progressive and inviting. We are frequently admonished to “dispose of our trash properly.” Society uses the word trash to include things that are broken, empty, soiled, redundant, outdated, [...]
