An interview with Deepak Bhati and Gauri Arora, Programme Officers in the Sustainable Food Systems team of the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, simplifying the complicatedness of antimicrobial resistance for our young readers. ******************************************** Hi Deepak and Gauri! We’ve been hearing about this complex and scary thing, ‘Antimicrobial Resistance’ (AMR). Can you please unpack it for our kids?...
An alert issued regarding unhealthy packaged foods, and how food nutrition labels can and cannot help us to become aware. ************************************************************************************** I know you all kids must be excited about Dusshera and Diwali. The whole month you’ll be exchanging sweets and offering scrumptious feasts. Our friends and families will enjoy beautifully wrapped gifts of savouries— chocolates, candies, chips, soft drinks, and what not! Their advertisements will flood our television screens and social media, and even masquerade as a renewed form of celebration with the …
A fascinating account by a passionate marine environmentalist explaining why seaweeds are environmentally the most sustainable foods on our planet. ******************************* Hi! Do you guys know what a seaweed is? It’s like the spinach of the sea. You might have eaten it in a roll of sushi or a bowl of green salad or a soup. But most likely, you wouldn’t have tasted it at all. That’s because in India, we don't have a popular tradition of seaweeds. But that's about to change—I believe as the founder of a seaweed food company called The Good Ocean...
How can schools become the catalysts for achieving sustainability? In an era where the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are becoming increasingly evident, the role of education in fostering a sustainable future has become more critical than ever. Schools are at the heart of their communities and can play a pivotal role in promoting sustainability beyond their own walls and preparing students for a sustainable future.One of the most effective ways schools can do this is by integrating sustainability into their curricula, operations and community interactions. They can become powerful catalysts by …
In an increasingly climate-risked world what should be our food like? The 4th book in our First Food series brings you some answers in the form of unique recipes and ingredients, culled out from age-old wisdom and traditional knowledge of communities. Sourced from local biodiversity, from weeds and trees, long-lasting seeds, plants with short life-cycles and even those parts of plants that generally go waste. Foods that are very different from those produced by our current unsustainable agriculture systems.
In 2019, the National Clean Air Programme aimed to reduce particulate pollution—PM2.5 and PM10—by 20-30 per cent by 2024, later raised to 40 per cent by 2026. However, most cities lag behind the 2024 goal despite spending thousands ofcrores, with only eight meeting the target, 22 worsening, and many not even recording continuous data. With high standards on paper but poor implementation in reality, an epic battle against air pollution looms ahead.
On this Earth Day, trace the impact of humans on their planet throughout history
As air pollution becomes an alarming issue that can no longer be snoozed, let us take a deep breath and study about its major pollutants and sources across the country. Five years back itself, in 2019, air pollution was alone responsible for about 16.5 lakh deaths in India. This was disclosed by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), published by some very credible organizations—the Lancet Planet Health and the Indian Council of Medical Research. Their stat is believable as 24 out of 50 most polluted cities in the world are already in India, which we know from nothing but the World Health Organization’s data released …
धरती का हर मुद्दा जलवायु परिवर्तन से जुड़ा ********************************** बॉन कान्फ्रेंस 2017 की बात है। एलायंस आॅफ स्मॉल आईलैंड स्टेट्स (एओसिस) से जुड़े एक देश के बड़े नेता फूट-फूटकर रो रहे थे। एओसिस मतलब छोटे समुद्र द्वीपीय देशों का समूह। आसानी से समझने के लिए मा…
Sharing fond memories from 25 years back—of ice creams, rookies, cow dung, and some cool environment stuff for kids. ************************************ In the summer of 1992, late at night in the basement of the then rented office space of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the editorial team of the Down To Earth (DTE) magazine had a very long hot and tiring day putting together their very first issue. Anil Agarwal, the founder editor,...
In spite of all the brickbats and rebukes, a tabloid matures into a magazine as it finds its 'beginners' audience and speaks through quirky cartoons. ********************************************************************************* Gobar Times (GT) already had a successful 10-year run before I got on-board. It was always resplendent in a spectacular tabloid avatar, grabbing eyeballs everywhere. But as if this was not intimidating enough, here we were staging the arrival of a new GT. It’s looks? A standard news magazine format. Were we taking a risk?...
Narrating the tale and trajectory of Gobar Times—of how it evolved into a new avatar and gained new characters. ************************************* My association with the Gobar Times will be incomplete without Piu & Pom. We were once working on a comic strip for the magazine. Piu is the name of my daughter so it was easy to decide the name of one of the characters. But for Pom, there’s an interesting story.