What can you do at home to pump up the oxygen levels in your surroundings? Read this motivating account of some ordinary but nature-friendly activities.

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From the past few years, my family has been undertaking certain chores which have helped us in connecting with nature in a better way. For instance, we make compost from raw fruit and vegetable scrapes, using the three-tier pot method.

At first, we gather a lot of green and brown waste from the kitchen. (Green waste means anything organic that can be composted...

“Such a beautiful place, to be with friends”. Fans of the Harry Potter film series will remember this line, uttered in one of the most heart-breaking scenes of the saga by arguably the most beloved character of them all, Dobby the house-elf. As the adorable elf breathes his last in the arms of his friend and hero, Harry Potter, he inadvertently invites viewers to marvel at the vast, expansive beach that then becomes his gravesite.

Twelve years after...

A look around any supermarket and one thing will be hard to miss: plastic.

Every item small or big, from perishables to ones with a long shelf life is packed in plastic. Even the ones that have a covering of their own, say, oranges are needlessly packaged. The fruit is even peeled, kept on a delicate foam tray, and sealed with a plastic sheet. Apples are individually wrapped in comfortable cushions made of plastic. Gourds are packed in cling films. It’s almost as if humans think that their artificial packaging, which is wreaking havoc on the planet, is better than that of nature...

A desire for a magazine that focuses on well-identified environmental concerns and concrete tangible solutions.

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It is our collective responsibility to maintain our earth as a habitable place for our present and future. Today, more than ever before, we are facing environmental challenges that can spiral into major crises unless we take urgent corrective measures. We have to strive to execute our actions points and Gobar Times provides us a wonderful platform to achieve them...

Do we ever stop to think where all the trash that we produce goes? Most of it heads to a dumpsite – yes, those mountains of waste that you might have seen on one of your trips around the city. Let's dig into this subject a bit, shall we?

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A huge dark mountain is looming up amidst houses and buildings, with a flock of crows and eagles circling over it. As one goes closer, you can see people on it...

A snippet of the vibrant activities conducted from the kindergarten tiny-tots to the high-school teenagers under the Green Schools Programme

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Online education became the talk-of-the-town in 2020 when the entire globe succumbed to an unknown lockdown for more than 300 days. Students became weary and so the entire education community sprung up to the challenge. Country-wide they took to their screens like wildfire, proving their resilience in a jiffy.

At the Pawar Public School, Chandivali, we went a step beyond with the Green Schools Programme (GSP). Organised by the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, the GSP sensitised our youth about environment conservation...

India has more than 1.5 million schools and 260 million students. Think about a regular day in these schools before the pandemic. Imagine the amount of waste— food waste, plastic, paper, stationery—produced in these schools in a day. Now, add COVID-19 waste to it as schools across the country are reopening. Imagine all of this waste going to landfills. Alarming, isn’t it?

A group of college students from South Delhi's Aryabhatta college has started a unique initiative. They call it Project Palaash. Project Palaash aims to salvage floral waste and create organic dyes that are purely non-synthetic in nature. These organic dyes are then used on fabrics. These fabrics are dyed by the socially and economically underprivileged, thereby creating employment opportunities for destitute community members.

Mahatma Gandhi was no stranger to the problems of waste and he dedicated his entire life urging individuals to shun wasteful consumption. Here are a few schools that are living the Gandhian values of mindful consumption and efficient resource use.

India is drowning in waste. Every year we generate 62 million tonnes (MT) of waste and half of it ends up in landfills. Of the total waste collected, only 19 per cent undergoes treatment. This is the dismal state of waste management in our country today.

Mahatma Gandhi was no stranger to the problems of waste and he dedicated his entire life urging individuals to shun wasteful consumption. What was Gandhi’s mantra to reduce waste?

It is estimated that over 40 billion plastic kitchen utensils—including 14–18 billion plastic spoons—are produced every year. Given our low rate of reusing and recycling them, most of this cutlery ends up in landfill sites, or worse, in oceans and lakes! Here, they contaminate the land and soil for at least 450 years—the time plastic takes to degrade. Simply put, this is a recipe for disaster!

But there are edible alternatives, read on...

It was the last day of the outdoor adventure camp. The campsite was right in the middle of lush green nature with the ethereal mountains by the side. It was a treasure trove of rare flora and fauna, a perfect storybook destination. Kind and friendly villagers lived in the nearby hamlet. It was these sights and sounds, the warmth of the people around, the fresh unpolluted air and the collective experience of everything around that made Praveen come here again and again. Praveen was the camp in-charge. Every year in the month of May, Praveen and his team organised nature-connect sessions for children.