The National Geographic magazine has recognised the ‘Southern Ocean’ as the world’s fifth ocean on June 8, 2021. The change in name was in alignment with the National Geographic Society’s initiative to conserve the world’s oceans. The magazine has usually followed the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) on marine names, it said in an article notifying the change. The IHO had recognised ‘Southern Ocean’ as a distinct body of water surrounding Antarctica in 1937...

We keep reading or hearing about air pollution and its deadly effect on our health and environment. More recently, we have also been hearing this new abbreviation being mentioned quite regularly: AQI – or Air Quality Index. As the name suggests, AQI is nothing but a report on the quality of air that we are breathing in a particular place – it informs us and the authorities how polluted the air is, so that a decision can be taken on the measures to control the pollution level...

Plastic items from takeaway food and drink dominated the litter in the world’s oceans, according to a new study. The study, published in the journal Nature Sustainability was funded by the BBVA Foundation and the Spanish science ministry. The study shows that just 10 plastic products including plastic lids and fishing gear accounted for three-quarters of the litter. This is due to their widespread use and extremely slow rate of degradation. 

Active conservation efforts of the state government and the Bishnoi tribe together are yielding positive results in rescuing the famous Great Indian Bustards. Where does electricity come from? Most of us have not seen the power stations where it is generated but we have all seen the wires that deliver electricity to our homes. Yes, those wires, hanging overhead on the streets, which seem to have been built for pigeons and crows to perch upon...  

Eating safe food keeps you healthy It was 1 pm and the whole family had gathered around the dining table to check what was for lunch. Steaming bowls of daal (lentils), rice and baigan ka bharta (mashed eggplants) along with fresh rotis (homemade bread) were arranged on the table.  

Dr Rajagopalan Vasudevan proves how even an individual effort can clean the face of our country, as he invents new ways to reuse plastic for roads and buildings. One day, a professor of Chemistry was watching TV. He saw a doctor blaming plastic for water pollution. This set him wondering—how can plastic cause pollution when it is chemically a hydrocarbon and insoluble in water! The doctor was of course mistaken but his concern was genuine: plastic is an environmental nuisance. Polybags have infested our marketplaces, are swallowed by cattle, clog drains, choke ponds… 

A highly-polluting factory, the Sterlite Copper, shuts down after years of inspiring community effort by the suffering villagers of Thoothukudi. When the entire world is suffering from the pandemic and lockdowns, one tiny village in our country is certainly thrilled. This place is Thoothukudi in the Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu where a highly-polluting factory is locked down after years of inspiring community effort by its villagers. This factory, called the Sterlite Copper, is a subsidiary of the Vedanta Limited...

A native Amazonian tribe, the Waorani, successfully defends its sacred homeland from destruction posed by an oil conglomerate. The Amazon is the world’s largest and densest rainforest, truly priced as the ‘lungs of the world’. This jungle conquers over nine nationalities and houses a bewildering variety of plants and animal species seen nowhere else on the globe. All such detail might be already well-known to you along with the news about its constant destruction, which is also much lamented by everyone. However, off late, there has been some hustle within the woods. A multi-billion dollar company had …

Climate change has made the Indian Ocean more unpredictable than ever. On one hand, there are more cyclones emerging out of this ocean, and on the other hand, they are intensifying very rapidly, gaining more power in a very short time. This is called rapid intensification.

An inspiring story of an ordinary Adivasi woman, Jamuna Tudu, who used the superpowers of diligence and persistence to defeat the timber mafias in Jharkhand. I am sure all of you have seen Tarzan cartoons. What if I told you that we have a real Tarzan in India and that too a lady! Jamuna Tudu of the Santhal tribe of Central India, began her journey towards becoming ‘Lady Tarzan’ in 2000. This was when she got married, barely at the age of 17, and moved from her childhood home in Odisha to her husband’s village in Jharkhand...