While in India it is unthinkable to see beloved elephants as a source of crop damage, their rising population in African countries is a huge problem. Elephant herds can cause substantial losses if they enter farms. In fact, in 2008, the South African government lifted the moratorium on the culling of elephants. At the time, the environment minister, Martinus van Schalkwyk, said that culling would be considered only as a management option of the last resort...

Monkeys, wild pig and rhesus macaque are being culled in Bihar, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh. What is driving this culling? Is it necessary? What is at the heart of the conflict between animal and farmer?

I am waiting for my death. Death? Not exactly. My days are numbered as the ink is about to finish. Soon, I will be discarded and thrown into a dust bin. One more in the countless old ones with finished inks, discarded and to be replaced by a new one.

Why do we need to conserve energy?

“Pom! Stop now, hfff . . . hfff . . . I can’t run anymore,” shouted Piu. “Hurray! I won the race,” said Pom. “Hfff . . . hfff! I don’t have the energy to run any more . . . I'm going to rest under the tree,” said Piu. It was getting dark. Soon there was a big moon over the sky. “Piu we have to go home,” said Pom...

There are some schools that have taken up energysaving initiatives to become energy-efficient. Electric bulbs, cars, fans, air conditioners, televisions, cooking ovens, chulhas, machines... the word ‘energy’ conjures up images of almost everything that makes up our everyday lives. Some forms of energy are renewable, including energy harnessed from the sun, wind and water. Energy produced from garbage, such as dead trees, branches, leftover crops and gobar, or dung, along with other forms of livestock manure—resources collectively called ‘biomass’—can also be used and then replenished. There …