For those of you who often end up at fast-food restaurants in search of a bite, here is an eye-opener. According to global estimates, by 2025 some 268 million children aged 5 to 17 years may become overweight, including 91 million obese. Obesity-linked diseases are projected to increase sharply too; in 2025, up to 12 million children are likely to suffer from impaired glucose tolerance, 4 million will have type 2 diabetes, 27 million will have hypertension and 38 million will have fatty liver. Does this forecast sound alarm bells, kids?

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...

A Kolkata man has taken it upon himself to document life and livelihoods along the river Ganga[The Ganga] is dying. Pollution from the factories and farms of the fastest-growing large economy in the world . . .  has turned its waters toxic—BBC The Ganges, India’s holy river, is also one of the most polluted in the world . . . There are many causes of Ganges river pollution—English Online

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...