Environmental organizations, civil-society groups, faith-based institutions, academicians, and community-based organizations are calling on the government for effective and sustainable environmental protection during the anniversary of the passage of the Clean Air Act into law on June 23. The Act bans incinerators for waste disposal, making the Philippines the first nation in the world to ban incinerators outright. 

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. 

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… 

Every winter Delhi is engulfed by smog. Air quality drops to a very poor or severe category. The 2020-21 winter also coincided with opening up from the COVID-19 lockdown. While economic activity has still not reached its peak, air pollution in Delhi was only marginally better than the previous year. The number of smog episodes was lower than the previous two years. However, the seasonal average was higher than the previous two years...

A walk on the beach is an insight not just into our leisure but also into our addiction to plastic. More than 80 lakh tonnes of plastic is dumped into the oceans every year. Sea creatures often mistake plastic for food and die because of it. Sea turtles are probably the most gullible creatures of the sea. Why? Well, that’s because they are likely to confuse plastic floating in the ocean for food and eat it, says a recent article published in the Science News magazine. However, in the poor creature’s defense, they are not the ones filling our oceans with plastic...

Salem is one of the largest cities in Tamil Nadu, India. More than 1 million people live here. Piyush Manush is the convener of the Salem Citizen's Forum (SCF). SCF is an informal group, involved in protecting Salem's environment. The lake was built by the British for irrigating nearby farmlands. The lake is spread across 58 acres and used to be a major water body of the city. But gradually it became a dumpsite for Salem's municipal solid waste. In 2010 SCF took over the work of cleaning the lake. But first, they had to get rid of the garbage and then desilt the waterbody.

Every winter, air quality in Delhi becomes critically dangerous. Here is a list of dos and don'ts to help you stay safe

What kind of world will the younger generations inherit? Piu gets a hint.

The coastal state of Maharashtra has three major rivers and several lakes, making it one of the few states in India having a vast water bank. However, most of its water bodies, including the Godavari, Krishna and Tapti rivers, are so polluted that they look like nullahs or drains. Heard about the Jayanthi and Gomati nullahs of Kolhapur? Well, according to water conservationist Rajendra Singh, they were once a water source but today we call them nullahs.

We all know pistachios to be tasty little green nuts but how many can say they have known them to be a fun craft?