To burst or not to burst?’ is a question many young humans might be asking as the patakha (firecracker) season begins. Teachers and doctors tend to advice against firecrackers but there’s always a paan-chewing uncle or a macho friend who’ll bully you kids into becoming enthusiastic arsonists. It’s usually a tough choice to make. Some additional information is always a good help in firming up ones’ resolutions. Therefore, let's throw some light on the history, chemistry, and eco-friendliness of patakhas.

Why are e-vehicles important and what makes them so? Automobiles, like our cars and buses, cause a lot of pollution. It is because they are based on fossil fuels. So, our government is promoting vehicles which can use clean fuel. When it comes to such vehicles, the first thing which attracts the attention of the people is electric vehicles or ‘e-vehicles’. Unlike the common vehicles which run on petrol and diesel, the e-vehicles run on electricity. Hence, they do not produce any harmful emissions and are ‘clean’ vehicles...

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...

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.