Whether in electoral rhetoric or in the most high profile Supreme Court cases or in public policy, the word on everyone’s lips is Development. Punjab’s labour laws have been proposed to be reformed for– Development. Schools are being set up and strengthened for– Development. Building regulations are being changed so that rural areas and urban… Read More The Idea of Development: A Conversation in Chandigarh
Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Jan 4, 2025 DOCUMENTS: BOOKS: IMAGE & SOUND: Editor’s Picks Books of Note
The current UN climate change regime “embodies the clearest, most specific, and the most current expression of states’ consent to be bound by international law in respect of climate change”, Margaret Taylor, legal adviser at the state department, told the ICJ judges on Wednesday. “Any other legal obligations relating to climate change mitigation identified by… Read More Fury as US argues against climate obligations at top UN court
Despite Swachh Bharat Mission’s giant promises, 1,600 tonnes of unsegregated waste continues to poison groundwater in villages near Mangarbani forest. Deepanshu Mohan and Shubhangi Derhgawen The air around the Bandhwari landfill in Gurugram is thick with the stench of decay. “We earn our living here, but at what cost to our health?” asks Joginder, a… Read More A sacred forest dies in Gurugram as Bandhwari landfill’s toxic waste breaches Aravalli sanctuary
Consumption of world’s wealthiest people also making it increasingly difficult to limit global heating to 1.5C The high carbon emissions of the world’s richest 1% are worsening hunger, poverty and excess deaths, a report has found. Owing to luxury yachts, private jets and investments in polluting industries, the consumption of the world’s wealthiest people is also making… Read More Carbon emissions of richest 1% increase hunger, poverty and deaths, says Oxfam
Shweta Thakur Nanda Moromi Hazowary of Kamrup district in Assam had clear aspirations – a stable life and a desire to give her son a better education. It is not a stroke of luck, but an invasive weed – water hyacinth – that is turning her hopes into reality. The 32-year-old’s family was dependent on… Read More How the invasive water hyacinth is helping build livelihoods – with an ecological bonus
New book exposes the power of oil – from colonialism, to post-Soviet Russia, to the current climate crisis Adam Hanieh Nearly four decades ago, a large team of scientists from around the world launched a major global research programme called the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). Their goal was to study the connection between human activities and… Read More Crude capitalism: How oil greases the wheels of the world market
Even if our brains are not up to the task of appreciating all the connections that relate to quality of air, water, nutrients, soils, etc., these things are still vitally important. In other words, we would be tragically foolish to imagine living without insects, plankton, microbes, fish, birds, etc., and the uncountable and unknowable interrelationships between… Read More Certainty
The group had suffered threats and harassment for years amid efforts to preserve the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers, and the Carlos Escaleras nature reserve, amid the growing presence of mining and hydro-electric companies. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras Reuters — An environmental activist who protested mining and hydro-electric projects in northern Honduras in an effort to preserve tropical forests and rivers… Read More Honduran anti-mining activist who fought to save rivers is killed
Kara Fox, CNN As right-wing rioters attacked communities with racist violence across parts of the UK last month, 22-year-old climate activist Cressie Gethin sat in a prison cell. Her crime? Organizing a disruptive protest against new government-granted licenses to drill for oil — a planet-heating fossil fuel — in the North Sea. In late July,… Read More Climate protesters are taking action against Big Oil. UK courts are handing them prison terms akin to rapists and thieves
After the truth-shower 