In this age of climate change, the lessons from Wayanad are clear: Learn and change, or perish
In 2019, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), as it is called, to fix the air quality of our cities
Climate change will throw at us many such surprises in terms of impact on human health. Even now, this science is not understood
This is the time for change; for society to build green because it is inclusive; to build growth, because it is sustainable
There is no doubt that the world needs to move with speed and at scale. But what will be the business model that we take to the new green world?
Every drop can be used for the coming period of scarcity. Then it can do its sewage differently
The fact is that the European farming system, which epitomises modern agriculture as we know it today, has survived only because of massive subsidy
The Indian government has announced fiscal incentives for solar cell and module manufacture and imposed higher import duties on Chinese products
In this agriculture, conventional science is turned upside down
Targeting coal means shifting the burden of the transition to countries that cannot afford even dirty energy to meet the needs of their people
World leaders need to learn from the mistakes of the voluntary carbon market so that this new market mechanism does not repeat them
This is not all. Not only are we not conserving the existing stock of medicines, the drug pipeline for new antibiotics is drying up, or has done so already
The problem is that there are two distinct agricultural worlds
We must not slip into believing that fixing this mess is beyond our control. Then there is no way ahead. This would be the ultimate tragedy
Down to earth
There is no doubt that more people will need more resources to survive. But it cannot be argued that population growth is an indicator of the resultant environmental degradation
The new conservation agenda should not revolve around tiger versus tribal
Unless finances are proportionate to the need, the transition to clean energy is a tough proposition, especially in countries where energy affordability is critical
Coal is bad, and so is natural gas, when it comes to climate change. Then why is it that the Western world, which has to date built its economy on dirty coal, is now wedded to gas as its dream fuel?
We have completely lost the ability to plan keeping in mind the ecological uniqueness of the region