Page 186 - Environment
Odisha tribal farmers becoming 'lakhpatis' by adopting drip irrigation
Drip irrigation is a method of controlled irrigation in which water is slowly delivered to plants, which results in efficient use of water and fertiliser
Modi unveils Gandhi bust, invokes his ideals to fight terror
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the Yonsei University here and said we can find solutions to two biggest challenges facing humanity - terrorism and climate change - from Gandhi's life.
Ashoka varsity prof bags 50,000 Euro nature conservation award
An Ashoka University professor has bagged the prestigious Future for Nature Award for her work on sustainable fishing of sharks and Olive Ridley sea turtles. Divya Karnad, who successfully reduces the unwanted bycatch of endangered sharks along the Coromandel coast of India through her project - InSeason Fish, will receive this prestigious nature conservation prize and 50,000 Euros during the Future For Nature Awards Event on May 3 in the Netherlands. She is the first Indian woman to receive the award. Bycatch, in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while catching certain target species and target sizes of fish and crabs. "Divya is clearly an outstanding leader, and has already initiated an impressive number of programmes and organisations focused on marine species conservation in India. She is now giving her attention to multiple globally threatened shark species, working with an impressively wide array of stakeholders. "She is ...
Exclusive: China's Dalian port bans Australian coal imports, sets 2019 quota - source
BEIJING (Reuters) - Customs at China's northern port of Dalian has banned imports of Australian coal and will cap overall coal imports from all sources to the end of 2019 at 12 million tonnes, an official at Dalian Port Group told Reuters on Thursday.
Mahatma Gandhi's lifestyle did not leave any carbon footprint, a lesson for world: Modi
Mahatma Gandhi's lifestyle was a crucial lesson for the world facing the daunting challenge of global warming and climate change as he lived such a life that he did not leave any carbon footprint, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday. Unveiling a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University here along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Modi said in the 20th Century, Mahatma Gandhi was "perhaps the mankind's biggest gift". "In the last century through his personality, through his life and values, Mahatma Gandhi showed us what the future will be. In fact he used to say my life is my lesson," said the prime minister, who arrived here on Thursday on two-day visit. "Mahatma Gandhi used to say the God and nature have given everything to fulfil a human being's need but not the greed. The natural resources are not enough if we want to satisfy our greed. He used to say our life should be need based and not greed based," ...
Govt medical colleges in MP to be powered by solar energy
Government medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh will tap solar power to meet their electricity requirement, a move which will result in savings of Rs 12 crore in the very first year of implementation. An MOU in this regard was inked Wednesday in the presence of state New and Renewable Energy Minister Harsh Yadav and Medical Education Minister Vijay Laxmi Sadho, a public relations department official said. Under the MoU, solar power plants will be set up on the rooftops of state-run medical colleges to meet their electricity needs, he said. The MoU covers government medical colleges in Bhopal, Rewa, Indore, Jabalpur, Chhindwara, Shivpuri, Vidisha, Ratlam, Shahdol, Khandwa, Shahdol, Gwalior, Datia and Sagar in two phases under the Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) scheme, the official said. These colleges will get environment-friendly green power at the quarter of existing rate at Rs 1.63 per unit, the official said. A private company, Tepsol Solar Power Ventures Pvt
Swedish teen leads Belgian students on 7th climate march
Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg is joining Belgian students who are skipping classes for the seventh Thursday in a row to march through Brussels to draw more attention to fighting climate change. The 16-year-old Thunberg first addressed a European Union conference, chiding adults for their inaction in the face of such climatic global dangers. She said youngsters are being forced to skip school and protest because adults are not addressing climate issues quickly enough. She told the European Economic and Social Committee plenary session that "we are school striking because we have done our homework" on the dangers facing the Earth. Thunberg has become her generation's voice on climate change after inspiring students around the world to go on strike to express their anger and angst over global warming.
Indonesians clean up the beach one sandal at a time
Hundreds of people sifted through a vast wasteland of rubbish strewn across a beach in Indonesia on Thursday, underscoring the Southeast Asian archipelago's mammoth marine waste problem. Some 200 students, military personnel and locals scoured a beach on the southern tip of Sumatra island, picking up rubbish as they waded through heaps of plastic, discarded flip flops and other debris. In just over three hours, the group collected an eye-watering 30 tonnes of rubbish from the coast in Lampung province. The yearly campaign first kicked into action in 2010 after huge amounts of rubbish were getting trapped in the fishing nets of locals who made their living off the sea. Most of the detritus had flowed in from the provincial capital. Other rubbish clearing campaigns have popped up across Indonesia, the world's second biggest contributor to marine debris after China. In holiday hotspot Bali, the problem has become so bad that officials declared a "garbage emergency" two years ago after a .
Vietnamese farmers hold onto beans due to low prices
HANOI/BANDAR LAMPUNG (Reuters) - Vietnamese farmers held back from selling coffee beans this week due to low prices after harvest ended last month, while trading in Indonesia remained muted due to a lack of supply.
Australia says coal market 'booming' as it dismisses Glencore cuts
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia needs to capture as much of the 'booming' coal market as possible, a government minister said on Thursday, a day after major producer Glencore said it would curtail further coal output expansions to limit climate change.
Moon could be a chemical factory for water: NASA
NASA scientists have simulated a chemical process through which ingredients for water could be made on surface of the Moon making it a chemical factory, an advance that could aid in the goal of sending humans to establish a permanent presence there.
China customs testing coal imports for environmental reasons: foreign ministry
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's customs administration is testing coal imports for reasons including environmental protection, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
Terrorism, climate change biggest challenges before mankind: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now and Mahatma Gandhi's teachings can help the world to address the pressing issues. Prime Minister Modi, who arrived here on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with South Korea, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University here. "It is a matter of great honour and my good fortune to unveil the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Korea's premier university today," Modi said. "This occasion assumes greater significance since we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Gandhi and for the world he is the foremost messiah," he said. "Terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now," he said and underlined that Mahatma Gandhi's teachings can help the world address the pressing issues. Modi is visiting South Korea on the
NASA providing daily weather reports for Mars
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will provide daily weather reports for Mars, thanks the Red Planet's newest robotic resident, InSight, mission scientists announced Thursday. "The InSight lander is close to the Martian equator -- just north of the equator -- so it is experiencing Martian winter," said Don Banfield, the mission's lead for the lander's Auxiliary Payload Subsystem (APSS). APSS is a suite of meteorological sensors on the lander's deck that also helps with quake detection. "For our mission, APSS will help us filter out noise in our data and know when we're seeing a Mars quake and when we aren't," said Banfield, a principal research scientist at Cornell University in the US. "But by operating continuously, we'll also see a more detailed view of the weather than most surface missions, which usually collect data for just a few hours at a time," Banfield said in a statement. Currently, Mars' northern hemisphere sits in winter -- the stormy season, researchers said. "Since the .
Japanese spacecraft to attempt landing on distant asteroid
A Japanese spacecraft is approaching the surface of an asteroid about 280 million kilometres from Earth. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Thursday that Hayabusa2 began its approach at 1:15 p.m. The start was delayed for about five hours for a safety check, but the unmanned craft is still is due to touch down as scheduled on Friday morning. It will attempt to collect material from the asteroid that could provide clues about the origin of the solar system and life on Earth. The landing will require precision. Hayabusa2 is aiming for a 6-metre-wide strip to avoid obstacles on the asteroid's surface. The asteroid is about 900 metres in diameter. It is named Ryugu after an undersea palace in a Japanese folktale.
Adani could win Carmichael mine approval within two years: Queensland resources official
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Adani Enterprises could theoretically win environmental approval for construction of the Carmichael coal mine in Australia in the next two years, a Queensland state resources official said, despite opposition from activists concerned about its impact on the Great Barrier Reef.
Sons of the soil will continue to rule Assam: Sonowal
Assam is for indigenous people and the sons of the soil will continue to rule the state in future, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said. Sonowal was speaking at a festival of the Mishing tribe in Dhemaji district on Wednesday. "No outsider can take the upper hand here undermining the locals... The sons of the soil will continue to rule the state in the future as well," he said. Youths of the Mishing community must take the responsibility to firmly establish the state on the world stage, the CM said. "Mishing tribe is one of the most hardworking and culturally rich tribes of the state," Sonowal said. He said a 'sanskritik kshetra' (cultural arena) would be set up at Jonai for preserving the cultural heritage of the community. Sonowal added that the Assam government has decided to give land patta (deed) to one lakh indigenous people this year.
Moon's surface acts as 'chemical factory' to produce water: NASA
The lunar surface could act as a 'chemical factory' that produces the ingredients for water, making it easier for future human colonies on the Moon to sustain themselves, NASA scientists have found. Using a computer programme, scientists simulated the chemistry that unfolds when the solar wind pelts the Moon's surface. When a stream of charged particles known as the solar wind careens onto the Moon's surface at 450 kilometers per second, they enrich the it in ingredients that could make water, according to research published in the journal JGR Planets. As the Sun streams protons to the Moon, they found, those particles interact with electrons in the lunar surface, making hydrogen (H) atoms. These atoms then migrate through the surface and latch onto the abundant oxygen (O) atoms bound in the silica (SiO2) and other oxygen-bearing molecules that make up the lunar soil, or regolith. "The whole process is like a chemical factory," said William M Farrell, a plasma physicist at NASA's ...
Central Pollution Control Board directs closure of Radico Khaitan's plant at Rampur
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Tortoise feared extinct found on remote Galapagos island
A living member of species of tortoise not seen in more than 110 years and feared to be extinct has been found in a remote part of the Galapagos island of Fernandina. An adult female Chelonoidis phantasticus, also known as the Fernandina Giant Tortoise, was spotted Sunday by a joint expedition of the Galapagos National Park and the U.S.-based Galapagos Conservancy, Ecuador's Environment Ministry said in a statement. Investigators think there may be more members of the species on the island because of tracks and scat they found. The team took the tortoise, likely more than 100 years old, to a breeding center for giant tortoises on Santa Cruz Island where it will stay in a specially designed pen. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has the Fernandina Giant Tortoise listed as critically endangered and possibly extinct. The only other living member of the species was found in 1906, the group said. Since then, expeditions have encountered tortoise scat and bite marks on ...
