Page 480 - Environment
'No decision to send back tigress Sundari to Bandhavgarh'
The Odisha government on Friday said no decision has been taken to send back the Royal Bengal tigress 'Sundari' from Satakosia wildlife sanctuary to the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
WWF's wildlife cartoon exhibition narrates tales of tails
Informative wildlife cartoons clubbed with play activities at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Delhi, are part of an ongoing ?"Toony Tails" exhibition here that seeks to enthuse and educate children about the wonders of nature and wildlife.
Delhi signs MoU with Seoul on environment, transport
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Seoul Metropolitan Government on environment, transport, education, solid waste management, infrastructure, public health among others.
China's top steelmaking city mulls sliding scale for winter smog-busting cuts - draft
BEIJING (Reuters) - Tangshan, China's top steelmaking city, is considering smog-busting steps this winter that set penalties for heavy industry, pharmaceutical and pesticide firms based on their efforts to curb emissions, according to a document reviewed by Reuters.
Most new diesel vehicles exceed emissions limits - German green lobby
BERLIN (Reuters) - Most new diesel vehicles exceed the legal limit for nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, German environmental lobby group DUH said on Friday, calling on the government to force car companies to carry out hardware retrofits of polluting cars.
India's cooking oil imports rise 11% in August
India's import of cooking oils jumped 11 per cent to 15.12 lakh tonnes in August this year inspite of rupee depreciation as supplies dried up because of lesser shipments in previous months and improved parity in import of palm oil products, industry body SEA said Friday. India, the world's leading cooking oil buyer, had purchased 13.61 lakh tonnes of edible and non-edible oils from the global market in the same month last year. As per the latest data released by the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA), palm oil imports rose by 6 per cent to 9,20,894 tonnes in August this year from 8,68,744 tonnes in the year-ago. Among palm oils, the shipment of crude palm oil (CPO) rose to 6,49,570 tonnes from 6,00,019 tonnes, while crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) increased to 12,762 tonnes from 4,600 tones in the said period. However, the shipment of RBD palmolein oil was lower at 2,58,562 tonnes in August 2018 compared with 2,64,125 tonnes in the year-ago. The share of palm oil is more than
Trina Solar launches Trinahome in India
Trina Solar, the leading solar energy solutions provider in India, is moving into the household and small-to-medium enterprise (SME) sector with today's launch of Trinahome.The news comes on the eve of next week's Renewable Energy India Expo being held in Noida on 18-20 September. Trina Solar is a key exhibitor at this year's show."Trina Solar is already number one in India's solar energy market thanks to the large-scale utility projects, namely solar farms, we have already completed. We have provided solar cells and modules to many developers in India," says Yin Rong Fang, Trina Solar president of global sales and president of overseas commercial and residential solutions.According to India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, there was 23.1GW of installed solar energy capacity in India as of 31 July this year.Yin says: "Trina Solar supplied 3.5GW, so we accounted for 15% of the total. That means we are the clear market leader here in India."India is also Trina Solar's second ...
Dudhwa STPF men getting trained in 'Jungle Craft'
The Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) sleuths deployed in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) are learning how to adapt themselves to the tough forest life. This training for the STPF men has been named as "Jungle Craft" or the art of surviving amid wild surroundings. The special training at Dudhwa, aided by the WWF-India, started Thursday, Field Director of DTR Ramesh Pandey said. "The 90-member STPF has been divided into three groups of 30 jawans each for the training, the final session of which will be held on September 17-18 at the Katarniaghat wildlife sanctuary of the DTR," he added. Inspector J Suresh of the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force (STF), who has won the Tamil Nadu police's gallantry award and the Presidential medal and had played a key-role in eliminating notorious sandalwood smuggler Veerappan, has been assigned the responsibility of the training. Suresh will be assisted by Sarvalingham of the Tamil Nadu STF. The STPF in UP, comprising Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC)
ISRO not to fly any living being before actual manned space mission
The Indian space agency will not test fly any living being on its two experimental flights before its actual human space mission planned in 2022, said a top official.
M&M to go carbon neutral by 2040
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Friday said it aims to become a carbon neutral company by 2040 with focus on energy efficiency and usage of renewable power. The company will work on its carbon neutrality commitment with international non-profit organisation Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), M&M said in a statement. "We are doing our part in the global fight against climate change with this ambitious new target," Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said. M&M will leverage the latest technological advances and its recently announced Carbon Price to work towards being carbon neutral by 2040, he added. The company will focus on energy efficiency and the use of renewable power to achieve this target. Residual emissions will be addressed through carbon sinks, it added. M&M is a signatory of the science-based targets initiative which provides companies with a clear pathway for reducing emissions in line with the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to well ...
NTPC to start commercial operations for Unit#3 of Kudgi Super Thermal Project
With effect from 15 September 2018
Drying Ganga could stall food security and prevent achieving SDGs (Environmental Feature)
Kolkata, Sep 14 (IANS/Mongabay) Millions of people residing in the lower reaches of the Ganga basin in India may face food shortage in the next three decades if the much revered river continues to lose water due to factors that include unsustainable groundwater extraction, a study has claimed.
Oakridge School kids create giant balloon to measure ozone concentration in atmosphere
Rapid industrialization has led to increase in the Ozone concentration in lower layers of the atmosphere. And, direct inhalation of the ozone causes can cause several health problems and wide spread illnesses among humans.Five students from Oakridge International School Bangalore wanted to further examine this theory and set out on a mission with the support of SSERD and IIA to measure the Ozone concentration over the city of Bangalore.Over the course of four months, the team consisting of Oakridgers Govind Nair, Aman Saxena, Prafulla, Rithvik Mahindra and Rahul Balaji built the required payload to accurately measure Ozone concentration in the atmosphere. To achieve this they had to import specialized sensors, which could survive extreme conditions and get accurate data. They also had to design the payload strategically such that certain sensors were exposed to a constant flow of the air, while others electronic components were safely insulated; this was one of the most challenging ...
Ailing killer whale declared dead, but feds to keep looking
Efforts to find a sick young orca from a critically endangered population of killer whales in the Pacific Northwest came up empty Thursday, and a scientist who tracks the animals declared her dead though federal authorities said they'd keep looking. The grim news means scientists believe just 74 whales remain in a group that has failed to reproduce successfully in the past three years. The orcas have struggled with pollution, boat noise and, most severely, a dearth of their preferred prey, chinook salmon, because of dams, habitat loss and overfishing. "We're watching a population marching toward extinction," said Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research. "Unless we do something about salmon recovery, we're just not going to have these whales in the future." The whales are in such bad shape that experts prepared last-ditch efforts to save the emaciated nearly 4-year-old known as J50. A sharpshooting veterinarian fired an antibiotic-filled dart into her, crews dropped live salmon ..
7 Kolkata bridges identified as 'most vulnerable'
In the wake of the Majerhat bridge collapse on September 4, the West Bengal public works department (PWD) has identified seven bridges in the city as "most vulnerable" requiring urgent repairs, a senior official of the department said. The seven bridges are out of the 20, which, the PWD has classified as "distressed" structures. The seven bridges labelled as "most vulnerable" are Bijon setu, Gouribari Aurobindo Setu, Belgachhia bridge, Tollygunge Circular Road bridge, Dhakuria bridge, Tallah bridge and Santragachi bridge, the PWD official told PTI. "Load-bearing capacities of these bridges were carried out and depending on that report, we have suggested to the police to impose restriction on goods-carrying vehicles to prevent further deterioration of the condition of the distressed structures," he said. The Kolkata Police has already banned movement of all goods vehicles on the first four bridges and is exploring the possibility whether a similar decision can be taken ...
Sea turtles can die from swallowing one piece of plastic
A sea turtle has a 22 per cent chance of dying if it eats just one piece of plastic, an Australian scientific institution revealed on Friday, quantifying for the first time the risk that plastic pollution poses to sea turtle populations.
China August steel output falls from record as summer curbs bite
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's steel output eased in August after hitting a record-high in July, crimped by tough production restrictions in major steelmaking regions as part of efforts to clear the country's smoggy skies.
Indian cities, states step up climate action plans
At the Global Climate Action Summit, mayors and government functionaries of Indian cities have announced to scale up their actions to combat climate change and to protect people from hazardous climate impacts.
Mahindra commits to become carbon neutral company by 2040
Mahindra & Mahindra, India's leading manufacturer of utility vehicles and part of the $20.7 billion Mahindra Group, on Thursday announced its commitment to become a carbon neutral company by 2040.
Multiple explosions set ablaze 23 buildings in US
A series of gas explosions damaged at least 23 buildings and residences, and injured many in several Massachusetts towns in the US, state authorities said on Thursday.