If we really want to solve a problem, we should define it carefully, and use data to guide our actions. If we want to reduce Delhi’s winter air pollution, then we need to address biomass burning. Yet, a recent TV clipping shows a farmer setting paddy straw ablaze on national TV. The voiceover says “These …
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Delhi Air Pollution – How is the way we think about it so so wrong?
(A version of this article appeared in Firstpost: http://www.firstpost.com/living/delhi-routinely-tops-global-air-pollution-rankings-how-we-can-seek-more-effective-solutions-4179921.html The prestigious medical journal, The Lancet recently reported that air pollution is associated with 6.5 million deaths annually, and as the Lancet rather poetically puts it, is a “killer indifferent to political agendas and that cannot be contained by borders”. Don’t we know it? Because pollution is …
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Dengue – What to Do?
In South India, the conversation seems to always turn to Dengue. The neighbourhood hospitals are overflowing with dengue cases, and sachets of Nila Vembu Kashayam (a herbal remedy against fevers) are being sent home, as per government instructions, in my 5-year-old’s homework diary. Offices and factories are reeling under a wave of absenteeism as workers …
Action on Climate Change – Net-Works
Problem: Discarded fishing nets are a major source of pollution of the reefs Solution: Community members are paid to collect fishing nets which are then recycled into carpet tiles and are a sustainable solution from an economic perspective http://www.zsl.org/conservation/regions/asia/net-works
Staring Drought in the Face
Short summary: It is bad. And it's going to get a LOT worse.
A woman’s story
What happens when a warming climate targets women
The fall of crude and the death of king coal
Something very unusual took place in 2014, that changed the course of the global economy. In June 2014, global oil prices began to fall. Brent Oil prices almost reached $115 in late June, and then began to fall precipitously. In early October 2014, with Brent prices about 20% lower at $90 per barrel, the PIRA …
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Two glaring symptoms of global warming: Drought & Heatwaves
(Image from thehindu.com) Time to spend money and attention on adaptation Price water. Please. We do not have the luxury to waste water on growing low-yielding rice varieties and sustaining 300 million cows & buffaloes. However, the current machinery extracts significant rent from crises. Emergencies give procedural checks and balances a go-bye making an already leaky …
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Climaction 