Are the rains alone to blame for the floods and landslides in NE India?
Resetting Our Relationship With Water: Times of India Column
Chennai's floods are like clapping hands: one palm is the changing climate bringing with it intense rainfall (2021 rainfall, the Commissioner told us, was nearly 50% above normal) while the other is our broken relationship with water. A resounding clap requires both palms moving together forcefully. We appear to have already passed certain climate thresholds, …
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Shifting India’s Water Ship Requires All Hands To Push.
India's water ship is a mammoth ship - nudging it towards friendlier waters is not going to be easy. We need the individual to change: to acknowledge water, and recognize what makes India's water truly unique. This excerpt from the book that The Print carried, shows what that might look like. This is my story, …
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Watershed is out!
When I ran out of home, I never thought that 9 years since, that not only would we become water-secure at home, but that I would have written two books and invested in over 15 climate-related start-ups. Thrilled to share that my second book, Watershed, is out! https://videopress.com/v/W5Bf0Khk?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata The book unpacks India's changing relationship with …
On Covid and Climate Change – thoughts.
Are they the same? Covid is fast, sometimes visually brutal, singular. It hurts people like us, now. Climate Change is slow, sometimes visually brutal, most times invisible, has many pieces and many villains. It hurt 'them', now and in the future. From my article: Size does not matter; Time does; Having a clear villain does; …
A Rs. 1,000,000,000,000 annual subsidy to support stubble burning?
Last time, we asked what is the 'Herbie'? The one action or thing or person who, if impacted, can materially change our pollution levels? Psst: It’s the money Two causes stand out in the emission inventories: vehicular emissions and the one responsible for winter pollution spike: biomass burning. Let us deal with the latter today, …
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Why are we not solving the pollution crisis?
Image source: Pic by Neil Palmer (CIAT). Burning of rice residues in SE Punjab, India, prior to the wheat season. Wikimedia Commons A version of this article first appeared on Firstpost on Nov 10, 2019. Policy – follower not leader Policy is a manifestation of astute follower-ship, a balancing act, an act of judgement of …
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Keeladi – Life, Death and Water in Ancient India
Back to the Future: Keeladi and the centrality of water in an ancient Indian city. About 13 kilometres east of Madurai, on the spanking new Rameswaram highway, one turns right and heads through a sleepy village to a set of coconut farms. In between the coconut trees are patches of cleared ground with neat squares …
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Forests and Climate – a love affair for the ages
Forests, Climate and how to protect them
Open letter to Greta Thunberg
Open letter to Greta Thunberg on Choices
Climaction 