Dhamra port on mangrove land

THE Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has cleared the way for Dhamra port in Odisha. It did so by overruling a site inspection report of the eastern regional office of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on August 17. Interpreting a state government notification in favour of the Tata-sponsored Rs 3,200 crore project, CEC recommended to the apex court that the port area be treated as non-forest land.

The balancing act

ON SEPTEMBER 17, the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) cancelled two environmental clearances: Vedanta’s bauxite mining in Niyamgiri Hills in Odisha and the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC’s)Kotli-Behl 1B dam on the Alakananda river in Uttarakhand.

From the blurbs

MODERN ARCHITECTURE IN INDIA Jon Lang, Permanent Black Rs 696

Bagful of doubts

Sometimes you might go to a shop and in spite of protests handed a plastic bag. The bag will perish naturally, the shop attendant might tell you. In the past three years, different kinds of plastics claiming to be biodegradable, have entered the Indian market. But most of these brands that sell such bags do not meet Indian standards. The ones that do pass the test, are also being questioned as authorities are not equipped to test for 100 per cent degradability.

Navi Mumbai airport hanging in air

AS MAHARASHTRA government pushes for Navi Mumbai as the only site for Mumbai's second airport, the environment ministry has asked for re-examination of three alternative sites. The ministry's expert appraisal committee (EAC) had expressed concerns over the project, saying it would lead to destruction of 121 hectares (ha) of mangroves, levelling of an 80-metre-high hill and diversion of two rivers.

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Pea-sized frog in pitcher plant

Navi Mumbai appraisal

The project is a CRZ site It will destroy mangroves, divert two rivers and level a hill State and project promoter say no alternative sites but EAC believes otherwise EAC says weightage given to criteria not equal for all sites Baseline EIA data substandard, says EAC Project promoter, says EAC, must re-evaluate three other sites

Hollywood goes green

HOLLYWOOD bigwigs often like to be seen as eco-savvy.

Inspired by the sea

The sea evokes awe in most of us. It inspires some to poetry and literature.

Planting trees is not doing your bit

On World Environment Day this year I was at a five-star hotel. It was among the older ones in Bengaluru. The hotel had organized a week-long initiative to green Bengaluru. The idea was hackneyed. Of course, we need as many trees as we can get to absorb the carbon we release in the atmosphere in huge volumes. But we need to do more than just planting trees. While listening to the experts at the meet, I looked at the ceiling. I realised the hotel used old energy-inefficient halogen bulbs. I took a walk to the washroom outside and found that the entire lighting was with incandescent halogen bulbs.