Linguist GANESH DEVY has just published a new volume of a unique language survey that is based on geography and people's vernacular claims. He speaks to RAJAT GHAI on the link between languages and ecology
'Policy dialogues around food security and climate adaptation need to draw from different disciplines'
‘I have asked the government to re-examine amendments to land laws’
'We could discover new bird species in the eastern Himalayas'
'We have to use the Paris Agreement for a strong agenda forward'
Sweden will pass a law next year to become carbon-neutral by 2045. Eva Svedling, the State Secretary to the Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate, who recently visited India to discuss Indo-Swedish collaboration on climate change and sustainability solutions, tells …
‘Ancient and Medieval maps were very inaccurate’
Briton Susan Gole is a collector and historian of maps, especially those of India. She has published various books on the subject. She is also the president of the International Map Collectors Association. She was recently in India and spoke to Rajat Ghai on various aspects of cartography and …
`The Australian government is amending laws to push Adani's coal mine project'
The Adani Group's US$ 16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine project in Queensland is mired in a controversy as it not only threatens the Great Barrier Reef, but also the livelihoods of local communities. Even as the Australian government and the company are struggling to seal the deal, Rajat Ghai …
When I abandoned movies, yoga came to my rescue
For Aashiqui actor Anu Aggarwal, yoga brought happiness and also provided tools to find it
'Ocean cleaning depends on decisions taken by people across the world'
To combat problems such as ocean acidification and sea level rise, we have to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide
'India's policy on marine fisheries excludes small-scale fishers'
‘A zoo must strive to meet animals’ physical and psychological needs’
Gerald Durrell was a British naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author and television presenter. He founded what are now called the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Durrell Wildlife Park on the English Channel island of Jersey in 1959. Tiasa Adhya talks to his wife Lee Durrell …
`Bioregionalism could become a global movement'
French architect Didier Prost is an advocate of bioregionalism, which calls for a renewed focus on local people and knowledge to innovate for greener solutions. He speaks to Rajat Ghai on how bioregional approaches can be adopted to solve India's environmental problems
'Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson’s accuracy of description is very much in question'
Bruce D. Patterson is the MacArthur Curator of Mammals at the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is also an authority on lions. On April 19, 2017, Patterson, along with Larisa DeSantis from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, published a new …
`Religion is not doing enough to help wildlife'
George Schaller is one of the first scientists to study and rediscover several rare and charismatic species. These include the mountain gorillas in the Congo, lions in Tanzania, tigers in India, jaguars in Brazil and the Asiatic cheetahs in Iran. He has also been researching the wildlife in …
'Poor sanitation not only has a health dimension but also an economic and environmental one'
Down To Earth spoke to Kebede Worku, Ethiopia's State Minister for Health, on the turnaround that his country has brought about in the field of sanitation
`Indian Ocean has been the central theatre of human existence'
Economist, environmentalist, urban theorist, Sanjeev Sanyal wears many hats. He has written four bestselling books on Indian political history and geography. Sanyal speaks to Rajat Ghai about his latest book, The Ocean of Churn: how human history was shaped by the Indian Ocean. Sanyal says that …
`Indian cuisine is rediscovering itself'
Ethnic Indian food is reinventing itself, says Colleen Taylor Sen, considered to be one of the leading historians on Indian and South Asian food. She speaks to Rajat Ghai on the transformation of Indian cuisine, how traditional recipes and street food are undergoing resurgence, and why Indian …
'ISRO's nanosatellites can become a global system for navigation'
ISRO's navigation system can prove to be more accurate and economical than current ones
`Remote sensing is being used to predict crop-growing seasons'
Satellite technology is not just being used to monitor and predict climate change events. Its applications are now also accurately estimating crop-growing seasons. Jadu dash, a professor of remote sensing at the University of Southampton in the UK, has been monitoring and measuring the …
‘Sundarbans is no dumping ground for rejected technology’
The Rampal power plant threatens the biological wealth of Sundarbans as well as the economy of people of Bangladesh and will render the coastline vulnerable to natural disasters like cyclones
'Smallholder farmers are on the front lines of climate change'
After winning the Africa Food Prize 2016 for his advocacy to place smallholder farmers at centre of agricultural agenda, Kanayo F Nwanze explains how betterment of the community is necessary for world's food security
'Mercury emissions in Asia maybe highest in the world and little data is available'
Data on mercury emissions in Asia is not being recorded, but a new sampling network may change that
"ISRO has capabilities to build geostationary satellites for air quality monitoring”
Since satellite observations are limited to cloud-free regions, several countries plan to launch geostationary satellites for continuous measurements of atmospheric pollutants over a given region
"Snow leopard habitat may be lost due to climate change"
The snow leopard is facing a huge threat from climate change and a hostile human population in Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Nawaz, an authority on the endangered species, speaks to Rajat Ghai about his conservation strategy that enabled the coexistence of local communities with carnivores, and …
‘Plant dyes should be used on an industrial level only if the plants' cultivation is propagated’
Vadodara-based artist Taniya Vaidya recently exhibited her collection of paintings at New Delhi’s India International Centre. She mainly uses natural dyes—mostly plant-based ones like indigo, madder and harda. She talks to Down To Earth about themes in her current works, the use of …