Climate Control
Politics gets the better of common sense on the issue of global warming. At the upcoming climate change talks in Buenos Aires, US-led developed …
What triggers desertification in India
A low down on the most important causes behind desertification in every state of the country. Addressing these will be critical to meet targets …
‘Bangladesh a veritable laboratory to study climate change action’
Saleemul Huq is the director at the International Centre for Climate Change & Development (ICCCAD) since 2009. Huq is also a senior fellow at …
Hot and anxious
Global climate change is today a spectre which allows for no ostriches. Scientific data is piling up to indict human activity as the source of …
What happened to the Mayas?
With its awe-inspiring architecture and remarkable concepts of astronomy, the Maya was undoubtedly one of the greatest civilisations of …
An evening in Paris
Over two weeks and two extra days, the Paris climate conference delivered everything the world expected. Impassioned speeches. Hectic, sleep-…
Review: Four films on climate change
Climate change. Two words which hold, between them, some of the most complex as well as vigorously debated issues of all times. Changing Climates,…
"The name of the game is resource productivity"
Currently chairperson of the Bundestag committee on environment, nature conservation and nuclear safety, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsaecker has …
"The UK has to live by its wits"
DAVID ANTHONY KING has been chief scientific advisor to the United Kingdom government for 3 years now. Prior to this, he was head of the …
Droughts in India were caused by El Nio
Richard Grove , a noted environmental historian from the Australian National University, Canberra, takes an active interest in the climatic and …
Reconstructing atmospheric history
Old paintings can provide information about the composition of the atmosphere of bygone ages. When a volcano erupted in Indonesia in 1815, …
Newest Biggest Deal
In Kyoto, in 1997, nations of the world agreed the Clean Development Mechanism (cdm) was a competent way to combat climate change. The process …
Takeover threat
State of the world 2002 (us $15.95), vital signs 2002 (us $14.95); eco-economy: building an economy for the earth, 2001 (us $14.95) .
Frozen at gateway
The Doha outcome is all talk no action. In 2007, the Bali Action Plan had called for an urgent reduction in carbon emissions by developed …
Glaciers beating retreat
Himalayan glaciers, source of water for the innumerable rivers that flow across the Indo-Gangetic plains, are receding. And that too at a …
How to make the Commission for Sustainable Development work
It was only half a year ago, but events since the Johannesburg earth summit already make it seem like a distant event. The world has just seen an …
Fig leaf for the business world
That is what the Montreal Protocol, meant to do away with ozone depleting substances, has become. India's phase out programme under the protocol …
‘Tribal philosophy can’t be ignored beyond a point’
At a time when climate change is emerging as a reality, indigenous people are eager to give-up their low-carbon lifestyle and join the bandwagon …
Role of climate change in tropical cyclones still unclear
Thomas Knutson is a research meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the US. He was the co-chairperson …
Energy transition is now a must
Marie-Hélène Aubert, adviser to the French president for international negotiations on climate and environment, was recently in New …
What it takes to clean a river
It is the tale of two European rivers. The Rhine and the Danube. No river system in the world has a density of industrial agglomerations …
‘Forests can’t survive without communities’
Nepal’s Forest Act of 1993, which allows communities to manage their forests, is admired and emulated by governments and movements across …
'We are using the sea as a dustbin'
The Indian coastline no longer belongs to its traditional custodians—the small fisher people. A jamboree of development—cities, SEZs, …
Changing climes
Climate change is a very slow process, notoriously difficult to understand. Is it happening in India? Residents of some Himalayan towns, where …
Time-out
The 17th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change met in Durban in December 2011. Negotiations were heated and …