Several Worlds, one vision

Satyajit Ray's films showed an extreme sensitivity to the natural world. Yet he was no naturalist. The people he portrayed were carefully …

A city derailed

The Calcutta tramcar system, perhaps the only eco-friendly feature in the city's ruined landscape, is heading towards extinction

Leading the way to brain damage

India has yet to tackle the problem of leaded petrol, which causes brain damage in children

If words were deeds

If a recently-held seminar on the Girl Child in the capital is any indication, her plight is not going to improve in a hurry.

Menageries with messages

Zoos have evolved from being mere sources of entertainment to educational centres.

The year of ecobabble

Despite numerous proclamations of eco-friendliness and a deluge of treaties, not much was done in 1993 to make fuelwood and clean water easily …

Neemm - manim, what else

The brouhaha about neern patents gets a forceful rebuttal

Hard-selling a fallacy

The North will stagnate, South will grow, and the multinationals, aided by World Bank ideologues, will exploit the poorer countries for their own …

Never equal

What does development-engineered displacement mean for the other half?

Homework on global summits

Representatives of the South must pull up their socks on garnering vital data on the ongoing policy debates

All for the people

International organisations concentrating on the moral and material uplift of the underpriviledged

Requiem

It was a strong anti -adulteration law aimed at the standardising of food stuffs. Stronger industrial lobbies and vested interests helped it die …

Taken for a ride

Consumer-consciousness has yet to make a dent in the mind of the average Indian buyer. That 'consumer is the king' has remained merely a slogan …

Here we come, eco-chums!

Indigenous support systems that have been nourishing the Himalaya for centuries have become the current buzzword for progress

Coming of the know-all

The socio-ecological implications of the knowledge revolution are many and multifaceted. But the world needs a system where a 'post bi-polar' …

Convenient yardstick

Despite its disproportionately large carbon emissions, the US wants proportionate restrictions on the developing countries

Out of mind and sight

'The temples of modern India', its mega dams, have thrown the lives of many out of gear

Resurrecting a tradition

The tank system in India needs to be revived to maintain water reserves. This can be achieved through a central body such as the National Tank …

A kill for life

While whales must be conserved as a rare species, hunting the marine mammals is felt necessary for maintaining ecological balance

A 'common' problem

Nobody's forest

There is no organised people's movement to arrest forest depletion in northeast India

"Hello, there are leftovers"

The environmental costs of development projected by a World Bank study may be staggering, but a lot has been left unaccounted for

Wanted: a green spin doctor

Although considered a sensitive pressure group, the British Green Party badly needs to recover from languor and gain gloss

False start

Pollution control agencies are as toothless as the automobile and fuel industry is apathetic to deteriorating urban air quality

Losing ground

Across the world, the deserts are advancing, threatening the lives and livelihoods of about one billion people