Embodied energy demystified

Building materials are much more energy-intensive than perceived. India lags in taking steps to reduce their use

Smoke laws first enacted in city of joy

Because of its political importance in the British empire, Calcutta was one of the first cities to regulate smoke emissions. But legislation …

When lakes were tanks

Bengaluru's lakes were actually tanks created in the absence of a big river

Noteworthy

Santhal trio pulls right strings to keep alive a dying tradition

Treasure in your trash

Time for climate lesson

A Nepal school that imparts practical knowledge to farmers

Biting cold for pashmina

Thousands of changra goats die of starvation as record snow buries pastures

Keep it flowing

Tour of a house that thrives on air circulation, saves energy cost

Yar Tsa Gumba

A miraculous mushroom, over-exploited, is on the brink of extinction

Bt for Better Times?

Good weather, illegal Bt seeds raise Punjab's sagging cotton yields

Holy manure

Temple offerings in Mumbai make for good compost

Home grown power

More and more villages are opting for affordable, manageable micro-hydel projects

Pesky pets

One of the first species domesticated by man, the pigeon is now an invasive species and a pest in many parts of the world

Immortal, yet going extinct

Despite the ability to regenerate its heart and brain, axolotl, an amphibian found only in Mexico, is close to extinction

Delhi's walking medicine bank

Omkar Nath Sharma has made it his vocation to collect unused medicines and distribute them to the poor

Ragi is back - but only as exotica

No body knows for sure how the ragi bandwagon started, but all of a sudden the urban elite became curious about the grain. Today, it is being …

In Mowgli's land

ANJOLI BANDYOPADHYAY visits Pench Tiger Reserve, the site of many a conservation scheme and finds the woes wrought upon the people there by …

Fading fauna, forgotten people

There are a hardly any tigers left in Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh. But, says aparajita dutta , the park is rich in biodiversity, …

Learning from faults

An early 20th century US earthquake teaches lessons in tectonics

The rise and fall of a chemical

DDT use goes back to World War II

Junk stops here

Meet bureaucrat Yishey D Yongda, determined to turn Sikkim into a zero-waste zone

What’s good insulation?

Many architects use imported, expensive and environmentally inappropriate material

A clear case of racism

In New York, bus depots are located in areas where coloured people live

Filter out trouble

Gold and silver nanoparticles remove pesticides from water

Profit from an acre

Innovative farming system revives a farmer's fortune in Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu