Environment

In 2002-03, G Krishna Prasad, weekend farmer and Director of the organic farmers' collective Sahaja Samrudha, spotted a plot growing ragi in Bengaluru’s Lavelle Road. Older Bengaluru residents like him still have a special affinity for ragi. The sight took Krishna back to the 80s when he had surveyed rural Bengaluru to document the traditional akadi system of growing multiple crops simultaneously. “The food system in Bengaluru was centred around the ragi-based cropping pattern,” Krishna says. Ragi was not grown alone, but "along with mustard, jowar, tur and castor as the intercrops. Mustard and castor (that are used to make…

Read more

In the aftermath of the devastating floods of 2015 and the drought that hit Chennai, the focus on conservation of water bodies has been amplified. The many lakes of Chennai that have suffered years of neglect have begun to get a fresh lease of life with restoration efforts taking place across the city. The Environmentalist Foundation of India is an NGO that has been playing an active role in the restoration of lakes along with other non-profits and civic agencies including the Greater Chennai Corproation and Chennai Smart Cities Limited. While lake restorations of this scale are multi-year, ongoing activities,…

Read more

[In Part 1 of this series, we saw that around 5000 trees are proposed to be axed for the 'Bangalore Surrounding Roads Project' but certain discrepancies hint that the actual number could be higher. In this part, we look at the project's impacts and why citizens are worried.] "I was in Hesaraghatta the other day and an electrician asked me why I wasn't protesting tree felling on the Nelamangala-Doddaballapura road, just a little distance away from there. He asked me, don't the ministers and bureaucrats need air and water too?" says Mahesh Bhat, photographer and faculty at the Srishti Institute…

Read more

Since the start of this year, there's been much discussion about the ‘Bangalore Surrounding Roads Project’, for which thousands of trees around the city would be axed. The Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL) had proposed this road-widening project to decongest the city's peripheral roads, and to better link different parts of Bengaluru Urban and Rural to the Kempegowda International Airport. Six roads, spanning a total length of nearly 155 km, are to be widened for the project. Though these roads are mostly outside BBMP limits, the tree loss would have severe, long-lasting impacts for the city. But there's been…

Read more

Patriotism has 3 colours – and green is one of them! So let our celebrations be green! That is the key message of the introductory poster of the #GreenPatriot series we put out this week through Beautiful Bengaluru – a citizens’ initiative which focuses on clean, green, safe living. Our extended name Beautiful Bharat for campaigns of national relevance brings more focus to an important subject for the whole country. With each passing festival and event, there is an urgency to focus on what we can simplify, do better, how we can go greener, and most of all, how our…

Read more

In the ongoing Covid crisis, accessible green, open spaces are a dream for many city dwellers. And yet, there is burgeoning work on the profound positive impacts of urban green spaces on the physiological and psychological health of city dwellers. Despite being polluted, dammed, encroached and thwarted, rivers continue to be free and open public places. Today more than ever, rivers, riverbanks, floodplains and bridges are an invaluable resource for any Indian City. This momentous service is ignored in our riverfront development projects, metro and road plans and city development plans which encroach upon rivers. Green, open riverbanks in India…

Read more

Every evening, A M Aravind, a birdwatcher in Madipakkam, ensures he spends at least an hour hanging around his balcony or terrace. The lockdown may have temporarily halted many of his regular activities, but not his bird watching hobby. Though he could not travel to the woodland edges or the marshes, Aravind has spotted over 35 species in his neighbourhood habitat over the past three months.  Like Aravind, many city residents have taken to balcony birding or backyard birding this season, to enjoy a break from the mundane routine of the lockdown. The high-pitched, loud and persistent calls of the…

Read more

During the day, they look like black plastic garbage bags blown onto trees by a strong gust of wind. As darkness falls, their arms unfold and they take off, flying between the multi-storied buildings in our Lokhandwala Township in Kandivali East. As you might have gathered, I've spent quite a few hours over the last few years watching bats, amazed at how similar they are to vampires in movies. Or maybe it's the other way round, vampires in movies are inspired by the wide black wings of bats. Hundreds of bats hanging like plastic bags. Photo: Arathi Manay Since the…

Read more

Many lakes in Bengaluru, such as Kaikondrahalli, Kasavanahalli and Kalkere lakes, have foamed before. But the quantity of foam in Varthur and Bellandur lakes are alarmingly high.  In our previous article, we saw that fire occurs in Bellandur and Varthur lakes mainly because about 40% of the city's sewage is discharged into the catchment areas of these lakes. Apart from sewage, industrial effluents and solid waste are also dumped into these lakes. In some circumstances, this can cause the formation of foam. Foam in both Bellandur and Varthur lakes usually form during the pre-monsoon and monsoon season, when there are heavy…

Read more

The novel coronavirus scare globally has eclipsed many other issues, but water scarcity and how it adds to the challenge of the COVID-19 fight is one that cannot be ignored at any cost. Easy and regular access to clean water and proper sanitation is one of the fundamental requirements to keep the disease at bay, but in many urban areas of India, lack of such access may also emerge as one of the biggest hurdles for people trying to stay safe and healthy.  And it is not just the metropolitan areas or the bigger cities that suffer from insufficient water…

Read more