Environment

Just ahead of World Water Day on March 22nd this year, a report released by the United Nations showed that the bottled mineral water industry in India had grown by 27% between 2018 and 2021, the second fastest growth recorded globally. The signs are all  around us - discarded bottles everywhere, wherever you go. But have you considered that with every gulp you take from a plastic bottle, you could actually be introducing microplastic particles into your body?  In 2018, a study reported that eleven globally sourced brands of bottled water, purchased in nine different countries including India, were tested…

I have been living, eating, breathing, and sleeping plastics. And I am not saying this, as a campaigner or as an anti plastic advocate, or because I have been following the discussions of the #GlobalPlasticTreaty. I am saying this literally. “We all are”. The latest pointer to the all pervasiveness of plastic pollution being the discovery of  microplastics in human blood. There have been other studies that have shown plastic ingestion by fish and other marine mammals, by insects and birds, apart from studies that plastic is in our water and food.   So, how much more proof do we need? Do…

The last winter was probably Shimla’s strangest and most disappointing one in a long, long time. The only snow the city got was in two or three mild spells. There were no scenes of the pretty snow covered Shimla streets and homes. “This is a big change we are seeing in the weather in the course of one lifetime” says Raaja Bhasin, Shimla author and historian. Not just Shimla but other parts of Himachal Pradesh have also been witnessing strange weather. Primarily more wet days than expected and abrupt increases in daily temperatures. Una for instance, a district bordering Punjab…

As I write this article, we are in the middle of May which began with unseasonal rainfall occurring in the plains of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. There was snow in the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand. Since then, the sun is out and the skies are clear. But uncertainty remains of what the future holds, especially as the monsoon season sets in. This situation is worrisome, not only from a health perspective but also from an agricultural standpoint. Before moving forward, it is vital to look at the weather patterns from this winter to now. The weather has been hotter than…

The land in the hill towns, not just in Joshimath, is sinking. Unusual climate events are a distinct probability. Earthquakes cannot be ruled out, given that that the entire state of Uttarakhand lies in a highly sensitive seismic zone. All this adds up to the possibility of a worst case scenario in case of major natural disaster, which experts do not rule out, especially once the rains set in. And the state government is ill prepared to meet such a calamity if it occurs. One indication of this lack of seriousness is the proposal to appoint an engineer as the…

As with Joshimath, the ecological crisis threatening an already sinking Shimla and other hill towns in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh was long foreseen and predicted. Prof A K Mahajan, a geologist at Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Shahpur (Kangra) undertook a scientific study in 1998 on the twin-towns of Dharamshala and McLeodganj. “There is high similarity in the land subsistence crisis at Joshimath and McLeodganj town,” says Professor Mahajan. “Since 1998, I have been repeatedly highlighting the warning signals relating to the sinking threat at McLeodganj. Recently, when a road, ‘Khara Danda’ connecting Dharamshala with  Mcleodganj started sinking, it was a…