Environmental Protection

Ocean scientists and fishermen team up to document seal and fishing net interactions

We tend to feel that it’s only the sea creatures that suffer at the hands of fishermen, bulk fishing their food. But, when seals and other marine animals prey on fish caught in these fishermen’s net, we as lay people do not realise that it can be costly both economically and ecologically. It can reduce the amount of sell-able fish,[Read More...]

Treadmill of Magic Seeds and Broken Promises: Dismantling the Myth of Bt Cotton Success in India

Political posturing aligned with commercial interests means that truth is becoming a casualty in the debate about genetically modified (GM) crops in India. The industry narrative surrounding Bt cotton is that it has been a great success. The current Modi-led administration is parroting this claim and argues its success must be replicated by adopting a range of GM food crops,[Read More...]

 Ravaging Fires in Amazon Rain Forest and who are the Culprits?       

Fires are destroying  Amazon rain forest for the last three weeks with nearly 75,000 fires ravaging. According to Brazil’s National Institute of for  Space Research(INPE).  there has been a increase of 80 % fires compared to last summer.  Three football fields of land in the Brazilian Amazon are deforested every minute. This week, the intensity of fires is so high [Read More...]

First ‘green village’ and its struggles

‘The soul of India lives in its villages’ Mahatma Gandhi While cosmopolitan cities and even many villages are being polluted increasingly, there are some villages which are resisting environmental pollution by the people living there. One such village is Khonoma in the North East of India. History Khonoma is Asia’s first green village in the hills of Nagaland. The village[Read More...]

The Amazon Is on Fire—Indigenous Rights Can Help Put It Out

Colonialism is setting the world on fire. Taking leadership from the people who have been resisting its violence for centuries, while protecting non-extractive ways of life, is our best hope of putting out the flames. It was an epic case of projection. Lashing out at the attacks on his Amazon-incinerating policies, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro accused French President Emmanuel Macron of having[Read More...]

Amazonia in Flames – Brazil’s Bolsonaro is a World Criminal – Encouraging Jungle Burning for Private Exploitation of Freed Land

On 28 October 2018, Jair Bolsonaro was elected President of Brazil with 55.1% of the vote – and with a gigantic help from Cambridge Analytica. At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January 2019 in Davos Switzerland, Bolsonaro made a sumptuous presentation, “We Are Building a New Brazil”. He outlined a program that put literally Brazil up for sale, and especially[Read More...]

As New Fires Rage in Amazon, Global Calls for Urgent Action to Avert ‘Astronomical’ Impacts to ‘Life on Earth’

Pope Francis urges protection of “that lung of forests” and French President Macron says G7 nations pledged help at summit Brazil’s army on Sunday deployed aircraft to battle the raging fires in the Amazon as global concern and outrage over the potential consequences—and the destructive causes—of the disaster grow.

Boris Johnson, GMOs and Glyphosate: Irresponsible, Negligent and Criminal?

  In his first speech to parliament as British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said: “Let’s start now to liberate the UK’s extraordinary bioscience sector from anti-genetic modification rules and let’s develop the blight-resistant crops that will feed the world.” Johnson reads from a well-rehearsed script. The ‘GM will feed the world mantra’ is pure industry spin. There is already enough[Read More...]

Wildfires rage throughout the Amazon rainforest

Satellite imagery reveals that at least a quarter of the Amazon rainforest is on fire or covered in soot and ash across the four Brazilian Amazonian states: Amazonas, Rondônia, Mato Grosso and Pará. A combination of dry summer heat exacerbated by climate change, planned burnings and expanded deforestation of the Amazon rainforest has sparked at least 9,507 new wildfires in[Read More...]

Views of Destruction: Satellite Images Reveal Devastating Amazon Fires in Almost Real-Time

High-resolution images from satellite company Planet are revealing glimpses of some of the fires currently devastating the Amazon rainforest. While many of the images currently being shared on social media and by news outlets are from past fires — some from as long as 15 years ago — satellites can provide a near real-time view of what’s unfolding in the Amazon. With[Read More...]