Science
Down To Earth
Trump: regime change, not climate change
DONALD TRUMP has spoken from the global pulpit. Speaking at the 80th anniversary of the United Nations (UN), he has called climate change a “big con” and by association, all of us, who advocate for urgent action, charlatans. In his rant, he berated Europe for its green energy transition, saying it leads to high costs that would kill growth. He dismissed the science of climate change and went on to say that coal was clean. But I am not writing this to demean your intelligence and to explain why Trump is wrong. We know the reality of climate change as extreme weather events tear across our world, bringing with them economic devastation and human tragedy.
3 min |
October 16, 2025
Down To Earth
AHEAD OF HER TIME
From changing ideas about how humanity perceives its closest cousins to pioneering innovative ways of research, Goodall was a trailblazer
2 min |
October 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Himalayan states reel even as monsoon ends
EVEN AS the 2025 southwest monsoon began withdrawing from western Rajasthan on September 14-three days ahead of its normal date and the earliest in the past 10 years-the Himalayan states continue to be battered by heavy rainfall and flooding.
1 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
A generation in protest
ON SEPTEMBER 1, there were 30 anti-government protests globally, according to Carnegie's global protest tracker. In the 12 months prior to this, the world witnessed 159 anti-government protests in 71 countries. What defines these protests is an overwhelming participation from youth. “The proportion of people willing to participate in demonstrations has increased to its highest levels since the 1990s, and the number of protests has also risen in this period,” says a Unicef report. Massive protests have caused change in regimes in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
2 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
EU misses deadline to set new targets
EU'S CLIMATE ministers on September 18 confirmed that the bloc will miss a global deadline to set new emissions-cutting targets in time for a meeting of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) at the end of the month.
1 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
The catalyst within
HORMONES NOT ONLY SHAPE ONE'S HEALTH, BUT HAVE LIKELY IMPACTED GLOBAL EVENTS
4 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
SIP AND UNWIND
Ashwagandha, one of the most revered herbs in ayurvedic medicine, has found its place in contemporary wellness recipes
3 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Delhi court ban on Sci-Hub is bad news
Researchers will be hit by the loss of the free science website while big publishers are milking India on subscriptions
4 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Don't push limits
WE CANNOT develop the Himalayas as if they were the plains, or a colony in South Delhi. This must be the lesson from this year's season of despair. The world's youngest mountain range, made of moraine, mud and rock, has been battered by rain. It has literally come crashing down, bringing with it homes, schools, fields, roads, bridges and much of the expensive infrastructure built by governments. The cost of this destruction—besides the tragic and irreplaceable loss of human lives—will be massive. Years of public and private investment have been lost.
3 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
'A separate Local Government Service Commission can be set up to recruit panchayat employees'
The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India calls upon states to enact laws that enable panchayats to function as local governments. To assess the extent of this devolution of power, the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj has studied and ranked the states since 2004.
4 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
GLOBAL SOUTH REIMAGINED
In an increasingly fractured world marked by unilateralism and weakened climate cooperation, civil society must elevate Global South cohesion as a top climate agenda
4 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
A mandatory requirement
Assessment of a river's sand replenishment is now a legal requirement for obtaining environmental clearance to mine the resource
3 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
FIGHTING CHANCE
Confronted with the twin pressures of climate change and economic malaise, African countries are taking matters into their own hands. By blending traditional practices with modern innovation, they are crafting homegrown solutions. Their pragmatic resilience offers a blueprint the rest of the Global South would do well to follow.
10+ min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
'Israel's Gaza offensive amounts to genocide'
ISRAELI AUTHORITIES and security forces have committed, and continue to commit, acts of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza strip, says a paper released by a UN-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on September 16.
1 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Uneven burden
Cancer incidence in India reveals gendered disparities, regional hotspots and rising rural risks
5 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Relocate, resettle, repeat
How India's largest displacement exercise unfolds in a district much displaced
6 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Could this be a way to lower fuel consumption?
I have conducted trials on more than 15 kinds of two- and four-wheelers, each running on either petrol or diesel, and have found that a propulsion-based technique can help reduce their fuel consumption by almost 60 per cent. The technique involves some alterations in driving patterns.
1 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Transmission trap
Solar and wind power projects are facing curtailments, which developers and industry analysts attribute to delays in construction of electricity transmission lines and inaccurate demand forecasting
8 min |
October 01, 2025
Down To Earth
THIS CRISIS IS OF OUR MAKING
We are living through catastrophic times that will bring even mighty mountains to their knees
4 min |
September 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Himalaya Wellness Committed to Conserving Biodiversity
Biodiversity is crucial for the sustenance and balance of life.
1 min |
September 16, 2025
Down To Earth
PLAN OR PERISH
Rivers that water Punjab were already flowing at capacity due to heavy rain in upstream states, when a record August monsoon made them flood simultaneously. What fuelled the deluge?
10+ min |
September 16, 2025
Down To Earth
A SLOW HEALING
Global action is mending the ozone layer, but unregulated short-lived chlorinated emissions by industries are delaying full recovery
3 min |
September 16, 2025
Down To Earth
MELTED LIKE WAX
The Western Himalayas have taken a severe hit this monsoon, as shifting wind patterns fuel extreme weather events across the region.
10+ min |
September 16, 2025
Down To Earth
CLOUDS OF CRISIS
The year 2025 will be remembered as one in which normal rainfall masks an abnormal reality of destruction and weather extremes.
5 min |
September 16, 2025
Down To Earth
WESTERN HIMALAYA AT POINT OF NO RETURN?
This monsoon season has been unusually severe for the Western Himalayan region, which has witnessed extreme weather events almost daily. Relentless, intense rainfall and repeated cloudbursts have triggered flash floods, landslides and mudflows, wiping out villages, claiming hundreds of lives, cutting off highways and bringing life to a standstill. DOWN TO EARTH speaks with a climate scientist, geologist, geomorphologist and glaciologist to understand whether the Himalayas have reached a point from which it may be extremely difficult to recover.
8 min |
September 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Rich pickings from orphan drugs
Big Pharma is raking in billions from orphan drugs while India's policies on rare diseases is way behind in protecting patients
4 min |
September 01, 2025
Down To Earth
POD TO PLATE
Lotus seeds are not only tasty, but also a healthy and versatile ingredient to add to diet
3 min |
September 01, 2025
Down To Earth
'We are on mission-driven approach to climate challenges'
Tamil Nadu is tackling its environmental, climate and biodiversity challenges with a series of new initiatives, including the launch of a climate company.
3 min |
September 01, 2025
Down To Earth
NEED NOT BE A DIRTY AFFAIR
The potential to reduce emissions from India's coal-based thermal power plants is huge, and it needs more than just shifting to efficient technologies.
10+ min |
September 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Of power, pleasure and the past
CONCISE, ACCESSIBLE HISTORIES OF INDIVIDUAL FOODS AND DRINKS THAT HAVE SHAPED HUMAN EXPERIENCE ACROSS CENTURIES
3 min |