Science
Down To Earth
World at risk of losing ice sheet, glaciars
THE ANTARCTIC ice sheet, which has the biggest potential for sea-level rise upon melting, may be at or very close to a tipping point, says a study published in Communications Earth and Environment on May 30.
1 min |
June 16, 2025
Down To Earth
THE BIG PICTURE
Restoring environmental flow in the Yamuna requires a comprehensive approach to watershed restoration, not just tackling the river's pollution
5 min |
June 16, 2025
Down To Earth
The gross deprived parameter
WHAT IS GDP?” Sukru Ojha, a resident of Koraput town in Odisha, asks in response to my question: “Do you know India’s GDP will soon surpass Japan's?” I have been following Ojha's life since 1996, when I first met him during a reporting assignment covering the severe drought that had gripped the region, one of the poorest in the country. Now 60, Ojha still lives on daily wages, and does not bother to know what GDP is all about.
2 min |
June 16, 2025
Down To Earth
LOOPHOLE PLUGGED
On May 16, 2025, while hearing a case based on a petition by Vanashakti, a Mumbai-based non-profit, which questioned the validity of development projects initiated without environmental clearance (EC), the Supreme Court struck down two executive instruments issued by the Union environment ministry allowing ex post facto ECs, or retrospective clearance granted after a project had begun construction or operation. The court also barred the Union government from issuing any “new version” of the instruments—a 2017 notification and a 2021 Office Memorandum. Legal experts tell Down To Earth the judgement not only upholds principles of environmental law, but also holds the government accountable for its role in safeguarding the country’s environment.
7 min |
June 16, 2025
Down To Earth
EU farmers protest Ukraine, Mercosur bloc trade deals
HUNDREDS OF farmers in Madrid, Spain, held protests on June 4 against cheap grain imports from Ukraine and other countries which, they said, had decreased food prices below production costs.
1 min |
June 16, 2025
Down To Earth
The mammoth in the patent system
Firms working on de-extinction of long vanished species are banking on wide patent protection to make colossal profit
4 min |
June 16, 2025
Down To Earth
The shape of water
Inspired by the idea of low-lying ponds at a sanctuary in the Thar, a Jodhpur environmentalist builds waterbodies in his village to allow the smallest of animals access to clean water
2 min |
June 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Flood fix
Chennai is implementing sponge parks to mitigate waterlogging. But they may not be the best solution
3 min |
June 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Recycling Innovation: How UFlex Is Setting Global Benchmarks
India's first company to recycle PET, PE, and PP for food packaging
3 min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
A NEW BUZZ
Like many countries, India is in the middle of a pollinator crisis. In several states, farmers now rent honeybees to secure a decent harvest. In areas where agriculture is nearly impossible due to shortage of natural pollinators, people are manually carrying out nature's most critical operation. This artificial substitution of pollinators raises new concerns. A report by
10+ min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Seed saviours
Seed banks managed by communities and non-profits are repositories of hundreds of indigenous climate-resilient crop varieties but need help in storage, technical aid and policy support to thrive
3 min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Perilous proposal
Villages near Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve oppose plans to open yet another ecotourism zone in light of rising attacks by the big cats
4 min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
SOUR GOODNESS
Leaves of madhu soleng, an easy-to-grow weed, are a great souring agent
3 min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Broken lifeline
ON MARCH 13, 2020, Government of India's Press Information Bureau (PIB) released the latest life expectancy data of the country.
3 min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
RESILIENT RURAL FUTURES
Ambuja Foundation Tackles Climate Vulnerability Head On ...
3 min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Sustainable cycles
Women in Himachal Pradesh switch from plastic sanitary pads to reusable menstrual hygiene products for better waste management
2 min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Uniting the Ecosystem: Empowering Smallholder Farmers and Solving India's Water Crisis
Smallholder farmers are key to solving India's water crisis, accounting for 86% of farming households. Agricultural consumption accounts for 75-90% of India's freshwater use.
3 min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
WHO IS REALLY DEVELOPED
A new development metric ranks countries based on their living standards that can be scaled globally without breaking planetary limits
3 min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
India’s CRISPR feat, with borrowed tools
ICAR has developed genome-edited varieties of rice, but has used patented CRISPR technology that will entail huge costs
4 min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Ominous exemptions
Stockholm Convention sees a worrying trend of nations forcing exemptions on usage of chemicals that face a ban
3 min |
June 01, 2025
Down To Earth
MUNSHI IN POLICY
Literature is more relevant now than ever, as the world gets alienated and isolated because of machinated realities
4 min |
May 16, 2025
Down To Earth
CONSERVATION AS A LITERARY LEITMOTIF
Realistic adventure novels with conservation and environment as the background shape children's perceptions about issues that matter
4 min |
May 16, 2025
Down To Earth
RESURRECTION OF A METAPHOR
In literature, new trends, new questions and new proximities regarding nature are being clearly articulated
2 min |
May 16, 2025
Down To Earth
FEELINGS DIE WITH LANGUAGE
When a language dies, the entire society withers away. All kinds of knowledge about the environment is lost
4 min |
May 16, 2025
Down To Earth
REBIRTH OF COEXISTENCE
The portrayal of nature on the cinematic screen leaves us as silent, merely applauding spectators
5 min |
May 16, 2025
Down To Earth
POETRY AND POLITICAL ECOLOGY IN PALESTINE
Through poetry and through the care of olive, fig and orange orchards, Palestinian people assert their indigenous identity and relationship with the living ecologies of the landscape
4 min |
May 16, 2025
Down To Earth
LITERATURE, A TOOL TO FIGHT CLIMATE EMERGENCY
We often overlook the role of the social sciences and humanities, including arts and literature, in addressing climate change and other environmental problems
4 min |
May 16, 2025
Down To Earth
FARM FOLKLORE
Agriculture has stemmed from folk science or traditions of environmental conservation, documented orally
5 min |
May 16, 2025
Down To Earth
OF POETRY OF EARTH
The contribution of Telugu poets in writings with environment as the central theme is commendable
5 min |
May 16, 2025
Down To Earth
NATURAL EPICS
Classical Tamil literature is an example of language’s ‘umbilical cord’ relationship with nature
4 min |