Delhi University has made it compulsory for each student to plant a tree. It could be any kind of tree planted anywhere. All the students need is proof that they planted one to graduate. Well-meaning while this policy might be, it could cause more harm than good. Merely planting trees does not help much, they have to be native trees, planted in harmony with their environment, and cared for a while, sometimes 8-10 years before they can truly show their magic. 

The city of London has finally accepted that some of its infrastructures will be unable to deal with the fury of nature. At least once in a while, climate change-induced massive rain will cause flash floods, harming property and overwhelming the city. And there is nothing that can be done about it is the realization that is finally setting in. We all will need to learn to live with the inevitable.

These women farmers in Zanzibar could no longer grow seaweed or even fish like they did in the past, due to climate change and associated warming. And so they shifted to farming ocean sponges for which there was thankfully a market among visiting tourists. Across the world, smaller communities are showing us the way of dealing with climate change – adapting to the inevitable.

Ever since the Ahmedabad riverfront development, everyone and their uncle wants to develop urban riverfronts in India. And, as is mostly the case, when governments want to do something, they find many different ways of breaking their own laws to protect the environment. Strangely the judiciary is also far kinder to such government actions. Another such instance is occurring this time in Pune.

Governments need to reinvent themselves if they are to deal with such a fast-paced world. The Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation has now outsourced e-waste collection. But for this to work well they require two conditions – (a) implement a good method of monitoring and disciplining the private partner, (b) impose controls on governments bureaucrats, and politicians to respect long-term contracts and make timely payments.  

Low-cost housing forms a very large part of the economy, and more so in India where hundreds of millions need a better roof to live under. Housing if not done well can also be a major contributor to global warming. The solution lies in its design and materials, for which there are global examples such as in Wales. Each country has to find its own answers, but low cost is no longer good enough, it also needs to be low-carbon

This is an opinion piece on how large agri firms are manipulating the situation to further enhance their status and power. The problem needs to be framed better I feel. A very large part of the global warming and ecological damage problem is due to the large industrial agriculture. However, the alternative of small-scale agriculture is unable to handle the inherent riskiness of agriculture well enough. While the large-scale problem is well appreciated, we need a solution for the small-scale weakness. 

The WHO had set the upper limit of annual PM2.5 exposure in 2005 as 10 micrograms per cubic meter and a 24-hour exposure at a maximum of 25. This has now been reduced to 5 and 15 respectively. And similarly for other pollutants. To meet such tight standards very high costs will need to be incurred in terms of new investments and incomes and livelihoods lost. No country can meet them with today’s technologies.