Climate Change in the Himalayas

This is an assignment which I've submitted as a part of an online course "Global Warming: The Science of Climate Change" offered by the University of Chicago.

I have focused my assignment on interpreting the data from meteorological stations located within the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau.

This region is significant as 1.3 billion people i.e 20% of the world's population is dependent either directly or indirectly on the Himalayan glaciers. The Himalayas supply freshwater to 8 South-Asian countries, including two of the most populous countries in the world i.e China and India. Any catastrophic change in the Himalayan climate is sure to effect the culture and demography of the area and the political scenario of the world.

Rashtrapati Bhawan now illuminated by solar power

Photo courtesy: green.in.msn.com

The Rashtrapati Bhawan (residence of the Indian President and the largest residential palace in the world) has now earned itself an ISO 'green building' certification for having emerged as India's first urban habitat with excellent eco-management systems. 

Bhavani Prakash @ Eco Walk the Talk

Eco WALK the Talk is a non-profit environmental website with an Asia focus. It covers eco news and insights, offers green living tips, and feature people who inspire with their environmental thoughts and action.  It is also a platform to feature important environmental causes and campaigns in the region. It was also nominated as a finalist in the Singapore Environment Council’s Inaugural Asia Journalism awards.

VSSU: Changing Lives in Rural Bengal

 “Making use of unused and underused social resources to develop a self-reliant society”

The Story

Vivekananda Sevakendra-O-Sishu Uddyan (VSSU) was created in 1983 to empower remote riverside villages and vulnerable rural communities in the district of South 24 Parganas in West Bengal, India. VSSU works with people whose lives are dominated by extreme poverty (37.2% of the district population lives below the poverty line), illiteracy, disease and other handicaps. With multifaceted development interventions, VSSU strives to bring about positive changes in the quality of life of the poor people. VSSU firmly believes and is actively involved in building the social, economic and human capacity of the poor.

Nature Drive Trust of India: Cleaning Our Coasts

Imagine a visit to a beach just to find it covered with filth. There goes your weekend outing with your family or friends. But what are you willing to do about it except crib and complain that the Government’s not doing anything to keep our coasts clean?

The Story

Siddhant Sadangi of Youthleader Global talks to a few people who are willing to get their hands dirty in cleaning up this mess.

Nature Drive Trust of India (NDTI) is an international group of specialists in their own field like educators, scientists, media people, businessmen and authorities committed to the protection of our globe.

Meet the Bishnois

The Story

The blue painted houses, the warm weather throughout the year, rich history, hospitality, the regal fort, the four gates, cows happily sitting on the road, and the traffic passing by, with ease. .. that’s Jodhpur for you.. my city, a place where humans and animals happily coexists. Situated at the brink of the Thar Desert in western Rajasthan, Jodhpur was founded in 1459 by Rao Jodha and is a well known tourist destination in Rajasthan. It is also a place of old and firm indigenous ecological thoughts.

Niyamraja towers above Vedanta

British mining giant Vedanta Resources has been humiliated after a series of tribal villages in India voted against the company’s plans to build a bauxite mine on their sacred mountain- Niyamgiri.

Environmental degradation costs India $80 billion annually

Environmental degradation costs India about Rs.3.75 trillion ($80 billion) annually - equivalent to 5.7 percent of the GDP - with air pollution being a major contributor, a World Bank report released Wednesday said.

Innovations for the planet: João Lammoglia's AIRE Concept

Most (if not all) of us use portable devices like mobile phones, tablets, etc. These have become an indispensable part of our lives offering functions as simple as an alarm clock to as complex as an augmented reality GPS. But one of the greatest problems of the massive use of these gadgets (and one that we realize only when they run out of battery in a situation where recharging is impossible) is that- well they all run on electricity, which in most cases is generated by non-renewable means like coal, etc. This is a 'predatory process' responsible for approximately half the emissions of harmful gases. And besides, the extraction of these fossil fuels provokes irreparable damage to our Earth.

India shows the way forward by banning captive dolphin shows

In a bold move to protect the well-being of dolphins, India has moved to ban dolphin shows.

Raabia Hawa: Beauty with the Beasts

Raabia Hawa is Kenyan. A conservationist, she was recently awarded the status of honorary KWS ranger and was featured on the cover page of Animal Welfare magazine. Raabia is aspiring to the Kenyan parliament, to be the change she wants to see in the world, for Kenyans, for Kenya's natural heritage and riches - the wildlife, the environment. She is a radio presenter for XFM on the mid morning show and on the weekends at East FM. She is 29, Kenyan born; she is part of the land.

Siddhant Sadangi of Youthleader magazine talks to this “child of the wild”!

How clean is hydroelectricity?

Due to absence of smokestacks or radioactive waste, hydropower is often considered a clean source of power. But is it really? Lets find out.

A Second chance

Well I am not much of a story writer, but I had written this for a competition, hoping to gather attention to the cruel world of dog-fighting.

Van Mahotsav: A week for the trees

So we in India are currently celebrating the Van Mahotsav (Festival of trees). Van Mahotsav is an annual tree-planting festival in India, celebrated in the first week of July. This movement was initiated in the year 1950 by India's Union Minister for Agriculture, Kulapati Dr. K M Munshi (yes there were times when we had such politicians).

Are you worth it?

The date June 29th, 2013 will be remembered by animal welfare activists throughout India. This was the day when India joined Israel and many other EU countries to ban cosmetic testing on animals, and became the first South Asian country in doing so. But many still are unaware of the horrors of animal testing, and many still support it in the name of science. Here's something which attempts to bring things into perspective.

Hemant Anant Jain- Blogging for a change

Quite often people question the very notion of "cyber-activism" and its effectiveness. May out here might have been told that its a virtual world where people go just to make themselves believe that they are making a difference. 

Well lets hear it from a guy who did make a difference through this medium.

To zoo or not to zoo?

Well the story of the tiger at Nandankanan zoo which "tried life in a zoo for a month and then broke out later" is back in the news. This time the tiger has returned to the zoo in search for love. But now the question arises what the future holds for him now- if he'll spend the rest of his days in the zoo (if the zoo-keepers can manage to contain him, or if he'll be out in the wild?

This dilemma is nothing new. The debate of whether keeping animals in zoos goes back a long way. Here I try to bring forward my opinion, on which some of you might disagree on.

RSDR: Helping our furry friends

Bulgaria has many street dogs who are often subjected to the most horrendous cruelty. They are kicked, beaten and shot on a regular basis for no other reason than that it provides certain individuals with amusement.  Many of these dogs are injured, in pain, or starving and in the winter there is a high chance that they will freeze to death.

Rudozem Street Dog Rescue (RSDR) is a non-profit foundation that rescues Street Dogs in Bulgaria and finds loving homes for them. 

Captain Paul Watson- Skippering Neptune’s Navy

This is an interview of Captain Watson I had taken for YouthLeader magazine an year ago.

 “You have not lived until you have found something worth dying for”~Captain Paul Watson

Paul Franklin Watson A.K.A Captain Paul Watson is a man on a mission- to save the planet and its oceans. Born on December 2, 1950, Paul Watson is a Canadian animal rights and environmental activist, who founded and is president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (commonly known as Sea Shepherd, SS or SSCS), a direct action group devoted to marine conservation.

Uttarakhand floods emphasise the need to balance ecology with economy

As Uttarakhand battles the fury of the floods which have left thousands feared dead and over 75000 still missing or stranded, it is time to ask some questions: Could the Uttarakhand tragedy have been avoided, or at least minimised? 

Model school for the masses

ENACTUS (formerly SIFE) prizewinning solution for problem statement "Design a school for a low income community which should be self- sustainable, not dependent on donations, provide quality education and not harm the environment" 

By Geetika, Ishita and Siddhant Sadangi, KIIT University

Whose development are we talking about?

This is my view for the topic "Mining is necessary for development. People owning such mining rich lands should be relocated" which appeared in the "Point-counterpoint" section of Science reporter.

Consumerism: Causes and Impacts

“The Earth has enough to cater to everybody’s need, not everybody’s greed”- Thus said the Father of our nation Mahatma Gandhi long back.

These words are even more relevant in present day world. Consumerism has become the order of the day. The more and more developed we become, the more and more we tend to consume.