HAVE you ever wondered how wildlife manage to stay alive when an inferno is ripping through their homes, and afterwards when there is little to eat and nowhere to hide? The answer is adaptation and old-fashioned ingenuity. Australia’s bushfire season is far from over, and the cost to wildlife has been epic. A sobering estimate…
LAST year on March 21st, a group of volunteers engaged in the Versova beach clean up in Mumbai stumbled upon at least 80 olive ridley sea turtle hatchlings for the first time in 20 years! Many attributed this comeback to the sustained efforts of lawyer-activist Afroz Shah. Versova had been known as one of the…
COUGH, cough, cough. Achoo. Those were the sounds on my flight back from celebrating Diwali in Delhi. The air quality was so poor, it was just a film of haze over the city as we took off. While many of us are generally aware of the worsening outdoor air quality during Diwali, crop burning, and…
MENTAL health is an invisible health concern that affects millions of people yet is frequently overlooked and underacknowledged. Did you know that mental health disorders make up 15% of total diseases globally? According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “one in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at…
ON Teacher’s Day, nostalgia hits us and takes us back to school and college days. In between the laughs and learning, we remember the teachers who have probably played the most influential part in our growing years. Often it’s their voice in our head, telling us right from wrong. Today, we celebrate them, their effort…
CLIMATE change became a talking point nearly 30 years ago. So why are we still arguing whether it’s real or not? The evidence is pretty irrefutable, see NASA’s temperature graph below. Yet, people still seem to think this is a political talking point that they can choose not to acknowledge as an emergency, calling it one…
YOU may be aware that June was Pride month. Originating in the US, the month not only stands as a time to promote awareness and acceptance of people who identify as LGBTIQ+, but also commemorates the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, demonstrations in New York City in June 1969 that are considered to be the…
GOOGLE gender, sexuality, violence, and harassment. What you’ll find is a shocking number of articles and figures about these disturbingly commonplace issues. Last year, the global #MeToo movement shook India too and created a sense of community – especially among women – to break the silence around these socially uncomfortable subjects. According to UN Women,…
WHEN the extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani hit coastal Odisha on May 3 – with a wind speed of more than 200km per hour and gusting speed of 240km per hour – it was a déjà vu moment for the state and its people. But, with a critical difference. On October 29, 1999, when the…
HAVE you heard of ethically sourced, fair trade products? Conflict free diamonds? Or cruelty free makeup? Consumers have been using boycotts and flexing their purchase power for years to achieve change and force political transformation. Behind this seemingly modern movement of ethical consumption lies India’s forward-thinking Bapu who touted the ideals of homespun clothing and…