environment

I got this photo of a stray dog, with a plastic juice or shake container in its mouth.     We have now conditioned even the animals around us to like processed food, lots of sugar. They have learnt to try and ingest plastic in a bid to get that food. I wonder where we are headed....

I got this photo of a stray dog, with a plastic juice or shake container in its mouth.     We have now conditioned even the animals around us to like processed food, lots of sugar. They have learnt to try and ingest plastic in a bid to get that food. I wonder where we are headed....

I was walking along in Jayanagar 4th T Block, when I noticed these young men selling "fresh honey from the hive, madam, do you want?" I looked down; the broken pieces of the honeycomb were there and pieces of it had been put into containers for the honey to drip down into them. This was, probably, the freshest honey one could get one's hands on. Alas for me, I still had a lot of walking to do. I noticed a few dead bees on the hive and this saddened me until I realized that this was, indeed, a humane way…

I was walking along in Jayanagar 4th T Block, when I noticed these young men selling "fresh honey from the hive, madam, do you want?" I looked down; the broken pieces of the honeycomb were there and pieces of it had been put into containers for the honey to drip down into them. This was, probably, the freshest honey one could get one's hands on. Alas for me, I still had a lot of walking to do. I noticed a few dead bees on the hive and this saddened me until I realized that this was, indeed, a humane way…

We often nail signs to our trees, loop cables over them, and of course, think nothing of choping them off for the flimisiest of reasons, for example if one obstructs a hoarding. But even when the trees are allowed to live, all may not be well. I saw this tree with its leaves all lit up by LED lights. "An unnatural green!" I thought to myself, and decided to click.   At this point, my friend Sarrah Reshamwalla raised a valid point. "Trees carry on photosynthesis in their leaves when exposed to light," she pointed out. "Does this mean that…

We often nail signs to our trees, loop cables over them, and of course, think nothing of choping them off for the flimisiest of reasons, for example if one obstructs a hoarding. But even when the trees are allowed to live, all may not be well. I saw this tree with its leaves all lit up by LED lights. "An unnatural green!" I thought to myself, and decided to click.   At this point, my friend Sarrah Reshamwalla raised a valid point. "Trees carry on photosynthesis in their leaves when exposed to light," she pointed out. "Does this mean that…

All schools have festive occasions when the parents and children celebrate with the school. But at Magic Puddles, a playschool in J P Nagar in Bangalore, the annual mela this year, on the 5th of December, 2016, recycled a lot of stuff that would otherwise end up in waste dumps."This year, we decided to set 'Skills' as the theme," says Nandini Rammohan, of the playschool. "Rather than an activity which the children started just before the mela, we decided that we would teach them some skills throughout the year, and have them teach it to the parents, and instruct them,…

All schools have festive occasions when the parents and children celebrate with the school. But at Magic Puddles, a playschool in J P Nagar in Bangalore, the annual mela this year, on the 5th of December, 2016, recycled a lot of stuff that would otherwise end up in waste dumps."This year, we decided to set 'Skills' as the theme," says Nandini Rammohan, of the playschool. "Rather than an activity which the children started just before the mela, we decided that we would teach them some skills throughout the year, and have them teach it to the parents, and instruct them,…

Recently, at my monthly quiz meet, I was intrigued by this "green" container for chai, from Chai Point.  The container seemed made of cardboard, an ecologically friendly material. But when I visited the website of Chai Point You can visit it here. I found that it was made of "food grade PET" - PET is polyethylene terephthalate, which is, in their own words, "use and throw".  Only  the outside cover is cardboard! Surely, using thermos flasks that were properly cleaned would have been a better solution, especially when we now have metal flasks which retain heat for a long time and are…

Recently, at my monthly quiz meet, I was intrigued by this "green" container for chai, from Chai Point.  The container seemed made of cardboard, an ecologically friendly material. But when I visited the website of Chai Point You can visit it here. I found that it was made of "food grade PET" - PET is polyethylene terephthalate, which is, in their own words, "use and throw".  Only  the outside cover is cardboard! Surely, using thermos flasks that were properly cleaned would have been a better solution, especially when we now have metal flasks which retain heat for a long time and are…