Devastating wildfires surrounding a tourist town. People evacuated on navy ships. Majestic hotels but not a skier in sight. Where there was snow, a drought silently spreads. Even worse, international travel disrupted by poor visibility, storm systems and high winds. The future of the international tourism market might be in for a future shock.   There is no surety, even of ensuring an Olympics to be held in time. Many records tumbled when the Tokyo Olympics shifted for a few weeks. And there is yet no guarantee that the ongoing winter Olympics will run smoothly till its closure cerem ..read more

Bengaluru stands out but only marginally so. Having committed to the Paris Agreement like the rest of the country and being a part of the C40 cities network which seeks to channelize the collective actions for effectively reducing the impacts of climate change, Bengaluru has a lot on its plate. The choices are stark. If Bengaluru wants to be carbon neutral, a honest assessment of the current situation in order to design a future climate action plan is the way forward. This action plan should focus on hitherto ‘black-spots’ and tackle issues of efficient transport planning, waste management, be ..read more

 It is the citizen upon whom the blame sits heavy. Last year, now, the nation was talking about the unprecedented landslides in the Western Himalayan states. People stopped talking about that soon. Now as a week has passed, people are already talking about moving on. But who are buying these houses that may have come up in lake beds. A cursory glance suggests that most such houses sitting on lake beds belongs to all strata of the community. The rich build the house and the poor follow for jobs and voila, the lake turns into a multi-story apartment. Roads come up where water flowed, follow ..read more

Russia is nearly producing the same amount of fossil fuels as it did a year back or further back and even more, who knows. European countries are reopening coal mines. Virtually everyone is buying everyone’s oil and selling it as someone’s oil. There is no certainty that oil exported by a middle eastern powerhouse was drilled in the desert or in the cold swathes of Siberia. No one knows yet everyone is aware. To add to that, all our climate pledges are irrelevant. When asked, Uncle was unaware of the worldwide movement for climate change mitigation. His comment was instructive, No country ever ..read more

Many of us woke up abruptly several times in the past few years. Not for an evening snack, but to save that hard-earned TV and also the Bentley. Sometimes to fill up the brand new bucket as city after city break heat records.   While for many, sudden climate extremes hitting their childhood colony is a difficult reality to digest. Indeed when sudden apocalypse occur, it is highly likely that people slowest to adapt will be the first to get severely impacted. Walking through the muddy sludge, the blue tent settlements that had been set up in the command area of the HN Halli lake had gone ..read more

Never discussed, rarely debated, Mystical beauty, rare sawy.  Oh, I never felt so much as peace as I watched the Garhwal Himalayas standing over Pauri  Pauri to satpili sway Pauri to dana nagaraj road Ujli village pauri ..read more

We are beginning to see hard hits coming our way.  Mike Tyson level punches that spikes mortality rates. Everywhere and for a number of reasons, we are beginning to see the beginning of the end. And it sure looks scary.  Countries worldwide are grappling to contain the chaos slowly spreading through society and as Harari says, this time the acceleration seems real. Our harmony with the higher power of nature has gotten irreversibly shaken. Gone are the days when even token respect to the sun, our earth, gusting wind was given and personifications of nature were what we better knew go ..read more

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What does a forest mean to me.  When did I get fascinated. Did I get fascinated.  What was it, this question that the past few decades have left us more perplexed at. Forests are a feeling of being together with the most elemental force of nature! Forests are these spaces where I hear myself clearest! Forests are these silent sentinels, seeing all, knowing all and doing quite a bit! Forests are among the last few places on earth that still exudes a sense of discovery. There is always something unknown about a forest! Forests are these hitting-self-with-punishment as they wonder ..read more

 Hold on.  We are almost there. We are reaching soon. Hold on ..read more