Ecology and Environment

The earth is currently warming rapidly. And this warming is bringing about massive changes. Our glaciers are melting rapidly. The artic ice-shelf is breaking apart into pieces and threatens to modify the salinity of the oceans.

Current Science's paper on improvements made in greenhouse gases (GHG) inventory estimation

In the debate over global warming, many a time, there is an attempt to indicate that human contribution to the Greenhouse effect is on a very minuscule scale and is negligible when compared to the scale at which GHGs as a whole work.

A number of films on climate change are available on the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) store. These include:

The UN Panel on Climate Change is informing the world on what damage global warming can cause. But a recent study shows how temperature changes have already hit the global economy and Indian agriculture is suffering the brunt of it.

The document informs that traditionally Indians worshipped both water and rain as “Jala” and “Varuna”. Even rivers were worshipped. Till 3000 B.C., RWH happened without human effort as rain got collected in rivers and natural depressions. Civilizations flourished on river banks all over the world Indus valley civilization in India.

India is gifted with heterogeneous landforms and variety of climatic conditions such as the lofty mountains, the raverine deltas, high altitude forests, peninsular plateaus, variety of geological formations endowed with temperature varying from arctic cold to equatorial hot, and rainfall from extreme aridity with a few cms (<10 cm) to pre humid with world's maxim

The work done by the villagers of Hiware Bazaar (Maharashtra) in transforming their village, through soil and water conservation works with Government / Panchayat funds is well known.

Villagers and townsfolk of Lalkuan, Bindukhatta, Pantnagar, Kichha, Bazpur and Kashipur in Uttaranchal's terai belt are beset by water and air pollution, and have picked up a struggle against a number of red-category (most polluting) paper and pulp units and distilleries in the districts of Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar and Hardwar, which are polluting the Uttarakhand hills with impunity.

This map provides the of levels of water pollution and groundwater depletion due to industrial activities in different parts of India.