Issue
Environment issues in India: air and water pollution, waste, forests and the climate crisis, and the people working on solutions.
Environment
In 1973, Gaura Devi led 27 women to hug trees in Reni village, Uttarakhand. The Chipko movement that followed produced the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, inspired Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement, and validated forest ecosystem economics that NITI Aayog would only articulate 50 years later. Here is the full accounting.
Environment
Women's SHGs in Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram district are earning from Kappaphycus alvarezii seaweed cultivation. The economics work. The climate benefits are real, if modest. The risks from invasive species and monoculture are documented. Here is a full picture of India's seaweed sector - and what the Indonesia and South Korea models can teach.
Environment
Vandana Shiva: physicist, Chipko apprentice, Navdanya founder, Right Livelihood Award winner. Her seed sovereignty work and anti-GMO campaigns reshaped global food policy debates - and divided the scientific community. Here is a complete accounting of where she got it right and where the evidence parts ways.
Environment
Thick walls, courtyards, wind towers and evaporative cooling can keep Indian homes 5 to 10 degrees Celsius below outside heat without electricity.
Environment
India is the third largest CO2 emitter but has about 3% of historical emissions and 1.9 tonnes per person. See the climate equity case at COP summits.
Environment
The 1984 Bhopal gas disaster killed thousands and injured hundreds of thousands. Forty years on, accountability remains incomplete and contamination persists.
Environment
In 2016, Sikkim became the world first fully organic state. A decade on, its model alongside Andhra Pradesh zero-budget natural farming revolution is challenging India to rethink its agricultural future.
Environment
India's 4 million informal waste workers recover recyclables worth 40,000 crore annually, processing 30% of the country's waste. From Pune's SWaCH cooperative to Bengaluru's Hasiru Dala, how organizations are formalizing waste picker rights.
Environment
India extracts 25% of the world's groundwater, more than any other country. With 1,186 over-exploited aquifer units, states like Punjab, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu face falling water tables, contamination, and farmer distress. Here's what's being done and what needs to change.
Environment
India registered over 1.7 million electric vehicles in 2023-24. From Tata Nexon EV to Ola S1 Pro and BYD India, discover how electric vehicles are reshaping urban transport, the state of charging infrastructure, government policies like FAME II and PM E-DRIVE, and what the next five years hold for India's electric mobility revolution.
Environment
India faces a severe water crisis, but some states are making progress. This article covers Rajasthan's johads, Tamil Nadu's rainwater harvesting rules and other working local solutions.
Environment
India's clean energy transformation state by state. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka leading solar and wind capacity toward the 500 GW 2030 target.
Environment
After Holi, synthetic colours wash into drains and rivers. This article looks at what they contain and the pollution they leave behind.
Environment
Holi is water-intensive in one of the world's most water-stressed countries. This article looks at how to celebrate the festival while conserving water.
Environment
Holi's colours began as natural pigments from plants and minerals. A look at the chemistry, botany and physics behind India's festival of colours.
Environment
India has passed 210 GW of renewable capacity and aims for 500 GW of non-fossil power by 2030. This article covers solar parks, rooftop solar and wind.
Environment
From Rajasthan's Tarun Bharat Sangh reviving five dead rivers to Maharashtra's Paani Foundation mobilizing 7,200 villages, community-led water conservation is transforming drought-prone India. Discover how watershed management, johads, and volunteer shramdaan are restoring groundwater, reversing migration, and building water security from the ground up.
Environment
The Chipko movement began in 1973 when Himalayan villagers hugged trees to stop commercial logging. Led by Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Gaura Devi, and Sunderlal Bahuguna, this grassroots revolution won a 15-year logging ban and inspired environmental movements worldwide, from Kenya's Greenbelt Movement to today's climate activism.
Environment
India holds just 4% of global freshwater for 18% of the world's population. With 600 million Indians facing extreme water stress, groundwater reserves vanishing, and 21 major cities projected to run dry by 2030, the water crisis demands urgent action. From Chennai's Day Zero to farmer suicides in Marathwada, here is the full picture, causes, human cost, and solutions that could still turn the tide.
Environment
Over 4,000 farmers have died by suicide in Vidarbha in five years. This ground report from Yavatmal traces how erratic monsoons, Bt cotton failures, mounting debt, and absent mental health support are devastating India's cotton belt.
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