Contaminated Koggala Oya affects farmers
A large population of more than 12,000 farmer families that depended on the Koggala Oya for irrigation facilities for centuries is facing a predicament due to the inflow of sea water through the lagoon.
News
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Arctic Thaw May Slow Crackdown On Toxic Chemicals
A thaw of the Arctic linked to global warming may slow a drive to get rid of industrial chemicals that are harming indigenous people and wildlife, an expert said on Monday.
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Australia delays plan to tax and cut carbon emissions
Australia's government has postponed its proposal to tax polluting industries until 2011, a delay of one year because of the economic slowdown and concerns the measure would hurt business, the prime minister said Monday.
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Diseases break out among sacrificial animals
A large number of sacrificial animals have fallen prey to some diseases due to their exposure to excessive cold, pollution and unhygienic conditions of their resting places' environments. A survey
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US forests cost-effective against global warming, study concludes
The cost of using forests to remove greenhouse gases from the air could be about the same as cutting pollution with fuel switching or energy efficiency improvements, according to a new report from
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Air pollution in Calcutta elicits adverse pulmonary reaction in children
<p>Pulmonary responses of children chronically exposed to ambient air pollution in Calcutta have been investigated. A total number of 153 children from Calcutta and 116 from rural West Bengal in the age group of 6-17 yr were included in this study. Respiratory symptom complex, sputum cytology and micronucleus (MN) count of buccal epithelial cells were evaluated.
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Eager to join poll campaign, farmers continue to burn wheat stubble
Mandi Ahmedgarh: In an effort to join the poll campaigns of their candidates, farmers of the area falling under the Sangrur and Ludhiana districts continue to burn wheat stubble in their fields.
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Pollution solution: Don't eat spiders
Mercury contamination in rivers can spread to nearby birds, even ones that don't eat fish or other food from the water. Researchers from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., found high levels of mercury in the blood of land-feeding songbirds living near the South River, a tributary of the Shenandoah, they report in Friday's edition of the journal Science. The South River was contaminated with industrial mercury sulfate from 1930 to 1950 and it remains under a fish consumption advisory.
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Can carbon capitalism save the world?
CLIMATE change is "the greatest market failure the world has ever seen". That is the view of no less an authority than Nicholas Stern, former chief economist at the World Bank, and he has a point. As long as the market exacts no penalties from companies or industries that emit the gases that are beginning to transform the planet's climate, it can do nothing to keep pollution in check as economies grow. So is there some way to fix the market so that it punishes polluters and encourages greener growth? (Editorial)
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Sibal for specialised labs to monitor global pollution
Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal has underlined the importance of specialised laboratories in monitoring global pollution, which studies ice cores of the Antarctica
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Cases on protection of lakes: Khurpa tal, Uttarakhand
<p>Ecological degradation begun in this lake due to excessive inflow of sediments and sewage from surrounding areas and pollution caused by dumping of solid waste in the water body. From time unknown the villagers of Khurpa tal (leaving downhill of the lake) is dependent on the springs generated below the Khurpa tal.
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CNG users left in the lurch
Over 10,000 private vehicle owners who had spent over Rs. 30 crores on retrofitting their vehicles with kits of "pollution-free" CNG have been left out in the cold by the Union Minister of Petroleum
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Petrol bunks gearing up to meet TNPCB directive
City petrol bunks are gearing up to meet the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) directive to make mandatory the supply of pre-mixed fuel to two-stroke vehicles at the outlets, even as
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Keep the green coat in a cool economy
The list of businesses going "green" lengthens by the day. Household names such as Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard and L'Orealboast programmes to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, use natural resources more efficiently, recycle more and clear up pollution. These initiatives have gained approval from consumers and praise from environmental groups, but what will happen if the economy slows? Will companies continue to put efforts into improving their environmental credentials? Or will these green buds wither in the chill wind blowing through the markets?
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Reduction in VAT for battery-run vehicles
The Delhi Cabinet on Thursday approved the proposal to encourage the use of battery-operated vehicles in the city by reducing the rates of value-added tax (VAT) on them. The Cabinet also approve the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage for declaration of Delhi as a world heritage city. Speaking to the reporters, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit stated that her government will allow the citizens to have access to a clean-fuelled vehicle to ensure improvement in the air quality of the city.
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Panel for scrapping coastal corridor proposal
The proposed industrial coastal growth corridor as well as series of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on the Andhra coast must be stopped immediately to protect the rights of common people, according to the Industrial Coastal Corridor Nirmana Vyat-hireka Porata Samiti. Speakers at the dharna organised by the committee near the district collectorate protesting against the corridor said here on Thursday that the corridor and the SEZs undermined the livelihood of the already marginalised communities.
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Environment Dept sets noise level limit for gensets
Delhi is getting noisier and noisier. The noise level is far from above the prescribed limits. Taking a serious note of the increasing level of noise pollution, the Union Ministry for Environment and
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Childhood cancers linked to pollutants
Most childhood cancers are probably caused by exposure in the womb to environmental and industrial pollutants that have been inhaled by the mother, a British researcher has said.George Knox, an
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In Bellary, mining areas shining with greenery
<p>The ban on mining in Bellary has come as a boon to the mining areas in the district, which due to incessant mining over the last few years, had become barren. new life: Greenery sprouting in the mining areas of Ramgad forest region of Sandur taluk in Bellary district.
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Bid to bring down sound level
Identifying noise as a major pollutant and irritant as well as a constant source of disturbance and health hazard , the draft Master Plan for Delhi 2021 proposes to make the Capital a more noise free