Author Archive

Sunday, 24th of February, 2008 was a day of great pride and happiness for birders across Delhi. In collaboration with the School of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi (SES, DU), WWF-India, and the Department of Environment, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, DelhiBird: the Northern India Bird Network celebrated the BIG BIRD DAY! Armed with binoculars and cameras, ... Full story

Following is an interesting image taken by Mr. Rajesh Lalwani of BlogWorks, en route to Gurgaon. According to Mr. Lalwani, Given the driving etiquette in our very cultured metros, the day is not far when this would be a real warning, I think :). At the same time, given the LARGE number of vehicles (including the newer, cheaper ones) that are ... Full story

The Oceanic Group (TOG), a non-profit society dedicated towards awareness building on Environment & Health issues had launched a Bimonthly Interactive Seminar Series on Climate Change (CC) on 4th June, 2007, in collaboration with the India Habitat Centre (IHC). The presentations at the seminars are to be edited and compiled in the form of a ... Full story

Parivartan - a not-for-profit society working towards development of individual and institutional capacities in various thematic areas for development project management is launching new a training programme titled, ‘Institution Development for Enterprise Promotion’ . This programme is designed for personnel in development agencies and projects; and development professionals involved in market related livelihood interventions. Parivartan’s initiatives are supported by knowledge ... Full story

Kartikeya Singh kartikeya@delhigreens.org “I really like Tagore’s poem about the sun,” said Liang Xu, an independent investment consultant and my new found Chinese friend. “Let my love, like sunlight, surround you and yet give you illumined freedom.” He put such emotion into the recitation of this verse that I sat speechless in the back of the cab: first, because a man in China was expressing his appreciation for Tagore, and secondly, because he was specifically recalling a poem mentioning the sun. I was after all in Beijing for the Solar World Congress (SWC) sponsored by the International Solar Energy Society (ISES), the Chinese Solar Energy Society (CSES), many Chinese solar companies, and supported by the Chinese government. This single experience could probably sum up what is beginning to happen in China. The country is waking up to address the need to invest in renewable energy technologies, especially when the demand for energy is stretching supplies of conventional fuels thin and the impact of pollution from use of abundant coal reserves has put China under international pressure. The latter being a key worry for Beijing because it is hosting the 2008 Olympic Games despite the city’s legendary air pollution. Certainly all eyes were on China during this event as over 1,000 delegates were present from 60 different nations. There has been much hype regarding China’s emergence into the solar arena because of their manufacturing abilities. According to CNN, China “will become the world’s dominator in solar energy industry.” With some 300 manufacturers of solar photovoltaics and approximately 3000 manufacturers of solar collector technologies, China has propelled itself into the world’s largest manufacturer of solar technologies. This has in large part helped bring down the costs of solar products in places like Europe and the US. When asked about the irony of the fact that despite China having such a large number of manufacturers but most of the products being made for export to other countries, Head of Chinese Solar Energy Society simply brushed aside the question and continue to boast of China’s ranking of largest solar product manufacturer in the world. Furthermore, upon questioning of what concrete steps the Chinese government is taking to reduce CO2 emissions, the session was nervously concluded and the moderator of the session pushed for a concluding applause. Though all of this may make it seem like there is a thin veneer for the solar cause over the reality that in China’s development ambitions, solar is still but a blip in terms of the foreseeable energy mix—after all, China is set to become the world’s largest energy consumer by 2010 according to the International Energy Agency. Full story

DelhiBird, in collaboration with the Department of Environment, Government of NCT of Delhi, WWF-India, the School of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi and several other environment related institutions and organisations, is celebrating 24th February, 2008 as the BIG BIRD DAY!... Full story

Legend has it, that if a person spots a Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) in JNU, he either stays there for long or keeps returning! Full story

Sambodhi - an initiative catering to research and allied service needs of the social sector for design and development of state-of-art knowledge ware products and provision of knowledge-based services is organising a training programme for trainers! Programme title: 'Qualitative Analytics for Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation' Duration: 3 days, From 5th to 7th March 2008 Venue: ... Full story

Greenpeace's Ban the Bulb campaign has been around for sometime now. The demand for a complete ban on incandecent light bulbs and a switchover to Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) has had mixed reactions so far. Though, there is no denying that since 95% of the energy used by an incandescent bulb is wasted as heat making it a hazardous substance and ... Full story

The Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI), New Delhi has announced a country wide Essay and Painting Contest inviting entries from school, college and university students. Topic: What Armed Gun Violence Has Done To My Country? Minimum word limit: For school students: 800 to 1000 words. For university and college students: 2000 to 2500 words. Painting contest is open to school students only. Prizes (for ... Full story