Blogs

As the November chill takes over Bihar, thousands of brick kiln workers prepare to mold, stack, and fire countless rounds of clay. For these workers, the brick-firing season – typically lasting from October to June – is an essential livelihood opportunity. Bihar is home to approximately 7,865 brick units. It produces over 23 billion bricks annually and is one of India’s largest brick manufacturing hubs.

The Kashmir Valley, surrounded by the lofty Himalayas, has been sculpted by glacial flooding and the Jhelum River over thousands of years. Located at the center of the valley, Srinagar lies in a strategic yet ecologically fragile region that hosts a dense network of wetlands, lakes and other water bodies.

Growing up, building Lego sets was one of our favorite activities. Despite a finite set of building blocks, the possibilities of creation seemed infinite. Stacking together blocks of different colors, shapes and sizes showed us how the interconnectedness of the pieces could give us entirely new products to play with. What if the same core principles could offer a potential solution to enable a paradigm shift in our national pursuit of decarbonization?

Our recent research publication, “The Open E-Bus...

IT professional Nagarjun Kandukuru, 51, looks out of the window of his Bannerghatta Road home in Bengaluru and watches as his 16-year-old son cycles off to music class. The family has never owned a car. Kandukuru himself uses a motorcycle to commute to work. “Poorly maintained roads and the traffic make me anxious, and that translates into bad moods at home. Good transport is as basic as air and water,” he says. A city’s competitiveness, he adds, should include quality-of-life measures beyond monetary terms.

Recently, the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was held under the theme, "Peace with Nature." One could translate this to a “live and let live” perspective towards the natural world. Biodiversity conservation can be seen as embodying this spirit, encompassing all living organisms, from individual species to entire ecosystems.

A year ago, on an unusually warm November morning, Freedom Park in Bengaluru was abuzz with visitors gathered around several large posters. The posters announced that Bengaluru's top leadership will be launching the city’s first-ever climate action plan. With climate enthusiasts, civil society members, government representatives and students in attendance, the events at Freedom Park got the ball rolling on the implementation of this climate action plan.

This is the second blog in a three-part series that presents the climate action planning process for three cities in Maharashtra. Read the first blog in the series here.

Despite efforts to enable climate action, a range of obstacles, including challenges of perception, limit their effectiveness. Climate change tends to be perceived as a distant problem, and climate action often takes a disaster mitigation approach. There is a need to shift from this approach, of recovery post disaster, to preemptive risk reduction and resilience building.

A version of this blog was originally published on 14th November 2024 on the International Institute for Environment and Development website. Nature, when combined with the enthusiasm and creativity of children, can transform inner-city wastelands into spaces for people. Nearby trees, parks, gardens, green schoolyards and other urban green spaces are not just ‘nice to have’; they are ‘need to have’ resources for health and wellbeing. This is also the message of a recent UNICEF report.

In August 2024, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India appreciated the efforts made by econsciousTM – a waste recycling start-up based out of New Delhi – in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ address. Co-founded by Sonal Shukla during the Covid-19 pandemic, econscious turns plastic waste into furniture and is a prime example of a green enterprise that produces eco-friendly products. Less known are the efforts of Mamta Devi and her venture, Didi ke Papad. Together with her group of 11 JEEViKA didis (Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society self-help group members), they use a solar-powered machine to make papad – a traditional Indian snack – and sell them in the largely rural Begusarai district of Bihar.

Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers in India, primarily government-led Anganwadis (early childhood play and learning centers) and primary health centers, provide basic nutritional, learning and healthcare facilities for young children (0-5 years) from low-income communities. While these centers focus on the children’s physical and social development, there is an opportunity to enhance their maintenance and add more comforts and engaging elements. Improving these aspects can encourage caregivers to spend more time in these spaces and motivate families to send their children to the centers.