The year 2023 has witnessed significant upheavals in the Himalayas. The Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in Sikkim that swept away humans, houses, bridges and a dam was the latest in a series of unsettling reports throughout the year. First came the sinking of Joshimath but it was soon overshadowed [...]

Cities get flooded by heavy rain mostly because authorities don’t do a few simple things. Delhi’s plight last weekend was thanks to the state government rejecting a drainage plan from IIT. As deluges subside and our cities revert to normal chaus, we ask ourselves how we got here. Like in [...]

El Nino is likely affecting rains. From colonial times, this weather phenomenon has strongly shaped India’s political-economy. How it will impact 2023-24’s many elections will depend on govt response: As forecasts from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) signal the arrival [...]

We shouldn’t panic about summer extremes, because there are well-understood solutions. The trick is to implement them smartly Dear Sir, I write to you from Lucknow, hoping you could answer some of my questions. 1. Are we inevitably headed towards an unlivable India due to heatwaves? 2. Do you believe [...]

This article originally appeared in Manorma Malyalam

Two changes: accepting that biggest polluters will pay poor nations & pressure on China, India to contribute The 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which wrapped up in the early hours of Sunday at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, set [...]

New disasters can happen if countries decide to unilaterally try technological fixes to global Warming. With record-breaking heatwaves hitting many parts of the world over the last few months, scientific circles have been hotly debating whether countries should prepare to deploy geoengineering technologies to deal with such climate emergencies. Should [...]

Faith-based organisations can be strategic actors in supporting environmental action. The climate crisis demands collaboration between countries and communities We Indians love to speak about our religious and cultural heritage of protecting the environment. And, we do have a vast heritage to boast about. Our sacred texts are full …

We have entered a new age of heat extremes. Concrete and glass-heavy urban buildings are a major hazard India is searing. Large parts of the country are in the grips of unbearable heat and heatwaves. March this year was the hottest March on record, and March-April has witnessed a record [...]

Another arms race will divert resources Another arms race will divert resources from poverty, pandemic and environment crisis. In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently called on the US to increase its domestic oil and gas production to cut-off imports from Russia. While new oil [...]

The climate watcher has produced nothing for the general public, except for a press release and a set of headlines. Scientists are good at science but bad at communicating it to the masses. This is precisely why the gap between the scientific understanding of the climate crisis and policy responses [...]

Who’d have guessed that a 49.6°C temperature would be recorded somewhere in a normally frigid Canada? Now wildfires, caused by the extreme heat, have reduced its tiny town of Lytton to ash. To put things in perspective, the maximum temperature ever recorded in Delhi is 48°C. For decades, scientists have [...]