Himalayan blunders and beyond
Down To Earthby Sunita Narain29d ago
As I write this, over 1,300 lives are confirmed lost and many thousands are still missing in the floods in Nepal, as the mighty Himalayas came down as rubble.
Down To Earth
downtoearth.org.inadded August 2026
top 82%India has found microplastics everywhere. So why are we still unsure how to regulate them?
Down To Earthby Anjali Nair29d ago
India has found microplastics in rivers, wetlands, drinking water, food, salt, sugar and air, but a clear regulatory framework is still emerging.
Almost half of migratory bird species now in decline: State of the World’s Birds
Down To Earthby DTE Staff13 Sept 2026
Nearly half of the world’s migratory bird species are in decline and one in nine faces extinction, according to BirdLife International’s latest State of the World’s Birds report.
Why the Shakta tradition of Bengal differs on food choices from the rest of India
Down To Earthby Rajat Ghai13 Sept 2026
The article examines the backlash against Dhirendra Krishna Shashtri’s call to avoid fish and meat during Durga Puja, contrasting his stance with Shakta scriptures and Bengal’s cultural practices.
BRICS Summit foregrounds clean tech cooperation, value addition: CSE
Down To Earthby DTE Staff13 Sept 2026
The 18th BRICS Summit, underway in New Delhi, has issued a Declaration which covers a wide range of climate issues — from clean technology to forests — and reaffirms the group’s commitment to the...
BRICS adopts photovoltaic industry action plan, calls for value addition in critical minerals
Down To Earthby Puja Das12 Sept 2026
BRICS leaders at the New Delhi Summit adopted a photovoltaic industry action plan and broader clean-tech agenda, linking solar manufacturing, hydrogen, smart grids and energy storage with...
BRICS backs carbon market cooperation while opposing unilateral CBAM
Down To Earthby Puja Das12 Sept 2026
BRICS leaders at the New Delhi Summit backed a BRICS Carbon Markets Partnership to share expertise, build capacity and link carbon markets with climate finance, while firmly opposing unilateral...
‘Hopeful genres like solarpunk can help bring climate discussions to dinner tables‘
Down To Earthby Preetha Banerjee12 Sept 2026
‘Hopeful genres like solarpunk can help bring climate discussions to dinner tables‘ Some Indigenous communities such as the Maori of the Aotearoa New Zealand understand time as a non-linear concept...
‘Give each major Indian written language the chance to shine as a way of expressing new ideas, especially in science and tech’
Down To Earthby Ashutosh Kumar Thakur12 Sept 2026
‘Give each major Indian written language the chance to shine as a way of expressing new ideas, especially in science and tech’ Long before India became a global economy, it had already travelled...
The harvest before the harvest
Down To Earthby Nannapaneni Maneesh12 Sept 2026
In Rayalaseema’s dry fields, farmers are reimagining harvests by valuing bees, spiders, fungi and soil life as much as vegetables.
Record wildfires in Indonesia trigger health crisis as haze spreads across South East Asia
Down To Earthby Himanshu Nitnaware11 Sept 2026
Record wildfires on Indonesia’s Borneo and Sumatra, intensified by El Niño and human-driven slash-and-burn, have scorched nearly 300,000 hectares and unleashed thick haze across South East Asia.
How MCD and Railways cleared 6,333 MT of legacy waste from Delhi’s railway corridors
Down To Earthby Dilkhush Meena11 Sept 2026
Karol Bagh Zone of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi removed about 6,333 metric tonnes of legacy waste from railway corridors through a partnership with the Railway Department.
Africa moves closer to polio-free future as detections fall 33%, WHO says
Down To Earthby Madhumita Paul11 Sept 2026
Africa recorded 183 polio detections between January and July 2026, a 33% decline compared with 2024, according to WHO.
Kutch’s drought is drying more than fields; a livelihood and pastoral crisis is unfolding
Down To Earthby Aseem Mishra11 Sept 2026
A drought does not begin with a government notification. It begins when a farmer watches his crop wilt, when a Maldhari walks farther in search of grass and water, when a family starts buying...
New $15 million fund to support ending female genital mutilation launched
Down To Earthby DTE Staff11 Sept 2026
A new $15 million Her Horizon Fund, seeded by Wallace Global Fund and an anonymous donor, has been launched at the Justice for Girls convening to support frontline efforts to end female genital...
The coming years may bring catastrophic weather that could be ‘far worse’ than history suggests: King’s College London
Down To Earthby DTE Staff11 Sept 2026
Scientists at King’s College London warn that future climate disasters could be far worse than history suggests, as current ‘what-if’ risk tools fail to capture unprecedented extremes.
Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (September 10, 2026)
Down To Earthby Susan Chacko11 Sept 2026
Concerned authorities were directed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to conduct inspection on complaints of silica dust emissions from a factory operating in the Meghnagar Industrial Area...
The world has started regulating microplastics. Here is what the rulebook looks like
Down To Earthby Anjali Nair11 Sept 2026
Microplastics are harder to regulate than conventional plastic waste because they come from many sources and are often too small to capture after release.
The quiet acts that keep India’s forests alive
Down To Earthby Mir Faizan Anwar11 Sept 2026
The story highlights the quiet dedication of India’s frontline forest guards, whose small, self-driven acts help keep forests alive.
How solar is helping communities in rural Odisha cope with energy poverty
Down To Earthby Puja Das10 Sept 2026
For farmers in Bairagiput village in Odisha’s Koraput district, access to water for cultivation has long depended on the monsoon or on diesel and electric motors.