EQ: Read About All Things Green, Build Your Environment Quotient

EQ: Quint’s green newsletter. Read about climate change, wildlife, alternate energy, raise your environment quotient

Ng Fong Siu-mei (Friends of the Earth Director), petitions the US Government outside the US Consulate General in Hong Kong. (Photo: Reuters) 

E-India

• A fascinating look at India’s Antarctic Research Centre showcased the stunning design of a building capable of withstanding some of the planet’s most extreme temperatures.

• Bt cotton continues to make headlines. Hot on the heels of news that Indian scientists were preparing to develop Bt cotton seeds indigenously, came a report that Bt cotton adoption had a direct relationship with farmer suicides in rain-fed agricultural areas.

A rag picker collects plastic bags from a garbage disposal area next to a beach in Mumbai. (Photo: Reuters)

• The National Green Tribunal banned the use of plastic bags in Haridwar and Rishikesh, the latest in a series of decisions aimed at mitigating the Ganga’s pollution problem.

E-Mage

UNESCO World Heritage delegates recently snorkeled on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, thousands of coral reefs, which stretch over 2,000 km off the northeast coast. (Photo: Reuters)

E-Video

The United Nations celebrates World Environment Day on the 5th June every year. The theme for 2015 is “7 billion dreams; one planet; consume with care.”

Watch the official video of the World Environment Day 2015, directed by Leonardo Dalessandri.

E-International

Oil-covered seagulls stand in the shallows on a beach. (Photo: Reuters)

• The five year long BP-Gulf of Mexico oil spill saga finally drew to a close this week with the company agreeing to pay an addition 18.7 billion USD to settle claims with the US government.

E-Stat

A hammerhead shark swims among other fish close to a Marine Reserve. (Photo: Reuters) 

• 160: The number of shark species in India’s commercial waters
• 34: The number of wild tiger deaths in the past 6 months.

An Asiatic lion rests in Gir forest. (Photo: Reuters)

• 12: The number of Asiatic lions dead after floods in Gujarat in June 2015.

E-Law

Protesters atop a banner at the climate summit in the Hague. (Photo: Reuters)

• A Dutch court ordered the government to cut emissions by at least 25% by 2020. The decision is seen as a victory for concerned Dutch citizens who argued that the government needed to take strong action towards improving the environment. The decision was described as “unprecedented” and could spark a series of similar cases in countries around the world.

Nature

A group of elephants roam in the Jaldapara wild life sanctuary in northern West Bengal. (Photo: Reuters)

• 5 international NGOs have announced a new 20 million pound initiative to protect 100 elephant corridors across India. This initiative pairs well with efforts by conservationists like Dr. Ananda Kumar who received the “Green Oscar” earlier this year for his ingenious mobile phone based solution to reduce human-elephant conflict.

Energy

This solar farm in Gujarat is Asia’s largest, according to its developer Moser Baer Clean Energy. (Photo: Reuters)

• Continuing its solar energy push, the Central government is mulling plans to make rooftop solar mandatory for buildings. This move seems to be in line with the government’s recent decision to increase use of solar power from 20 GW to 100 GW by 2022.

Resource And Waste

An Indian worker adjusts a gas pipeline inside a biomass gasifier power plant in Gosaba near Kolkata. (Photo: Reuters)

• In good news for renewable energy, the NYT reported that farm waste and animal oils would be powering a United Airlines jet later this year. Biofuels are increasingly entering the mainstream and this news is an excellent step in that transition.

Why You Should Care

Power-generating windmill turbines are pictured in Suzlon wind farm at Sanodar village, 160 km (99 miles) west of Ahmedabad,  (Photo: Reuters)

• A new study has reported that climate change could turn back the clock on 50 years of global health advances. The study’s only silver lining was that curbing fossil fuel use could have a hugely positive impact on health. We’re standing at a crossroads - depending on our actions, things could get better or rapidly skid downhill! The Pope would agree - his encyclical last month was a sweeping call for “decisive action, here and now” on climate change.

E-Quiz

A Royal Bengal tiger cools itself in a pond to beat the heat at Kolkata Zoo, in Kolkata on Wednesday. (Photo: PTI)

• According to the Latest Census - How many Tigers does India now have Living in the Wild? Send us your ‘wild’ guesses... :)