EQ: From Pollution to Ink, New Rules for GM, Smart Crows, and More

EQ: Your weekly environment quotient.

E-India 

• Ocean warming harms Indian food production: A new report has suggested that rising sea temperatures may negatively impact crops in India by altering expected weather and rain patterns.
  

• Changed field trials norms for GM crops? New rules for GM field trials from the GEAC committee are likely to spark protests – they shorten the timeframe within which states must grant consent for field trials.
  

• Alternative for “Super” Greenhouse Gases: The environment ministry has announced a new and ambitious effort to find substitutes for the so-called super greenhouse gases, many of which are commonly used in fridges.
  

E-Innovation

• Pollution to ink? A Bangalore start-up has hit upon a novel way to convert the carbon in vehicle emissions into usable ink.
  

E-Renewables

• Fish waste to energy: Scientists at Jadavpur University have successfully converted fish scales into biodegradable energy harvesters. The scientists anticipate that the device could eventually replace pacemakers.
  

E-Agriculture

• Free power to farmers fuelling water crisis: The environment minister has stated that free power to cultivators is an important reason for the rising water stress in the country.
  

Also Read: Unpacking the Water Crisis: Was the Environment Minister Right?

E-Law

• Should the SC have refused to hear the Cauvery dispute? A new article questions whether the SC was the proper forum to resolve the decades long river water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
  

Also Read: Crisis Aside, Bengaluru Wastes 50% Water Supply From Cauvery

E-Stat

• 7.69%: The percentage of GDP India lost to indoor and outdoor pollution related impacts
  

E-International

• Hawai’i World Conservation Congress 2016: The IUCN WCC has agreed upon the global conservation agenda for the next 4 years. The Hawai’i Commitments are entitled “Navigating Island Earth” and were shaped by 10 of debates at the WCC.
  

E- Nature

• Tool-using crows: The endangered Hawaiian crow has joined the short list of animal species (which includes octopuses and elephants) which use tools – the bird uses sticks to find food.
  

E-Video

• “Be part of the action”: Watch the IUCN WCC 2016 video here:
  

E-Quiz

• In which of the following states would you find the Orang National Park? (a) Punjab (b) Goa (c) Uttarakhand (d) Assam
  
• 
  

Shalini Iyengar is an environmental lawyer and Faculty at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology.