Final document is being touted as victory for developing world, as it reiterates principle of common but differentiated responsibilities

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, came to an end last week. The conference declaration, entitled “The Future We Want”, is a weak and meaningless document. It aims at the lowest common denominator consensus, to say nothing consequential about how the world will move ahead to deal with the interlinked crises of economy and ecology. The question arises: is this the future we want or the future we dread?

The iron and steel sector is non-transparent, non-compliant with weak environmental norms and is getting away with it because of an even weaker regulatory framework

When the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) started its Green Rating Project in the mid-1990s, India had just liberalised its economy. There were fears that it would be disastrous if the country took the route to economic growth that ignored environmental considerations. The Green Rating Project was designed to find ways of measuring the environmental performance of companies and to drive changes in policy and practice through public disclosure.

A harried parent called a few weeks ago. She wanted to know if pollution levels in Delhi were bad and, if so, how bad. The answer was simple and obvious. But why did she need to know that? Her daughter’s prestigious school (which I shall leave unnamed) had sent a circular to parents saying the school authorities planned to shift to air-conditioned buses because they were worried about air pollution. She wanted to know if this was the right decision.

My answer changed. The fact is that pollution levels are high and we need to find ways to bring them under control. But this does not mean the rich can find ways to avoid breathing the air so as to keep pollution at bay.

It is mostly caused by deliberate neglect and designed failure of the way we manage water and land

It’s drought time again. Nothing new in this announcement. Each year, first we have crippling droughts between December and June, and then devastating floods in the next few months. It’s a cycle of despair, which is more or less predictable. But this is not an inevitable cycle of nature we must live with.

It is not in the interest of food companies to advertise what their products contain, but it is in our interest to know

Junk food is junk by its very definition. But how bad is it and what is it that companies do not tell people about this food? This is what the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) laboratory checked. The results were both predictable and alarming. Equally predictable was the response of big food companies and their spokespersons — denials and dismissals. But they are missing the point.

Unavailability of natural gas and destruction of forests and water bodies due to our inability to use our coal fields optimally is having a huge impact on our health and environment

Two monopolies. One private; the other public. One in gas; the other in coal. Both equally disastrous for the environment. I speak here of Reliance Industries Ltd and Coal India Ltd.