United States President Barack Obama says he needs to know whose ass he should kick in the case of the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He wants those responsible to pay for the damage — to the people and the environment. The victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy will tell you that they know who is responsible.

Last fortnight I asked: is India rich enough to pay for the cost of transition to a low-carbon economy? I put the question in the context of current moves in climate change negotiations which demand countries such as India—till now seen as victims of the carbon excesses of the already industrialized world—must now take full responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

What do US soldiers deployed in Iraq face?


Severe mental problems. The dominant one is ptsd. It leads to depression, manic depression, paranoia and other mental health imbalances.

Climate change negotiations—cold after the freeze at Copenhagen—have warmed up again.In early April, negotiators met in Bonn, Germany, on the possible agreement that could be signed at the meet scheduled in December 2010 in Mexico.

In March the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) rejected petitions by Tanzania and Zambia to sell ivory. Samuel Wasser,an ivory tracker and head of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington, told Sumana Narayanan why CITES first banned ivory trade 20 years ago and why the rejection makes sense

On the position of animal welfare attorney


The office of animal welfare attorney exists only in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. It was created because no one stands up for the animal. We have animal welfare legislation but if you complain the case is unlikely to be taken seriously. This post was created 19 years ago to ensure that the accused can hire an attorney and the animal’s interests are protected.

The massacre of 76 policemen in Dantewada by naxalites is reprehensible. Yet we cannot brush aside the underlying poverty, deprivation and sheer lack of justice that are breeding tension and anger in vast areas of rural, tribal India.

There is a buzz about green buildings. But the question is: what does one mean by building green? And how does one design policies to make the green homes of our dreams?

What led you to file the public interest litigation (pil)?


On July 26, 2005, there was a deluge in Mumbai. It caught the administration unawares; all utility services broke down. I was one of those stranded, who spent the night under a flyover.

1411 tigers left. So says the latest advertisement campaign of a new telecom company and the wwf. It is powerful. It plays to our emotions. But it does not tell us what is being done, or should be done. It does not tell us how we, the consuming classes, can be part of the solution to safeguard the tiger.

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