Environment | Citizen Matters, Chennai

Trees or classrooms? Anna university experiment could show the way

March 16, 2018 Laasya Shekhar

A number of educational institutions in the city have been felling trees on campus to meet their infrastructural needs. Can transplantation, as tried by Anna University, provide a solution?

How can you help in the making of a clean, waste-free Chennai?

March 14, 2018 Sabina Narayan

You can play a big role in making Chennai just like one of those clean, beautiful global cities you visit or watch on TV. It doesn’t take much; just put the trash in the right place, says a long-time crusader.

Three novel ways in which Chennai is changing the discourse on water

March 12, 2018 Bhavani Prabhakar

Art exhibitions, lake festivals, safaris and citizen engagement in the commons along water bodies — Chennaiites are coming together to raise awareness about water management and conservation in different ways.

RA Puram biogas plant revived, powers Amma canteen

March 2, 2018 Bhavani Prabhakar

The newly restored biogas plant in Ward 173 produces 6-7 kilos of gas per day. The fuel produced currently is used by the Amma canteen located in the same premises, which has brought down its LPG usage from 24 to 16 cylinders!

What Chennai could learn from cycle-sharing in IIT Madras

February 21, 2018 Bhavani Prabhakar

IIT-M students have 600 bicycles on campus provided by Zoomcar, Ola and others, which they share during the day. The initial experience and hiccups may hold important lessons for a city trying to replicate the model on a larger scale.

Chennai rivers in ICU: Waterman sounds wake-up call for citizens

February 20, 2018 Sandhya Raju

In Chennai to talk on river restoration at the DAMned ART festival organised by the Goethe Institut, Dr Rajendra Singh, popularly called the Waterman of India, repeatedly emphasized the role of citizens and community.

What the Urur Olcott Kuppam Vizha promotes, beyond art

February 15, 2018 Laasya Shekhar

The Vizha is widely hailed as an event that is taking arts to everyone, but it is also commendable in its efforts to go zero-waste, thus spreading an important message on sustainability.

Countless ways to go green in Chennai

February 13, 2018 Bhavani Prabhakar

Want a sustainable lifestyle, but wondering how to? Thankfully, in Chennai there are a number of people and initiatives who can help facilitate that in part, through their products and services, as the recent Reciprocity Fest showcased.

This weekend in Chennai, take a few steps closer to sustainable living

February 9, 2018 Laasya Shekhar

The Reciprocity Fest, scheduled for February 10th and 11th, seeks to generate awareness and build citizen networks around ‘green’ products and practices, through music, art, workshops and games.

Manhole in lake shows all that’s wrong with sewage management in Chennai

February 8, 2018 Bhavani Prabhakar

That most of Chennai’s water bodies are contaminated by sewage is common knowledge, but what exactly is lacking in the sewerage management infrastructure that makes this possible?

Walking along the Chennai beach to a career in conservation

February 2, 2018 Karthikeyan Hemalatha

For 30 years now, between January and March, student volunteers of the SSTCN walk along two stretches of beaches during Olive Ridley nesting season. For many, it’s the start of a passion of a lifetime.

We know Bhogi pollution was bad, but do we really know how bad?

January 19, 2018 Laasya Shekhar

CPCB data says PM 2.5 levels recorded at the Manali monitoring station on Bhogi day was more than 16 times the prescribed limit. Yet TNPCB data is completely silent on this particular critical pollutant. Why?