EQ: Dams, Life on Mars, Red Snow, Solar Power and More

EQ: Your weekly quotient of all environment news.

One of the Expedition 40 crew members aboard the International Space Station recorded this colourful image of Aurora Australis on July 15, 2014. (Photo: Flickr/NASA)

E-India

• Draft today, study tomorrow: Just days after publishing a “draft” Forest Policy, the government has clarified by saying that the document was just a study. The draft had prompted widespread protests from environmentalists and other stakeholders.
  

Jageshwar forest in the Kumaon region. (Photo Courtesy: Nitin Das)

To Dam or not to Dam? The environment and water ministries are at loggerheads over the construction of new dams on the river Ganga. While the former is pro-dam, the water ministry has opposed the construction on grounds of the impact on the river’s health.

A boy jumps into the  Ganga river to cool himself off on a hot summer day in Kolkata. (Photo: Reuters) 

E-Agriculture

• GMO wars continue: Proving that the issue of GMO safety is far from settled, a group of 108 Nobel winners has published a letter against Greenpeace for its anti-GMO stance.
  

GM crops produce higher yields, but activists are worried it could reduce plant biodiversity. (Photo: iStockphoto)

E-Renewables

• 1 billion USD boost for Indian solar industry: The World Bank has agreed to lend India around a billion dollars to support the solar sector. In addition, the Bank signed an agreement with the India-led International Solar Alliance to help mobilise investment of over 1 trillion USD by 2030.

Workers walk between rows of solar photovoltaics, inside a solar power plant at Raisan village near Gandhinagar. (Photo: Reuters)

E-Law

• No stay on "vermin" notifications: The Supreme Court has refused to stay government orders designating Nilgai, monkeys and boar as vermin. The complete matter will be taken up for hearing later this month.
  

A Nilgai basking in sunlight at Vijay Chowk. (Photo: ANI screengrab)the 

E-Stat

74

Number of tigers which have died since January 2016 in India.

Tiger population has gone up by 30 percent in last 4 years, but more have been killed this year alone than last year. (Photo: iStock)

E-International

• Ozone hole recovering: Good news for the global atmosphere – after years of concerted action, the Antarctic ozone hole appears to be on the road to recovery.
  

NASA all sky meteor cameras in the Southeast caught a meteor at an altitude of 50 miles above the town of Georgia. (Photo: Quint)

E-Nature

• Red snow in the Arctic: Bad news for the Arctic – scientists have reported a sudden growth in red algae which is tinting the snow red. This has the effect of accelerating the melting of ice and while this phenomenon isn’t new, it’s definitely a cause for concern.
  

Signs of a warming world: red snow. (Photo: Flickr/David Wicks)

E-Tech

• Agriculture on Mars: Researchers have succeeded in growing crops in a simulated Martian environment and report that the plants are even healthier than their earthly counterparts.

Mars (Photo: iStockphoto)

E-Video

• Watch this heartwarming video on the the rescue of 156 beagle dogs from an animal lab in Bengaluru:
  

E-Quiz

• Which is India’s largest highest altitude lake?
  (a) Chilka
  (b) Kolleru
  (c) Wular
  (d) Cholamu
  
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(Shalini Iyengar is a lawyer and Research Associate at the International University College of Turin.)