EQ: Ganesh Chaturthi, Synthetic Shrimp, Elephants, and More

EQ: Your weekly environment quotient

Preparations are in full swing for Ganesh Chaturthi. (Photo: PTI)

E-India

• Celebrate festivals the green way: As Ganesh Chaturthi draws to a close, many citizens are celebrating the festival in a more environmentally friendly way. The Prime Minister has also called upon citizens to avoid using Plaster of Paris idols.

• World Risk Index results: India has ranked 77th in the World Risk Index Report 2016, which assesses countries on the basis of disaster risk. Out of 171 countries, the small island state of Vanuatu was declared to be the most vulnerable country.
  

As climate change progresses, India will experience a growing number of environmental extremes. (Photo: iStock)

• Deforestation could be reducing rainfall: A new study has linked falling monsoon rain levels over the Ganga Basin and North East India to rampant deforestation in these areas.
  

Forest cover is linked to rainfall, studies suggest. (Photo: iStock)

E-Innovation

• Would you eat synthetic shrimp? While shrimp is one of the most consumed varieties of seafood globally, it comes at a huge environmental and social cost. A new start-up is aiming to change all that by making shrimp substitutes from plant and algae derivatives and early reports suggest that people may not be able to tell the difference between the two.
  

The shrimp industry produces excessive amounts of greenhouse gases. (Photo: iStock)

E-Energy

• How does a geothermal energy plant work? A visit to an Icelandic geothermaly power plant highlights the potential of this energy source that’s literally below the ground under our feet.

Geothermal plants could allow countries to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. (Photo: iStock)

E-Law

• Private entities held responsible for environmental damage: In a pair of landmark decisions, the NGT has invoked the principle of Polluter Pays to hold private parties liable for ecological damage.
  

Lake spewing foam in Bengaluru. (Photo courtesy: The News Minute)

E-Stat

• 7 million: The number of people dying from pollution-related causes each year.
  

A smoggy day in Delhi. (Photo: Reuters)

E-International

• “Pollution kills as many people as cancer”: While outlining the key environmental issues facing the world today, the new head of the UN Environment Programme emphasised the grim statistic that pollution caused about the same number of deaths as cancer each year.
  

Millions of people die as a result of air pollution. (Photo: iStock)

E- Nature

• Save the elephant: With poaching on the rise across the African continent, a new report looks at the last of the great mega herbivores and the ongoing battle to save them from being wiped out.
  

The sneaky elephant. (Photo: AP screengrab)

E-Video

• Did you know the massive threat that plastic poses to our oceans? Watch this video here to find out more:

E-Quiz

• Which of the following states is home to the Mouling National Park? (a) Assam (b) Tripura (c) Sikkim (d) Arunachal Pradesh
  

Shalini Iyengar is a lawyer and Research Associate at the International University College of Turin.