EQ: New Plans for Ganges, a Rodent Species Is Now Extinct and More

EQ: The Quint’s green newsletter. Read about climate change, alternate energy. Raise your environment quotient.

A new government initiative plans to have ‘environmentally friendly’ LNG fuelled barges sailing on the Ganga by end-2018. (Photo: iStockphoto)

E-India

New forest definition: The environment ministry has released a new draft definition for forests in India. The definition is a significant departure from the previous Court given meaning of the term.

The Periyar National Park, Kerala. (Photo: iStockphoto)

LNG barge on the Ganga: A new initiative by the government plans to have ‘environmentally friendly’ LNG fuelled barges sailing on the Ganga by end-2018. This will ensure a switch from the diesel fuelled barges currently sailing on the river.

The polluted banks and waters of the river Ganga at Varanasi. (Photo: Reuters)

Mandatory sewage treatment monitoring and lake preservation law: Alarmed at Bengaluru’s environmental crisis, the Centre is planning to make it mandatory for sewage treatment plants to install 24/7 monitoring systems and in also considering bringing in a law to save the lakes.

E-Energy

A stock image of a power station. Image used for representation. (Photo: iStockphoto)

G7 pledge to phase out fossil fuel subsidies: In a landmark step towards ensuring a low carbon economy, the G7 countries have pledged to end all subsidies for fossil fuels by 2025.

E-Law

About 200 Nilgai or Blue Bulls were shot dead in Bihar. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Are monkeys and Nilgai vermin? The SC will hear a plea against recent state attempts to list these animals as vermin due to the damage caused by the two to crops. These animals are protected species and many fear that declaring them as vermin will lead to large scale killing of these animals.

E-Stat

Glaciers in Antarctica. (Photo: iStockphoto)

400 ppm: The carbon dioxide reading in Antarctica, proving that every monitoring station on Earth has now recorded atmospheric concentrations of CO2 above the threshold level of 400 parts per million

E-International

The corals in the Great Barrier Reef have bleached from climate change. (Photo: XL Catlin SeaView Survey)

First climate change induced mammal extinction: It’s sad but true – the first ever mammal extinction from climate change has been recorded. The Bramble Cays melomys, a tiny rodent native to the Great Barrier Reef has now been declared extinct.

E-Nature

Parched lands of a dried lake. (Photo: Reuters)

1.5 or 2 degrees? The recent Paris conference saw a great deal of debate over whether we needed to limit global warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees. But what do these numbers mean? A new article explains.

E-Video

What would climate change impacts look like? Watch this video here:

E-Quiz

Which Indian state is the world’s largest nesting site for Olive Ridley turtles located in? (a) Goa
(b) Kerala
(c) Odisha
(d) Gujarat

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