Earth Focus

Butterflies in my Bedroom

Conversations with entomologist and education intern, Shikha Nain Kanha wears the monsoon beautifully. Everything seems to shimmer here – the stars, the fireflies, the mica-infused dirt. Shikha and I notice this as we walk across campus late in the evening. She is pulling me aside one second to save me from a black scorpion, stopping […]

Learnings from COP27: Education as a tool of innovation for the climate change generation

Curricula can be infused with scientific and technical know-how alongside indigenous and local knowledge. The cross-cutting imperative should be to foster critical thinking instead of rote learning so that the next generation can embrace complexity and make informed choices. Instead of mirroring a broken development paradigm predicated on an extractive relationship with nature, India can […]

Lac in deadly heat: the climate connection

Investigating lessons from a lac cultivation pilot in the Baiga village of Chichrangpur The lakshagriha (or “house of lac”) of the Mahabharata was a palace built from lac in the forest village of Varnavrata. It was conceived as a scheme by Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava, to murder his rival cousins, the Pandavas, in their sleep. […]

Learning from forest-dwelling, tribal communities to fight forest fires

There is much to learn from how their relationship with natural resources is regulated by natural rhythms and cycles. India’s varied forest habitat is a giant tinderbox that can release vast amounts of carbon dioxide, imperilling lives and livelihoods. But, if safeguarded and thoughtfully expanded, these very forests could be vital in slowing down the […]