Heena Sharma Blog

  Google's Maps app will start directing drivers along routes estimated to generate the lowest carbon emissions based on traffic, slopes and other factors, the company announced on Tuesday. Google, an Alphabet Inc unit, said the feature would launch later this year in the United States and eventually reach other countries as part of its commitment to help combat climate change through its services. Unless users opt out, the default route will be the "eco-friendly" one if comparable options take about the same time, Google said. When alternatives are significantly faster, Google will offer choices and let users compare estimated emissions. "What we are seeing is for around half of routes, we are able to find an option eco-friendlier with minimal or no time-cost tradeoff," Russell Dicker, a director of product at Google, told reporters on Monday. Read More

  Climate change likely played a major role in driving early human species to extinction, according to a modelling study published on Friday which researchers said serves a "thunderous warning message" to humans today. Of the six or more different species of early humans, all belonging to the genus Homo, only Homo sapiens have managed to survive. The study, published in the journal One Earth, combined climate modelling and fossil record to search for clues to what led to all those earlier extinctions of our ancient ancestors. "Our findings show that... past Homo species could not survive intense climate change," said Pasquale Raia of Universita di Napoli Federico II in Italy. This is despite technological innovations including the use of fire and refined stone tools, the formation of complex social networks, and -- in the case of Neanderthals -- the production of glued spear points, fitted clothes, and a good amount of cultural and genetic exchange with Hom...

India was among several countries in the world where greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from fossil fuels combustion reduced due to lockdowns imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said after observing satellite data. America’s NASA , the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) collaborated for the first time to document planet-wide changes in the environment and societies during the lockdowns. The agencies collated data from their Earth-observing satellites tracking changes in air and water quality, climate change, economic activity, and agriculture. Read More

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "creating a Hindu nationalist state" in India, said US financier and philanthropist George Soros on Thursday in a speech attacking "would-be and actual dictators" in the world. Soros, who was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said nationalism was making further headway around the world, and the "biggest and most frightening setback" was in India. Soros criticised rising populism internationally and picked out US president Donald Trump, China’s Xi Jinping, Modi and Brexit. He described Trump as a "conman and the ultimate narcissist" but said the current surge in economic strength for the United States may have come too soon for the US leader as he faces re-election later this year. "Trump... has managed to overheat an already buoyant economy. An overheated economy can't be kept at the boiling point for too long," warned Soros, credited with correctly predicting major market s...

On Monday, the Supreme Court directed the Maharashtra government to not cut any more trees in the Aarey colony till October 21. The trees were being cut to build a depot for Mumbai metro. Appearing for the Maharashtra government, Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta assured the apex court that no trees will be felled. Further, the Supreme Court also ordered the release of all the activists who have been arrested during protests. The court has asked the Union Environment ministry to be a party in the matter. Now the matter will be taken up by the Forest Bench of the Supreme Court. Next hearing has been scheduled for October 21. Earlier, a sessions court in Mumbai on Sunday granted bail to 29 protesters arrested over the last two days on charges of obstructing and assaulting police personnel on duty during protests against felling of trees at Aarey colony. Additional sessions court judge H C Shende of the holiday court ordered their release on certain conditions including the pr...

The Economist dubbed 2019 “ The Year of the Vegan ” in its edition detailing world trends for this year. “Where millennials lead, business and governments will follow,” the magazine said. And just as the youth-driven movement to save the planet has pushed environmental, social and governance concerns to the top of the finance industry’s agenda, asset managers are about to start feeling the heat about the food industry’s contribution to climate change. Veganism is an idea whose time has come, partly due to individual lifestyle and health concerns but mostly because of the environmental damage caused by animal agriculture. Ruminant animals including cattle produce methane which contributes to global warming, while growing feedcrops for livestock leads to deforestation. The number of Americans identifying as vegan climbed sixfold in the three years to 2017, with 6% saying they shun animal-derived foodstuffs, according to research firm GlobalData. In January, Caroline Lucas, the U...

Earth's global surface temperatures in 2018 were the fourth warmest since 1880 and the planet will warm further, especially since greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to rise, Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have said. Global temperatures in 2018 were 0.83 degrees Celsius warmer than 1951 to 1980, according to scientists at Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. Globally, 2018's temperatures ranked behind those of 2016, 2017 and 2015. The past five years are, collectively, the warmest years in the modern record. "2018 is yet again an extremely warm year on top of a long-term global warming trend," GISS Director Gavin Schmidt said in a statement on Wednesday. Since the 1880s, the average global surface temperature has risen about 1 degree Celsius. This warming has been driven in large part by increased emissions into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases caused by...

The world’s leaders have come to recognise water and the climate as major global risks. However, significant actions to tackle them haven’t been taken, according to a new report by China Water Risk (CWR), a non-profit organisation, that addresses business and environmental risks arising from China’s urgent water crisis. The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region comprises over a dozen countries sharing water from ten rivers. China is the largest of these countries and arguably the most influential. To pay attention to its attention is no different from paying attention to security, foreign policy, environmental and economic implications for all the countries involved – especially India. The 16 countries in the HKH – a.k.a. the HKH 16 – are divided into two groups. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan make up the HKH 8 from which rivers originate. Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam are cal...