ESG Opinion

The most important aspect of a sustainable house or infrastructure is to create one that consumes less energy in both its production and operation. As human civilization settles down comfortably into a lifestyle of energy and product consumption, we lead ourselves to believe that we can become green by just shifting the source of energy generation, unwilling to fathom that unnecessary product and process creation is the underlying issue. Energy reduction and lifestyle changes can pave the way for true sustainability.

22nd April 2022 will be the 52nd year since the observation of  Earth Day. A day that marked the birth of the modern environment movement across the West. Earth Day in the 1990s became a global call for action drawing attention of the world to the developing environmental crisis as a fallout of the Rio Summit 1992. Now we are enduring climate change impacts. The IPCC report 2022 warns if global carbon emissions are not reduced substantially, heat and humidity will surpass human tolerance and this can seriously impact human health and the economy.

The Make Bengaluru Climate Friendly – A Blueprint for Integrated, Participatory and Inclusive Urban Governance was evolved by the Environment Support Group, with deeply engaged participation from key representatives of multiple sectors: from the governments, academia, media, civil society, trade unions, vulnerable communities, etc.

Leo Saldhana from ESG questions CM BS Bommai’s statement that ground reality across ghats is different from satellite images, explains the seriousness of the issue.

Leo Saldhana in conversation with Revathi Rajeevan of New 18 on the recent flooding in North Bengaluru

Leo Saldhana from ESG joins Tanvi Shukla from Mirrow Now On The Urban Debate.

The 26th Conference of Parties (COP) of UN Climate Change Conference, hosted by the UK in partnership with Italy, will take place from 31 October to 12 November 2021 in Glasgow, UK.  There simply could not have been a more divided world in which such a critical global summit is organised, especially given that decisions taken here have planetary implications.  Following the collapse of the 25th COP held in Madrid, and no COP in 2020 due to COVID pandemic, much hope rested on taking forward a global pact to address climate change and its challenges in this year’s effort.

By Malvika Kaushik, ESG. The NMEO-OP intends to make India, one of the largest importers of palm oil in the world, self-reliant in edible oil production. It proposes price assurances and other economic incentives to persuade farmers to cultivate oil palm. The move is touted as essential for national economic security. Meanwhile, activists are highlighting the dangers of widespread cultivation of oil palm monocultures in the north-east and in the Andaman and Nicobar islands (ANI). There are two key threats. The first is the destruction of fragile ecosystems in these biodiversity hotspots. In the north-east, the diversion of land cultivated under shifting agriculture or jhum could also be an issue. Jhum entails rotation between cultivation and regeneration in different patches of land. It seems to support more biodiversity than monoculture plantations.

On The Urban Debate, Leo Saldhana from ESG and other panellists discuss with Tanvi Shukla the worsening effects of climate

By Janani S, ESG. Reimagining The Urban Local Parks Of Bengaluru City,

Who would have thought that in 2021, an American corporation known to harvest private communications for corporate profit would stand up against the Indian Government, defending the Right of Privacy of Indians. Ironically, here we are in the middle of the pandemic, worrying about how police can zoom in to suspend our fundamental right of expression, or walk into our homes and take away all that is ours, when the administration should, in fact, be ensuring that not one more person suffers, or dies, of COVID.

by  Bhargavi S Rao. As the world has become predominantly urban, with the impact of climate change being experienced worldwide, protecting forests everywhere, particularly close to urban areas, is critical.

Forests, especially those near cities, serve in regulating local temperatures, cycling water and nutrients, as repositories of biodiversity, and as a critical resource for the sustenance of rural, pastoral and forest dependent communities. Forests are also sacred spaces for communities that continue to revere shrines inside such spaces. 

By Bhargavi Rao, ESG. There is widespread neglect of lakes across the state and this is resulting in water, livelihood and ecological crises

By Ashwin Lobo, Research Associate, Environment Support Group

சூழலியலைத் தகர்க்கும் #EIA 2020draft: காணொலிக் கருத்தரங்கு. Posted by M. K. Stalin on Thursday, 3 September 2020 Leo Saldanha shared ESG’s