Koslanda landslide: Before and after images now on Google Earth
was able to obtain from Digital Globe imagery around the aftermath of the Koslanda landslide. The following image was the area as it was on 30th May 2012. The following image was taken…
Environment
Ensure and protect the rights of people who survived the landslide
Image courtesy Colombo Gazette Memorandum to the Ministry of Disaster Management Ensure and protect the rights of people, especially women and children, who survived the landslide which occurred in the Haldumulla DS…
On Restoring Forests
It is rumored that the Government will set about the task of having 35% of Sri Lanka covered with forest. If so, that is a laudable goal. But one hopes that this…
And they all fall down
This afternoon, the remaining residents of 34 watta in Wanathamulla had surprise visitors. Brigadier Samarasinghe who is the Project Director of the UDA’s Urban Regeneration Programme, accompanied by several other UDA officials,…
Colombo Development: A Highway to… a Very Hot Place?
Photo by the author The causes of global climate change are myriad, and not all of them are within our control, but driving down the brand spanking new airport highway the other…
Rape of the Giants
Do you remember what a large tree looked like? Once they were all around us, not just the forest giants like the Hora or Palu, but the fine old Mango and Jak…
The Right to Life: Is it a fundamental human right?
Image courtesy “We don’t want the right to vote, just the right to live” the villager said, holding his dying child in his arms. This is the simple truth that seems to…
What is this about Dicyandiamide?
Featured image courtesy 3News Is this is a legitimate problem or it is a problem created by the nationalists who want to get a competitor out of the way? I am confident…
Nationhood and National Parks
Photo from tahira’s shenanigans National parks in Sri Lanka that traverse the lines of nature reserves are held in reverence in the Sri Lankan psyche. Ideas of nature reserves in Sri Lanka…
Devastation in Colombo after strong winds
Residents in and around Colombo endured very strong winds over night, with no warning or alert from the Met. Dept. The only warning on the Met. Dept. website is this. The force…
Vesak Reflections
Image courtesy This Vesak Day I was reflecting on the centuries of Buddhist tradition and the cultural response, recorded in the magnificent constructions and spiritual art that withstood centuries of exposure to…
Gratitude for Life
While the word biodiversity is gaining currency worldwide as a result of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) an internationally binding set of agreements. Whose articles are legally binding and used today…
Urban wetlands park plays host to Army tank
Urban Development Authority (UDA) has seen fit to place a used army tank there for everyone to see. Every evening, as the park fills up, people clamour to get an up close…
Unseasonal Rains
Devo vassatu Kalena (may the rains fall in due season) Sassa sampattu hetu ca (may there be a rich harvest) Phito bhavatu loko ca (may the world prosper) Raja bhavatu dhammiko (may…
On the felling of trees
Photo courtesy Dushiyanthini “The trees being cut-down on Reid Avenue are the perfect example of the kind of ‘development’ that Colombo, and some other parts of Sri Lanka, are now facing.” (http://groundviews.org/2012/12/03/the-felling-of-a-tree/) …