Killing Tuskers and Culling Hopes
“I just passed a polling place and it’s crowded. There’s no parking… There’s an electricity. It’s exciting.”[i] That was American activist Lecia Brooks (of the Southern Poverty Law Centre), referring to the…
Environment
The Human-Elephant Conflict: Moving Towards Solutions
Recently the famous tusker, “Dala Puttuwa” of Galgamuwa was killed by poachers, renewing the public discussion around the ongoing human -elephant conflict in Sri Lanka. Investigators found that Dala Puttuwa was killed…
Conserving Yala: An Alternative Approach
Image courtesy Much has been written and said about Block One of Yala National Park and its over-visitation, causing disturbance and danger to wildlife, thus jeopardizing conservation. The latest decision to cap…
The Waiting Earth: Communities and cultivators affected by Sri Lanka’s drought
At the time of writing, 488,277 families and 1,665,961 individuals are affected by the on-going drought in Sri Lanka. The country’s rice harvest has been halved, the worst on record in 40…
The Dark Side of Norochcholai
The term “sustainable development” has been increasingly used among the global community since the 1992 Rio Summit. To achieve this, environmental conservation, supported at a policy level, is crucial. Yet energy production…
Deduru Oya and Good Governance At Risk
Environmental issues have become a central concern of policy makers, with many international conventions ratified by the global community. However, if we want to protect the environment on a global scale, individual…
The world’s first EleFriendly bus: A success story
The world’s first EleFriendly bus celebrated its first birthday on September 9th, 2017 in the Wasgamuwa area. I was lucky to be able to attend the event. The EleFriendly bus is an…
Blue Sky Mining
“We are aware of the great difference in carbon dioxide that is emitted from biological sources and carbon dioxide emitted from fossil sources. One has sequestered rates measured in thousands of years…
Desertification of Jaffna and Jojoba
This is in reference to Dr.Rohan Wickramasinghe’s valuable and interesting article of Tuesday 6th June. The desertification process in Jaffna has been detected and analysed for over half a century and the…
In support of community dogs in Sri Lanka
In response to recent threats made by government officials who want to remove all dogs from the streets within the next three months, a peaceful vigil was held May 6th 2017 in…
Where Has All the Water Gone?
MANILA – We live on a parched planet. Farmers till arid pastureland, and policymakers fret over empty reservoirs, dry rivers, and thirsty cities. And that only scratches the surface – literally –…
The Political Logjam
Photograph courtesy President’s Media Division, In a recent article on Donald Trump, commentator Adam Gopnik reminds his readers that while crazy lovers are pitiful or pathetic, crazy politicians are not. The shenanigans…
After Sampur
It has been five months since the Sampur Coal power project has been terminated. Those who protested against the project celebrated their victory. Now the matter has been forgotten, and there is…
Man Versus Elephant
I hear compensation due for an attack by a wild elephant will increase to rupees 500,000 from the current 200 K in Sri Lanka. Henceforth, if you are unlucky enough to…
Is the Air Pollution Analysis for the Sampur Coal Plant Credible?
Where does the Wind take pollutants from Sampur? As per modern myth, school texts, national atlases, and indigenous forecasters, the wind blows from the North-East over Sri Lanka at the turn of…
