Meeriyabedda: One year on
On October 29, 2014, at 7:30 am, a landslide hit Meeriyabedda, Haldummulla in the Badulla district. The landslide was one of the worst natural disasters recorded in recent times. Although 12 bodies…
Environment
#Cokepollutes: Signatories to petition and archive of tweets against Coca Cola
Coca-Cola has paid Rs 130 Million to Water board as voluntary compensation for Kelani River pollution issue reports Lankadeepa newspaper — Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) September 25, 2015 It appears that due to…
A tree does not, a forest make
Today September 21st has been declared the International Day of Struggle against Tree Monocultures , people around the world will come out, write or otherwise question the wisdom of creating tree monocultures…
Coca-Cola: Apologise and pay compensation for contaminating drinking water
Photo courtesy Sri Lanka Water Board, via On 17th August 2015, local authorities discovered a leakage of diesel into the Kelani river, the source of drinking water for millions of Sri Lankans.…
On Creating Our Future
Photo via #happysrilankans We have emerged, as a nation that is maturing politically and can determine its future in a participatory, democratic manner. Now that the process of lying out of our…
THE THREAT TO LIFE
Image via 350 dot org It is very gratifying to see Pope Francis declare in his encyclical that, in terms of the Earth, “We have grown up thinking that we were her…
Open Letter to the Government of Sri Lanka: On the Port City Review
Image courtesy Yamu Prime Minister Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe Minister Hon. Rajitha Senaratne Minister Hon Lakshman Kiriella Dear Sirs, On the Port City Review I am writing this open letter to you all…
Colombo Port City: Consequences of reneging a promise
I am sure that I speak for many of us who took the promise of the Prime Minister that the Port City’ project was to be scrapped. Now, it seems that it…
Discussing climate change with the Ambassador of France in Sri Lanka
“COP” stands for the Conference of the Parties on Climate Change; the COP conference is an annual international event which takes place in a different country every year. The 21st session of…
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…
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…