The State of Electric Vehicles in India
Abhiir Bhalla
With the government actively promoting the use of Electric Vehicles in India, what is the future of electrical transportation in India looking like?
It’s Complicated: How the Pandemic Changed My Relationship With the Outside World
Jaidev Pant
The onset of the pandemic transformed the outdoors and how we occupy the spaces around us. With a rise in a picnic culture and AirBnbs being booked more than ever before, how has the pandemic altered our relationship with the great outdoors?
Documenting the Knights of the Western Ghats
Kalyan Varma
The Lion-tailed Macaque is one of the world’s most endangered primates in the world. Marked by a distinctive silver mane, this species faces imminent extinction due to human activities. In this photo essay, acclaimed filmmaker and photojournalist Kalyan Varma journeys through the ancient rocks and rainforests of Southern India’s Western Ghat range to…
The trees are dead! Long live the forest!
Bijoy Venugopal As 2021 enters its last month, a long year of grief and heartbreak slip slides into what lives in and around us. Green Ogre reminds us where to look.
Photos: What’s Stopping You From Rediscovering the Natural World Near You?
A Lockdown x Nature reflection, Natural Home: Transcend Boundaries, between Caperture, the Photography Society and Tarang, the Environment Ministry of Ashoka University. Put together last year this time; a reminder perhaps of what enlarges, when we look around closely.
When a Camera Trap Image Connects a Community and Foresters
What can science communication mean in real time field work in an Indian jungle? Dr. Nandini Velho shares unique insights from her work in a national park in North-East India in an hour long talk.
Lawyer-Author & Sci-fi Fan Gautam Bhatia Chats with 95 yr old Sci-fi Legend Chandler Davis
Gautam Bhatia
A mathematician and a science fiction writer, Davis was notoriously dismissed from the University of Michigan, and jailed, during the McCarthy years. He wrote a range of science fiction stories around nuclear disarmament, sexism in society, labour and capital, and first contact and language. A rare interview.
Shaleena, 1st from her community to patrol a jungle in AP shoots her own story
Shaleena Phinya and Sumit Sisodiya for RoundGlass Sustain
Video: Shaleena Phinya, the first girl from her area to guard a community forest in Western Arunachal Pradesh, shares how a rare bird brought her village and its jungles together.
Kapur & Miyazaki: Wild celluloid connections from the 7th Century CE to 2022
Tisha Srivastav
Open Axis takes a historical stroll uniting nature and film.
A Thanos snap for India’s growing hunger crisis?
Ishita Ahuja
Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War snapped his fingers to reduce half the world’s population to curb hunger. What can help India not fall further on the Global Hunger Index?
Building utopia with robot gardeners: Celebrating 35 years of Laputa Castle in the Sky
Rishita Chaudhary
Can mankind learn to use technology to respect nature? OpenAxis examines this via Studio Ghibli’s first-ever production.
Ecoflix, a new streaming platform says zero-celebrity or ad: Only animals and the planet?
Anushree Pratap
Open Axis scrutinizes Ecoflix for the global wildlife viewer.
Animals with human voices: Can we ever find Nemo in real life?
Devanshi Daga
With Netflix’s new animation movie out, a look at the pros and cons of portraying animal species like us.
And ACTION! Towards a greener Bollywood?
Aritro Sarkar
Like most Hindi blockbusters, making Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara cost thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide. Ten years on, is the industry ready to move towards sustainable film production?
Diving into the life of Jacques Cousteau: What can Gen Z learn from this French icon?
Meera Anand
Release of the 2021 biopic of Captain Cousteau by Oscar-nominated filmmaker calls for a look into the undersea life of this legendary adventurer, filmmaker and groundbreaking environmentalist
In the year of the crypto-creators raking it in, what about the energy bill?
Cefil Joseph Soans
Authors are collaborating creatively on the internet as NFTs. But can NFT go from guzzler to green?
Hey BookTuber, your book hauls? Not a good look for COP26
Rishita Chaudhary
Did Youtube’s literary community fail to produce CoP26-inspired reading lists and create unsustainable haul videos instead? Open Axis examines BookTube.
Is the 2021 Laurel Prize for environmental poetry exclusionary with too many T & C ?
Ishita Ahuja
Only in its second year as a UK-based international award for environment-themed poetry, why are only the British winning the Laurel Prize? Open Axis offers a critical glance.
Children are reading on climate change more than ever before: Good or bad?
Aritro Sarkar
What does this fairly recent genre of children’s books add to the climate movement and what does it mean for children? Open Axis finds out.
Will the new DUNE get the older SF fan and the younger cli-fi film buff to act on climate change? Studies so far, say no
Meera Anand
A look at the second movie on Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel to understand cognitive responses to an ever-emerging genre, be it sci-fi or cli-fi.
![India’s Climate tales: Graphic [novel] approach can give a fuller picture](https://openaxis.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/whatsapp-image-2021-11-10-at-5.06.59-pm.jpeg?w=1200&h=900&crop=1)
India’s Climate tales: Graphic [novel] approach can give a fuller picture
Devanshi Daga
Launched in early 2021, Comixense magazine wants to take Indian YA on a graphic ride. A look at this storytelling medium and what it can also do for the environment.
‘Amazônia must live on’: Photographer Sebastião Salgado returns home with his new book
Peter Speetjens The book is also a cry for preservation of what remains of the Amazon: “My wish is that in 50 years’ time this book will not resemble a record of a lost world,” he says.
Graphic novel version of classic science memoir aims for new audiences
Mongabay A chat with the graphic novelist of Naturalist: A Graphic Adaptation on how it can reach a new audience for Wilson’s lesson on environmental stewardship.
Bringing science and activism to your Goan holiday: Puja Mitra, ethical marine tour guide
Chryselle D’Silva Dias Chryselle D’Silva Dias chats with Puja Mitra on leading ethically run dolphin watching trips and other marine adventures in Goa.
RELOOK: Mukul Sharma on the Hindu right’s eco-politics, a decade later
K. Sivaramakrishnan Mukul Sharma in conversation with Professor K. Sivaramakrishnan in 2011, on his then new book Green and Saffron: Hindu Nationalism and Indian Environmental Politics.
‘We are a country which hates its poor’: Planner Paromita Roy on moving mountains in a metro
Aritro Sarkar
Urban planner Paromita Roy’s journey in making the street and the railway station, a great leveller in India’s urban public spaces, this festive season.
Ponds in Pondicherry: Hear from the citizen responding to every SOS on the east coast
Sonal Dugar
Probir Banerjee’s citizen advocacy group celebrates the local pond in a 2021 initiative and fights for Pondicherry’s coastal life, like a true coast guard.
The Glass Ceiling Has Been Shattered, Says ZSI’s First Woman Director
Sahana Ghosh
Science administrator and biologist Dhriti Banerjee, speaks to Mongabay-India on becoming ZSI’s first woman director. The 105 yr. old Zoological Survey of India is the nation’s premier taxonomic research organization.
Connecting culture to climate change: The many WIPs of Vinod Nambiar
Anushree Pratap
Is caring about a living culture by a river, just an emotion? In this Open Axis chat, Kerala’s Nambiar shares insights on an eighteen year journey of revival.
Rewilding Jaipur’s first desert park: Pradip Krishen on Kishan Bagh
Rishita Chaudhary
How exactly does a self-trained naturalist revive a degraded edge of town? Pradip Krishen tells Open Axis in an eye-opening chat.
Get ready for Ruddy: Detective fighting crime in the wild
Devanshi Daga
Rohan Chakravarty, founder of Green Humour is back with a new book: Naturalist Ruddy: Adventurer, Sleuth, Mongoose. But how did he come up with it during the pandemic? In a video chat with Devanshi Daga he opens up about his artistic journey, a love of birds and drawing people to the wild.
From animal rights to mining bans: Why this Padma Shri awardee is a pioneer to learn from
Ishita Ahuja
While Norma Alvares’ animal rights work is pioneering in its range, she speaks frankly to Ishita Ahuja about what happens after she wins or loses.
Cameras for community conservation? Rita Banerji on Green Hub
Devanshi Daga
Devanshi Daga finds out from award winning wildlife filmmaker and Founder Green Hub, Rita Banerji, how a unique fellowship programme can kickstart a dialogue in the village communities, the Green Hub fellows and alumni come from.
‘India can be a R&D centre for the poor to be sustainable’: Harish Hande’s decade as a catalyst
Cefil Joseph Soans
SELCO, a foundation set up by Hande, is in the top 50 COVID-19 last-mile responder India list of the World Economic Forum. In this Open Axis chat, he talks about what India is getting right.
Bittu Sahgal: “Young people want to protect the environment, but don’t have their hands on the wheel”
Gopikrishna Warrier
Bittu Sahgal’s Sanctuary Asia magazine turns 40. S. Gopikrishna Warrier speaks to him about a lifetime in nature journalism and raising public awareness through the print media.
A Litigating Life: Meet the Indian environmental lawyer who won the Alternative Nobel 2021
Meera Anand An environmental lawyer for over 15 years, Ritwick Dutta, in his video conversation with Meera Anand, sheds light on the urgent need for environmental democracy in India.
How will China’s decision to stop funding coal overseas impact developing countries?
Anushree Pratap China is the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world and has not pledged to phase out coal nationally. Anushree Pratap unpacks what its no new coal funding overseas means for emergent economies and global renewable energy.
When a people’s eyes are as moist as a land: The Tharu speak
Tisha Srivastav The Skin of Chitwan, an online multimedia exhibition by the Nepal Picture Library, gets inside a long history of dislocation, with a sensory, multidisciplinary vitality.
The revolution begins from the street (art)
Devanshi Daga With street art gaining momentum in India, Devanshi Daga discusses the street as a social space, the impact of street art on its large audience and the messages it seeks to convey about the environment through discussing the works of three Indian street artists.
Book Review: The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis
Mehak Bhargava Through the tale of Nutmeg, Amitav Ghosh makes a strong case of what must be done to survive the planetary crisis & come out thriving.
Who is riding pillion on the e-scooter buzz in India?
Cefil Joseph Soans Reading between the lines of the pitch and sale in India’s e-scooter scene, Cefil Joseph Soans tests if the buzz is sustainable?
The Politics of a Climate Strike: Three Young Activists Talk Impact, Space, and Privilege
Ishita Ahuja
On September 25, FridaysForFuture called for a global climate strike, with Uproot the System as its theme, addressing climate problems faced by MAPA (Most Affected Areas and People). Ahead of the next strike on October 22, Ishita Ahuja speaks to three activists to understand the politics driving their protest.
The Storyteller approach: Scientific writing since Silent Spring
Rishita Chaudhary
Rachel Carson’s famous work, Silent Spring turns 60 in 2022. Rishita Chaudhary tracks how fact, fiction, and non-fiction are speaking to each other in a new emerging genre.
From Zurich to Wayanad, Can The Data Modelling Highway Restore Farmer Science and Soil?
Cefil Joseph Soans
As Restor, a data modelling collaboration with Google goes public this October 2021, Cefil Joseph Soans tracks what this can mean for environmental conservation work on ground.
A Climate-Friendly Autobahn Ahead For The Berlin & EU? Analysing Germany’s 2021 Elections
Aritro Sarkar
Aritro Sarkar discusses the growing tide of climate issues washing over electoral politics in Europe’s strongest economy, with three German voters.
Mapping a Movement: Two Activists Tell-All
Isha Pareek Isha Pareek navigates the journey of two urban Indian eco-activists, as they champion causes and communities, contours and blind spots of environmental justice.
Bats in a pandemic: Why should we care?
Devanshi Daga In India’s National Wildlife Week, Devanshi Daga connects several 2021 studies and a leading Indian field scientist’s focus on bats. What our attitudes are and what can shift them?
The End Of The Zoo: Has The Pandemic Changed The Way We See Zoos?
Aritro Sarkar In 2020 – 2021, when you and I have had to forcibly stay indoors, the idea of captivity itself has come to be belatedly resented, although it took the human experience of a generational pandemic for that to happen. In that light, how do we look at zoos, as venues premised on this…
Deconstructing the NEP: how important is experiential learning in wildlife conservation?
Ishita Ahuja
The National Education Policy drafted in 2020 makes wildlife education under environmental studies, a new option for college students. “Towards the attainment of such a holistic and multidisciplinary education, the flexible and innovative curricula of all HEIs shall include credit-based courses and projects in the areas of… forest and wildlife conservation.” Yet it…
The Hamartia of Human Reasoning: Why Do We Deny Climate Change?
By Aarohi Sharma
Why do people tend to deny climate change – and what does this denial represent?
Development: A Disaster in Disguise
Muskaan Kanodia
In recent years, India’s trajectory mapping the disasters and calamities has gone up at an alarming rate. However, is it fair to dismiss and disregard them as acts of nature without bearing the responsibility of their occurrence? By increasing development projects in highly sensitive and fragile areas, will India’s economic policy be able…
Activity, Art and Activism: Anjali Dalmia’s Experiences as an Environmental Activist
“I think activism is very often taken in the wrong way that it’s just holding up signs and protesting or marching to places, but I would say that even education is a part of activism, state policies are a part of activism, even having conversations is part of activism. Activism just means being active, it…
The Infamous Smog: Crop burning and much more
Hiteshi Ajmera Year after year, almost every newspaper prints scathing columns condemning the smog that settles in the Delhi-NCR region due to crop burning. Why do farmers continue to burn crops? Is the smog caused solely due to crop burning?
The 5G Conundrum: Can we achieve carbon neutrality?
Nirvik Thapa Global internet usage is responsible for 1.7 million tonnes of annual emissions. The advent of 5G might exacerbate this.
A Life on Our Planet: an appeal to all of us, on nature’s behalf
Shrishti Agrawal
David Attenborough’s witness statement, A Life on Our Planet, isn’t just another story about the global decline of the natural world. It could create collective consciousness towards the environment and bring about change, if we let it.
Should India’s environment laws give the State so much power?
Mansi Ranka
Can the state really function as a trustee for the protection of the environment without oversight?
A New Law Aims to Open Government Data to the Public. Can We Trust It to Deliver?
Rutuparna Deshpande
Developments in an era of rapid digitization have coursed through many major world events like the global pandemic. At each turn, the data public entities collect from global events–for example, patient numbers and inflation percentages–have shaped how we respond to crises. A new law wants to open this data to the public, though…
India’s Growth Prospects – Are They Really Deterred by Religious Majoritarianism and Polarisation?
Fahad Hasin
In a recent statement, former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan warned that an “anti-minority” image could harm India’s growth prospects due to reduced demand for Indian products in the global market. One might argue instead that proper economic growth could further overshadow and mask the rising religious polarisation in the short-medium run.
Six Seasons and a Movie! – Community, a Cult Sitcom
Reya Daya
American sitcom, Community, is one of those shows that can change your life. A hilarious cast and script, pop culture references, and heartwarming stories – it has it all.
Blurring Boundaries
Lakshya Sharma
A British series revolving around a young woman and how she navigates her life in London. The series transcends all expectations when the audience evolves from mere viewers to an intimate point of contact for Fleabag.
Heartstopper
Shree Bhattacharya
A British coming-of-age story about two teenage boys who find themselves and each other during a tumultuous time, that is, high school.
Not Just Like – We Love It!
Jaidev Pant
Australian comedy series Please Like Me is a tremendous insight into navigating sexuality, adulthood, and life in general. A series that will have you laughing while you sob your eyes out, this throwback show is one for the ages.
Through the Looking Glass: Gender Lens and Education Policy
Reya Daya
The recently implemented Early Warning System like most education policies remains genderless. However, it is crucial to make gender-specific policies to ensure truly equitable education for girls.
Issue XXIII: Editor’s Note
The ‘economy’ is an elusive term. In all its intricacies and grandiosity, this complex webwork that carries flows of money, people, and capital almost resembles a colourful living being. It breathes, expands and sometimes utterly collapses under its own weight. We can try to keep it healthy and enjoy the opulence it provides or we…
Can India Afford to Make Hindi Its Sole Official Language?
Biplob Kumar Das
Amit Shah recently stated that Hindi should become the common language that different states communicate in, replacing English. While the statement has invited considerable criticism from the opposition, there is also a need to critically engage with such a proposal. Biplob Kumar Das writes the about the problems with enforcing Hindi as…
The Price of a Burger: How Food Aggregators Are Eating Into Restaurant Sales
Jaidev Pant
Home-dining services and Cloud Kitchens are booming post the pandemic. However, this boom might not be as simple as it seems. Behind the success of third-party aggregators, lies the hidden suffering of restaurants and dine-in platforms.
India’s Beef With Meat
Lakshya Sharma
Food, delicious? Think again, it is much more than what you eat. It is a symbol of identity, a carrier of culture, a link to ancestry, and a mark of pride. Growing from all this, food can also emerge as a locus point of polarization. It transforms from a symbol of care…
Uniting Hindus or Masking Brahminism – Hindutva’s Narrowing Scope
Akanksha Mishra
This piece explores the argument of Hindutva as an ideology that unites Hindus across caste and sectarian lines, and the author explains how recent communal clashes show that Hindutva’s essence is Brahminical and upper-caste.
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