How we failed our avian karma

It’s a karmic world. We have evidence of that from birds’ nests. Just 15 years ago, a walk to count nests meant you looked both at the trees and the hedges.

It’s a karmic world. We have evidence of that from birds’ nests. Just 15 years ago, a walk to count nests meant you looked both at the trees and the hedges. That way, in most parts of India, you could see nests of crows and vultures on tree-tops and those of bulbuls and sparrows in the hedges.

HT Image

Unfortunately, security fears have resulted in the end of urban hedges. People prefer walls, resulting in a dramatic reduction in nesting spaces.

In new townships, the patches of greens are ornamental spaces that fail to serve as replacement for any ecological niche. And most new buildings are hostile to sparrows because of their smooth surfaces. As a result of this, sparrows have become rarer and the Baya bird’s nest has become uncommon.

We have to redefine green buildings beyond their energy and water usage, and examine their ability to offer ecological spaces for urban wildlife.

Bio Plastics-really?
Bio-plastics are plastics made from plant materials which can be composted, much like say, a banana peel.

But here is the reality that bothers me: we don’t have systems to compost even our current kitchen waste. The vegetable peels we discard don’t end up in our gardens as compost but in landfills, spewing the potent green house gas, methane. What makes it likely that bio-plastics will follow an exceptional pathway?

Every time a bio-plastic producer creates a plastic bag, they should be responsible for composting it. Otherwise they will never be the alternative we hope for.