A Magical Fable About Global Warming

A documentary fable by Mumbai filmmaker Nitin Das was handpicked to be a part of the UN Environment Programme’s “Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign.” Over two billion trees have been planted around the world under the campaign, and all sectors are encouraged to engage in voluntary action to address the issue of climate [...]

TC-I Tidbits

Here is your daily dose of headlines about innovative or anti-innovative ideas from around the country:

Microfinance

ACCESS Development Services and Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development will work to build cooperation between Europe and India to assist 20 MFIs in the country.
SKS Microfinance and Bajaj Allianz will form a partnership to provide clients with insurance [...]

Headlines Digest

We have decided to condense the headlines to be posted once each workday. Please comment here, if you prefer the Midday and Evening posts.

Global Warming and Energy: P. Chindambaram speaks on measures taken by India to combat global warming. In similar news, in Haryana the government has granted a 27 crore contract to a company [...]

A Look Back on the Week

To help our readers better digest the prolific number of posts that appear throughout a given week, the ThinkChange India team will be providing weekly recaps on what posts garnered the most interest and also we will highlight some older posts that we feel deserve to be featured again.
From Sunday to Sunday — The Top [...]

Deaths from Climate Change

The World Health Organization has produced a world map that estimates the number of deaths that can be attributed to climate change. The map estimates anywhere from 40 to 80 million deaths in India can be attributed to climate change.

[Source: Google.org]

The Unintended (and seemingly unrelated) Effects of Climate Change

India’s coastlines extend a distance of 7,500 kilometers and are contiguous with 8 states, including Orissa, West Bengal, Andra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, and Maharashtra. In 2 recent posts entitled, “Predicting a Shift: Climate Migrants” and “Mumbai in 2100: Underwater“, we spoke to the displacement risk faced by coastal inhabitants as a result [...]

Mumbai in 2100: Underwater

A new Greenpeace report states that by 2100, the main thoroughfares and heartbeat of India’s Gateway will be underwater, due to global warming. The Greenpeace report predicts that
a potential increase in temperatures by 4 to 5 degrees due to greenhouse emissions at the current rate would mean a corresponding rise in sea levels of [...]

Evening Edition

A new United Nations report, Redefining AIDS in Asia: Crafting an Effective Response, was just released and makes an astonishing prediction: 500,000 peaple could die each year people due to AIDS-related illnesses by 2020. (Source: PSD Blog)
Another UN report focuses on the rise of food costs in Asia due to the use of crops in [...]

Can Market Based Philanthropy Stem Climate Change?

The Progressive Automotive X Prize certainly seems to believe that market-based philanthropy can stimulate innovation on a global scale through handsome monetary packages - in this case, $10 million.  The goal, announced recently at the New York International Auto Show, is an impressive one -
The newly renamed Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is an international competition designed [...]

Predicting A Shift: Climate Migrants

A report released by Greenpeace titled “Blue Alert - Climate Migrants in South Asia: Estimates and Solutions” focuses on how climate change will cause major migration shifts on the South Asian subcontinent in the coming century and offers policy recommendations.
Looking at India and Bangladesh alone, approximately 125 million migrants, comprising about 75 million from Bangladesh [...]

Late Night Newsfeed

Headlines:

Government to Establish National Action Plan on Climate Change

The government is preparing a “National Action Plan” to deal with issues of climate change including measures to mitigate the impact on foodgrains production, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.  

Tamil Nadu Budget Focuses on Farmers, Women

The Tamil Nadu budget for 2008-09 has [...]

Midday Newsfeed

Headlines:

Export Development Canada Invests $50 million in IDFC Infra Fund

Export Development Canada (EDC), Canada’s export credit agency, is investing $50 million in an IDFC fund, which would be its single largest equity investment till date. EDC is investing in the proposed $1 billion infrastructure fund, which will provide Canadian companies to invest in opportunities in [...]

Evening Edition

Headlines from around the block:

What policies can inspire men?

What policies can inspire men to end violence against women? This was the topic of a conference held in New Delhi, recently. The discussion hoped to begin a dialogue on masculinities itself, writes Deepti Priya Mehrotra….

At least for now, FM won’t hike waiver size

Finance minister P [...]

Ingredients for disaster: climate change, carbon, population and poverty

Update: PSD Blog just announced that a new tsunami insurance will be specifically designed for the poor. See post above.
While anyone who has watched Al Gore’s riveting documentary An Inconvenient Truth understands the potentially catastrophic effects climate change could have on densely populated communities, an article in End Poverty in South Asia brings this [...]