A podcast to bring discussions about India’s environment into mainstream narratives. Everything Environment will bring you stories about biodiversity, climate change, natural resources, and their links with our lives. Tune in to the shows to know about topics ranging from India’s clean energy growth to paleoscience, lesser-known species to climate change solutions.
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Wild Frequencies #3: Us and Them
If we listen closely, a bird’s call reflects what humans have done to its landscape, and a forest soundscape tells us about habitat health. Listen to the third episode of Wild Frequencies to learn how scientists use bioacoustics to understand animals in a landscape altered by humans.
Wild Frequencies is a three-part mini-series by Mongabay-India, where wildlife researchers from India share their stories of sounds from the animal world. They decode those wild frequencies for us, one song, one howl, and one chirp at a time.
Follow Everything Environment by Mongabay India for more episodes.
For show notes, visit our website.
Guests: TR Shankar Raman, scientist, Nature Conservation Foundation Divya Mudappa, scientist, Nature Conservation Foundation Vijay Ramesh, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology Priyanka Hariharan, ecologist, University of Florida K.S. Gopi Sundar, conservation biologist
Reported and written by Shreya Dasgupta and Kartik Chandramouli Editing, music, and sound design by Abhijit Shylanath Episode artwork by Hitesh Sonar Recordings from Valparai by Vijay Ramesh at the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Project Dhvani, Meghana Srivathsa, Akshay Anand, Shankar Raman and Divya Mudappa. Recordings of sarus crane calls by Suhridam Roy.
Wild Frequencies #2: Know Them
Can we figure out animal behaviour by listening to the sounds they produce? In this episode, you’ll hear from scientists who listen closely to wildlife ranging from large mammals to insects.
Wild Frequencies is a three-part mini-series by Mongabay-India in which wildlife researchers from India share their stories of sounds from the animal world. They decode those wild frequencies for us, one song, one howl, and one chirp at a time.
Follow Everything Environment by Mongabay India for more episodes.
For show notes, visit our website.
Guests: Seema Lokhandwala, Elephant Acoustic Project Manjari Jain, Associate Professor, Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER, Mohali)
Reported and written by Shreya Dasgupta and Kartik Chandramouli Editing, music, and sound design by Abhijit Shylanath Episode artwork by Hitesh Sonar Recordings of Asian elephants by Elephant Acoustics Project, African savannah elephants by Elephantvoices.org, and cricket by Manjari Jain
Wild Frequencies #1: Find Them
Most wild animals are not easy to spot. They are often hidden, camouflaged, or just not around when you are.
But instead of trying to ‘see’ them, what if we try and ‘listen’ to them? After all, animals communicate. For some researchers, all this talking and chattering is gold. They use sounds to find animals that are difficult to observe and also to count them!
Wild Frequencies is a three-part mini-series by Mongabay-India, where wildlife researchers from India share their stories of sounds from the animal world. They decode those wild frequencies for us, one song, one howl, and one chirp at a time.
Follow Everything Environment by Mongabay India for more episodes.
For show notes, visit our website.
Guests: Rohit Chakravarty, Nature Conservation Foundation Isha Bopardikar, IISER Tirupati Bilal Habib, Wildlife Institute of India
Reported and written by Shreya Dasgupta and Kartik Chandramouli; Editing, music, and sound design by Abhijit Shylanath; Episode artwork by Hitesh Sonar; Sound clips by Rohit Chakravarty (NCF), Isha Bopardikar (IISER Tirupati), and Bilal Habib (WII)
Trailer: Wild Frequencies
Animals communicate. And some researchers listen to what they are saying.
Hosts Shreya Dasgupta and Kartik Chandramouli travelled to different parts of India and spoke to multiple scientists to hear stories of sounds from the animal world. They will decode those wild frequencies for us, one song, one howl, and one chirp at a time.
Wild Frequencies is a three-part mini series exploring an emerging science called bioacoustics, which is helping us learn more about wildlife and find ways to protect it.
Follow Everything Environment by Mongabay-India for episode updates.
Hosted by Shreya Dasgupta and Kartik Chandramouli Editing, music, and sound design by Abhijit Shylanath Artwork by Hitesh Sonar
Environomy #6: A Challenge Across Generations
In this sixth and final episode of Environomy, we will explore how India has dealt with issues related to biodiversity and climate change since the 1991 economic reforms. Since the national government has taken a strong position on climate change in recent years, this episode will also try to connect the past with the present and the future.
Explore other episodes of Environomy where S. Gopikrishna Warrier took us through the journey of how environmental economics got interlocked after the economic reforms of 1991. This is a journey for which he had a ringside ticket as a journalist, reporting and writing on the environment for the past three decades.
Writer and producer: S. Gopikrishna Warrier Production Editor: Kartik Chandramouli Audio editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar
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Environomy #5: The One That Got Missed
Though farming contributes less than 20% of India's GDP, it provides livelihood support to nearly half of the country's population. It is an extremely challenging occupation, with many from the younger generation unwilling to pursue agriculture.
When the post-economic reforms financially benefited sections of Indian society, how did the farmers feel left out?
In the fifth episode of Environomy, the host discusses the impact of economic reforms on the agricultural sector.
Through Environomy, S. Gopikrishna Warrier takes us through the journey of how environmental economics got interlocked after the economic reforms of 1991. This is a journey for which he had a ringside ticket as a journalist, reporting and writing on the environment for the past three decades.
Writer and producer: S. Gopikrishna Warrier Production Editor: Kartik Chandramouli Audio editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar
Subscribe to Everything Environment by Mongabay India.
Environomy #4: India Buys A Fast Car
There are traffic jams on India’s hill stations and mountain roads across the year. It wasn’t always like this.
Increased incomes of the Indian middle class after the 1991 economic reforms translated to improved mobility. Many made their way to the mountains. And the most significant impact of India's increased mobility has been on the environment of the mountains.
Through Environomy, S. Gopikrishna Warrier will take you through the journey of how environmental economics got interlocked after the economic reforms of 1991. This is a journey for which he had a ringside ticket as a journalist, reporting and writing on the environment for the past three decades.
Writer and producer: S. Gopikrishna Warrier Production Editor: Kartik Chandramouli Audio editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar
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Environomy #3: Playing With The Pillars
The legislature, the executive, and the judiciary, form the three pillars of Indian democracy.
The legislature consisting of the parliamentarians, and legislators are the policy makers who draw up acts and policies. The executive is the government, consisting of the Prime Minister, Council of Ministers, Chief Ministers, and their officials. The judiciary are the lawyers and the judges in the courts, from the lower ones to the Supreme Court and also the National Green Tribunal.
During the past three decades, the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary, recalibrated their positions. This impacted the environment. Listen to the third episode of Environomy to find out more.
Through this show, S. Gopikrishna Warrier will take you through the journey of how environmental economics got interlocked after the economic reforms of 1991. This is a journey for which he had a ringside ticket as a journalist, reporting and writing on the environment for the past three decades.
Writer and producer: S. Gopikrishna Warrier Production Editor: Kartik Chandramouli Audio editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar
Subscribe to Everything Environment by Mongabay India.
Environomy #2: They Came, They Rapped, They Lobbied
In the early 1990s, the anti-Tehri dam and anti-Narmada dam movements were India's most well-known environmental protests. It was not as if only environmental activists were involved with these movements. The developments in Tehri and Narmada were watched keenly by people across the country. In the coming decade, something changed.
In this episode, hear about how a distinct economic and political identity for the Indian middle class after the economic reforms of 1991 changed the way in which they dealt with environmental issues.
Through our show Environomy, S. Gopikrishna Warrier will take you through the journey of how environmental economics got interlocked after the economic reforms of 1991. This is a journey for which he had a ringside ticket as a journalist, reporting and writing on the environment for the past three decades.
Writer and producer: S. Gopikrishna Warrier
Production Editor: Kartik Chandramouli
Audio editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar
Additional music and archival material courtesy the documentary film Words on Water, written and directed by Sanjay Kak; Kodaikanal Won’t, written and performed by Sofia Ashraf, produced by Justice Rocks Initiative, Vettiver Collective; and the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.
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Environomy #1: The Middle Class Unbottled
How did the 1991 economic reforms impact the course of the Indian environment in the past three decades? Listen to Environomy's first episode, where we will look at how the Indian middle class acquired a distinct economic and political identity after the economic reforms of 1991.
Through our show Environomy, S. Gopikrishna Warrier will take you through the journey of how environmental economics got interlocked after the economic reforms of 1991. This is a journey for which he had a ringside ticket as a journalist, reporting and writing on the environment for the past three decades.
Writer and producer: S. Gopikrishna Warrier Production Editor: Kartik Chandramouli Audio editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar
Subscribe to Everything Environment by Mongabay India.
Trailer: Environomy
The economic reforms of 1991 caused a radical shift in India's economic and social structure. It gave a new life to the middle class. But did you know that the reforms also changed how India dealt with its environmental issues?
Join S Gopikrishna Warrier, Managing Editor of Mongabay-India, as he takes us through three decades of India's environmental history. Delve deep into the important environmental movements in India, meet the people behind them, and learn their history and significance.
The first episode will be released on February 9, 2024.
Subscribe to Everything Environment by Mongabay India on your podcast platform.
Imprints: Lake hopping with Anoop Ambili
Lake-hopping is Anoop Ambili’s thing. For Ambili, a paleoclimatologist, the Lonar Lake in Maharashtra, Tso Moriri in Ladakh and Renuka in Himachal Pradesh hide clues that help him reconstruct past climate changes going back to 10,000 years.
Ambili is also studying microplastic pollutants in these freshwater lakes. For example, he is looking for pollutants such as microplastics in Renuka lake, a popular tourist spot and also the largest lake in Himachal Pradesh. Information about the changes in the lakes, Ambili believes, will shape how we design policies that address human-caused changes to natural ecosystems.
In this episode, you’ll hear what India’s lakes tell us about our past, present and future. If you listen to Ambili’s poignant observations of lakes and the challenges they face today, I’m sure you’ll look at these water bodies from a different perspective.
Guest: Anoop Ambili, Assistant Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences, IISER-Mohali
Host and producer: Sahana Ghosh
Co-producer and cover designer: Kartik Chandramouli
Audio editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar
Copy editors: Sapna Verma and Priyanka Shankar
Subscribe to Everything Environment by Mongabay India on your podcast platform.
Imprints: Sifting through microfossils with Rajani Panchang
Looking at sediment under a microscope is a window into past environments and climates. In a dot of sediment, you may find thousands of microfossils - tiny remains of bacteria, protists, fungi, animals, and plants.
Rajani Panchang, an oceanographer and micropaleontologist, uses microfossils from oceans, of tiny marine organisms, to interpret how the climate and environment may have been when they were alive. Such work gives us ideas about the chemistry and temperature of the ocean, ocean currents and wind patterns of the past.
Paleoclimate research eventually feeds into reports that give us the large picture of climate change and our means of recovery. It starts with studying sediments.
Guest: Rajani Panchang, oceanographer and micropalaentologist, Savitribai Phule Pune University
Host and producer: Sahana Ghosh
Co-producer and cover designer: Kartik Chandramouli
Audio editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar
Copy editors: Sapna Verma and Priyanka Shankar
Subscribe to Everything Environment by Mongabay India on your podcast platform.
Imprints: Digging up bones with Advait Jukar
Imagine this: When modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, they saw creatures such as giant prehistoric elephants, a hippopotamus and a zebra-like horse, alongside other great beasts. Infact, these large mammals stuck around in the region for at least 20,000 years after the arrival of humans.
A low-magnitude extinction began about 30,000 years ago when some megafaunal species, such as the giant elephants, started disappearing. This is in contrast to the Americas, Europe and Australia, where the arrival of humans led to more rapid, large-scale extinctions of megafauna such as woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers.
So why did the megafauna persist even after the arrival of modern humans on the Indian subcontinent? Why did some species disappear? Why do we still have animals like elephants, tigers, and rhinos in India but not elsewhere on the planet? In this episode, we have paleobiologist Advait Jukar, who is trying to answer these questions. And his clues lie in fossils. His work helps us understand how biodiversity has changed through time with the arrival of humans and climate change.
Guest: Advait Jukar, Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Associate, Bioanthropology and Archaeology at Yale University
Host and producer: Sahana Ghosh
Co-producer and cover designer: Kartik Chandramouli
Audio editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar
Copy editors: Sapna Verma and Priyanka Shankar
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GigaWhat: What not to do
India's renewable energy dreams have been big since the country shifted gears post-Paris climate summit in 2015. The country is now working towards achieving 500 GW of installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. However, every choice has a cost. Rapid renewable energy installation and the transition have left several aspects overlooked. And they have given rise to new issues.
Issues related to land availability and acquisition for mega-renewable projects, impact on biodiversity, lack of involvement of local communities and gender-based plans, lack of financing solutions, absence of waste management and recycling policies, etc.
Considering its impact on society, experts fear that the clean energy sector will follow in the footsteps of the fossil-fuel industry.
The shift from fossil fuels to renewables is needed eventually, but it poses loud questions: What will happen to the states that'll stop producing coal? What'll happen to the millions working in coal and related industries? Are they skilled enough to switch to the renewable sector? Also, is renewable energy coming up in coal-dependent regions in the first place, or is it happening elsewhere? How will the state departments and economy cope with this shift?
In this episode, we will try to understand the challenges that this sector's rapid but probably unplanned growth has thrown. We will examine if there are solutions and what needs urgent attention.
Listen to GigaWhat and explore some of the biggest questions, challenges, and opportunities in India's transition from fossil fuel to clean energy sources. Mongabay-India is an online publication dedicated to bringing you stories on science and the environment in India.
Read the full Clean energy series on our website
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Guests:
Bhargavi Rao, Senior Fellow and Trustee at Environment Support Group
Balasubramanian Viswanathan, Policy Advisor, International Institute for Sustainable Development
Selna Saji, Research Analyst, Council on Energy, Environment and Water
Credits:
Host: Mayank Aggarwal
Writer and producer: Kartik Chandramouli
Audio editor: Tejas Dayananda Sagar
Copy editor: Priyanka Shankar
Podcast production assistant: Sapna Verma
Episode cover art: Pooja Gupta
Imprints: Finding molluscs with Devapriya Chattopadhyay
What can shells tells us about marine paleoclimate? Shells and molluscs store a wealth of paleoclimate information. Molluscs build their shells with calcium carbonate from the sea water. Their shells record the sea water chemistry, which lets us decipher the changes that occurred in their environment.
Paleoclimate scientist Devapriya Chattopadhyay studies mollusc fossils which help reconstruct the marine paleoenvironment. Her findings revealed that even periods of slight warming affected mollusc diversity in an area considered to be less affected by changes in the climate. In the context of present-day climate change, this paleoclimate research is considered to be very useful in bridging some knowledge gaps.
In this episode of Imprints, Chattopadhyay talks about her fossil-hunting adventures, interesting discoveries and the people she encounters on the field. She also speaks about how infrastructure development could erase records of natural history and the challenge that India faces in setting up a museum for natural history.
Guest: Devapriya Chattopadhyay, Associate Professor, Earth and Climate Science, Paleobiology and Marine Ecology, Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER)
Host and producer: Sahana Ghosh, Contributing Editor, Mongabay-India
Co-producer and cover designer: Kartik Chandramouli
Audio editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar
Copy editors: Sapna Verma and Priyanka Shankar
Subscribe to Everything Environment by Mongabay India on your podcast platform.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Links:
Colonial history and global economics distort our understanding of deep-time biodiversity
Predation to climate change: what does a fossil shell tell us?
Imprints: Lake and archive diving with Atreyee Bhattacharya
It is fascinating how scientists unearth data for climate science in unusual locations. Atreyee Bhattacharya’s work takes her to lakebeds and libraries. She’s a paleoclimatologist who looks back at past climates to develop the context for understanding recent climate change.
She analyses sediments drilled from old lakes and scours British archival records to reconstruct past rainfall changes. This aids in predictions of future climates.
“Without paleoclimate research, we just wouldn't know that we are in a climate crisis.”
She looks at paleoclimatology as a guidebook to human society - when did humans prosper and didn’t due to climatic factors? Using this knowledge, scientists can work with policymakers to mitigate adverse outcomes.
In this episode of Imprints, Atreyee talks about the toolkit for her profession, her work with economists to understand past famines, the importance of paleoclimatology and the challenges it faces.
Guest: Atreyee Bhattacharya, Research Faculty, University of Colorado, Boulder
Host and producer: Sahana Ghosh
Co-producer and cover designer: Kartik Chandramouli
Audio editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar
Copy editors: Sapna Verma and Priyanka Shankar
Subscribe to Everything Environment by Mongabay India on your podcast platform.
Follow Mongabay-India on Twitter and Instagram
Show notes:
A paleoclimate database for the Indian subcontinent
GigaWhat: Fuelling startups
India has an ambitious clean energy target that needs technology and innovation. While government and private sectors have their role to play, startups are critical for innovation and faster execution. They identify local, national and global problems, find opportunities and develop solutions.
India is home to the third-largest startup ecosystem, with about 57,000 startups. A fraction of this number is working in sustainability and solving climate change issues. Worldwide, it’s noted that the number of government policy measures to help startups get new clean energy technologies to the market, has risen sharply since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.
From bringing solar power-based products to provide job opportunities in rural India, to companies innovating to increase the life of batteries, startups are addressing various needs of the different stages in the renewable energy journey.
But are they enough ideas? Enough startups? And enough support for such startups?
And more importantly, is there money to be made? Is there money to invest?
In this episode, we will speak to stakeholders involved in a startup’s journey to success. A co-founder, an investor and an incubator.
Listen to GigaWhat and explore some of the biggest questions, challenges, and opportunities in India’s transition from fossil fuels to clean energy sources.
Guests:
Pankaj Sharma , co-Founder, Log 9 Materials
Smita Rakesh, Vice President and Partner at Social Alpha
Arpit Agarwal, Director, Blume Ventures
Credits:
Hosted by Mayank Aggarwal
Produced and scripted by Kartik Chandramouli.
Edited and mixed by Tejas Dayananda Sagar
Copy edits by Priyanka Shankar
Episode artwork is by Pooja Gupta
Trailer: Imprints
It is fascinating how scientists unearth data for climate science in unusual locations. Fossils, trees, lake sediment, other natural objects, and archival documents are like time portals. They tell us when and how ancient organisms and ecosystems experienced past environmental changes.
On Imprints, you will hear how scientists look at the past to understand the modern climate. The show will shine a light on a lesser-discussed science in India. We will listen to five paleo scientists who put our Earth in context and suggest actions to mitigate future climate change impacts and biodiversity loss.
Subscribe to our podcast for updates about the show.
Host: Sahana Ghosh Producer and cover art designer: Kartik Chandramouli Sound editor: Tejas Dayanand Sagar Copy editor: Aditi Tandon
GigaWhat: Building the backbone
We are all familiar with the buzzing sound under high-voltage power lines and transmission towers. The electricity passing through it is generated from coal power plants, solar parks, wind farms, dams and other sources. It passes through transmission networks and substations to eventually reach the end users.
Day by day, the share of renewable power entering this system is increasing. However, the solar and wind farms that are coming up or expanding to meet India’s renewable energy goal are concentrated within a few states. India will need to upgrade and expand its transmission infrastructure to evacuate the power generated here and feed it into the national electricity grid to be distributed across all regions.
The transmission infrastructure in India needs two trillion rupees! But there isn’t enough money flowing for the development.
Without adequate transmission systems in place, renewable energy plants can turn into stranded assets. And that’s a fear for project developers and investors.
Listen to GigaWhat and explore some of the biggest questions, challenges, and opportunities in India's transition from fossil fuel to clean energy sources. Mongabay-India is an online publication dedicated to bringing you stories on science and the environment in India.
Read the full Clean energy series on our website
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Guests:
Balawant Joshi, Managing Director, Idam Infra
Deepak Krishnan, Associate Director, WRI India (Energy)
Links:Financial Constraints in Renewable Energy Sector, Ministry of New And Renewable Energy
Renewable Energy Industry in India, IBEF
Renewables Integration in India, IEA
Renewable Energy Management Centers
Credits:
Host: Mayank Aggarwal
Writer and producer: Kartik Chandramouli
Audio editor: Tejas Dayananda Sagar
Copy editor: Priyanka Shankar
Podcast production assistant: Ayushi Kothari GigaWhat cover art: Pooja Gupta
GigaWhat: Clean the messy trail
The clean energy sector maintains that it is crusading the fight against climate change. But first, governments and companies have to fix the road to making clean energy technologies.
The supply chain to create clean energy technologies is riddled with issues. Unsustainable mineral extraction to make solar cells, wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries and other clean technologies pose high social and environmental risks. These scenarios are visible worldwide, especially in less industrialised nations.
A secure and sustainable supply chain can contribute to a clean energy transition.
In this episode of GigaWhat, Mongabay-India Contributing Editor and the podcast host, Mayank Aggarwal, speaks with Jessie Cato (natural resources programme manager, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre) and Saurav Goyal (founding member, Metastable Materials) about various aspects of the clean technology supply chain.
Guests:
Jessie Cato, Programme Manager, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Saurav Goyal, Founding Member, Metastable Materials
Links
The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions, IEA
Critical Minerals for India, Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP)
Securing Clean Energy Technology Supply Chains, IEA
Climate-positive, high-tech metals are polluting Earth, but solutions await, Mongabay
Corporate sustainability due diligence, EU
India’s market regulator takes a step towards sustainable finance, Mongabay-India
KABIL Set up to Ensure Supply of Critical Minerals
GigaWhat episode 1: Clean Waste
Read the full Clean energy series on our website Follow us on Twitter and Instagram Subscribe to our newsletter
Credits:
Produced and scripted by Kartik Chandramouli
Edited and mixed by Tejas Dayananda Sagar
Copy edits by Aditi Tandon
Production assistance from Ayushi Kothari
GigaWhat artwork by Pooja Gupta
GigaWhat: Creating rural jobs with renewables
Lack of energy access limits the rural economy. But reliable electricity creates an infrastructure for rural entrepreneurs and gives people a chance to work on their aspirations.
In rural India, decentralised renewable energy options – primarily solar power – are creating livelihood and business opportunities. Decentralised renewable energy systems are primarily independent of the central power grid and the energy is generated close to its area of use. To address daily issues that arise out of lack of power, startups and organisations are creating and modifying decentralised renewable energy (DRE) solutions in India’s villages, burgeoning towns and metros.
In this episode of GigaWhat, Mongabay-India Contributing Editor and the podcast host, Mayank Aggarwal, speaks with startup founders and managers to learn the innovations happening in the DRE sector that are helping to boost the livelihoods of people in India’s hinterlands.
Produced and scripted by Kartik Chandramouli
Edited and mixed by Tejas Dayananda Sagar
Copy edits by Priyanka Shankar
Production assistance from Ayushi Kothari
GigaWhat artwork by Pooja Gupta
Guests:
Ananth Aravamudan, Sector Lead - Climate Action, Villgro (Powering Livelihoods
Kunal Vaid, Director, Resham Sutra
Abhishek Pathak, Founder, Greenwear
Manish Kumar, Staff Reporter, Mongabay-India
Links:
Solar mini-grids fuel women-led enterprises in Jharkhand’s Gumla district
Decentralised solar setups give power access to small farmers, facilitate innovations
Framework to promote decentralised RE livelihood applications
Powering Livelihoods Globally through Clean Energy, a GCF-CEEW report.
GigaWhat: Clean-washing by dams?
Hydropower has been an old and reliable source of energy in India. Until a few years ago, India considered a hydropower project renewable only when the installed capacity was less than 25 megawatt (MW). But then, in 2019, the government of India decided to consider large hydropower projects as renewable projects too. This makes hydroelectricity a vital part of India's clean energy targets - installing 500 gigawatt (GW) of non-fossil fuel-based capacity by 2030.
However, activists and researchers who have been working on issues related to the displacement of communities due to dam construction, and ecologists who study the impacts of dams on aquatic species and the region's biodiversity, think otherwise. They opine that the terms' clean' and 'green' used to describe hydropower could be misleading, as it does not consider the livelihoods lost and the cost of biodiversity lost at stake.
In this episode, we'll hear about how dams are perceived as a more stable source of energy when compared to solar and wind. We'll also hear about the true cost of relying on this form of energy. Our conversations raise a contentious question: Can hydropower be considered clean and renewable? Or is it simply a case of clean-washing?
Listen to GigaWhat and explore some of the biggest questions, challenges, and opportunities in India's transition from fossil fuel to clean energy sources. Mongabay-India is an online publication dedicated to bringing you stories on science and the environment in India.
Read the full Clean energy series on our website
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Guests:
Ammu Susanna Jacob, Research Scientist, CSTEP
Shishir Rao, ecologist
Prakash Bhandari, environmental researcher and activist, Himdhara
Links:
A twin-state hydropower project could drown livelihoods and biodiversity
Fish & small hydropower projects in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, India
The return of the mega hydropower projects across India
Credits:
Host: Mayank Aggarwal
Writer and producer: Kartik Chandramouli
Audio editor: Tejas Dayananda Sagar
Copy editor: Aditi Tandon
Podcast production assistant: Ayushi Kothari
GigaWhat cover art: Pooja Gupta
GigaWhat: Farms harvest solar energy
What are the high hurdles for India to uplift its people and realise its potential on the world stage? Two of the most significant ones are securing food for its large population and providing enough energy to power homes and industries.
As it has always been, land, as a resource, is a precious commodity for both farming, and energy production. On the one hand, it is estimated that nearly 58 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people are engaged in agriculture, which occupies 60 percent of its total land area.
On the other hand, to generate electricity, the country requires thousands of square kilometres of land for coal mines, thermal power plants, and renewable energy projects to meet its energy needs.
A 2019 study noted that fulfilling India’s 2022 goal of 175 GW of renewable energy could impact agricultural areas nearly the size of Himachal Pradesh.
Solar power projects that will contribute to more than half of our 450 GW renewable energy target by 2030, require a lot of land for its most popular form of large solar parks. In places where a solar project eyes fertile and cultivated land, it could lead to social unrest from people directly or indirectly losing livelihoods. This, in turn, means delays and financial losses for energy companies.
What is the solution to this complex challenge? Agricultural and energy researchers are turning to one design-based solution to optimise land usage. The idea is to use the same plot of land to harvest crops…and energy by placing solar panels over fields. The system is called agrivoltaics.
In this episode, we will hear from some of the forerunners in agrivoltaics in India. They'll speak about the potential and roadblocks in the field. We'll discuss what this new way of looking at farmland could mean for a key stakeholder in agrivoltaics - the farmer.
Listen to GigaWhat and explore some of the biggest questions, challenges, and opportunities in India's transition from fossil fuel to clean energy sources. Mongabay-India is an online publication dedicated to bringing you stories on science and the environment in India.
Read the full Clean energy series on our website
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Guests:
Nutan Kaushik, Director General, Amity Food and Agriculture Foundation
Maximilian Vorast, Research Assistant, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems
Shravan Sampath, CEO, Oakridge Energy
Links:
Agrivoltaics in India: Fertile Ground?
Agrivoltaics in India: Overview of operational Projects and relevant Policies
Renewable Energy and Land Use in India: A Vision to Facilitate Sustainable Development
Credits:
Host: Mayank Aggarwal
Writer and producer: Kartik Chandramouli
Audio editor: Tejas Dayananda Sagar
Copy editor: Priyanka Shankar
Podcast production assistant: Ayushi Kothari
Episode cover art: Mohit Negi
GigaWhat cover art: Pooja Gupta
GigaWhat: Renewables go reckless
The loss of biodiversity, the sixth mass extinction, high chances that you would have heard these terms. It's clear what pushed us into this situation - overexploitation of natural resources, pollution, the way we farm, climate change and more.
One big reason is that plants, animals and all other life forms on Earth that we collectively term as biodiversity are losing their natural spaces. Human activities have destroyed or degraded habitats such as forests, deserts, rivers, et cetera, making it hard for living organisms to survive.
But why are we talking about biodiversity loss in a podcast about renewable energy?
Shifting to clean energy is one of the world's solutions to climate change. So it's getting a massive push and investment. India has set up large-scale solar and wind farms in many states, and some are in the works. These projects stretch across acres of land equivalent to the size of a village or a town. To set up these projects and meet the country's net-zero emission goals, India needs an area almost equal to the size of Bihar.
From an energy developer's point of view, there are specific kinds of landscapes that could meet their needs and be selected for large clean energy projects. But when these landscapes are not understood well, and environmental safeguards towards them are weak or absent, renewables can go reckless. In this case, the local communities, the flora and the fauna pay the price.
In this episode, you'll hear about these unique landscapes, their non-human inhabitants and how solar and wind projects could decide their survival.
Listen to GigaWhat and explore some of the biggest questions, challenges, and opportunities in India's transition from fossil fuel to clean energy sources. Mongabay-India is an online publication dedicated to bringing you stories on science and the environment in India.
Read the full Clean energy series on our website
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Guests:
M.D. Madhusudhan, Senior Scientist and Co-founder, Nature Conservation Foundation
Sumit Dookia, wildlife biologist
Parth Jagani, farmer, project coordinator (ERDS)
Show notes:
Open Natural Ecosystems map Great Indian Bustard
Power lines and bird mortality (WII)
Tackling Biodiversity & Climate Crises Together and Their Combined Social Impacts
Credits:
Host: Mayank Aggarwal
Writer and producer: Kartik Chandramouli
Audio editor: Tejas Dayananda Sagar
Copy editor: Aditi Tandon
Additional voiceover: Hagen Desa
Podcast production assistant: Ayushi Kothari
GigaWhat cover art designer: Pooja Gupta
GigaWhat: Renewable energy, limited land
Let's visualise the sheer expanse of one of India's largest solar parks, the Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka. An aerial view of the site shows a never-ending sea of glass panels and wires spread across 13,000 acres. That is about 1/4th of the size of Kolkata city.
Then there are smaller solar and wind power plants too. Some are even a fraction of the Pavagada solar plant. These power projects that harness unlimited sunlight and wind need another critical resource, a limited one… land.
Land is essential to install solar panels, wind turbines and transmission lines. And in a country such as India, land is scarce. Most of the land has a human footprint. It could be private or community farmland. Or it could be the village pasture where cows and sheep graze, or it could be a parcel of land that's considered sacred for centuries and worshiped by communities.
In the race to achieve clean energy targets, the pressure falls on such land parcels beyond city boundaries and the people who depend on them. It's well acknowledged by the government, renewable energy companies and all stakeholders in the sector that land availability and acquisition are critical challenges in renewable energy projects.
On the other hand, communities risk losing rights and access to land with unfair or no compensation. So how sustainable and just are clean energy projects in their current form?
Listen to GigaWhat and explore some of the biggest questions, challenges, and opportunities in India's transition from fossil fuel to clean energy sources.
Mongabay-India is an online publication dedicated to bringing you stories on science and the environment in India.
Read the full Clean energy series on our website
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
GUESTS:
Karthik Ganesan, Fellow and Director of Research Coordination, Council on Energy, Environment and Water
Mrinali Karthick, Database and Collaborations Lead, Land Conflict Watch
Leo Saldanha, Environment Support Group
Sikari Rongpi, farmer, Mikir Bamuni
Kawe Ingtipi, resident, Mikir Bamuni
LINKS:
The Anatomy of A Solar Land Grab
CREDITS
Host: Mayank Aggarwal
Writer and producer: Kartik Chandramouli
Additional reporting: Nabarun Guha
Audio editor: Tejas Dayananda Sagar
Copy editor: Priyanka Shankar
Additional voiceover: Saumitra Shinde
Podcast production assistant: Ayushi Kothari
GigaWhat cover art designer: by Pooja Gupta
GigaWhat: Clean Waste
The world is looking towards the sun, wind, and other alternatives for energy, and so is India, as a way to tackle climate change and other environmental issues. The sight of solar and wind farms, rooftops lined with solar panels, and electricity-powered vehicles might soon be common.
For the first episode of GigaWhat, we begin at the end.
Where do solar modules go when they are no longer in use? What happens when a wind turbine finishes its lifecycle? Or when an electric car battery stops working? What happens to the materials that remain after a piece of equipment dies, breaks, or malfunctions? In a world already staring at a giant waste management problem, where will all this new kind of waste go?
In this episode, we will understand why this discussion about waste is vital at the start of the clean energy boom.
Follow GigaWhat to explore some of the biggest questions, challenges, and opportunities in India's transition from fossil fuel to clean energy sources.
Read the full Clean energy series on our website
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Guests: Subrahmanyam Pulipaka, CEO, National Solar Energy Federation of India Akanksha Tyagi, Programme Associate, Council on Energy, Environment and Water Kush Madan, Founder, UrSolar Satish Sinha, Associate Director, Toxics Link
Show notes: PV Management in India (EU-India TCP)
National Statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP26 Summit in Glasgow
2020 report by the Central Pollution Control Board
How India can Manage Solar Photovoltaic Module Waste Better (CEEW)
Credits: Host: Mayank Aggarwal
Writer and producer: Kartik Chandramouli
Copy editor: Aditi Tandon
Audio editor: Tejas Dayananda Sagar
Podcast production assistant: Ayushi Kothari
GigaWhat cover art designer: by Pooja Gupta
GigaWhat Trailer
GigaWhat will explore some of the biggest questions, challenges, and opportunities in India's transition from fossil fuels to clean energy sources. As countries commit to cutting their carbon emissions to tackle climate change and other environmental issues, there's growing attention on the clean and renewable energy sector. And there’s a lot of money behind it too. It's a sector evolving every day, right in front of us.
India is the world’s third-largest energy consumer. Its clean energy dream is one of the most ambitious and the biggest in the world. On GigaWhat we'll explore the environmental, social, and infrastructure challenges the sector is facing: not enough electric vehicle battery charging stations, the absence of a recycling policy for handling discarded solar panels, and so on.
We’ll also explore how clean energy has the potential to lower India’s air pollution levels - one of the worst in the world. We’ll also discuss the reckless side of renewable energy projects and inspect how ‘clean’ they really are.
You will hear Mayank Aggarwal, Contributing Editor at Mongabay-India, interacting with experts, researchers, policymakers, on-field journalists, and people on the ground to bring you insightful discussions about India’s clean energy journey.
Explore the full Clean Energy series on our website.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Credits: Hosted by Mayank Aggarwal Written and produced by Kartik Chandramouli Copy editing by Aditi Tandon and Priyanka Shankar Edited by Tejas Dayananda Sagar GigaWhat artwork by Pooja Gupta
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