Buckle Up For More Dust Storms Thanks To Land Degradation, Climate Change
The extraordinary dust and thunderstorms have come just when concerns have been mounting about the rapid rate of desertification in several Indian states
Lovely photoessay by on how #Mumbai's coastal road will badly affect Indigenous #Koli fishers.
It will facilitate traffic flows, largely for the elite, but will also be a disaster for coastal ecologies in a coastal city so vulnerable to climate change.
@seachanger How amazing. where are you in Alaska? I often just write 'fishers' in articles/ academic work but fisherpeople and fisherfolk sound much nicer. And yes, it's good that journalists make the change
A Common Jezebel (Delias eucharis) stops for a moment's respite from the day's blistering heat, as Mumbai's late winter gives way to a blazing summer.🌡️
Butterflies are especially important pollinators in urban areas, since, unlike bees, they aren't particularly sensitive to altered ecosystems, and happily go about their business of pollinating every second morsel of food we consume.
Government incentives have led to a spike in construction projects in the city. Residents are suffering from the resultant increase in pollution levels.
A mysterious plant that’s not well known even by scientists in India *
Today I came across this 3' large and strange "tuber"(?), whose thin slices were being sold as a street-side snack near #mumbai in #india
It seems to be popular in southern India, usually near Hindu religious sites. It is sold under the name “Ram Kand Mool” and the mythological claim is that when the Hindu god Ram was in exile for 14 years, he sustained on this “fruit”.
Turns out, no one really knows what plant this is, and if it’s even safe to eat. There was some genetic testing done and it was found to be similar to Agave. The street vendors and their suppliers have kept it a secret all these years. This is honestly mind-boggling to me, that in a country of 1.3 billion a street snack’s origins is a secret.
I saw this on the outskirts of #mumbai#india, today. Someone on #inaturalist suggested these were #yellowcrazyants . This is very disturbing, as these #ants are one of the worst #invasivespecies in the world. To make matters worse, the place where I saw them is a diverse and vibrant #wetland. Birds from all over the world migrate here.
Could someone help confirm if Yellow Crazy Ants native to India?
@Deus What happened -- mangroves attacked by butterfly larvae? Here in Brazil we have observed several defoliation events caused by Hylaea puera moth larvae (affecting only Avicennia) -- looks quite similar from a distance. The trees recover usually well afterwards. Hyblaea attacks have been reported in the past from Mumbai, too.
Imagine having $1.5 billion to spend in one of the most flood-prone areas in the world, and using all of it to build a superhighway along the edge of the Arabian Sea so "maladaptive" that the IPCC has to name-check you.
The IPCC didn't mince words: “The MCR project aimed at reducing flood risk and protecting against [sea-level rise] will potentially cause damages to intertidal fauna and flora and local fishing livelihoods.”
A year before its opening, they're right: A study by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences for the Mumbai government found that catches by artisanal, small-scale fishers, many of which belong to Indigenous or lower castes, almost got halved by the construction of the superhighway. #news
By my count, @thexylom is the first foreign newsroom to cover the impacts of this megaproject as it's being built (it will open next May)
This is more the reason why you should support our coverage of communities influencing and being shaped by science. You'll find stories and perspectives you'll see nowhere else.
$1 out of every $3 you donate directly goes to our Newsroom Fellow:
For the first time, a newsroom outside India has gone to Mumbai's Coastal Road (MCR), an eight-lane, $1.5B seawalled superhighway built on reclaimed land along the Arabian Coast set to open next year, and documented the devastating impacts this “maladaptive” infrastructural intervention has on Indigenous Koli fishermen.
Reporting from Lotus Jetty, with words and images from Kang-Chun Cheng + visuals from @alexip718:
@ajkaestner da ist noch ein einziges da gaaanz hinter der Pizza. Unser Edeka denkt, wir brauchen kein Eis im Sommer. Gähnende Leere. 🧊Ich gedenke in diese Kühltruhe einzuziehen und einen Hungerstreik zu veranstalten. So als Zeichen... für die Gesellschaft und so ... oder festkleben... wäre ja einfacher. 🥴
A Giant Asian Mantis (#Hierodula sp.) stalks a tropical milkweed bush, hoping to nab an alfresco meal (read: any bug it can murder), while keeping a wary eye on clueless bystanders oblivious to it's existence.
Preying mantids perform an invaluable job of free pest control, improving the quality of our lives in our great cities.
