Gobar Times Magazine (Environment for Kids Monthly) - Centre for Science and Environment

gobar_banner.gif (5252 bytes)

cowpat.jpg (9202 bytes)

E Y E O P E N I N G E C O - F A C T S

These elephants feast on garbage

In the tropical island nation of Sri Lanka, where 19 million people share space with about 3,000 wild elephants, forests are dwindling and the huge beasts are entering villages to forage in garbage dumps.

Business Line, New Delhi

Waiter! There’s mercury in my fish curry
Industrial areas of India might be "leaking" high levels of mercury into water bodies. A seafood alarm has already been sounded in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.

The Pioneer, New Delhi p62_1.jpg (5903 bytes)

Ugh! Worms in chocolates
Several samples of Cadbury dairy milk chocolate bars tested at the Public Health Laboratory in Pune have been found to contain living worms. Corporation officials collected the samples from a co-operative store.

The Indian Express, New Delhi p62_2.jpg (2495 bytes)

Teach the environment, or pay up
The Supreme Court fined 10 states Rs 15000 each for their failure to respond to a notice to implement a November 1991 order directing the introduction of "environment" as a subject in schools and colleges. The court had directed compliance of the order by the academic year 1992-93.

The Hindu, Chennai

Mice and men: What’s the difference?
The human genome contains about 30,000 genes. All but 300 of them have a functional counterpart in the mouse genome. This bond will allow the Allen Institute to study gene expression in the mouse brain and transfer the results to humans.

The Indian Express, New Delhi

EYE OPENING ECOFACT

Who's hogging all the water?
Somebody once predicted that the next World War will be fought over water. While that may seem a bit far-fetched, precious fresh water is running out at alarming rates. But did you know that the 6 billion people on Earth use just 10 per cent of the fresh water consumed annually? Where does the remaining 90 per cent go to?

Turning Point