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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
An ornamental plant introduced over 200 years ago is invading forests, displacing wildlife and endangering livelihoods. And that is just the beginning
Editor's note: Ten years before Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, a motley group of botanists had already unleashed monsters upon the world. Like Shelley, they were English, but unlike Shelley, they had no concerns about the repercussions of their science. They’d come to India in the late 1700s and set up the East India Company Botanical Garden in Calcutta, trading in plants with the same fervour their colonial friends traded in spices, opium, kingdoms and slaves. From the time the East India Company Botanical Garden was established, the botanists introduced 3,200 alien plant species. Many of these came from South and Central America, and the Caribbean islands. Two botanists stand out here: garden superintendent Nathaniel Wallich, who wanted exotic species to line every garden and every fence of tea-drinking, scone-eating English bureaucrats; and William Hamilton, a cigar-toting American landscapist so obsessed with trophy-hunting rare, tropical plants that he’d bore guests until 1.00 am on the subject. His obituary read: “The study of botany was the principal amusement of his life”. These alien plants—fertilized by Hamilton’s quirk, Wallich’s obsession, and an army of Victor …
An ornamental plant introduced over 200 years ago is invading forests, displacing wildlife and endangering livelihoods. And that is just the beginning
Editor's note: Ten years before Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, a motley group of botanists had already unleashed monsters upon the world. Like Shelley, they were English, but unlike Shelley, they had no concerns about the repercussions of their science. They’d come to India in the late 1700s and set up the East India Company Botanical Garden in Calcutta, trading in plants with the same fervour their colonial friends traded in spices, opium, kingdoms and slaves. From the time the East India Company Botanical Garden was established, the botanists introduced 3,200 alien plant species. Many of these came from South and Central America, and the Caribbean islands. Two botanists stand out here: garden superintendent Nathaniel Wallich, who wanted exotic species to line every garden and every fence of tea-drinking, scone-eating English bureaucrats; and William Hamilton, a cigar-toting American landscapist so obsessed with trophy-hunting rare, tropical plants that he’d bore guests until 1.00 am on the subject. His obituary read: “The study of botany was the principal amusement of his life”. These alien plants—fertilized by Hamilton’s quirk, Wallich’s obsession, and an army of Victor …
The window to prevent the worst impacts of climate change has shut. The heat is on global leaders at the annual climate talks in Brazil to deliver more than just theatre.
The Kanjurmarg landfill, operated by Antony Waste Handling Cell Ltd., is safe from the axe for now. But its fate remains a major source of worry for the company's shareholders and the city's residents alike.
An environmental hazard has spawned the need for these quick fixes, but do they really work?
The window to prevent the worst impacts of climate change has shut. The heat is on global leaders at the annual climate talks in Brazil to deliver more than just theatre.
The Kanjurmarg landfill, operated by Antony Waste Handling Cell Ltd., is safe from the axe for now. But its fate remains a major source of worry for the company's shareholders and the city's residents alike.
An environmental hazard has spawned the need for these quick fixes, but do they really work?
