Burning Earth
TEMPERATURE is at the heart of creation, survival and destruction. After the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago, cooling allowed the formation of the first protons and neutrons and later atoms, leading to the creation of the first elements, hydrogen and helium. On Earth, cooling created the conditions for life to emerge. Excessive cooling during the ice ages left many species extinct. Temperature is one of the essential drivers of change, the only constant in life and beyond.
When the temperature changes abruptly, it triggers chain reactions among interacting elements. Higher temperature accelerates chemical reactions. Flowers, food and dead bodies decompose faster. Water reacts faster with minerals. Naturally, a warmer world will see many changes in the natural environment, just like a person whose blood is boiling may act unpredictably.
Over the past few years, the yellow spring flower known in the Kashmir valley as Gul-e-toor has been blooming about a month in advance and so has the spring flower of red rhododendron locally called Buransh in Uttarakhand. These did not mean early celebrations; people heard the footsteps of a calamity approaching.
In this journey into a new, uncertain world, a polar bear sleeping on a melting glacier is on the same ship as the unnamed 40-year-old factory worker from Bihar who lived in New Delhi in a room without a fan and succumbed to heatstroke on May 29, the day the mercury crossed 52°C.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 21, 2024-Ausgabe von Outlook.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 21, 2024-Ausgabe von Outlook.
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The Art of Leaving
Saying goodbye to the public arena is no easy call to make
Mortar Memory
Along the quiet stretches near the border and the Line of Control in Jammu, a fragile calm once held sway, until the sudden thunder of heavy mortar shells since May 7 shattered it
Borders on the Boil
Whether it is Pakistan, China, Bangladesh or Myanmar, the unfinished business of history haunts the region every day
Neighbourhood 'Frisk' Policy
India needs to relook at Bangladesh as it partners with China to rebuild World War II air bases
Fields of Nowhere
MYAJLAR is one of the last towns on the Jaisalmer border, which, at 464 km, is one of the longest that India shares with Pakistan.
Brittle, Bitter Borders
In the marshlands of the Rann of Kutch, where the border is invisible yet hotly contested, belongingness becomes tentative
Red Fade
Since the regime change, something has been changing in Chhattisgarh. With top Maoist leaders killed, the remaining are insisting on a ceasefire or peace talks. The state must make the most of the situation
Sir Creek and Adam's Bridge
With the recent military standoff between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 that claimed the lives of 26 people, the Indo-Pak border region with its long history of tensions is once again in the limelight.
Lines Drawn in Blood
In villages caught between two nations, memory and fear shape everyday life. The land is under floodlights, children are sent away in silence, and home is a place one must keep returning to
Maps and Minds
Maps have divided transnational ethnic groups Nagas, Zos, Bhutias, Bengalis and Nepalis, among others, but the Naga or the Zo mind does not accept the boundaries on government maps
