Best non-fiction books (picking best 10 among others) I explored this year... #books #bookrecco

#books Favorites among all the fiction I read this year: Also, including Ursula le Guin and Starhawk's works here

A walk in the forest & some wonderful interactions...

How can non-elite and more-than-colonial environmentalisms offer an alternative narrative to the competing ideologies, agents and institutions shaping human–nature relationships? 👇🏾

Monsoons are a personal favorite, always.

Why everyone should read the fantastic The Empire of AI by @karenhao.bsky.social A brief review 👇🏾 eletellnow.wordpress.com/long-forms/ #bookreview #openai

I've been talking about this for years but the fossil fuel industry has five key narratives, they haven't changed much in decades, and they just shift between them/combine them depending on what is happening in the world. Made a quick and dirty flow chart to illustrate it:

A simple change... Misleading interpretations. Notice how most headlines lately have been replacing capture, translocation with rescue?!

Wildlife institute WII is one among others that pushed for environment clearances for Nicobar project & now stands to get crores of rupees in mitigation/ monitoring funding. Sharing my findings on one such WII research paper that further shed light on need for research integrity 👇🏾

This week's #bookreviews eletellnow.wordpress.com/long-forms/

A new study highlights the urgent need to integrate chimpanzee cultural preservation with conservation. It documents the loss of a socially-learned behavior — a mating signal — among a group of chimps following the poaching of all of the male members. Once lost, behaviors take years to reemerge.

More evidence on the relative ineffectiveness of current snake anti-venom that possibly is better suited for S. Indian regions cos of heterogeneity in venom composition across the 4 Indian venomous snakes Story in Research Matters: buff.ly/E7Ec3y2

Nepal's rhino census conducted in an interval of every five years now faces an uncertain future with the suspension of USAID, one of the major donors for the project, by the Donald Trump administration. www.business-standard.com/world-news/n...

There goes village commons - to benefit the corporate under the guise of greening... www.downtoearth.org.in/forests/priv...

We need to replace/make words like experts & greens in news articles more inclusive & diverse: Their excessive usage, singular references (scientists/conservationists) have created social monoculturalism (limiting it to one section of people). Like, forest dwellers don't know better?!

Also, tech solutions that are expensive & remain short-term & more reactive in addressing challenges on ground... 👇🏾 www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...

This year, over 6 people died & 25 injured in processions from elephants that were highly stressed. Unfortunately, it looks like unshakable truths (such as the reality and impact of many of our customs) are of no consequence in the face of inherited beliefs. keralakaumudi.com/en/news/mobi...

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Definitely worrisome parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Adani-related energy news from India is always fascinating. "The Indian government relaxed national security protocols along the Pakistan border to make way for a renewable energy park, a project ultimately handed to one of India’s richest men, Gautam Adani" www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

"In rendering this sky into English, into a language of distance and abstraction, did I preserve its unbearable weight—or did I risk reducing it, smoothing its jagged edges for those who will never be beneath its destruction?" Do read 👇🏾

#pastoralism Maintaining biodiversity of rangelands... At the Living Lightly exhibition...

Scientists have confirmed the presence of the Asian small-clawed otter in Nepal for the first time in more than 185 years. The last confirmed sighting was in 1839, followed by occasional unconfirmed reports. news.mongabay.com/2025/02/worl...

New Zealand's Mount Taranaki, sacred to the Maori, has been accorded legal rights as a living person. www.bbc.com/news/article...

These cases prompt us to reflect on the relationship we want to foster with other species. Can we continue ignoring long-term captivity's negative effects on mental & physical well-being of wild animals? What does it say about us as a society when we view captivity as a form of entertainment?

As someone who has reported on AI for 7 years and covered China tech as well, I think the biggest lesson to be drawn from DeepSeek is the huge cracks it illustrates with the current dominant paradigm of AI development. A long thread. 1/

Animals lay eggs or birth babies. Trees make seeds...except for the ones that have live babies, like we do?! I wrote for @biographic.bsky.social about the genetics of baby-having mangrove trees, and why they might have evolved this way: www.biographic.com/how-some-tre... 🧪

In the midst of one of the most gruesome periods of modern human history, whales experienced a rare moment of peace. Now, a long-forgotten post-war museum collection is revealing how the slaughter has literally been etched into the very fibers of those whales. www.biographic.com/how-whales-f...

Forest department folks are turning zoo keepers 🤦🏾‍♀️ Plans for yet another big safari, taking away more from forests & displacing locals... www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana...

Some interesting new music from The Night Flight Orchestra, Manic Street Preachers, Off Grid, My Morning Jacket... Also, the title song for the anime Dandadan by Creepy Nuts is addictive! #music

Over 500 olive ridley turtles have died this season...

African baboon dies, the third animal in a few weeks in Delhi zoo. In 2023, for a story on the appalling state of zoos in India, I found this particular Delhi zoo had the worst history! How this place is still legally functioning and receiving over 27 lakh people annually is just shocking!

Dystopia #101 SOS SOS SOS "Sorry ma'am, our firefighters are all booked."

Botanist Kimmerer unseats the makings of a capitalistic world with the possibilities of the gift economy. Busting the illusion of self-sufficiency, Kimmerer insists all flourishing is mutual and investing in mutual well-being should be the future. Review: eletellnow.wordpress.com/long-forms/

Gifts of an economy that forever perpetuate growth, accumulation and competition. Three words rendered purposeless, unproductive and profitless in the face of climate reality.

An anthology of magic realism & the supernatural conjuring up "non-homogeneous" futures. Each short story is unanimously grounded in a strong anti-caste dialect. It's immersive... open up to it. #bookrecommendation #bookreview eletellnow.wordpress.com/long-forms/

We've been told (by the Empire)civilisation progressed, liberated from violent ways of tribal life. But better possibilities of human existence have been evidenced: non-imperial freedoms w/ better lives, other futures. This piece on the revolution in archaeology & its role in

Look what arrived! :)

#bookreview: 1. A critical literary, cultural analysis & it's relevance to the ongoing genocide in Palestine; 2. Historical racial discrimination & denial of the Romani people & their ongoing struggle for basic rights. Both less than 100 pages, critical reads. eletellnow.wordpress.com/long-forms/

Stuff of life! Fig tree...

Twenty more cheetahs for a sanctuary & 2 African elephants for zoos - to live out the enforced, administered lives for manufactured appetites: preservation of vanity. The worst kind of conservation www.livemint.com/news/india/i...

Forever a poster and postcard fan!

Actual forests have depleted. We continue to add plantations on this list & call it a success. But when wild animals are found in this part of green cover, we capture them, tagging them as straying animals. So, these patches are (displacing locals) & for forest dept's monocropping???

2024 in books: Sharing some of my favs here: #Climate/#environmentbooks I read this year-Yes, there is no separating climate change, human rights & social justice! Less is More–Jason Hickel Living with Oil & Coal-Dolly Kikon Dismantling Green Colonialism –Edited by Hamza Hamouchene, Katie Sandwell

Unlocking climate clues often requires local insights & experience-based imaginations. New climate archives, proxies without new ways to communicate across communities will lead to new inequalities in climate science. This👇🏾 www.sciencehistory.org/stories/maga...

Who are the invisible women who also sustain India? How do religious riots, free markets, gentrification & patriarchy impact them? What can unionisation & women's movements lead to? Dixit's singular focus remains unfiltered. More in my brief review eletellnow.wordpress.com/long-forms/ #books