Environmentalists Under Threat

Reports indicate that environmental defenders were killed at the rate of one every day last year, with Colombia emerging the most unsafe nation in the world to be an environmentalist in! Catching up fast with Colombia are other nations in Lat Am, South-east Asia and India.

Green Humour for DW Environment.

Amazonian Droughts and Amazonian Dolphins

In more climate-change-induced panic this week, a heatwave records as well as hearts were shattered in Brazil’s Lake Tefe, with hundreds of Botos (Amazonian River Dolphins) reported dead. Carcasses also included those of the Tucuxi (Grey Dolphin) and thousands of fish. The deaths are estimated to have reduced the already endangered Boto population by 10% (report here).

Cartoon from my Gocomics page, also available royalty-free on my Cartoonstock gallery.

Sloth Hair Conditioner Commercial

A sloth stars in a hair conditioner commercial. Happy World Sloth Day! Comic from my Gocomics page. 

The Ecuadorian Lasso on Rainforests

Rainforests in Ecuador could well go the Brazil way if the right-wing government of Guillermo Lasso is allowed to have its way, where Chinese oil extraction companies are being granted licenses for exploration, overlooking indigenous land rights. Cartoon from my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine.

Jair Bolsonaro and the Murder of Dom Phillips and Bruno Periera

The murder of British environmental journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Periera in the Brazilian Amazon sparked international outrage and condemnation, as Brazil is now is among the most unsafe countries for environmental reporting. While three suspects for the murder have been arrested, Brazil's prime enabler of environmental crimes is on the loose. 

Comic from my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine.

Amazonian Palm Oil

On Amazonian palm oil's double standards, which despite being introduced with a promise of sustainability has been taking a toll on wild habitat and tribal land with deforestation and chemical pollution. Cartoon from my column with The Hindu. 

Carbon Sinks

Comic on carbon sinks done for Client Earth. Read their article on carbon sinks here. 

Jair Bolsonaro and Amazon Fires

Bolsonaro and the Amazon fires: cartoon from my Gocomics page. A similar far-right leader in India has recently auctioned coal blocks in our forests to mining companies, pushing India towards the same fate as the Braziian rainforests. Can you guess who?

Rhea Bites Jair Bolsonaro

Cartoon from my Gocomics page.

Dolphins of the World

Meet the 44 dolphin species of the world in this brand new poster, from the largest, the Orca (Killer Whale) to the smallest, the Hector's Dolphin. Some of the most threatened dolphins are the ones found in freshwater ecosystems and estuaries, while many other species continue to decline. 

Dolphin prints are available as a wide range of prints, apparel and merchandise on my webstore here. 

(Note that the poster includes only species recognized by the IUCN. Sub-species like the Bolivian and Indus River Dolphins do not feature in this poster Printing and shipping within India are suspended at the moment and will resume after the COVID lockdown is lifted).

The Amazon Fires: A Flowchart

Cattle ranching for the Brazilian beef industry has been identified as one of the largest causes of the devastating forest fires in the Amazon. Beef exports from Brazil find their largest markets in Hong Kong, China, Egypt, the EU and USA among other countries. 

Comic from my column with Sunday Mid-Day.

Mulheres Indigenas

A reminder to Jair Bolsonaro that Amazon warrior women exist even outside of Greek Mythology and DC Comics. And they are going to bring him down. Comic from my column with Pune Mirror today.

Jair Bolsonaro gets a Brazilian

A Jaguar gives Jair Bolsonaro a Brazilian wax. From my column with The Hindu BLink.

Brazil Elections and the Amazon

Brazil just voted for a far-right fascist, racist and homophobic climate science denier as its President. Socio-political ramifications aside, scientists and environmentalists are now fearing the worst for the Amazon Basin, as the new President has had a history of being a logging lobbyist. Let's hope that the Tropical Trump does not trump the original Trump in stupidity. 

Bird Species Recently Declared Extinct

Birdlife International recently released a list of bird species recently declared extinct, among which was the Spix's Macaw immortalized in the animated film Rio. Here's a comic about these species lost to oblivion, from my column with Sunday Mid-day.

The Bald Uakari

Meet the Bald Uakari of the Amazon, a New World monkey threatened by habitat loss and hunting.

The cartoon appears in my column with The Hindu BLink.

BP and the Amazon Reef

Coral Awareness Week begins tomorrow. Here's a comic on the Amazon Reef from my column with Mid-Day today. Clearly, we haven't learned from the Great Barrier Reef debacle, have we?

The Pygmy Marmoset Trade

The world's smallest monkey, the Pygmy Marmoset is under serious threat because of the exotic pet trade. Here's a message from the 'finger monkey' to exotic pet owners.

The comic appears on my Gocomics page today.

Mothers' Day- The Jaguar Mom

The bite of the Jaguar has been recorded to be the strongest among cats, about twice as strong as that of a lion. Its jaws are also the second strongest pairs of all mammals, after the Spotted Hyena. This property enables this big cat to deploy a hunting method that is unique among felids- biting through the skull between the ears, directly piercing the brain. This technique is used specifically to kill Capybaras. 

How the jaguar mom still manages to carry her little furballs without even a scratch, beats me! No wonder this formidable yet soft-hearted predator is revered in Mesoamerican cultures.

Happy Mothers' Day to all moms, tame and wild!

New Species of the Amazon

About 440 new species have been described from the Amazon in the last three years, the recent ones being the Olinguito and the Kabomani Tapir. This tapir is the world's smallest tapir, and the fifth species of tapir in the world (the first to be described since 1865). As logging continues unabated and mining degrades the rainforest, the future of these species only grows more and more uncertain.