The Summer of Heat Islands
Indian urban centres are getting hotter every year due to the heat island effect. With millions of lives at stake, urgent city-planning measures are needed across the country to mitigate the incoming crisis. By Vipin Labroo
Where is the Work?
India’s high youth unemployment should be a cause for greater alarm. Not only is it a question of under-utilization of the most precious resource of a nation—its young people—but it also raises the spectre of social tension and unrest. By Vipin Labroo
Snowless in the Himalaya
The menace of vanishing snows now haunts the Himalayan region, taking away the very essence of the mountains for Indians and people from around the world. By Vipin Labroo
Troubled Waters
With a potential scenario of a water Armageddon looming for India, Vipin Labroo argues that the fight to avert a total crisis must be no less than a national crusade.
The Growth Malaise
Extreme climate change and the environmental catastrophe in towns like Joshimath are another reminder for the need of a sustainable, tenable, and all-inclusive model of growth. By Vipin Labroo
The Maya and the Meta
The advent of the metaverse will present new challenges, and even require a new definition of what it means to be human. Vipin Labroo explores the curious frontiers of the future, and how Eastern and Indian philosophies may have already prepared us for this brave new world.
Should we ever return to our offices again?
With today’s fast-paced digital connectivity and the slew of productivity tools at their disposal, critiques of the office spaces asked if the cost of infrastructure, the inconvenience of the daily commute, and the needless increase in the carbon footprint was worth it. The pandemic proved them emphatically right. By Vipin Labroo
What Makes a Modern Indian Minimalist?
‘The idea is not to renounce the good things in life, but to actually understand them.’ Vipin Labroo argues why India—with its vast inequality, unemployment, and environmental concerns—needs a shot of minimalism in the lifestyles of our burgeoning population.
Travelling Without Footprints
From the Himalaya to the coastlines, unchecked tourism is destroying India’s ecological balance. We can’t afford to return to our pre-pandemic state of a tourist-induced environmental catastrophe. By Vipin Labroo