Sonam Raina

Published Articles

Explore a featured selection of my writing work below.
The Financial Express •

Is this the world’s unlikeliest protein source?

In India and around the world, methane is leaking into the atmosphere from rice paddies, cattle farms and decomposing waste, accelerating global warming.While carbon dioxide is the most talked-about greenhouse gas, methane is significantly more potent. To understand why, imagine greenhouse gases as blankets covering the Earth. Carbon dioxide adds many thin blankets, while methane adds only a few but much thicker ones. Even in small amounts, methane traps far more heat. Despite being less abundan...
The Financial Express •

India’s rivers need a dye detox

Whenever filmmakers want to portray the raw, uncomplicated beauty of India, two shots often make it to the screen. A crowded city bazaar, with two-wheelers and colourful autorickshaws jostling for space, women wearing vibrant sarees in blue, green, yellow and orange, and children smiling toothily into the camera while waving paper fans. The second shot is deeper and more evocative, of a fisherman standing on the hull of his boat at dawn, tossing his net in slow motion as the sun’s...
Climate Action •

Why Banning Single-Use Plastic Fails - Climate Action

Every tourist season brings an outcry to ban plastic. First, TV and phone screens fill with scenery that makes city-dwellers sigh – a meadow in Himachal, riotous with wildflowers, or a lake so still it mirrors the sky. Then the camera pans, and there they are – chip packets gleaming in the sun, juice cartons flattened underfoot, and plastic chai cups scattered across the grass.
India has responded by banning single-use plastic time and again. The country rolled out a nationwide ban on certain s...