Click the image to go to the video of climate activists’ ice pyramid in London at Shell’s HQ.
Month: September 2012
Fire Flame Bush (Wood Fordia)
Fire Flame Bush is a many branched deciduous shrub that grows to a height of 4-5 meters. It takes its name from the red coloration of both its bark and its flowers. It grows throughout Kerala up to an altitude of 1500 meters.
Leading With Historical Vision
President Barack Obama shows students from Johnson College Prep in Chicago, Illinois, a model of Samuel Morse’s telegraph patent in the Oval Office last October. (The White House/Flickr)
We avoid politics, but call out the good, the bad and the ugly in the public sector when needed. Admittedly, too much of the latter two and not enough of the good. So hail to the geek in chief of the United States of America, who followed through on his promise in one of our favorite magazines two years ago:
When I was sworn into office, I had a chance to request objects from some of America’s finest museums to put on display in the White House. One of my requests was for patent models from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History…
What’s good? Telling your constituents you want to invest in the future through education; telling young students that innovation is the future of the economy; getting those dusty plates off the wall and celebrating the history of innovation instead. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Snowy Egret (Sanibel Island, FL)
Photo credit: Stephen Crafts
Hot, Fresh Data
Thanks to one of our favorite informers, Felicity Barringer, whose past stories we have occasionally riffed on, for this piece in today’s Dot Earth section of the New York Times website (click the graph above to go to the source, and yes it counts as a non-subscriber article read):
From California to New Jersey, the summer sun was hot this year — and so was the solar industry. While the business of solar energy is still small enough and young enough to record firsts at the fearsome pace of a toddler, the milestones are getting more substantial. Continue reading
Fever Nut
Fever Nut is a large thorny shrub bearing light yellow fruits covered with sharp thorns. Its commonly found in the tropical forests of the Western Ghats up to an altitude of 1000 meters. In Ayurveda the root of the plant is used for treating fever, cough, asthma, worms and colic. The leaves are anthelmintic and useful in treating elephantiasis.
Droning On About Conservation
In a world where funding for national parks and rangers isn’t always in the budget, conservationists have to look to technologies to help protect the millions of acres that some of the world’s most threatened species make their home. The World Wildlife Fund has developed remote controlled planes that use simple enough technology to be launched by hand and be powered by rechargeable electric batteries. Click the image above to go to the story in the BBC:
Conservationists in Nepal will soon start using special drones…developed by the global wildlife organisation, WWF. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Red-wattled Lapwing
Uda Walawe, Sri Lanka
Finding History in High Tech
Bangalore city map, circa 1924 from “Murray’s 1924 Handbook”
Before a recent trip to Karnataka I’d asked my Indian friends for advice prior to any urban travels, getting their opinions on the iconic activities in each of the cities on my itinerary. There were pearls and biryani in Hyderabad, palaces and markets in Mysore…but for Bangalore, most friends said things such as, “Oh Bangalore. That’s where people from Cochin go to get their shopping done.”
Well, okay. Considering I actually did need to get some shopping done, I wasn’t terribly distressed about this advice. However, the fact remains that I am not a particularly good shopper, so I’d hoped that there was more to the city than just consumer attraction. Continue reading
Gram Power
Check out Gram Power, which we first read about here: Continue reading
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
Nasturtium plants are native to South America, but this fast growing climber is now widely growing in the High Ranges of Kerala. These plants are commonly found in gardens and the leaves and flowers are used to increase resistance to bacterial infections.
Stop This Trade!
We have shared links to some amazing long form journalism on this topic, but here is a quick note of follow up. Click the image above to go to the story in the New York Times Green Blog: Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Malabar Pied Hornbill
Uda Walawe, Sri Lanka
Grumpy, Bird-loving Awesomeness
What if every artist made a love pact with something, anything, in the natural world? Mr. Goldsworthy, we noted after a recent post, had already made (to our eyes, a similar cairn included) such a pact a long time before his Australia work. Mr. Franzen, as we shall highlight as often as we can here, has made such a pact with birds. Walton Ford, in phantasmagorical manner, check. And this fellow, on the sands down under, too. More!
From Behind the Wheel: Take-Away Chicken
Edappally Junction, Ernakulam
Gorky In Residence
In other news from Russia, we return to Moscow via Other Russia. Yes, we are ignoring Mr. Putin’s adorable stunt with Siberian Cranes to return to Maxim Gorky’s legacy. No offense to Mr. Putin, of course, as we (for now) also choose to ignore news of an upcoming “Flashmob Kissing City in Gorky Park on September 23” and on that same date:
“…more than 3000 people will take part in a huge pillow fight in Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure! You can bring pillows from home or buy them at the place of the fight for very low prices (from 100 rubles). Except the flashmob “Pillow Fight”, the organizers will hold many interesting competitions for you while DJs will be playing their music all the time.”
That earlier news about Gorky Park reopening mentioned a museum in his honor, so we could not resist investigating. And we found an amazing collection of images (credits for all photos are embedded in the base of the images).
It is difficult to find any information about the museum, which seems not to have its own website, so desk research is limited to some travel magazines and books that cover Moscow, like this one: Continue reading
Eravikulam National Park
Eravikulam National Park is situated along the crest of the western Ghats in the High Ranges near to Munnar. The rolling grasslands and striking flora and fauna draw a large number of visitors to Rajamala Wildlife Sanctuary, a section of the national park. The majority of the National Park is made up of rolling plateau with a base elevation of about 2000 meters. The largest surviving population of Nilgiri Tahr (Hemitaragus hylocrius) endemic to this region. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Canada Geese (Rancho Mirage, CA)
Creative, Effective, Collective Action
Thanks to our friends at Colossal for pointing us here:
I can’t speak from personal experience about the political climate in Yekaterinburg, Russia but if we take this video from the ad agency Voskhod at face value it appears the powers that be neglected the city’s infrastructure one day too long. Continue reading
Spider Lily (Hymenocallis littoralis)
The Spider Lily is an amazing plant which is commonly found in the hill stations of Kerala’s Western Ghats. These plants can grow in wet areas, in water, as well as dry areas. The beautiful white flowers have long narrow reflexed petals. The flower stem is long and each stem has several flowers. Continue reading
Organikos 