Photo credits: Dileep
In some places of Kerala ferries are more popular and easier then road transport. The Alapuzha-Cochin region is interconnected with regularly used Junkar ferries that move vehicles and people across the extensive series of water bodies with back waters, lagoons and rivers making travel by ferry an effective services . Continue reading
The image above is a reminder for us, as much as it is a pass along to you. After finally securing, in early 2013, a supply of beautiful glass water bottles for all of our restaurants and guest rooms in Kerala, Raxa Collective has been working for the last year to source a reusable and conveniently portable water bottle. The Earth Hour original purpose of the series of which the above poster is a part has a long tail of utility. Today we give thanks for “BYOB” by Rebecca Penmore, one of the altruistic designers at Pentagram giving us more clarity on why we should re-use:
On a hot summer’s day when hydration was the name of the game, Pentagram designer Rebecca Penmore noticed that our bottles of tap water are much more than liquid containers – they are an extension of our personality.
“The aim of my poster is to encourage people to carry their own bottle of tap water and avoid countlessly re-buying mineral water. I have used the well known acronym BYOB as a simple and straightforward way to communicate this message,” says Rebecca. “Bringing your own bottle is not only an easy way to reduce your global footprint, but it can be a great form of self expression!”
Why? Continue reading
It has been a while since we extended one of these invitations. More frequently than we realized, these invitations have some connection to water. This exhibit on Sophie Olsen’s website, which came to our attention due to a blog post by Jessie Wender on the New Yorker’s website, leaves us wanting to learn more about the people she has photographed. With the photograph featured in Wender’s post there is just a small bit of context:
OLSEN: Diving down to the ocean bed without any equipment, Ngui is searching for fish to bring home to his family, on the Surin Islands, off the coast of Thailand. This photograph is part of a larger series about the sea nomads called the Mokens. Traditionally, one Moken family lives for as many nine months of the year on a boat; their children learn how to swim before they can walk.
So, what better than to invite Sophie to come to Kerala and tell us more in person. Until then, on the Dazed website there is an archived blurb about this exhibit that looks like about as much as we will learn for now: Continue reading
Photo credits : Surus
Banasura Sagar Dam is situated about 16 Km from Kalpetta in Wayanad district. It is constructed in the Banasura Lake and the nearby mountains are known as the Banasura hills. It is the largest earth dam in India and second largest in Asia. Continue reading
Photo credits: Dileep
Kovalam Beach is situated outside the capital city of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. Comprised of three adjacent crescent beaches and a massive rocky promontory, the beach forms a beautiful bay of calm waters ideal for sea bathing. For all these reasons it has been a favorite for tourists from around India and the world. Continue reading
Photo credits: Surus
Papanasini is a spring fed stream that originates in the Brahmagiri Hills, which later joins the River Kalindi. Located about a kilometer from the Thirunelli Vishnu Temple, devotees believe that the cool waters have the ability to wipe away a lifetime of sins. Continue reading
The U.S. has laid claim to 2.5 billion acres of coastal seas, but that vast area produces very little seafood for Americans. Therein lies a dilemma: should the U.S. cultivate giant offshore fish farms in its piece of the sea or keep taking most of the fish we eat from foreign waters?
Conservation magazine raises the following question, and goes a long way to answering it in their current issue:
NATIONS HAVE CARVED UP THE OCEAN. NOW WHAT?
…In the minds of most consumers, there is a clear dividing line between which fish are wild and which are farmed. But the truth is that this line is increasingly a blurry one. Continue reading
A diamond from Juína, Brazil, containing a water-rich inclusion of the olivine mineral ringwoodite. Richard Siemens/University of Alberta
What makes scientific information newsworthy? One possibility is when the information conveyed may have profound implications for life on earth. This Scientific American article about a rock is really about water, and about a kind of water that many of us had never been aware of:
…”It’s actually the confirmation that there is a very, very large amount of water that’s trapped in a really distinct layer in the deep Earth,” said Graham Pearson, lead study author and a geochemist at the University of Alberta in Canada. The findings were published today (March 12) in the journal Nature.
The worthless-looking diamond encloses a tiny piece of an olivine mineral called ringwoodite, and it’s the first time the mineral has been found on Earth’s surface in anything other than meteorites or laboratories. Ringwoodite only forms under extreme pressure, such as the crushing load about 320 miles (515 kilometers) deep in the mantle. Continue reading
Photo credits: Arif Rahman
Dharmadam Island is a small island in Kannur district. This five-acre island is covered with coconut palms and green bushes. It is just about a hundred meters from the beautiful sandy beach of Dharmadam. Continue reading
Extreme drought conditions in California have state officials looking for alternative sources of water, including desalinated ocean water. Richard Vogel/AP
National Public Radio in the USA has this story, both podcast and text version, about efforts to provide drinking water to a dry, thirsty region:
California is getting some much needed rain this week, but more than two-thirds of the state is still in extreme drought conditions, and that has the state thinking about alternative ways of getting water.
On the coast in Carlsbad, Calif., construction workers are building what will be the largest seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. When finished in early 2016, it is expected to provide up to 50 million gallons of fresh drinkable water every day.
“That’s enough water for 112,000 households here in the region,” says Peter MacLaggan with Poseidon Resources, the developer of this $1 billion plant. Continue reading
Photo Credits: Joshi
Kumarakom is a favorite tourist hotspot in Kerala, where a visitor can enjoy the beauty of the famous Lake Vembanad, the tranquility in the surrounding scenery, and also the delicious dishes, which include typical Kerala fish preparations. A bird sanctuary on the banks of the lake makes Kumarakom a unique place in the itinerary of a visitor. Continue reading
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
Murinjapuzha is a beautiful waterfall located 40 km from Thekkady en route to Cochin. The area is at its best soon after the monsoon when the Western Ghats are at their greenest and the rushing water draws visitors to stop at the local tea shops to take in the views. Continue reading
Jake may be our guide into a future where surfing plays a larger role in Raxa Collective’s portfolio of experiential offerings. For now, he is going to paint his masterpiece at Pearl Beach and take things one step at a time from there. This clip is from a film we hope to premier in Kerala in the coming months. We have sent an invitation, formally, to Sherpas Cinema, and will keep you posted on whether and when this may happen:
This is a story of rising to the ultimate challenge. Having the courage to risk fatal exposure and the perseverance demanded on the quest for achievement. These are not solely physical feats, they are mental conquests. Continue reading
Malampuzha Dam
The biggest irrigation reservoir in Kerala, Malampuzha Dam, is located in the Palakkad district. Beautiful gardens, an amusement park and a rock garden surround the lake, made even more picturesque with the Western Ghats as the background.
A water treatment plant construction site in the village of Gufu. Columns for the base of the overhead tank are visible. Photo by Maysoon Sharif.
While some people turn their sweat into water, Cornell student engineers who have previously built eight treatment facilities in Honduras are now expanding into a couple sites in Jharkhand, India. Anne Ju from the Cornell Chronicle reports:
Since its founding in 2005, AguaClara has worked to bring cost-effective, municipal-scale water treatment technologies to communities in Honduras, where more than half the population cannot access safe water. They have partnered with the Honduran nonprofit Agua Para el Pueblo to provide designs and transfer the water treatment technologies to communities. … Continue reading
Matt Neff from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo holds a hellbender salamander that he caught in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. Scientists hope to learn how healthy and viable the population is. Photo by Rebecca Jacobson
Thanks to the Public Broadcasting System of the USA for this story segment as their Science Wednesday feature this week:
…At the end of a long day snorkeling in the clear streams of southwestern Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Terrell and her team assumed their positions. As three scientists lifted a flat, heavy rock, Terrell groped underneath the stone, let out a muffled cry through her snorkel mask and popped out of the water.
“Where did it go? Did you see it?”
The biologists checked their nets and scoured the water. Sarah Colletti from the Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Center pointed at the slick rocks under the water. “Right there, he’s looking right at you.” One of the biologists lunged, secured a firm grasp, and triumphantly pulled it out: a nearly two-foot long hellbender. Continue reading
Prince Charles, who has criticised the global food industry for shipping ‘vast quantities of commodities halfway round the world’. Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA
We have been impressed with him on occasion in the past, so it was with some surprise, and a tinge of nausea, that we read this :
Prince Charles is funding his charities with profits from shipping royal-branded mineral water 6,000 miles to the Middle East in an arrangement that has been described by Friends of the Earth as “completely insane”. Continue reading
By now everyone knows that availability of potable water is among the most important challenges facing this and coming generations. Thanks to the USA-based tax and donor-funded National Public Radio for bringing this to our attention:
…A more common technology for removing salt and other impurities from water is known as reverse osmosis, which uses lots of energy to produce the extremely high pressure required to force raw water through a semi-permeable membrane. You can see a diagram of how it works here. Continue reading
Chellarkovil Waterfalls
Chellarkovil Waterfalls is located just 14km from Thekkady. Especially during the monsoon the cascading waterfalls and the abundance of flora make this place a trekker’s and photographer’s paradise. Continue reading
Photo credits:Ramesh Kidangoor
Kovalam Beach is located in Thiruvananthapuram, which is the state capital of Kerala, and is only a short drive away from the local international airport. It is comprised of three adjacent crescent-shaped beaches, and is the sight of golden sand, rocky palm groves, and miles of shimmering sea. Continue reading
Organikos 