Munnar, Kerala
Bird of the Day: Grey-breasted Laughing Thrush
Munnar, Kerala
Art Revival
As we finish up our development of Spice Harbour and think about how to sculpt our space into one hospitable to both people and art the flow of news about the second edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale is welcome. We’ve written about art in many facets on these pages, including the connection between art and technology. It’s an amusing coincidence that just about a year ago I shared interactive links about the then new, and still very cool, Google Art Project.
So what fun to learn that the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012 had “made the cut”, so to speak! It actually isn’t really news, but the good folks at the KMB 2014 website know their social media, and they popped it onto their Facebook page for followers like to me to find, like a wonderful sprinkle of breadcrumbs toward the next edition.
Do you want to revisit and experience the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012? Thanks to Google Art Project potentially millions of people across the world can now virtually discover and explore India’s first biennale. With this the Kochi-Muziris Biennale becomes the world’s first and only biennale to be archived and digitized by Google Art Project which has till date only collaborated with museums and other permanent exhibitions. Continue reading
Professors, aka Heroes, Who Teach What Others Might Shun
Thanks to the New York Times for the weekly Tuesday Science section:
A CONVERSATION WITH
What Fish Teach Us About Us
Neil H. Shubin, the paleontologist who helped discover a fossil hailed as a missing link between sea and land animals, talks about his television series, “Your Inner Fish,” and why he teaches anatomy classes.
Mararikulam Beach – Alappuzha
Photo credits: Basheer
Mararikulam beach is located 28 km south of the city of Cochin and 20 km north of Alappuzha town. This nature lover’s paradise is a beautiful beach with the exceptional quality of wide expanses with no waterfront development to mar the views. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Common Tody Flycatcher (El Cuyo, Mexico)
Democracy In Places Big And Small
Luis Guillermo Solis, presidential candidate of the Citizens’ Action Party (PAC), smiles during a walk in San Jose April 4, 2014. REUTERS/JUAN CARLOS ULATE
Raxa Collective is at home in India, which begins the world’s largest democratic elections this week, and in Costa Rica which just concluded its own national elections. We cannot point to many similarities between India and Costa Rica given the differences in size, population, history and just about every other dimension you can think of. But since the late 1940s both have been outlier democracies in their own ways. And maybe that is part of the reason we feel at home in both countries.
We congratulate Mr. Solis and all Costa Ricans on their recent election, and in India, as they say, may the best candidate win. Thanks to Reuters for this update on the election run-off in Costa Rica, and we will highlight as appropriate India’s election results:
A center-left academic who has never held elected office easily won Costa Rica’s presidential election on Sunday, ousting the graft-stained ruling party from power after its candidate quit campaigning a month ago.
Former diplomat Luis Guillermo Solis, of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), won with around 78 percent of votes by tapping in to public anger at rising inequality and government corruption scandals.
His win dislodges a two-party dynasty that has governed the coffee-producing country for decades. It is also another victory for Latin America’s center-left parties, which have steadily gained ground across the region in recent years. Continue reading
Better Brewed Beer
A time-honored artisanal endeavor is quietly articulating a 21st century version of industrial production
When we have links to articles reviewing the literature of vegetarian cooking and/or first-person stories, told in multiple parts about the ecological benefits of eating invasive fish species, it is only fitting that we offer information about ecologically sensitive beverages. The community of craft beer producers in the USA in particular has undergone nothing less than a renaissance. Thanks to the magazine website of Conservation for this story:
From the outside, the New Belgium Brewery, located on 50 acres near downtown Fort Collins, Colorado, appears to be an environmentalist’s dreamscape. Company-issued bicycles surround the facility. A parking lot next to the brew house has an electric car charging station. Solar panels layer the roof of the bottling plant. A well-worn biking path snakes across the property. Continue reading
Controlling Invasive Lionfish – Update on Market Solutions: Part 1/2
I’ve posted previously about the lionfish invasion that is threatening coral reef and other marine ecosystems throughout the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Southern Atlantic Seaboard of the United States. As I noted in earlier posts, it is the general consensus of the scientific and conservation community that eradication of lionfish from the Atlantic is impossible. There have been some anecdotal reports that native predators such as groupers and snapper are beginning to recognize lionfish as prey, but there is no systematic evidence, as of yet, of widespread predation. So the conclusion remains that human intervention is the only way to keep lionfish populations in check. The good news is that there is growing evidence that systematic removal efforts can indeed be effective in controlling lionfish populations and in reversing their negative impact on reef health. A study published earlier this year found that populations of snapper and grouper rebound by 50-70 percent once lionfish are removed. And it isn’t necessary to remove 100 percent of lionfish for recovery of native fish populations to take place; the study found that reduction of lionfish populations by as little as 75 percent will do the trick. This is important, given difficulties in reaching lionfish at depths beyond the limits of divers. Also, removal efforts may become more difficult over time, as lionfish on reefs where regular culling takes place begin to wise up and hide from divers (click here for a cute poetic rendition of findings of a study on this behavioral adaptation).
Thus the challenge is to find a sustainable basis on which to undertake the systematic removals that are needed to keep lionfish populations under control. Continue reading
Thirra
Photo credits: Ajalraj
Similar to the Theyyam dance, Thirra is a ritual dance performed in Goddess temples of the North Malabar region of Kerala.It is believed that the puny frame of the performer draws the strength to support the massive headgear from the loud clothing, ceremonial facial paint and the dance movements themselves presented in front of the deity the Goddess.This art form is performed by the artists of the Peruvannam community. Continue reading
Vegetarian Cookbooks For Carnivores
Chefs are rapidly turning vegetables into the cash cow of the cookbook trade. Illustration by Serge Bloch.
If you are a New Yorker subscriber and a foodie, you look forward to the Food issue, which comes out in November each year, and anything written, at any time, by Jane Kramer. For good reason, the latter. Case in point:
Three years ago, I retired the chili party that I used to give in Italy at the end of August. This was a shame, because I liked my party, and thought that the chili made a nice reprieve from the ubiquitous barbecues of summer. Two of the twenty-four regulars at my party were vegetarians—one reluctantly, under a doctor’s orders. A doable number, it seemed to me: for years, I put out a bowl of pasta al pesto just for them. Then, from one chili party to the next, everything changed. Continue reading
Natural Capital Valuation and Protection of Marine Megafauna
Photo © Fabrice Jaine
I’ve noticed a number of positive and interesting developments as of late in the area of marine species protection, pointing to an increasing recognition, by policymakers, of the value of natural capital and associated ecosystem services, particularly the value arising from ecotourism.
In February of this year, the Government of Indonesia granted full protection to manta rays within its nearly 6 million square kilometer exclusive economic zone (EEZ), making it the world’s largest sanctuary for manta rays. This reverses the trend of the past three decades wherein Indonesia has had the dubious distinction of being home to the world’s largest fishery for sharks and rays. Why the reversal? It seem that studies showing that the ecotourism value of a manta ray is an estimated $1 million over its lifetime, as compared to the onetime value of several hundred dollars for its gill rakers and meat played a key role in persuading policymakers to take action to protect the iconic species.
A few weeks later, the President of Palau announced that the country’s entire 200 nautical mile EEZ will be declared a marine sanctuary and closed to commercial fishing and seabed mining. This follows a move a few years earlier to declare Palau a shark sanctuary. In explaining the reasoning behind the moves Palau’s president noted that a dead shark is worth several hundred dollars, whereas a live shark is worth $1.9 million in tourism during its life span, and that his country will promote scuba diving, snorkelling and ecotourism as an alternative income to commercial fishing. Continue reading
Bad Behavior Gets Curiouser And Curiouser
Sony Dong was charged with smuggling songbirds into the United States by strapping fourteen of them to his legs and trying to walk out of the Los Angeles International Airport.
Click the image above to go to this story, with podcast, at National Public Radio (USA), which covers the illicit wildlife trade story we linked to yesterday from a different angle:
Exotic animal trafficking is big business, and Southern California is a hub.
In March, Cheng Zhuo Liu of Chula Vista, Calif., pleaded guilty to smuggling frozen sea cucumbers over the Mexico border. The 100 pounds of sea cucumbers, worth up to $10,000, were found in the spare tire compartment of Liu’s Hyundai.
Fish and Wildlife Service agent Erin Dean says there are many ways to traffic wildlife in Southern California. She says smuggling avenues include LAX, the sixth-busiest airport in the world; the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the nation; and the Mexican border. Continue reading
Duchamp Design Du Jour
Our thanks to Mel Duarte for this referral of a design idea that has artistic legs and history, but is as fresh as ever:
In a small Brazilian village, artist and photographer Mel Duarte came across this great example of turning an old thing into a new thing.
“I really like the idea of creative recycling, and hope to inspire people with the potential it offers. With this in mind, I took the chance when I was in a little town in Bahia, Brazil, called Serra Grande, to wander through the village looking for something that could express this idea. That’s how I came across the recycled toilet bowl – it’s such a lovely example of how waste can be turned into something funny and beautiful.” Continue reading
Banyan Trees
Photo credits: Renjith
The national tree of India, the Banyan is one of the most magical and mystical of trees. In Indian culture the Banyan tree is considered to be sacred and leaves of the tree are considered to be the resting place of Lord Krishna. It is also believed that Buddha achieved enlightenment while sitting under a Banyan tree. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Orange Minivet
female – Munnar, Kerala
Terrible Trade
Photo © Matt Reinbold
Thanks to Miles Becker for this summary of an article that touches on a theme we have highlighted in the past–sourced from Bush, E.R. et al. 2014. Global trade in exotic pets 2006-2012. Conservation Biology doi: 10.1111/cobi.12240— at Conservation Magazine‘s website:
Pet stores are filled with colorful critters originating from the wilds of other continents. All the cages and terrariums stay well stocked while many prized species decline in their native habitat. Does the global fascination with exotic pet species hasten their extinction?
One way to find out is to compare the list of traded species with a list of species in trouble. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) maintains records of reported legal exports from its 180 member countries. The conservation status of species are listed on the red list curated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Both datasets were analyzed by conservation biologists for a seven-year period of international trade in bird, reptile, and mammal species. Continue reading
Santa Cruz Basilica – Fort Kochi
Photo credits: Abhay
The Santa Cruz Basilica is a heritage church in Fort Kochi with a colorful history. Built by the Portuguese in 1505 and elevated by Pope Paul IV to cathedral status in 1558, it was demolished by the British in 1795 when they took over Kochi. Bishop Dom Gomez Ferreira commissioned a new building at the same site in 1887. Continue reading
Better Driving
No matter how you view it, driving more fuel-efficiently is a worthy goal, but in a world with more than enough aggression already we think “Softer Slower” by Huntley Muir sends just the right visual reminder of another reason why driving more gently is a worthy goal:
Su and Donna, the two halves of artist duo Huntley Muir, have painted a poster that encourages people to be more tender on the accelerator.
“We decided to cut our speed by 10 miles an hour to save fuel and cut pollution and noise. It really works – we do use less fuel, it’s safer, less stressful and we don’t even notice the difference. And we are below the legal speed limits as well. Such goody two shoes. Continue reading
Thank You, Australia
An elephant seals basks on Heard Island. Photograph: Australian Antarctic Division, HO/AP
Thanks to the Guardian for their coverage of environmental issues around the world. We give credit where due, and this is continued good news for marine conservation without any qualifications (not even going to mention mining policies):
The government has created Australia’s largest fully protected marine reserve near two far-flung islands, in a move which environmental groups say will help safeguard rare whale species.
The Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve has been expanded by 6,200 sq km following a scientific assessment of its conservation values.
The reserve now spans 71,200 sq km of ocean. Heard and McDonald Islands, an Australian external territory located 4,100km south-west of Perth, are barren, uninhabited outposts considered among the most remote places on Earth. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Greater Flameback
Sakleshpur, Karnataka
Organikos 