Improving Governance For The Environment, One Citizen And One Pollinator At A Time
We have been noting increasing stories about loss of pollinators in the USA and Europe, and especially notice how seriously this problem is taken in the UK. Solutions? Not so obvious. But we are on the lookout each day for innovations in both the public and private sectors. This UK governance procedure seems a promising mechanism for getting citizens aware of, then involved finding solutions for environmental challenges such as the alarming loss of pollinators nationwide:
A consultation on the National Pollinator Strategy: for bees and other pollinators in England
Overview
Defra is seeking views on a proposed national pollinator strategy for bees and other pollinators in England. The strategy sets out proposals to safeguard these important insects given their role in pollinating many food crops and wild plants and their contribution to our food production and the diversity of our environment… Continue reading
Dharmadam Island – Kannur
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
Bird of the Day: Malabar Gray Hornbill
Thattakad, Kerala
Women’s Empowerment In Kerala, A Success Story
Vishnu Varma. A Kudumbashree worker involved in community farming near the Kerala village of Kadakkanad. Around 260,000 workers currently till and harvest more than 60,000 acres throughout the state.
Thanks to India Ink, and Vishnu Varma, for this article about several million women, in communities across the state where we call home, collaborating their way to empowerment:
ERNAKULAM, Kerala — In a country that has been criticized as lacking commitment to women’s rights, one program in the southwest state of Kerala has been quietly serving as an example that a government can indeed successfully empower women, both economically and socially. Continue reading
Attukal Pongala – Temple Festival
Photo credits: Vishnu
Attukal Pongala is the most important festival of the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, and once was entered into the World Records for the largest gathering of women at a festival in the world. It is popularly referred to as the Sabarimala of women.
Birders’ Cinematic Moment
The last time big name celebrity got attached to a cinematic treatment of birdwatching, the results were underwhelming, though not a total disaster. Just kind of embarrassing if you care about birding and would like the activity to gain more traction with a wider audience. Thanks to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for pointing us to this, and to Ben Kingsley for his participation’s likely boost to its chances for success:
We’re excited about the release of a new birding movie, A Birder’s Guide to Everything. It’s a touching story that explores broad themes of growing up and growing wiser, while following four young actors and Sir Ben Kingsley on the trail of a possibly extinct species. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: American Golden Plover (Churchill, Canada)
Community, Collaboration, And Gran Chaco Conservation
In about 10 minutes, this National Geographic video gives a great primer on why you should care about the conservation of one of the planet’s largest intact ecosystems, with a storyline focused on community and collaboration.
South America’s Gran Chaco region spans a complex mix of land, climates, and species. National Geographic Emerging Explorer and conservation biologist Erika Cuellar shares her passion and know-how with the people who live there to protect their natural treasure from unsustainable development.
Inspiration, 51
Photograph by James Pomerantz.
This post is for the team at 51, a new restaurant we are opening soon, located on the waterfront of Fort Cochin’s harbor in the history-intact, spice-trading Mattanchery neighborhood. That team is a group of men and women, chefs, support cooks, self-made cuisine historians, and other interested parties collaborating on a new concept. It is a concept, but deftly avoiding pretension. More about fun historical convergences, good taste, and communities interacting over long stretches of time to create new food ways. Following is a restaurant review whose accompanying photo was the main draw, but so was the notion of foraging that has become so compelling to foodies of late:
It seems strange to say that the best thing at a place that specializes in juice cleanses is the porchetta, but Foragers Market and Table encapsulates the contradictory nature of the New York diet, serving quality food that feels “healthy,” and is often local and organic, but with none of that dull avocado-based asceticism. Continue reading
Siruvani Dam – Palakkad
Photo credits: Riaz
Located in the Palakkad district of Kerala, the Siruvani Dam was built as a joint venture between the neighboring states to supply drinking water for the town of Coimbature in Tamil Nadu. The thickly forested surroundings, Siruvani Waterfall and the nearby Banan Fort make the area a rich tourist attraction. Members of the Irular and Mudugar Tribal groups also inhabit the regions near the Siruvani Dam. Continue reading
A Musically Satisfied Cow Is A Productive Cow
The Ingenues, an all-girl band and vaudeville act, serenade the cows in the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s dairy barn in 1930. The show was apparently part of an experiment to see whether the soothing strains of music boosted the cows’ milk production. Angus B. McVicar/Wisconsin Historical Society
It is not difficult to believe, but it is funny. Thanks to National Public Radio (USA) for this story about the importance of animal happiness, an idea we can all, from carnivore to vegan all everyone in between, agree is good (the video below is at least as compelling as the scientific references):
When it’s time to buckle down and focus, plenty of office workers will put on headphones to help them drown out distractions and be more productive. But can music also help dairy cows get down to business?
Some dairy farmers have long suspected that’s the case. It’s not unheard of for farmers to play relaxing jams for their herds to boost milk production, as the folks at Modern Farmer recently reported.
A tantalizing 2001 study out of the University of Leicester in the U.K. appeared to lend credence to those claims. It found that milk production went up by as much as 3 percent when cows listened to slow tunes like R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts” and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water,” rather than faster songs. Continue reading
Community And Collaboration In Italy
Matteo Renzi in Florence, Italy on January 4th, 2014. Photograph by Laura Lezza/Getty.
We studiously avoid politics on these pages, but we studiously make occasional exceptions like this one. After an undeservedly long stretch of time, decades that became generations, of Italy in political turmoil this may be a moment of, dare we say it, change we can believe in. Alexander Stille provides a pithy summary of why this is so on the New Yorker website.
Leave ideology out of the consideration, if possible, and observe the new Prime Minister’s focus on community and collaboration; and the bicycle; one more reason to visit Italy this year as a show of support for his vision for change and his vehicular choices:
Sixty-three governments in sixty-eight years, with twenty-seven different Prime Ministers—so why should we care that Italy has a new government, with yet another Prime Minister, Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Red-necked Phalarope (Beluga, Alaska, USA)
Dolphins, Drones, Delight
We have noted on several occasions in the past about the use of drone technology to good ends, but this one takes the cake:
Whatever you think of drone technology, this may be one use that we can all agree on.
The captain of a whale-watching boat who’s also a filmmaker sent a drone with a camera into the sky to capture a stunning event: thousands of common dolphins in a super- or megapod speeding through the waters off California, destination unknown. His gorgeous video of Delphinus delphis, which includes a mama whale nuzzling its baby, is here. Continue reading
Flavours of Kerala – Pappadam
Photo credits: Renjith
Kerala pappadams make a very popular side dish served with Kerala sadya (meals like the own depicted below). The main ingredients of pappadams are black gram (a type of lentil flour) and salt. Continue reading
Things We Know That Bear Repeating–Nuts, Beans, Vegetables & Fruits Edition
A new study linking animal protein-rich diets to increased mortality in middle age adds fuel to the controversy over how much protein — and from what sources — is ideal for health. One thing that seems pretty clear: It doesn’t hurt to go heavy on the greens. iStockphoto
For most of us, most of the time, less animal protein in our diet is a good thing. For some of us, some of the time, more vegetable protein is a particularly good thing. The takeaways from this short item at The Salt (National Public Radio, USA) are worthy quick dietary recommendations:
…In the new study, Longo and his colleagues found that high-protein foods derived from plants, such as beans and nuts, did not have the same effect on mortality as did high-protein foods from animals… Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Golden-crowned Woodpecker (Ek Balam, Mexico)
If You Happen To Be In Muzuris
The ancient port city of Muzuris came into the spotlight in 2012 with the critically acclaimed Kochi-Muzuris Biennale, but the Muzuris Heritage Project highlights the region in a more historical context.
Located just 30 km north of Kochi in Paravur and Channamangalam, the four museums–Kerala History Museum, Lifestyle Museum, Kerala Jewish History Museum, and Jewish Lifestyle Museum–were inaugurated this Sunday.
The four museums together present a comprehensive picture of the political and cultural history and lifestyle of the region….
…The Muziris Heritage Project, spearheaded by the Tourism Department, envisaged a group of heritage and tourism plans around key historical monuments in North Paravur, Kodungalloor, Chennamangalam, Pallippuram, Mala and other areas. Continue reading
Pakshipathalam – Wayanad
Photo credits : Asif
Pakshipathalam is situated in the district of Wayanad, near Karimala peak. It contains numerous caves and is surrounded by rocky hillocks. Pakshipathalam is a haven for a large avian colony, mainly around the natural rock cave. Continue reading
Organikos 