Thattekad, Kerala
Bird of the Day: Malabar Parakeet
Thattekad, Kerala
Drought, Desalination, Drink
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
Paragliding Carnival – Vagamon
Photo credits: Ranjith
Paragliding is one of the newest adventure sports in India, with the number of thrill seeking enthusiasts growing annually. In Kerala, Vagamon has been identified as a Paragliding hotspot for by travelers and tourists the world over. Continue reading
West, Water, Waste. Whence? Whither?
National Geographic has an excellent special multimedia report on the Colorado River that covers its beauty, utility, history and future:
“Rivers affect the health of our seas, wildlife, communities, and economies. Restoring freshwater habitats is no longer optional;
it’s imperative.”Osvel Hinojosa Huerta,
Conservationist and NG Emerging Explorer Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Ring-billed Gull (UC Santa Barbara, California)
Hats Off To Dr. Seuss
Whether you’re a “hat person” or no, we’d be surprised if news of this exhibition didn’t bring a smile to the lips of anyone familiar with Theodor Seuss Geisel‘s books. For the first time in history “Dr. Seuss’s” personal hat collection is on tour in an exhibit called Hats Off to Dr. Seuss!, which debuted at the New York Public Library in January and will stop in six states over the next seven months.
Flavours Of Kerala – Ghee Dosa
Photo credits: Dileep
Ghee Dosa is a popular breakfast or late afternoon snack in South India. The main ingredients for the batter are black gram dal, rice flour and ghee, which is drizzled over the cooking dosa, making it crispy and golden brown. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Brown-crested Flycatcher (Celestún, Mexico)
Beauty Of Munnar – Anairangal Dam
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
Munnar and its surrounding environs abounds in places that offer amazing natural views; forests, mountains, waterfalls and dams. Anairangal Dam, which in Malyalam means “elephant crossing dam”, is located about 18km from Munnar, en route to Thekkady. Continue reading
Yes, I Should Be Vegetarian
Unloading vegetables from a boat on a foggy January morning in Bangladesh (A.M. Ahad/AP)
If you have thought about dropping animal protein from your diet, or at least thought about it and decided not to do so, this blog post at the Atlantic‘s website is worth a read:
“Let me be clear about this. A low carbohydrate diet is quackery,” Dr. Neal Barnard told me over the phone. “It is popular, bad science, it’s a mistake, it’s a fad. At some point we have to stand back and look at evidence.”
Note to self: Don’t ask Dr. Neal Barnard about limiting your carb intake.
“You look at the people across the world who are the thinnest, the healthiest, and live the longest; they are not following anything remotely like a low-carb diet,” he said. “Look at Japan. Japan has the longest-lived people. What is the dietary staple in Japan? They’re eating huge amounts of rice.” Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Long-tailed Sylph (Guango Lodge, Ecuador)
Humans of Cornell
Humans of Cornell University, Jan. 28th, 2014.
Earlier this month, while scrolling down my Facebook newsfeed, I chanced upon a photo of a friend of mine on the Cornell campus. The caption was a short but interesting conversation between the friend and a Facebook user called “Humans of Cornell University,” who had taken the photo. I was intrigued. Upon clicking the photo I discovered that there were dozens of other photos along the same theme, where apparently these “Humans of Cornell” (HOCU) people would randomly select a person they encountered at Cornell, take a photo of him or her, and ask a thought-provoking question, sometimes following the question up if the response merited more discussion.
Getting To Inspiration, Unhindered
There is a new book on our reading list, thanks to this interview with its author, Amy Wallace (if your reading list includes publications we regularly link to, especially those that offer long form journalism, this podcast is an incredible resource). After listening to the interview, we found her website, and this book looks worth waiting for:
From Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios, comes an incisive book about creativity in business—sure to appeal to readers of Daniel Pink, Tom Peters, and Chip and Dan Heath.
Creativity, Inc. is a book for managers who want to lead their employees to new heights, a manual for anyone who strives for originality, and the first-ever, all-access trip into the nerve center of Pixar Animation—into the meetings, postmortems, and “Braintrust” sessions where some of the most successful films in history are made. It is, at heart, a book about how to build a creative culture—but it is also, as Pixar co-founder and president Ed Catmull writes, “an expression of the ideas that I believe make the best in us possible.” Continue reading
Traditional Boats
Photo credit: Aparna P
The traditional houseboat of Kerala is one of the most enduring and iconic images of the backwaters. These houseboats are converted, comfortably furnished versions of the kuttanadan kettuvallams, that offer adequate accommodation for a whole family, often with sitting rooms, bedrooms and kitchens. One can create one’s own world of imagination and enjoy the beauty of the surroundings while traveling in a houseboat. Continue reading
Malayalam Mother Tongue, Second Language
For those of us non-Indians living in Kerala, the following story sounds familiar because most of our friends and colleagues of the same age, and younger, as the writer share some similar story about their relationship to their mother tongue:
I’m at one of my favourite restaurants in Chicago, nearing the end of a long week which has been both more and less productive than I’d hoped for. I dragged myself here in an effort to finish a piece I’ve been working on forever.
The rain has kept most customers away, I’ve had the privilege of a large dining room to myself, and the television set directly above my head has been mercifully silent. Every now and then, people will come in and leave when they’re done. I’ve stayed on, nibbling at my chicken biryani and downing endless cups of tea as I lie hunched over in my corner. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Cactus Wren (Mojave National Preserve, California)
Microchipping Rhinos In Kenya
Click above to go to the video, on the Guardian‘s website courtesy of WWF:
In a dawn operation, rhinos in the Mara region of Kenya are tranquilised by rangers. A multidisciplinary team of researchers, vets and technicians take over to drill a tiny hole in the horn to insert a microchip. Another is implanted in the body and a unique pattern is put on the rhino’s ears. Microchipping, conservationists say, is essential to protect the endangered black rhinos. ‘If Kenya loses its rhinos, it will lose its heritage,’ says Robert Nedeti, species manager at WWF Kenya.
Katoor Beach – Kerala Beaches
Photo credits: Aparna P
Beaches in Kerala are places present the serenity of nature in its true perspective. Close to the village of Marari and the city of Alleppey, Katoor is a beautiful beach that offers both rural and urban ambiance. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Black-faced Nunbird (Tahuayo Lodge, Peru)
Saving Rainforest One Pop-Tart At A Time
An access road is constructed in a peatland forest being cleared for a palm oil plantation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island in 2013. Chaideer. Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty Images
Thanks to National Public Radio in the USA for this story of palm oil, Pop-Tarts and ethics, wrapped up in the clothing of an entrepreneurial conservation case study among multinational corporations:
If you think a small shareholder can’t get the attention of the multibillion-dollar palm oil industry, think again.
Lucia von Reusner lives half a world away from the palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia that have become notorious for environmental, labor and human rights abuses.
So, how did she nudge for change? She couldn’t tell palm oil plantations in Indonesia to clean up their act. But, as a Kellogg shareholder, she figured out how to put pressure on the company to use its leverage to push for change.
Palm oil, of course, is the fat that lubricates so many of our packaged snacks today, from Pop-Tarts and Eggo waffles to soaps and other personal products. And global demand for palm oil has grown quickly.
The clear-cutting of precious forests in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia to grow the oil palm trees has been well-documented. More recently, an investigation by Bloomberg Businessweek into human rights abuses on Indonesian palm oil plantations and an Accenture analysis that described the use of child labor have raised more awareness about other unsavory realities in the industry. Continue reading
Organikos 