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
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
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
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
Photo credits: Aparna P
Leptosia Nina (Fabricius) is a small white butterfly with rounded wings, commonly found across India including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but predominantly in plains and the foothills of the Western Ghats up to 1600 meters. Continue reading
Photograph: Nati Harnik/AP
If you have shopped there in person, or ordered from them online, or see that the interrelation between the USA’s various communities are sometimes not easy to figure out, you know why this story is important:
…The growth of Cabela’s reflects Americans’ odd relationship with the outdoors: we mythologize it even as we pave it over. To accommodate their bulk and the crowds that they attract, Cabela’s stores are often built next to interstates and surrounded by giant parking lots. Generally, the only wildlife in sight are the crows picking over the litter. Some of the newest branches are on the edges of cities—Denver, Austin—that epitomize sprawl. In Greenville, South Carolina, where Cabela’s plans to open on a congested retail strip in April, other retailers are worried that traffic jams will scare away their customers. Continue reading
Reuters
The Atlantic’s website picked up this story about one of the world’s largest chocolate companies, and its approach to the future with regard to climate change:
…Now—in response to all this bigness, all this complexity, all these diversified models—it has prepared for a changing world. The Hershey Company is hiring a futurist.
That’s not what companies call it, exactly. Hershey’s is hiring a “Senior Manager” in “Foresight Activation,” someone with experience converting “existing foresight (trends, forecasts, scenarios) into strategic opportunities (SOs).” Continue reading
A Nissan Motor Co. executive demonstrating quick charge of a Nissan Leaf by a solar-assisted EV charging system at Nissan’s global headquarters in Yokohama. File photo.
The Hindu today reports some green news from the north:
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has tapped Nissan Motor Co to supply electric cars for its taxis and government fleet, hoping to reduce reliance on imported oil.
Under the agreement announced on Friday, Nissan will supply its Leaf electric car and set up charging stations in Bhutan. 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
Bharatpur, Rajasthan
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
A gem of an architectural exuberance, the Napier Museum in Trivandrum is an example of authentic Kerala architectural design. The pink and blue stripes alternating with stripes of yellow and chilly red, scalloped arches of banana yellow, elaborately carved balconies and the red mock friezes leave visitors with a fairytale impression of beauty and perfection. Continue reading
Organikos 