Malayalam Mother Tongue, Second Language

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malayalam_0

 

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 →

Microchipping Rhinos In Kenya

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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

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Photo credits : Aparna P

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 →

Saving Rainforest One Pop-Tart At A Time

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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

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 →

Leptosia Nina – Kerala Butterflies

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Photo credits :Aparna p

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 →

A Master Puzzle

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Photograph: Nati Harnik/AP

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 →

Chocolate, Climate Change, Future Scenarios

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Reuters

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 →

Ecofficiency And Happiness Correlate

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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 →

Beauty of Kerala – Kumarakom

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Photo Credits: Joshy

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 →

Kerala Architecture – Napier Museum

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Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

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 →

The Canopy Is A Portal

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When we first met Dr. Meg Lowman last year we were already familiar with the use of tree climbing techniques for forest biology research. But the pioneer of canopy ecology includes an additional dimension to her REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) by acknowledging that physical mobility has little to do with being an effective field biologist. “To explore the canopy we climb ropes not trees, and in the lab we use microscopes, computers and minds, which have no limits.”

The Baker University program had been open to eight students, half of whom had ambulatory disabilities. All eight students were professionally trained to ascend into the canopy to collect moss, lichen and leaves to measure the impact of the invertebrates like tardigrades (water bears) on the habitat. Continue reading →

Beauty of Idukki

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Photo credits : MN Shaji

Photo credits: MN Shaji

Kerala’s Idukki District is known for its famous dams, forests and rich animal habitat. With an astonishing 50 percent of the total area under green cover this hilly region has managed to retain its charm and pristine environment. Idukki’s stunning natural beauty and diverse wildlife make it   dream tourist destination. Continue reading →

How Many Options Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb?

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(From left) Incandescent, CFL and LED light bulbs. Many people are finding that choosing the right light bulb has a steep learning curve.

(From left) Incandescent, CFL and LED light bulbs. Many people are finding that choosing the right light bulb has a steep learning curve.

From National Public Radio, an update to the ongoing knowhow required to change a lightbulb efficiently (click the image above to go to the podcast):

Buying a light bulb used to be a no-brainer. Now it’s a brain teaser; the transition to more energy-efficient lighting means choosing from a dazzling array of products.

We’ve long identified bulbs by their wattage, but that is actually a measure of electricity, not the brightness of a bulb. The amount of light a bulb generates is measured in lumens.

An incandescent 60-watt bulb, for example, gives off 800 lumens of light. And LED bulbs, which are more energy efficient than their incandescent counterparts, can deliver the same amount of light using as little as 10 watts.

The Environmental Protection Agency says that if every household replaced just one incandescent bulb with an “Energy Star”-rated LED or CFL (compact fluorescent), Americans would save close to $700 million per year in energy costs.

But with so many types of bulbs with different price points and life spans now on the market, many consumers are confused.

When we asked for your questions about light bulbs, we got an earful. So we called in Noah Horowitz, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Center for Energy Efficiency, to answer your most frequently asked questions. Continue reading →

Fascinating Feathers

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Starting in late November, 2013 and ending in mid-January, 2014, the CUBs Fascinating Feathers Challenge received six hundred submissions, and we selected around fifty of those entries as award-winners in their distinct categories.

Best Dressed was the most popular category for participants, leading us to believe that people find birds beautiful! And rightly so. Out of the stunning array of well-dressed bird photos and pieces of art that are shared in the category, we saw both common and less-known birds, with colorful and monochromatic plumage patterns, but all with a great sense of style and a pleasure to look at!

Much harder to see were the entries in our Best Camouflaged category — these inconspicuous fellows were often feathered to perfection when it came to blending in with their surroundings and fooling us into thinking they were just another rock, or a pile of leaves, or a stump on a tree! Just as the Best Dressed birds are emblematic of the sexual selection that takes place throughout much of the animal kingdom, the Best Camouflaged appropriately illustrate the importance of adapting to the environment over the course of evolution and becoming better predators or luckier prey as a species. Continue reading →