Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
The Siva Temple at Ettumanoor has a unique festival called Ezhara ponnana — meaning “seven-and-a-half golden elephants”. Each of the statues in the procession contain nearly 13 kg of gold. Seven of the elephants are two feet high, only the eighth is one foot, giving the festival its unique name. Continue reading
Jalisco, Mexico
Ernakulam, Vytilla Junction
In the spirit of enthusiasm with which we welcomed the news of one politician’s move in an interesting direction, we grouse with equal enthusiasm about the actions of another politician, this one inclined in the opposite direction of entrepreneurial conservation (click the image to go to the story):
The ouster of a Nevada wildlife official has fanned a debate over whether the sage grouse can best be kept off the Endangered Species List by protecting its habitat or by killing more of its predators.
Kenneth Mayer, who had been the director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife and serves on regional and national committees that deal with sage grouse conservation, startled environmentalists and many Nevadans last week by announcing that Gov. Brian Sandoval had demanded his resignation. Continue reading
Pansy flowers belong to the Viola species, a group of hybrid flowers found in gardens worldwide. With their enchanting wildflower charm and numerous color combinations these flowers are probably the most popularly grown and most recognizable cool season plant growing above 1500 meters in the Western Ghats of India. Continue reading
Recently the New Yorker posted news that was music to the ears of all banjo-lovers. Most baby boom-aged Americans know who Steve Martin is, but many did/do not know he is a seriously talented banjoist–he does not just use the instrument as a comedic prop. A smaller subset of Americans know who Edie Brickell is (not just that she is Mrs. Paul Simon), but they remember her music with the New Bohemians with intense affection. She disappeared for a while, but she is back, and back with Steve Martin of all people:
Of the rushing river of records heading toward us, there are two I’d like to mention, one imminent and one on the horizon: “Love Has Come for You,” by Edie Brickell and Steve Martin, which arrives in April…Brickell and Martin’s record is a banjo-and-singer collaboration, a form without many footprints…
Anyone who loves banjo is almost by definition a lover of collaboration, which is why we pay attention to this particular instrument more than most. This got us thinking: What is Béla Fleck up to these days? If you do not know who he is, and you at least like the banjo, you should find out by clicking the banner above. And to our delighted surprise, he is playing gigs near us in south India over the next few weeks. After the jump below, you can see the schedule, and also you will get a sense of what we mean by banjo collaboration. Continue reading
The Obelisk at Piazza Navona
Rome is renowned for (among many other, er, more important things) its vast “collection” of obelisks. These obelisks, most featuring hieroglyphics running their length, typically came to Rome through conquests in Egypt. Victorious generals and emperors Continue reading
Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) CEO Sally Jewell climbs the 65-foot rock climbing pinnacle at REI’s Seattle flagship store. Photographer: Scott Cohen/AP Photo
We stay out of politics, for the most part, but point to interesting events when we notice them. This news qualifies, because it seems the leader of one big country has captured the spirit of entrepreneurial conservation in a rather visible way, choosing a business leader to run the largest conservation component of the federal government. Oddly, she appeals to both environmentalists and industrialists, but that is the point. This choice is outside the box, and seems to tap into some of our favorite “c” words. As the article below notes, this business person has led some important collective action initiatives, building a community to ensure that this political leader gives conservation the attention it deserves. We laud both of them for cooperating in such a creative manner:
President Barack Obama said he has selected Sally Jewell, chief executive officer of Recreational Equipment Inc., to be secretary of the U.S. Interior Department in his second-term Cabinet.
Jewell’s background as an engineer and experience in the banking, energy and retail industries give her the skills needed to run a department that oversees 500 million acres of public land, Obama said as he introduced her at the White House. Continue reading
North Seymour Island, Galapagos, Ecuador
Another in the excellent series of Cornell luminaries sharing their work in informal presentations (i.e. “in the stacks”) for lay folk like us. Click the image to the right to go to the video of this talk:
Over 90 percent of all visible living matter is plant life. Plants clean the air, provide food and fuel, fibers for clothing, and pharmaceuticals. Interweaving themes that emphasize biology and physics, the book explains how plants cannot be fully understood without examining how physical forces and processes influence growth, development, reproduction, evolution, and the environment. Continue reading
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
Sandwiched between the Arabian Sea and Vembanad Lake on a sliver of land barely 4 km wide, Alappuzha has the dual advantage of cheap inland water transport on its eastern end and calm seas suitable for an all-weather port on the west. Its criss-crossing canals, which were once busy waterways, historically evoked comparisons with Venice. Continue reading
Photo by Karl Phillips, University of East Anglia. Because sea turtles live far out to sea, little has been understood about their breeding habits until now.
Thanks to our friends in East Anglia, for the extra effort:
Studying any animal in the wild is hard enough, let alone one that spends 30 years at a time out at sea. Because of its ocean-faring lifestyle, scientists know next to nothing about the life style of the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle, save for the fleeting observations they make when female turtles come to beaches to lay their eggs. Continue reading
Yelapa, Mexico
Thiruvananthapuram
Heliconia Collinsiana is an ornamental plant native to Central America that grows widely as a popular garden plant in India’s Western Ghats above 800 metres. Continue reading
Click the banner above to read the whole entry at its source:
Diary
Rebecca Solnit
The buses roll up to San Francisco’s bus stops in the morning and evening, but they are unmarked, or nearly so, and not for the public. They have no signs or have discreet acronyms on the front windshield, and because they also have no rear doors they ingest and disgorge their passengers slowly, while the brightly lit funky orange public buses wait behind them. Continue reading
Subodh Gupta, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland, 2011
Photo: Jussi Koivunen
One thing that the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Kochi-Muzuris Biennale 2012 have in common is the artist Subodh Gupta.
The Bihar born sculptor/painter/installation artist has been at work for twenty years but is currently at the vanguard of modern Indian art. He has taken the ubiquitous metal articles of India and followed the tenets of the 19th century conceptualist artists who elevated the ready-made and everyday into objets d’art.
As Gupta describes his work
“All these things were part of the way I grew up. They are used in the rituals and ceremonies that were part of my childhood. Indians either remember them from their youth, or they want to remember them… Continue reading
We appreciate the Guardian‘s coverage of this issue, and activists like this one:
Last week Gareth Morgan, an economist and conservation campaigner, called for cats to be confined or eradicated from his native New Zealand to protect the wildlife. Meanwhile, in the US, a study published this week in the journal Nature found cats are killing more birds and mammals than previously thought. Writer Tom Cox, who shares his home with four cats, and Morgan discuss whether it’s time we learned to live without our feline friends. Emine Saner listens in.
Click the image at left to go to the video of this presentation by the author of his book:
In “Earth: A Tenant’s Manual,” distinguished geologist Frank H. T. Rhodes, President Emeritus of Cornell University, provides a sweeping, accessible, and informed guide to the home we all share, showing us how we might best preserve the Earth’s livability for ourselves and future generations. Continue reading
Organikos 