Victory Is Good, Goodness Is Great

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Fernández Anaya helps Mutai toward the line / CALLEJA (DIARIO DE NAVARRA

Fernández Anaya helps Mutai toward the line / CALLEJA (DIARIO DE NAVARRA

On the rare occasion that we highlight a sporting event, the reason for doing so in this case is simple: we have been on the lookout for acts of goodness, random or otherwise, since starting this site.  This is as random as it gets:

…Spanish athlete Iván Fernández Anaya was competing in a cross-country race in Burlada, Navarre. He was running second, some distance behind race leader Abel Mutai – bronze medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the London Olympics. Continue reading →

Painted Sawtooth Butterfly – Prioneris sita

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Photo credit: Ramesh Kidangoor

The Painted Sawtooth is a rare butterfly seen in Kerala’s forest settings only during January – April. The males fly extremely fast and have reddish orange spots on the back side of their wings.

Oil, Rainforest, Communities

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Pipe dreams: the 500km pipeline that transports oil from Lago Agrio to the port of Esmeraldas, on the Pacific Coast. The oil discovery destroyed the area. Photograph: Remi Benali/Corbis

Can there be happy endings related to oil discovery in remote, ecologically and culturally sensitive areas? Note likely.  But this story is worth a read:

American biologist Kelly Swing thwacks a bush with his butterfly net and a dozen or so bugs and insects drop in. One is a harvester, or daddy-long-legs, another a jumping spider which leaps on to a leaf where two beetles are mating. Continue reading →

Chakkulathukavu Pongala – Sree Bhagavathy Temple, Alleppey

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Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

This festival takes place in Sree Bhagavathy Temple near Alleppey during the month of Vrischikam (November/December) in Kerala’s lunar-based calendar; the time when the glory of the Goddess is at its peak. This is one of the state’s most renowned festivals, where tens of thousands of female devotees gather around the temple days before the function. The women line up on both sides of the main streets and each arranges an area for offering the Pongala (cooking demo) in front of them. Each one brings an earthen cooking pot with rice, coconut and jaggery. Continue reading →

Really, Whole Foods?

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conscious capitalism_book cover

John Mackey has a new book out.  He is a visionary, no doubt.  He co-founded and co-leads a company we admire.  But he is not the sole shareholder in Whole Foods, and when he decides to be provocative, as he often does, the company’s reputation is at stake along with his own.  He claims not to be a climate change skeptic, but also says he does not believe we need to take any action because climate change is likely going to benefit humans.  Specifically, in an interview in the Guardian he says:

We’ve been in a gradual warming trend since the ending of the “Little Ice Age” in about 1870, and climate change is perfectly natural and not necessarily bad. Continue reading →

Kuruva Dweep – Wayanad, Kerala

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Photo credits: Shaji Kumily

Most of the 40 odd rivers that originate in the Western Ghats flow west to the Arabian Sea, but three flow east to the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kabini is one of these rivers. It develops from two separate rivulets that wind around a 950 acre wooded island nestled amidst sylvan surroundings, called Kuruva Dweep. Continue reading →

Nature’s Value

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5606A review of this provocative book appears in the Guardian (click the image of the book to the right to go to the review) and an interview with its author is here, via mp3 download or as an iTunes podcast.  The book’s blurb supports the reviewer’s conclusion that it is worth the read:

Money doesn’t grow on trees. Or does it? From Indian vultures to Chinese bees, nature provides ‘natural services’, 24/7. Recycling miracles in the soil; an army of predators ridding us of unwanted pests; an abundance of life creating a genetic codebook that underpins our food, pharmaceutical industries and much more. It’s been estimated that these are worth an annual $50 trillion Continue reading →

Prized Bird Activism

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Click the image to the left to go to the National Audubon Society’s website to read the entire announcement:

George Archibald is the first recipient of the Dan W. Lufkin Prize for Environmental Leadership.  As founder of the International Crane Foundation (ICF), he has devoted his life to protecting cranes and their ecosystems around the world and to helping thousands of people understand, and be inspired by, the global significance of bird conservation.

In 1973, with fellow Cornell University graduate student Continue reading →

Opposition to Arctic Drilling

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Illustration by Aisha Franz

Illustration by Aisha Franz

Click on the image above to read an open letter from two influential policy insiders:

Why We Now Oppose Drilling in the Arctic

By Carol Browner & John Podesta Jan 18, 2013
The Arctic Ocean is subject to some of the most volatile weather patterns on the planet. Geologists believe it also contains vast undersea oil and gas reserves. Continue reading →

Beauty Of Kerala – Kovalam Beach

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Kovalam Beach lies 16 km south of Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala. Ruled by the Chera and Chola Kings and later by the Dutch, Portuguese and British, Kovalam has historically attracted tourist around the world. The beautiful area is comprised of three crescent-shaped beaches separated by rocky outcroppings that form the main attraction of this beach. Continue reading →

52 Seconds Of Silent, Strong Visual Representation Of Earth’s Temperature Since 1886

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Nasa

Thanks to Atlantic’s coverage on this important topic, we have now this short but not very sweet visual message (click the image above to go to the video):

Whew! We did it! We didn’t have another warmest-year-on-record! Continue reading →

Another Look At Sight

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(Copyright: Thinkstock). Our eyes are remarkable in making almost instant sense of the world around us in ways that even the most sophisticated machines can’t do. So what cues do we pick up that make sure we can see the wood for the trees?

(Copyright: Thinkstock). Our eyes are remarkable in making almost instant sense of the world around us in ways that even the most sophisticated machines can’t do. So what cues do we pick up that make sure we can see the wood for the trees?

The BBC provides this interesting view on the relationship between sight and other forms of sense:

One of the unforeseen boons of research on artificial intelligence is that it has revealed much about our own intelligence. Some aspects of human perception and thought can be mimicked easily, indeed vastly surpassed, by machines, while others are extremely hard to reproduce. Take visual processing. We can give a satellite an artificial eye that can photograph your backyard from space, but making machines that can interpret what they “see” is still very challenging. Continue reading →

Science Scores One For The Bees

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Bees-007

Environmental campaigners say the conclusion, by Europe’s leading food safety authority, sounds the “death knell” for the insect nerve agent neonicotinoid. Photograph: Alamy

There is a steady stream of unhappy news for bees in recent years, with scientists often being called to study the problem and propose solutions; today was just another such news day. We have a particularly soft spot for bees, so these actions taken, reported from Europe, are welcome additions to today’s news:

…”This is a major turning point in the battle to save our bees,” said Friends of the Earth’s Andrew Pendleton: “EFSA have sounded the death knell for one of the chemicals most frequently linked to bee decline and cast serious doubt over the safety of the whole neonicotinoid family. Ministers must wake up to the fact that these chemicals come with an enormous sting in the tail by immediately suspending the use of these pesticides.” Continue reading →

The Enchanting Backwaters

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Photo Credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

Kerala has an extensive network of  backwaters which includes the entire network of canals, estuaries and water bodies formed by the inimitable craftsmanship of nature. There are 29 major lakes in the backwaters which give life to this unique eco-system. Continue reading →