Oil, Rainforest, Communities
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
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?
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
Bird of the Day: Pied Bushchat (Bangalore, Karnataka)
Kuruva Dweep – Wayanad, Kerala
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
A 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
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
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, 2013The 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
Bird of the Day: Orange-headed Thrush
Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala
Beauty Of Kerala – Kovalam Beach
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
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
Bird of the Day: Turkey Vulture
Los Dolores, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Another Look At Sight
(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
The Sound Of Good Sense
We do not want to promote Whole Foods, but we also do not want to deny anyone the opportunity to experience this video.
Science Scores One For The Bees
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
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
Bird of the Day: Brown-breasted Flycatcher
Photo Credit: Michael Tiemann
Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala
Beauty Of Kerala- Kumbalangi
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
Kumbalangi is a tiny village facing the backwaters in the western part of Cochin. Described as the first eco-friendly tourist village in India, the village has been preserved in such a way that nature can be seen in its essence in order to strike a balance between tourism and the ecosystem. 
Continue reading
Thoreau’s Flowers
Zoe Panchen. Earlier flowering times: the progression of Cypripedium acaule, the pink lady slipper orchid, on April 23, May 7 and May 20, 2010.
From Green Blog:
Henry David Thoreau was a peculiar fellow. After his secluded stint at Walden Pond, his fixation with the natural world only grew. Starting in 1852, his journal turned into a two million-word project documenting seasonal observations around his small Massachusetts township, Concord. Over the next six springs he could be seen racing about town like a madman in an effort to spot and record that year’s first elusive blooms, all the while taking notes. Continue reading
Organikos 