Shrinking Antarctic Ozone Hole?

/ Organikos / Leave a comment

Staff at the South Pole get ready to release a balloon that will carry an ozone instrument up to 20 miles in the atmosphere, measuring ozone levels all along the way. NOAA image from 2011.

 

Click the image above to go to the story:

Warmer air temperatures high above the Antarctic led to the second smallest seasonal ozone hole in 20 years, according to NOAA and NASA satellite measurements. This year, the average size of the ozone hole was 6.9 million square miles (17.9 million square kilometers). The ozone layer helps shield life on Earth from potentially harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation that can cause skin cancer and damage plants. Continue reading →

Travancore Tortoise

/ Salim.E.I / Leave a comment

 

Periyar’s diverse ecosystems of evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous and dry forest makes it a reptile friendly habitat. Forty-five species of reptile make the reserve their home, including the charismatic Travancore Tortoise.

Continue reading →

Really, Exxon?

/ Organikos / 5 Comments

Okay, we admit that Exxon fails the Really? test.  Little about them shocks us at this point. We have highlighted examples of passing that test with flying colors, looking no further than our living room and even in our favored reading materials.  But thanks to one of the best investigative journalists out there, a writer at The New Yorker and author of Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power, we find we still have a bit of shockability. Steve Coll, interviewed for a Front Line series on Climate Change (caveat emptor: that documentary film series is exhaustively full of Really? revelations; for a smaller dose, click the image above for the transcript of the Coll interview, or here for a podcast of an interview he gave about the book on Fresh Air):

In some ways, it’s kind of a no-brainer that Exxon would go after climate science on a very superficial level. It’s sort of in their self-interest to keep government away from fossil fuels, right? Is that how it began? Continue reading →

Beluga Love

/ Organikos / 1 Comment

Thanks to the Guardian:

In the 18th century, whalers who heard whales singing beneath their ships believed they were listening to the souls of drowned men. The notion of the silent ocean having a voice seemed so improbable. It wasn’t until the second world war and the advent of underwater acoustics that science discovered how vocal whales really are. Continue reading →

Salmon, Protected

/ Organikos / Leave a comment

Click the image above to go to the story in Green Blog:

They call them “river wolves” — hundred-pound salmon large enough to snack on ducklings and on mice and muskrats fording the rivers. Five species of these huge fish inhabit the river waters of China, Mongolia, and eastern Russia, and all of them are finally on the “red list” of species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Continue reading →

Pink Water Lily

/ Salim.E.I / 1 Comment

Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

Native to India and common in Kerala, Pink Water Lily is mostly seen growing in the fresh water ponds and back waters. The round floating leaves are a perfect backdrop for fragrant flowers are fragrant that open throughout the day and close at night.

Continue reading →

Read The Series On Sustainable Living

/ Organikos / Leave a comment

We have been following them since the start of their journey, and remain transfixed (click the image above to go to the latest installment):

The dirty, squishy part of our straw bale house construction project is in full swing.  Last month a dump truck poured a pile of reject sand next to the house.   Reject is the dirt left over at a gravel pit, and its name says a lot about how valuable it is to gravel manufacturers. Continue reading →

Mysore Flower Market

/ Salim.E.I / 4 Comments

Photo credit: Ramesh Kidagoor

The Mysore Flower Market is the perfect place to get fresh local flowers. Its bustling pathways are filled  with roses, brightly coloured marigold and highly scented jasmine. This flower market is one of the city’s main attractions.

Continue reading →

Bicycle Sharing Expands

/ Organikos / 2 Comments

Photo: Zagster. So far Zagster has set up its “bike fleet in a box” at about 55 locations

Click the image to the left for the story about Zagster, in the New York Times Green Blog:

Municipal bike sharing has rolled into dozens of American cities, from Washington to Oklahoma City to San Francisco. Now a Massachusetts start-up called Zagster aims to take the idea of bicycles on demand and deliver it to university and corporate campuses, apartment complexes, hotels and resorts.

On Thursday, the company, formerly called CityRyde, announced a $1 million round of investment that will allow it to expand nationally. In essence, Zagster’s idea is to make access to bikes a coveted building amenity and corporate perk, right up there with pools, gyms, and cafeterias — at a relatively low cost. Continue reading →

Red Helen Butterfly (Papilio helenus)

/ Salim.E.I / 1 Comment

The Red Helen is the third largest butterfly in India. The wings are dark in colour with a creamy white patch on its prominent “swallowtail” hind wings. These butterflies are mostly seen in the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats. Citrus tress, evodia and roxburghiana are the favorite food plants for these butterflies.

Biodiversity At Our Doorstep

/ Organikos / Leave a comment

Between the Western Ghats’ recent World Heritage Site designation and Periyar Tiger Reserve’s U.N. accolades reported here, awareness of our neighborhood is most certainly on the rise.

We’ve commented on PTR’s enlightened leadership previously, but it’s always encouraging to hear additional applause.

The Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) has won the coveted U.N.-India Biodiversity Governance award instituted by the Government of India and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the best managed protected area of the country.

Continue reading →

Nandi Bull of Mysore

/ Salim.E.I / 4 Comments

Photo Credits: Remesh Kidangoor

Nandi Bull is one of the landmark tourist attractions of Mysore. The over 350 year old statue represents Lord Shiva’s vehicle and was created during the reign of Dodda Devaraja. The Nandi is the third largest in all of India, carved out of a single piece of a rock 15 ft height and 24 ft width.

Continue reading →