There are many things I could have named this blog post, but I decided it should sound scandalous, it should sound crazy, it should sound epic. I mean, what is more scandalous, more crazy, and more epic than falling in love when you’re is only 6 years old?
Getting a tattoo? No.
Getting a tatttoo at 6? No.
Getting a tattoo of your true love at 6? Now that, my friends, is crazy.
Kamal’s Tattoo of his wife’s name, Meena
Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala
Today it was announced to the world that the Western Ghats have been designated as a World Heritage Site. How does that happen? How does a place, a practice, or a thing, get inscribed? What infuses meaning in a place? We spend a lot of time thinking about that, especially with regard to lodging properties that are devoted to the conservation of patrimony. And especially in the Western Ghats, where Cardamom County is our learning laboratory for entrepreneurial conservation. Continue reading
Cosmos are naturalized all over the Western Ghats of India. These flowers are a feast for pollinators such as butterflies and bees. Their frequent use as an ornamental in the gardens of Kerala indicate their popularity among people as well!
Click the image to the right for an accessible discussion of one strain of debate within the field of evolutionary biology:
The best way to distinguish between Professor Dawkins’ waking and sleeping states is probably on the basis of how contentious he is at a given time. Nevertheless, I’m compelled to say something for two reasons. First, this particular fight happens to be taking place right in my proverbial (and professional) wheelhouse; second, I’ve just finished my annual re-reading of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park duology.
Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala
Click the banner above to go to the source, one of National Public Radio’s many excellent podcasts (this one being among our favorite, as you may have noticed here, as well as here and here, not to mention here):
Here’s a robot from Ishikawa Oku’s physics lab at the University of Tokyo that plays rock, paper, scissor and always beats the human, every single time. Because the team that built it gave it a superpower.
Lord Shiva is one of the three powerful Gods of Hinduism, with Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma. According to the epics of Hindu tradition he has the power to transform and destroy the creatures in the world.
In ancient times he took many avatars to destroy demons and it is believed that those who worship him regularly will receive his blessings in the form of “boons”, or wishes granted. He is often represented with the River Ganga on his head and a snake round his neck, illustrating his powers against poison. He has an eye in the middle of his forehead which he opens when angered, ejecting a rain of fire. In Malayalam this eye is called Netrikkan. He is also the father of Lord Ayyapan, the famous deity of Sabarimala temple.
Should we connect everyone, everywhere? Another of globalization’s thorny debates, but this time argued very locally. As always there are global implications (in this case having to do with the loss of unique cultural heritage). Click the headline image above to go to the story in The Guardian:
The 125-mile (200km) road would pass through the Alto Purús national park in Peru, connecting a remote area to the outside world but opening up the most biologically and culturally important area of the upper Amazon to logging, mining and drug trafficking. Opponents of the plan fear it will threaten the existence of uncontacted tribes such as the Mashco-Piro. Continue reading
The roads through the Western Ghats in Kerala are hilly and serpentine. These photos were taken along those winding routes heading to the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. The route across the border goes through Kumily, Lower Camp, Gudalur and Cumbum, with Kumily being the border town in Kerala and the rest located in Tamil Nadu.
The distance from Kumily down into the valley is only 6km. The huge pen stock pipes that bring water from Mullai Periyar Dam to the power house in Lower Camp can be seen on this drive; a view that shows a part of the unique relationship between the two states. Continue reading
It’s always a delight when I stumble upon a pond or stream with dragonflies and damselflies flying around, defending their territories, basking, hunting, and propagating, their very existence a pleasure for me to witness. However, the rare joy is when I find a gem of a habitat – an area so ideal for odonate life that while I photograph one new species, I have to avoid being distracted by the other four or five more colorful new species I’m simultaneously seeing out of the corner of my eye. I had one such explosive pond-wading experience several days ago while visiting a spice estate near Kumily. Continue reading
Cornell University Photography file photo
If you have been to India, you recognize the name. In fact, you might be forgiven for thinking they own the place. But the gentleman to the right was honored recently precisely because of the means by which the company’s business interests intersect with national interests, which is largely through its commitment to the communities within which they operate. We (the many Cornellians among us but especially the 150 or so who staff and manage Raxa Collective’s base in south India, where these values of Tata are well known) join in applause and awe. Click the image to the right for the story:
Since the Tata Group’s founding in 1868, the company’s mission has included returning wealth to the communities in which it operates. Two-thirds of Tata Sons is owned by philanthropic trusts that were founded more than 120 years ago.
At Cornell, the Tata Group has established the Tata Scholarship for Students from India to make Cornell accessible for talented Indian students with limited means, as well as the Tata-Cornell Initiative in Agriculture and Nutrition to create programs in India to increase crop yields, introduce new agricultural technologies and improve livelihoods.
Last week, thanks to the effort of very helpful contacts on the islands, I was able to attend a Participatory Monitoring workshop in Puerto Ayora. For those of you unfamiliar with the term in the workshop title, you are not alone. Participatory monitoring, community science, public participation in scientific research, volunteer data collection–these all mean practically the same thing as citizen science, which I have briefly written about before. Here is another good, and possibly the most definitive, source of information on the subject, and although the site is a part of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, I’ve pointed out (even more briefly) that projects are by no means limited to birds.
The workshop consisted of an impressive list of international expert invitees—representing Cedar Crest College/Earth Watch, SUNY (College of Environmental Science and Forestry and at Stony Brook), Stanford University, Pepperdine University/ Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation/American Museum of Natural History, Colorado State University/University of Wisconsin-Madison, the United States National Park Service (Joshua Tree National Park and Acadia National Park), and the Galápagos Conservancy. Additionally, the Galápagos National Park, Charles Darwin Foundation, WWF Galápagos, Conservation International, Universidad Central Sede Galápagos, and Grupo FARO were present. A very skilled interpreter, with portable headsets, helped those who didn’t speak English or Spanish. Being in the minority of non-PhD.-holders, and practically the only person with just an undergraduate education, made walking into the room slightly unnerving, but I knew that since the Cornell Lab of Ornithology didn’t have a representative in attendance there were still constructive inputs that I could contribute, seeing as the workshop was about citizen science. Another comfort was that people commonly mistake me for being older than I am. While a freshman at Cornell two years ago, many of my TAs thought I was a senior or junior for most of the semester, and when traveling, people who I tell I’m studying at Cornell tend to assume I’m in graduate studies until I correct them.
Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala
Lord Murugan is the son of Lord Shiva and his wife Goddess Parvati. He is very popular and is more frequently worshipped in the state of Tamil Nadu than the other Indian states. He has other names (or avatars) such as Arumugan (meaning six faced), Palaniyappan, and Kadirvelan. His vehicle is a peacock, so he is known as Mayilvahana in Tamil language.
A popular story is that when Murugan was born there were several maids willing to take care of him. Embarrassed by having to choose, Murugan took six avatars at once so he wouldn’t have to disappoint any of them and hence was given the name Arumugan. Continue reading
Captain Paul Watson says that the alleged incident in 2002 did not occur in Costa Rican waters. Photograph: Corbis
He’s no angel. That would be the view of whaling and fishing interests, which include countries and big companies (plus plenty of soulless mercenaries, poachers and thugs). Whales might think otherwise. 800 large endangered bluefin tuna, saved from poachers by this man and his organization, might too. He counts plenty of our contributors as admiring, angel-cheering, distant observers. Our observations are tempered by acknowledgement of the conundrums wrapped up in his in-your-face, semi-legal tactics (not our style). But we care about fisheries and related topics as much (while trying to keep our wits about us) as those complexities. And those forces Paul Watson is battling are certainly not always angelic themselves. Nor are we, always, for that matter. Click the image above for the story in The Guardian:
California-based marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd suspects that Costa Rica may have made a deal with Japan to have him extradited. Continue reading
Kerala has an extensive network of waterways covering a distance of approximately 560 km. Besides the large inland lakes, the backwaters include the whole network of canals and waterbodies made by the unique craftsmanship of nature. The lifestyles along these waterways has given rise to a popular but easy going form of tourism. The photos in this post are taken from Alappuzha (Alleppey), the smallest district of Kerala. Continue reading
