Photo: Taken by Ravi Raj at Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary
Bird of the Day: Night Heron (Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary, India)
Blue Grass Dartlet
The first time I saw this species, I was dumbfounded, to say the least. We live in a 10th floor apartment in urban Cochin, which admittedly is on the banks of the backwaters. Nonetheless, I was quite surprised to see a dull-colored damselfly float through a window and over our dining room table, and out the door onto the balcony on the opposite side of the room. Fortunately, I gathered my wits quickly enough to rush back with my camera, and corralled the enigma into a corner in the balcony (non-violently, of course), and was able to get a few shots before it breezed off in the lethargic float I’ve come to associate with damselflies. The only time I’ve seen any damselfly zooming the way most dragonflies do is when they’re swooping in on their prey, at which point even the laziest, slowest, and smallest of them can put on quite a turn of speed.
To The Past
In 2004, my family visited a completed Morgan’s Rock after having camped on the undeveloped property several years earlier. The camping trip had helped establish the best potential locations for bungalows–the bungalows that you can now only reach by the pictured bridge.
Last summer, Continue reading
Thank You, Wisconsin
When times are tough economically, all state-funded institutions have a tougher time convincing politicians and tax-payers of the value they deliver. Educational institutions seem to bear the first brunt of many legislative and executive chopping block reflexes. This graph (click the image above to go to the source.) demonstrates the short time horizons they are seeing the world through. Continue reading
African Tulip Tree (Spathodea campanulata)
One of the world’s most magnificent flowering trees, African Tulip Tree (Spathodea campanulata) is an evergreen tree native to central africa.
Why Don’t More Hotels Go Green?
After I received my LEED Green Associate accreditation last week, I decided to browse online to see if there were any interesting LEED-certified projects related to hospitality. I came across a great interview video between SAS, a company known for their statistical software, and Dennis Quaintance, president of Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants & Hotels. His company is recognized as an industry leader in green hotels, and its flagship property–The Proximity–is LEED Platinum Certified. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak at the 2010 Sustainability Roundtable two years ago. Check out the video below (skip ahead to 1:46 for the important soundbite).
Bird of the Day: Purple Heron (Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary, India)
Photo: Ravi Raj taken at Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary
Common Lantana (Lantana camara)
The beauty of this wild aromatic flower attracts butterflies as well as guests in Cardamom County’s butterfly gardern. Common Lantana is one of an ornamental plant which is an erect many branched evergreen aromatic shrub. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Darter (Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary, India)
Photo: Taken by Ravi Raj at Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary
Bleeding Heart Vine (Clerodendrum thomsoniae)
Like its name, the Bleeding Heart Vine (Clerodendrum thomsoniae) flower is so romantic with crimson petals emerging from a white base.
Bird of the Day: White-Throated Kingfisher
Photo: Ravi Raj, taken during a stay on a River Escapes houseboat
Kerala Backwaters, India
Chemparathy (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis)
Chemparathy (shoe flower) is one of the fabulous plant to have in our garden, which is an evergreen perennial shrub and native of china. So, it is also called as china rose, Chinese Hibiscus. It is the national flower of Malaysia.
Bird of the Day: Great Cormorant (Thekkady, India)
As Seen From Space
In retrospect, it seems that everyone I’ve met wanted to be an astronaut at some point in their life. And then we found out about the mind-blowing mental requirements, and hastily adjusted our horizons to firemen or veterinarians, or for the ambitious, treasure hunter. But today’s astronauts aren’t the chiseled-from-fossilized-textbook astronauts of the past (at least, that’s how I’ve imagined them) – besides academic brilliance, creative thunderstorms seem to be commonplace in those launched into space. Continue reading
Tanzania: an enlightening experience
Guest Author: Lindsay Wilner
I recently returned from working as a Volunteer Consultant for TechnoServe in Tanzania. Coming in with limited agricultural knowledge, I left with what feels like an additional Master’s degree…which is to say, I learned a ton during my 3.5 months there. It’s difficult to imagine that I could have gone through two years of development-oriented studies during my MA in International Relations and very rarely touched the topic of Agriculture. I was even an Energy, Resources, and Environment concentrator! Why is this so surprising? Well, if not for anything else but that the economy of many African nations is primarily agrarian based. In Tanzania, agriculture provides jobs for 80% of the population.
My role as a Volunteer Consultant was to conduct an Industry Strategic Plan for the mango and potato industries. Continue reading
Shankupushpam (Butterfly Pea)
One of my favourite flowers is the cute Shankupushpam, known worldwide as Butterfly Pea (Clitoria ternatea). The luminescent blue flower with the yellow core is the most striking feature. Continue reading
Carbon Emissions Series: Green Neighborhood Design
With the close of the semester, I’ve had some time to reflect on the classes I took—and which ones provided the most value. One of best courses I took this semester at Cornell was called Green Real Estate, and it was taught by Mark Vorreuter, a passionate LEED AP who was eager to see students of all majors interested in green buildings. The course covered many aspects of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), a certification offered by the Green Building Council for buildings, homes, and neighborhoods that meet a set of criteria. I remembered spending several nights cramming for a practice LEED exam in which I had to acquaint myself with many of its specific criteria, but not until recently was I able to see the real effects of green building and neighborhood design.
Suburbs in Pearland offer large houses, wide roads, and generous land spacing.
Just So
First Edition 1864
Now Rann the Kite brings home the night
That Mang the Bat sets free–
The herds are shut in byre and hut
For loosed till dawn are we.
This is the hour of pride and power,
Talon and tusk and claw.
Oh, hear the call!–Good hunting all
That keep the Jungle Law!
“Night-Song in Jungle” by Rudyard Kipling
In the world of literature we associate Rudyard Kipling first and foremost with India, although in reality he only spent about 12 years of his life here. Born December 30th 1865 in Bombay to English parents, he spent his very early childhood there before returning to England at the age of 5. In his mid-teens he returned to India and spent an additional 6 and half years working as an editor in Punjab. Despite living the majority of his life elsewhere (England and the United States), India and his self-identification as an “Anglo-Indian” defines much of Kipling’s work.
The Jungle Book first appeared in serialized versions but was eventually published in 1894 under one cover, with illustrations by Kipling’s father, John Lockwood Kipling. The Jungle Book and the Just So Stories still remain among Kipling’s most beloved works. Continue reading
Fence Art?
Cornell University and the City of Ithaca began fencing the bridges that run over several of Ithaca’s famous gorges some time in 2010, for safety purposes. Many have opposed these barriers, partly because the fences inhibit a full view of the famous natural beauty of Ithaca’s gorges, a huge part of Ithaca’s identity and college appeal. In fact, “Ithaca is GORGES” t-shirts or bumper stickers are a very common sight on campus, and parodies (Ithaca is SQUIRRELS) are becoming popular.
A common sight that is not quite a parody, however, is “Ithaca is FENCES” stickers. They can be seen on every bridge on campus, and on t-shirts. You can read about the messy details of the fence controversy here; the main reason I give this example of protest is its unconventional form: stickers placed on telephone poles or fence posts that play off a famous (at least locally) play on words. Continue reading
