Expressions September 2012

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photo stories

Its a Bird Bird World by Pradeep Biswas

Scenes from the Wild by Shuvarti Guha

featuring

Ranghanthittu - A Riverine Splendour by A. K. Sahay

The Future of India in its Villages & Cities by Isabelle Richaud

The Clean India we dream of ? by Jodie Underhill

Misunderstood Creatures by Vivek Sharma

Hope for Elephants by Christina Bush

ExpressionS

icareindiabringing people together

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SEPTEMBER 2012V O L U M E 3 I S S U E 4

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thereaders’expressions

The way you design and present content is unbeatable. Hats off to your creative team!!

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I’m really in love with the way “Expressions” Expresses itself ..!!

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In love with the dark issue. Amazes me how artistically can one depict such a serious grave issue that our country is going through. Keep it up guys.

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‘The dark knight did rise with the worst black out’ was so informative and to be honest I didn’t know the seriousness of the issue. More so most of us are ignorant of the real reasons behind the same. Can’t wait for the forthcom-ing issues as ever. Ritesh Kumar

Loved the way the magazine was designed to go with the over-all theme of the power crisis. Eeshan Shukla

The over-all concept of the magazine add to it the specially modified website. The whole idea is amazing. Way to go guys. Priyanka Pandey

The website and its on-off theme was such a cute feature. I am a fan of the website. Rashmi Singh


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Yudhishter Puran SinghFounder & Editor

Best

from the editors’ deskI often stare at the sky and ask myself a simple question what have we done to our surroundings? Why have we made such a mess of things? It is hard to believe that how could we simply be so ignorant. Trees are being cut left right and centre, forest cover has reduced world over, rivers have dried up and what not and the explanation we give for all this is PROGRESS and MODERNISATION.

What is ironical it is the same progress and modernization which takes away lives of thousands of people on account of floods, earthquakes, tsunami, climate change but we are quick to overlook the same. You don’t have to be a scientist to co-relate that if we damage the eco-system then we are simply inviting trouble upon us and this is just the beginning. We are no where learning from the mistakes we have made over the past few decades. In principle the citizens, the government and all the stakeholders will acknowledge the same but when it comes to doing something concrete then sadly there is no unison. All we are looking at is how do we pass the buck onto somebody else.

In between all this have we ever cared to ask ourselves what about our future generations? Will they ever be able to enjoy the beauty of nature like we all have over the years.

The cover story is about ‘Ranganthittu’ which is a riverine bird sanctuary near Mysore and we have also tried to find out why during the time of Independence, Gandhiji believed that future of India lies mainly in its villages. We also get you answers to why in a country that is home to 48 billionaires, one of the world’s largest military forces, a booming I.T. industry and the sixth largest space technology agency it is hard to understand why we can’t manage our own waste.

In the end I would like to conclude by saying preserving nature is one thing but appreciating it is quite another. Nature is beautiful and merely words cannot do justice to it. Nature is so miraculous because it is always changing. No matter how many times you look at something, it is always different. Isn’t it amazing how nature can simply set a sky aflame at sunset or magically transform a familiar landscape into a snow-white wonderland. It can paint a rainbow in the sky which can bring joy to many, paint beautiful autumn colors on trees, or even paint a clump of daffodils in the grass with glow of soft sunlight. This is why we at Expressions urge each one of you to do your bit in making our planet a cleaner and greener place to live in. Have a happy reading.


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ExpressionSIN THE ISSUE

THE FUTURE OF INDIA LIES IN ITS VILLAGES AND ITS CITIES

Explore how Rural and urban areasin India, both have their share of social and environmental challenges.

by Isabelle Richaud RANGANTHITTUA RIVERINE SPLENDOURTake a journey with the author to a riverine bird sanctuary, Ranganthittu, a veritable paradise for nature lovers near Mysore.

by Shri A. K. Sahay

IS THIS THE CLEAN INDIA WE DREAM OF?The author’s experiences and thoughts while travelling in an Indian train,

by Jodie Underhill

HOPE FOR ELEPHANTS

by Christina Bush

SCENES FROM THE WILDby Shuvarthi Guha

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Founder & EditorYudhishter Puran Singh

Senior EditorPooja Bhatt

Creative Editor/DesignerAkshay Madan

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THE GIRL WITH THE GREEN HANDBAGA literal meaning of the English word “BITTERSWEET” in today’s context.

by Priyanka Sethy

GREEN IDEAS FROM THE CORPRATE SECTORHow the corporate sectors have incorporated environmental sustainability into their day-to-day business practices.

by Surbhi Arora

GLOBE TROTTING WITH THE TURTLESExploire how the author became captivated by these majestic creatures.

by Claire Turner

SOCIAL ENTREPENEURSHIPAn insight into a concept thatis both the need of the hour as well as a mission.

by Naim Keruwala

THE MISUNDERSTOOD CREATURES OF URBAN AREASFive non-venomous snakes that are the leaders in urban wildlife,and are adapted to live with humans.

by Vivek Sharma

IN THE NEWS

ITS A BIRD! BIRD! WORLD

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Prabeer Biswas

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Views and opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Expressions., its publisher and/or editors. We at Expressions do our best to verify the information published but do not take any responsibility for the absolute

accuracy of the information

This emagazine is user interactive.Click on above page numbers to navigate to the respective section.To arrive back on this index page, Click on the bottom left of any even numbered page.

Content EditorMonika Singh

News EditorHarshit Singh

Public RelationsRitika Passan

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THE FUTURE OF INDIALIES IN ITS VILLAGES

AND ITS CITIES


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Isabelle Richaud A 31-year-old citizen of the world, Isabelle Richaud works in Antwerp, Belgium for the European branch of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute, based in New Delhi).


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Half of the world population lives in urban areas, and this share is expected to reach 70-

80% by 2050. Most attention and development strategies are currently focused on tackling the challenges that this urbanisation brings in terms of urban poverty and pressure on urban infrastructures. But the repercussions of urbanisation are equally felt in rural areas through massive rural exodus and subsequent depopulation of rural areas. In addition, poverty remains a predominantly rural phenomenon – with 70 per cent of the developing world’s 1.4 billion extremely poor people living in rural areas.

Rural India is home to 70% of the Indian population, but is also largely in a state of staggering poverty, and is experiencing depopulation as a result of what reporter P. Sainath calls a “collapsing of rural economies” in India. Yet, rural India and its smallholders farmers have an important role to play in providing the food and the material and energy resources necessary to the socio-economic development of the whole nation – a potential that is often undervalued.

Feeding more than 9 billion people by 2050 will require a highly productive agriculture. This does not mean agriculture at extremely

large scale, over-exploiting and contaminating the soil with pesticides. Instead, we need methods based on integration of agriculture in the ecological system. We need methods that contribute to improve the resilience of food production to the climatic changes to come, to improve rather than undermine the productive capacity of the soils, and to increase the capacity of the soils to sequester atmospheric carbon. These methods should be based on those developed throughout millennia of locally-adapted small-scale farming. Traditional farmers today hold the knowledge that we need to move towards an efficient and yet eco-friendly agriculture. This knowledge, unfortunately, is currently being lost through the massive “industrialisation” of food production.

In addition to food production and ecological management, agriculture can contribute to the production of the energy and materials that we need to sustain what we could call a bio-based economy. The world economy has been fed on biomass as the primary source of energy and materials for most of human history. Only since the global reliance on petroleum from the end of the 19th century has biomass lost its central role with the advent of an oil-based economy. But as petroleum is already showing clear signs

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of depletion, and as its use is causing heavy damage to the global environment, the oil-based economy is set to come to an end within the next decades. After the short interlude of the oil-based economy, biomass may regain its role in fuelling human activities with renewable energy and biodegradable materials (thanks to green chemistry). In a bio-based, sustainable society, a farmer would thus become an ecological manager and a biomass producer, and rural areas would become better integrated to the whole economy through the provision of food, energy and materials.

Rural areas are also set to become an example and a leader in terms of sustainable energy. 55% of Indian rural households have no access to electricity. This is a major barrier to human development, but it also represents a great opportunity to invest in decentralised, low-carbon forms of power production, whether based on biomass, solar or wind energy. New renewable energy technologies can efficiently exploit the huge local energy resources available in rural areas in India, and thus provide reliable, affordable energy services for the benefit of human well-being and economic development.

Finally, rural India and its impressively rich grass-roots activity and cultural heritage have the equally important potential to inspire the technologies, practices and sheer values that will help pave the way towards sustainable development at a global scale. Sobriety of lifestyles, environmental conservation, resource- and energy-efficiency and adaptation to local constraints are strong features of India’s traditional culture, which remain particularly visible in rural India. It is essential to build on the existing cultural strengths and specificities of rural India to promote sustainable lifestyles

and consumption patterns that can be socially accepted despite the current craze for modern ways of life.

For all the reasons mentioned above, Gandhi’s famous belief in the idea that “the future of India lies in its villages” proves of great relevance. But urban areas, of course, have an equally important role in moving the nation and the world towards a better future. Urbanisation as it is currently happening in many countries like India brings tremendous social and environmental challenges. Because of their high density of habitats and activities, cities have a larger environmental footprint compared with a rural area for an equivalent surface. And because urban dwellers usually consume more manufactured products than rural populations, their indirect environmental footprint is also larger. This is particularly true in developing countries where the rural population is largely excluded from the consumption society.

However, lifestyles in the urban areas of the world tend to be overall less energy-intensive than lifestyles in non-urban or per-urban areas. Urban households generally live in small homes or in apartments, which require less energy for temperature control. Urban populations’ need for cars is minimised as they have to travel shorter distances for their everyday activities, and benefit from higher opportunities to use public transport compared to rural populations. As a result, many cities have shown levels of greenhouse gas emissions per capita largely inferior to the average level of the country where they are located. GHG emissions from New-Yorkers are only one-third of the average emissions per capita in the US. In Sao Paolo, the average per capita emissions are less than one-third the average emissions of Brazil1.

LIFESTYLES IN THE URBAN AREAS OF THE WORLD TEND TO BE OVERALL LESS ENERGY-INTENSIVE THAN LIFESTYLES IN NON-URBAN OR PER-URBAN AREAS.

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If carefully planned and managed, urban development can be a huge contributor to the sustainable development of our societies. Environmentally-coherent policies at the urban level are not only an opportunity to reduce a city’s environmental footprint; they can also offer many co-benefits and improve health and quality of life for the residents, notably through reduced air pollution, reduced automobile traffic, and more green spaces.

Excessive reliance on cars in urban areas makes vast spaces unproductive, but also contributes to a loss of productive time through traffic congestion. In many large cities, workers can lose one or two hours of productive time in traffic jams while driving to their working places and back. Congestion is probably the most visible manifestation of the inefficiency of travel habits in cities. It undermines the even purposes of private vehicles: rapidity and flexibility. Congestion has considerably slowed down circulation in cities to levels of speed unknown since the advent of motorised transport.

Local authorities have answered to the increased use of private cars with the construction of new and larger roads, sometimes at the expenses of the original structure of cities and their neighbourhoods. Far from tackling the problem of congestion, the construction of new and larger roads encourages further increases in the use of automobiles, and thus exacerbates the problems associated with this use. A study conducted in Texas indicates that any increase by 10% of the size of the highway network induces an increase in 5.3% of automobile congestion2.

The future landscape of urban transportation will be undoubtedly dominated by intermodality – the advantageous combination of public and private transport. Cities will provide parking spaces and metro and bus stations at their outskirts to offer their visitors the opportunity to leave their car before entering the city. The city centres will offer their inhabitants a right combination of roads, pedestrian areas, cycling lanes, and a rich offer of bus, tram and metro services.

Sustainable urban planning initially goes through the development of dense, mixed models of urban planning. These models were favoured as far back as the Antiquity and until the 1950s. But since the development of the automobile, policy-makers have emphasised urban sprawl and the construction of large roads within cities. In recent years, however, some communities have re-discovered the principles of sustainable planning, sometimes under the name of “new urbanism” or “smart growth”.

Rural and urban areas, therefore, both have their share of social and environmental challenges. These challenges are the result of a clear unbalance in the development of our territories, with a concentration of activities leading to overpopulation in cities, and the neglect of rural areas and the value of farmers, leading to rural depopulation. We need a more holistic approach to development, so that cities and rural areas will not oppose each other but feed each other with services, food and materials, thus contributing, each in their own way, to the construction of a more sustainable, cooperative society.

6 David Dodman, 2009. Cities produce surprisingly low carbon emissions per capita. International Institute for Environment and Development. http://www.iied.org/climate-change/media/cities-produce-surprisingly-low-carbon-emissions-capita7 John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas H. Naylor, 2001. Affluenza. Second edition. Berrett Koehler

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?Jodie Underhill

Jodie is a committed environmentalist who loves a challenge and enjoys world travel, fundraising, project management and event organizing and

she can be contacted at [email protected]

CLEAN INDIACLEAN INDIACLEAN INDIACLEAN INDIA


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I recently travelled from Old Delhi to Pathankot by train and realised that not much has

changed since I first arrived in India three and a half years ago. Even sitting in the station was an unpleasant experience, not knowing where to look and unable to even drink chai due to the stomach wrenching stench of human faeces and urine that was covering the train tracks. Indian Railways planned to install eco-friendly toilets in all its trains by 2013. In 2008 during the Railways Budget, union minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced a provision of Rs 4,000 crore for “discharge–free green toilets” in all 36,000 of its coaches. Lack of education and proper instructions meant the toilets being tested were soon blocked with garbage and by January 2009 the plugs had been taken out of the toilets so they could once again drain freely onto the tracks. Since then various companies have submitted tenders but failed miserably in their mission to provide environmentally friendly toilets. Every day 14,300 trains travel a distance that equals three and a half times to the moon carrying a total of 13 million passengers nearly all of them throwing garbage out of the window and relieving themselves onto the train tracks. Indian Railways employs 1.55 million people and has 7,000 stations. These figures highlight the challenge that lies ahead but also the massive opportunity for positive change.

As the train pulled out of the station my mood didn’t improve, all I could see was open dump sites, cows eating plastic, people relieving themselves and garbage strewn along every inch of the train tracks. This sorry sight continued for hours and made tears roll down my face. What must the average foreign tourist think when they see all this? I have travelled across the globe and India is the only country I wanted to leave early because the garbage spoilt the whole travelling experience. Thankfully I didn’t leave instead I founded a voluntary organisation to tackle the problem instead. Mountain Cleaners is based in Dharamsala but we recently started a clean-up program in Dehradun too thanks to funding and support from the Max India Foundation. In a country that is home to 48 billionaires, one of the world’s largest military forces, a booming I.T. industry and the sixth largest space technology agency it is hard to understand why we can’t manage our own waste. Is it because waste management is not taken seriously or is it because the problem is perceived as so great that it can’t even have a solution? Is waste in India a problem that simply can’t be fixed, I really don’t think so. Monumental change is possible and is proven throughout history. For hundreds of years black people were slaves and now the president of the U.S is a black man, was Neil Armstrong the first man to try and get to the moon, of course not, many people

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lost their lives trying. Nothing is impossible but it requires persistence, commitment and determination to achieve it. India is home to over one billion people and as the majority of those do not have access to a waste management system then that creates a large problem not just for India but also for the world. 1000 Indian children die each day from drinking contaminated water, surely that alone is enough for us to change the way we live.

Littering is acceptable in India and the poorest to the richest of people do it. This has to change if India is to become cleaner. Everyone wants a clean place they just don’t realise they are the ones that are making it dirty and can make it clean just by changing their habits.

Often there is a misconception that you throw your garbage in the nallah, and the monsoon will wash it right away. It hasn’t gone, it’s just somewhere else eventually ending up in the sea making it the world’s problem. People do not understand that if these issues are not tackled now they will have disastrous consequences in the future. It’s time to wake up and for the benefit of our children ensure that we start to think about exactly what kind of planet we are leaving behind for them. Many people including those who are highly educated are oblivious towards environmental issues. Either they do not understand the problems or solutions, or whilst they recognize them, they don’t believe that their actions alone could make any difference. The Government also needs to act and provide people with waste management systems and ensure that municipalities are working according to the Municipal Solid Waste Rules. If this legislation was enforced then India would

be well on it’s way to becoming clean. We need systems, education, law enforcement, a sense of civic pride and most importantly we need to start believing that India’s waste problem can be fixed. I often ask myself what we would do in the UK if we didn’t have our garbage collected? We’re used to having three collections a week, one for food, one for recyclables and one for all other waste but what would we do if that service was not there? We would simply have no choice but to pollute our own environment.

What we do as individuals, families, schools, businesses communities does matter. Let’s all start discussing these issues, working together and supporting each other. Only then will a clean India be possible.

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I want to ask you all - what can we do to help solve this problem? The answer is this, change has to start with YOU and there are a number of ways you can help - pledge not to throw garbage on the floor and speak to people that do, take responsibility for your own waste, segregate at home and in the work place, sign up to a waste collection, use a cloth bag, say no to plastic shopping bags and reduce unnecessary packaging. Ask your local shopkeeper why he doesn’t have a dustbin, speak to your local panchayat or municipality and encourage them to place and maintain dustbins in your local area. If there isn’t a waste management system where you live then why not, it is your right as a human being. Only when people complain will the matter be dealt with so speak up for what’s right to ensure the health and happiness of your children. Talk to your family and friends about managing their waste and not littering and most importantly teach your children and set a good example to them.



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HOPE FOR

ELEPHANTSHOPE FOR

ELEPHANTS

Scientific name: Elephantidae


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Christina Bushhas been featured by National Geographic, Animal Planet, ABC’s Extreme Home

Makeovers, The International Anti-Fur Coalition, The Paw Project and many other organizations around the globe. A lifetime supporter of animal protection and

education, she works with groups all over the world using her imagery to help save and improve the lives of animals everywhere, both in the wild and in captivity. This is

a very rewarding way for her to turn tremendous value into her passion for wildlife, photography and art. Visit her photo-gallery at www.christinabush.com



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Many consider the mighty elephant to be the most well-loved animal in the whole

African line-up. Aristotle once said that they are “the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind”. This giant is not only the second largest animal in the world, behind the blue whale, but is also known for being among the most highly intelligent creatures on earth. With an extremely high level of insight, elephants have proven to be most industrious and helpful to mankind, evoking a sense of fascination in the minds and hearts of humans for centuries. They are considered to be a symbol of good luck in many cultures, even modern Western ones. This belief originated in India and south-east Asia, where the Hindu

religion honors the intellectual and social superiority of the beautiful elephant. Because of their incredible capacity for knowledge, understanding, learning and insight, elephants have become both deeply adored and horribly abused by human beings. When dealing with creatures that possess as high a level of understanding and insight, it is imperative that we recognize their value and potential and take the utmost care in protecting them. Fortunately, because of significant loss of the species from poaching, elephants are now protected by the African Elephant Conservation Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Oil painting courtesy of Tony Karpinski


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The elephant has long been held as a totem or good luck charm. Because of the strong family bonds that exist among the family members of the species, elephant totems are said to improve the love and respect among members of the family of anyone possessing them.

For thousands of years, African mythology has believed that, by wearing an elephant hair bracelet, you would be prosperous and healthy, never becoming sick or poor. It is used in rings, bracelets, earrings and necklaces and is woven together to form a strong band. Some elephant hair can reach lengths of up to 40 inches, which is impressive for an animal that is officially classified as being hairless. In ancient times, the massive elephant was

sometimes used as an executioner, trained to crush people who were condemned to death. They were also used in warfare in India, China and Persia over the centuries. This practice arose from Alexander the Great’s experience with warring elephants against King Porus. Only male elephants were used, as they are known to be aggressive and unruly, which was enough to frighten any horse and its rider from the battle scene. Elephants were used, too, as the ceremonial mounts for royalty and those held in high religious esteem, for safari-style hunting escapades, in circuses and put on display in zoos.

The elephants’ primary habitats are the forests of Africa and Southeast Asia and they

also roam browsing the plains in search of food and water. For this reason they have been nicknamed as “browsers”. There are two surviving elephant species, the African elephant (which is larger and has bigger ears) and the Asian elephant. Amazingly the African elephant’s ears are shaped like the continent of Africa and the Asian elephant’s ears are shaped like Asia, making it fairly easy to tell them apart. According to the Center for Elephant Conservation there are around 600,000 African elephants and around 35,000 Asian elephants left in the wild. These giants need space, more than another other species, as they can weigh up to 15,000 pounds, stand up to twelve feet tall and are eat up to 700 pounds of vegetation each day. Nature has

made this species fragile, as they are the first to be affected by lack of vegetation or water due to drought. Some males, known as bulls, have large tusks while the females (cows) and younger males have “tushes”, which seldom extend beyond the upper lip. The tip of the trunk has one finger-like projection that enable the elephants to grasp food and other small objects and to strip vegetation from branches. Their skin is lightly wrinkled with sparse hair all over their bodies. They are so powerful that they can uproot and entire tree trunk, tearing down heavy branches and delivering forceful blows in anger or self-defense. The elephant’s trunk alone has about 100,000 different muscles, allowing it to rip and pull with brute force.

THIS GIANT IS NOT ONLY THE SECOND LARGEST ANIMAL IN THE WORLD, BEHIND THE BLUE WHALE, BUT IS ALSO KNOWN FOR BEING AMONG THE MOST HIGHLY INTELLIGENT CREATURES ON EARTH.


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Adult males are solitary, while the females and young males all live in a tight-knit family group called a herd, which is led by the matriarch. Herds sometimes split and larger families are separated, depending on the matriarch’s decision. This can be due to excessive numbers or shortages of food or water. When these herds meet at watering holes or breeding spots, they joyfully greet one another. This welcoming reception includes holding their heads up, flapping their ears, trumpeting, screaming and turning around in circles. Elephants who have formed very close bonds with people are also likely to react in this way on seeing their companion after a separation. Another major cause for celebration is the birth of a calf, when the aunts and matriarch gather around the mother in joyful support and celebrations begin with trumpeting and even screams of joy and excitement. Then the entire herd will join in.

Research and observation has yielded many fascinating facts about these animals. Some people believe that their intelligence rivals that of human beings. They are undeniably similar to us, having an emotional makeup much as our own with a sense of family and self. They also have a similar lifespan to us, of around seventy years and can learn new facts and behaviors, mimic sounds that they hear, self-medicate, play with a sense of humor, perform artistic activities, use tools, display compassion and show self-awareness while understanding their place in the social structure. Self awareness is another indication of the vast capacity for thinking and intellect that exists in the elephant. They can, in fact, recognize themselves in a mirror, something that is extremely rare in the animal kingdom.

Although the largest whale is 20 times the body size of an elephant, its brain is just under twice the size. Part of the reason that elephants possess such a superior level of intelligence is the structure of their brain.

Their neocortex is highly developed, as it is in humans, apes and some dolphins. This is generally accepted as an indication of complex intelligence. The elephant’s capacity for memory and emotions is remarkable and is due to the well-developed hippocampus. This is also the area of the brain responsible for emotional flashbacks and is the reason that elephants can experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Problem solving abilities are another impressive facet of their boundless intelligence. They are able to use tools to accomplish a task they cannot perform on their own. They use sticks to scratch their backs when their trunk can not reach, have been known to drop rocks on electric fences to damage them, and unshackle themselves from chain bindings. Elephants are known to amuse themselves by playing games, either in a group, or with just one player using objects from the environment to toss, twist, or


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interact with each other in some way. Games are started with loud trumpeting, indicating to those in the herd that a new session is beginning. Playing games is not limited to the youth. Older matriarchs and bulls have been known to engage in some very playful recreation and have displayed a sense of humor in their games, often tricking and teasing their spectators.

Perhaps the most enticing quality of the elephant is its undeniable similarity to us, manifested by the close bonds they form with family members, their communication abilities, the care of their young and their emotions. The ability to mimic sounds is another indication of the impressive intelligence of these beasts. They have been recorded mimicking the sounds of passing trucks and articulate certain sounds so that they bear a strong resemblance to the spoken word. Elephants experience many of the same emotions as people do, ones that are usually restricted to being that of humans and are very seldom seen in animals. They are capable of sadness, joy, love, jealousy, fury, grief, compassion and distress. They are one of a select few animals that have the capacity to be joyful and playful with one another, to grasp humor and to show appreciation. As social creatures, they will frequently touch one another in affectionate, loving ways. Joy is most often displayed when they greet close friends or family members.

The matriarch, which is usually the strongest, largest and oldest female of the herd, has the responsibility to protect the herd and they loyally follow her. She will defend and protect her family members at any cost, even at that of her own valuable life.

The insight and intelligence of the elephant is particularly visible in their ability to grieve and mourn their dead. Recently deceased elephants will receive a burial ceremony, while those who are already reduced to a skeleton are still paid respect by passing herds. The burial ceremony is marked by deep rumblings as the dead body is touched and caressed by the herd members’ trunks.The herd takes great care in the honoring the dead, walking back and forth in search of leaves and twigs to be used for covering the body in an act of dignity. Many times they form circles around the carcass and chant as if to be saying prayers and will remain there for days at a time, mourning the loss of their loved one. The elephant’s capacity for sadness and grief is truly unique amongst members of the animal world. While most animals do not hesitate to leave the weak and young behind to die, elephants are distressed by the situation, and continue to show signs of this grieving for extended periods of time. When a family member dies, the rest of the herd mourns that death. Even years later, elephants have been observed revisiting the site where one of their herd or family had died.

THE MOST ENTICING QUALITY OF THE ELEPHANT IS ITS UNDENIABLE SIMILARITY TO US, MANIFESTED BY THE CLOSE BONDS THEY FORM WITH FAMILY MEMBERS, THEIR COMMUNICATION ABILITIES, THE CARE OF THEIR YOUNG.


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The African elephant is not only the earth’s largest land mammal, it is also one of the world’s most sought after creatures because of its valuable ivory tusks. Ivory is formed from dentine and makes up the bulk of the teeth and tusks of elephants. It has been a valued material since the Stone Age and is used for objects like jewelry, vases and statues. All sales of ivory are banned until 2016 by the United Nations’ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. This does not, unfortunately, mean that it is not used on the black market. Poachers still kill elephants in large numbers for their tusks, which are used in the East for medicinal purposes. Commercial uses of ivory include use in piano and organ keys, billiard balls, handles, buttons, Scottish bagpipes and small decorative objects of value. In the modern industry, ivory is used in the manufacture of electrical appliances, specialized electrical equipment for airplanes and radar. In China and Japan, it has been used for opium pipes and in the last few centuries in Europe and North America, ivory has been used to decorate furniture, for small statues and as a surface for miniature paintings.

Another common product used from elephants is that of the leather. This exotic leather is thick and very durable with a course, rippled texture and is made into products including belts, shoes, jackets, furniture upholstery, purses and flask coverings. All companies selling or dealing with elephant leather have to comply to the strict requirements of the Convention

of International Treaty of Endangered Species (CITES). But, the majority of the sales take place on the underground black market.

While the overall elephant population is about half of what it was 40 years ago, many areas of Africa have more elephants than the populated areas can support. Years ago, overhunting and the ivory trade were the biggest threat to the species, but fortunately ivory bans, hunting regulations and protected areas for safeguarding the elephants have helped to greatly reduce the poaching problem. Humane treatment and welfare of the species has become a world priority, which is a blessing. In the 1970’s, the global demand for ivory threatened to make the elephant population extinct. Poachers with access to automatic weapons derived from international arms sales and civil wars were slaughtering herds of elephants faster than ever before. From 1970 to 1985, the total elephant population of Africa decreased by half, causing many countries to ban or severely restrict the importation and sale of ivory. At a 1989 CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora) meeting, 115 countries decided to ban the international trade of ivory in the hopes of restoring elephant populations to healthy levels. Elephant populations in Africa as a whole are increasing, in part, thanks to the CITES ban and with elephants being listed on the most endangered species list.

Every piece of ivory is a haunting reminder of a once majestic and proud animal that died to sacrifice his tusks for a trinket. During the 1980’s, poachers killed an estimated average of 200 African elephants every day for their tusks. This caused the population to plummet from 1.3 million in 1979 to 625,000 in less than a decade. In 1990, the ban was placed on the international trade of ivory. As a symbolic gesture of their support, Kenya destroyed its ivory stockpile valued at over $3 million and


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has been foremost in the effort to promote elephant conservation. This ban, however, did not affect the domestic sale and use of ivory or reduce its demand on the black market. Most of the illegal import of ivory has been into China, a non-member of the CITES. Proudly, the United States was one of the main countries to impose the ivory ban and it continues to oppose the lifting of the ban.

South Africa has one of the best conservation initiatives for the elephant: photo safaris and eco-friendly paper. Local African residents are now less inclined to kill elephants because they are receiving revenues from photo safari operators who bring in paid tourists to view the animals. They are actually investing resources to defend their elephants against poachers. The laws of Africa have now made it legal to kill poachers, which has caused a significant decline in the loss of elephants in recent years. The locals are also finding an income stream from eco-friendly paper is made from the elephant dung. It is collected, boiled it for 3 hours, cleansed, strained and

left to dry. Because most of the elephant’s diet passes through its system without being digested, this is a very fibrous material that is easily turned into paper for sale. It has provided employment to disadvantaged local people without much of a capital outlay as the dung is freely available. The paper is sold to local businesses or directly to tourists and some is exported internationally. The demand for this eco-friendly product has grown exponentially in the last 10 years. Fortunately, international measures for elephant conservation now focus on controlling ivory stockpiles, strengthening the borders against poachers in protected areas, anti-poaching patrols and reduction of human/animal conflicts, creating a very positive change and giving hope for the survival of the mystical elephants.

Article & All Images: Christina Bush Animal Magnetism Wildlife Awareness column

Visit atwww.youthforwildlife.com


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SCENES FROM THE WILDSCENES FROM THE WILD24 ExpressionS SEPTEMBER 2012co

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SCENES FROM THE WILDROYAL BENGAL TIGER

SCENES FROM THE WILD

Shuvarti Guha

The young photographer from Kolkata has been researching his wildlife career for past 3 years. As his passion, he has opted photography as a profession. Being a nature lover Shuvarthi is trying to find more answers for unlocking the mysteries of wildlife photography in a different form



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GAUR

PURPLE-RUMPEDSUNBIRD



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BRAHMINY STARLING ASIAN FAIRY-BLUEBIRD

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ASIAN FAIRY-BLUEBIRD

ROYAL BENGAL TIGER

COMMON KINGFISHER

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ONE HORNED RHINO



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CHANGEABLE HAWK EAGLE


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GRAY LANGUR



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RACKET-TAILEDDRONGO


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ONE HORNED RHINO



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SAMBHAR DEER



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RANGANTHITTUA RIVERINE SPLENDOUR

Sri A. K. Sahay

an eminent Indian naturalist, well-known for his wildlife columns in The Statesman. He is also the author of recently published book” GLIMPSES FROM INDIA’S NATURAL WORLD.” The book has earned applause from experts and media alike. DR Rahmani, the Director of BNHS has hailed it as a wonderful book.


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5,000 friends and many subscribers that provide a

splendid platform to share my thoughts on conversation-related issues is what Facebook has proven to be. I even use Facebook as a GPRS to keep track on wildlife-related information, speaking of which there has been the emergence, over the last few years, of some very talented photographers who travel a great deal and are updated about situations in various wildlife and/or birding areas. Those like Dhritiman Mukherjee, Kiran Poonacha, Clement Francis, GS Bhardwaj, Jagdeep Rajput, Niranjan Sant, Saleel Tambe, Sures Basavaraju, Trishant Simlai P Mohandas, Caesar Sengupta, Nayan Khanolkar, Ramchandra Kagwade, Sagar Gosavi and Amish Patel, not to forget Anish Biswas from Kolkata, who is quite promising.

Dhritiman, in particular, travels almost 300 days a year and is a great source of information, helping me to decide on my next trip in to wildlife areas. I have several friends from Karnataka. Most of them are from Bangalore and Mysore. Many of them know my fancy for Ranganthittu but they were also aware that I had not been to the place for nearly five years now. They were insistent that I must visit the place as it had undergone considerable change and improvement over the last few years.

Ranganthittu is a riverine bird sanctuary near Mysore. It is a veritable paradise for nature lovers, particularly between November and February. It is one of the best places in the country to watch and take pictures of the Great Stone Plover or Great Thick Knee (Esacus recurvirostris).

Ranganathittu is famous for its large congregation of birds in the peak period and last season’s figures were really impressive — on an average, about 3,000 Painted Storks and some 2,000 Asian Openbills. While these two species usually dominate, others seen in decent numbers include the Black Headed Ibis, the Spot Billed Pelican, Cormorant, Darter and Egrets. In lesser number come the White cheeked Barbet, Coppersmith, Common Hoopoe, Indian Peafowl, Common Kingfisher, Stork Billed Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, White Breasted Waterhen, Spotted Owlet and so much, much more. Indeed, the Black Headed Ibis outstrips the 5,000 mark between September and October, which poses the question: Which other place in the world might one spot so many of them in one go?

I have visited Ranganthittu several times since 1995, the first trip being the most memorable because I had stalwarts like the late E Hanumantha Rao and GH Gulrajani for company and also managed to click a quality shot of a marsh crocodile that was widely appreciated – it was centre-paged in Hornbill, the in-house magazine of the Bombay Natural History Society. It was also appreciated by Late J C Daniel, the great naturalist and mentor of many wildlife experts.

One can never be sure of the water level at Ranganthittu. On my last visit in late June, the monsoon had set in and chunks of rocks were protruding out of water – which is where these Plovers are seen. I telephoned one of my facebook friends to ask whether the rocks were submerged totally or partially and he told me to hurry across because with the monsoon

RANGANTHITTU IS A RIVERINE BIRD SANCTUARY NEAR MYSORE. IT IS A VERITABLE PARADISE FOR NATURE LOVERS, PARTICULARLY

BETWEEN NOVEMBER AND FEBRUARY. IT IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES IN THE COUNTRY TO WATCH AND TAKE PICTURES OF THE

GREAT STONE PLOVER OR GREAT THICK KNEE


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in swing, in another 10-15 days would ensure the rocks were submerged and my chance of observing the birds would be gone.

The Great Stone Plover resembles the Stone Curlew in an upright posture and manner but then it is much bigger, about 10 cm bigger. Its other features include long legs, a stout black


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and yellow bill, but what catches the eye most is its enormous yellow “google” eyes. They are prevalent usually in pairs and sometimes in small flocks of four-five throughout India’s rocky river beds, tidal estuaries, occasionally

on sea beaches and salt pans. They do not swim much unless the situation demands, but they can run fast if they get the space and the surface.


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Photographing them is challenging as they do not brood and are on the move all the time, unlike other birds. For instance, if one got the head right, the wings went out of focus. Panning was a tough call. Nowadays, with digitalisation and technological advancement, photography is a lot easier — keep the lens on the subject, switch to action or auto-mode and shoot. If the camera tracks the subject for few seconds, it captures the birds in action very well without barely any manual effort. The photograph here is one such example. Just look at the water behind and you would understand what I mean.


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Apart from the birds, Ranganthittu is famous for the marsh crocodile. They are often to be found basking on the rocks. I was lucky enough to spot them and I continue to believe that Ranganthittu is undisputedly one of the best places in the country to capture these magnificent reptiles on camera. Indeed, from a photographer’s point of view it is a wonderful place — a small area with loads to shoot, but provided you sail. It is a riverine wilderness spread across 0.67 square km. The government provides boats that can be hired by visitors. That the sanctuary is tiny helps a lot because subjects are never too far from the eye. Even a 300-mm lens serves the purpose. What is needed is that one must have a rock steady hand as boats can never be completely still due to the tidal current.



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The sanctuary is surrounded by agricultural fields, which offer a great opportunity for photographers as flocks of birds can be caught hovering around in search of food. A three-kilometre walk from the main road connecting Mysore to Bangalore towards the sanctuary provides numerous photographic opportunities — a walk one would never regret.

The Kannadigas are a people of peaceful disposition, usually very caring for nature and wildlife. I went around the nearby villages and talked to some of the inhabitants. My familiarity with Kannada helped. I found the villagers were happy about the name and fame of Ranganathittu. P Lakhsmeesh, the forester there, confirmed that they never faced any problems from the villagers. I remembered that relocation was achieved with considerable ease and without any problem in Karnataka in the Bhadra Tiger Reserve. As many as 26 villages in the sanctuary were successfully relocated. This speaks volume for the peaceful disposition of these people.

Ranganathittu faces no threat or hostility from any quarter. The forest department has a system in place to maintain a 24-hour vigil as well, which is helpful. There is a range forest officer, a forester and four guards recruited for the safety of this place, which seems adequate given its small area. For the convenience of tourists, there are 10 boats as of now though the boatmen – they’ve been around for some time now — are not yet registered with the forest department. They earn about Rs 5,600 a month and their duty hours commence at 8.30 am and end at 6 pm. Considering the current inflation, these are indeed meager earnings. Perhaps they can be absorbed in a phased manner, depending on the basis of seniority, by the department, as happens elsewhere. I was told that BK Singh, formerly state Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, did make an attempt but in vain.


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The riverine splendor of Ranganthittu is connected by both road and rail from Bangalore, which is about 125 km away but its closest point is Mysore, about 19 km distant. One has to go to Srirangaptanam (16 km) and then hire an autorickshaw to the sanctuary (three kilometres). If you are driving from Mysore, you need not go over Srirangpatanam. You take a left turn

before and you would be there. But I would strongly recommend a trip to the historical town of Srirangapatnam. It would be a tribute to the great Tipu Sultan, a fierce warrior who waged many wars against the mighty British Empire. That apart, there are beautiful places to see, such as Dariya Daulat, which is set amidst beautiful gardens called Daria Daulat Bagh.


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In the sanctuary proper there is no accommodation for tourists. There is a canteen, however, that serves lunch and breakfast along with beverages. Accommodation for visitors is available at the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation’s Mayura Riverside Cottages in Srirangpatna — eight rooms that range between Rs 500-750 a day. The rates are subject to changes.

You may contact 08022352901/22275883 for the current rates.

Most of the bird sanctuaries involve lakes, ponds or extensive shallow depressions where water accumulates, but here is where you will find riverine splendour.



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All along the forest stretch to the airport, a neat corridor, considerably wide, had

been emptied of all its trees on both sides of the road. The arid land lay forlorn, eerily like a graveyard. Carcasses of felled trees decorated the area from time to time, and women from nearby villages were ruthlessly hacking at their broken braches. The dead giants looked pathetically helpless, their great roots raised to the heavens, as if offering up themselves to their arboreal God.

That stretch of road had been notorious for its accidents, and traffic jams. I have memories of seeing my already airborne flight high in the sky, while I would be still stuck in a hot and sweaty expanse of vehicles. Three hours was the least time that one would have to wait for a jam on this road to clear up. The bare fact was that that road was just too narrow to handle the multitude of airport traffic. So it was a good thing that they were broadening it, right? It would mean fewer accidents, and lesser time wasted stuck in deadlocks. Above all, it indicated progress and development. But what about those hundreds of lives sacrificed? Because yes, trees are living beings too. They have as much right to life as we do.

The question of progress vs. environment is a long-standing one. It also comes under the

heading of those unanswerable questions that continue to baffle the human mind. I put it right after “What came first, the chicken or the egg?”: one of those questions the universe throws in your face to emphasize that it is still the universe, and you, a mere mortal.

But mere mortals as we may be, we need to figure out a solution to this conundrum for the sake of our merely mortal Earth. Conservation of the environment should not hamper genuine development of our civilization, but at the same time, it must not be forgotten in this rat race. As a citizen of this green town, it is tough, of course, to choose between a wider, safer road and hundreds of trees in a forest. But there must be another way out. A way that doesn’t compromise on anything. They say that you can’t eat your cake and have it too. But in this instance, both aspects are imperative for us hungry folk, and so the proverbial pastry must be consumed in as many ways as it possibly can.

Yes, the road needed to be broadened, but I sincerely hope that those who cut down the trees have also, somewhere, planted the same number, if not more, budding green sapling to keep the promise of life alive.

Priyanka SethyWriting has always been her greatest passion. Lock her in a room with a pencil and a paper, with the occasional glass of tea, and she’ll be a happy person. Priyanka feels strongly about social issues like the degradation of the environment. She’s 16 and is currently studying in Dehradun and she hopes to pursue a literary career in future.

BITTERSWEET THERE IS PERHAPS NO OTHER WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

THAT SO APTLY DESCRIBED MY FEELINGS THEN. THERE I WAS, TEARING DOWN THE HIGHWAY, ALREADY LATE FOR MY FLIGHT,

WHEN THE SIGHT FLUNG ITSELF INTO MY FACE.


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STORK BILLED KINGFISHER

Prabeer Biswas

by occupation is an Engineer of Kolkata Port Trust. His first hobby is Astronomy and from 2009 he also started Bird watching and Bird photography, which give him a lot of fulfillment. Mostly the Bird photographs have been taken in and around Kolkata. In near future, he wants to explore the country to cover the vast biodiversity of India to enrich his knowledge and to share the same.



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PARADISE FLYCATCHER


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COLLAREDSCOPS OWL



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PLENTIVE CUCKOO


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WATER COCK MALE

WHITEBREASTED WATERHEN SLATY LEGED CRAKE



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BROWNHEADED GULL



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BENGALBUSHLARK


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BLUETHROAT


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BLUETHROAT



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FIRE THROAT


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BLUE THROATEDFLYCATCHER FEMALE



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PLAIN PRINIA

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JUNGLE BABLER

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GRATER FLAMEBACK FEMALE


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RUFOUS WOODPECKER



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BLACK HEADED GULL


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TAIGA FLYCATCHER MALE



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BLACK NAPPED MONARCH MALE


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GREAT TIT



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THE misunderstoodCREATURES ofURBAN areas

Vivek Sharmaa new generation Snake enthusiastic who is part of indi-ansnakes.org where the small team is trying to educate

layman and all those who wants to know more about snakes. They believe in joining hands for betterment

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ureIn previous article we spoke about ‘Famous

Big Four of India’. Now we will talk about the issue of urban snakes. Five non-venomous snakes are the leaders in urban wildlife, which are adapted to live with humans. They are of significance in pest controlling which includes rodents, amphibians and lizards. In rescues across the country they are five most common non-venomous snakes, around which humans are not very comfortable. Even if these 5 are the most common, they are often misunderstood by humans as troublesome. Their relocation to a nearby place after a rescue becomes a bit of an issue since people don’t allow them to be released to a nearby place; stating an ecological imbalance. When this happens, the only other way for rescuers is to take them to far off places away from humans.

Brahminy Worm Snake(Ramphotyphlops braminus)

This beauty is perhaps the most common snake, which has a very wide distribution around the planet. From Africa and Asia, the distribution has also been seen in other continents. Even if this is the case, people don’t know much about this species. People

assume it as some venomous snake and kill it. Actually this snake is a separate species, which grows up to a maximum length of 20 cm which has a body color which is shiny black or brown and not thicker than a gel pen refill. It can be found under heavy objects, burrowed deep in the soil and many times in garbage too. It feeds on insects, their eggs and earthworms. A very interesting part of their reproduction is all individuals are females and male gender is not found in this species. This phenomenon of Parthenogenesis is very rare in snakes.

Common Wolf Snake(Lycodon aulicus)An aggressive biter found all over the country including the whole of South-East Asia. This one is also an important member of urban wildlife where one would come across them hanging above doors, in cracks in wall and brick piles in search of Geckos. It looks similar to the venomous Common Krait; people often get confused and they kill it. The main distinction between the two is that the Common Krait is bluish black to shiny black in color, with fine white bands, while the Common Wolf Snake has a brown body with yellowish white bands which are broader than the ones on the Common Krait. Secondly,

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the Common Krait is bigger (grows up to 5.5 ft in length), while the Common wolf is a much smaller species (maximum length 80 cm)

Rat Snake(Ptyas mucosa)The largest member in our discussion. This one can grow to a maximum length of 8 ft to 11 ft. It is the fastest and longest growing Colubrid of India. It usually grows more than 8ft. It is mistaken for a female cobra. Rat Snake plays a significant part of pest controlling in all kinds of habitats including forests, agricultural, rural and urban areas. Rat Snake being a very large species, people fear it and it often leads to the death of this snake. It closely resembles the Cobra (Spactacled, Monocled and King) due to presence of patterns and color of body. During mating season, males perform combat dance and winner gets the chance to make pair with female.

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Checkered Keelback(Xenochrophis piscator)This is the most common & most adopted member of the Colubrid family in urban areas. It is the second most common snake after Brahminy Worm Snake which is found in whole of South-East Asia. In India everyone knows about “Water Snake” (Paani wala saap) but hardly 10% of them can identify this species. Thus when encountered it is assumed to be some venomous snake and thus resulting in its death. There are lot of distinct morphologies of Checkered Keeback but most common is greenish body having dark color patches in checkered form. At the same-time there is a

tint of red on top of the body. It’s an aquatic species which has now successfully adopted itself around humans. It can live in almost all kind of water bodies and even in sewers. From our point of view, it is an extreme survivor and can survive in extreme conditions, which may be uncomfortable for any other snake. They have a variety of prey and live all their lives around humans; the reason being the snake has a high reproduction capacity. It can lay a maximum of 90 eggs in a clutch, which is a very high number than any other viviparous snake in India.

THIS ONE CAN GROW TO A MAXIMUM LENGTH OF 8 FT TO 11 FT. IT IS THE FASTEST AND LONGEST GROWING COLUBRID OF INDIA.

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Striped Keelback(Amphiesma stolata)A very gentle species, which one would not call a “snake”. Most of the time people don’t assume it as snake and never pay much attention to it. This is the reason why people do not think of it as being a dangerous snake. The behavior is diurnal and lives in vegetation & gardens in cities. This species breeds in groups, thus people may see more than one at a given time. Overall it looks blue or red in appearance with a yellow neck and two yellow-brown stripes run along the body.

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The Indian landscape is being painted with green ideas from the corporate sector. This

sector appears to have understood the benefits of going green – not just for the society and en-vironment but for their own survival in the long run. A number of initiatives have been taken by this sector for helping in reducing the carbon footprints. They have incorporated environmen-tal sustainability into their day to day business practices. Let us examine some of these compa-nies and their green ideas:

ITC LimitedITC strengthened their commitment to green technologies by introducing ‘ozone-treated el-emental chlorine free’ bleaching technology for the first time in India. Due to this, an entire new range of top green products and solutions have been produced. Their paper is environmentally friendly multi-purpose paper that is less pollut-ing than its traditional counterpart.

Mrs. Surbhi Arora a UGC NET qualified faculty member, with around fourteen years of experience in industry and academics. She is a graduate in Commerce and Law. Presently she is pursuing PhD from UPES in the area of Oil & Gas Management. She believes that our thoughts lead to actions and actions to results. According to her, hard work and consistency have to be the two pillars supporting one’s achievement.


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ureTHE CORPORATE SECTOR HAS REALIZED THAT THE GOVERNMENT

ALONE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SUCCEED IN ITS EFFORTS TOWARDS ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION. THE PRESENT SOCIETAL MARKETING CONCEPT OF COMPANIES IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING AND HAS GIVEN RISE TO A NEW CONCEPTCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.

Tata Metaliks Limited (TML)Every day is ‘Environment Day’ at TML, which is one of the top green firms in India. A practi-cal example that made everyone sit up and take notice is the company’s policy to discourage working on Saturdays at the corporate office. Lights are also switched off during the day with the entire office depending on sunlight.

Tamil Nadu Newsprint & Papers Limited (TNPL)This company was adjudged the best performer in the 2009-2010 Green Business Survey. It was awarded the Green Business Leadership Award in the Pulp and Paper Sector. The initiatives undertaken by this company includes two Clean Development Mechanism projects and a wind farm project.

Suzlon EnergySuzlon Energy, a wind-turbine maker is among the greenest and best Indian companies in India. Tulsi Tanti, the visionary behind Suzlon, con-vinced the world that wind is the energy of the future and built his factory in Pondicherry to run entirely on wind power. Suzlon’s corporate building is the most energy-efficient building ever built in India.

Wipro TechnologiesWipro climbed to the top five brand league in Green Peace’s ‘Guide to Greener Electronics’ ranking. Despite the global financial crisis, Wipro held fast to its commitment towards energy effi-ciency and was lauded for launching energy star compliant products in the market.

HCL TechnologiesThis IT major has taken major initiatives, thanks to the ‘go green’ steps taken in solving the problem of toxics and e-waste in the electronics industry. HCL is committed to phasing out the hazardous vinyl plastic and Brominated Flame Retardants from its products.

IndusInd BankGreen banking has been catching up ever since IndusInd opened the country’s first solar-pow-ered ATM and pioneered an eco-savvy change in the Indian banking sector. The bank is planning for more such initiatives in addressing the chal-lenges of climate change.

IDEA CellularIDEA painted India green with its national ‘Use Mobile, Save Paper’ campaign. The company had organized Green Pledge campaigns at Indian cit-ies where thousands came forward and pledged to save paper and trees. IDEA has also set up bus shelters with potted plants and tendril climbers to convey the green message.

It is evident now that the corporate sector has realized that the government alone will not be able to succeed in its efforts towards energy management and conservation. The present societal marketing concept of companies is constantly evolving and has given rise to a new concept-Corporate Social Responsibility. Many companies are now being associated with so-cially relevant causes as a means of promoting their brands.


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AFTER UNIVERSITY I DECIDED TO GAIN EXPERIENCE IN CONSERVATION BY VOLUNTEERING ABROAD. I FOUND TURTLE PROJECTS OVER THE INTERNET

AND SOON BECAME CAPTIVATED BY THESE MAJESTIC CREATURES AND DEDICATED TO THE CONSERVATION EFFORTS SURROUNDING THEM.

I gained a Research Assistant position in Costa Rica for the Leatherback season in March for

3 months. It was amazing to work with the largest species of sea turtle (the largest I saw was nearly 2 metres!). We were all trained extensively for 2 weeks and patiently waited for the turtles to arrive. I was starting to think that nesting Leatherbacks were a myth when they finally arrived. It was such a privilege to be working with these massive beasts. How-ever tired I was on night patrol I would always

suddenly become wide awake when a turtle was spotted. I learnt their nesting behaviours and could soon decipher what they were doing from a distance. It was so interesting to see the turtle re-nesters and exciting to find that a turtle I had tagged had re-nested again a few weeks later. On one patrol I saw a turtle who had previously been tagged about 20 years ago! It was always fun to take new volunteers on patrol to teach them all about the turtles and pass on the contagious enthusiasm that

Claire Tannera BSc (Hons) Zoology with Conservation graduate, very keen to pursue a career in the field of conservation and scientific research. Claire’s other qualifications include scuba diving, first aid and leadership as well as field survey skills gained through her degree and voluntary work on many conservation projects around the world including working with sea turtles in Ghana, Costa Rica and Cabo Verde.


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the site had maintained. I met friends for life there, all with similar interest, so times were never boring. We all got on so well that we chose to spend all our free time together do-ing activities such as wildlife watching and vis-iting other nesting beaches. When excavations started, only a few people were anticipating the smell. One hatched nest we uncovered was so deep that to excavate, one person had to be held by the feet and lowered over the side of the hole to reach the bottom! At the end only the tallest person could reach to measure the depth! Excavating nests was an extremely interesting process and also the only opportu-nity to see Leatherback hatchlings, although most of the ones we found were dead, the live ones having left earlier. Leatherback nests in this area were mainly safe from human activi-ties and so were left in-situ so we rarely saw hatchlings leave the nest. One of the many highlights of my work in Costa Rica was having the privilege of seeing two Hawksbill turtles. One of these was while I was conducting a morning track survey on a secluded part of the beach. It was so humbling to be able to watch such an endangered, pre-historic animal nest in the daylight without tourist disturbance.

While in Costa Rica, I heard about a Research Assistant position in Cape Verde working with Loggerheads, so moved straight from one project to another. In Cape Verde I worked from a camp, living in tents, which was chal-lenging but brought the people closer quicker - perfect when only a few of the volunteers stayed for the whole season. Despite a huge

language barrier between the local volunteers and internationals, everyone gelled well and socialised over board games and music. Due to a new hotel located on one of the beaches, some nests had to be relocated to a hatchery to reduce problems from trampling and diso-rientation. Building the hatchery was a major event for a number of weeks. Everyone pulled together to help, enjoying progressing and putting everyone’s strengths into practice. I am now eagerly awaiting the first hatchlings. In Costa Rica I noticed that less Leatherbacks nested around the lit town, yet in Cape Verde the Loggerheads that did nest near the lit hotel would become majorly disorientated after nesting, orientating straight towards the lights. This was a huge worry as it exhausts the turtle leaving it at a greater risk from poach-ing. Re-orientating turtles is always full of anticipation about how you are going to get the turtle back to the ocean. It is always such a relief when they finally start heading in the right direction again. One of the new skills I learnt in Cape Verde was beach profiling and track mapping. These I found really interest-ing and were often the highlight of the day. I measured the beach slope every week and was amazed at how often the beach changed and how the cliffs of sand moved along the beach. The track mapping helped us to visually see how disorientated the turtles become because of the lights. I found quite a few tracks with over 500metres of disorientation (where the beach is only 100 metres in width).

It is an amazing experience that should not be missed. You get to work with endangered, mysterious creatures that desperately need help to survive. Choosing to take part in these projects is the best decision I ever made because the experiences I had were unforget-table and I have learnt so much. I am definitely planning to do other projects like these.

VOLUNTEER WITH SEA TURTLES

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES AVAIL-ABLE TO WORK WITH NESTING TURTLES,

HATCHLINGS AND COMMUNITY CON-SERVATION AND EDUCATION PROGRAM

IN WESTERN GHANA FROM OCTOBER TO JANUARY

[email protected]


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Since my school days, I had two ambitions in life. One - to earn a lot of money and

two - to help the people, but somehow I was never able to relate the two. I started working at a call centre in early 2007, I was making good money but that didn’t bring the sense of satisfaction or contentment. I quit that job within a few months and joined a youth organization as a volunteer. Post my graduation, I worked for a few Indian and international NGOs, ventured into starting my organization. I didn’t succeed yet but hopes are still high and now I am working as a Project consultant at the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries & Agriculture in Pune

Hence, I have a fair amount of exposure to the idea of Social entrepreneurship and people who have been very successful and some not to so successful social entrepreneurs. What makes Social Entrepreneurship so relevant in today’s scenario is that it combines the passion of a social mission with an image of business-like discipline, innovation, and determination. Every year, a number of philanthropic initiatives are undertaken spending billions of dollars but these initiatives have fallen short of our expectations. A number of non-government organizations have been found misusing the money. The bigger question here is: Are these philanthropic initiatives

Naim Keruwalaa young and passionate development professional with an experience of over 4 years. Naim holds a Masters degree in Economics, Bachelors degree in Commerce and a Diploma in Business Management. He is currently working as a Project consultant at Janwani- the social wing Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries & Agriculture in Pune, Maharashtra (Twitter: @Naim_K)

SOCIALENTREPRENEURSHIP


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sustainable? What would happen of the millions of development programs when the economies are under crises?

Social entrepreneurs are a need of the hour to develop new models for the world. As the famous quote says, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Social upliftment cannot happen unless there is sustained economic upliftment of the people.

The best example to prove this is Gramshree, an organization founded in 1995 by Anar Patel of Ahmedabad, is working with the underprivileged women to help empower them through self reliant activities. Gramshree expanded its activities to include awareness camps and skill training workshops in stitching and other handicrafts for slum-dwelling women throughout Ahmedabad. These women were unable to find jobs where they could apply these skills. Hence Gramshree changed its mission and scope, and in 2002, Gramshree established a handicraft training program and a production centre. Today, Gramshree works with over 500 women in Gujarat, providing them with skill training, employment opportunities, and a chance to live with dignity, financial security and self-reliance. In 2005, Gramshree opened a retail outlet to establish a larger platform from which to market goods produced by women and artisans. This is the power and impact of social entrepreneurship.

There are many more such examples where social entrepreneurs have brought a transformation in the lives of many; they are a special breed of leaders. They play a role of change agents in the society by:

• Adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value)

• Recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission

• Engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning

• Acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand

• Exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created.

Before parting, I would like to briefly touch upon a misconception that people have about social entrepreneurship - social entrepreneurs cannot make money. Well! Social entrepreneurs CAN and DO make money, but the majority of which is utilized for the sustained welfare of the people at-large. Most social entrepreneurs lead a very comfortable and respected life.

We will meet some extra-ordinary Social entrepreneurs in the next month’s edition of Expressions. This monthly column promises you a lot more from the world of social entrepreneurship, so stay tuned!

AS THE FAMOUS QUOTE SAYS, “GIVE A MAN A FISH AND YOU FEED HIM FOR A DAY. TEACH A MAN TO FISH AND YOU FEED HIM FOR A LIFETIME.” SOCIAL UPLIFTMENT CANNOT HAPPEN UNLESS THERE IS SUSTAINED ECONOMIC UPLIFTMENT OF THE PEOPLE.


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High levels of radioactive element found in fish off FukushimaDPA, August 22, 2012

AP This March 5, 2007 file photo shows workers harvesting bluefin tuna from Maricultura’s tuna pens off Mexico. New research found increased levels of radiation in Pacific bluefin tuna caught off the coast of Southern California. Scientists said the radiation found in the fish came from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant that was crippled by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Photo: AP

Record levels of radioactive caesium were detected in fish caught within 20 kilometres of Japan’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear

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Power Station, news reports said on Wednesday.The operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said on Tuesday that it had found 25,800 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive caesium in greenling, 258 times higher than the government safety standard.

Fishing in waters off the plant has been voluntarily restricted since the nuclear disaster at the plant, which went into meltdown after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.Less than a month after the start of the disaster, Tokyo Electric dumped more than 11,000 tons of wastewater containing radioactive substances into the Pacific.

The previous record of radioactive contamination in fish was 18,700 becquerels per kilogram detected in cherry salmon caught in March, according to the Fisheries Agency.Wakao Hanaoka, a Greenpeace Japan official, said the government now needs to carry out a full investigation of radioactive contamination in a wide range of sea areas off Fukushima, which has not been done yet.

The organization’s surveys show higher levels of radioactive contamination found in fish and seaweed sampled in areas further from the Fukushima plant.

Factors that affect the spread of contamination include ocean currents and seabed configuration, Mr. Hanaoka added.

Indian monsoon rains above average in past week

By Ratnajyoti Dutta (Reuters)

NEW DELHI | Thu Aug 30, 2012 5:50pm

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(Reuters) - India’s monsoon rains were 6 percent above average in the past week, the weather office said on Thursday, the first time they have been heavier than normal in the current rainy season that began in June, in what is turning out to be a drought year.

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AP This aerial view of the damaged 4 reactor building at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan.File Photo: AP


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The rains, vital for the 55 percent of Indian farmland without irrigation, are still 12 percent short of average and threaten cereal and pulses production as drought continues in some areas of west and south India.

In the previous week, rainfall was 2 percent below average, which is still within a normal range, as the monsoon revived in rice, cane and soybean growing areas of the world’s leading food consumer and producer.

The revival has given the government a breathing space and allowed it to postpone a drought summit meeting to next week.India, whose huge land mass contains nearly all climates and soil types, last faced widespread drought in 2009 when the June-to-September monsoon rains were 22 percent below average and it had to import sugar, pushing global prices to 30-year highs.

“Rains are expected to be widespread over cane areas of north India and soybean growing areas of central parts during the next week,” said a weather official who did not wish to be named.The rest of the monsoon rains are unlikely to be influenced by the El Nino phenomenon, India’s farm secretary said on Wednesday, promising late summer rains for crops such as rice, soybean, cane and cotton during their vegetative growth.

“Late revival will also improve the prospects of winter crops such as wheat and rapeseed,” said B.C. Barah, a farm economist.

The revival could delay the retreat of the monsoon season which usually begins from mid-September, improving soil moistures before the winter planting season.

India has suffered its second drought in just four years this season, and has had to take steps to cut irrigation costs and increase fodder supplies for livestock farmers.

The drought is still expected to reduce cereal and pulses production, cutting supplies of animal feeds and also increasing imports of pulses which are an important protein source for the poor in the world’s second most populous country.

But last week, rains were heavier than average over the drought-hit areas of northwest and south India, easing output concerns in crops such as rice and cotton. The desert state of Rajasthan in the north also received heavy rains.Widespread rains over the hill areas of north India are expected to improve water levels in reservoirs.

At this stage, the distribution of rains is more important than quantity as crops are in the growing stage and need only rains at regular intervals.

Rains below 90 percent of long-term averages in the entire season are considered “deficient”, or a drought in layman’s terms.

(Editing by Jo Winterbottom; editing by Jason Neely)

Antarctic methane could worsen global warming: scientists By Nina Chestney (Reuters)

LONDON | Wed Aug 29, 2012 10:39pm IST

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(Scientists from the universities of Bristol, Utrecht, California and Alberta simulated the accumulation of methane in Antarctic sedimentary basins using models and calculations.

They found it was likely there were micro-organisms there that would have been able to convert the ice sheet’s large deposits of organic carbon into the potent gas.

If present, methane would most likely be trapped under the ice.

But it could be released into the atmosphere as rising global temperatures melt the ice sheet, fuelling even more global warming, the

scientists said in the paper published in the journal Nature.

“The Antarctic Ice Sheet could constitute a previously neglected component of the global methane hydrate inventory although significant uncertainty exists,” the scientists said.

Methane stays in the atmosphere for up to 15 years. Levels have been on the rise over the past few years, following a period of stability since 1998.

The gas is normally trapped as “methane hydrate” in sediments under a seabed. Methane hydrate is a form of water ice containing a large amount of methane which is usually stable.

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(Reuters) - Large volumes of the greenhouse gas methane could have been produced under the Antarctic Ice Sheet over millions of years, which could add to global warming if released into the atmosphere by a thaw, a study said on Wednesday.


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As temperatures rise, the hydrate breaks down and methane is released from the sea bed, mostly dissolving into the seawater.

But if trapped methane broke sea surfaces and escaped into the atmosphere, it would intensify global warming.

Scientists have already identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane is bubbling into the atmosphere but the potential for methane formation under the Antarctic Ice Sheet has been less well studied.

Conditions under the Antarctic Ice Sheet seem capable of producing methane as the water is oxygen-depleted, hosts micro-organisms and contains significant reservoirs of organic carbon, Wednesday’s study said.

“We calculate that the sub-Antarctic hydrate inventory could be of the same order of magnitude as that of recent estimates made for Arctic permafrost.”

In 2008, American and Russian experts estimated that 0.5 megatonnes of methane are released per year and at least 1,400 gigatonnes of carbon is trapped as methane and methane hydrates under the Arctic permafrost.

But up to 50 gigatonnes of hydrate storage could be released at any time, which would increase the methane content of the Earth’s atmosphere by a factor of 12, they warned.

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Curiosity spots four ‘blobs’ in Mars’ skyPTI , PASADENA (US), August 23, 2012

National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Curiosity rover has captured a strange white light dancing across the horizon of Mars and four blobs hovering in the sky.While it is certainly a subject of curiosity, NASA and photography experts insist they are nothing more than blemishes on the images, picked up by the camera lens sitting on the rover at a distance of 350 million miles.

NASA has not commented on any of the sightings so far, but alien hunters have suggested that these are alien ships monitoring humans’ baby steps into the universe, the Daily Mail reported.

YouTube user StephenHannardADGUK, part of a group called Alien Disclosure UK, spotted the anomalies on the images, publicly available on the U.S.space agency’s website, and applied a series of filters to try and shed light on the mystery.

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AP This image dated August 22, 2012 and provided by NASA shows the Curiosity rover’s wheel tracks on the surface of Mars, an image sent from one of the rover’s cameras. The image was posted on a Tweet by JPL mission engineer Allen Chen.


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“Four objects caught by Curiosity were very difficult to make out on the original image, so I have used a few filters to highlight,” the paper quoted him as saying, referring to the four pinpoints of light pictured in the skies of Mars.“What are these four objects? UFOs, dust particles, or something else? As always you decide,” the user said.

According to the Huffington Post, video analyst Marc Dantonio, who has worked on projects for the U.S. government, said these were simply

‘dead pixels’ in the image — a regular problem in the realm of graphics. Another video appears to show an object rising from the horizon, followed shortly afterwards by another small object.

Curiosity, a six-heeled vehicle the size of a compact car, landed inside a vast, ancient, impact crater near the Mars’ equator on August 6 after an eight-month, 570-million-km voyage through space.

Oil spill stretches for miles by Exxon Nigeria fieldBy Tife Owolabi (Reuters)

IWUOKPOM, Nigeria | Fri Aug 31, 2012 10:31pm IST

(Reuters) - An oil spill near an ExxonMobil oilfield off the southeast coast of Nigeria has spread along the shore for about 15 miles, and locals said it was killing fish they depend on to live.

Mobil Producing Nigeria, a joint venture between ExxonMobil and the state oil firm, said this month it was helping clean up an oil spill near its Ibeno field in Akwa Ibom state, though it did not know the source of the oil.

This Reuters reporter saw that water along the coast was covered with a rainbow-tinted film of oil for miles.

Exxon officials in Nigeria and in Houston could not immediately be reached to provide comment.

Oil spills are common in Nigeria, where enforcement of environmental regulations is lax and armed gangs frequently damage pipelines to steal crude.

In the Iwuokpom-Ibeno fishing community, village elder Iyang Ekong held up one of a

load of crabs that a fisherman had caught that morning, only to find they were soaked in toxic oil.

“When I got I home, I realized we can’t even eat them because they smell so badly of chemicals. So we’re just going to leave them by the waterfront,” he said.

Decades of oil production in Nigeria’s swampy Niger Delta, where Africa’s second-longest river empties into the Atlantic, have turned parts of it into a wasteland of oily water and dead mangroves. Thousands of barrels are spilled every year.

The companies say oil theft by criminal gangs is responsible for most of it.

“Our fishermen noticed the oil on an outing, but the sea has started depositing crude oil along the coast, and it has filled the water,” said Samuel Ayode, chairman of the fishermen’s association of Akwa Ibom, as he repaired his fishing net on the beach. He added that it started around August 10.

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“No one’s done any fishing since. The fish have migrated away from the pollution.”

A landmark U.N. report in August last year slammed the government and multinational oil companies, particularly Shell, for 50 years of oil pollution that has devastated the Ogoniland region. One community is suing for compensation in a London court.

The government and oil majors have pledged to

clean up the region and other parts of the delta, but locals say they have seen no evidence of action yet.

Market trader Grace Eno said fish were scarce since the spill and that fishermen were selling at much higher prices. Shrimps have doubled in price, she said, “so how can I make a profit?”(Writing by Tim Cocks; editing by Jane Baird)

This Swedish model is inspirational

The waste-to-energy plants are safe and environment-friendly and above all have the potential to supply energy to the grid.GIREM recommends waste-to-energy plants in each Assembly segment

As urban India grapples with the challenge of handling municipal solid waste, GIREM (Global Initiative for Restructuring Environment and Management), an industry body, has come out with an exhaustive report which recommends setting up of waste-to-energy plants at the Assembly constituency level.

According to a press release from GIREM, the report ‘Managing Solid Waste at the Assembly Constituency Level’, underscores the benefits of WTE methods, particularly in minimising the use of landfills; generating energy from waste;

cutting down on huge transportation bills; and involving the community at the Assembly level. The report has been submitted to various State Governments.

The Chairman of GIREM, Sankey Prasad, said, “The amount of solid waste generated in India is unimaginable and only technology can help resolve the problem as landfill as a solution has major limitations. GIREM recommends safe and green technologies, which are implementable across the country. Combined waste incineration methods are time-tested in developed countries and the report has cited successful models.”

The President of GIREM, Shyam Sundar S. Pani, says, “Public hygiene in India has been compromised. It is one of the most neglected areas of urban development and we are sitting on a garbage bomb which is ticking away. Considering the gravity of the situation, GIREM’s study points out how the problem can be resolved at the Assembly level and also make the legislator accountable for cleanliness and upkeep of his or her constituency. The waste-to-energy plants are safe and environment-friendly and above all have the potential to supply energy to the grid.”

The requirementThe report has pointed out that with the average

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Indian generating about 500 gm of waste on a daily basis, urban India is generating 703 lakh tonnes of solid waste annually. The collection and disposal of garbage in most of the cities is woefully lacking, leading to environmental and health hazards. At the same time, landfills are becoming scarce in urban areas and also prohibitive. It is estimated that at current rates of dumping/land-filling, by 2050, India will require approximately 1,400 sq. km of land or the equivalent of three Mumbai cities. Not to forget, the resistance that is building up in locating landfills in suburban or even rural areas.

In this background, GIREM conducted a study of municipal solid waste generation and management in Gurgaon and Bangalore. GIREM also studied one of the best waste-to-energy plants in the world, located in Sweden, and owned by 11 municipalities there. The waste-fuelled district heating power plant is located just 200 metres from a residential area, and is considered safe. It is one of the world’s most advanced facilities for the incineration of waste, is licensed to incinerate 550,000 tonnes of waste per year and it operates 24/7, 365 days a year.

The plant delivers the annual electricity consumption for almost 60,000 apartments and heating and hot water for approximately 120,000 apartments.

For BangaloreIn the case of Bangalore, which has 28 Assembly constituencies, the amount of solid waste generated on a daily basis is 4,620 tonnes. The same can be incinerated using the Swedish technology. The energy generated from these plants can provide lighting for 6,500 apartments. With this technology we can process 165 tonnes per day in an Assembly constituency.

“The Swedish plant can be scaled down to the requirements of an Assembly segment. The plant is based on high technology and the benefits are many specifically in terms of environment and health, outweighing all other factors, including cost. The plant is a feasible and scalable solution,” added Pani.GIREM is focused on urbanisation, future cities and eco-socio-economic infrastructure, with a vision to be an industry platform to help create better sustainable business-eco systems and societal infrastructure through public-private partnerships.

2 endangered vulture species bred in captivityPTIOnly 1,000 slender-billed vulture estimated to remain in the wild

Two endangered species of vulture have been bred successfully in captivity at a conservation centre in Assam, officials said on Sunday.A nestling each of the white-backed and the slender-billed species have hatched at the centre, located 40 km from here at Rani, State Principal Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Suresh Chand said.

HEALTHY NESTLINGS

Born more than four months ago, the nestlings are healthy now.

Mr. Chand said the slender-billed vulture is now mainly confined to the State and has nearly disappeared from most of its distribution range in India — from Himachal Pradesh to Assam.

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97ExpressionS SEPTEMBER 2012Advertisers can also advertise, with a link to their website, on our website at a nominal cost.


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