Invitation to Jalpaadom

Dear Readers,

I am very happy to invite you all for the formal inauguration of ‘Jalpaadom’. Jalapaadom is a unique environmental educational program designed for the students in Vembanad backwater region, Alappuzha, Kerala. Jalpaadom is an initiative of the Vembanad conservation program of ATREE.

Kerala's Minister of Education, Mr. MA Baby, has agreed to inaugurate the program
and Mr. KC Venugopal, MLA will preside over the function.

The program schedule is outlined below:
10.30 am - Prayer

10.35 am- Welcome Address

10.40 am: Briefing on Jalapaadom : Mr Jojo T.D. (Jalapaadom Program Officer)

10.50 am: Presidential Address: Shri K.C. Venugopal (MLA)

11.05 am: Inaugural Address: Shri M.A. Babay (Minister of Education and Culture)

11.25 am: Official Logo Release : Mr Shivasankar M, IAS (Director of Public Instructions,
Kerala)

11.40 am: Release of Resource Materials: Shri P. Nazar, President, District Panchayat,
Alappuzha

11.50 am: Felicitations: Shri P.P. Chitaranjan, Municipal Chairman, Alappuzha
Dr Ravi Chellam, Director, ATREE
Shri K.C. Dayal, Environmentalist

12.15 pm: Vote of Thanks: Dr Latha Bhaskar

Place and time: YMCA Hall, Alappuzha at 10.30am, 4th October 2007

If you wish to attend this event, please contact Shali (shali@atree.org) for the details and for making arrangements.

Thanks

Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan, PhD

Fellow Scientist, Insect Taxonomy and Conservation
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)
#659, 5th A main, Hebbal, Bangalore - 560 024, India.

Ph:91-80-23530069/23533942/23638771(R) 91-80-23535287;
Fax: 91-80-23530070
Other ID: priyadarsanan@gmail.com
url: www.atree.org/priyan.html

"Monsoon – India's God of Life" to be screened on 2nd Oct

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to invite you to attend the screening of:

"Monsoon – India's God of Life"

by

Growing Wild in association with Wildlife Conservation Society(WCS), Centre for Wildlife Studies(CWS) and Wildlife First.

Screening of the film will be followed by an interaction with SHEKAR DATTATRI.

Date and time: Tuesday, October 2nd 2007, 10.00 a.m. – 11.30 a.m.
(please be seated by 09.45 a.m.)

Venue: Mangala Mantapa, NMKRV Women's College, 3rd Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore

Total seats available: 900

IMPORTANT: As seats for this event are limited, seating at the auditorium will be on first come first served basis .

Entry is free.

About the film:

'Monsoon – India's God of life' is a fascinating chronicle of how the wildlife of India copes with the dog days of summer, and how the arrival of the south-west monsoon transforms their lives and the land they live in. Filmed in some of India's most spectacular wilderness areas, the cast includes one horned rhinoceros, tiger, elephant, lion- tailed macaque and a host of lesser known animals. Two years in the making, this film was part of the 'WILD ASIA' series produced for international television. It is a Natural History New Zealand production. Shekar Dattatri is the producer and cinematographer of the film.

During the last two decades, he has produced over 20 documentaries, several of which have aired worldwide on international channels such as National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and the BBC. He is the recipient of a Rolex Award for Enterprise, and co-founder of 'Naturequest', a forum in Chennai that seeks to promote greater awareness of wildlife and conservation issues among the general public. He recently received the Prithvi Ratna award for his outstanding contribution to the cause of wildlife conservation.

We look forward to your participation along with your family and friends.

Thanks and regards,

Killivalavan R
Program Coordinator Growing Wild

Source: email communication from Sushmita at sushmita@atree.org

Aranyam 2007 On in Bangalore from Oct 5th to 7th

Dear friends,

Aranyam is back... Celebrating Wildlife and Environment for the second time in Bangalore. ActNow in collaboration with Aranya Bhavan – The Government of Karnataka, Forest Dept, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, British Council, Wild Screen U.K, Vodafone, Radio Mirchi, and Epson is organising "Aranyam 2007- Wild Life and Environmental Film Festival" in Bangalore on 5th 6th and 7th during Wild Life Week on October 2007.

The festival will screen documentaries, animations, PSAs, music videos and feature films that relate to wildlife conservation.

Films will be presented along with discussions with consumers of eco tourism, environment and wildlife organizations, forest department personnel and documentary movie producers. Audience participation is invited.

Dates: 5th, 6th and 7th October 2007

Venue: Gurunanak Bhavan, Jasma Bhavan Road Off Millers Road, Vasanth Nagar, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560001. India

Aranyam 2007: Schedule

5th October 2007

INAUGURAL FUNCTION ( 5.30 p.m. to 6 p.m.)

6.00 pm: Wild Dog Dairies by Kripakar Senani - 38 mins

7.15 pm: Earth Calling - Episode Coorg by Rita BanerjiShilpi Sharma - 28 mins


6th October 2007

10.00 am: Are We Changing Planet Earth? by The BBC - 59 mins

11.15 am: A Green Agony by Geeta Singh - 26 mins

11.50 am: Climate Change: Hard News, Hard Facts : Greenpeace - 03 mins

12.00 am: Can We Save Planet Earth? by The BBC - 59 mins

Open Forum

Lunch

12.45 am: Strange Days on Planet Earth: The One Degree Factor - National Geographic
56 mins

02.00 pm: Global Dimming by The BBC - 49 mins

03.00 pm: Climates First Orphan by Eleanora Images - 20 mins

03.30 pm: A degree of concern by Syed Fayaz - 45 mins

04.15 pm: The weeping apple tree by Vijay S Jodha - 45 mins

05.00 pm: The Fridge by Lucie Stamfestova - 7 mins

Panel Discussion: Carbon Neutral Bangalore (05.30 p.m. to 07.00 p.m .)

07.15 pm: Diminishing Resources by Himanshu Malhotra and Sabina Kidwai - 49 mins


7th October 2007

10.00 am: Tiger Death Chronicles by Krishnendu Bose - 63 mins

Workshop: RTI for solution (10.15 a.m. to 11.45 a.m.)

12.00 pm: The Queen of Trees by Victoria Stone and Mark Deeble - 54 mins

Break (1.00 p.m to 1.30 p.m.)

01.30 pm: Silenced Witness by P. Balan - 63 mins

02.30 pm: Angels in Tigerland by Suresh Elamon - 35 mins

03.15 pm: Once there was a Purple Butterfly by Sonia Kapoor

03.45 pm: The Last Dance by Ashima Narain - 26 mins

04.15 pm: Cherub of the mist - Bedi Films - 50 mins

Break

05.15 pm: Leopards in the Lurch by Gurmeet Sapal - 13 mins

05.45 pm: Turtles in The Soup by Kalpana Subramanian - 30 mins

06.15 pm: Just another death by Vilas Kane - 20 mins

06.45 pm: Concert for India's environment by Chinmaya Dunster - 15 mins

07.00 pm: The Hunted by Jay Mazoomdar

07.20 pm: Right to Survive by Rita Banerji - 25 mins

07.45 pm: Discovery of God - 30 mins

08.15 pm: Riding Solo to the top of the world


Thanks and regards,

Vishal Verghese,

ACT NOW
# 1, Gullamma St,Karavalli Main Rd,Kacharakanahaiil Extn,Behind Jalvayu ViharBangalore- 560 084Tel: 080- 254380299886222678

http://www.aranyam.org/


Source: email communication from Sushmita at sushmita@atree.org

Talk on Conservation of Orchids

Dear Readers,

You are cordially invited to attend a talk by Dr. K.S.Shashidhar (Director, IWST) on:

Conservation of orchids and climate change

Date: 24th September 2007 (Monday)

Time: 3.00 - 4.00 pm

Venue: ATREE Terrace

All are welcome

Regards
Kalpana Prasanna,

HR Officer, ATREE

Here's the abstract

Natural ecosystems have evolved over a period of time with a complex and intricate life supporting interrelationship with its components. Unabated human activities leading to overexploitation of natural resources have disrupted this sensitive balance in nature. Some of these components in the ecosystem are extremely sensitive and few are hardy and can survive the consequences of these disturbances. Epiphytes, especially orchids are known to be the suitable indicators of, the health of the ecosystem, changes in the local climate and biodiversity as they provide nutrition to other flora and fauna and are highly sensitive in nature.

Identifying such indicator species in the ecosystem and monitoring will help in taking adequate precautions for conservation of the ecosystem and forewarning the consequences of these disturbances. Orchids are unique group of flowering plants highly evolved and have developed special mechanisms to ensure pollination and survival in nature in association with insects. Apart from this, the zonation of its occurrence in the forest structure and ecosystem makes it an interesting species.

The rise in global temperature due to emission of CO2 and other green house gases such as methane and Chlorofluorocarbons have resulted in glaciers disappearing, average sea level rising, coastal areas and islands submerging. On the other side, it has played havoc on the living and vibrant Forest ecosystem resulting in loss of biodiversity, species extinction, and totally disrupting the delicate life supporting, complex interdependent activity almost to an extent of irreparable stage.

Effects of these changes on the ecosystem are being observed in the form of changes in the community structure, alteration of phenological events, migration of the species, sensitive activities like synchronized pollination through insects are few of them. Conservation approaches in such a scenario are to be in a holistic manner taking in to account the entire ecosystem rather than focusing on any particular species for both short as well as long term. Along with the known conservation practices of insitu and exsitu, assisting species to migrate to locations of better adaptability will compliment the on going programmes. A well conceived conservation programme of restoration, reintroduction and new introduction will ensure the conservation of these important indicator species.

Here's an announcement from the Rotary Club of Yelahanka

Greetings,

I bring to you the cheer and goodwill of Rotary Club of Yelahanka. Every year Rotary International organizes a "Group Study Exchange" (GSE) program that allows four young professionals to visit a foreign country every year. The entire cost of travel, lodging and boarding is borne by the movement.

Rotary has just now announced that the last date for receiving applications for this program has been extended to 20th September. Since that gives us a day more, we would like to reach out to as many people as we can and bring this wonderful opportunity to their attention.

So if you know of any individual who might be interested in applying, please let me know. There are no strings attached - the application form has to be submitted with a processing fee of
Rs 300/-, and that is all there is to it in terms of cost.

Application forms can be obtained from Rtn Ramesh Joshi, 105, Swiss Complex, Race Course Road, Bangalore – 560 001.

Request for application can also be made on email – rameshjoshirj@yahoo.com or you can also email me at sanjaysagrawal@gmail.com.

Please spread awareness about the program so that the right persons get to see and learn the world.

Cheers and warm regards,

Yours in Rotary

Sanjay Agrawal

Director, International Services
Rotary Club of Yelahanka

Cell: 093411-92099

http://yelahanka.rotary-site.org/ .

Get an update on Environmental Conferences happening around the globe

http://www.conferencealerts.com/environment.htm

Make sure the Ganesh Chathurthi Celebrations in your Neighbourhood are Ecofriendly

The Environmental Impact of Ganesh Chaturthi

by Manisha Gutman

To be able to choose the most appropriate ecosensitive solution it is important that we understand the environmental impacts of Ganesh Chaturthi.

These can be summarised to be the following:

• The water pollution caused by the immersion of chemically painted Plaster of Paris idols into natural water bodies.



• The waste generated by the non biodegradable accessories used during the worship.


• Noise pollution


• Traffic congestion


• Increased consumerism

Amongst these, the first two can be partially resolved by a shift to eco sensitive materials and practices.

Water Pollution: The Issue
For some years now we have been observing a growing awareness about the water pollution caused by the immersion of Ganesh idols made out of Plaster of Paris, in natural water bodies such as lakes, rivers and the sea. PoP is not a naturally occurring material. Plaster of Paris is a calcium sulfate hemi-hydrate : (CaSO4, ½ H2O) derived from gypsum, a calcium sulfate dihydrate (CaSO4 , 2 H2O), by firing this mineral at relatively low temperature and then reducing it to powder. While idols made out of naturally occurring clay ( shaadu in Marathi) dissolve within hours of immersion in water, PoP idols may take anywhere between several months to years to fully dissolve. In addition, when chemical paints are used to decorate the idols, these paints contain heavy metals such as mercury and lead, which seep into the water as the idol dissolves.

In Bangalore a study done by the Central Pollution Control Board to assess the impact of immersion of Ganesh idols on the lakes revealed the following:
The acid content in the waters increased.
The TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) increased by a 100%
The Dissolved Oxygen content increased during the day due to the agitation of waters during immersion and reduced at night when organic discharge increased.
The heavy metal content sampling showed an increase in metals such as iron which increased nearly 10 times and the content of copper in the sediments increased by 200 to 300 %.

Possible solutions:
Since the main issue around water pollution has got to do with the idol immersion ritual, several people are now suggesting a slight variation of this ritual to avoid water pollution. ]

These include:
1. Immersing the idol in a water tan constructed by the government, instead of directly into natural water bodies.
2. Using only a natural clay idol and immersing it either in the tank or in a bucket of water at home.
3. Immersing a 'betel nut' which symbolises the idol and reusing the same idol every year.
4. If one is using a PoP idol, simply sprinkling a few drops of water on it as a symbolic immersion and donating the idol to be recycled for the following year.

Appropriate Management of 'nirmalya':
Along with the idol, there are several accessories used during the worship which are collectively referred to as 'nirmalya'. These include flowers, fruits, coconuts, cloth, incense, camphor etc. Further, many people create elaborate temples out of thermocole to houwe their idols. Until some years ago, all these were also immersed along with the idols.
In Pune, the municipal corporation has successfully convinced people not to immerse the 'nirmalya' into the water. Instead, they have installed large bins shaped as traditional pots or 'kalashes' to recieve this nirmalya. While this is a good first step, the appropriate management of the nirmalya is still crucial considering the volumes that are collected every year.
This is a sensitive issue since it involves the sentiments of the worshippers.

Possible solutions:
1. Avoiding the use of non biodegradable material such as thermocole altogether.
2. Composting all bio degradable material.
3. Distributing food itmes such as coconuts and fruits among the poor.
4. Recycling flowers to make hand made paper or dried flower products.

To know more visit www.e-coexist.com or http://www.kalpavriksh.org/

Ecosensitive Ganesh idols: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNKCiIwa7gk

Papier Mache Ganesh idols http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2TqRnPR63w

Here's an interesting blog we've just noticed

http://www.ecoponder.blogspot.com

Two Education Seminars at ISEC

Institute for Social and Economic Change's Seminar Series


Professor M.D.Usha Devi
Professor and Head, Centre for Human Resource Development (CHRD), ISEC

will be presenting a seminar on

'Pre-Service Teacher Education for Secondary Stage Education in the Emerging Diverse Education Context in Karnataka/India'

and

Dr.U.A.Shimray and Professor M.D.Usha Devi
Assistant Professor and Professor and Head, CHRD,ISEC, respectively

will be presenting a seminar on

'Trends and Patterns of Migration: Interface with Education- A Case of the North Eastern Region'

Venue: ISEC Seminar Hall
Time: 3.30 PM
Date: Thursday 6th of September, 2007

All are welcome

Tea/ Coffee will be served before the Seminar

Dr. V Anil KumarSeminar Coordinator
Asst. ProfessorCentre for Decentralisation and Development
Institute for Social and Economic Change,Nagarabhavi PO, Bangalore - 560 072
Phone: 080-23215468; 23215519; 23215592 Extn.417
Fax: 080-23217008
E-mail: seminarcoordinator@isec.ac.in
http://www.isec.ac.in/

Here are the abstracts

Pre-Service Teacher Education for Secondary Stage Education in the Emerging Diverse Education Context in Karnataka/India

By

M D Usha Devi


Abstract

The present study is an attempt to understand the nature of professional preparation of teachers for secondary level of education as revealed through B.Ed programmes in one of the states (Karnataka) in India.. The purpose of the study was to assess the relevance of the teacher preparation for the emerging demands of the society and economy and its capacity to meet the professional requirements of the teaching profession in the emerging context. The study is essentially conceptualised within the interactive framework of the education of the teacher, the changing expectations of the society with respect to professional role of a teacher, expansion of the knowledge domain, economic development and technological advancements in the society. The study employed a descriptive survey design with a normative framework for analyzing the current teacher education programme.

The data have largely been qualitative in nature and are gathered from multiple sources.. The major part of the evidences is gathered through content analyses of the B.Ed curriculum. Primary data have also been collected from a sample of 71 teacher educators across the state who responded to macro survey questionnaire. In addition, perceptions, views and experiences of teacher educators (17), student teachers (177) and beginning teachers (26 ) about the pre-service teacher education have also been collected through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires in a micro study conducted in six sample B.Ed colleges representing different management types and regional locations. Further, 43 classroom observations of teacher educator’s curricular transaction and content analysis of 20 lesson plans and 20 observation records prepared by student trainees in the sample B.Ed colleges have also been done to study the process and practice of induction and professional orientation of teachers. The present study is limited to the current B.Ed programme offered by the Bangalore university. Some of the major findings of the study are:

In terms of the intentions and objectives of teacher education for secondary stage of education, the B.Ed programme appears to reflect the broader national goals of education as well as some of the emerging concerns in the diverse education context. However, there appears to be an over emphasis towards loading student teachers with information about these aspects rather than developing critical mental faculties. Regretfully, none of the papers, either professional or pedagogic make a mention anywhere about exposing student teachers to the school life and school culture at least in intentions as this is an important objective of a professional programme like the B.Ed.

In terms of relevance, the current B.Ed programme is found to reflect different parameters of diverse education context in some paper or the other. However, the extent to which these dimensions are reflected vary across professional and pedagogic subjects. With respect to equipping the prospective teachers with necessary skills and competencies, the programme is found to fall short in several areas of professional practice, induction and orientation to teaching, the most important being the short duration of the B.Ed programme and the limited internship period therein. In terms of orienting student teachers to professional roles of teachers during the classroom curricular transaction by teacher educators, there were very few references to the teacher’s role for emerging demands in the diverse education context such as - teacher as a knowledge broker, as a learning facilitator, as a promoter of collaborative learning, as a promoter of new delivery skills, as a counselor, as an innovator, as a researcher and life long learner etc,. Even attempts to establish a connection between the curricular content transacted in the B.Ed classroom and the school practices were also found to be conspicuously missing.

Trends and Patterns of Migration: Interface with Education- A Case of the North Eastern Region

By
U A Shimray & M. D. Usha Devi , CHRD/ISEC

Abstract

For a long time, North Eastern Region (NER) has been a major corridor of human migration. The NER is characterised by extraordinary ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic diversity. The NER scores over most other states of India in the area of human resources for its relatively high literacy rate. The region has recorded high literacy growth rate in the decade 1991-2001. However, there is also remarkable variation in the literacy rate among the states within the region. Mizoram state reveals highest percentage of literacy with 88.5 per cent, followed by Tripura [73.6], Manipur [68.8] and Nagaland [67.1]. The states like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Assam are below national average. Interestingly, the tribal dominant states like Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya and also Manipur reveal higher literacy rates as compared to other states in India. Notwithstanding, higher literacy attainments, the NER has poor educational infrastructure at post secondary and higher levels of education. This has been one of the reasons for out migration, particularly among school graduates who are interested in pursuing vocational training and higher education for better employment prospects. It is in this context, questions relating to patterns of migration in the NER and its interface with education have been moving into the forefront of the research agenda.

The study is set with the following objectives:
To examine the trends and patterns of migration from the NER in terms of time and space;
To trace the educational growth in the NER;
To identify the determining factors for migration;
To examine the connection between migration and education.

The present study is a descriptive analysis of secondary data drawn from the census documents, NSS and other relevant documents and reports. The analysis is confined to the census decades of 1981, 1991 and 2001.

Some of the major outcomes of the study are as follows:
The magnitude of migration is considerably low in NER. There is fluctuation in the rate of migration between the decades in NER as a whole. At disaggregate level, Nagaland state has recorded highest migration rates at 8 per cent followed by Mizoram [4.28 per cent] and Assam [2.66 per cent]. However, the trends of migration in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura are found to be declining. Selectivity among migrants also occurs by sex. The magnitude of females migration is much higher than the males in all the states of the region. In terms of reasons for migration, marriage, family and employment are found to be predominant. Education as a motive for migration is considerably low. However, it is significantly increased in the last three decades particularly among male population. This phenomenon is seen relatively to a higher extent in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

With respect to educational growth in the NER, there is a sharp decline in the enrolments with increasing levels of education, particularly in the post-secondary and higher education. Interestingly, the highest literate state Mizoram has a lowest proportion of students enrolled at Higher Secondary and Graduate and above levels. The availability of educational institutions particularly for higher and technical education is rather low in all the states except Assam. Although, in the post 1990 period the states like Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram have witnessed increase in the number of institutions/universities for higher education, yet the patterns of infrastructure growth reveals inadequacy.

EIC’s Workshop on Ecological Niche Modelling

Review of Key Papers & Desktop GARP Demo made it exciting!

The Eco-Informatics Centre’s just concluded workshop on Ecological Niche Modeling (ENM), gave practical advice on how to use ENM tools efficiently. The workshop was conducted by Prof Townsend Peterson, a leader in this field from the University of Kansas, USA and Dr Shaily Menon from Grant Valley State University, USA. This one day event program was held at Doddi’s Resort on 31 August, 2007 and was attended by 35 researchers including those from Centre for Ecological Science (CES), National Centre for Biological Science (NCBS), National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and ATREE.

In the first half of the session, Prof Peterson gave a broad perspective of ENM with interesting examples that ranged from predicting the distribution of Ebola virus in Africa to estimating species distribution of butterflies in Canada. Later, he explained step by step, key factors that are important while conducting ENM studies. With reference to environmental data, he stressed the importance of data quality, type, source and methods of data collection. Regarding occurrence data, he explained how important it is to distinguish between primary and secondary sources. He cited GBIF, MaNIS, ORNIS, HerpNet, FishNet2 and MODIS satellite data as some useful reference sources for data. This was followed by a detailed evaluation of best model selection, modeling algorithms and validation. He also reviewed key papers in the field which gave a clear overview of how the entire field has evolved. Later, Dr Shaily Menon presented her work on ecological and geographic distribution of Asian nuthatches.

In the afternoon session, Prof Peterson, demonstrated desktop GARP (Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Production), and Maxent (Maximum Entropy Algorithm), the two modeling algorithms in ENM. He reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of the different modeling algorithms. This workshop was a refresher for those who are already doing research in ENM. For new comers, it gave a simplified understanding of concepts and technical know how.