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.

Seed Workshop in Bangalore - Aug 30 th -31st

The workshop looks at the Seed Act and seed certification in particular for organic farmers and communities.

Workshop Organizers: GREEN Foundation and Organic Farmers Association of India.

Venue: Fireflies Ashram, Pipal Trees, Dinnepalaya, Kaggalipura, Kanakpura Road, Bangalore.

Here's the Program Schedule

30th August, 2007

Welcome Address : 10.30 - 10.45

Self Introduction: 10.45 - 11.00

Role of seed savers in today's context - Claude Alvares - 11.15 - 12.00

Implications of seed bill on seed saving - Dr. Vanaja Ramprasad - 12.00 - 12.30

Seed diversity cataloguing- Initial effort - 12.30 - 1.30, 2.00- 3.00

Presentation by invited representatives on seed saving - 3.15 - 4.30

Discussion on the seed bill - 4.30 - 6.00

31st August, 2007

Discussion on seed cert standards and seed act 1966 - 9.00 - 11.00

Varietal registration procedures - 11.15 - 12.00

Discussion on evolving organic seed production standards - 12.00-1.30, 2.15-3.00

Seed exchange action plan - 3.15-4.30

Concluding remarks - 4.35 -4.50

Vote of thanks - 4.50-5.00

Prof Ruth DeFries's presentation

Prof Ruth DeFries was here last month at ATREE and gave a very interesting talk.

We've posted below the synopsis and some of the interesting slides that she has generously agreed to share on this blog for those of us who missed attending her talk.

This presentation examines the process of land use change through wildlands, frontier clearings, subsistence agriculture, to intensive agriculture and urban settlements. This process parallels other societal transitions that occur with development, including demographic, health, nutrition, and energy transitions. The research discussed in the presentation focuses on the southern Amazon, where large-scale deforestation is occurring for pasture and mechanized cropland as part of the frontier stage of land use transitions. Remote sensing is an essential tool to identify deforestation and quantify the fate of deforested lands. India is currently experiencing relatively stable forest cover and rapid urbanization. One of the major transitions underway is the increased use of modern fuels and declining use of traditional biofuels.
------------------------------------

If you would like to correspond with Prof Ruth DeFries, you can email her at rdefries@umd.edu

or write to her at: The Dept of Geography and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center
2181 Lefrak HallCollege Park, MD 20742
Tel: 301 405 4884 Fax: 301 314 9299