Environment

While observing the comparative growth pattern of some tree species under controlled conditions of a University campus it was clearly established that Cordia dichotoma , Cassia fistula , Albizzia are not suitable for calcareous soils with "hard water " Their observed growth under controlled conditions was very poor over a period of 30 years. However under extremes of arid conditions Prosopis cineraria ( Khejri of Rajasthan) was thriving better and it formed very good formation with Neem (Azadirchta indica) as neem provided pesticides and Khejri provided nitrogen fixation. No wonder Khejri is…

One finds it difficult to raise trees in the sodic or saline soils with a calcareous hard pan. Some years ago I suggested that Neem and Shisham trees could be successfully raised in that kind of soil profile with limited water availability. They will not be attacked by termites and will grow well . To my utmost surprise one can witness both the trees flourishing on the roadside having such soil type from 40 km from Jaipur on Jaipur Kota road : Chaksu to Niwai and also in Niwai and campus of Banasthali University also. The wood of Shisham is very valuable and is very hard for termite to…

According to 2010 World Health Organization data, almost 1 billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water. Diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old, and is responsible for killing 1.5 million children every year. Children who are malnourished or have impaired immunity are most at risk of life-threatening diarrhea. To help provide safer drinking water, nearly one million LifeStraw(R) Family water filters will be installed in Western Kenya households starting today.   The province-wide, door-to-door, free distribution program…

The Oldest Arctic Ice The oldest non-glacial ice in the northern hemisphere is a small remnant of the former Ellesmere Ice Shelf which began  forming about 5500 years ago.  That remnant is breaking up.  Where the ice shelf has vanished the fjords are free of perennial ice for the first time in 3000 to 5500 years.  It seems likely that very soon the oldest non-glacial ice will be a mere 5 years old, or less. Up until the 1950s much of the Arctic sea ice remained trapped in the Beaufort Gyre for periods measured in decades. The age of the oldest circulating sea ice was…

What happens when you subsidize technology and then have a deficit in government?  You tax the people you just paid. In Washington state, after years and millions of dollars in tax breaks to purchase electric (and hybrid) vehicles to make it at least close to economically feasible for mainstream drivers, the government has realized something horrible - those drivers aren't using enough gasoline, which means they aren't paying enough in gasoline taxes and, with a $5 billion deficit, that is bad. Plus, if you're an electric vehicle owner, you can't really object when a politician -…

It's Earth Day tomorrow, a day when environmentalists want to remind you that you are a parasite ruining a pristine ecology and there should be less of us.   Well, by 'us' they mean you - they can't be killed or no one would be around to care about the environment. Psychology has long recognized a heirarchy of needs - that means until your baser needs are met, like food and shelter, you can't spend time on higher needs like self-actualization and pondering the universe.   On Earth Day, with most of the world economy in a dumpster thanks to gross mismanagement by the world powers,…

Marshlands are to be protected for human survival and survival of sea animals Shedding "crocodile tears" or as my father used to quote "why to cry over spilled milk" or as I would say " why to cry over spilled oil " is no longer useful in protecting mother earth. Marshlands are to be protected and not to be drilled or colonised if human race has to survive another 1000 year or so. Oyster fishing , shrimps fishing is being adversely affected by oil companies laying pipelines on the coastal areas and destroying the marshlands. Oil is important but human life is much more important. Nature has…

During winters trees shed the leaves and become leafless . Once the spring season comes two kind of behavior are apparent. If only leaves will come , the tree was deficient in stored food material and hence must produce photosynthates and cant spend its energy in reproduction. Others which have enough of storage material sense that summer is coming at least in tropical areas and for their survival they must produce seeds . Most of the tropical trees flower with regularity. March April are months for flowering in trees and seed setting. Year after year trees do it with such a great precision:…

I was deeply shocked to see row of trees drying up on the road leading the highest level of Govt of Rajasthan officials colony in Jaipur Gandhinagar. Someone chose to remove barks of these trees. I saw a large number of trees being axed a bit like wounding a persons legs with sword and cutting out the outer skin only. Only bark of the plants have the living tissue for survival: Phloem and primary and secondary cortex are the living tissue needed for survival of the plants while the wood is dead wood ( heart wood is darker in color surrounded by light coloured sap wood) . The modus operandi…

Arctic Ice April 2011 The Nares ice bridge is still blocking the strait.  My forecast of breakup on April 07 ± 3 days was wrong.  A forecast is only as good as the assumptions it is based on.  My forecast was based on valid assumptions, but I missed something vital: the 'plug' in the ice bridge isn't just consolidated ice: it is homogenous ice.  It is likely also that it is less salty than ordinary first year sea ice.  That would mean that the ice bridge is much stronger than average. After the flow of ice towards Baffin Bay came to a virtual halt, ice formed downwind…