Vidyanagar Nature Club (playlist)

DIRT the Movie

 "Floods, drought, climate change, even war are all directly related to the way we are treating dirt."
DIRT! The Movie--directed and produced by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow--takes you inside the wonders of the soil. It tells the story of Earth's most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility--from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation.

The opening scenes of the film dive into the wonderment of the soil. Made from the same elements as the stars, plants and animals, and us, "dirt is very much alive." Though, in modern industrial pursuits and clamor for both profit and natural resources, our human connection to and respect for soil has been disrupted. "Drought, climate change, even war are all directly related to the way we are treating dirt."

DIRT! the Movie--narrated by Jaime Lee Curtis--brings to life the environmental, economic, social and political impact that the soil has. It shares the stories of experts from all over the world who study and are able to harness the beauty and power of a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship with soil.

DIRT! the Movie is simply a movie about dirt. The real change lies in our notion of what dirt is. The movie teaches us: "When humans arrived 2 million years ago, everything changed for dirt. And from that moment on, the fate of dirt and humans has been intimately linked." But more than the film and the lessons that it teaches, DIRT the Movie is a call to action.

"The only remedy for disconnecting people from the natural world is connecting them to it again."

What we've destroyed, we can heal.

All-about-dirt

Lets make a change, this Diwali

Lets make a change, this Diwali

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We Feed the WORLD????

Every day in Vienna the amount of unsold bread sent back to be disposed of is enough to supply Austria's second-largest city, Graz. Around 350,000 hectares of agricultural land, above all in Latin America, are dedicated to the cultivation of soybeans to feed Austria's livestock while one quarter of the local population starves. Every European eats ten kilograms a year of artificially irrigated greenhouse vegetables from southern Spain, with water shortages the result.

In WE FEED THE WORLD, Austrian filmmaker Erwin Wagenhofer traces the origins of the food we eat. His journey takes him to France, Spain, Romania, Switzerland, Brazil and back to Austria.

Leading us through the film is an interview with Jean Ziegler, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.

WE FEED THE WORLD is a film about food and globalisation, fishermen and farmers, long-distance lorry drivers and high-powered corporate executives, the flow of goods and cash flow–a film about scarcity amid plenty. With its unforgettable images, the film provides insight into the production of our food and answers the question what world hunger has to do with us .

Interviewed are not only fishermen, farmers, agronomists, biologists and the UN's Jean Ziegler, but also the director of production at Pioneer, the world's largest seed company, as well as Peter Brabeck, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé International, the largest food company in the world.

"Every five seconds a child under ten dies of starvation. A child that dies of starvation is in effect murdered." Jean Ziegler, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food

A quarter of Vienna’s residual waste consists of unconsumed food, most of which is still perfectly fit to eat. At the same time the number of starving people in the world is increasing steadily: 852 million people suffer from malnutrition, most of them in Africa and Latin America. Even in rich industrialised countries around 10 million people do not get enough to eat. More than five million children die of malnutrition every year according to a current report issued by the FAO, the Rome-based UN organisation for food and agriculture.

Yet this problem could be brought under control: on the one hand according to the calculations of the United Nations Development Programme, in theory enough food is produced worldwide to feed the world’s population; on the other, over the past few years 30 countries have for the present succeeded in reducing malnutrition by at least 25%.

Since 1948 the right to food sufficient to ensure a person’s health and well-being has been recognised as a basic human right, a right that has been confirmed repeatedly by the United Nations. Thus there are sufficient declarations of intent, resources and knowledge to combat hunger. On an international and domestic level the problem lies in the lack of political will. Economic interests are placed before social and ecological necessity, agreements such as those of the World Trade Organisation are put into practice more rapidly than those which support sustainable development.

Yet there is no essential contradiction between the combating of hunger and economic necessity. The current FAO report states that the necessary investment would yield far more than it would cost. This is only logical, given that hunger makes people sick and unproductive, forcing them to consume natural resources in their immediate environment without regard to sustainability.

However, a serious anti-hunger policy would only benefit national economies, and not the globally and nationally influential international corporations.

સામાન્ય રંગીન લઘુ મુખ ગુહાધારી દેડકું

Kaloula taprobanica ,  Painted frog,  family: Microhylidae, subfamily: Microhylinae

સામાન્ય રંગીન લઘુ મુખ  ગુહાધારી દેડકું 

Discovered at Vaso Village near Nadiad, on 3rd October 2011 by Vishal Mistry.

Description
Maximum snouth-vent length: 75 mm, females are slightly larger than males. Colour is dorsally grey to black with an interorbital bar. Dorsolaterally reddish-orange, an orange bar from posterior edge of eye to base of upper arm. Ventral pale yellowish-grey, spotted with brown or black. Males have a dark throat during the mating period.

K. taprobanica is distributed in Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka it is fround in the wet and the dry zone up to elevation of 500 m asl.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
K. taprobanica is a fossorial species, but is also a good climber. This species is easier found after heavy rain next to human settlement: in rice fields and in water ponds along roads. Mating begins when the rain starts, and sometimes large aggregation can be found. Males call while swimming in ponds. Eggs float in a single layer on the surface of ponds. The tadpoles are black. This species is nocturnal. K. taprobanica feeds on a large variety of insects. De Silva (1995) reported feeding K. taprobanica with termites in capivity. The author has fed K. taprobanica with greater flies.

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

Local pesticides, fertilizers, and pollutants
Long-distance pesticides, toxins, and pollutants

Training for Snake Rescuers : Day -2

The second day of the training workshop for snake rescuers began with Soham showing the participants how to handle a venomous snake. Four experienced and regular snake rescuers came forward and took turns to capture and bag a cobra in groups of two. Both the groups managed to handle the snake well as well as bag it.

More groups were formed and in teams of two, they practiced catching and bagging  rat snakes. After every session of handling, the team received constructive feedback from the other participants and this helped the group arrive at some rules that should be followed religiously while handling any snake.  Most amateur snake handlers found it difficult to manage the snake as well as their enthusiasm but with a little bit of concentration and focus, they were able to perform the task without causing any damage to themselves or the snake.

Some of the other things that came up were the need to decide a course of action for any rescue and stick to it (except in situations where someone’s safety is at stake), taking one’s own time to catch and bag the snake, communicating effectively with the bagger, being aware of the presence of corners, people and other obstacles that may hinder the process.

Newly learnt technique being tried out by participants.

The next thing to be discussed was snake-bite management and this was done by giving six groups a situation wherein one of them had to be the victim of a snake-bite and the rest had to enact ways in which to administer first aid using things from a list that had a bizarre mix of objects. The groups did a great job and had fun with their presentations. Soham went on to tell the group about the most effective ways of carrying out first aid. There were several questions about the relevance of the ways in which snake-bites have been handled in their localities for a long time.

Those who had been rescuing snakes in and around Vidyanagar for a long time had a lot to contribute in the next session which was about the translocation of snakes. They talked about the nearby places where they normally release snakes in bulk and later put their heads together to figure out a way in which to minimize the damage caused through translocation.

The last session of the day was a discussion on the soon-to-be-ready manual for the snake rescuers of Vidyanagar. The participants gave their inputs on preparing a data collection form during any rescue.

The workshop ended with a vote of thanks by Dhaval Patel and the group seemed pleased with the two-day adventure! Thank you http://www.gerrymartin.in

Special thanks were conveyed to Shri Narayancharandas Swami of Vrajbhoomi Foundation for generous hospitality and providing infrastructural support.

Training for Snake Rescuers : Day -1.

Soham and Rowland demonstrating the use of scale counts for the identification of  snakes.

The first day of the workshop for snake rescuers organized by The Gerry Martin Project in association with Vidyanagar Nature Club buzzed with enthusiasm and curiosity as 28 participants set out on a journey to understand the nuances of  scientific and responsible snake rescue and handling. The first session of the day was a basic presentation by Soham Mukherjee on the biology, behaviour and physiology of snakes as well as their role in the ecosystem. The participants were also introduced to the factors that help in the identification of snakes and the differences between the deceivingly similar species. Soham went on to demonstrate how to handle a Rat Snake, a Red Sand Boa, a Common Wolf Snake, a Russell's Viper, a Spectacled Cobra and a Common Krait. The idea was to learn how to make each snake comfortable for the handler's safety as well as the snake's. Soham and his colleague Rowland Griffin demonstrated how to count scales in a Common Krait and later how to bag venomous and non-venomous snakes.

An interesting discussion on the various steps of snake rescue saw great inputs from the participants. The instructions that could be given to a caller on receiving a call were also discussed and standardized with reference to Vidyanagar and some surrounding villages. Emphasis was laid on the importance of keeping an eye on the snake and not disturbing it until the the rescuer arrives. Next in line was the necessity of having a rescue kit and all that could possibly go into it. There were several experienced participants who shared some experiences that helped throw more light on the importance of having intact bags, boxes, hooks and a reliable assistant during the rescue!

Transportation of the snake was discussed later, keeping in mind the season as well as the mode of transport. Soham demonstrated probing techniques in a rat snake and no wonder, the huge specimen was a guy! This was followed by each participant receiving a copy of Romulus Whitaker and Ashok Captain's 'Snakes of India', translated in Hindi, hopefully a good enough motivation for the participants to come back tomorrow, with more questions and energy!