Podcasts about Western Ghats

In the third of our four-part mini series on sustainable fashion in India, Clare sits down with Drishti Modi and Rashmick Bose, the duo behind slow fashion brand Lafaani. It's focused handcraft, handloom weaves, and natural dyes, and their clothes are gorgeous - we want them all!But the founders didn't always dream of fashion careers - they're sustainability professionals who met at university studying environmental resource management. At first, it was all about biodiversity, water use in marginalised communities, and regen ag.So how does one move from observing flying lizards in the Western Ghats, or surveying toilet numbers in remote villages, to staging runway shows? And making wonderful trench coats dyed with marigolds diverted from temple waste-streams. Somewhat of a winding road, it has to be said! Was it hard? What drives them? When you haven't been to fashion school, how do you get the design right? Who do you work with? How do you figure it all out, while staying true to your purpose? A warm, inviting conversation that will help anybody with big sustainability ideas trying to do fashion differently.More info at thewardrobecrisis.comTell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspressGot recommendations? Hit us up!And please share these podcasts.THANK YOU. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Indian specialty coffee is at a turning point—gaining global recognition, yet deeply rooted in tradition. In this episode, we sit down with Pranoy Thipaiah, fifth-generation steward of Kerehaklu Estate, to explore how coffee, climate, and culture are evolving in India's Western Ghats.At his 250-acre estate, coffee plants grow under ancient fig trees, local microbes fuel experimental fermentations, and leopards roam the same paths as farmers. But Pranoy's work goes beyond cultivation—it's about balancing ecology with innovation, protecting biodiversity, and challenging industry norms.We dive into:The global perception of Indian coffee—and the myths that need breakingThe future of farming in a changing climate—and how Kerehaklu is leading by exampleWhat India can learn from global coffee cultures—from Colombia to AustraliaThe challenges of legacy, colonial narratives, and global trade inequalitiesThe business of coffee—building a brand that blends storytelling with sustainabilityPranoy also shares his perspective as a consultant, educator, and entrepreneur, offering insight into what it takes to grow not just great coffee, but a movement.This is a conversation about coffee's future, India's role in the global market, and what it means to build a truly sustainable coffee culture.

Many of the world's poorest communities are among tribal and indigenous populations. Trapped in a relentless cycle of extreme poverty, vulnerability, and deprivation, they face a complex web of challenges that are deeply interconnected. These communities are the most vulnerable to the onset of climate change and environmental degradation. Increased water scarcity, soil instability and deforestation threaten the livelihoods of the 300 million people who are reliant on India's forest ecosystems.In Episode 13, I am joined by Dr. Sarika Kulkarni, the founder of the RAAH Foundation, an organization with the vision to make a better life for the tribal communities of Maharashtra. Operating in the northern Western Ghats, RAAH Foundation takes an integrated landscape management approach. This includes activities like creating water-positive villages, soil and moisture conservation, contour lining of farms, protecting grasses, designating fragile and critical areas, diverting grazing, converting barren land into biodiverse enriched carbon sinks through the plantation of native trees. To support biodiversity, RAAH is involved in the removal of invasive species, regenerative farming and agroforestry. Other than supporting tribal communities establish climate smart farming, RAAH Foundation aims to revive tribal art and establish micro businesses.The Think Wildlife Podcast is also available on iTunes, Spotify and YouTube. Please do consider upgrading to an optional paid subscription on Substack. 30% of the revenue from this episode will be donated to RAAH Foundation!Meet the HostAnish Banerjee: https://x.com/anishwildlifeThink Wildlife Foundation: https://thinkwildlifefoundation.com/Meet the GuestsDr. Sarika Kulkarni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarikakulkarni/Recommended Wildlife Conservation BooksRewilding: The Radical New Science of Ecological Recovery: https://amzn.to/3NGF2V5Rewilding Africa: Restoring the Wilderness on a War-ravaged Continent by Grant Fowlds and Graham Spence: https://amzn.to/48rpX3dWilder: How Rewilding is Transforming Conservation and Changing the World: https://amzn.to/4hpHIEcRewilding the Sea by Charles Clover: https://amzn.to/3NGF2V5 Get full access to The Think Wildlife Podcast at anishbanerjee.substack.com/subscribe

The text of Kuvempu's epic Kannada novel, Malegalalli Madumagalu (1967), and the recent translation, Bride in the Hills by Vanamala Viswanatha (Penguin Random House, 2024), will be discussed by an eminent panel of scholars, writers and the translator. Set in 1893 in the Malnad region of the Western Ghats with its majestic Sahyadri ranges, dense forests, and river Tunga, Kuvempu's Malegalalli Madumagalu (Bride in the Hills) describes the saga of not one young woman but many, of varied hues, who aspire for love and fulfilment in marriage, in a self-serving, male feudal order. An organic network of interrelated stories, the well-known Kannada writer Devanoora Mahadeva locates the novel in the epic tradition of the Mahabharata and Tolstoy's War and Peace. This woman-centric text weaves together the touching plight of young couples in love, such as Gutti and Timmi, from a Dalit community living on the ghats; Aita and Pinchalu, migrant labourers from below the ghats, and Mukundayya and Chinnamma from the land-owning Shudra caste. Fired from within by their love – the most powerful agent of change – these young people seek a life of freedom and dignity, leading to the transformation of the larger community. Their heartening stories are juxtaposed against the travails of hapless Nagakka and scheming Venkatanna, sickly Deyi and brute Chinkra, and gullible Kaveri and lecherous Devayya. All of them are, in different ways, up against the repressive regimes of the decadent landlords, who manipulate traditional feudal practices as well as the modern apparatus of a colonial state.  True to its claim as an epic novel, Kuvempu's text with its multiple narrative strands vividly enacts its mission statement in the epigraph: “Here, no one is important; no one is unimportant; nothing is insignificant!” Every sentient and insentient thing – the degenerate Chinkra, orphan Dharmu, Huliya the dog, Biri the cat, the evergreen forest, the Hulikal Peak – has a place and a purpose in this narrative. Imbued with an ecological consciousness, the novel offers a veritable biodiversity register of the Malnad region. Kuvempu presents a ‘view from below', a subaltern perspective which also takes in the world of the wealthy and powerful. Winner of the first Sahitya Akademi award in 1955 and the Jnanpith in 1967, Kuvempu (Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa 1904-1994) inaugurated the non-brahmin era in modern Kannada writing. Kuvempu's versatile oeuvre includes a vast body of poetry, plays, novels, children's writing, essays and an autobiography. While his poetic epic ‘Shri Ramayana Darshanam' is a radical rewriting of the Valmiki epic drawing from the Jaina tradition, the two novels, The Kanur House (made into a film by Girish Karnad) and Bride in the Hills, are modern novels set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Inspired by Tolstoy's expansive canvas and Tagore's unique Indian ethos, this first significant Shudra writer and an iconic figure in Kannada culture, has sculpted an entirely regional epic novel in Bride in the Hills. Image Credits Book Cover: MS Murthy and Jay Gosney Header: A Malnad Landscape, Photo courtesy Girish Kasaravalli Photo of Amit Chaudhuri by Richard Lofthouse/University of Oxford In collaboration with Rashtrakavi Kuvempu Pratishthana, Kuppali (Devangi, Thirthahalli, Shivamogga) In this episode of BIC Talks, Vanamala Viswanathan, Rajendra Chenni, Amit Chaudhuri and Arvind Narrain will be in conversation. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in November 2024. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favorite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

The Western Ghats, recognized as one of the world's eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity, is a land where the line between myth and reality often blurs. Among the countless tales whispered by the locals, one stood out: a creature with oddly colored dusk-like skin, known to emerge only with the monsoon rains and vanish as swiftly as it appeared, leaving behind nothing but stories passed down through generations. Let's hunt for a small, monsoon-loving, peculiar, purple creature that has hopped from obscurity into the realm of scientific discovery and a bit of Meme culture. - I'm Cody, and Cryptids Across the Atlas is taking a pit stop to learn about animals that used to be cryptids. ----- Cryptid Map

A version of this essay has been published by firstpost.com at https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/climate-tragedy-of-wayanad-and-the-vulnerability-of-western-ghats-13808331.htmlAfter days of intense coverage of the landslides in Wayanad, the news cycle has moved on to other calamities. But the problems remain, and things cannot be left to benign neglect as is usually the case. For example there was a strange thundering noise from deep underground that alarmed people in the area. This is ominous, as it may presage a tectonic movement, although there have been no big quakes here for centuries.A dramatic before-and-after report from Reuters, using satellite images from Planet Labs, Google, Maxar Technologies and Airbus, shows how the landslide left a giant scar on the surface of the earth, washing away hundreds of houses, leading to widespread fatalities and destruction.Prime Minister Modi visited the afflicted area. Better governance, both by Center and State, is sorely needed to tackle the problem, because it is not simple: there are proximate, preponderant and root causes. A lot of it is anthropogenic based on local factors, but climate change is also a major factor, as the local climate and rainfall patterns have shifted dramatically in the recent past. There was a drought in 2015, followed by the Ockhi cyclone in 2017, and then landslides and floods in 2018 and 2019.As a resident of Kerala, who has visited Wayanad only twice (once in 2018 and the second time in April this year), both the problems and the possible solutions are of immediate importance to me, because the very same issues are likely to crop up all over the State, and unless remedial measures are taken now, we can expect further tragedies and endless suffering. Proximate Cause: Excess RainThe proximate cause is La Nina-enhanced rainfall, which has been higher this year along the west coast. In Wayanad itself, it rained 572mm in 48 hours before the landslide: about 1.8 feet, an enormous amount. Before the Wayanad landslide, there had been another in Shirur on the Karnataka coast near Ankola, where a number of people were swept away. The story of Arjun, a Kerala trucker whose truck full of lumber disappeared, was all over the news, and after a weeks-long search, there was no sign of him or the truck. The total rainfall since June 1 was of the order of 3000mm in Wayanad, which is unusually high, creating vulnerability to landslides. In a recent interview, environmental expert Madhav Gadgil mentioned that quarrying may have added to the intensity of the rainfall, because the fine dust from the mining and explosions forms aerosols, on which water molecules condense, leading to excessive precipitation. The intense rainfall saturated the soil, and in the absence of sufficient old-growth vegetation that might have held it together, the hillside simply collapsed. Preponderant Cause: Population Pressure, Over-Tourism, EcocideThe preponderant causes of the problems in Wayanad are obvious: population pressure, over-tourism and environmental destruction. The forest has basically ceased to exist due to human exploitation. According to India Today, 62% of the green cover in the district disappeared between 1950 and 2018 while plantation cover rose by around 1,800%. Fully 85% of the total area of Wayanad was under forest cover until the 1950s.Overpopulation, settlement and habitat lossMy first visit to Wayanad was in 2018, when we drove to Kerala from Karnataka: from the Nagarhole/Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuaries to the contiguous Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, all forming a Project Tiger ecosphere along with neighboring Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. Together they form the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Bandipur/Nagarhole actually looks like a forest. But I was astonished when we drove into Wayanad, because it does not look like a forest any more: it is full of human habitation. It looks like any of the other districts in Kerala: thickly populated, with settlements all over the place. It appeared to be only notionally a wildlife sanctuary.Habitat loss, especially that of forest cover, is true of all of Kerala, as highlighted in a study by IISc scientists. It is startling to see how much of this has happened in just a few decades. But it is the culmination of a process that started at least a century ago. Wayanad, according to myth and legend, was once a lovely, lush forest inhabited by a small number of tribals. There were fierce Kurichya archers (it is possible they were warriors banished to the forest after losing a war) who, with Pazhassi Raja, carried on a guerilla war against the British colonials in the 19th century until the Raja was captured and executed. I visited the Pazhassi Museum in Mananthavady this May, on my second visit to Wayanad. There were artifacts there from the tribal settlements.Then, in the 20th century, there was a large migration of lowland people, mostly Christians from Central Travancore, to the Wayanad highlands (and the Western Ghats uplands in general). They encroached on public/forest lands, cleared the forests, and created plantations and agricultural settlements. Their struggles against malaria, wild animals and the land itself was the subject of Jnanpith winner S K Pottekkat's renowned novel Vishakanyaka (Poison Maiden).The public land thus captured eventually made some people rich, but the whole process also in effect enslaved the tribals, who became an exploited underclass: the very same story as of Native Americans, who are still struggling for social justice after centuries of being untermenschen.Since most of the settlers were Christians, the Church became a powerful spokesman for them. Successive governments gave a lot of the settlers title to the land they had illegally captured. So there is a class of rich planters, and on the other hand, miserable plantation workers, often migrants especially from Tamil Nadu. The green deserts need to be turned back into forestsKerala's highlands, over time, became ‘green deserts', rather than ‘tropical rainforests'. The monoculture of tea, rubber, coffee, and especially invasive species such as acacia and eucalyptus is destructive. They crowd out native species, ravage the water table, do not put down deep roots, and offer almost no sustenance to wild animals. It may look deceptively green, but it is no forest. An expert committee, the Madhav Gadgil Commission, recommended in 2011 that the entire Western Ghats was ecologically sensitive (ESA or Ecologically Sensitive Area) and 75% of it must be preserved intact with minimal human presence. The report was scathing about quarrying, including blasting with dynamite, which upset the already fragile ecosystem, ravaged as it was by the removal of old growth forest and the root system that held the soil together. At the time, Gadgil did say that the calamity would not take a 100 years, but it would happen in ten to twenty years. He was right, but he was ignored as though he were Cassandra. The Church opposed the Gadgil report tooth and nail, and the Government of Kerala pushed back on it. So the Central government created the Kasturirangan Commission (2013), which reduced the proposed ESA to 37%. It classified 60% of the Western Ghats as a ‘cultural landscape' with human settlements, plantations and agriculture. But that too was not acceptable. In fact, Jayanthi Natarajan claimed that she was forced to resign as Environment Minister because she actually notified the order on protection of the Western Ghats the day before she was removed. Her successor duly put the order on hold.Sitting Congress MP in nearby Idukki, P T Thomas, says he was dropped in the 2014 elections because he supported the Gadgil report against “encroachments… illegal constructions, quarrying, timber smuggling, sand mining from the rivers and ganja cultivation…My stand upset the Idukki dioceses of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church. The Idukki Bishop had openly opposed my candidature.”The GoK convened a third committee, the Oommen Commission (2014), which was specific to Kerala, and it recommended keeping all inhabited areas and plantations out of the ESA altogether. Mission accomplished. No more restrictions on land use.Over-tourism and carrying capacity of the landThis is one reason for the proliferation of resorts and homestays in Wayanad. Every second house caters to tourists, as can be seen from a Google Map (of the area around Kalpetta). The environmental pressure from this (what about solid waste disposal? Do they dump liquid wastes into rivers?) is horrific and increasing. Trash lines the area near the Thamarassery Pass.As a tourist myself, I did not choose a plantation resort, but instead a homestay which has a working farm. Perhaps I made a wrong choice, because a plantation has a lot of space to absorb the tourist impact. The homestay had many youngsters from Bangalore over the weekend, and it was perfectly nice, but I wonder how much I contributed to the human toll on the environment. I had gone to Wayanad to visit the Thirunelli temple and the Edakkal caves, which have petroglyphs and drawings reliably dated back to 8000 Before the Present, making them second only to the Bhimbetka caves in Madhya Pradesh, whose rock art dates back to 10,000 BP and earlier. So this area, despite the geological fault lines, has indeed been inhabited for a very long time. The carrying capacity of the land was sufficient in those prehistoric times and even up until recently; now the land can no longer sustain the population. It is also host to another recent influx. Muslims from nearby lowland Kozhikode and Malappuram districts have come up the Thamarassery Pass and settled in Wayanad in numbers. They have added to the population pressure in Wayanad. Incidentally this is one reason Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency (which includes areas from nearby Kozhikode and Malappuram districts that are heavily Muslim) is so dependably a Congress citadel. When I made my trip in April, just before elections, I asked several people who would win there: the candidates were Rahul Gandhi (Congress), Annie Raja (CPI), K Surendran (BJP). All of them said “Rahul Gandhi”. One man told me “Rahul Gandhi is going to become the PM”. Another laughed and said, “Are you joking? We all know the answer”. It was, pun intended, a landslide win for the Congress candidate. Root Cause: Geology and Errant RainfallThe root cause of the problems in Kerala is the increasingly unstable landscape. It is remarkable that Kerala has such a high number of landslides and vulnerable spots. India Today reports that Kerala has recorded the largest number of landslides in the country, 2,239 out of 3,782 that occurred between 2015 and 2022. The “Landslide Atlas of India 2023” from ISRO lists 13 out of 14 Kerala districts among the top 50 landslide-prone areas of the country.This is surprising, because the more obvious fault lines must be in the North, where the Indian Plate continues to grind up against the Eurasian Plate, and the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau continue to gain a few centimeters in elevation every year. Indeed Arunachal, Himachal, J&K and Uttarakhand are landslide-prone. But why Kerala, at the other end of the land-mass?It must be the case that there have been severe tectonic movements in Kerala in the past: the Parasurama legend of the land coming up from the sea is based on a real event, presumably caused by an earthquake in a prehistoric time frame. More recently, the thriving Kerala port of Kodungalloor (aka Muziris), the principal West Coast port in historical times along with Bharuccha in Gujarat, was suddenly rendered bereft in 1341 CE after a severe flood in the River Periyar, and port activities shifted to nearby Kochi.More recently, old-timers talk about the Great Flood of ‘99, i.e. 1099 Malabar Era, or 1924 CE. Exactly 100 years ago there were torrential rains in July, and records suggest it was 3368mm or 1326 inches over three weeks, that is 11 feet of rain. Floodwaters rose up to 6 feet, rivers changed course, and at least 1,000 people died along with large numbers of livestock, and there was massive destruction of agricultural land and foodgrains. The Flood of ‘99 became etched in the collective memory of the area, but it mostly affected the lowland areas of Travancore and Cochin, leaving the highlands largely untouched. That has changed with deforestation, quarrying, construction, and denudation of hillsides.There were the floods of 2018, which affected the hills, especially in Munnar. A full mountainside fell 300 meters into a river there. Entire settlements were washed away. A total of 2,346mm of rain or 923 inches was recorded in July and August, almost 50% higher than the norm. 483 people were killed, with many more missing and unaccounted for. Infrastructure was wiped out, including roads and clean water supply. Dams had to be opened, wreaking havoc on those downstream. There is also the perennial threat of Mullaperiyar Dam overflowing or being breached, which is, among other things, a source of friction between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Other root causes include the following: * Climate Change: A study by the World Weather Attribution group indicated that climate change has intensified rainfall in the region by about 10%, contributing significantly to the severity of the disaster. The ongoing increase in global temperatures has led to more extreme weather patterns, including heavier monsoon rains.* Soil Characteristics: Wayanad's soils are loose and erodible, particularly in areas with steep gradients exceeding 20 degrees. When saturated, these soils lose their structural integrity, making them susceptible to landslides. The presence of large boulders and mud further complicates the stability of the slopes during heavy rains.* Soil piping: Previous landslides in the region, such as the 2019 Puthumala event, created conditions for soil piping, where voids form in the subsurface soil, increasing the risk of subsequent landslides during heavy rainfall.* Lack of Effective Land Management Policies: There is a notable absence of comprehensive land use and disaster management policies in Kerala, particularly in ecologically fragile areas. Despite previous disasters, there has been insufficient progress in implementing hazard mapping and community awareness programs to mitigate risks associated with landslides.Thus Kerala is vulnerable to a host of issues, especially climate change (which is also eating away at the coastline). Behind the tropical paradise facade of “God's Own Country”, there lie tremendous dangers related to excessive human exploitation, amounting to ecocide. What is the solution? Maybe Madhav Gadgil was right, after all, and strict controls should be imposed on human activity, especially denudation of forest, and quarrying. His report had included Vythiri, Mananthavady and Sulthanbathery taluks in Wayanad as Ecologically Sensitive Zone ESZ-1, which means no change whatsoever in land use is permissible there. Chooralmala, Mundakkai, and Meppadi, where the worst of the disasters happened, are all in Vythiri taluk. No effective disaster prevention or mitigation efforts have been put in place. The only solution is reforesting and restoring green cover, and stopping construction, quarrying, and tourism and the most contentious issue, relocating people away from the ESZ. Unfortunately the tropical rainforest may not restore itself if simply left alone (as temperate-zone forests do), and perhaps efforts such as Miyawaki foresting with native species may need to be pursued.It is to be hoped that we have not passed the point of no return. Kerala's population is shrinking (Total Fertility Rate is 1.80, well below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman), but there is no limit to human greed.What needs to be done There are no magic solutions, but comprehensive climate action and improved disaster management strategies can mitigate things to an extent. Experts emphasize the importance of:* Enhanced Communication and Coordination: There is a critical need for better intergovernmental communication regarding disaster preparedness. This includes timely warnings and efficient evacuation plans to mitigate the impact of natural disasters.* Land Use Policies: Implementing stringent land use regulations is essential to prevent construction in ecologically sensitive areas. The degradation of green cover due to unregulated development has significantly increased the risk of landslides.* Early Warning Systems: Developing robust early warning systems for landslides and floods can provide crucial alerts to communities at risk. These systems should be supported by regular community education and drills to ensure residents are prepared for emergencies.* Afforestation and Environmental Conservation: Massive afforestation and reforestation drives (especially with native species) are necessary to stabilize hillsides and reduce landslide risks. Protecting and restoring natural habitats can help mitigate the effects of climate change and enhance biodiversity. Collaborating with local communities for reforestation projects can also provide economic incentives and foster a sense of stewardship.* Community Engagement: Empowering local communities to participate in disaster preparedness and environmental conservation efforts is vital. Education on risks and proactive measures can significantly reduce the impact of disasters.* Tourism Management: Over-tourism can exacerbate environmental degradation. Developing a sustainable tourism strategy that limits visitor numbers, promotes eco-friendly practices, and educates tourists about environmental conservation is essential. Establishing eco-tourism zones and supporting community-based tourism initiatives can provide economic benefits while preserving the natural environment.* Regulation of Quarrying and Construction: Strict regulation and monitoring of quarrying and construction activities are necessary to prevent ecological damage. Implementing sustainable practices in these industries, such as controlled quarrying methods and responsible waste management, can mitigate their impact on the environment. Regular audits and penalties for non-compliance can enforce these regulations.* Surveillance and meteorological data collection: With modern technology like drones, continuous monitoring of the landscape is possible at a relatively low cost; and this can also be used for collecting large amounts of meteorological data to support early-warning systems. Satellite images from India's own as well as foreign sources can be used to warn of dangerous construction, quarrying, and loss of forest cover. Some of these are purely technical solutions, offering computerized forecasts and disaster warnings. The social and governance aspects are even more important: discipline, co-operation and awareness on the part of the residents, and the strict enforcement of land use rules and regulations. Dealing with powerful settlers, encroachers, and vested interests requires a delicate balance of enforcement and negotiation, carrot and stick. Government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local communities must collaborate to develop and implement policies that address these challenges. Advocacy for stronger environmental laws and community involvement in decision-making processes can help align interests and foster co-operation.With all these in place, it may be possible to repair the damaged hills of the Western Ghats, one of the global hotspots of biodiversity. 2200 words, Aug 17, 2024 updated 3000 words, Aug 19 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

The devastating landslides in Wayanad that left over 400 dead and over 100 still missing shocked not just Kerala but the entire country. Almost immediately, a blame game began – Union Home Minister Amit Shah said adequate warning had been given to Kerala, but the government of Kerala disputes this – it said the warning came after the landslide had occurred. Experts in the meantime have pointed to a number of factors that could have acted as the trigger, including the 570 mm of rainfall received in the region on July 30 and 31st. The tragedy has also brought back into the news the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, led by Madhav Gadgil, whose report in 2011 recommended that the entire region of the Western Ghats – 1,29,000 sq km across six States be declared an ecologically sensitive zone. The report recommended three zones for ecologically sensitive areas, with strict restrictions on development activities in the first two. This report generated backlash from the States as it would significantly impact livelihoods and economic growth. Following the landslide, the Central government brought out, for the sixth time in 10 years — a draft notification classifying parts of the Western Ghats as ecologically sensitive areas. Concerns of the States are now to be addressed by a separate committee. What were the actual triggers of the landslide? How are the Western Ghats and other hilly regions in India particularly vulnerable? How much of a role has climate change played and will this continue in the near future? What can be done to make modelling and prediction systems better? Guest: Raghu Murtugudde is a professor of climate studies, IIT Bombay, and an emeritus professor, University of Maryland. Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

Kerala's Wayanad was hit with a landslide on Tuesday killing close to 170 people. This is not the state's first time facing a crisis related to monsoons. In this businessline podcast, Anjana PV talks to Vinson Kurian, Consultant,businessline, about the recurring issues of landslides and extreme weather events in Kerala.   The podcast highlights the frequency and severity of these natural disasters, attributing them largely to the monsoon season. Kurian explains that while the north of Kerala is severely affected, the threat extends to other districts such as Idukki, which are part of the Western Ghats and thus prone to landslides and flooding due to heavy rainfall.   He discusses the critical role of the monsoon, noting that July and August are the wettest months, often leading to extreme rainfall events. These events cause the hillsides to become unstable, resulting in landslides. Kurian recounts significant past incidents, such as the 2018 landslide in Wayanad that killed nine people and destroyed 15 houses, and the 2019 event in Puthumala, which resulted in 17 deaths and significant destruction.  Kurian explains that the state and central governments are responsible for inadequate preparation and response. He points out that the Kerala Government has not declared ecologically sensitive areas as required, allowing construction and development in vulnerable regions. Despite repeated warnings, the state government has not taken sufficient proactive measures, leading to a cycle of unpreparedness and reactive responses.  He also addresses the central government's role, noting that while funds are allocated for disaster management, they are insufficient and often underutilised by the state government. For instance, in 2021, out of the 59 crores allocated, only 40 crores were used. Kurian emphasises the need for better fund utilisation and more comprehensive preparedness measures, including increasing the number of rain gauges and improving flood management strategies.  The podcast stresses the importance of the Kerala Government setting its house in order before seeking assistance from the Central Government. He suggests halting illegal construction and quarrying activities in floodplains and vulnerable areas, as these increase the impact of natural disasters. He also highlights the need for proactive measures rather than reactive responses, ensuring the state is better prepared for future monsoon seasons.  Listen in to the podcast to know more.  

India is currently thought to have around 29,000 wild elephants, especially in the biodiverse Western Ghats region, including Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It's also the country home to more than half of the global population. Although poaching, trafficking and trading of elephants and ivory in India is prohibited according to 1972's Wildlife Protection Act, poaching has remained a constant threat.  Today, around 20-25 elephants are lost to poaching each year.  On this episode of Climate Connections, Emmy-award winning Canadian filmmaker Richie Mehta, who's the director of Poacher - shares more about his dramatisation of the largest ever elephant poaching case in India.  The eight-episode series was based on the real-life events of Operation Shikar, a sprawling investigation that took place between 2015 and 2017 into elephant poaching in the southern state of Kerala, which led to 72 arrests across India, including elephant poachers, government officials, carvers and high-end ivory art dealers. Also on this episode, Rohit Singh, Director of Wildlife Enforcement and Zero Poaching, WWF-Singapore , who has first-hand experience coordinating law enforcement activities in India, weighs in on the challenges behind wildlife crime law enforcement.  Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)Voiced by: Audrey SiekPhoto credits: WWF-Singapore / Richie MehtaDrama sound effect credits: Richie Mehta / Amazon PrimeMusic credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributorsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First, Indian Express' Deeksha Teri joins us to talk about the NEET UG 2024 controversy. She talks about the high-powered committee that was formed to look into the grace marks awarded to the candidates and whether or not it was fair to do so. She also shares the recommendations of the committee. Next, Indian Express' Nikhil Ghanekar speaks to us about the Western Ghats and why protecting their ecology is of utmost importance. He also shares how parts of the Western Ghats have been identified as eco-sensitive areas but that is causing friction between the states and the authorities. (10:44)And in the end, we talk about a tragic train accident where the Kanchanjunga Express was hit by a goods train in West Bengal, killing 9 people and leaving 25 injured. (20:29)Hosted by Niharika NandaProduced and written by Niharika Nanda and Shashank BhargavaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

This week, The Musafir Stories speaks to returning guest, Sahana Kulur from https://vacaywork.com/ Today's destination: Chikmagalur, Karnataka!! Nearest Airport: Mangalore airport (IXE) Nearest Railway Station: Kadur railway station (DRU) Requirements: n/a Packing: Pack depending on the weather, winters can be cool and monsoon  Time of the year: October to February Length of the itinerary: 5 days Itinerary Highlights:  Sahana begins the conversation with the meaning of the town of Chikmagalur or “younger daughter's town”, named after one of the paleygara or town cheif. The points of interest  include  Adventure activities including trekking to Mullayangiri peak, Baba Budangiri, Gaali kere, Kudremukha, Balladarayana durga, Ettinabhuja trek, Narsimha parvata Another option is to cut off from the busy town life  and opt for a cosy homestay and some self care.  Estate visits to plantations like coffee, tea, spices, arecanut, betel nut. Visiting in Jan-March will enhance the sensory elements.  Wildlife tours is another option like Bhadra wildlife sanctuary as well as the kudremukh reserve.   Temples such as Belur and Halebidu in the nearby Hassan district, lesser known ones in Javagal, Chikmagalur.  We also talk about the delicious cuisine of this region including fruits like jackfruit, vegetarian food like akki rotti, roast, steamed food,chutneys  and non-vegetarian food ! Other places of interest/things to buy include Panchami kallu, Sringeri, river rafting in river Bhadra, Kyatanamakki hills, banana chips, coffee powder, spices, herbs and oils, haale toppi, or areca caps. Links: Link to Sahana''s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sahana.kulur Link to blog post: https://vacaywork.com/chikmagalur-travel-guide/ Link to website: https://vacaywork.com/ Link to the Bijapur episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4SHkw6h3NVYWcqoEA07bMv?si=oBL-7i0FRhKeg94MgkG5Ow Link to the Madurai episode:https://open.spotify.com/episode/0sfbo4CGkeJJImd1Acx5K1?si=8lb2biYOTcuyd5yIqCJ2Zw Photo by Sachin S Nair on Unsplash Follow the Musafir stories on: Twitter : https://twitter.com/musafirstories?lang=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themusafirstories/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musafirstoriespodcast/?hl=en website: www.themusafirstories.com email: themusafirstories@gmail.com Do follow IVM Podcasts on social media. We are @‌IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. Follow the show across platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon Music Do share the word with your folks!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With over three decades of conservation experience, Dr. Sanjay Molur, is one of India's leading wildlife biologists. He was a part of the team of scientists which formulated the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Since 1995,  Dr. Molur has conducted the status assessments of over 10,000 (sub)species and ecosystems. He was amongst the earliest scientists to report frogs in the Western Ghats succumbing to the fatal chytrid fungus.Dr. Molur established the Journal of Threatened Taxa, the first international platinum open-access journal from India. He is also the founder and executive director of the Zoo Outreach Organization. As a recognition of his work, two species have been named after him. This includes the thomisid spider (Strigoplus moluri) and a freshwater fish Pethia sanjaymoluri, both endemic to parts of the Western Ghats. Tune into the episode as we discuss his illustrious conservation career. We also disseminate the IUCN Red List Criteria and the conservation of amphibians in India. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anishbanerjee.substack.com

The Western Ghats is one of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots. Older than the Himalayas, the Western Ghats is home to at least 508 species of birds, 227 reptile species, and 139 mammal species. The region is home to the largest population of Asiatic elephants, with an estimated population of around 11,000 individuals across eight distinct populations. The region is one of the key strongholds for tiger conservation with a population of around 1,200 individuals. Large populations of various other megafauna species are found in the region, including sloth bear, Indian gaur, leopards, Nilgiri Tahr and the Asiatic Wild Dog.Unfortunately, the region's biodiversity is under immense pressure. The Western Ghat is undergoing rampant habitat loss and fragmentation due to the development of linear infrastructure, such as roads and railways, mining, hydroelectric dams, and monoculture plantations. Other than isolating populations of megafauna, this fragmentation is catalyzing extensive human-wildlife conflict.  Changing land use patterns and loss of habitats often result in conflict over resources, such as food and space. Moreover, as megaherbivores, such as gaur and elephants, seasonally migrate across the Western Ghats, there is a high risk of crop depredation, property damage, and even loss of life. Meanwhile, increased human activity in these habitats is leading to increased livestock depredation and loss of lives by carnivores, such as leopards, sloth bears, and even tigers. These lead to retaliatory killings of carnivores. Moreover, the management of animals touted as “man-eaters” often leads to intense political controversy. As megafauna species are on the path to recovery, mitigating human-wildlife conflict is a priority for conservationists in the region. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, I interview Dr. Sanjay Gubbi, who is one of the leading conservation biologists working in the Western Ghats. He has extensively studied and analyzed patterns of human-wildlife conflict in the region, with a particular focus on tigers, leopards, and elephants. Other than human-wildlife conflict, he has worked extensively to minimize the impact of roads, and vehicular traffic on the biodiversity of the Western Ghats. He played a pivotal role in the banning of night-time traffic along the highways passing through Nagarhole and Bandipur National Parks. His extensive research work, coupled with passionate outreach efforts, has led to the addition of nearly 3,000 square kilometers of forested land to Karnataka's protected area network. The famous and ecologically crucial  Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary was established based on his work. Tune in to listen more about his illustrious career.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anishbanerjee.substack.com

To record a soundscape characteristic of this region – and attempt to encapsulate my observational thoughts and views as a soundscape recordist – I arrived at a preserved section of the forest. The Pambar Shola plantation acts as a nursery for shola trees, which grow in the shade of taller pines and eucalyptus. A visual change was provided by a few rhododendrons – a Himalayan species believed to have spread over 1,200 miles (2,000 km) during periods when the temperature and ecology of the Western Ghats and the Himalayas were similar, due to seed dispersal by birds. I stationed my equipment beside a small stream, the sound of which, to me, symbolized the larger ecological processes taking place over centuries in the Western Ghats, to create a soundscape which could become a starting point for discussing Vattakanal, as per the hypothesis I am trying to explore through this project. At a personal level, I will remember this flowing water as the sound of sunrise in a tropical forest in the Western Ghats, layered with the sounds of birds, the occasional howling of Nilgiri langurs, and the distant barks of dogs which had followed me along the trail. This excerpt is from the article Soundscapes of Lesser Nature, by Mustard Lake, a grantee of our field recording grant program.

In this episode, FAQ is: What are the best stretching methods for solo travel. Today's Destination is: Kerala, India Today's Misstep- I did not get to use my airline credits on Spirit. Travel Advice: U-shaped airline pillows can be stuffed with clothes. FAQ:  What are the best stretching methods for solo travel? Stretching offers several benefits for your solo female traveler's body, including improvements in flexibility, range of motion, and overall well-being. Here are some ways stretching can positively impact your body: Increased Flexibility: Stretching helps lengthen muscles and tendons, which can improve your flexibility. This increased flexibility can enhance your ability to perform various activities and exercises. Improved Range of Motion: Regular stretching can contribute to an increased range of motion in your joints. This is particularly beneficial for activities that require a wide range of motion, such as playing sports or performing certain exercises. Enhanced Circulation: Stretching promotes better blood circulation throughout the body. Improved circulation can help deliver nutrients to muscles and remove waste products, improving overall health. Reduced Muscle Tension and Soreness: Stretching can help alleviate muscle tension and reduce soreness after physical activity. It can also aid in preventing muscle imbalances, leading to discomfort or injury. Improved Posture: Stretching the muscles around the spine, shoulders, and hips can contribute to better posture. Proper posture is essential for preventing musculoskeletal issues and promoting overall spinal health. Enhanced Athletic Performance: Athletes often incorporate stretching into their warm-up routines to prepare their bodies for physical activity. Improved flexibility and range of motion can positively impact athletic performance and reduce the risk of injuries. Stress Relief: Gentle stretching exercises like yoga can promote relaxation and reduce stress. This is achieved through physical movement, controlled breathing, and mindfulness. Joint Health: Stretching helps maintain the health of your joints by promoting fluid circulation and preventing stiffness. This is especially important as you age, as flexibility and joint health become increasingly crucial. Improved Balance and Coordination: Stretching exercises that target specific muscle groups can enhance balance and coordination. This is beneficial for activities that require stability and precise movements. I would like to point out that stretching should be done gradually and in a controlled manner. Avoid bouncing or forcing your body into extreme positions, as this can lead to injuries. A well-rounded fitness routine that combines strength training, cardiovascular exercise, and flexibility training (including stretching) is generally recommended for overall health and fitness. Today's destination: Kerala, India Kerala, a state on India's tropical Malabar Coast, has nearly 600km of Arabian Sea shoreline. It's known for its palm-lined beaches and backwaters, a network of canals. Inland are the Western Ghats, mountains whose slopes support tea, coffee and spice plantations and wildlife. National parks and other sanctuaries are home to elephants, langur monkeys, and tigers. Named one of the world's ten paradises by National Geographic Traveler, Kerala is famous especially for its ecotourism initiatives and beautiful backwaters. Its unique culture and traditions, coupled with its varied demography, have made Kerala one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. I flew Indigo Air to Cochin, near Kerala. I was in southwestern India now. Today's Misstep- I did not get to use my airline credits on Spirit.   Today's Travel Advice-U Shaped Airline pillows can be stuffed with clothes. Connect with Dr. Travelbest 5 Steps to Solo Travel website Dr. Mary Travelbest X Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Page Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Group Dr. Mary Travelbest Instagram Dr. Mary Travelbest Podcast Dr. Travelbest on TikTok Dr.Travelbest onYouTube In the news  

Sacred Groves are amongst the finest examples of in-situ conservation. Often as large as 500 hectares, Sacred Groves are undisturbed and communally protected forest patches that are dedicated to local folk deities. Social traditions which embody both social and ecological values encourage the preservation of Sacred Groves. As a result, these groves contain an invaluable gene pool and also conserve immense biodiversity. Hunting and logging are banned in Sacred Groves.Official records suggest that there are around 13,000 Sacred Groves spread across Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, and the Western Ghats of Karnataka, Maharashtra. However, a few studies suggest that there could be as many as 100,000 to 150,000 Sacred Groves in the country.Unfortunately, Sacred Groves are severely threatened by urbanization, over-exploitation of resources, and environmental destruction due to religious practices. On this episode, I interview Archana Godbole, the founder of Applied Environment Research Founder (AERF), on the conservation of Sacred Groves. AERF has worked extensively to preserve the Sacred Groves of Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra in the Northern Western Ghats. If you enjoyed this episode, do not forget to share and subscribe! You can also listen to The Think Wildlife Podcast on other platforms, such as YouTube, Spotify and iTunes. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anishbanerjee.substack.com

fWotD Episode 2454: Nyctibatrachus major Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.The featured article for Tuesday, 23 January 2024 is Nyctibatrachus major.Nyctibatrachus major, the Malabar night frog, large wrinkled frog, or Boulenger's narrow-eyed frog, is a species of frog in the family Nyctibatrachidae, commonly known as the robust frogs. It was described in 1882 by the zoologist George Albert Boulenger, and is the type species of the genus Nyctibatrachus. It is a large frog for its genus, with an adult snout–vent length of 31.5–52.0 mm (1.24–2.05 in) for males and 43.7–54.2 mm (1.72–2.13 in) for females. It is mainly brownish to greyish in colour, with a dark greyish-brown upperside, a greyish-white underside, and light grey sides. It also has a variety of grey or brown markings. When preserved in ethanol, it is mostly greyish-brown to grey, with whitish sides. Sexes can be told apart by the presence of the femoral glands (bulbous glands near the inner thigh) in males.The species is endemic to the Western Ghats mountain range of India, where it is found in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Adults inhabit fast-moving forest streams at elevations of up to 900 m (3,000 ft) and have highly specific habitat requirements. Adults are mostly found in or near water and are nocturnal; subadults can be found during both the night and day. Its diet mainly consists of other frogs and insect larvae. Over a period of several days or weeks, females lay multiple small clutches of eggs on leaves and rocks overhanging water; tadpoles drop into the water below on hatching. The species is currently classified as being vulnerable on the IUCN Red List owing to its small and fragmented range and ongoing habitat degradation. Threats to the species include habitat loss, increased human presence near the streams it inhabits, and possibly nitrate pollution caused by fertiliser overuse.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:11 UTC on Tuesday, 23 January 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Nyctibatrachus major on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm Olivia Neural.

WINNERS OF THE GIVEAWAY (NAMMA BANGALORE), pls check your email for further instructions.  Tanushree Tyagi Vijay Prakash  This week, The Musafir Stories speaks to returning guest, Saakshi Rajat - a traveller and co-founder at True Joy Travels, as she takes us to Goa with seniors!∂ Today's destination: Goa!! Nearest Airport: Dabolim Airport, GOI Nearest Railway Station: Karmali Railway Station, KRMI Prerequisites:  NA Packing: Pack according to the weather conditions Time of the year: July Length of the itinerary: 5 days Itinerary Highlights:  Saakshi starts off with an overview of True Joy travels - a luxury travel service company for seniors, their USP and objectives. You can check out more on the social media handles of TJT linked below.  We discuss the planning and considerations that go into curating the trip and itinerary for seniors, origin story of TJT.  The points of interest include a visit to  A heritage walk to Fontainhas -  the latin quarter of Old Goa A visit to Basilica of Bom Jesus and Se Cathedral  A visit to some popular beaches A trip to Chorao island and Salim Ali bird sanctuary A boat ride around the mangroves of Chorao island A visit to a local's home and cooking session A stop at Konkani canteen for goan thalis A visit to a casino A stop over at fort Aguada and the beach We wrap up the discussion with upcoming trips and contact info for True Joy Travels   Links: Link to TJT's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truejoytravels/ Link to Saakshi's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saakshirajat/ Link to TJT's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyk7iRYo0Q3l-NreJMjY94A Saakshi's previous episode on Majuli: https://open.spotify.com/episode/16TwAz8XY5luMwv3yYsO9r?si=3QfbEnXqRRetZ5bjXa8BvA Other episodes on Goa:  Riverside Goa - https://open.spotify.com/episode/0HeHcX8FwaKiDHge99x5NX Islands of Goa - https://open.spotify.com/episode/5RDLi8SRHdd14TvngVl61H?si=jz8a856xSR-h8nvYNO7csA Susegad Goa - https://open.spotify.com/episode/6SrAaNTHCZfJ4KyuFjY1Tq?si=Nj6tJirJTmyzpCCQ8e-L9A Roadtrip to Goa - https://open.spotify.com/episode/5qVIaTJi9aVGkG306w94jW?si=swG6hsIARuiFP5n1e194cw Photo by Mohammad Aqhib on Unsplash Follow the Musafir stories on: Twitter : https://twitter.com/musafirstories?lang=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themusafirstories/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musafirstoriespodcast/?hl=en website: www.themusafirstories.com email: themusafirstories@gmail.com Do follow IVM Podcasts on social media. We are @‌IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. Follow the show across platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon Music Do share the word with your folks!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The whole crew is a bit overwhelmed this week, Dan is sick, John's class is in crunch mode, and Lina's putting the finishing touches on the rest of the Military Unions series. So this week we're unlocking one of our favorite Movie Time episodes for everyone. Both these labor movies are likely less well known by most of our audience, but they're some of the best we've discussed. Part 2 of our series on attempts to organize in the military will arrive next week. Original Description: First we discuss 1963's The Organizer, a working class drama about the early days of labor organizing in northern Italy in the late 1800s. The film covers the extreme exploitation of 19th century textile workers and their earliest attempts at organizing, even before major national unions existed. For our second film this week we watched Western Ghats (Merku Thodarchi Malai), from India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. Western Ghats follows the struggle of landless workers forced to labor for the big landowners as they strive to become independent peasant farmers themselves. The film portrays the difficulties of peasants, the way debt is used to dispossess them, and the semi feudal conditions they face in many parts of the Global South in ways western cinema rarely covers.

Arati Kumar-Rao is an exceptional National Geographic Explorer, independent environmental photographer, writer, and artist dedicated to documenting the slow violence of ecological degradation. With unwavering passion, she traverses the South Asian subcontinent, embarking on captivating journeys that span seasons and sometimes years. Through her profound storytelling, Arati chronicles the ever-changing landscapes, climate, and their profound impact on livelihoods and biodiversity in South Asia. Arati's profound impact is not confined to her lens or pen; she employs a multidimensional approach, utilising the power of photos, long form narratives, and art to communicate her insights. Recently, she unveiled her debut book, "Marginlands: Indian Landscapes On The Brink," a poignant exploration now available in bookstores across India and on Amazon. Currently, Arati is engaged in a significant undertaking as she explores forced human migration in India, supported by a prestigious National Geographic grant. Her remarkable body of work has garnered recognition and has been featured in esteemed publications such as The National Geographic Magazine, Emergence Magazine, The Hindu, #Dysturb, The Guardian, BBC Outside Source, Hindustan Times, Mint, and other reputable outlets. Additionally, her artistic endeavours have been exhibited both in India and internationally, leaving an indelible mark on the global stage. When not immersed in her assignments, Arati finds solace and inspiration in the Western Ghats and Bangalore, where she cherishes being a loving mother to three rescued cats. *** Don't miss out on the latest episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast, released every Tuesday at 7am UK time! Be sure to hit the subscribe button to stay updated on the incredible journeys and stories of strong women.  By supporting the Tough Girl Podcast on Patreon, you can make a difference in increasing the representation of female role models in the media, particularly in the world of adventure and physical challenges. Your contribution helps empower and inspire others. Visit www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast to be a part of this important movement. Thank you for your invaluable support! *** Show notes Who is Arati? Being based in Bangalore when not travelling  Her role as an environmental chronicler  Being a slow journalist or a slow storyteller The types of story she tells  Her passion for photography and art  The tools she uses to tell the story  Working in the corporate world and making the decision to leave her job (2013) and start telling environmental stories  Her early years growing up and spending time in nature  Being inspired by the National Geographic Magazine  Wanting to tell stories of the land by walking  Making the transition from the corporate world to following her passion for storytelling  The practical steps involved 2 pivotal moments in her life Studying for a Masters in Physical and working in a lab and deciding it wasn't the right job for her Having to choose between the Arts and the Sciences Moving back to India and working with Intel doing Market Research Falling ill with Typhoid in her 30s and starting to reflect on her life and thinking about what she really wanted to do Needing to make new connections and build new networks  Slowly starting to find her way and the power of social media to publish stories Slow story telling verses the speed of the internet Needing to upskill in photography, writing and art Taking out personal loads and writing for grants Getting the grant from National Geographic to study forced Human Migration across India due to environmental degradation  Doing a transect walk from the most easterly point of India to the most Westerly point.  Planning and starting a story - what that looks like  Following the threads and seeing where it leads Knowing when you are on the right path? Not finding any path to be wrong - there is always something to learn Taking a pause to reflect on the information that's been gathered  Dealing with dead ends and moving on Her first time in Bangladesh  New book: Marginlands: Indian Landscapes on the Brink  The speed and impact of climate change  Why it's important to listen to the local geography's Sounds in storytelling - Soundscapes Recording a sound signature throughout the journey  Paul Salopek's - Out of Eden Walk Art as part of the storytelling Wanting to train herself to pay attention to detail  How to connect with Arati on the social media platforms  Final words of advice for other women to follow their passions  Why it's important for women to speak up The stories that are in your backyard “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” ~ Mary Oliver.   Social Media Website: www.aratikumarrao.com Instagram: @aratikumarrao  Twitter: @aratikumarrao   Facebook: @aratikumarrao   Book: Marginlands: Indian Landscapes on the Brink  

‘Following a Prayer' is a novel about three inquisitive young girls. Kalpana, a twelve-year-old girl in a village nestled in the dense hills of the Western Ghats, goes missing one morning. When she returns, she has gone silent. Nothing can get her to speak. What happened in those three days that she went missing? What prevents her from communicating with her parents and sister except through notes and scribbles? As the village prepares to celebrate the annual Deepavali festival, a rumour spreads that Kalpana will speak the day after. What will she say, and what will be the impact of her words?The novel's writer, Dr. Sundar Sarukkai, has a PhD in Particle physics from the University of Purdue and works primarily in the philosophy of the natural and the social sciences. He founded Barefoot Philosophers (www.barefootphilosophers.org) an Organization that conducts workshops across the country teaching philosophy and rational thinking to school children. Formerly, he was a professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies until 2019 and was the Founder-Director of the Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities. He is the author of Translating the World: Science and Language, Philosophy of Symmetry, JRD Tata and the Ethics of Philanthropy, and two books co-authored with Gopal Guru – The Cracked Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory and more recently, Experience, Caste and the Everyday Social. In the show notes, you can find the links to buy the book and the YouTube channel ‘barefoot philosophers', where the Basics of philosophy lessons, to children are available.To buy the book - https://amzn.to/44C8xy6Link to youtube Channel of ‘The Barefoot Philosophers' - https://bit.ly/barefootphilFor Feedback on Podcast - https://bit.ly/3NmJ31YOn Spotify –http://bit.ly/harshaneeyam on Apple podcast –http://apple.co/3qmhis5 *To contact us - harshaneeyam@gmail.com ***Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Interviewees in interviews conducted by Harshaneeyam Podcast are those of the Interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harshaneeyam Podcast. Any content provided by Interviewees is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrpChartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

We continue our conversation with Ms. Jis Sebastian, an ecologist based in Kerala. In this episode she talks about her experience working in the Kashmir Himalayas, Western Ghats etc. She shares about the period when she had self-doubts and considering quitting her research and how she came out of this phase and where she found the strength and inspiration. She also talks about her experiences with women across the country and how she focusses on fostering sisterhood.     More about Jis -  Ms. Jis Sebastian, PhD is an ecologist based in Kerala. She has worked extensively in plant and animal ecology in the Western Ghats, the Western and Eastern Himalayas of India. She has been involved in research and conservation of natural resources with communities for one decade now. Her interests lies in forest ecology, agroecology, sustainable community building, natural building and women and environment.   Happy listening.

What happens when we renounce our ego and allow nature to become our teacher? We talk with rainforest conservationist and educator Suprabha Seshan about her incredible efforts to protect and restore the forest at the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary in Kerala, India. Suprabha shares with us her decades of work which has involved the integration of scientific and traditional practices, understanding the complex conditions in which plants exist and relate to each other, and how human societies can exist in harmony with this diversity. She sees the botanical sanctuary as providing an ‘ark' for the endangered plants of the Western Ghats biome from the ‘flood' of human expansionism, and the remarkable ways in which rewilding can offer a refuge to the remaining exuberance of life, including ourselves. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/suprabha-seshan ABOUT US The Overpopulation Podcast features enlightening conversations between Population Balance executive director Nandita Bajaj, researcher Alan Ware, and expert guests. We cover a broad variety of topics that explore the impacts of our expanding human footprint on human rights, animal protection, and environmental restoration, as well as individual and collective solutions. Learn more here: https://www.populationbalance.org/

This episode has a chat with Ms. Jis Sebastian, PhD is an ecologist based in Kerala. She has worked extensively in plant and animal ecology in the Western Ghats, the Western and Eastern Himalayas of India. She has been involved in research and conservation of natural resources with communities for one decade now. Her interests lies in forest ecology, agroecology, sustainable community building, natural building and women and environment.   Listen to this episode about this New Indian Woman and the choices she made about her career option, that too from a small village in Kerala. What comes to your mind when you hear someone is a researcher ? Why is her story inspiring ?

Otters are small carnivorous mammals found predominantly in freshwater and coastal habitats. They are considered keystone species and play a crucial role, not only in regulating aquatic ecosystems and climate change. Unfortunately, they face a large variety of threats, ranging from conflict with humans, pollution, habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade.  3 out of the 13 otter species are found in India which includes the Smooth Coated Otter,  the elusive Asiatic Small Clawed Otter and the rare Eurasian Otter. The Smooth Coated Otter is fairly widespread, not only in India but most of South Asia. Meanwhile, the smallest species of otter, the Asian Small Clawed, is found across the tropical mountains of the Western Ghats and the Himalayas. The range of Eurasian Otter, however, is fairly ambigious. In fact, there are increasing sightings of Eurasian Otters in unexpected regions of India, particularly in Central India.On this episode, I interview Vinni Jain, a Research Fellow at the Centre for Wildlife Studies on her research on otters at Balaghat District of Madhya Pradesh.  We speak about the challenges of fieldwork, results from her research and the conservation of otters in India This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anishbanerjee.substack.com

A version of this essay has been published by Open Magazine at https://openthemagazine.com/essays/the-new-knowledge-war/Generative AI, as exemplified by chatGPT from Microsoft/OpenAI and Bard from Google, is probably the hottest new technology of 2023. Its ability has mesmerised consumers to provide answers to all sorts of questions, as well as to create readable text or poetry and images with universal appeal. These generative AI products purport to model the human brain (‘neural networks') and are ‘trained' on large amounts of text and images from the Internet. Large Language Models or ‘LLMs' are the technical term for the tools underlying generative AI. They use probabilistic statistical models to predict words in a sequence or generate images based on user input. For most practical purposes, this works fine. However, in an earlier column in Open Magazine, “Artificial Intelligence is like Allopathy”, we pointed out that in both cases, statistical correlation is being treated by users as though it were causation. In other words, just because two things happened together, you can't assume one caused the other. This flaw can lead to completely wrong or misleading results in some cases: the so-called ‘AI hallucination'. To test our hypothesis, we asked chatGPT to summarise that column. It substantially covered most points, but surprisingly, though, it completely ignored the term ‘Ayurveda', although we had used it several times in the text to highlight ‘theory of disease'. This is thought-provoking, because it implies that in the vast corpus of data that chatGPT trained on, there is nothing about Ayurveda.The erasure of Indic knowledgeEpistemology is the study of knowledge itself: how we acquire it, and the relationship between knowledge and truth. There is a persistent concern that Indic knowledge systems are severely under-represented or mis-represented in epistemology in the Anglosphere. Indian intellectual property is ‘digested', to use Rajiv Malhotra's evocative term.For that matter, India does not receive credit for innovations such as Indian numerals (misnamed Arabic numerals), vaccination (attributed to the British, though there is evidence of prior knowledge among Bengali vaidyas), or the infinite series for mathematical functions such as pi or sine (ascribed to Europeans, though Madhava of Sangamagrama discovered them centuries earlier).The West (notably, the US) casually captures and repackages it even today. Meditation is rebranded as ‘mindfulness', and the Huberman Lab at Stanford calls Pranayama ‘cyclic sighing'. A few years ago, the attempts of the US to patent basmati rice and turmeric were foiled by the provision of ‘prior art', such as the Hortus Malabaricus, written in 1676 about the medicinal plants of the Western Ghats. Judging by current trends, Wikipedia, and presumably Google, LinkedIn, and other text repositories, are not only bereft of Indian knowledge, but also full of anti-Indian and specifically anti-Hindu disinformation. Any generative AI relying on this ‘poisoned' 'knowledge base' will, predictably, produce grossly inaccurate output. This has potentially severe consequences: considering that Sanskrit, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali (and non-Latin scripts) etc. are underrepresented on the Internet, generative AI models will not learn or generate text from these languages. For all intents and purposes, Indic knowledge will disappear from the discourse. These issues will exacerbate the bias against non-English speakers, who will not think about their identity or culture, reducing diversity and killing innovation.More general problems with epistemology: bias, data poisoning and AI hallucinationsGenerative AI models are trained on massive datasets of text and code. This means they are susceptible to inherent biases. A case in point: if a dataset is biased against non-white females, then the generative AI model will be more likely to generate text that is also biased against non-white women. Additionally, malicious actors can poison generative AI models by injecting false or misleading data into the training dataset. For example, a coordinated effort to introduce anti-India biases into Wikipedia articles (in fact this is the case today) will produce output that is notably biased.  An example of this is a query about Indian democracy to Google Bard: it produced a result that suggested this is a Potemkin construct (i.e., one that is merely a facade); Hindu nationalism and tight control of the media “which has become increasingly partisan and subservient to the government” were highlighted as concerns. This is straight from ‘toolkits', which have poisoned the dataset and are helped, in part, by US hegemonic economic dominance. More subtly, generative AI models are biased towards Western norms and values (or have a US-centric point of view). For example, the Body Mass Index (BMI), a measure of body fat, has been used in Western countries to determine obesity, but is a poor measure for the Indian population, as we tend to have a higher percentage of body fat than our Western counterparts. An illustration of AI hallucination came to the fore from an India Today story entitled "Lawyer faces problems after using ChatGPT for research. AI tool comes up with fake cases that never existed." It reported how a lawyer who used ChatGPT-generated precedents had his case dismissed because the court found the references were fabricated by AI. Similar risks in the medical field for patient treatment will be exacerbated if algorithms are trained on non-curated datasets. While these technologies promise access to communication, language itself becomes a barrier. For instance, due to the dominant prevalence of English literature, a multilingual model might link the word dove with peace, but the Basque word for dove (‘uso') is used as a slur. Many researchers have encountered the limitations of these LLMs, for other languages like Spanish or Japanese. ChatGPT struggles to mix languages fluently in the same utterance, such as English and Tamil, despite claims of 'superhuman' performance. The death of Intellectual Property RightsIntellectual property rights are a common concern. Already, generative AIs can produce exact copies (tone and tenor) of creative works by certain authors (for example, J K Rowling's Harry Potter series). This is also true of works of art. Two things are happening in the background: any copyright inherent in these works has been lost, and creators will cease to create original works for lack of incentives (at least according to current intellectual property theory). A recent Japanese decision to ignore copyrights in datasets used for AI training (from the blog technomancers.ai, “Japan Goes All In: Copyright Doesn't Apply to AI Training”) is surprisingly bold for that nation, which moves cautiously by consensus. The new Japanese law allows AI to use any data “regardless of whether it is for non-profit or commercial purposes, whether it is an act other than reproduction, or whether it is content obtained from illegal sites or otherwise.” Other governments will probably follow suit. This is a land-grab or a gold rush: India cannot afford to sit on the sidelines.India has dithered on a strict Data Protection Bill, which would mandate Indian data to be held locally; indirectly, it would stem the cavalier capture and use of Indian copyright. The Implications are chilling; in the absence of economic incentives, nobody will bother to create new works of fiction, poetry, non-fiction, music, film, or art. New fiction and art produced by generative AI will be Big Brother-like. All that we would be left with as a civilisation will be increasingly perfect copies of extant works: Perfect but soulless. The end of creativity may mean the end of human civilisation.With AIs doing ‘creation', will people even bother? Maybe individual acts of creation, but then they still need the distribution channels so that they reach the public. In the past in India, kings or temples supported creative geniuses while they laboured over their manuscripts, and perhaps this will be the solution: State sponsorship for creators.Indian Large Language Models: too few yet, while others are moving aheadDiverse datasets will reduce bias and ensure equitable Indic representation to address the concerns about generative AI. Another way is to use more rigorous training methods to reduce the risk of data poisoning and AI hallucinations.Progressive policy formulations, without hampering technological developments, are needed for safe and responsible use to govern the use of LLM's across disciplines, while addressing issues of copyright infringement and epistemological biases. Of course, there is the question of creating ‘guardrails': some experts call for a moratorium, or strict controls, on the growth of generative AI systems. We must be alive to its geopolitical connotations, as well. The Chinese approach to comprehensive data-collection is what cardiologists refer to as a ‘coronary steal phenomenon': one segment of an already well-perfused heart ‘steals' from another segment to its detriment. The Chinese, for lack of better word, plunder (and leech) data while actively denying market access to foreign companies. Google attempted to stay on in China with Project Dragonfly, while Amazon, Meta, Twitter were forced to exit the market. Meanwhile, ByteDance, owner of TikTok, is trying to obscure its CCP ties by moving to a 'neutral jurisdiction' in Singapore, while siphoning off huge amounts of user data from Europe and the US (and wherever else it operates) for behavioural targeting and capturing personal level data, including from children and young adults. The societal implications of the mental health 'epidemic' (depression, low self-esteem, and suicide) remain profound and seem like a reversal of the Opium Wars the West had unleashed on China. India can avoid Chinese exclusivism by keeping open access to data flows while insisting on data localisation. The Chinese have upped the ante. Reuters reported that “Chinese organisations have launched 79 AI large language models since 2020”, citing a report from their Ministry of Science and Technology. Many universities, especially in Southeast Asia, are creating new data sets to address the spoken dialects. West Asia, possibly realizing the limitations of “peak-oil”, have thrown their hat in the ring. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) claims to have created the world's “first capable, commercially viable open-source general-purpose LLM, which beats all Big Tech LLMs”. According to the UAE's Technology Innovation Institute, the Falcon 40B is not only royalty free, but also outperforms “Meta's LLaMA and Stability AI's StableLM”. This suggests that different countries recognise the importance of investing resources to create software platforms and ecosystems for technological dominance. This is a matter of national security and industrial policy.“We have no moat” changes everything: welcome to tiny LLMsChiranjivi from IIT Bombay, IndiaBERT from IIT Delhi and Tarang from IIT Madras are a few LLMs from India. India needs to get its act together to bring out many more LLMs: these can focus on, and be trained on, specialised datasets representing specific domains, for instance, that can avoid data poisoning. The Ministries concerned should provide support, guidance, and funding. The obstacle has been the immense hardware and training requirements: GPT-3, the earlier generation LLM, required 16,384 Nvidia chips at a cost of over $100 million. Furthermore, it took almost a year to train the model with 500 billion words, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. There was a natural assumption: the larger the data set, the better the result with ‘emergent' intelligence. This sheer scale of investments was considered beyond Indian purview. A remarkable breakthrough was revealed in a leaked internal Google memo, timed with Bard's release, titled "We have no moat, and neither does OpenAI," a veritable bombshell. It spoke about Meta's open sourcing its algorithmic platform, LLaMA, and implications for generative AI research.  Although there is no expert consensus, the evidence suggests smaller datasets can produce results almost as good as the large datasets.This caused a flutter among the cognoscenti. Despite Meta releasing its crown jewels for a wider audience (developers), there was an uptick in its stock value, despite failures in its multiple pivots beyond social media. To understand this better, Geoffrey Hinton, the ‘godfather' of deep learning, explains in detail: All large language model (LLM) copies can learn separately, but share their knowledge instantly. That's how chatbots know more than an average person. The performance trajectory of different LLM's has skyrocketed; for example, consider this: Using LLaMa as a base, researchers were able to quickly (in weeks) and cheaply (a few $100) produce Alpaca and Vicuna that, despite having fewer parameters, compete well with Google's and openAI's models. The graph shows that the answers from their chatbots are comparable in quality (per GPT-4). A fine-tuning technique called LoRA (Low Rank Adoption) is the secret behind this advance.This abruptly levels the playing field. Open-source models can be quickly scaled and run on even laptops and phones! Hardware is no longer a constraint. Let a thousand Indian LLMs bloom!  The way forwardGiven the astonishing amounts being invested by venture capitalists and governments in generative AI, there will be an explosion in startup activity. There are already a few in India, such as Gan, Kroopai, Peppertype.ai, Rephrase.ai, TrueFoundry, and Cube. Still, TechCrunch quoted Sanford Bernstein analysts who painted a gloomy picture: “While there are over 1500 AI-based startups in India with over $4 billion of funding, India is still losing the AI innovation battle”. Without exaggeration, it can be argued that this is an existential threat for India, and needs to be addressed on a war-footing. The AIforBharat initiative at IIT Madras is a start, but much more is needed. A sharply focused set of policies and regulations needs to be implemented by the government immediately that will both prevent the plunder of our intellectual property and data, and also encourage the creation of large numbers of models that make good use of Indian ingenuity and Indic knowledge.2245 words, 4 June 2023 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

Esperanza and Irwin welcome onelandscape.org founder Margie Ruddick. With a graduate degree in Landscape Architecture from Harvard, Margie's projects have taken her from Shillim in Western Ghats, India to Queens Plaza in Long Island City, NY. With onelandscape.org, Margie's focus is the conservation of wild landscapes by integrating science, art, policy, and community. Margie lives part time in the Amagansett home purchased by her parents in 1957, and the east end has influenced and inspired her professional career. The farmland, forest, wetland, beaches, dunes, and bluffs from the village of Amagansett to the coastal Napeague stretch serve as a ONE LANDSCAPE “laboratory".

A contemporary Indian woman carries on a centuries-old tradition of botanical illustration.

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. We're back at the movies again this week, this time covering films from Italy and India. First we discuss 1963's The Organizer, a working class drama about the early days of labor organizing in northern Italy in the late 1800s. The film covers the extreme exploitation of 19th century textile workers and their earliest attempts at organizing, even before major national unions existed. For our second film this week we watched Western Ghats (Merku Thodarchi Malai), from India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. Western Ghats follows the struggle of landless workers forced to labor for the big landowners as they strive to become independent peasant farmers themselves. The film portrays the difficulties of peasants, the way debt is used to dispossess them, and the semi feudal conditions they face in many parts of the Global South in ways western cinema rarely covers. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Hydropower has been an old and reliable source of energy in India. Until a few years ago, India considered a hydropower project renewable only when the installed capacity was less than 25 megawatt (MW). But then, in 2019, the government of India decided to consider large hydropower projects as renewable projects too. This makes hydroelectricity a vital part of India's clean energy targets - installing 500 gigawatt (GW) of non-fossil fuel-based capacity by 2030. However, activists and researchers who have been working on issues related to the displacement of communities due to dam construction, and ecologists who study the impacts of dams on aquatic species and the region's biodiversity, think otherwise. They opine that the terms' clean' and 'green' used to describe hydropower could be misleading, as it does not consider the livelihoods lost and the cost of biodiversity lost at stake. In this episode, we'll hear about how dams are perceived as a more stable source of energy when compared to solar and wind. We'll also hear about the true cost of relying on this form of energy. Our conversations raise a contentious question: Can hydropower be considered clean and renewable? Or is it simply a case of clean-washing? Listen to GigaWhat and explore some of the biggest questions, challenges, and opportunities in India's transition from fossil fuel to clean energy sources. Mongabay-India is an online publication dedicated to bringing you stories on science and the environment in India. Read the full Clean energy series on our website Follow us on Twitter and Instagram  Subscribe to our newsletter Guests: Ammu Susanna Jacob, Research Scientist, CSTEP Shishir Rao, ecologist Prakash Bhandari, environmental researcher and activist, Himdhara Links: A twin-state hydropower project could drown livelihoods and biodiversity Fish & small hydropower projects in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, India The return of the mega hydropower projects across India Credits: Host: Mayank Aggarwal Writer and producer: Kartik Chandramouli Audio editor: Tejas Dayananda Sagar Copy editor: Aditi Tandon Podcast production assistant: Ayushi Kothari GigaWhat cover art: Pooja Gupta

If one removes the Goggles of regionalism and linguistic chauvinism, one can understand Indian history in its splendor. Though the people of Kerala formed a part of Tamil kingdom Chera, the Nairs of Kerala had a social system of their own. Nair comes from the word Nayaka meaning chieftain or a leader. They were the leaders of a group of army of the Cheras. ‘The Nambudiri Brahmins were at the top of the ritual caste hierarchy and in that system outranked even the kings. They regarded all Nairs as shudra. Below the Nambudiris came the Tamil Brahmins and other later immigrants of the Brahmin varna. Beyond this, the precise ranking is subject to some difference in opinion. Kodoth has placed the Samantan caste below the Kshatriya rank but above the Nairs, but Gough considers that the Pushpagans and Chakyars, both of which were the highest ranked in the group of temple servants known as Ambalavasis, were ranked between the Brahmins and the Nairs, as were several other members of the Ambalavasi group. She also believes that some Nairs adopted the title of Samantan in order to emphasise their superiority over others in their caste. The unwillingness of the higher varnas to engage in what they considered to be the polluting activities of industrial and commercial activity has been cited as a reason for the region's relatively limited economic development' ‘A theory has been proposed for the origins of the caste system in the Kerala region based on the actions of the Aryan Jains introducing such distinctions prior to the 8th-century AD. This argues that the Jains needed protection when they arrived in the area and recruited sympathetic local people to provide it. These people were then distinguished from others in the local population by their occupation as protectors, with the others all being classed as out-caste. The cross-disciplinary historian Cyriac Pullapilly describes that this meant they “… were given kshatriya functions, but only shudra status. Thus originated the Nair .Taking into consideration the caste  system of Sanatana Dharma was practiced by The Tamils , Cheras were Tamils,there was no discrimination in the Tamil land on the basis of caste , the views by western authors seem to be based on the Myth of Aryan dDravidian Theory which is now proved to be false and is a piece of disinformation to divide the people of India. The fact that the Group who are currently called as Nairs were entrusted with Military duties , they were Kshatriyas. The Nairs, Chera Period. Some people think the name itself is derived from nayaka, an honorific meaning “leader of the people”, while others believe it stems from the community's association with the Naga cult of serpent worship. Christopher Fuller, an anthropologist, has said that it is likely that the first reference to the Nair community was made by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, dating from 77 AD. That work describes what is probably the Malabar coast area wherein could be found the “Nareae, who are shut in by the Capitalis range, the highest of all the mountains in India”. Fuller believes it probable that the Nareae referred to the Nairs and the Capitalis range is the Western Ghats.' Matrilineal Society. Nairs operated a matrilineal (marumakkathayam) joint family structure called tharavad, whereby descendant families of one common ancestress lived under a single roof. Tharavads consisting of 50 to 80 members were not uncommon and some with membership as high as 200 have been reported. Only the women lived in the main house; men lived in separate rooms[clarification needed] and, on some occasions, lived in a separate house nearby. The families split on instances when they became unwieldy and during crisis among its members. When it split, the family property was separated along the female lines. The karnavan, the oldest male member in the tharavad, had the decision-making authority including the power to manage common property. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ramanispodcast/message

ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವಿಶೇಷ ಸಂಶೋಧನೆ ಮಾಡಿರುವ ಡಾ. ಗುರುರಾಜ ಕೆವಿ ಅವರು ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳ ಸೌಂದರ್ಯ, ಅದ್ಭುತ ಮತ್ತು ಜೀವಶಾಸ್ತ್ರದ ಕುರಿತು ಪವನ್ ಶ್ರೀನಾಥ್ ಅವರೊಂದಿಗೆ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಕಳೆದ 20 ವರ್ಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ 200 ಕ್ಕೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಹೊಸ ಜಾತಿಯ ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳನ್ನು ಹೇಗೆ ಕಂಡುಹಿಡಿಯಲಾಗಿದೆ ಮತ್ತು ಮುಂಬರುವ ದಶಕಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇನ್ನಷ್ಟು ವಿಜ್ಞಾನವನ್ನು ಯಾವ ರೀತಿ ಅನ್ವೇಷಿಸಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ಅವರು ಚರ್ಚಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.Batrachologist or Frog expert, Dr Gururaja KV shares the beauty, wonder and the biology of frogs and toads with Pavan Srinath. He shares how over 200 new species of amphibians have been discovered in India just in the last 20 years, and how there is more science to be explored in the coming decades.*Update!* Thale-Harate now has its own YouTube channel! Featuring full episodes and more soon! Head over to youtube.com/haratepod, subscribe and hit the bell icon!ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನವರು ಪ್ರತೀ ಮಳೆಗಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು ವಟರ್ ಗುಟ್ಟುವುದನ್ನು ಕೇಳುತ್ತಲೇ ಬೆಳೆದಿದ್ದೇವೆ ಮತ್ತು ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯ ಸುತ್ತ ಕಪ್ಪೆ ಹಾರುವುದನ್ನು ಕಂಡು ಹೆದರಿದ್ದು ಇದೆ. ಸರೀಸೃಪಗಳು, ಪಕ್ಷಿಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ದೊಡ್ಡ ಸಸ್ತನಿಗಳತ್ತ ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯವಾಗಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಗಮನ ಸೆಳೆಯುತ್ತೆ. ಆದರೆ ನಾವು ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯವಾಗಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಸುತ್ತ ಮುತ್ತ ಪರಿಸರದ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ಭಾಗವಾಗಿರುವ ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ನೆಲಗಪ್ಪೆಗಳನ್ನು ನಿರ್ಲಕ್ಷಿಸುತ್ತೇವೆ.ಡಾ ಗುರುರಾಜ ಕೆವಿ ಅವರು ಉಭಯಚರಗಳನ್ನು ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಮಾಡುವ ವಿಶೇಷ ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ಹೊಂದಿದ್ದು ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿ ಮಣಿಪಾಲ ಇನ್‌ಸ್ಟಿಟ್ಯೂಟ್ ಆಫ್ ಆರ್ಟ್, ಡಿಸೈನ್ ಅಂಡ್ ಟೆಕ್ನಾಲಜಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಾಧ್ಯಾಪಕರಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಮತ್ತು ಗುಬ್ಬಿ ಲ್ಯಾಬ್ಸ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ಅಡ್ಜಂಕ್ಟ್ ಫೆಲೋ ಆಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಕುವೆಂಪು ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾನಿಲಯದಿಂದ ಪಿಎಚ್‌ಡಿ ಪಡೆದಿರುವ ಇವರು ಭಾರತೀಯ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಂಶೋಧನೆಯನ್ನೂ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ, ಗುರುರಾಜ ಅವರು 20 ವರ್ಷಗಳಿಂದ ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ನೆಲಗಪ್ಪೆಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವಿಶೇಷ ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ.ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ 20 ಕ್ಕೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಹೊಸ ಕಪ್ಪೆ ಜಾತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಪತ್ತೆಹಚ್ಚುವಲ್ಲಿ ಮತ್ತು ಗುರುತಿಸುವಲ್ಲಿ ಇವರ ಪಾತ್ರ ಮಹತ್ತರವಾದದ್ದು, ಪಶ್ಚಿಮ ಘಟ್ಟಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ಅದರಾಚೆಗೆ ತಮ್ಮ ಸಂಶೋಧನೆಗಾಗಿ ಕಾರ್ಯನಿರ್ವಹಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ತಲೆ-ಹರಟೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಪಾಡ್‌ಕಾಸ್ಟ್ ನ ಸಂಚಿಕೆ 145 ರಲ್ಲಿ, ಡಾ ಗುರುರಾಜ ಅವರು ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳ ಮೇಲಿನ ತಮ್ಮ ಪ್ರೀತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಕೌತುಕವನ್ನು ಹಂಚಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ, ಈ ಆಕರ್ಷಕ ಜೀವಿಗಳನ್ನು ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಮಾಡಲು ಅವರಿಗೆ ಪ್ರೇರಣೆ ಏನು? ಹೊಸ ಜಾತಿ ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳನ್ನುಗಳನ್ನು ಕಂಡುಹಿಡಿಯುವ ಪ್ರಕ್ರಿಯೆ ಯಾವ ರೀತಿ ಇರುತ್ತೆ? ಮತ್ತು ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳ ನಡವಳಿಕೆ ಯಾವರೀತಿ ಇರುತ್ತೆ? ಎಂಬೆಲ್ಲ ವಿಷಯಗಳನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮ ಜೊತೆ ಹಂಚಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಬನ್ನಿ ಕೇಳಿ!gururajakv.net ನಲ್ಲಿ ಮತ್ತು ಅವರ ಗೂಗಲ್ ಸ್ಕಾಲರ್ ಪ್ರೊಫೈಲ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ಡಾ ಗುರುರಾಜ ಕೆವಿ ಅವರ ಕೆಲಸದ ಕುರಿತು ಇನ್ನಷ್ಟು ತಿಳಿಯಿರಿ. ಅವರ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಫಿಕ್ಟೋರಲ್ ಗೈಡ್ ಟು ಫ್ರಾಗ್ಸ್ ಅಂಡ್ ಟೋಡ್ಸ್ ಆಫ್ ದಿ ವೆಸ್ಟೆರ್ನ್ ಘಾಟ್ಸ್ ಅನ್ನು ಉಚಿತವಾಗಿ ಡೌನ್‌ಲೋಡ್ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು.Most of us have grown up hearing the croaking of frogs every monsoon, and may have even had the ‘scare' of a frog jumping into our houses at one point or another. While reptiles, birds and big mammals often capture our imagination – we often end up ignoring the simple frogs and toads that form a key part of the habitats around us. Dr Gururaja KV is a ‘batrachologist', one who studies amphibians, and is currently a faculty member at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, as well as an Adjunct Fellow at Gubbi Labs. With his PhD from Kuvempu University and subsequent research at the Indian Institute of Science, Gururaja has been studying frogs and toads for over 20 years.He has helped discover, identify and describe over 20 new frog species in India, working extensively in the Western Ghats and beyond. On Episode 145 of the Thale-Harate Kannada Podcast, Dr Gururaja shares his joy and his love for frogs, what drew him to study these fascinating creatures, and helps us learn more about frogs, as well as more about the process of discovering new species and understanding their behaviour.Learn more about Dr Gururaja KV's work at gururajakv.net and on his Google Scholar profile. His book, Pictoral Guide to Frogs and Toads of the Western Ghats can be downloaded for free.If you wish to explore and identify frogs around you, you can also use the Frog Find App for Android developed by Gururaja and Gubbi Labs. You can also contribute to Frog Watch on the India Biodiversity Portal.Related Podcast Episodes:- ಹಾವು ನಾವು! Sharing Our World With Snakes with Gururaj Sanil- ಜೇಡರ ಬಲೆ. Spiders Around Us with Pavan Srinath- [English] Discovering a New Species in 2020 with Ishan Agarwal (BIC Talks)- [English] Glimpses of India's Deep Natural History with Pranay Lal (BIC Talks)- ಊರು ಕೇರಿ ಮರ. A City and Its Trees with Harini Nagendra- ಹೆಸರಘಟ್ಟದ ರಕ್ಷಣೆ. Saving Hesaraghatta with Mahesh Bhat.- ಪರಿಸರವಿಲ್ಲದೆ ಯಾವ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ? Saving the Western Ghats with Dinesh Holla- ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಸಂವಹನ. Communicating Science in Kannada with Kollegala Sharma- ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಮತ್ತು ಜಾಗೃತಿ. Science and Communication with Kollegala SharmaPhoto credit: KV Gururaja for the photos of frogs, and Mahesh Bhat for Gururaja's portrait.ಫಾಲೋ ಮಾಡಿ. Follow the Thalé-Haraté Kannada Podcast @haratepod. Facebook: https://facebook.com/HaratePod/ , Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaratePod/ , Instagram: https://instagram.com/haratepod/ and YouTube: https://youtube.com/HaratePod .ಈಮೇಲ್ ಕಳಿಸಿ, send us an email at haratepod@gmail.com or send a tweet and tell us what you think of the show!You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios and check out our website at https://ivmpodcasts.com/ .You can also listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Gaana, Amazon Music Podcasts, JioSaavn, Castbox, or any other podcast app. We also have some video episodes up on YouTube! ಬನ್ನಿ ಕೇಳಿ!

durée : 00:48:27 - Je reviens du monde d'avant - par : Giv Anquetil - Tout au Sud de l'Inde, dans l'Etat du Kerala, la forêt tropicale des Western Ghats abrite un sanctuaire qui veut sauvegarder et conserver la biodiversité menacée.

Venoms are complex, and researchers are constantly discovering new intriguing uses. But this episode we look at a fascinating new venom use for the snakes themselves. Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: Saviola AJ, Chiszar D, Busch C, Mackessy SP. 2013. Molecular basis for prey relocation in viperid snakes. BMC Biology 11:20. DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-11-20. Other Mentioned Papers/Studies: Teshera MS, Clark RW, Wagler AE, Greenbaum E. 2021. Foraging and scavenging behaviour of the prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis): no evidence that envenomation cues facilitate kleptoparasitism of struck prey. Amphibia-Reptilia:1–11. DOI: 10.1163/15685381-bja10073. Other Links/Mentions: Indian purple frog call from Thomas A, Suyesh R, Biju SD, Bee MA. 2014. Vocal behavior of the elusive purple frog of India (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), a fossorial species endemic to the Western Ghats. PloS one, 9(2), p.e84809: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vocal-Behavior-of-the-Elusive-Purple-Frog-of-India-(Nasikabatrachus-sahyadrensis)-a-Fossorial-pone.0084809.s005.ogv Music: Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com

Sadhguru looks back at an amazing journey in his life, when he spent weeks in the forests of the Western Ghats, and speaks about a superfood which he consumed every day to keep himself energized.Conscious Planet: https://www.consciousplanet.orgSadhguru App (Download): https://onelink.to/sadhguru__appOfficial Sadhguru Website: https://isha.sadhguru.orgSadhguru Exclusive: https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/sadhguru-exclusiveConscious Planet is a Global Movement to initiate a conscious approach to soil and planet. The movement seeks to show governments of all nations that their citizens want a policy to revitalize soil and ecology. To activate and demonstrate the support of over 3 billion citizens, Sadhguru will be riding a motorcycle alone, 30,000 kilometers across 24 nations.

Sadhguru looks back at an amazing journey in his life, when he spent weeks in the forests of the Western Ghats, and speaks about a superfood which he consumed every day to keep himself energized.Conscious Planet: https://www.consciousplanet.orgSadhguru App (Download): https://onelink.to/sadhguru__appOfficial Sadhguru Website: https://isha.sadhguru.orgSadhguru Exclusive: https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/sadhguru-exclusiveConscious Planet is a Global Movement to initiate a conscious approach to soil and planet. The movement seeks to show governments of all nations that their citizens want a policy to revitalize soil and ecology. To activate and demonstrate the support of over 3 billion citizens, Sadhguru will be riding a motorcycle alone, 30,000 kilometers across 24 nations. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you capture the image of a 150-foot-tall tree in the middle of a dense rainforest? If you're National Geographic Explorer Nirupa Rao, you pull out your paints. Rao draws from the centuries-old practice of botanical illustration to catalog and celebrate native plant life of the southern Indian rainforest, introducing new audiences to the wonders they hold. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? This Earth Day, celebrate our planet's beautiful, remote, and at-risk locations—and meet the explorers protecting them—at natgeo.com. See Nirupa's illustrations on Instagram, @niruparao. And check out her books Hidden Kingdom and Pillars of Life. “Sky islands” in the Western Ghats host an almost unbelievable array of microclimates—and a chance for scientists to see evolution in action. King cobras, which live in the Western Ghats, can "stand up" and look a full-grown person in the eye. Fortunately, they avoid humans whenever possible. Also explore: Rainforests have an unsung hero that keeps the forest healthy and functional: termites. Also, National Geographic's resident artist, Fernando Baptista, brings stories to life by sculpting clay models, then using them for a drawing or stop-motion film. If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/explore to subscribe today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Parvathi K Prasad is a Research Affiliate at Conservation Initiatives and PhD student at Deakin University. She began her journey into this field through a human-animal interactions project in the Western Ghats with the Centre for Wildlife Studies, following which, she found her way to the dynamic ecosystems of Assam in Northeast India. After being introduced to Kaziranga and its megaherbivores, she chose to stay put and study its elephants for her PhD. Twitter: @ParvathiKPrasad| Instagram: @e.minimus Journal Articles: 1. Patterns of human–wildlife conflicts and compensation: Insights from Western Ghats protected areas 2. Towards a reliable assessment of Asian elephant population parameters: the application of photographic spatial capture–recapture sampling in a priority floodplain ecosystem 3. Conservation opportunities and challenges emerge from assessing nuanced stakeholder attitudes towards the Asian elephant in tea estates of Assam, Northeast India

This episode is a conversation with Kuntal Joisher, the first vegan to summit Mount Everest. I've known Kuntal for many years – we went to the same college and later took different paths. Thanks to social media, I've been able to follow his work. Kuntal is a computer engineer turned mountaineer who's accomplished four summits of 8000'ers and 20+ summits of 6000'er mountains. The most surprising part – Kuntal was scared of heights. Go figure!It's refreshing to hear a different voice to understand the process of achieving challenging goals.  His idea of climbing mountains is to ensure success in a healthy state. Kuntal shares his preparation techniques, both mental and physical, to conquer our inner Everests.HighlightsSummiting Mount Everest twice without having the expressed ambition to do so. 3:02Does being cautious work against you in high-risk situations? 9:32Difference between preparing and training for a mountaineering expedition 16:54What mental preparation looks like? 20:20How does one determine a hand-over for events when their mind doesn't work clearly? 28:28What it feels like at the top of the world 35:06Difference between South Side vs North Side Summit expeditions on Everest 39:20Vegan diet and mountaineering 41:50Climbing with equipment that's vegan-friendly 44:29Where to follow KuntalInstagram: Kuntal A. Joisher (@kuntalj) • Instagram photos and videosFacebook: (20+) Kuntal Joisher | FacebookLinkedIn: (2) Kuntal Joisher | LinkedInKuntal's BioKuntal Joisher combines the distinction of being both an accomplished mountaineer and a high-end, computer science professional. He is an alumnus of Vivekanand Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Los Angeles. His insatiable passion for mountaineering has led him to climb mountain ranges across the world, including the Western Ghats near Mumbai, the Northern Icecap in Chile, the Andes in Argentina, and the Nepalese and Indian Himalaya. Joisher has climbed to the top of Mt. Everest from both Nepal side (May 2016), and China side (May 2019). Some of his other notable climbs are the ascent of Manaslu (October 2014), Lhotse (May 2018), and Aconcagua (Feb 2020) among others. He is a well-respected photographer, and his work has been published in National Geographic, BBC Earth, Space.com, Himalayan Journal, The Outdoor Journal, Time Out, Traveler Trails, Indian Mountaineer, and several other newspapers and magazines across the world. Joisher has been named one of India's top 30 fitness influencers, has been featured on cover of magazines across India and the world, and has also been featured on the TEDx platform multiple times. Joisher is an athlete ambassador for the Italian company “Save the Duck”, and represents them while mountaineering across the world.Joisher regularly travels across the world to speak about his life transforming journey of climbing Mt. Everest in hopes to inspire his audience to pursue their dreams and passions. Joisher continues to train hard both mentally & physically, and his latest project is to compete in a natural bodybuilding competition, and follow it up by climbing the 7 summits - both in a 100% #Vegan fashion in the next 2 years. In addition to his dedication to mountaineering and bodybuilding, Joisher is passionate about three causes: raising awareness about the disease of Dementia, spreading the message of Veganism, and education of the underprivileged in Nepal.When Joisher is not climbing, he works as a nutrition and fitness coach helping people make smarter choices, build better habits, and overall lead a healthy and fit life!

Climate Action through active community engagement - A community in the Western Ghats of India have come together to create environmental awareness in the bio-diversity hotspot. One of their communication channels is the Kodai Chronicle, an outlet that aims to be more than just a publication.  Rajni George, editor-in-chief of The Kodai Chronicle joins Girish Shivakumar on this episode to share the origins of the publication, its fundraising campaign and the importance of community engagement.  Contribute to the campaign: https://fund.thekodaichronicle.com/ | https://www.thekodaichronicle.com/  Artwork courtesy - www.terregeneration.com  Liked the episode? Give a rating and write a review on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/2LFBCVw). Share it with 3 people in your network, it just takes 30seconds.

On this episode we dive into the possibilities of adventure travel in Kerala, India. A hidden gem located in Southern India, Kerala's tropical coastal scenery and Western Ghats Mountain Range present countless opportunities for hiking, backcountry camping, trekking, cycle touring, and even houseboat travel on the famous Backwaters.  Tune in as our host Richard is joined by co-host Karin to chat with George and Benny of Kerala Voyages. Though Kerala boasts endless adventure travel activities, this vibrant state offers incredible cuisine as it is known as the spice capital of India. After trekking the Sky Islands or enjoying a safari in Periyar National Park, be sure to head into the lively villages to sample some fresh, and spicy seafood. If this episode doesn't inspire you to book your next adventure to Kerala, then we don't know what will.  Feeling inspired? Check out the Western Ghats cycle tour on 10Adventures.  Follow us on Instagram @10Adventures for more adventure travel inspiration.

Story 1 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie. I left my small hut in the tribal area of the Western Ghats of Maharashtra early one morning to go for a run through the countryside. As I came over a small rise in the road, I found myself staring at a herd of water buffalo.... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 2 minutes 16 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Download Audio (1.5MB) Audio copyright, 2021 Pariyatti 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing. More by Ian McCrorie. View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Bharti Dharapuram and Jahnavi Joshi and other researchers, studied diversity and endemism in centipedes, a group of ancient predatory soil arthropods, across the biodiversity hotspot of Western Ghats (WG), India. What did they find? They obtained phylogenetic measures of diversity by including evolutionary relationships between species. To this, they added information on species distributions to measure phylogenetic endemism, which helps in identifying areas with unique diversity. The scientists of CCMB-CSIR found that phylogenetic diversity decreases at higher latitudes, with several evolutionarily distant species occurring in the southern western ghats. This may be due to variation in environment or past climatic stability along the mountain range. The team also identified two hotspots of phylogenetic endemism – these areas harbour evolutionarily unique species with restricted distributions. This may be due to the existence of a past rainforest refuge in the southern WG and adaptations to unique habitats in the northern western ghats. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/chsushilrao/message

Sri. Panduranga Hegde is an environmentalist from Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, India, and is the person who started the Appiko movement to protect trees in the Western Ghats. He worked as Chartered Accountant at Delhi and later trained himself in Social work at Delhi School of Social Work and spent four years in Madhya Pradesh among rural people with Damoh, a non-government organization. He was attracted by the Chipko movement led by Sundarlal Bahuguna and got involved with the protection of forests and the environment. He is actively involved in the Save Western Ghats campaign. He was instrumental in releasing Western Ghats Manifesto before the 15th Loksabha election, so as to commit the candidates competing for election towards holistic policies to conserve the Western Ghats. For more information: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/appiko-movement-forest-conservation-southern-india (https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/appiko-movement-forest-conservation-southern-india) *Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Interviewees in interviews conducted by Harshaneeyam website / Podcast are those of the Speakers, Interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harshaneeyam Website / Podcast. Any content provided by Interviewees/speakers is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

Sri. Panduranga Hegde is an environmentalist from Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, India, and is the person who started the Appiko movement to protect trees in the Western Ghats. He worked as Chartered Accountant at Delhi and later trained himself in Social work at Delhi School of Social Work and spent four years in Madhya Pradesh among rural people with Damoh, a non-government organization. He was attracted by the Chipko movement led by Sundarlal Bahuguna and got involved with the protection of forests and the environment. He is actively involved in the Save Western Ghats campaign. He was instrumental in releasing Western Ghats Manifesto before the 15th Loksabha election, so as to commit the candidates competing for election towards holistic policies to conserve the Western Ghats. For more information: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/appiko-movement-forest-conservation-southern-india (https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/appiko-movement-forest-conservation-southern-india) *Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Interviewees in interviews conducted by Harshaneeyam website / Podcast are those of the Speakers, Interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harshaneeyam Website / Podcast. Any content provided by Interviewees/speakers is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

महाराष्ट्राची शान: किल्ले रायगड आपण सगळे लहानपणी दिवाळीत किल्ला करायचो! या दिवाळीत, शिवरायांची राजधानी असलेल्या किल्ले रायगड ची सफर घडवतोय -शेखर नानिवडेकर- डॉक्टर राजीव आणि माणिक शी गप्पा मारता मारता.. सर्वांना दीपावली शुभचिंतन

महाराष्ट्राची शान: किल्ले रायगड आपण सगळे लहानपणी दिवाळीत किल्ला करायचो! या दिवाळीत, शिवरायांची राजधानी असलेल्या किल्ले रायगड ची सफर घडवतोय -शेखर नानिवडेकर- डॉक्टर राजीव आणि माणिक शी गप्पा मारता मारता.. सर्वांना दीपावली शुभचिंतन

Well for a lot of us India is our motherland right? But how does it look like from the perspective of someone from the west? In this episode we have Peter Van Geit, who is an explorer and a minimalist from Belgium who had his world turned upside down after what he calls “fate” called him to go to India for business. And you can't imagine what happened next, Peter fell in love with the streets or the “galees” and the culture and natural beauty of India. Soon he started exploring the Western Ghats, the Himalayas and the other ranges in India. He also tried various kinds of modes of transport such as a motorbike, then dirt biking and finally ended up at hiking. Exploring the Himalayas isn't everyone's cup of tea.. especially because it requires a lot of strength, training and resilience and how does Peter do this? Listen to the podcast to find out Peter's experience of the Middle Himalayas surrounded by nature and scenic beauty. Host- Kevin Harding - https://www.instagram.com/btwimkevin To share feedback, Information about your trips - Please reach out to me https://www.instagram.com/petervangeit - to reach out to Peter www.bagpackereme.com to submit your travel adventures! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

घर एका कवी मनाचं:'मराठी साहित्याचं लेणं'असं ज्यांच्या कवितेला म्हटलं जातं, त्या इंदिरा संतांच्या घराविषयी तुम्हाला नक्कीच कुतूहल असेल ना?चला तर, लाल मातीच्या काहीशा सुस्त बेळगावात, ठळक वाडीत !इंदिरा संतांच्या घरी डोकावू यात 'मराठी खिडकीतून'On this week's episode of Marathi Khidkitun, our hosts Dr. Rajiv and Manik Deshmukh take us to the house of Indira Sant, whose poems are termed as a landmark in Marathi literature. Come join our host as they visit the sluggish red soil in Belgaum.You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: IVM Podcasts - Apps on Google Play or iOS: ‎IVM Podcasts, or any other podcast app.You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featuredSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every good city needs a generous birding guide, one who is empathetic and loves to explore nature around her. If this intrepid explorer is empathetic, generous and inclusive, that's even better. Deepa Mohan is one such wildlife enthusiast and explorer in Bangalore, India. In this podcast, we discuss the many aspects of Deepa's birding all over India, about how to count birds, about going to the same location many times and some of her favourite birding areas in India. Some of the locations Deepa mentioned in an around Bangalore: Hoskote Lake, Begur Lake, Bannerghatta National Park, Bannerghatta biosphere, Ankasamudra, Eagle Nest, Talle Valley, Arunachal Pradesh, Jaipurdoddi, Manipal, Western Ghats. Unusual species include over-wintering birds, vagrant species such as black-capped kingfisher, a blue throat wintering in Anekal Lake, a Demoiselle Crane, a dark sided flycatcher in Nandi Hills. The location that Deepa mentions early in the podcast– the one she took me to in the morning, is Muninagara Kere. Her ebird checklist from that outing is here. When we asked Bangalore-based, experienced birder, Deepa Mohan to provide a bio, this is what she sent. It is typical of her understated humour. “Deepa Mohan, age 66, Carnatic  musician, theatre reviewer and quiz buff, turned into an avid amateur naturalist and bird watcher.  Loves writing about the outings and her experiences.”

Western Ghats is spread across four states of India and have amazing trekking spots. It is an eco fragile region and the need for responsible travel in Western Ghats is very high. Pranjal Wagh joins me to discuss responsible travel and trekking needs. We discuss about mindful behaviour around campsites and ways to ensure that we are giving back to nature and community as we visit these locations. Buy me a coffee Share your thoughts and feedbacks anshul.akh99@gmail.com Twitter | Blog | Instagram | YouTube Music Credits Summer by Bensound - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxwUy2S2n-Q

Nisarg Prakash is an engineer turned wildlife biologist. His primary interest is to conserve otters and their habitats. His work spans studying otters, or working with fishermen to understand the river better, and also their relationship with these animals. Nisarg works across several riverine systems, particularly the Kaveri river in Karnataka. He believes life along a river is infinitely more rewarding than life in the city! Twitter: @ocap_mycap Popular Writing: Living Waters: The Resistance and Resilience of the Cauvery The Otter River – Kaveri Solastalgia Along the Sharavathy: A Quest for Peace in a Conversation With a River No Sense Of Place: To Learn the Meaning of Life From a Four-Legged Therapist The Dog Who Knew Sadness How to Be an Otter Journal Articles: Conservation of the Asian Small-Clawed Otter (Aonyx Cinereus) in Human-Modified Landscapes, Western Ghats, India First Record of Eurasian Otter Lutra lutra in the Anamalai Hills, Southern Western Ghats, India Shownotes: MSc Wildlife Program Gains New Partners Do trees make rivers flow?

In April 2020 India's environment ministry gave wildlife clearance to two infrastructure projects waiting for approval in Goa. This was another step towards allowing trees to be cut in the forests of Mollem that is part of the UNESCO global biodiversity hotspot–the Western Ghats. In Goa, this move was met with strong resistance. What initially started out as an online campaign due to Covid-19 restrictions soon bubbled into an offline one once they began to ease. The Save Mollem movement is one of the many local citizen-led movements in India and highlights the increasing concerns of the young at a time when climate change threatens their future. In the process, the citizens of Goa also showed the rest of India how to make the environment political. A year on, we look back at the movement, and speak to Karleen De Mello, an advocate based in South Goa, on how the movement began and where it stands now. This podcast was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Environmental activist Dinesh Holla talks to hosts Pavan and Surya about the threats faced by the Western Ghats ecosystems in Karnataka, and how they can be addressed.Dinesh Holla is an environmental activist, writer, artist, and convenor of Sahyadri Sanchaya. Episode 102 of the Thale-Harate Kannada Podcast was recorded on the occasion of Vanamahotsava 2021. On this episode, Dinesh shares how the Western Ghats are critical to the flourishing of all cities in Karnataka from Mangaluru to Bangalore. He explains the Shola grassland-forest ecosystem and about how they are bearing the brunt of man-made fires, construction activity, dams, and other developmental projects.Dear listeners: thank you for taking us to episode 100 and beyond! We would like your help in making Thale-Harate even better, please take this short survey: https://tiny.cc/haratesurvey . 100 commemorative badges are being given away to listeners who complete the survey.ಫಾಲೋ ಮಾಡಿ. Follow the Thalé-Haraté Kannada Podcast @haratepod. Facebook: facebook.com/HaratePod/ , Twitter: twitter.com/HaratePod/ and Instagram: instagram.com/haratepod/ಈಮೇಲ್ ಕಳಿಸಿ, send us an email at haratepod@gmail.com and tell us what you think of the show. The Thale-Harate Kannada Podcast is made possible thanks to the support of The Takshashila Institution and IPSMF, the Independent Public-Spirited Media Foundation.

As an ecologist, conservation researcher Vena Kapoor has worked on exploring if spiders can be used as natural pest control agents in the rainforest in Valparai in the Western Ghats. For a few years, she also managed the administrative and finance team in NCF's head office in Mysore. In 2010, Vena received Ravi Sankaran InlaksScholarship for the MPhil in Conservation Leadership at the University of Cambridge, UK. After the course, she worked with the Cambridge Conservation Initiative on strategizing and improving the collaborative potential of geographically co-located conservation organizations for more impactful conservation research and practice. Her current area of expertise and work is in developing a well-researched nature learning curriculum and outreach material for primary schools using education theory and pedagogical practices. She also conducts workshops, talks, and walks for adults and children to introduce them to the fascinating world of insects, spiders, and nature around them.

India has recently witnessed a massive shift in our beverage preferences. Many of us have forsaken our beloved tea and shifted to coffee. Our morning coffee rituals sound as romantic to our ears as one's love for malts. This cultural shift has also led to the rise of many coffee producers in the country, making India the sixth largest coffee producer in the world. But have you ever wondered how this fashionable drink is produced in our country? The Brand Called You brings you Arshiya Bose, Founder of Black Baza Coffee who takes us through the process of cultivating coffee in our country. Learn how Arshiya takes care of 650 smallholder coffee producers in the Western Ghats to stabilize and secure livelihoods as well as strengthen biodiversity on coffee farms while she answers some common questions around coffee. Tune in and learn if the coffee that you so keenly drink is addictive? Find us on: Facebook - http://facebook.com/followtbcy/ Twitter - http://twitter.com/followtbcy/ Instagram - http://instagram.com/followtbcy/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tbcy/support

Dr. Seshadri KS grew up in Bangalore and started to watch birds at a young age. An avid naturalist with interests across many taxa, he has chosen to study natural history, ecology and conservation biology as a career. He was part of the team that described three new species of frogs from India and described a new behavior in frogs. Dr. Seshadri is currently a DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellow at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc Bangalore. In this episode, we talk about wetland and grassland ecology, and bird photography. Full Bio Over the last decade, Seshadri's research has taken him to remote and often inhospitable environments where he has spent extensive periods of time. His research spans a swath of biology ranging from orchids in the tall forests of the Western Ghats to discovering new species and new behavior among Amphibians. He led a team to study amphibians in the forest canopy, for which he was honored with the “Future Conservationist” award by the Conservation Leadership Program in 2010. He has a doctoral degree from the National University of Singapore which bestowed him the prestigious (late) Prof. Navjot S. Sodhi Conservation Biology Scholarship in 2013. He has travelled extensively to some of the last remaining strongholds of biodiversity in the rapidly vanishing forests of Southeast Asia to find solutions to effectively conserve nature. He enjoys photographing natural landscapes and biodiversity and often teaches ecology, evolutionary biology and research methods to students and nature enthusiasts. Episode Timeline 1:00 What does a terrestrial ecologist mean?  2:30 You are unusual in our guests in that your wingspan is wide and encompasses amphibians, snakes, mongooses, trees and many others. Place birds in the ecology that you operate in. Seshadri talks about Poornachandra Tejaswi 4:00 Seshadri's paper parenting in frogs and the link to birds. Sexual dichromatism and cryptic colouration. 6:00 Caregiving and predation risk, particularly in frogs and birds. 7:30 Tell us about mistaking a frog for a bird. How did that happen? About C.R. Naik and mistaking a frog for a white-throated kingfisher.   11:00 Discovery of a new species of frog. 13:30: Birders use binoculars and walk a lot. Do frog people crouch in the jungle? Do they work at night? Seshadri talks about the differences in posture, practice, equipment between observing birds and frogs. Dangers like walking into elephants. Being near leopards. 18:00 Seshadri tells us about his work with wetland birds. At the Kalakkad Mundanthurai tiger reserve. Tamaraparani river. 25:00 Favourite birds and why? Tailorbird or Ashy wren-babbler. Whooshing sounds as the Great pied hornbill flies by. 27:00 Common birds in Bangalore. Darters, dabchicks, pygmy cotton teals.   30:00 What are some things about grassland birds that beginning birders may not know. Seeing the Lesser Florican in Bidar. Listen to our Great Indian Bustard episode here. 31:46 About kavals or regional grasslands. The concept of ecological succession. 34:30: The impact of photography on birds. Tips for photographers. Hesarghatta grasslands— spotting a European Roller. Chasing birds on cars. The MB Krishna episode is here. The Sy Montgomery episode is here. 40:00 Last words and advice. 44:00 Seshadri speaks in Kannada about his birding experiences.

We chat about the ecological and agricultural history of the Southern tip of India and how the indigenous farming practices have evolved over 4,000 years to meet the changing climate!     https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225745850_Agroforestry_in_the_Western_Ghats_of_peninsular_India_and_the_satoyama_landscapes_of_Japan_A_comparison_of_two_sustainable_land_use_systems Agroforestry in the Western Ghats of peninsular India and the satoyama landscapes of Japan: A comparison of two sustainable land use systems, B. Mohan Kumar https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225976587_Growth_and_ecological_impacts_of_traditional_agroforestry_tree_species_in_Central_Himalaya_India Growth and ecological impacts of traditional agroforestry tree species in Central Himalaya, India, Rakesh K Maikhuri http://tropecol.com/pdf/open/PDF_44_1/44107.pdf   The tree behind the forest: ecological and economic importance of traditional agroforestry systems and multiple uses of trees in India DENIS DEPOMMIER https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1006486912126 Acacia nilotica trees in rice fields: A traditional agroforestry system in central India http://isasat.org/Vol-ii,issue-i/AARJ_2_1_3_Viswanath.pdf Synergistic impacts of anthropogenic fires and aridity on plant diversity in the Western Ghats: Implications for management of ancient social-ecological systems, Charuta Kulkarni   https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345993867_Synergistic_impacts_of_anthropogenic_fires_and_aridity_on_plant_diversity_in_the_Western_Ghats_Implications_for_management_of_ancient_social-ecological_systems

It hit 41.5 degrees Celsius in Palakkad this week. In the blistering heat, there is an 89-year old man campaigning for the post of MLA from this storied town that sits in a gap in the Western Ghats between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. He is the legendary Dr Elattuvalappil Sreedharan, India’s most accomplished engineer.At his age, he has no need to prove anything to anybody. He has been awarded India’s second-highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan, as well as the French Legion d’Honneur. I have suggested that he should be made President of India, because he would be a fantastic role model, and an inspiration to youth.Dr Sreedharan has frequently faced long odds in his engineering career spanning seven decades, and defeated them. There are very good reasons to honor him with a Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award, as well, as argued delightfully by kaipullai who recounts the herculean tasks that Dr Sreedharan set himself. To take just three: the Pamban sea bridge, the monumental Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro — all bhagiratha prayatnams.At the age of almost 90, when most people prefer to take it easy, he has taken on another huge challenge: he is on a mission to revive the BJP’s chances in Kerala. In 2016, after a fine campaign, the BJP had to be content with just one seat in the legislature. Conventional wisdom is that it will not get much more in 2021.There are several reasons for this grim forecast. One is the entrenched nature of the two fronts (LDF led by the CPI(M) and the UDF led by the INC) which have alternated in power for a long time. Another is the highly polarized nature of the electorate, where ideological metastasis has set in. The third is demography: Abrahamics, who tend to form vote-banks, make up more than half the voters.The Hindu vote has been fragmented. The numerically largest group, the OBC Ezhavas, have long been the backbone of the Communists. The next largest group, the FC Nairs, have been Congress supporters, but have moved somewhat to the BJP. Other groups, including SC, have been wooed by the BJP with little effect.In 2016, the BJP made an explicit call for Hindu unity by headlining their campaign around Sri Narayana Guru, Chattampi Swamikal, and Mahatma Ayyankali, who were respectively from the three groups mentioned above. However, groupism and internecine warfare especially among the Ezhavas and Nairs, along with tactical voting by both LDF and UDF, buried its chances.Several things have changed since then, though. See articles in the Indian Express and the Hindu about a consolidation of Hindu votes (although the articles may also represent the respective biases of the two newspapers).One big difference is that the Indian National Congress seems to be running a lackluster campaign. So much so that typical alternation every five years between the Communists and the Congress (much as between the DMK and the ADMK in neighboring Tamil Nadu) may not happen this time.The second is the changes in the previously monolithic Abrahamic vote. Christians of all stripes have viewed the Congress (and allies) as their own party. But now some of them, especially some Eastern Orthodox groups (as compared to the dominant Vatican-affiliated groups) seem to be vacillating a bit.The Muslim League has been a Congress ally, but this time they are being challenged by the more radical SDPI, which has made a strong alliance with the CPI(M). So the Congress, despite their safe Parliamentary seat in Wayanad for the current Nehru dynasty scion, can no longer count on the Muslim vote.There are also allegations that there are lakhs of illegal alien Bangladeshis and Rohingyas in the Kerala voters’ list. There are many lakhs of them working in Kerala doing everything from construction to plucking coconuts. It is not hard to believe that ruling parties (both LDF and UDF) have stuffed the rolls with them.There are regional differences too: Northern Kerala is Marxist and Muslim dominated; Central Kerala is Christian and Congress dominated; Southern Kerala is where Hindus may have a chance: and indeed the one seat the BJP captured in 2016 is Nemom, south of Trivandrum.The state has also been wracked with stories and rumors of large-scale corruption, including gold and dollar smuggling, scams in construction, deep-sea fishing boats, the sale of coronavirus patient data, and a whole lot more. Whether these have an impact on the ruling LDF’s chances remains to be seen.There are interesting twists. It is said that in 2016, the BJP spent 64 crore rupees, while the LDF spent only 14 crores, and the UDF somewhere in between. But there appear to be other, hidden factors. On March 25th, three boats with alleged Pakistan links were captured off Minicoy. So there could be unaccounted sources of money and muscle in the fray.There was also a tweet from Kanchan Gupta about what has happened in his native West Bengal, and, well, much of the same is applicable to Kerala as well.The only difference in Kerala is that there has not been a TMC here. However, the explicitly anti-Hindu nature of those in power is exactly the same. We saw this in the Sabarimala agitation, which brought tens of thousands of apolitical Hindu women on to the streets with lamps, to protest the desecration of their temple. People4Dharma (led by Shilpa Nair, Padma Pillai, and Anjali George) and Indic Collective (led by Adv J Sai Deepak) were able to arouse the silent majority out of their lethargy.There is also the fact that two of the most striking modern Hindu artifacts in the country are in southern Kerala: the Gangadhareswar murti at Aazhimala, and the Jatayu sculpture at Chadayamangalam, both in the suburbs of Trivandrum.This possibly means that if the NDA is able to energize injured Hindu sentiment, based on the continuous hostility of the LDF (e.g. contemptuous statements about Hindus by their leaders) and the UDF (e.g. an ostentatious slaughter of a calf and a beef fest conducted by their leaders), there is a possibility that the BJP may yet do better in Kerala than we think.If that happens, Dr Sreedharan may have pulled off yet another impossible dream. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

In this episode we discuss the complex history and indigenous farming practices in Japan. We also spend some time chatting about Japan's solutions to its collapsing ecology, and their shortfalls.     Sources: Satoyama: The Traditional Rural Landscape of Japan, A. Tsunekawa, I. Washitani, K. Takeuchi, M. Yokohari, R.D. Brown Create Citation   Deconstructing satoyama – The socio-ecological landscape in Japan,  Mochamad Indrawan   Satoyama, Traditional Farming Landscape in Japan, Compared to Scandinavia, Björn E. Berglund   Agroforestry in the Western Ghats of peninsular India and the satoyama landscapes of Japan: a comparison of two sustainable land use systems, B. Mohan Kumar & K. Takeuchi    The biocultural link: isolated trees and hedges in Satoyama landscapes indicate a strong connection between biodiversity and local cultural features, Katsue Fukamachi   Rebuilding the relationship between people and nature: the Satoyama Initiative, Kazuhiko Takeuchi

Bipin Bhosale and Pooja Rani Bhatia are co-founders of Khoj-aao! They love to spend time off the grid, enjoy diverse foods, and travel to offbeat destinations. They're both certified in different levels of Wilderness First Aid, so rest assured you're safe in their hands. Bipin's an avid birder, a SCUBA diver, and a slow travel enthusiast. Pooja's a divemaster, and a trained experiential facilitator. Listen to their journey from growing up in the Western Ghats and the USA respectively, and meeting in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, to now showcasing the outdoors in Goa. Khoj-aao! is a nature-based eco-tourism operator that offers customised outdoor experiences, currently in Goa and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Browse their website Follow them on Instagram Like their Facebook page Get in touch with them for explorations across backyard nature trails, stargazing sessions, overnight camping trips, river boat cruises, and bird watching excursions in Goa. You can choose from half-day, full-day, and multi-day adventures. Khoj-aao! intends to expose the younger generations to the outdoors with their interdisciplinary programs designed to take the classroom outside amid natural surroundings.  The Khoj-aao! Young Explorer Kits are suitable for all ages, and are ideal to bring along for your own independent adventures in the wild. They also organise workshops on topics including, snake awareness, backyard biodiversity, wilderness survival, and local flora/fauna among others. Also mentioned in this episode Amit Shetty - Andaman & Nicobar Islands - Bear Grylls - Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary - Birding - Bushcraft - Butterfly - Camping - Camping in the USA - Camping in India - Camp Monk - Damselfly - David Attenborough - Dragonfly - Dry bite (mock bite) - Dudhsagar waterfalls - First response - Flying Fish - Fungi in Goa - Geminids - Grand Canyon - Hiking - Hornbill - International Dark-Sky Association - International Space Station - Jio - Light pollution - Machu Picchu - Machu Picchu Trek - Mergui Archipelago - Mollem - Monsoon - National Historic Site - New species of ant discovered in 2020 - Nupur D'souza - Ohio - Parag Rangnekar - Paul Oxton - Paul Stamets - Pelagic birds - Pleiades - Poisonous vs Venomous - Ranthambore - Romulus Whitaker - Shashikiran - Space debris - Spiti - Stargazing - Starlink - Touch me not - Trail grading - Trail running - Trekking - Western Ghats - White-bellied sea eagle - Wilderness Survival Certification - Yondr Timestamps for reference04:31 Is it fun offering outdoor experiences? 08:55 Returning to similar trails and understanding the flora and fauna 14:41 Bipin and Pooja's introduction to camping 20:57 From camping to Khoj-aao 22:45 Trails in Goa 25:38 Encouraging guests to document their outdoor experiences 27:31 Different experiences offered by Khoj-aao 32:48 Goa is a year-round destination for nature-based experiences 36:25 Stargazing with Khoj-aao and personal experiences with celestial events 49:40 Interacting with like-minded guests, and their experiences in the outdoors 56:43 Uniqueness of the Goan outdoors 01:00:04 Inspiring guests to explore the outdoors on their own 01:04:23 Infrastructure for independent outdoor experiences 01:08:57 The cultural shift to keeping our public spaces clean, and respecting the native ecosystems 01:22:30 Development within local communities 01:33:30 Light Pollution, stargazing, and other experiences with guests 01:41:30 Young Explorers Adventure Kit 01:51:01 Snakes and stuff 01:53:55 Experiences in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands 01:56:06 The beauty of marine life 01:59:30 Wilderness survival 02:13:38 Gears and gadgets in adventure sports and recreation 02:17:57 How Bipin and Pooja met, and the beginning of Khoj-aao 02:23:06 Bipin and Pooja's personal travels, and takeaways from running an eco-conscious travel business ******* Show cover jingle courtesy of Icons8 Music by Nordgroove from Fugue Episode background tunes courtesy of YouTube Audio LibraryAsleep with the Sun by Unicorn Heads First Class by DJ Williams All photographs by Bipin Bhosale, Khoj-aao!, and Pooja Rani Bhatia, unless otherwise stated.

“…and today we’re talking about a frog with a secret underground life. But more on that later.” The forests of India’s Western Ghats, are teaming with life. Many amphibian species live there, and many have only been discovered in the last few decades. As frogs hop from log to log and branch to branch, one […]

Dhruv Bogra is an adventure cyclist who had cycled extensively in the Indian Himalayas and the Western Ghats on his mountain bike. In 2016, Dhruv left his corporate job to embark on a solo and unsupported 15,000 km cycling from Alaska to Peru.   After his challenging cycling adventure, He returned to India and wrote a bestselling book, Grit, Gravel and Gear.  Dhruv recently published his second book on his Himalayan adventures on a bicycle called Away.    Want to start your own podcast? Join me on my FREE 90 Minutes Podcast to Profit Masterclass to learn how you can build your influence, authority and business using a podcast. Read More.  https://live.bijayspeaks.com/ptp    Dhruv has spent the last 30 years working at leading multinationals. He has held many senior leadership roles in the retail industry in companies such as Titan Industries, Bestseller Retail and Adidas. He is also a speaker who talks about the power of resilience.   In this conversation, we discuss lessons learned about mental toughness from Dhruv's adventure, how to create your own definition of success, how to follow your heart and develop resilience.   Follow the Inspiring Talk on Facebook http://theinspiringtalk.com/facebook  Twitter http://theinspiringtalk.com/twitter  Instagram http://theinspiringtalk.com/instagram  Read full show notes and resources: http://theinspiringtalk.com/103

Mrugaya Xpeditions is a nature-based experiential tour company based out of Goa, India. Sign up for day trips, personalised excursions, and study tours to discover the myriad flora and fauna of the Western Ghats.  See their website Follow them on Instagram Like their Facebook page Watch their YouTube channel Curated by knowledgeable and experienced naturalists, you can expect to encounter the rich biodiversity of the region. These low impact tours are managed with responsible tourism practices, involving local communities, and conservation efforts in mind. They also offer guided, small-group tours to birding hotspots across the country.  Omkar Dharwadkar is a naturalist and wildlife photographer. He's the also the President and Founder Member of the Goa Bird Conservation Network (GBCN). Listen to his journey from growing up in Goa, and spending time alone in the forest, to now sharing his knowledge as a 'Bird Magnet' with discerning guests. Along with local filmmaker Kabir Naik, Omkar has been creating a video series on the wildlife of Goa. They have covered the monsoon, amphibians, odonates, butterflies, and camouflage in the state. Watch their videos to learn more about the native flora and fauna. Parag Rangnekar is a naturalist and wildlife photographer. He's also the Founder Member of the Goa Bird Conservation Network (GBCN). Parag has specific interest in dragonflies and butterflies. Listen to his journey from growing up in Goa, and spending his holidays exploring the forests of Amboli in Maharashtra, to now rejuvenating his ancestral house into a nature retreat, and offering a platform that showcases the region's natural wonders. Goa Bird Conservation Network (GBCN) is a non-profit society of birding enthusiasts in Goa. Join in for their monthly bird walks in the forests of Goa.  See their website Like their Facebook page Aangan Village Stay is a homestay in Verlem,, set within the hinterland of Goa, India. Managed by the Verlem Eco Tourism Cooperative Society, you can immerse yourselves in the culture, cuisine, and community here.  See their website Like their Facebook page Jungle Trails Homestay is a quaint accommodation located in Talde village, on the fringes of Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa, India. You can explore the surrounding forests and 14th century heritage sites on nature trails with expert local guides. See their website Like their Facebook page Mrugaya Nature Retreat is a bed & breakfast nestled amid the lush wilderness of Amboli, India. This eco-conscious accommodation features rustic interiors and offers three guestrooms with private sit-outs.  You can head out on nature trails to spot birds, reptiles, and amphibians in the forests around. See their website Like their Facebook page Goa Bird Conservation Network (GBCN) is a non-profit society that promotes birding, and serves as an excellent resource documenting the various species of birds in Goa. See their website Like their Facebook page Join in for their bird walks that happen on the first Sunday of every month. GBCN conducts regular surveys and also organises events that help in bird conservation. ******* Also mentioned in this episode All Goa Water Bird Census - Amboli - Asian Water Bird Census - Beach Fashion Week - Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary - Birding - Bird Atlas - Dr Salim Ali - Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary - Dragonfly - Dragonflies South Asia - eBird - Fauna of Goa - First Nations - Foundation for Environment Research and Conservation - Goa Gap - Heinz Lainer - India Bird Conservation Network - Inle Lake - International Dark-Sky Association - Invertebrate Conservation and Information Network of Southeast Asia - Jim Corbett - Kenneth Anderson - Kerala Tourism - Limits of Acceptability - Mahabaleshwar -Matheran - Matoli - Meat Eater - Mineral Foundation of Goa - Moken - Naitik Jain - Nilesh Cabral - Nirmal Kulkarni - Quiet Parks International - Rahul Alvares - Responsible Tourism Collective - Savio Fonseca - Serendipity Arts Festival - Shivdas Dessai - Shraddha Rangnekar - Spirit Bear - Tambdi Surla - Uttrakhand birds - Velips - West Bengal birds - Western Ghats - WWF - Zoological Survey of India Timestamps for reference 03:25 Uniqueness of the Western Ghats 05:40 The Goa Gap 06:35 Documenting the natural history of Goa's Western Ghats 09:09 Heinz Leiner & Birds of Goa 13:07 Amphibians in Goa 14:48 Surveys about birds 19:28 Operations of GBCN 20:20 Monthly bird walks 21:39 Birding hotspots in Goa 22:21 Interest of birding in Goa from a tourism perspective 24:30 Possibility of spotting 150 species of birds in Goa over a three day trip 28:58 Infrastructure in natural spaces 32:56 Pricing and carrying capacity of natural destination 36:15 Community-based tourism as a double-edged sword, and Aangan project in Verle 44:03 Spirit Bear & First Nations 46:15 Jungle Trails Homestay 49:03 What's the intent behind Mrugaya Xpeditions 51:36 Story of Mrugaya 55:05 Hunting, foraging, and harvesting from forests 01:03:24 Different organizations that Omkar and Parag are part of 01:06:06 Making the best of the beach in Goa 01:07:29 Can Goa accommodate more small-group experiences responsibly? 01:12:55 Brand of destination Goa, and new approaches 01:17:49 Personal journeys and influences of Omkar and Parag 01:22:12 The Mollem issue 01:41:26 Government websites are so outdated in India, an IT hub 01:43:34 Goa Bird Festival ******* Show cover jingle courtesy of Icons8 Music by Nordgroove from Fugue Episode background tunes courtesy of YouTube Audio LibraryFirst Class by DJ Williams Song of Sadhana by Jesse Gallagher Sonic by Lish Grooves All photographs by Omkar Dharwadkar, Parag Rangnekar, and Mrugaya Xpeditions, unless otherwise stated.

In today's episode, landslides resulting from heavy rain in Western Ghats had lead to traffic disruption; Rhea Chakraborty appeared before the Enforcement Directorate and Serum Institute of India (SII) has entered into a new landmark partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to accelerate the manufacture and delivery of up to 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines for India and low and middle-income countries. Assam flood situation: https://anchor.fm/deccanherald/episodes/The-Lead-The-Brahmaputra-and-Covid-19-engulf-Assam-ehpl73 Download the Deccan Herald app for Android devices here: https://bit.ly/2UgttIO Download the Deccan Herald app for iOS devices here: https://apple.co/30eOFD6 For latest news and updates, log on to www.deccanherald.com Check out our e-paper www.deccanheraldepaper.com To read news on the go, sign up to our Telegram channel t.me/deccanheraldnews

"Voice of the Wild" is the weekly podcast initiative by Naturalist Foundation in Episode 4 (13th June) we will be looking at Topics 1)Russia oil spill into Arctic river 2)Can Uttarakhand hydel projects be shifted to a non-eco fragile zone ? 3)Gas leaks that occurred in the month of May 4)Road widening project in the Western Ghats. 5)Water hyacinth menace in India and how it is used by Indian people/government 6)State proposes submerged plateau of Malvan be declared as a protected area Content Contributors Ritvik Menon Chital Patel Gauri Joshi Anjali Tripathi Ankita Diyewar Zainab Tatiwala Narrators Vanishree Naik Ritvik Menon Srishti Agarwal

Nirupa's Artwork Nirupa Rao is a Botanical Illustrator and a National Geographic Explorer from Bangalore, India. In beautiful and precise detail, Nirupa uses watercolor illustrations to record and celebrate the unique flora of India. As a National Geographic Explorer grantee, Nirupa just published a children's book called "Hidden Kingdom—Fantastical Plants of the Western Ghats" that will help young readers explore the wonderful world of plants. In 2019, Nirupa participated in a Plant Humanities program at Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Research Centre. She has also been named an INK Fellow and one to 'watch out for' in Forbes India's annual 30 Under 30 issue. In this conversation, Nirupa and discuss how she found this unique niche of illustrating plants, what her creative process looks like from going into the rainforest to getting back to her studio, and why children's books are such a powerful tool for reclaiming cultural identity. Hear Nirupa Rao on the post show! Follow Austin Meyer on social Subscribe to Austin Meyer's monthly newsletter on the craft of storytelling   Notes from the show: The National Geographic photographer that we refer to in the show as an inspiration for both of us is Evgenia Arbugaeva.

Queer Literature in Malayalam (Speech in English) Speaker: Kishor. மலையாளத்தில் பால்புது இலக்கியம் - பேச்சாளர்: கிஷோர். Kerala's specific geographical separation from the rest of South India via Western Ghats, and the influence from outside world via its ancient seaports, has caused it to evolve culturally in a very unique way. This is also reflected in Kerala's literature, especially in depicting same-sex love and transgender identities. Some of the bold and honest feminist writings from legends like Madhavikutty (Kamala Das) have paved the way for queer writings in Malayalam. The talk Chronicles a timeline of major writings in queer theme that occurred in Malayalam literature, from pre-independence to current era. There will also be book readings (English translation) from selected sections of "Randu Purushanmar Chumbikkumbol" / "When two Men Kiss", the author's autobiography. கேரளா தனது புவியியல் அமைப்பில் தென்னிந்தியாவின் மற்ற மாநிலங்களில் இருந்து மேற்குத் தொடர்ச்சி மலையால் பிரிந்து நிற்கிறது. பழங்காலத்தில் தொடர்ந்த வெளிநாட்டவர் வருகையாலும் கலாச்சார ரீதியாக கேரளா தனிப்பட்ட முறையில் வளர்ந்துள்ளது. இது கேரள இலக்கியத்திலும் எதிரொலித்துள்ளது. குறிப்பாக ஒருபாலினக் காதல், மற்றும் திருநர் அடையாளங்களில். பெண்ணிய எழுத்தாளர்களான கமலாதாஸ் போன்றவர்களின் வீரியமான, உண்மையான எழுத்துகள் பால்புது எழுத்தாளர்களுக்கு ஒரு பாதையை ஏற்படுத்திக் கொடுத்திருக்கிறது. இந்த அமர்வில் சுதந்திரத்திற்கு முன்பு தொடங்கி தற்போது வரையான மலையாள பால்புது இலக்கியம் குறித்து விவாதிக்கப்பட இருக்கிறது. மேலும் இவ்வமர்வில் “ரண்டு புருஷன்மார் சும்பிக்கும்போள்” எனும் தனது மலையாள சுயசரிதையின் ஒரு பகுதியை அதன் எழுத்தாளர் வாசிக்கவிருக்கிறார்.

The famous writer and philosopher George Santayana’s quote says ‘those who cannot remember their past are condemned to repeat it’ but perhaps the more pertinent iteration of that question for our times would be “to know your future, you must know your past”. If you examine some of the biggest technology shifts that occurred in food systems in the holocene era, as the Royal Society, (the UK’s national academy of science) did in 2012, these have typically meant selective breeding of strains of crops to fermentation, pasteurization and even refrigeration. What do these innovations portend for the big shifts underway in sourcing our food more ethically and sustainably? In this freewheeling episode of Feeding 10 Billion, we speak to Kurush Dalal, an assistant professor of archaeology at the University of Mumbai, Centre for Extra Mural Studies, who also runs Katy’s Kitchen, one of Mumbai’s foremost Parsi catering companies. As a trained archaeologist, historian and culinary anthropologist, Kurush has some fascinating answers for the question: where did our food come from and how will that inform how we source it in the future? BIBLIOGRAPHY : The Atlantic: The 20 most significant inventions in the history of food and drink Firspost: How potatoes and chillies conquered Indian cuisine IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science: History of Tomato: The poor man’s apple Archaeologist caterer Kurush Dalal dissects the evolution of modern foods Kurush Dalal’s research project at the Western Ghats in Maharashtra - examining the excavations and structures from 1800 CE at Chandore Land use for Agriculture: FAO

Nirmal Kulkarni is a herpetologist, nature photographer, conservation scientist, ecologist, artist, and an author. He is also the founder of Herpactive, and serves as the Chairman of Mhadei Research Center. Follow him on Instagram Like his Facebook page Know more on Wikipedia Whether you join him on extended walks through forests and interact with tribal communities, or admire his wildlife themed art, expect to gain an insight into the wonders of the Western Ghats, especially across the forests of Goa, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. Listen to his journey from rescuing snakes in neighborhood homes as a kid and using art for wildlife campaigns in college, to now discovering new species and conserving reptiles and amphibians in India. Herpactive is an initiative that is dedicated to on-site conservation, surveys, and workshops concerning herpetofauna. Embark on guided treks and expeditions lasting up to a week, to explore rare and endemic species of reptiles and amphibians in the Western Ghats and Northeast of India. Mhadei Research Center is a field base within the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary that offers volunteering opportunities with a comfortable space that includes a knowledge resource, research equipment, and ensuite accommodations. Hypnale Research Station in Kuveshi nearby, is the first among a network of research stations that was set up with an aim to support and share information about ongoing projects. Wildernest is an eco-conscious retreat nestled on a wooded ridge in the Chorla Ghats. Enjoy an intimate wilderness experience that includes nature trails and an infinity swimming pool that affords panoramic vistas of the lush Swapnagandha Valley. ******* Also mentioned in the episode: Annihilation Apatanis Assavri Kulkarni Banastarim Castle Rock Civet Claude Alvares Coorg Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary Dudhsagar Waterfalls Father Jokiem Flying Squirrel Freston Marc Sirur Goa State Wildlife Advisory Board Goa University Government of Arunachal Pradesh Government of Goa Government of Karnataka Himalayas Hump-nosed Pit Viper Indian Army Indian Institute of Science Indian Snakes Kali Tiger Reserve Katraj Snake Park King Cobra Kuveshi Laskar Madras Crocodile Bank Mapusa Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary National Biodiversity Strategy Enaction Plan National Geographic Neil Chattopadhyay Nilgiri thar Northeast IndiaProject Tiger Ranthambore Tiger Reserve Romulus Whitaker Sahyadris Slender Loris South West Monsoon Srilanka St Britto Steve Irvin Talle Valley The Goan Jungle Book WWF Ziro Valley ******* Show cover jingle courtesy of Icons8 Music by Nordgroove from Fugue Episode background tunes courtesy of YouTube Audio Library Kalimachou by Dan Bodan Triumph by Yung Logos Versace Beat by Yung Logos

Sunil Nanjappa is a passionate mountain biker, state-level racer, and founder of Bangalore Mountain Festival. He placed seventh on his first ever race several years ago, at MTB Himalaya, one among the world's toughest mountain bike events. Listen to his journey from an agricultural background and investment banking to currently training young kids, and organising international standard race events across South India. During his downtime, he is found searching for new cycling routes in the Western Ghats. Bangalore Mountain Festival is an annual gathering of mountain bikers and runners at Avati on the outskirts of Bangalore, India. Happening over the last weekend in January, sign up for races and activities in cross country, downhill, trail running and bouldering. Masters Championships is a road cycling race for individuals aged 35 and above. Tour of Glory is multi-day road cycling stage race in the Western Ghats. ******* Also mentioned in this episode:Ajay Padval Avalahalli Forest Avati Bangalore Cycling Championship BBCH Cycling Federation of India Cycling GoaDecathlon Firefox Goa International Mountain Biking Challenge Himalayan Mountain Biking Festival IPL Jungle Book GoaKHS KPL Ironman Kiran Kumar Raju Manitou Towerpro MTB Himalaya Nandi Hills Naveen Raj Pedal for the Planet Rahul Dravid Ramesh RFC Richard McDowell Royal Enfield Sachin Tendulkar Shimano Shiven Aerohawk Sourav GangulySram Tejasvi The Coorg Escapade The Impossible Race Tour of Dragon TriThonnur Turahalli Forest Vinay Menon Wheel Sports ******* Show cover jingle courtesy of Icons8 Music by Nordgroove from Fugue Unintentional incidental music by various artists in the background. Kindly excuse!

Manik Taneja is a seasoned whitewater kayaker, a kayaking instructor and co-founder of Goodwave Adventures - a kayak school and shop that operates kayaking excursions on the fresh waters of the Western Ghats in India. Also, co-organising the Malabar River Festival, an annual gathering in Kodenchery during the Indian monsoons, he has hosted the world's best kayakers over the past few years. Listen to his adventures from navigating Class 5 rapids across the USA to shredding downhill trails around Bangalore. Between courses, chores, and facilitating a marketplace for high-end, imported kayaks, find him on a river near you! Goodwave Adventures See the website Like on Facebook Madras Fun Tools Visit the website Malabar River Festival Visit the website Manik Taneja ******* Also mentioned in the episode: Aliya American Canoe Association Aquaterra Aqua Outback Decathlon Eskimo Roll Expeditions India Ganga Kayak Festival Goa Tourism Inspire Crew International Canoe Federation Jacopo Nordera Jehan Driver John Pollard Kabini Karnataka Tourism Kaustubh Khade KayakBoy Kerala Karnage Klub Kerala Tourism Mohan Neil Dsouza Nouria Newman Olympics Plastic Samudra Red Bull REI Riverine Adventures Sohan Pavuluri Southern River Runners SS Nakul Sushanth Bhat Shred Team ******* Show cover jingle courtesy of Icons8 Music by Nordgroove from Fugue Episode background tunes courtesy of Icons8 Music by Bimbotronic from Fugue

(www.historyofindiapodcast.in) Lalitaditya had grand plans. He would make Kashmir into an empire, spanning all of India and outside of it too. His armies would walk the deserts of the silk road, sail the seas of the bay of Bengal, and walk the Western Ghats. And they would bring back enough gold to build a house fit for God. Did he succeed in all his plans? Listen, and find out.  

Vijay Ramesh talks to us about why its important to learn from the past so that we can effectively predict our future – not just for global warming, but also for bird migrations! Links: Vijay Ramesh on Twitter Vijay Ramesh’s website National Geographic’s interactive article on bird migrations in the Americas

Smitha Hegde is one of the country's topmost experts on one of the earliest land plants to appear on Earth - ferns. Based in Mangaluru, the pteridologist studies the evolution of ferns in the Western Ghats. In this episode, she talks about a problem in Kudremukh National Park that she was called upon to deal with. For more information, check out: Thelifeofscience.com You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5 You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/

The Golden Mantella frog is the subject of this fortnights episode. Starting with a little bit about how they live in the wilds of Madagascar; followed by the larger portion of the podcast looking at a couple of the studies that have come out of the captive breeding initiatives. Species of the Bi-week returns, and features a couple of newly described frogs from Papua New Guinea. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com   Main Paper References: Passos, Luiza Figueiredo, Gerardo Garcia, and Robert John Young. 2017. “The Tonic Immobility Test: Do Wild and Captive Golden Mantella Frogs (Mantella Aurantiaca) Have the Same Response ?” PLoS ONE 12 (7): e0181972. OPEN ACCESS Passos, Luiza Figueiredo, Gerardo Garcia, and Robert John Young. 2017. “Neglecting the Call of the Wild : Captive Frogs like the Sound of Their Own Voice.” PLoS ONE 12 (7): 1–11. OPEN ACCESS Woodhead, C., Vences, M., Vieites, D.R., Gamboni, I., Fisher, B.L. and Griffiths, R.A., 2007. “Specialist or generalist? Feeding ecology of the Malagasy poison frog Mantella aurantiaca.” The Herpetological Journal 17 (4): 225-236. Species of the Bi-Week: Günther, Rainer, and Stephen Richards. 2016. “Description of Two New Species of the Microhylid Frog Genus Oreophryne (Amphibia: Anura: Microhylidae) from Southern Papua New Guinea.” Vertebrate Zoology 66 (2): 157–68. OPEN ACCESS Other Mentioned Papers/Studies: Bee, M.A., Perrill, S.A. and Owen, P.C. 1999. “Size assessment in simulated territorial encounters between male green frogs (Rana clamitans).” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 45 (3-4): 177-184. Biju, S.D., and Franky Bossuyt. 2003. “New Frog Family from India Reveals an Ancient Biogeographical Link with the Seychelles.” Nature 425 (2001): 711–14. Bossuyt, Franky, and Kim Roelants. 2009. “Frogs and Toads (Anura).” In The Timetree of Life, edited by S. Blair Hedges and Sudhir Kumar, 357–64. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Burghardt, Gordon M. 2013. “Environmental Enrichment and Cognitive Complexity in Reptiles and Amphibians: Concepts, Review, and Implications for Captive Populations.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science 147 (3–4): 286–98. Gerhardt, H. C., and J. Rheinlaender. 1980. “Accuracy of Sound Localization in a Miniature Dendrobatid Frog.” Naturwissenschaften 67 (7): 362–63. Günther, Rainer, Stephen J. Richards, David Bickford, and Gregory R. Johnston. 2012. “A New Egg-Guarding Species of Oreophryne (Amphibia, Anura, Microhylidae) from Southern Papua New Guinea.” Zoosystematics and Evolution 88 (2): 223–30. Heying, Heather. 2001. “Mantella Laevigata (Climbing Mantella). Aborted Predation.” Herpetological Review 32 (1): 34–34. OPEN ACCESS Janani, S. Jegath, Karthikeyan Vasudevan, Elizabeth Prendini, Sushil Kumar Dutta, and Ramesh K. Aggarwal. 2017. “A New Species of the Genus Nasikabatrachus (Anura, Nasikabatrachidae) from the Eastern Slopes of the Western Ghats, India.” Alytes 34 (1–4): 1–19. OPEN ACCESS Johnson, J.A. and Brodie Jr, E.D. 1975. “The selective advantage of the defensive posture of the newt, Taricha granulosa.” American Midland Naturalist:.139-148. OPEN ACCESS Jovanovic, Olga, Miguel Vences, Goran Safarek, Falitiana C E Rabemananjara, and Rainer Dolch. 2009. “Predation upon Mantella Aurantiaca in the Torotorofotsy Wetlands, Central-Eastern Madagascar.” Herpetology Notes 2 (1): 95–97. Ligon, R.A. and McGraw, K.J. 2013. “Chameleons communicate with complex colour changes during contests: different body regions convey different information.” Biology Letters 9 (6): 20130892. OPEN ACCESS Mayer, Michael, Lisa M. Schulte, Evan Twomey, and Stefan Lötters. 2014. “Do Male Poison Frogs Respond to Modified Calls of a Müllerian Mimic?” Animal Behaviour 89: 45–51. Narins, Peter M, Walter Hödl, and Daniela S Grabul. 2003. “Bimodal Signal Requisite for Agonistic Behavior in a Dart-Poison Frog, Epipedobates Femoralis.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100 (2): 577–80. OPEN ACCESS Rabemananjara, Falitiana C E, Noromalala Rasoamampionona Raminosoa, Olga Ramilijaona Ravoahangimalala, D. Rakotondravony, Franco Andreone, P. Bora, Angus I Carpenter, et al. 2008. “Malagasy Poison Frogs in the Pet Trade: A Survey of Levels of Exploitation of Species in the Genus Mantella.” Monografie Del Museo Regionale Di Scienze Naturali Di Torino XLV: 277–300. OPEN ACCESS Rodríguez, Ariel, Dennis Poth, Stefan Schulz, and Miguel Vences. 2011. “Discovery of Skin Alkaloids in a Miniaturized Eleutherodactylid Frog from Cuba.” Biology Letters 7: 414–18. OPEN ACCESS Saporito, Ralph A., Maureen A. Donnelly, Thomas F. Spande, and H. Martin Garraffo. 2012. “A Review of Chemical Ecology in Poison Frogs.” Chemoecology 22 (3): 159–68. Vences, Miguel, Frank Glaw, and Wolfgang Böhme. 1998. “Evolutionary Correlates of Microphagy in Alkaloid-Containing Frogs (Amphibia : Anura).” Zoologischer Anzeiger 236: 217–30. Woodhead, Cindy, Miguel Vences, David R. Vieites, Ilona Gamboni, Brian L. Fisher, and Richard A. Griffiths. 2007. “Specialist or Generalist? Feeding Ecology of the Malagasy Poison Frog Mantella Aurantiaca.” Herpetological Journal 17 (4): 225–36. Other Links/Mentions: Association Mitsinjo Madagascar – https://associationmitsinjo.wordpress.com/ Donate to – http://www.amphibianark.org/donation-for-mitsinjo-project/ Music – http://www.purple-planet.com

This week is a fully frog podcast, dedicated to those frogs who dig. We touch on how the climate can induce fossorial adaptations and limit frog’s activity periods. Along with how some frogs manage to sustain populations despite their sedentary and subterranean lives. And look at perhaps the most bizarre looking frog ever to have graced the earth. To round off we have a newly described burrow-utilising frog for our Species of the Bi-week. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: Andreone, Franco, Paolo Eusebio Bergò, Vincenzo Mercurio, and Gonçalo M. Rosa. 2013. “Spatial Ecology of Scaphiophryne Gottlebei in the Canyons of the Isalo Massif, Madagascar.” Herpetologica 69 (1): 11–21.  Encarnación-Luévano, Alondra, Octavio R. Rojas-Soto, and J. Jesús Sigala-Rodríguez. 2013. “Activity Response to Climate Seasonality in Species with Fossorial Habits: A Niche Modeling Approach Using the Lowland Burrowing Treefrog (Smilisca Fodiens).” PLoS ONE 8 (11): 1–7. OPEN ACCESS Thomas, Ashish, Robin Suyesh, S. D. Biju, and Mark A. Bee. 2014. “Vocal Behavior of the Elusive Purple Frog of India (Nasikabatrachus Sahyadrensis), a Fossorial Species Endemic to the Western Ghats.” PLoS ONE 9 (2). OPEN ACCESS Species of the Bi-Week: Matsui, Masafumi, Kanto Nishikawa, and Koshiro Eto. 2014. “A New Burrow-Utilising Fanged Frog from Sarawak, East Malaysia (Anura: Dicroglossidae).” Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 62: 679–87. OPEN ACCESS Other Mentioned Papers/Studies: Andreone, Franco, Fabio Mattioli, and Vincenzo Mercurio. 2005a. “The Call of Scaphiophryne Gottlebei, a Microhylid Frog from the Isalo Massif, Southcentral Madagascar.” Current Herpetology 24 (1): 33–35. Andreone, Franco, V. Mercurio, F. Mattioli, and T. J. Razafindrabe. 2005b. “Good News for Three Critically Endangered and Traded Frogs from Madagascar.” FrogLog 72: 2–3. Biju, S. D., and Franky Bossuyt. 2003. "New frog family from India reveals an ancient biogeographical link with the Seychelles." Nature 425 (6959): 711-714. Boistel, Renaud, Thierry Aubin, Peter Cloetens, Françoise Peyrin, Thierry Scotti, Philippe Herzog, Justin Gerlach, Nicolas Pollet, and Jean-François Aubry. 2013. “How Minute Sooglossid Frogs Hear without a Middle Ear.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110 (38): 15360–64. OPEN ACCESS Crottini, Angelica, Ylenia Chiari, Vincenzo Mercurio, Axel Meyer, Miguel Vences, and Franco Andreone. 2008. “Into the Canyons: The Phylogeography of the Malagasy Frogs Mantella Expectata and Scaphiophryne Gottlebei in the Arid Isalo Massif, and Its Significance for Conservation (Amphibia: Mantellidae and Microhylidae).” Organisms Diversity and Evolution 8 (5): 368–77. OPEN ACCESS Filippi, Piera, Jenna V. Congdon, John Hoang, Daniel L. Bowling, Stephan A. Reber, Andrius Pašukonis, Marisa Hoeschele et al. 2017. "Humans recognize emotional arousal in vocalizations across all classes of terrestrial vertebrates: evidence for acoustic universals." Proceeding of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences 284 (1859): 20170990 Iskandar, Djoko T., Ben J. Evans, and Jimmy A. McGuire. 2014. "A novel reproductive mode in frogs: a new species of fanged frog with internal fertilization and birth of tadpoles." PLoS One 9 (12): e115884. OPEN ACCESS IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. 2016. “Scaphiophryne Gottlebei, Malagasy Rainbow Frog.” The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T57998A84182454. OPEN ACCESS Nomura, Fausto, Denise C. Rossa-Feres, and Francisco Langeani. 2009. “Burrowing Behavior of Dermatonotus Muelleri (Anura, Microhylidae) with Reference to the Origin of the Burrowing Behavior of Anura.” Journal of Ethology 27 (1): 195–201. Rosa, Gonçalo M., Vincenzo Mercurio, Angelica Crottini, and Franco Andreone. 2010. “Predation of the Snake Leioheterodon Modestus (Günther, 1863) upon the Rainbow Frog Scaphiophryne Gottlebei Busse & Böhme, 1992 at Isalo, Southern Madagascar.” Herpetology Notes 3 (1): 259–61. Wake, Marvalee H. 1978. "The reproductive biology of Eleutherodactylus jasperi (Amphibia, Anura, Leptodactylidae), with comments on the evolution of live-bearing systems." Journal of Herpetology: 121-133. Zachariah, Anil, Robin Kurian Abraham, Sandeep Das, K. C. Jayan, and Ronald Altig. 2012. "A detailed account of the reproductive strategy and developmental stages of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis (Anura: Nasikabatrachidae), the only extant member of an archaic frog lineage." Zootaxa 3510 (1): 53-64. Other Links/Mentions: Audio S1 from Thomas et al. 2014 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084809.s001 Audio S2 from Thomas et al. 2014 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084809.s002 Audio S3 from Thomas et al. 2014 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084809.s003 Video S1 from Thomas et al. 2014 - http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0084809.s005&type=supplementary Audio S1 from Boistel et al. 2013 - http://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2013/08/28/1302218110.DCSupplemental/ad01.wav Audio of Scaphiophryne gottlebei from The calls of the frogs of Madagascar by Miguel Vences, Frank Glaw and Rafael Márquez, recorded by Franco Andreone - http://www.fonozoo.com/fnz_detalles_registro_amphibia.php?id=93943&tipo_registro=1 BBC’s Life in Cold Blood, Amazing Rain Frogs - https://youtu.be/mISMwN-0ggE Music – http://www.purple-planet.com

On this episode of Keeping it Queer, Navin Noronha talks to the cast of the film LOEV, a gay love story set against a road trip. Cast members Shiv Pandit and Siddharth Menon open up about: What it is like to get into the skin of a gay character. How director Sudanshu Saria wowed the actors with his script and filmmaking techniques. The difficulties of shooting a kissing scene in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra. How they feel about Bollywood's "gay curse". This is an IVM Production; for more such awesome podcasts on the go, download the IVM Podcasts app on Google Play: https://goo.gl/bI1toI and on iOS: https://goo.gl/9UhnGd Or come find us: Website: Indusvox.com Facebook: https://goo.gl/P130uw Twitter: https://goo.gl/7P7Uec Instagram: https://goo.gl/qH3PHm

We all hate the pre-monsoon heat and humidity. This year why not do something a little different and head into the forests of Bhandardara in the Western Ghats and check out the millions of dancing fireflies that light up the night. We guarantee it will be an experience to remember. You can follow The reDiscovery podcast on iTunes: https://goo.gl/CWBVto Audioboom: https://goo.gl/biXKFX Stitcher: https://goo.gl/N36ciD Soundcloud: https://goo.gl/gkq9Bm IVM website: http://ivmpodcasts.com/rediscovery Or download the IVM podcast app on the App store and Android Play store. This is an IVM Production; for more such awesome podcasts, come find us: Website: Indusvox.com Facebook: facebook.com/ivmpodcasts Twitter: twitter.com/ivmpodcasts Instagram: instagram.com/ivmpodcasts

June, 2006. Trules has arrived in Mumbai on the day that 5 bombs have exploded in 5 different train stations in the financial hub, but still beggared, megalopolis of the sub-continent. He heads southeast, up into the mountainous tea plantations of Munnar, high in the Western Ghats of the province of green, green Kerala. There he takes a terrifying bus ride down a serendipitous mountainside where his whole life flashes before his eyes. Full show notes: http://erictrules.com/episode3

Andite Expansion in the Orient (878.1) 79:0.1 ASIA is the homeland of the human race. It was on a southern peninsula of this continent that Andon and Fonta were born; in the highlands of what is now Afghanistan, their descendant Badonan founded a primitive center of culture that persisted for over one-half million years. Here at this eastern focus of the human race the Sangik peoples differentiated from the Andonic stock, and Asia was their first home, their first hunting ground, their first battlefield. Southwestern Asia witnessed the successive civilizations of Dalamatians, Nodites, Adamites, and Andites, and from these regions the potentials of modern civilization spread to the world. 1. The Andites of Turkestan (878.2) 79:1.1 For over twenty-five thousand years, on down to nearly 2000 B.C., the heart of Eurasia was predominantly, though diminishingly, Andite. In the lowlands of Turkestan the Andites made the westward turning around the inland lakes into Europe, while from the highlands of this region they infiltrated eastward. Eastern Turkestan (Sinkiang) and, to a lesser extent, Tibet were the ancient gateways through which these peoples of Mesopotamia penetrated the mountains to the northern lands of the yellow men. The Andite infiltration of India proceeded from the Turkestan highlands into the Punjab and from the Iranian grazing lands through Baluchistan. These earlier migrations were in no sense conquests; they were, rather, the continual drifting of the Andite tribes into western India and China. (878.3) 79:1.2 For almost fifteen thousand years centers of mixed Andite culture persisted in the basin of the Tarim River in Sinkiang and to the south in the highland regions of Tibet, where the Andites and Andonites had extensively mingled. The Tarim valley was the easternmost outpost of the true Andite culture. Here they built their settlements and entered into trade relations with the progressive Chinese to the east and with the Andonites to the north. In those days the Tarim region was a fertile land; the rainfall was plentiful. To the east the Gobi was an open grassland where the herders were gradually turning to agriculture. This civilization perished when the rain winds shifted to the southeast, but in its day it rivaled Mesopotamia itself. (878.4) 79:1.3 By 8000 B.C. the slowly increasing aridity of the highland regions of central Asia began to drive the Andites to the river bottoms and the seashores. This increasing drought not only drove them to the valleys of the Nile, Euphrates, Indus, and Yellow rivers, but it produced a new development in Andite civilization. A new class of men, the traders, began to appear in large numbers. (879.1) 79:1.4 When climatic conditions made hunting unprofitable for the migrating Andites, they did not follow the evolutionary course of the older races by becoming herders. Commerce and urban life made their appearance. From Egypt through Mesopotamia and Turkestan to the rivers of China and India, the more highly civilized tribes began to assemble in cities devoted to manufacture and trade. Adonia became the central Asian commercial metropolis, being located near the present city of Ashkhabad. Commerce in stone, metal, wood, and pottery was accelerated on both land and water. (879.2) 79:1.5 But ever-increasing drought gradually brought about the great Andite exodus from the lands south and east of the Caspian Sea. The tide of migration began to veer from northward to southward, and the Babylonian cavalrymen began to push into Mesopotamia. (879.3) 79:1.6 Increasing aridity in central Asia further operated to reduce population and to render these people less warlike; and when the diminishing rainfall to the north forced the nomadic Andonites southward, there was a tremendous exodus of Andites from Turkestan. This is the terminal movement of the so-called Aryans into the Levant and India. It culminated that long dispersal of the mixed descendants of Adam during which every Asiatic and most of the island peoples of the Pacific were to some extent improved by these superior races. (879.4) 79:1.7 Thus, while they dispersed over the Eastern Hemisphere, the Andites were dispossessed of their homelands in Mesopotamia and Turkestan, for it was this extensive southward movement of Andonites that diluted the Andites in central Asia nearly to the vanishing point. (879.5) 79:1.8 But even in the twentieth century after Christ there are traces of Andite blood among the Turanian and Tibetan peoples, as is witnessed by the blond types occasionally found in these regions. The early Chinese annals record the presence of the red-haired nomads to the north of the peaceful settlements of the Yellow River, and there still remain paintings which faithfully record the presence of both the blond-Andite and the brunet-Mongolian types in the Tarim basin of long ago. (879.6) 79:1.9 The last great manifestation of the submerged military genius of the central Asiatic Andites was in A.D. 1200, when the Mongols under Genghis Khan began the conquest of the greater portion of the Asiatic continent. And like the Andites of old, these warriors proclaimed the existence of “one God in heaven.” The early breakup of their empire long delayed cultural intercourse between Occident and Orient and greatly handicapped the growth of the monotheistic concept in Asia. 2. The Andite Conquest of India (879.7) 79:2.1 India is the only locality where all the Urantia races were blended, the Andite invasion adding the last stock. In the highlands northwest of India the Sangik races came into existence, and without exception members of each penetrated the subcontinent of India in their early days, leaving behind them the most heterogeneous race mixture ever to exist on Urantia. Ancient India acted as a catch basin for the migrating races. The base of the peninsula was formerly somewhat narrower than now, much of the deltas of the Ganges and Indus being the work of the last fifty thousand years. (879.8) 79:2.2 The earliest race mixtures in India were a blending of the migrating red and yellow races with the aboriginal Andonites. This group was later weakened by absorbing the greater portion of the extinct eastern green peoples as well as large numbers of the orange race, was slightly improved through limited admixture with the blue man, but suffered exceedingly through assimilation of large numbers of the indigo race. But the so-called aborigines of India are hardly representative of these early people; they are rather the most inferior southern and eastern fringe, which was never fully absorbed by either the early Andites or their later appearing Aryan cousins. (880.1) 79:2.3 By 20,000 B.C. the population of western India had already become tinged with the Adamic blood, and never in the history of Urantia did any one people combine so many different races. But it was unfortunate that the secondary Sangik strains predominated, and it was a real calamity that both the blue and the red man were so largely missing from this racial melting pot of long ago; more of the primary Sangik strains would have contributed very much toward the enhancement of what might have been an even greater civilization. As it developed, the red man was destroying himself in the Americas, the blue man was disporting himself in Europe, and the early descendants of Adam (and most of the later ones) exhibited little desire to admix with the darker colored peoples, whether in India, Africa, or elsewhere. (880.2) 79:2.4 About 15,000 B.C. increasing population pressure throughout Turkestan and Iran occasioned the first really extensive Andite movement toward India. For over fifteen centuries these superior peoples poured in through the highlands of Baluchistan, spreading out over the valleys of the Indus and Ganges and slowly moving southward into the Deccan. This Andite pressure from the northwest drove many of the southern and eastern inferiors into Burma and southern China but not sufficiently to save the invaders from racial obliteration. (880.3) 79:2.5 The failure of India to achieve the hegemony of Eurasia was largely a matter of topography; population pressure from the north only crowded the majority of the people southward into the decreasing territory of the Deccan, surrounded on all sides by the sea. Had there been adjacent lands for emigration, then would the inferiors have been crowded out in all directions, and the superior stocks would have achieved a higher civilization. (880.4) 79:2.6 As it was, these earlier Andite conquerors made a desperate attempt to preserve their identity and stem the tide of racial engulfment by the establishment of rigid restrictions regarding intermarriage. Nonetheless, the Andites had become submerged by 10,000 B.C., but the whole mass of the people had been markedly improved by this absorption. (880.5) 79:2.7 Race mixture is always advantageous in that it favors versatility of culture and makes for a progressive civilization, but if the inferior elements of racial stocks predominate, such achievements will be short-lived. A polyglot culture can be preserved only if the superior stocks reproduce themselves in a safe margin over the inferior. Unrestrained multiplication of inferiors, with decreasing reproduction of superiors, is unfailingly suicidal of cultural civilization. (880.6) 79:2.8 Had the Andite conquerors been in numbers three times what they were, or had they driven out or destroyed the least desirable third of the mixed orange-green-indigo inhabitants, then would India have become one of the world’s leading centers of cultural civilization and undoubtedly would have attracted more of the later waves of Mesopotamians that flowed into Turkestan and thence northward to Europe. 3. Dravidian India (881.1) 79:3.1 The blending of the Andite conquerors of India with the native stock eventually resulted in that mixed people which has been called Dravidian. The earlier and purer Dravidians possessed a great capacity for cultural achievement, which was continuously weakened as their Andite inheritance became progressively attenuated. And this is what doomed the budding civilization of India almost twelve thousand years ago. But the infusion of even this small amount of the blood of Adam produced a marked acceleration in social development. This composite stock immediately produced the most versatile civilization then on earth. (881.2) 79:3.2 Not long after conquering India, the Dravidian Andites lost their racial and cultural contact with Mesopotamia, but the later opening up of the sea lanes and the caravan routes re-established these connections; and at no time within the last ten thousand years has India ever been entirely out of touch with Mesopotamia on the west and China to the east, although the mountain barriers greatly favored western intercourse. (881.3) 79:3.3 The superior culture and religious leanings of the peoples of India date from the early times of Dravidian domination and are due, in part, to the fact that so many of the Sethite priesthood entered India, both in the earlier Andite and in the later Aryan invasions. The thread of monotheism running through the religious history of India thus stems from the teachings of the Adamites in the second garden. (881.4) 79:3.4 As early as 16,000 B.C. a company of one hundred Sethite priests entered India and very nearly achieved the religious conquest of the western half of that polyglot people. But their religion did not persist. Within five thousand years their doctrines of the Paradise Trinity had degenerated into the triune symbol of the fire god. (881.5) 79:3.5 But for more than seven thousand years, down to the end of the Andite migrations, the religious status of the inhabitants of India was far above that of the world at large. During these times India bid fair to produce the leading cultural, religious, philosophic, and commercial civilization of the world. And but for the complete submergence of the Andites by the peoples of the south, this destiny would probably have been realized.* (881.6) 79:3.6 The Dravidian centers of culture were located in the river valleys, principally of the Indus and Ganges, and in the Deccan along the three great rivers flowing through the Eastern Ghats to the sea. The settlements along the seacoast of the Western Ghats owed their prominence to maritime relationships with Sumeria. (881.7) 79:3.7 The Dravidians were among the earliest peoples to build cities and to engage in an extensive export and import business, both by land and sea. By 7000 B.C. camel trains were making regular trips to distant Mesopotamia; Dravidian shipping was pushing coastwise across the Arabian Sea to the Sumerian cities of the Persian Gulf and was venturing on the waters of the Bay of Bengal as far as the East Indies. An alphabet, together with the art of writing, was imported from Sumeria by these seafarers and merchants. (881.8) 79:3.8 These commercial relationships greatly contributed to the further diversification of a cosmopolitan culture, resulting in the early appearance of many of the refinements and even luxuries of urban life. When the later appearing Aryans entered India, they did not recognize in the Dravidians their Andite cousins submerged in the Sangik races, but they did find a well-advanced civilization. Despite biologic limitations, the Dravidians founded a superior civilization. It was well diffused throughout all India and has survived on down to modern times in the Deccan. 4. The Aryan Invasion of India (882.1) 79:4.1 The second Andite penetration of India was the Aryan invasion during a period of almost five hundred years in the middle of the third millennium before Christ. This migration marked the terminal exodus of the Andites from their homelands in Turkestan. (882.2) 79:4.2 The early Aryan centers were scattered over the northern half of India, notably in the northwest. These invaders never completed the conquest of the country and subsequently met their undoing in this neglect since their lesser numbers made them vulnerable to absorption by the Dravidians of the south, who subsequently overran the entire peninsula except the Himalayan provinces. (882.3) 79:4.3 The Aryans made very little racial impression on India except in the northern provinces. In the Deccan their influence was cultural and religious more than racial. The greater persistence of the so-called Aryan blood in northern India is not only due to their presence in these regions in greater numbers but also because they were reinforced by later conquerors, traders, and missionaries. Right on down to the first century before Christ there was a continuous infiltration of Aryan blood into the Punjab, the last influx being attendant upon the campaigns of the Hellenistic peoples. (882.4) 79:4.4 On the Gangetic plain Aryan and Dravidian eventually mingled to produce a high culture, and this center was later reinforced by contributions from the northeast, coming from China. (882.5) 79:4.5 In India many types of social organizations flourished from time to time, from the semidemocratic systems of the Aryans to despotic and monarchial forms of government. But the most characteristic feature of society was the persistence of the great social castes that were instituted by the Aryans in an effort to perpetuate racial identity. This elaborate caste system has been preserved on down to the present time. (882.6) 79:4.6 Of the four great castes, all but the first were established in the futile effort to prevent racial amalgamation of the Aryan conquerors with their inferior subjects. But the premier caste, the teacher-priests, stems from the Sethites; the Brahmans of the twentieth century after Christ are the lineal cultural descendants of the priests of the second garden, albeit their teachings differ greatly from those of their illustrious predecessors. (882.7) 79:4.7 When the Aryans entered India, they brought with them their concepts of Deity as they had been preserved in the lingering traditions of the religion of the second garden. But the Brahman priests were never able to withstand the pagan momentum built up by the sudden contact with the inferior religions of the Deccan after the racial obliteration of the Aryans. Thus the vast majority of the population fell into the bondage of the enslaving superstitions of inferior religions; and so it was that India failed to produce the high civilization which had been foreshadowed in earlier times. (882.8) 79:4.8 The spiritual awakening of the sixth century before Christ did not persist in India, having died out even before the Mohammedan invasion. But someday a greater Gautama may arise to lead all India in the search for the living God, and then the world will observe the fruition of the cultural potentialities of a versatile people so long comatose under the benumbing influence of an unprogressing spiritual vision. (883.1) 79:4.9 Culture does rest on a biologic foundation, but caste alone could not perpetuate the Aryan culture, for religion, true religion, is the indispensable source of that higher energy which drives men to establish a superior civilization based on human brotherhood. 5. Red Man and Yellow Man (883.2) 79:5.1 While the story of India is that of Andite conquest and eventual submergence in the older evolutionary peoples, the narrative of eastern Asia is more properly that of the primary Sangiks, particularly the red man and the yellow man. These two races largely escaped that admixture with the debased Neanderthal strain which so greatly retarded the blue man in Europe, thus preserving the superior potential of the primary Sangik type. (883.3) 79:5.2 While the early Neanderthalers were spread out over the entire breadth of Eurasia, the eastern wing was the more contaminated with debased animal strains. These subhuman types were pushed south by the fifth glacier, the same ice sheet which so long blocked Sangik migration into eastern Asia. And when the red man moved northeast around the highlands of India, he found northeastern Asia free from these subhuman types. The tribal organization of the red races was formed earlier than that of any other peoples, and they were the first to migrate from the central Asian focus of the Sangiks. The inferior Neanderthal strains were destroyed or driven off the mainland by the later migrating yellow tribes. But the red man had reigned supreme in eastern Asia for almost one hundred thousand years before the yellow tribes arrived. (883.4) 79:5.3 More than three hundred thousand years ago the main body of the yellow race entered China from the south as coastwise migrants. Each millennium they penetrated farther and farther inland, but they did not make contact with their migrating Tibetan brethren until comparatively recent times. (883.5) 79:5.4 Growing population pressure caused the northward-moving yellow race to begin to push into the hunting grounds of the red man. This encroachment, coupled with natural racial antagonism, culminated in increasing hostilities, and thus began the crucial struggle for the fertile lands of farther Asia. (883.6) 79:5.5 The story of this agelong contest between the red and yellow races is an epic of Urantia history. For over two hundred thousand years these two superior races waged bitter and unremitting warfare. In the earlier struggles the red men were generally successful, their raiding parties spreading havoc among the yellow settlements. But the yellow man was an apt pupil in the art of warfare, and he early manifested a marked ability to live peaceably with his compatriots; the Chinese were the first to learn that in union there is strength. The red tribes continued their internecine conflicts, and presently they began to suffer repeated defeats at the aggressive hands of the relentless Chinese, who continued their inexorable march northward. (883.7) 79:5.6 One hundred thousand years ago the decimated tribes of the red race were fighting with their backs to the retreating ice of the last glacier, and when the land passage to the West, over the Bering isthmus, became passable, these tribes were not slow in forsaking the inhospitable shores of the Asiatic continent. It is eighty-five thousand years since the last of the pure red men departed from Asia, but the long struggle left its genetic imprint upon the victorious yellow race. The northern Chinese peoples, together with the Andonite Siberians, assimilated much of the red stock and were in considerable measure benefited thereby.* (884.1) 79:5.7 The North American Indians never came in contact with even the Andite offspring of Adam and Eve, having been dispossessed of their Asiatic homelands some fifty thousand years before the coming of Adam. During the age of Andite migrations the pure red strains were spreading out over North America as nomadic tribes, hunters who practiced agriculture to a small extent. These races and cultural groups remained almost completely isolated from the remainder of the world from their arrival in the Americas down to the end of the first millennium of the Christian era, when they were discovered by the white races of Europe. Up to that time the Eskimos were the nearest to white men the northern tribes of red men had ever seen. (884.2) 79:5.8 The red and the yellow races are the only human stocks that ever achieved a high degree of civilization apart from the influences of the Andites. The oldest Amerindian culture was the Onamonalonton center in California, but this had long since vanished by 35,000 B.C. In Mexico, Central America, and in the mountains of South America the later and more enduring civilizations were founded by a race predominantly red but containing a considerable admixture of the yellow, orange, and blue. (884.3) 79:5.9 These civilizations were evolutionary products of the Sangiks, notwithstanding that traces of Andite blood reached Peru. Excepting the Eskimos in North America and a few Polynesian Andites in South America, the peoples of the Western Hemisphere had no contact with the rest of the world until the end of the first millennium after Christ. In the original Melchizedek plan for the improvement of the Urantia races it had been stipulated that one million of the pure-line descendants of Adam should go to upstep the red men of the Americas. 6. Dawn of Chinese Civilization (884.4) 79:6.1 Sometime after driving the red man across to North America, the expanding Chinese cleared the Andonites from the river valleys of eastern Asia, pushing them north into Siberia and west into Turkestan, where they were soon to come in contact with the superior culture of the Andites. (884.5) 79:6.2 In Burma and the peninsula of Indo-China the cultures of India and China mixed and blended to produce the successive civilizations of those regions. Here the vanished green race has persisted in larger proportion than anywhere else in the world. (884.6) 79:6.3 Many different races occupied the islands of the Pacific. In general, the southern and then more extensive islands were occupied by peoples carrying a heavy percentage of green and indigo blood. The northern islands were held by Andonites and, later on, by races embracing large proportions of the yellow and red stocks. The ancestors of the Japanese people were not driven off the mainland until 12,000 B.C., when they were dislodged by a powerful southern-coastwise thrust of the northern Chinese tribes. Their final exodus was not so much due to population pressure as to the initiative of a chieftain whom they came to regard as a divine personage. (885.1) 79:6.4 Like the peoples of India and the Levant, victorious tribes of the yellow man established their earliest centers along the coast and up the rivers. The coastal settlements fared poorly in later years as the increasing floods and the shifting courses of the rivers made the lowland cities untenable. (885.2) 79:6.5 Twenty thousand years ago the ancestors of the Chinese had built up a dozen strong centers of primitive culture and learning, especially along the Yellow River and the Yangtze. And now these centers began to be reinforced by the arrival of a steady stream of superior blended peoples from Sinkiang and Tibet. The migration from Tibet to the Yangtze valley was not so extensive as in the north, neither were the Tibetan centers so advanced as those of the Tarim basin. But both movements carried a certain amount of Andite blood eastward to the river settlements. (885.3) 79:6.6 The superiority of the ancient yellow race was due to four great factors: (885.4) 79:6.7 1. Genetic. Unlike their blue cousins in Europe, both the red and yellow races had largely escaped mixture with debased human stocks. The northern Chinese, already strengthened by small amounts of the superior red and Andonic strains, were soon to benefit by a considerable influx of Andite blood. The southern Chinese did not fare so well in this regard, and they had long suffered from absorption of the green race, while later on they were to be further weakened by the infiltration of the swarms of inferior peoples crowded out of India by the Dravidian-Andite invasion. And today in China there is a definite difference between the northern and southern races. (885.5) 79:6.8 2. Social. The yellow race early learned the value of peace among themselves. Their internal peaceableness so contributed to population increase as to insure the spread of their civilization among many millions. From 25,000 to 5000 B.C. the highest mass civilization on Urantia was in central and northern China. The yellow man was first to achieve a racial solidarity — the first to attain a large-scale cultural, social, and political civilization. (885.6) 79:6.9 The Chinese of 15,000 B.C. were aggressive militarists; they had not been weakened by an overreverence for the past, and numbering less than twelve million, they formed a compact body speaking a common language. During this age they built up a real nation, much more united and homogeneous than their political unions of historic times. (885.7) 79:6.10 3. Spiritual. During the age of Andite migrations the Chinese were among the more spiritual peoples of earth. Long adherence to the worship of the One Truth proclaimed by Singlangton kept them ahead of most of the other races. The stimulus of a progressive and advanced religion is often a decisive factor in cultural development; as India languished, so China forged ahead under the invigorating stimulus of a religion in which truth was enshrined as the supreme Deity. (885.8) 79:6.11 This worship of truth was provocative of research and fearless exploration of the laws of nature and the potentials of mankind. The Chinese of even six thousand years ago were still keen students and aggressive in their pursuit of truth. (885.9) 79:6.12 4. Geographic. China is protected by the mountains to the west and the Pacific to the east. Only in the north is the way open to attack, and from the days of the red man to the coming of the later descendants of the Andites, the north was not occupied by any aggressive race. (886.1) 79:6.13 And but for the mountain barriers and the later decline in spiritual culture, the yellow race undoubtedly would have attracted to itself the larger part of the Andite migrations from Turkestan and unquestionably would have quickly dominated world civilization. 7. The Andites Enter China (886.2) 79:7.1 About fifteen thousand years ago the Andites, in considerable numbers, were traversing the pass of Ti Tao and spreading out over the upper valley of the Yellow River among the Chinese settlements of Kansu. Presently they penetrated eastward to Honan, where the most progressive settlements were situated. This infiltration from the west was about half Andonite and half Andite. (886.3) 79:7.2 The northern centers of culture along the Yellow River had always been more progressive than the southern settlements on the Yangtze. Within a few thousand years after the arrival of even the small numbers of these superior mortals, the settlements along the Yellow River had forged ahead of the Yangtze villages and had achieved an advanced position over their brethren in the south which has ever since been maintained. (886.4) 79:7.3 It was not that there were so many of the Andites, nor that their culture was so superior, but amalgamation with them produced a more versatile stock. The northern Chinese received just enough of the Andite strain to mildly stimulate their innately able minds but not enough to fire them with the restless, exploratory curiosity so characteristic of the northern white races. This more limited infusion of Andite inheritance was less disturbing to the innate stability of the Sangik type. (886.5) 79:7.4 The later waves of Andites brought with them certain of the cultural advances of Mesopotamia; this is especially true of the last waves of migration from the west. They greatly improved the economic and educational practices of the northern Chinese; and while their influence upon the religious culture of the yellow race was short-lived, their later descendants contributed much to a subsequent spiritual awakening. But the Andite traditions of the beauty of Eden and Dalamatia did influence Chinese traditions; early Chinese legends place “the land of the gods” in the west. (886.6) 79:7.5 The Chinese people did not begin to build cities and engage in manufacture until after 10,000 B.C., subsequent to the climatic changes in Turkestan and the arrival of the later Andite immigrants. The infusion of this new blood did not add so much to the civilization of the yellow man as it stimulated the further and rapid development of the latent tendencies of the superior Chinese stocks. From Honan to Shensi the potentials of an advanced civilization were coming to fruit. Metalworking and all the arts of manufacture date from these days. (886.7) 79:7.6 The similarities between certain of the early Chinese and Mesopotamian methods of time reckoning, astronomy, and governmental administration were due to the commercial relationships between these two remotely situated centers. Chinese merchants traveled the overland routes through Turkestan to Mesopotamia even in the days of the Sumerians. Nor was this exchange one-sided — the valley of the Euphrates benefited considerably thereby, as did the peoples of the Gangetic plain. But the climatic changes and the nomadic invasions of the third millennium before Christ greatly reduced the volume of trade passing over the caravan trails of central Asia. 8. Later Chinese Civilization (887.1) 79:8.1 While the red man suffered from too much warfare, it is not altogether amiss to say that the development of statehood among the Chinese was delayed by the thoroughness of their conquest of Asia. They had a great potential of racial solidarity, but it failed properly to develop because the continuous driving stimulus of the ever-present danger of external aggression was lacking. (887.2) 79:8.2 With the completion of the conquest of eastern Asia the ancient military state gradually disintegrated — past wars were forgotten. Of the epic struggle with the red race there persisted only the hazy tradition of an ancient contest with the archer peoples. The Chinese early turned to agricultural pursuits, which contributed further to their pacific tendencies, while a population well below the land-man ratio for agriculture still further contributed to the growing peacefulness of the country. (887.3) 79:8.3 Consciousness of past achievements (somewhat diminished in the present), the conservatism of an overwhelmingly agricultural people, and a well-developed family life equaled the birth of ancestor veneration, culminating in the custom of so honoring the men of the past as to border on worship. A very similar attitude prevailed among the white races in Europe for some five hundred years following the disruption of Greco-Roman civilization.* (887.4) 79:8.4 The belief in, and worship of, the “One Truth” as taught by Singlangton never entirely died out; but as time passed, the search for new and higher truth became overshadowed by a growing tendency to venerate that which was already established. Slowly the genius of the yellow race became diverted from the pursuit of the unknown to the preservation of the known. And this is the reason for the stagnation of what had been the world’s most rapidly progressing civilization. (887.5) 79:8.5 Between 4000 and 500 B.C. the political reunification of the yellow race was consummated, but the cultural union of the Yangtze and Yellow river centers had already been effected. This political reunification of the later tribal groups was not without conflict, but the societal opinion of war remained low; ancestor worship, increasing dialects, and no call for military action for thousands upon thousands of years had rendered this people ultrapeaceful. (887.6) 79:8.6 Despite failure to fulfill the promise of an early development of advanced statehood, the yellow race did progressively move forward in the realization of the arts of civilization, especially in the realms of agriculture and horticulture. The hydraulic problems faced by the agriculturists in Shensi and Honan demanded group co-operation for solution. Such irrigation and soil-conservation difficulties contributed in no small measure to the development of interdependence with the consequent promotion of peace among farming groups. (887.7) 79:8.7 Soon developments in writing, together with the establishment of schools, contributed to the dissemination of knowledge on a previously unequaled scale. But the cumbersome nature of the ideographic writing system placed a numerical limit upon the learned classes despite the early appearance of printing. And above all else, the process of social standardization and religio-philosophic dogmatization continued apace. The religious development of ancestor veneration became further complicated by a flood of superstitions involving nature worship, but lingering vestiges of a real concept of God remained preserved in the imperial worship of Shang-ti. (888.1) 79:8.8 The great weakness of ancestor veneration is that it promotes a backward-looking philosophy. However wise it may be to glean wisdom from the past, it is folly to regard the past as the exclusive source of truth. Truth is relative and expanding; it lives always in the present, achieving new expression in each generation of men — even in each human life. (888.2) 79:8.9 The great strength in a veneration of ancestry is the value that such an attitude places upon the family. The amazing stability and persistence of Chinese culture is a consequence of the paramount position accorded the family, for civilization is directly dependent on the effective functioning of the family; and in China the family attained a social importance, even a religious significance, approached by few other peoples. (888.3) 79:8.10 The filial devotion and family loyalty exacted by the growing cult of ancestor worship insured the building up of superior family relationships and of enduring family groups, all of which facilitated the following factors in the preservation of civilization: (888.4) 79:8.11 1. Conservation of property and wealth. (888.5) 79:8.12 2. Pooling of the experience of more than one generation. (888.6) 79:8.13 3. Efficient education of children in the arts and sciences of the past. (888.7) 79:8.14 4. Development of a strong sense of duty, the enhancement of morality, and the augmentation of ethical sensitivity. (888.8) 79:8.15 The formative period of Chinese civilization, opening with the coming of the Andites, continues on down to the great ethical, moral, and semireligious awakening of the sixth century before Christ. And Chinese tradition preserves the hazy record of the evolutionary past; the transition from mother- to father-family, the establishment of agriculture, the development of architecture, the initiation of industry — all these are successively narrated. And this story presents, with greater accuracy than any other similar account, the picture of the magnificent ascent of a superior people from the levels of barbarism. During this time they passed from a primitive agricultural society to a higher social organization embracing cities, manufacture, metalworking, commercial exchange, government, writing, mathematics, art, science, and printing. (888.9) 79:8.16 And so the ancient civilization of the yellow race has persisted down through the centuries. It is almost forty thousand years since the first important advances were made in Chinese culture, and though there have been many retrogressions, the civilization of the sons of Han comes the nearest of all to presenting an unbroken picture of continual progression right on down to the times of the twentieth century. The mechanical and religious developments of the white races have been of a high order, but they have never excelled the Chinese in family loyalty, group ethics, or personal morality. (888.10) 79:8.17 This ancient culture has contributed much to human happiness; millions of human beings have lived and died, blessed by its achievements. For centuries this great civilization has rested upon the laurels of the past, but it is even now reawakening to envision anew the transcendent goals of mortal existence, once again to take up the unremitting struggle for never-ending progress. (888.11) 79:8.18 [Presented by an Archangel of Nebadon.]