A bat is a bat even if it is not flat

I have always enjoyed watching cricket. Never baseball. I just don't know why!!! Well, last week, I happened to get free tickets to a Chicago cubs game. Even better, the tickets came with free food. The very thought of free food and the chance to shoot, made me jump and grab the tickets. And off I went.

Took the train, took the bus, walked a little, took the train again, walked some more till I finally reached the stadium. I have become a public transportation junkie these days, trying to unshackle myself from my car and my suburban mindset. The great thing about trains and buses is the opportunity to read, to reflect and to see amusing things. A guy wearing a pink thong would definitely constitute as amusing. Don't you think ?

The game turned out to be a little boring (my humble apologies to all those crazy cubs fans). I spent almost all my time at the game, shooting. At the same time furiously trying to remember the things that were taught in the photography class. All in all, a fun day!

Spirit of Place

I have to thank Pippala Leaf for linking to the photographer Phil Borges's website. I was not aware of his work before this. Phil is truly an amazing photographer. A must must visit.

I was particularly moved by his work titled Spirit of Place: People of endangered culture;People of indigenous culture. One of his photographs is of a Ecuadorian Secoya Indian child named Yadira. He writes...

"Yadira is one of 320 Secoya Indians living along the Aguarico river in Ecuador's northern Amazon. Since oil was discovered in 1972, more oil has been spilled in this area than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska. The Aguarico river has been covered by over a foot of oil on several occasions. In this time, the Secoya have seen most of the animals in their territory disappear. Today an oil company is again trying to start seismic exploration in Secoya territory"

Though Phil doesn't name the oil company, a quick google search will reveal the name. It is none other than Texaco, now ChevronTexaco. Texaco was able to get the Ecuadorian government declare vast areas of the Amazon forests inhabited by the Secoya and many other Indian tribes as "vacant" . The rest, is not history it is a sordid crime.

As minesandcommunities.org puts it - "During the 20-year period, Texaco pumped 1.5 billion barrels of oil from Ecuador -- most of it bound for California markets. By the time the company pulled out, environmentalists estimate that Texaco had dumped more than 19 billion gallons of waste and spilled 16.8 million gallons of crude oil, the capacity of an oil tanker 11/2 times the size of the Exxon Valdez"

For the natives of the land, who have died and are dying of cancer, this is not history, this is human rights violation. Not surprisingly, Texaco refuses to accept these claims and have indicated that their $40 million clean up effort made every wrong, right.

In 1993, a class-action lawsuit against Texaco was filed in New York by an Ecuadorian-American environmentalist lawyer on behalf of 30,000 indigenous peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon. After a decade of legal wrangling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, on August 2002, ruled that the Ecuadorian judicial system's decision would be legally binding on the parent corporation in the United States. That ruling was probably a historic first.... A foreign court being given the right to try a US corporation. A $1bn lawsuit.
The trial began in August 2003.

Progress has been slow. The trial continues till date. Soil samples submitted to the court last month shows that the soil contains levels of TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons) to be 250 times higher than what is allowed in the US. This finding is damaging to Texaco. It has always maintained that their $40 million clean up effort has restored the land. A verdict is expected by early 2007.

ChevronToxico.com is an international campaign trying to hold Texaco accountable. They are actively monitoring the trial.

The growing energy needs of a teeming human population is putting Amazon forests under immense pressure. Oil companies are actively seeking ways of extracting the oil buried deep under these forests. [Sigh!]

In my photography class, the teacher asked me this question, "What makes a great photograph ?" . I didn't have a good answer then. I do have one now... A great photograph is something that moves me. Makes we want to know more. Makes me want to do something about it.

Quote of the day
"Your grandchildren will likely find it incredible - or even sinful - that you burned up a gallon of gasoline to fetch a pack of cigarettes!" ~Dr. Paul MacCready, Jr.

Turkish cultural festival, Chicago

To be honest, I know very little about Turkey. I know that is a largely secular state with a majority Muslim population and that it is actively seeking European Union membership. So when I heard that there was a Turkish cultural festival in Chicago, I was more than excited.

Spent an entire day absorbing the culture, the music, the dance and of course the food. Gulping would probably better describe my eating there. The bakhlavas, the boregis and the kebabs were yum, yum & yum. I am not so sure about the Turkish coffee though. It may look very tempting served in a cute little cup. Don't let the size of the cup fool you. Strong doesn't even begin to describe it. The lady selling the coffee was horrified to see me put about 10 spoons of sugar into mine :)

The Whirling Dervishes were the main attraction of the event. The Whirling Dervishes trace their origin to the 13th century Ottoman Empire. The Dervishes, also known as the Mevlevi Order, are Sufis. As I understood it, the whirling is a form of meditation. It represents a mystical spiritual journey. The dervishes whirl, raising one hand towards heaven and the other down towards earth.

On my way back, I couldn't help but add Turkey to my ever growing list of must-visit countries. May be some day, I will get a chance to visit. In the meantime, I need to read some more about Turkey.

Mercury loving Democrats & Mercury hating Republicans

Many of you know this already. A resolution to enforce stricter mercury emissions law failed on the US senate floor. With Republicans in the majority, this was a difficult task to begin with. Even if it had passed, the President was eagerly waiting to veto the resolution.

In the end, the voting was largely along party lines. Majority of the Republicans voted for the industry and a majority of the Democrats voted for the environment. To my surprise, 6 democrats voted against the resolution and 9 republicans supported the resolution. So who are these surprises?


Mercury loving Democrats
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Max Baucus, Montana
Conrad, North Dakota
Dorgan, North Dakota
Pryor, Arkansas
Nelson, Nebraska
Byrd, West Virginia

Mercury hating Republicans
--------------------------
John McCain, Arizona
Collins, Maine
Snowe, Maine
Coleman, Minnesota
Gregg, New Hampshire
Sununu, New Hampshire
Smith, Oregon
Chafee, Rhode Island
Alexander Lamar, Tennessee

If you think about it, these senators and their votes are no surprises. It is nothing but typical "red state blue state" behavior. The only exception however is, senator John McCain from Arizona. He seems to genuinely care about the environment. He has backed many environment initiatives in the past.

The folks on the side of the environment & health cited mercury poisoning and its adverse effect on the health of pregnant women and children. The folks on the side of the industry cited "market based approach" to reducing mercury pollution. Apparently, they (pro industry) favor the existing cap and trade system. Simply put, the cap and trade system allows a plant to exceed its permitted level of emissions by buying credits from a plant in the same region whose emissions are below what is allowed. With the existing system it would be 2018 before mercury emissions are cut by 70%. The new resolution would have reduced mercury emissions within a much shorter time frame.

Cap and Trade system ... Isn't it that the very principles of the Kyoto protocol ? Countries exceeding co2 emissions trade carbon credits with countries that reduce co2 emissions.

So the very same folks who oppose trading co2 (Kyoto protocol), favor trading Mercury!!!!!!!!. Smells like hypocrisy / campaign finance to me


Quote of the day
"Hypocrisy: prejudice with a halo" ...Ambrose Pierce

Hariyali Express

This post is entirely inspired by the phenomenon called blog mela.

Some of you must be going ... WHAT !

Let me explain. The word mela means carnival (or festival). A blog mela is a weekly (or fortnightly) carnival/round up of all things happening in the Indian blogosphere. Each week it is hosted by a different blogger. It is one of the coolest things going around. The last one was hosted by Sunil Laxman of Balancing Life.

The word Hariyali means greenery. Hariyali express is a weekly roundup/journey through all things green in this world. Moments of tree hugging joy, sadness, frustrations and hope. So fasten your seat belts folks. Hariyali Express is ready to roll.

*******

Let me begin by mentioning a great effort. The wiki project, Katrina People finder . Check it out if you get a chance.

The environmental disaster left behind by Katrina is pretty bad. All week long, a lot of people debated the possible connections between global warming and hurricanes. While both sides of the aisle have attacked each other viciously, realclimate.org takes a sensible look at the issue. The fact of the matter, global warming is real and the warning signs are clear.

The clean up efforts have started. Sadly though, toxic water is being pumped into Lake Pontchartrain. The damage to the lake's eco system could be irreversible. In situations like this, there is probably no other option. The images do hurt, but stupid comments like these hurt even more.

"The wonderful thing about nature is its resilience,The organic material will degrade with natural processes. Metals will probably fall and be captured in the sediments. Nature does a good job. It just takes awhile"...Michael D. McDaniel, the Louisiana secretary of environmental quality

Well Michael..What about all the chemicals and industrial solvents? Nature is not a punching bag. There is only so much mistreatment it can take.

On the topic of mistreatment here is another dreadful story. The current US administration is looking to reverse all the good things done to protect the national parks. A majority of the national park rangers don't agree with the policy of opening up pristine forests for commercial activity. They leaked the administration's devious proposal. The very thought of golf courses, timber mills, beer bars and ATV rentals inside Yosemite makes me obnoxious. The good news is that, 3 American states have joined hands and filed a lawsuit against the administration.

9 American states have joined hands and have decided to cut down power plant emissions in their states and honor the principles of the Kyoto protocol. As the officials put it..."It is a race against time to tackle global warming". Talk about racing, who would have thought a NASCAR driver would have a tree hugging heart!!!. Ward Burton certainly does. Check out his wildlife foundation. He made a passionate speech at the cooperative conservation conference recently. He seems passionate and sincere. Am not sure about the audience at the conference though. Going back to the subject of global warming, the Asian peat fires grabbed world attention. The peatlands contain upto 21% of global land-based stores of carbon.

Talk about the unexpected. One would normally not expect green news from the Middle East. It was a pleasant surprise to hear that UAE recently hosted a environmental exhibition and had a very good response.

The summer might be over but solar energy is here to stay. Around 100,000 rooftops in Shanghai are set to go solar by 2015, generating about 430 million kwh electricity a year. California with its Million Solar Roofs bill and New Jersey with its incentives and subsidies are two states where solar energy is becoming more mainstream every day. Home Depot and BP now seem to be sold on solar. Solar Energy is even taking roots in Tennessee, the heart of coal country. More and more houses are harvesting solar energy and at times pumping excess energy back into the grid. A negative electric bill!. Wouldn't it be great if negative bills became the norm. India too has ambitious goals in this area. Solar heating has become a common term these days. My dad is planning on getting a system installed. It is expected that solar heating will be made mandatory in all cities in India by 2012.

While implementation of solar energy is picking up steam, there is research also happening. The company Sunlight Direct has patented an interesting technology called Hybrid Solar Lighting. It uses a solar concentrator to collect and distribute sunlight into a building via plastic optical fibers.

It is quite the norm to attach "pundit" to blog names. So I wasn't surprised to see this blog Israpundit. It is an Israeli blog and they have linked to an interesting research item. The use of solar energy to produce hydrogen fuel.

Ministers and government officials in Ghana and Zimbabwe(surprisingly) talked about the need for solar energy infrastructure and sustainable development. It is a good thing to talk, but Africa today needs action more than words. The National Geographic's latest issue is entirely devoted to Africa. It is a wealth of information. One story in particular just guts you. Bush meat has now become a multi million dollar trade and it is wiping out Africa's wildlife. More at bushmeat.org

From South America comes the story of Father Tamayo. A Honduran priest who fights the powerful timber mafia. The saddest part of the story is that a majority of that illegal timber ends up in the US where it probably gets churned into junk mail. Like Africa, South America's future too depends on its environment preservation. Treehugger.com links to a recent Bill Clinton interview on environment preservation and NGOs. The former president heads the foundation called Clinton Global Initiative

The head of UNEP, Klaus Toepfer is planning to step down. It probably has something to do with his party, (Christian Democrats) doing well in German polls. Future environment minister maybe!. Anyway, UNEP is actively involved in planning the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Montreal conference in November. All lot of eyes will be on this conference. It is estimated that 2 million tons of carbon was traded in the month of July alone. That is about 50 million dollars in trade. More than 112 Indian companies like Tata Steel are expected to also start trading.

The rising gas prices is the water cooler topic presently. There are some interesting patterns I have been observing lately. More people are now receptive to the idea of car pooling. Pizza and Chinese take-outs have mandated a 10 - 20 dollar minimum order. So people are into take-out food pooling too. And as treehugger.com points out smaller Japanese cars might hit the American market also.

Thanks to high prices, biodiesel has been getting a lot of press. Willie Nelson's BioWille is now available in gas stations. The American trucking industry is sure tuning in .

The planning commission of India's proposal/policy draft on biodiesel seems to have hit red tape. The Indian private and public sector companies are however moving forward with plans. As Kiran of Indic View points out, ONGC and Reliance Industries have big plans for biodiesel and Jatropha. It is not just India that is Jatropha savvy these days. A governor in Philipines made headlines when he talked about planting Jatropha in the millions.

Any discussion is incomplete without mentioning environmental awareness and education. The Supreme Court of India (after about 13 years) finally mandated that all schools in India have environment education (EE) added to the curriculum. I personally feel that it is a great idea. It is expected to go into effect this year. Already, there have been reports about lack of teachers and lack of textbooks. I sincerely hope these are just initial hiccups. Meanwhile students of a green school in Chicago started classes where plants grow on the roof.

This has been a long post. I think I badly need a break. Talking about breaks, the state of Vermont has designed and implemented a state of the art eco rest room... Green flush toilets and a Greenhouse.

I hope this post was informative reading, as it was for me posting. Anyone wanting to host the express next, please do comment and let me know

My kind of town, Chicago is

"This is my kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of people too
People who smile at you"...Frank Sinatra

Took the train to Chicago this weekend. A nice relaxing trip. Walked around absorbing the sights and the sounds.

This is a picture of Cloud Gate aka The Bean. This is the work of British artist Anish Kapoor. Kapoor's inspiration was liquid mercury. The sculpture is 66-feet long and 33-feet high.

An interesting way to see the city skyline. It has become the most popular tourist spot in the city

Rest of the pictures are here



Quote of the day
"I am going to St. Petersburg, Florida, tomorrow. Let the worthy citizens of Chicago get their liquor the best they can. I'm sick of the job--it's a thankless one and full of grief. I've been spending the best years of my life as a public benefactor"
... Al Capone, 1927

Shutter bugs and bugaboos

I have been waiting for this day all summer long. My first day back in class (evening class that is). Basic photography.

I have always enjoyed taking pictures. But... somehow I have always been a little scared of my camera. I am not sure why! I have read the manual a thousand times, but never gotten around to using the manual mode. I would always chicken back to the camera's programmed mode. The photo blog at Pippala Leaf and Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus awed me finally into action.

I signed up for classes at a nearby community college. I wasn't sure what to expect. It was just a community college after all. I was excited nevertheless.

After about 8 hours of work and subtle clock watching later, I joyously head to college. I reach the college a little early. So I decide to explore the art center a little bit. Glad I did. This painting I saw. Hanging on the board it was. A picture I took. Wow! I said. Artist unknown it is.



I finally find my classroom. I seat myself on a cozy and discreet little corner seat.

Eventually, more students come in. To my surprise, almost everyone is a teenager. The dress style ranged from hip-hop , to punk rock, to gothic, to Latino hip ....guys and gals had it all covered (for the most part). I find myself ridiculous in khakis and a button down shirt. I felt like I was a million years old.

Guys would walk in and with the coolest/slightest upward head nod, say... "Whatzzup Man". The SOB that I am (Stale Off the Boat) , I find it easy to respond in a even cooler way. I go... "Howzzit goin man".

This head nod thing goes on for a bit. Then in comes the teacher. A beer bellied, in his early forties, shorts wearing guy. He walks in with a ton of snacks, pops in a video of Simpsons, outputs the video to the projector and then looks around at the students. He doesn't speak a word. Instead, he starts writing on the board. "Help yourself to some FREE food"

At this point, I am pretty sure, I am in the wrong class. I start nervously plotting a discreet exit.

The teacher then writes..."Welcome to Photography Basics. The class will start at 6:39 and end at 9:07. There will be no breaks in between (kidding). Each cell phone ring will cost 1.15$ (not kidding) "

I trash my exit strategy.

Each time a new student walks in, the teachers taps ferociously on the board and draws attention to the word FREE food. Every body starts laughing. The atmosphere in the class eases up. By now, there is loud obnoxious snack munching sounds all around.

The time 6:39 . The Simpsons video ends. The lights go dim. A Moby music video starts. Out of shape middle aged men and ultra geeky guys are shown dancing/auditioning for the latest Moby music video. The whole class is in splits. I can hear the occasional "That is funny dude".

The Moby video ends and a 1970s sitcom starts. The whole class is again in splits. I can hear the occasional "What show is that man?"

I am beginning to wonder if all this had some hidden connection to photography. Just as I was thinking this, the lights come back on and the teacher finally speaks , "So what does all this have to do with photography ? "

The class is silent.

The teacher goes "Nothing really!. I just like to have fun. Sense of humor is very important in my class. If you don't have one, you will have one by the end of all this"

The discussion now moves onto defining moments in American history and photography. Pearl harbor, Elian Gonzalez, September 11, The President being told that the second tower has been hit, etc etc

The students start talking about all these pictures. The discussion finally comes down to politics. The teacher then says this, "Republicans or Democrats, I don't really care. I just vote for someone who makes a good caricature and Kerry doesn't make a good one"

That gets me a little irritated. In my mind I say this to the teacher, "Dude, Kerry might not make a good caricature, but atleast he doesn't refer to the internet in the plural !"

The irritation only lasts a second. The teacher moves on to other topics. Every second sentence is peppered with a joke. Not a single soul in the class could stop laughing.

The teacher finally rolls out a slide show of his work, pictures taken and achievements. The guy has been with Nikon for a long time, as a photographer, as a marketing rep and now as a consultant. He has been on assignments for the National Geographic, NASA and host of other organizations. The pictures are simply breathtaking.

The slide show and the class ends with this quote by Albert Einstein, "Imagination is more important than knowledge"

The class is unlike any I have ever been to in my life. He brings a whole new style and vision to teaching. It almost felt like a Hollywood movie. I couldn't help but sit through all this is in utter amazement, awe, goose pimples, fear and skepticism. All at the same time.

Katrina

The news has been extremely depressing lately. Katrina, like the Tsunami and the Mumbai rains have left the poor and the helpless even more so. The hardest hit sections of New Orleans and Mississippi are the poorest.

It is a sad fact that it takes tragedies like these for people to ask the tough questions.

*********

"Years of flood control engineering, inspired by the need for a major city and port in the oil and gas-rich Mississippi delta, have altered the natural landscape of the region beyond recognition.

Without regular river floods to feed the swampy delta with precious silt and nutrients, vast swathes of Louisiana's coastal wetlands have disappeared in the past 75 years. Sprawling coastal wetlands can bear the brunt of a hurricane better than the concrete passageways of a modern city. The US Geological Survey calls the wetlands a "natural buffer" in a high-risk area. Plans to stop further erosion have run aground in Congress." ...BBC

*********

"What will be left when the waters recede or are pumped away will be a city that has been inundated not only with water but with a witches' brew of petroleum byproducts, industrial and household chemicals and human waste."...NY Times

*********

"People in southern Louisiana and the Gulf Coast have learned a hard lesson: There's a price to be paid for taming the Mississippi River.

Decades of flood-control efforts to protect New Orleans and other places, combined with the region's huge oil and gas investments, have contributed heavily to the destruction of coastal wetlands that can help tame the fury of storms like Hurricane Katrina, say scientists and government officials"...USA Today

I just wonder... If all the facts were known, would Mississippians have allowed casinos to be built on coastal wetlands? Would Mumbaities have allowed plastic bags to clog the drainage ? Would Indonesians have allowed mangroves to be destroyed ?

Quote of the day
"If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin"...Charles Darwin