Cost Effective Solution to save Coconut trees during forth coming water scarcity months due to El Niño : Olla Irrigation - Ancient Wisdom for Modern Droughts. 🏺 Echoes of Ancient Clay pot Irrigation Long before the term olla entered agricultural vocabulary, ancient Tamil farmers practiced remarkably similar methods. In Sangam‑era Tamilakam, clay vessels called “ māṇ paṇai ” or “kulam paṇai” were used to store and seep water near tree roots - especially for coconut, banana, and areca palms. These pots were often placed in earthen basins (thottam) lined with coir, husk, and leaf mulch, creating a natural moisture‑retention system. Inscriptions and temple garden records from regions like Pollachi, Thanjavur, and Madurai mention such paṇai neer vaḻi (pot‑water channels) as part of sustainable irrigation networks. This continuity of wisdom - from ancient Tamil pot irrigation to modern olla systems - shows how indigenous knowledge can guide regenerative farming in the...
Teach In Environmental Sciences Green House Gases to Kids: Last Year's Teach In This year again, I had the opportunity to teach environmental sciences and information technology to fourth graders. My topic was Green House Gases. I started with the atmospheric layers and talked about the lower layers: Stratosphere: 12 to 50 km (7 to 31 miles), Troposphere: 0 to 12 km (0 to 7 miles). Took a small car and globe model and compared them to explain the Green House Effect by showing how the car gets heated when parked in Sun. Explained to them that similar to the car, Earth gets warmer because of these GHGs acting like a windshield in the car. Then I started to show them the box model. I created a beach environment with sand and water (added blue color to make it look like ocean). In middle of the ocean I c...