India Summer Visit 2017

I had a chance to visit India this summer - 2017. (Previous Trip).

As usual wonderful time spent with family and friends.

Morning - attended cricket nets 

Me and Coach 

if the monsoon rains were not there.

Then visited friends, had lunch with them and had lots of discussions (Quality Time).

Mainly visited EA Farms.

After 7 years of hard work by my brother, it has shaped up very well.
He has planted more than 1000 trees and plants.

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Monsoon this season has slightly helped. Praying for more rains.
It is shaping up as we envisioned. Still waiting for agricultural (utility - Power) current (We still did not get it after 7 years).
Solar power has cut the power dependency into half.
Agro-Forest area has some trees grown tall.
We have added VanaRaja and GrahmaPriya Chickens to the farm. They bring aesthetics and clean up worms that forms flies.

They are good addition to the farm apart from cows and goats.

Still planning to plant more trees. My brother is also playing an important role on
Organic Farmers Cluster

which includes a girl with MBA degree doing agriculture. I spoke to some of the members and they were very keen to produce chemical free pure agriculture products. I discussed about value added products. How they need to sun dry the products and make it as powder or oil, which can survive for longer period and fetch them more money.

Also my Scientist friend Dr. Hatha visited me and we went to the farm. He had brought some trees and we planted them.

During the middle of the vacation, we had a road trip to great historic temples such as Kanchi Kamatchi, Thiruvanamalai and Chidambaram Thilai Nataraja Temple. Great temples.

During this visit saw Cauvery which has the name Aganda Cauvery (Wide Cauvery) but it was Varanda Cauvery (no water Cauvery). Felt bad.
Still saw lorries queued up for getting the river soil (sand).
Most of these parts are covered by Karuvelam trees (Prosopis Juliflora) and plastic bags strewn across the land.

Highways were good. Some of them were even good as American Highways.
However the interior villages are still bad. Big pot holes in the road, No proper street lights and fundamental infra structure.
Indian villages are considered as backbones of India. So they must have all the basic infrastructure by which it will become the country envisioned by Dr. Kalam.

I wish and pray when I visit India next time these Villages will Shine brightly and I would say without hesitation that India has grown and developed as Dr. Kalam has told.

Until then we will do our part.

Rainbow at EA Farms

Twenty First Century Life

How every one should live in twenty first century:

With all the development and sophistication everyone should live in

A place with fresh air,
A place with clean water,

Fresh Air and Clean Water

A place where one can produce, eat unadulterated and non artificial chemical induced food.

Artificial Chemical Free Foods - Mangoes from EA FARMS

An Earth with no wars, racial and religious tensions.

A place with no greed, where everyone helps each other and join hands to work towards betterment of Environment (incl. Flora and Fauna) and Human Kind.

A World where poverty does not exist.

Need truthful leaders who want to give good to people.

All the above points look like a dream now.

What have human kind done and What is really happening:

POLLUTION IS KILLING MORE PEOPLE

(I did some google image search (research) on each topic), you can also search and the results would cause heart aches.

Air Pollution is at highest level - see the map.

Water Pollution -  I did a google image search on water pollution and it was nasty all over the Globe.

Food is contaminated by so many things.

Pollution facts.

So many wars are taking place even in this 21st century. People are killed and displaced at alarming rate.

Even in this 21st century it is hard to understand with so much of advancement, poverty still exists.

There are people with hunger, no shelter and basic necessities for sustaining healthy life.

I hope and pray for the dream environment to come to true for future generations. It starts from every individual. We need more compassion and love rather than hate.We have come to this Earth for a reason. Let us make our life useful and contribute to the betterment of the Earth, rather than destroy it. Let us work towards less pollution, war and poverty free Earth. Better Environment is the best for Future Generations.

I pledge I will do my best towards better environment and request you to do so,

Makesh Karuppiah, PhD

Environmental Scientist and Information technologist

Water - Please Conserve

WATER - THE PRECIOUS LIQUID. Please Conserve.

March 22, 2017 - Today is World Water Day

Water, as we know, is an important chemical compound.

I am fascinated towards water as an Environmental Scientist.

If water resources are depleted or water management is not properly done, it will affect individuals, countries and even the whole Globe.

Amazing hydrological cycle keeps recycling water and give us this wonderful required compound (Water) to survive.

Higher percentage of the human body is water. We all know we need water to survive.

But how have we treated this water - we took it for granted. Now, literally we are paying for it.

We are conducting wars for water.

We are interrupting hydrological cycle by

- affecting rain patterns

- deforestation

- depleting aquifers

- pollution

 Cutting trees, over usage of ground water with replenishing, industrial effluents, sewage waste, medicinal waste, agricultural run off, golf course run off, leaking under ground storage tanks, leaching from industrial run off, landfill leaching and runoff (to name some) are affecting water bodies and quality of the water. Even though new type of contaminants enter the water, water treatment has not changed accordingly in  most places.  

Water treatment must be tailored according to the situation rather than following the same methods everywhere.Simple substances such as banana peel, burned coconut shells and neem leaves can be used in treating water especially in poor areas where they could not afford high quality treatments.

Water Treatment

 Precious liquid water must be conserved and protected or else future generations will be affected.
Was very happy to see a scientist who is conserving water.

I am fascinated towards Lakes, Rivers, Waterfalls, Ponds, Streams and Oceans.

These are some of  the reasons that took me to enter the world of Water Research.

                                           

I taught Water related courses in India and in United States.

I was lucky to conduct water research on Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Chesapeake Bay always amazed me.

 Beautiful Chesapeake Area

I have been part in deflecting a serious threat to our oceans by sending letters to Administration officials

 to protect our oceans all over the World.

I have been involved in collaborating scientists to do water research and promote the value of water and water bodies.

We have taken steps to conserve water at EA FARMS.

Water Recharging Pit @ EA FARMS

I request you to please Conserve water.

Save Farmers

I never thought I would write a blog article with a title Save Farmers. Every human at least for now depend on Food for survival. The way it is going, one day we would be living just on Pills. Until then we should respect and support farmers who work in the dirt to produce our food. Every health article talks about fruits, vegetables and grains. These food items do not come magically. It is the hard work that is being put in by the farmers with the help of the nature. Yes they need natures's help such as rainfall. When the rain Gods ditch them they undergo severe hardships that they could not withstand. Some of them in Tamil Nadu commit suicide, which gives us heavy heartache.  Now they are protesting in Delhi. As always I support them. I kindly request the government to work on this immediately and provide support as soon as possible.
Those who are protesting and fasting are not Rich,

They are the farmers who give us Food on the table by working hard. Because of their work we eat wonderful Rice, tasty and healthy vegetables, greens, grains and fruits. They work hard in Sun without proper covering, clothing in the dirt and uncovered feet in wet paddy fields among snakes and other animals. It is not easy. Comparing to sitting and typing in a AC room with a state of art computer (what I am doing right now) it is very very tough to do farming activities.. 

We understood this when we tried traditional farm work at EA FARMS:
However I am glad that I support them, pray for them and write for them.. They are not asking government's help to become rich. Even if they receive support they are not going buy lavish things, they are going to invest in their agriculture land to produce more food. For living healthy we need good Food along with other elements.
If they receive normal monsoon rains, they would not even come to this state. That's the reason I always pray for normal Rain all over the Globe. But as nature's rule, droughts cannot be avoided. But we need to take necessary steps to counter the drought. We should curtain air pollution that contributes to climate change. We need to use renewable resources.
Water management is very important. When there is heavy rain, it needs to be conserved. There are ideas to merge Rivers. Rain water harvesting should be done everywhere. Swales need to be created in the farm to recharge ground water.

A Swale at EA FARMS

Water should be used as if we are in drought even when there is ample water. We have to conserve soil, rivers, mountains and forests (whole environment). Future technologies such as Graphene Sieves should be embraced soon to provide water in severe drought conditions.
Farmers including poor farmers should jump into Sustainable Natural Integrated Farming.

Growing cattle for Dairy Products and manure

They should do multi layer crops instead of single crop.

There are wonderful gurus who guide us on best agricultural practices.

Families need to buy produce from them. Youngsters and every citizen should support them.Then they will not face this situation.
Government, politicians and officials should support farmers and farming activities.

With Farmers at EA FARMS

They should stop activities and projects that affect agriculture.

Our Deiva Pulavar Thiruvalluvar said this long back and it is for a reason;

உழுதுண்டு வாழ்வாரே வாழ்வார்மற் றெல்லாம் 

தொழுதுண்டு பின்செல் பவர்

Simple explanation - Farmers life is the best and others follow them for the food.

So it is very important to save the life of a farmer. We need to support every farmer in the Globe, because they provide us with the best ingredients for tasty food on our table. Praying to God to Save Farmers.

Renewable Energy

Recently visited MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry).

At this recent bad times of Environmental Protection and Projects, the presentation there gave some positives.

Most of the countries want to phase out non renewable energy sources including Nuclear Energy,

They want to focus on Renewable Energy sources:

Renewable sources such as Bio, Wind and Solar (Good News on Solar):

Several countries want to tap into and develop renewable energy:

These renewable resources should be obtained sustainably, pollution free and efficiently:

Every household should utilize renewable energy:

As an Environmental scientist these were the positives.

At EA FARMS we already are utilizing the renewable resources (Bio & Solar):

Our area is also having biggest solar farm and utilizing wind energy:

It is  better  to focus on renewable energy rather than non renewable energy which will benefit humankind and the environment.

I am Pi

3/14 -

Pi -  is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter and it remains the same for any size. (Planet Jupiter size circle or penny sized circle). Pi is special.

A Poem on Pi

written by my daughter who is a 7th grader 

I AM Pi

3.1415926535……

For years I have been lurking, elusive

Pursued by the brightest of minds, mathematicians

In the ancient times I have been studied relentlessly

By the Egyptians, Chinese, Indians by candlelight

Never ceased to be truly lost until one day

Archimedes thought of how to say

Numerically the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter

...89793238462…

Fast forward to the modern times

Believed to have been mastered by computers

Better yet, the human brain

Calculated to digits you cannot perceive

That’s the beauty of me

Left alone, I serve you well

Needed for all the calculations, the area, the circumference

Students toil over me

Trying to grasp my vastness, my complexity

I will never be contained… I am irrational

One of a kind, a juggernaut

You can’t stop me… Literally

...64338327950...

So what am I?

Sure, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter

But also a symbol, iconic to the essence of math

Used in trigonometry, geometry

Not just math, but also science

Prominent in astrophysics, thermodynamics, mechanics

I’ve been thought of 22/7

But that’s inaccurate, heed my warning

Don’t try to rationalize me

I am used to make sense of circles, spheres, ellipses

You think I was formulated just for mathematics?

If you didn’t know, for centuries, I’ve been a Greek letter

Surprised? Think of where I’ve come from

...28841971693…

Well, I’m so special

I’ve got my own holiday, March 14

You think other math terms have celebrations?

Didn’t think so

Students bake pies, decorate them with me

Frantically try to memorize my digits

It’s a day to commemorate

The abundance and benefits of math

But also to remember the struggles, the history

I was rooted in deep

Until you got me

Make the best of it, I will always change

From the ancient times to the contemporary

I am a juggernaut, irrational

Don’t try to approximate me...

Her poem about Bird's spot while on 4th grade.

Her article  on everglades alligator importance

Save Fisherman

Heartfelt condolences to the Tamil Nadu fisherman killed.

This is now regular occurrence and after a while we forget and then it repeats again.

Underprivileged poor fisherman is killed and his family has to undergo severe burden. Thinking of it gives a very bad heart ache.

What needs to be done.

As we know we have the money (second GDP in India all that) - so why not implement a project that will help fisherman not to enter other country's territorial waters. There are technologies. There are different types of Buoys already used in Oceans. There are even open source technologies. Some buoy are manufactured to even generate electricity. Why not build a buoy chain with alerts (In India mobile technology has improved, everyone now has mobile and mobile alerts have become common). The government can  build stationary chained link of floating buoy with alerting sensors on them at least in the sensitive border areas (total coastal line is little more than 1000 Km  only.). Fisherman should be educated on the territorial border, taught about the mobile alerts and respect these alerts and not drift to the hostile territories. This project will not be very expensive. Governments, Marine institutions should investigate and work on these techniques to thwart another poor fisherman's death as soon as possible.

About Buoy Installation

Higher level leaders should talk to their counterpart of the other country and tell them what has been done to prevent our fisherman to accidentally drift into their territory, Also should ask them not to kill poor fisherman. They should warn the fishermen without killing them. Killing will not solve the problem. Nothing is more important than the life.

Stricter Laws along with databases can be created. Already they are arresting these fisherman, so it won't be that difficult to warn them, note their details and maintain them in their databases. Repeated offenders can be noted, given to India and India should take action against them rather than other country's Navy killing the poor fishermen,  Nothing is more important than the life of poor fisherman who is working so hard to support his already underprivileged family, This whole thing should be dealt in a humane way. No one can feel proud and think they have solved a problem by killing an unarmed poor fisherman. People who shot this poor fisherman may think they had done a wonderful job now, but think about his poor family, kith and kin - What have you done to them.

God is watching all the deeds.

Also in environmental aspect of the issue, coastal management has failed. There are several proof that coastal areas have been polluted and water is more of a chemical soup, cesspool and less and less marine flora and fauna are able to survive. This needs to be taken into consideration soon. Marine and Coastal bodies need to work diligently to make the oceans fertile again, so lots of sea animals will start to revive and fisherman need not travel as much into other territories for finding fish and be killed for such reasons.

So to save the life of poor fisherman:

Build floating Alert Sensor Buoy Borders
Provide GPS alert systems when boat drifts towards other territory
Leaders should communicate, Create International Fishing Laws between these sensitive areas and adhere to them.
Warning Fisherman instead of Killing them
Revive Marine Environment instead of polluting them.

Environmental Research work @ Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean area

Governments need to spend money on these projects to make fishing more safe and
Save underprivileged poor Fisherman's life (Which is very very precious especially to his poor family that depends on him).

Politicians, Soldiers please think in humane way and do your part to save these poor fishermen. Solve this problem by communicating with all parties and device a solution rather than KILL a poor FISHERMAN (which will not solve this problem),

Until then We (normal people) all can only support and Pray to God for these poor Fishermen to be safe.