ZoomVin - Creating Environmental Niche and Photography

Recently we created ZoomVin website:

What we do in this site is - we create environmental awareness. How do we do that - We create a real world environmental niche for birds and butterflies by planting trees and flowering plants. Also by properly placing bird feeders and baths we attract birds. They are fun to watch and we capture them in our camera. Through zoomvin we want to share the world these beautiful pictures in the form of digital media.

Birds: 

Butterflies:

Roses and Flowers:

Nature:

See and enjoy these books (pictures). You can also create your own environment and attract them and capture those wonderful moments. These are small environments where these many birds visits. We have a created a bigger niche at EA FARMS and lots of different birds visit. It is also a sustainable land development project.

Education, Graduation, Future, Contribute

Last week I attended a graduation ceremony in one of the big University (UCF). It was lovely atmosphere. Diversified youngsters who worked hard for their degrees lined up in their graduating gowns, caps with tassels and hoods. It was wonderful and powerful atmosphere with their parents, friends and families cheering them. 

Education is not easy, especially getting one from traditional universities. Price is high, hard work needs to be put in, to reap the benefits. It was the time for these young students to start reaping the benefits of their education. They had their master's and  bachelor's degrees and could see the ultimate happiness when they had their degree. I wish them all the best success in real World.

Graduation Ceremony

I remember the time, when I graduated 20 years back. It was a PhD in Environmental Sciences.  

With my Ph.D guide Dr. Gupta

I was trying to get into teaching research career and want to guide as many students I could and publish as many research papers as I can. However the life takes you (similar to a river - changing directions) to a path as it wishes. So be ready for whatever path you get into and do the best as you can.

It is great to see graduates doing wonderful things such as this:

Lots of people in the World, even though they want, do not have the opportunities as we all did - graduating from an United States University. I have traveled and visited universities in many parts of the World. They do not have have the facilities, area, equipment and atmosphere for the education as we did. Think about your global counterparts (your age) who are in war torn areas, poor and cannot afford to study. This education has given more to you than to them, opened welcoming door to achieve more than those people. So when you fly high, please contribute to the World - it can be even simple thing such as sharing your knowledge (even through internet). It can be a guide to everyone who wants to follow and become like you. When I did not get the opportunity I wanted, I had the aspiration to co find a company called 
EnviroApps - An Environmental & Information Technology Company. 

That led to EAPHARMICS - Electronic Pharmaceutical Applications - Stability Testing Software

and EA Farms - Sustainable Organic Natural Agricultural Land Development. 

                                                        

I think and feel better that I did some justice to my education and contributed what I feel is appropriate. 

I have also trained, guided lots of people who have succeeded in their life and I will continue to do that. I wish and hope that these youngsters who graduated will grow into leaders and take the World into a wonderful path, moving forward. Wherever you are, strive hard to get education and guide others to get that knowledge. All other things may give temporary joy, but in long run it will not be good. So let us be positive, contribute with our education, knowledge we acquired through the education and show the World the right path for a better place to live. 
Makesh Karuppiah, Ph.D

Outdoor Indoor Environmental Mishaps, Positive future planning

Outdoor Indoor Environmental Mishaps indicating further Disasters - needs immediate positive actions

   Was sad hearing and reading these news:
       1) Outdoor Environmental Issue - 20 People killed during deforestation activities - in India
       2) Indoor Environmental Issue - 8 family members killed by Carbon monoxide poisoning - in US.

It is an Environmental problem, social problem and you can categorize it any way, however the deaths are the one that causes severe pain in minds.
Outdoor - One main reason for deforestation killing is Greed. Red sanders is a tree which is an economic commodity for tree smugglers because of its value in other countries.
So they greedily hired bunch of poor tree cutters to cut those trees illegitimately. While cutting the police killed those 20 poor people.

Deforestation of this Red Sanders led to killing of 20 poor wood cutters 

due to the greed of tree smugglers

It is the greed of the main tree smugglers that caused the death of these poor people. It is that greed which needs to be eradicated. If not, in future there will be more wars for water, trees, food and may be even for clean air.

Indoor - This hardworking man with seven children could not pay for the utility in Maryland, US. Utility company cutoff the power for whatever reason. This year, Mother Nature (esp. Old man winter) was harsh on the Northern States. So to bear the cold, he used a gas engine generator for heating purpose. I think it wasn't in a properly ventilated area.
The dangerous carbon monoxide (odorless and colorless) reacted with all the people's hemoglobin to produce carboxyhemoglobin and caused slow death while sleeping by hindering oxygen delivery to the body.

Carbon monoxide - indoor air pollutant killed Eight people from the same family

- an avoidable tragedy

Something is wrong with the system. There should be some kind of options for such families to pay off their utility bills. Especially in extreme conditions, they should be helped. Power costs are surging exponentially. Before the plug is pulled, they need to work with the family and research what is the size of family, what is the income of the family and device a plan. The gas generator companies can even sell and include a carbon monoxide detector along with the generator.

In both the Outdoor and Indoor issues, economy played a part in the avoidable deaths. Lessons need to be learned from this and we should be prepared with rightful plans in the future.

Recently my daughter won a poster presentation prize on a topic - Magna Carta: Symbol of Freedom Under Law - Orange County Bar Association - Poster Presentation Competition. I had been there during the luncheon and it also had a speech competition.

Magna Carta - Freedom Under Law - Poster

Couple of kids gave wonderful speech on freedom. Hearing those speeches gave goose bumps and felt that the future will be safe in their hands. Freedom gives you a lot of things including rational thinking which leads to proper planning for the future generations. Let us thank God, our ancestors for our freedom and plan for future generations, so these types of mishaps never happen and move forward positively.

Earth day went by nicely on April 22nd - Seeing this cardinal feeding in our backyard gave an excellent satisfaction on Earth Day. We are also moving forward in  EA FARMS projects.

Praying for positives, prosperity and peace all over the globe on the Earth Day - 

April 22nd, 2015.

Good Luck, Peace, Positives, Move Forward

What is greed?

What is war?

What is killing?

What is racism?

What is caste?

- All humans don't know what these questions are and what these words mean.

People are living in harmony, People are into growing good food, benefit each other and are upbringing the entire Earth community - these questions and above sentences sounds like 

April fool messages.

But inside every human there would be a desire to live like this - peacefully, without war, without killing each other and treating everyone as same and in friendly manner. Whatever you do in young age is going to come back when you are old. Wisdom catches up on - when one becomes old. Negative deeds that were once thought as heroic acts would be stupid when looked back after growing old and wise.

You become close to God when you are old. Then the truth becomes clearer.

It is been a while, I posted. My computer got corrupted by Key holder virus and was asked for a ransom, however as an IT-savvy person and one who does not budge to threats, I did not oblige. I have saved most important files in cloud, couple of external drives and important photos in social media sites. So I could retrieve all the important files. Make sure to back up your important files and make them read only. If you are tech savvy you could retrieve the files also. If you cannot retrieve a picture - one more thing to note - these low levels can encrypt a picture from you computer but cannot erase the memory from you - so do not cave in.

Let us eradicate greed, war, racism, caste, negativeness and live harmoniously. 

Even though the negatives affect us, let us take the positives and move forward. It starts and must be planned from every individual and together we can make it.

During this period, I could train two more people in databases and IT. They are into getting better opportunities.

Got solar panels for EA Farms. 

Completed some good projects.

If you do good and positives, you can experience sea of surprises (only Good ones).

Good Luck and Peace to everyone.

Everglades Alligator Importance

Protecting the Everglades:

Beautiful Everglades - Coot Bay

Question and Answer written by a 5th grader - Sharing her view on Importance of Alligator for survival of Everglades

Question – What would happen if there were no alligators left in the Everglades?

Answer:

Snap! Snap! In the one and only Florida Everglades, the sharp sound of an alligator rapidly snapping up its caught prey, is relatively common. One is left to think of what would happen if the beautifully wild everglades lost all of its plentiful reptilian alligators. The answer to that question may just be determinable.

First of all, without alligators, many vital habitats would not even exist. They create deep depressions that eventually fill to the brim with a mixture of salt and freshwater to form brackish water. The holes become residences for marine life such as young bonefish and shrimp. Also, there are abundant aquatic animals that are attracted to these holes during the dry season, which lasts from December to April. The depressions provide refuge for them when the winter becomes frigid and extremely dry. Additionally, endangered species use the alligator’s valuable holes to lay their eggs. More of the species can then survive in the Everglades. Without alligators, these species would be in severe danger of extinction.

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Secondly, without alligators, the food chain would be out of balance. Say that a type of fish eats grasses and algae in a mangrove swamp.  Then an American alligator eats the fish. This is a quick example of the food web. Without the alligators as the predators of the fish, the fish would become over populated. Alligators are essential to the national park for the reason of regulating the steady flow of petite food consumers such as fish, turtles, small –scale birds, and reptiles. The circle of life requires all plants and animals to be in order, and without alligators, we would have too much of one thing and too little of another. The Everglades is in dire need of the alligator’s predatory services in its ecosystem. 

Finally the American alligator is considered a cornerstone species in the national park. Without the reptiles, the diverse ecosystem could not survive. The Everglades would just be an ordinary plot of land. The nesting of alligators is necessary for peat formation. Without peat, many animals and especially plants would not exist in the park. Also, alligator holes fill with brackish waters I(that was mentioned in my essay before) which produce crucial areas for vegetation to grow. If alligators completely diminish, the Everglades would lose it uniqueness.

As you can see, alligators are probably one of the most precious animals for this natural park. Habitats, food chains and the formation of the Everglades depend on this one species. If the Everglades lost of all of its alligators, it wouldn’t exist, but thankfully, there are still a lot of them left!

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

Apart from alligator importance,

It is  incomprehensible to read about killings of fellow human beings all over the World.
Praying and hoping for positive, peaceful and prosperous 2015 -
Happy New Year.

Teach In Bio Domes

For third year in a row I was Honorary Teacher for a day.

I love to teach and train students. I have been teaching and training students at Graduate level in Environmental and Information Technology fields. However when I teach to elementary school kids, I prepare more, get them involved and I feel that I am giving some input for these Kid's future.

Teach In - November 2012

Teach In - November 2013

I had been talking about pollution topics in previous years. This year I choose Bio Dome topic and was well received by the fifth graders. I told them in future, humans may live in sustainable bio domes, because of the higher level of pollutants in the environment, which also can be a self sustained sustainable living environment.

An imagined  Bio Dome 

They got involved immediately and asked lots of very intelligent questions. Each one them designed their own bio dome,

More Bio Dome Satellite Designs

It is all about Nature and Technology

         I witnessed so many different ideas and designs. I used a cookie and asked them to sketch the topography looking sideways and asked them to imagine it as a celestial body and choose a place where they would land their bio dome satellite. They interestingly choose their landing spots. I talked about the recent Philae comet landing and they were totally involved and discussed how their bio dome satellites would land. Finally I showed them how the satellite would collect the samples and analyze the composition of the site where it landed. In this case I told them cookies contain sodium bicarbonate (baking soda - added some extra raw baking soda) and when acetic acid (vinegar) is added fizzing reaction takes place. Similarly by using chemical reactions and other techniques we can find the composition of the celestial body. Questions never ended. I told them to write the questions on a paper and send it to me. They did and these questions were well thought. I gave them the best answers. Various environmental Biomes in a bio dome can be modeled and researched. Even though these kids are just fifth graders, they showed that they have lots of potential. I wish and pray they shine in the future and contribute to the society positively. Some day they may even fly their own bio dome satellites into other celestial bodies.

Desire to Discover

In future people may even live in self sustained Bio Domes instead of concrete houses. Imagine if you can have the handle over what you breathe, what you eat (grow by yourself) - basically control your living environment, that would be best way to live in future.

Once again I felt very satisfied when I received the thank you card.

Wherever you are, if you have knowledge in good topics, teach them to future generations. You can be really proud, get the satisfaction and bring a meaning to your life, that's why you are here.

Some of the bio domes may be studied at EA Farms in future:

During the past Halloween, I was a wizard and spelled out a charm:

Protego Maxima. Fianto Duri. Repello Inimicum for Earth - 

conjures up an almost impregnable magical protection barrier for Mother Earth. Fellow Earth inhabitants let us all be positive, do good and be safe.

Makesh Karuppiah, PhD

Yes on 1 Florida - The Water and Land Conservation Amendment

Every time you visit a national park or even a national preserve, you have think of the greats such as John Muir, President Roosevelt and many other visionaries who had saved these lands for us.
Every inch of these lands is beauty to watch. When you enter them, it is pristine, you breath the fresh air and have fun in the nature.
I can't even think of disturbing these saved land.
Now in Florida to save these Lands and Water - we have to vote Yes on 1 - The Water and Land Conservation Amendment.



 Voting Yes on this Amendment 1 will give us opportunity to enjoy these preserved lands and water bodies. We should preserve these lands for the future generations to benefit, as we did.
If we don't the future generations would have to see these lands only in pictures.

I have traveled to different countries and as the years go by, there are only concrete jungles. Green forests, lands and water bodies are degraded everywhere. When you step out, you breathe dust and soot from the vehicle exhausts and have to drink contaminated water. So it is important to save these remaining lands and water bodies.

Think of these environments -

A beautiful serene view of Lake Russell, FL 

    Pristine lands with trees, plants, serene rivers, lakes, stream, birds, butterflies, animals and fresh air to breath and

    Sterile lands with concrete buildings, polluted water bodies, depleting aquifers and particulates to breath

Which one you would choose from the above to live in. I would go with the first one.

I will also work on the second one as an Environmental Scientist to slowly make it as the first one. However, just to restore the native plants, it would take 40 years or more.

It is very difficult to restore the environment after damage, since the natural process takes so long. I researched on Chesapeake Bay environmental issues and after more than 18 years felt happy knowing that it is getting better. All those efforts of restoration have been fruitful.

Vote Yes on 1 - The Water and Land Conservation Amendment - more info

So apart from party boundaries, let us all vote Yes on 1 - The Water and Land Conservation Amendment ( Note - without any additional tax burden ) in the coming Florida November 4th election to save these these precious Waters and Land, which will save all its inhabitants and more.

The Good Result and the best news for future generations:

Makesh Karuppiah, Ph.D
Environmental Scientist