vknardep july 2011

8/6/2019 Vknardep July 2011

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Echoes of EcoComing of the Perfect Storm

In this issue:

Coming of the Perfect Storm The Happenings I

The Happenings-II

Know Sustainable Technology

Azolla Bhagiratha : a response

Visions of Wisdom

Let him (the knower of Brahman)never condemn food; that is the

vow.Let him (the knower ofBrahman) never abandon food;that is the vow.Let him (the

knower of Brahman) make food

plentiful; that is the vow. Lethim not deny hospitality to

anyone: this is the vow. Therefore

he should procure muchfood by any means whatsoever.To guests, he should say: "The

food has been prepared foryou."

-Taittiriya Upanishad

The Vow of Humanity

July , 2011 Vivekananda Kendra- nardep Newsletter Vol:3 No:5

Service to humanity is the highest form of worship Swami Vivekananda

In early 2009, John Beddington, chiefscience advisor to the U.K.government, said the world wasfacing a "perfect storm" of foodshortages, water scarcity, and costlyoil by 2030. These developments,plus accelerating climate change andmass migration across nationalborders, would lead to majorupheavals.

A week later, Jonathon Porritt,former chair of the U.K. SustainableDevelopment Commission, wrote inthe Guardian that he agreed withBeddington's analysis but that thetiming was off. He thinks the crisis"will hit much closer to 2020 than2030." He calls it the "ultimaterecession" one from which theremay be no recovery. These

assessments by Beddington andPorritt raise two key questions.

A lily pond has one leaf in it the firstday, two the second day, four thethird, and the number of leavescontinues to double each day. If thepond fills on the thirtieth day, when isit half full? The twenty-ninth day.Unfortunately for our overcrowdedplanet, we may now be beyond thethirtieth day.

My sense is that the "perfect storm"or the "ultimate recession" couldcome at any time.

It will likely be triggered by anunprecedented harvest shortfall, onecaused by a combination of crop-withering heat waves and emergingwater shortages as aquifers aredepleted.

As we think about the ecologicaldeficits that are leading the worldtoward the edge, it becomes clearthat the values generating ecologicaldeficits are the same values that leadto growing fiscal deficits. We usedto think it would be our children whowould have to deal with theconsequences of our deficits, butnow it is clear that our generation willhave to deal with them. Ecologicaland economic deficits are nowshaping not only our future, but ourpresent.

This is partly because it is difficult toimagine something we have neverexperienced. We lack even thevocabulary. It is also difficult to talkabout because we are addressingnot just the future of humanity in anabstract sense, but the future of ourfamilies and our friends. Nogeneration has faced a challengewith the complexity, scale, andurgency of the one that we face.

[From Lester Brown Preface to hisnew book World on the Edge 2011]


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Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, July 2011 Vol.3 No: 5

There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessaryin order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the placeswe've chosen to go.

-Richard Bach

On 26t

, 6 Trainees from National Academy of AgriResearch Management, Hyderabad visited the TRC andGramodaya Park to study the sustainable agriculturalpractices of VK-nardep.

79 students from students from Govt.Hr.Sec.School,Vallankumaranvillai came and visited the GramodayaPark at Vivekanandapuram on 28

th.

This month Networking

Multimedia session on Bio-Methanation plant training :conducted by Er. Ramakrishnan

Interactive session of trainees with Dr. Pillai: onsustainable farming practices.

Sustainable farming practices: Multimedia session beingconducted for the trainees by Sis.Premlatha.

Health Awareness Proramme helps the villagecommunities to recognize the healing

otential of local health s stems which are

Tested water from 14 wells in Kanyakumari Dist programme of Central Ground Water Board, Chennai.

Murugan kundram traditional rain water harvestingstructure renovation work is continuing.

Water and Sanitation

Happenings: This month for SustainableAgriculture

Workshop on Sustainable Agriculture wasconducted at VK-nardep TRC, Kalluvilai on 5

th

July. 9 persons participated. The resourcepersons were: Dr.P.Kamalasanan Pillai,

Shri.S.Rajamony and S.Premalatha.

Meeting on Organic farming was held atJanasree Mission, Muscat Hotel,Thiruvananthapuram. The event was held on 16

th

of July. 40 persons attended andDr.P.Kamalasanan Pillai shared our experiencein Kozhikottupottai village and Azolla based safemilk, meat and egg production.

Workshop on Vegetable Cultivation was heldby P.N.Panikar Foundation at V.J.T Hall,Thiruvananthapuram on 22.7.2011Dr.P.Kamalasanan Pillai gave a talk on

Sustainable vegetable cultivation with liquid bio-formulations as growth promoter cum pestrepellent 120 persons participated.

A Radio talk on organic farming was given byDr.P.Kamalasanan Pillai on All India RadioThiruvananthapuram, on 7

th.July 2011.

Done with DST core

support


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Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, July 2011 Vol. 3 No: 5

Even as life on earth cannot sustain without water, the same way even virtue too depends ultimatelyon rain. - Thirukural

The channel of vk-nardep in youtube uploadedanother video on the Bio-methanation planttraining held at Kalluvillai Technology ResourceCenter:

http://www.youtube.com/user/VKNARDE

P#p/a/u/1/KwWeZfSbSA0

Our facebook address is:

http://www.facebook.com/vivekananda.nar

dep

We tweet at:

http://twitter.com/#!/VKNARDEP

Village women are acquainted with themedicinal properties of local herbal resourcesand are given herbs for creating home herbalgardens.

Networking at Youtube

and Facebook

Bio-Methanation Plant training: Videoupload at youtube

Medical Awareness programme. Village

community undergoing medical check-ups.

Happenings: This month for Holistic Medicine

Dr.V.Ganapathy and his team conductedCommunity Awareness programme onTraditional Visha Vaidyam (sponsored byAYUSH, New Delhi) at AdiparasakthiSiddhar Peedam, Nagercoil. Theprogramme was conducted on 31

stof July

and 430 persons participated and benefited.

Health Awareness Proramme helps the village communities

to recognize the healing potential of local health systemswhich are endan ered.

Green Health Home at Vivekananda Puramfunctioned for 8 days and treated 192patients.

He whose doshas [laws of nature at work in thebody] are in balance, whose appetite is good,whose tissues are functioning normally, whosewastes are in balance, and whose Self, mind, and

senses remain full of bliss, is called a healthyperson." -- Sushruta Samhita, 15.41


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``


Like the butter hidden in milk, the Pure Consciousness resides in every being. That ought to beconstantly churned out by the churning rod of the mind. Amrita-Bindu Upanishad

How to feed the future humanity?How to make development sustainable?

Some of the best publications on the subject for layman and

professionals alike are from VK-nardep.Contact: The Secretary, Vivekananda Kendra-NARDEP

Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari-629702Tamil Nadu

Phone: 04652-246296 Email:[email protected]

All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the onlylaw of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for

love's sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.

Swami Vivekananda

This month Shakthi Surabhi

This month training programme on Bio-methanationplant (supported by DST, New Delhi) wasconducted at TRC, Kalluvilai on 23

rdSri. Er.

Ramakrishnan and Shri.V.Muneeswaran were theresource persons. 22 persons attended..

Of Development,Machines and Human

Spirit

Does economic progressclash with real progress?

By economic progress, Itake it, we mean materialadvancement withoutlimit and by real progresswe mean moral progresswhich again is the samething as progress of thepermanent element withinus. Mahatma Gandhi

Replying to a questionwhether he was againstall machinery, Gandhijisaid, "How can I be whenI know that even this

body is a most delicatepiece of machinery? Thespinning wheel is amachine; a little toothpickis a machine. What Iobject to is the craze formachinery, not machineryas such. . . The supremeconsideration is man. Iwould make intelligentexceptions. Take the caseof the Singer's sewingmachine. It is one of thefew useful things everinvented."

"But," said thequestioner, "if you makean exception of theSinger's sewing machineand your spindle, wherewould these exceptionsend?"

"Just where they cease tohelp the individual andencroach upon hisindividuality. Themachine should not be

allowed to cripple thelimbs of man."


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Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, April 2009 Vol. I No: 2

The relationship of ethical and social values to education is intimate and integral. These values areby-products of man's spiritual growth. Swami Ranganathananda


An Inspiration:

And a Response

Azolla @ Kanyakumari

Last month this newsletter reportedAkhilesh Kumar from Tata Institute ofSocial Sciences, who did a pilotproject on Azolla as cattle feed atPatna district of Bihar.

Since then he has been establishingAzolla nurseries in Bihar and hereports that it is spreading like wildfire. He has also been invited byBAIF state head office Patna forgiving lecture on Azolla assupplementary cattle feed.

It also generated interest among ourreaders. Among them was Sri.Solomon Ashok. He sent a letter toSri. Akilesh and cc-ed it to us. Herewe present this interesting letter:

Dear Akhilesh

I am Solomon Ashok. One of thestudents of Vivekananda KendraVidyalaya (Kanyakumari). I and myfamily have read your detailed report

on Azolla as cattle feed .

We in first place extend ourcongratulations for your successfulcompletion of this project. More overI personally appreciate all yourefforts and hard work to get thisdone. Thanks for making our villageproud and appreciate that you havemade an effort to make NARDEPproud as well.

I appreciate your interest in

Agriculture and I am delighted thatyou have been dealing withfarmers. I am sure that you havepositively contributed to theireconomy.

MY HEARTY APPRECIATIONSNOT ONLY FOR TAKING UPTHIS MATTER TO Dr. APJ but foryour presence of mind andsmartness to stand at the entrancewith a tub full of Azolla. I am evenmore happy when Dr. APJ possibly

recognized Azolla and he also wasdelighted to see that... My Biharifriend I look forward to speaking toyou in my mobile.

We at our place have an organicfarm where we cultivate Azolla forour own use as Chicken feedunder the guidance of Dr. Pillai ofVK-nardep.

When you were working on theprojects we were constructing

Azolla beds at our home. Just togive an introduction please have alook through the photographs andwe will speak more about furtherscope for improvement in yourdistrict and ours.

With Best RegardsSolomon AshokA Farmer from Kanyakumari.

We at VK-nardep are happy thatsuch networks on sustainabletechnologies are getting created

between Bihar and Kanyakumarithrough such heart-to-heartinteraction. For finding more aboutthe work of Sri. Akilesh you can logon to his facebook account at:

http://www.facebook.com/medi

a/set/?set=a.228135950546897.

77033.100000514821987

Azolla Terrace Cultivation: PhotoCourtest: Sri. Solomon Ashok

Beds getting prepared.


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Schrdinge

Vivekananda Kendra nardep, Kanyakumari-629702 Phone:91-4652-246296www.vknardep.org

I do want growth, I do want self-determination, I do want freedom, but I want all these for the soul. Idoubt if the steel age is an advance upon the flint age. I am indifferent. It is the evolution of the soulto which the intellect and all our faculties have to be devoted.

-Mahatma Gandhi

Here, then, is a system of medicalcare, which concentrates more on

preserving health and treatingdiseases only when the needarises. As it is not technologybased this could be a very goodadjuvant to modern medicineexcept for emergency care. A

judicious mix of the two systemscould bring down medical caredelivery costs to make most peopleaccess care all over the world. Theemergency needs are about tenper cent of the sick population andthe majority of ninety per cent

could be helped usingAyurvedic/Siddha inexpensivemethods. Time has come for all ofus to give this suggestion a seriousthought for doing most good tomost people most of the time. Thegold mine of data in this systemshould be audited using modernscientific methods of enquiry assuggested in the article. Sincethere is a demand for prioritizationof the complementary systems ofmedicine for evaluation, here is thesuggestion to try the time tested

system in vogue in India, for time(to go) out of mind.

The Indian tradition in watermanagement was built on two

principles: one, rainwater harvestinghad primacy over river water orgroundwater harvesting; and, two,community and household watermanagement had primacy overgovernment supply of water. Whiletalking about the importance of waterharvesting, we did not want ourreaders to forget the second keyprinciple.

Hence, the current mouthful of a titlebut with a purpose behind it. The

message is clear: Whoever you are,get involved with water. You will notonly help yourself but also helpothers. The biggest punya that youcan do, as the Hindu texts put it. Themost beautiful thing about anydecentralised water managementparadigm like rainwater harvesting isthat it not only promotes mass action-- not mass production but productionby the masses, as Mahatma Gandhionce put it -- but also myriads ofinnovations. Traditionally, people hadinnovated a variety of water

technologies and managementsystems.

Of Buildings Of Water Of Health

- Prof.B.M.HegdePeoples Doctor

The incredible and fascinating partabout all this new education I was

having was that these strangesystems were effective, and slowly Irealised that many of the answers tomy problems, which I thought Icould never solve, lay before meand all round me wherever I went. Isuppose it took many years before Ireally understood andwholeheartedly believed thatwherever I went I saw, in the localindigenous style of architecture, theresults of thousands of years ofresearch on how to use only

immediately-available, localmaterials to make structurally stablebuildings that could cope with thelocal climatic conditions, with thelocal geography and topography,with all the hazards of nature(whether mineral, vegetable, insect,bird or animal), with the possiblehostility of neighbours, and thatcould accommodate all therequirements of local religious,social and cultural patterns of living.This was an astounding, wonderfuland incredible achievement which

no modern, twentieth centuryarchitect, or people I know of, hasever made.

- Anil AgarwalWater ConservationistLaurie Baker

Architecht

vknardep july 2011

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