Showing 34 articles
Towards Permanent Co-existence: Lessons from Permaculture
Author: Trishya ScrewvalaMarch 28, 2022
The word ‘Permaculture’ was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970s to refer to the “consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fibre and energy for provision of local needs” . What began as an ecological movement towards ‘Permanent Agriculture’, over time, [...]
The Wisdom of Trees
Author: Manjula NanavatiMarch 28, 2022
“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.” – Herman Hesse (1) There is a relative uncertainty as to when our earliest human ancestors evolved [...]
Sport Hunting – a Consensual Crime
Author: Jorge Angel LivragaApril 3, 2021
Since the earliest times our current level of research can reach, man has made hunting one of his primary activities. Human groups, today considered primitive (although there is a reasonable possibility that they are actually the worn-down remains of other civilizations, which having completed their biological cycle have been buried in an oblivion that is [...]
Unity in Diversity – Lessons from the Animal Kingdom
Author: Dilip JainMarch 31, 2021
Om Purnamadaha Purnamidam Purnat Purnamudachyate Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnamewa Vashishyate This creation is whole and complete. From the whole emerge creations, each whole and complete. Take the whole from the whole. The whole yet remains, undiminished, complete. -Brihadaranyaka Upanishad I come from the limited world of business governed by ever-changing rules of finance and management. Hence, [...]
Watch Your Energy
Author: Florimond KrinsJanuary 3, 2021
Energy is something we don’t really think about until we have to pay our electricity or gas bill, or when we go to the pump and fill up the tank. However, we don’t realise – and I was guilty of it myself until recently – that a 40-litre tank of petrol (E95) contains as much [...]
It’s Not About Producing Antibodies
Author: Delia Steinberg GuzmánDecember 9, 2020
We live in a polluted world, and we have become used to it. The level of environmental pollution, especially in large cities, increases day by day, but because we cannot abandon them as our obligations are still anchored there, we have simply adapted to this situation. Our bodies have produced antibodies, and almost naturally, we [...]
The Rise and Fall of Mayan Civilization
Author: NA El SalvadorDecember 9, 2020
The people of Mayan society built large cities, sumptuous temples, and towering pyramids. At its peak, around 900 AD, the population was estimated at about 200 people per Sq km in rural areas, and more than 800 people per sq km in cities (comparable to the modern Los Angeles County). This vibrant “Classic Period” of [...]
A Diary of a Struggling Ecologist
Author: Ubai HuseinOctober 14, 2020
This journey started with my love for food, which prompted me to pursue a degree in Culinary Arts. There, in addition to simply cooking, I was introduced to the various aspects about growing and producing food before it enters the kitchen, including the entire mechanism of factory farming and the resulting destruction caused to the [...]
Will Being a Vegetarian Save the Planet?
Author: Julian ScottJune 22, 2020
In liberal-thinking circles it is fast becoming almost an article of faith that eating meat is bad for the planet and a plant-based diet is the only ethical way forward. In a book entitled The Vegetarian Myth, however, Lierre Keith, who was a vegan for 22 years before ill-health forced her to change her diet, [...]
Human Symbiosis with Plants
Author: Gareth KinsellaJune 21, 2020
Over the course of time, there has been a progressive coevolution between plants and humans, with domestication possibly playing an integral role in this symbiosis. Some anthropologists propose that, before plant domestication began, carnivorous hunter gatherers had to seek alternative options during droughts, subsequently tapping into the seasonal cycles, and would have started remembering where [...]
The Curse of the Poisoned Soil
Author: Istvan OrbanApril 17, 2020
Soil is the uppermost part of the Earth’s crust, the ground of human civilization. It is one of the most crucial parts of our ecosystem. The home of minerals, nutrients, insects and other animals, our food is produced in the soil. Only half of it contains solid materials, while the other half is filled with [...]
The Universe as an Answer
Author: Jorge Angel LivragaMarch 8, 2020
We often speak about the stars, the planets, the animals, the sky, the Earth, water or snow and we forget the real sense and meaning of the word Universe. Man asks himself questions about the whole of Nature, of which he himself is a part, but he tends to lose the central idea to which [...]