Lake Tahoe, California

We were half way up to the top of the mountain at Tahoe. We were actually heading to the Ski Station there. The cable car stopped at this mid point so that the passengers can get down and spend some time looking around towards the lake and the mountain ranges beyond. The view was superb no doubt; but what caught my attention was this 'heap' of rocks. No where near any geometric forms, these rocks looked like having been strewn over there from above. They looked settled down as would wooden logs would, if dumped from above and in one place! The building is the canteen and it was so welcome to have steaming coffee in that cold weather!

Ojai, California

Ojai! State of California!

One of the most beautiful place I had ever visited. It was somewhere during the year 2006 I was there for about 5 days staying at Arya Vihara, the retreat for Krishnamurti Foundation America. Ojai is surrounded by mountains and therefore sits in a bowl! This is one of the view photgraphed during a long trek I undertook with the company of Raj and Srinivas. I never forget the fresh air and lovely scenario!

RK Murthy

Nature

Nature
By Krishnamurthy Atulaa

The system of natural things along with their laws, i.e. everything on earth is Nature. But for this wonderful creation of God, man would not be able to enjoy the assets that he experiences now. But, we, being a part of nature ourselves, have tampered with bountiful Mother Earth and are destroying nature for our personal benefit.

Animals, birds, plants & on the whole, the entire environment are the gifts of nature. But as I mentioned earlier, people destroy nature from time to time. The more resources every person consumes, the more pressure it puts on the planet to supply those resources. According to researches, if everyone consumed as much resources as the average person in North America, we would need a total of five earths to meet the demand. Nowadays many freshwater springs and lakes are being destroyed due to massive population explosion. The constant uncontrolled population has resulted in gradual destruction of forests.

There is nothing that nature doesn’t give us. But humans make rivers and lakes dirty, bring about the destruction of forests & thus cause imbalances in the environment. People also wage wars unnecessarily and gradually destruct nature.

Nature helps us in many, many ways. The most remarkable gift of nature is the plant kingdom. All in all, every living being depends on plants. For example, a deer depends on plants directly for food. So if deforestation is caused, deer are deprived of their natural food & habitat. We see that if there are no plants there will be no deer and if there are no deer there will be no tigers either. So each individual depends directly or indirectly on plants. Now again, many kinds of plants are extremely useful to humans like neem for its medicinal value and much more. And as the man source of food for the common man, plants prove indispensable to life. India, like many others in its caliber, is not such a rich country where agriculture predominates. So to meet the needs of this largely vegetarian nation, plants play a vital role. So deforestation on the whole is a curse to modern living. Due to the increase in population life-giving trees are cut down which decreases the oxygen and rain showers in the atmosphere. Trees & humans depend on each other and should not be cut down blindly. They help in maintaining the ecological balance on the earth.

Now, animals are nature’s greatest gift. In Economic Zoology, the role of animals is truly significant. Take for instance: skin of animals like cow and goat is processed into leather which is used for various purposes. Even honey that is collected by bees is a very high energy yielding food. Even wax and lac is an animal product. Types of clothing like wool and silk which is much in demand now are produced through sheep and silk. Manufacturing of all the mentioned products is an extremely important cottage industry. So if humans kill animals for enjoyment, their successors will be deprived of the gains we enjoy now. And animals from ancient days are used as a means of transport and beasts of burden. But humans, even after poaching is strictly prohibited in many forests, hunt animals for monetary benefits.

So what I am trying impress is that Nature is always systematic irrespective of who we are and is thus impartial. Nature’s fury is seen in many forms such as tidal waves, earthquakes. volcanoes and so on. It is in our hands to see that nature is for eternity. The younger age group, similar to children like myself, should be educated on the treasures that their world holds. The continuous & mysterious activities of nature and its constituents has a great lesson to teach us all – we must work hard like the ants, live with flying colours like the flowers etc. on a closing note, I conclude by saying that human beings and nature should exist in harmony, each depending on the other. Please remember that we should be close to nature, because we are also part of it. Destroying nature is destroying ourselves.

(A speech delivered at Nature Lovers Club on 27th April, 2005. Atulaa is studying in Class VII at Coimbatore)



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Soundings from BR Hills!

Mountain Living More Heart-Friendly, Study Suggests

Living in the mountains may provide benefits beyond a picturesque view.

The results of a new study indicate that mountain dwellers live longer than their lowland counterparts, perhaps because their hearts get a better work out on a day-to-day basis.

Greece has one of the lowest death rates from heart disease and other causes among industrialized nations. Nikos Baibas of the University of Athens Medical School and his colleagues tracked the health of 1,150 people living in three different villages within 200 kilometers of Athens--Arahova, Zevgolatio and Aidonia--over a 15-year period.

The study participants all had similar daily activities because the predominant livelihoods for both men and women are the same in all three villages. But whereas Arahova is located 950 meters above sea level, Zevgolatio and Aidonia are located in the plains. The researchers collected information about general health and potential risk factors at the beginning of the study and subjects submitted blood samples as well.

According to a report published in the April issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, at the end of the study period the residents of the mountain village had lower overall death rates and lower cardiovascular death rates than the lowland residents did, despite initially testing higher for both circulating blood lipids and blood pressure. The beneficial effect of mountain-dwelling was more pronounced among men, the team reports.

Living at higher altitudes, with their lower-oxygen environments, can induce physiological changes in the body. "Residence in mountainous areas seems to have a protective effect from total and coronary mortality," the authors conclude. They suggest that the increased physical activity from walking on rugged terrain with less oxygen in the surrounding air could explain their findings.

--Sarah Graham for SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Best regards.

T.S.Ganesh
ganeshbrhills@yahoo.co.uk
2005-03-23