Krishna Consciousness & Ecological Awareness

On the Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River by Kelly D. Alley

Introduction: Field Method and Layers of Data

“I started this project about nine years ago while studying tourism and public culture in north India.  I remember the day that the original idea for this study emerged from a dialogue I overheard while touring the north Indian city of Benaras with several American and German tourists.  While boating along the river Ganga and watching Hindu pilgrims bathe in this sacred river, these tourists discussed the state of the river, expressing horror that the native population did not recognize its polluted nature.  One said, “I wouldn’t put my big toe in this river, it is so polluted!”  As an observer, I began to think about this Western tourist interpretation in the light of the Hindu practice of bathing in sacred rivers, and about how this view of pollution is juxtaposed against a view of the sacred.  Other questions emerged.  Are these differences in thinking and approach mirrored within and outside of India in other ways?  How should an investigation of these two perspectives, the one in relation to the other, proceed?  What shall the methodology be?”

Preview the book On the Banks of the Ganga here.

by Allison Aubrey, National Public Radio

When consumers pay top dollar for organic milk, they know they’re getting dairy that’s free of synthetic growth hormones, pesticides and antibiotics.

Now there’s a move to ensure cows are feeding on plenty of fresh grass if producers want to label the milk as organic.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued draft rules that would require cows to be on pasture during the entire grazing season. The regulation would also require that cows on organic dairy farms get a minimum of 30 percent of their diet from grazing.

The proposals are intended to close a loophole that has allowed some huge feedlots, with thousands of cows, to sell their milk as organic even though their cows rarely graze on fresh grass.

It’s not a perfect proposal, according to the organic watchdog group The Cornucopia Institute. “What we need to do is level the playing field” says Cornucopia’s Mark Kastel. (more…)

By John Nielsen, National Public Radio

The busy bee may be a cliche. But it turns out that bees are very busy on the world’s farms, pollinating many of the fruits, vegetables and nuts we eat.

But a major report from the National Academies says bees and other important pollinators are losing out to development and disease. The report’s authors warn the losses could have a big impact on some farmers, such as the almond growers of Central California.

Growers there depend on commercial beekeepers to produce their billion-pound nut crop, which is among the state’s most valuable agricultural product.

A Beekeeper’s Best Friend

Beekeeper Gene Brandi stores some of colonies in large white boxes not far from a sprawling almond orchard near Los Banos.

Last spring, his bees spread pollen from tree to tree in the orchard. Now, giant harvesting machines are moving through the orchard, shaking trees with a crab-like craw and making the nuts spill down to the ground.

Recently, Brandi was getting his hives ready for the winter. He wore a big round hat with mesh that kept the honeybees off his face. To keep the bees calm, he shot puffs of dark gray smoke into the hives, after dropping matches into a beat-up metal box called a smoker. “The smoker is the beekeeper’s best friend, other than the bees themselves,” he said. (more…)

The following list, compiled by BBC, is an index of the world’s most prominent religious traditions and their views on creation, evolution, and the care of the planet.