What oceans look like when we don’t take all the fish…
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Abundance for the time being...
Tags: andaman and nicobar, divemaster training, fish, india, jackson's bar, ocean, photography, scuba diving, wildlife
Tucked away, waiting for dark
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Shy
What I presume is another type of feather star, hiding away until dark when it will unfold and feed.
Tags: andaman and nicobar, divemaster training, india, jackson's bar, ocean, photography, scuba diving, wildlife
Back to the ocean
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Like a clenched fist
This is some sort of feather star, brought to us from Jackson’s Bar off near Havelock Island in the Andamans. I’ve been obsessing about diving lately as my next trip will be focused entirely on breathing compressed air and marine conservation research in a central American country this March.
Tags: andaman and nicobar, divemaster training, feather star, india, jackon's bar, ocean, photography, scuba diving, wildlife
And we’re back…
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
I’ve only been back stateside less than a week. I spent my winter break in India and specifically Delhi, visiting friends (and one incredibly important person), laying the ground work for research, meeting scholars and activists, reading development material — Seeing Like a State, The Bottom Billion and Development Redefined — and eating.
This included visits to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, the Energy and Resources Institute, Greenpeace India, JNU, WWF India, an organic farm and the Centre for Science and Environment.
It also meant many meals of gunpowder and paratha and curry and thugpa and paranthe and chana and bhel puri and, well, everything. I had the best Indian meals of my life in an out of the way faux village and probably consumed more Tibetan momos in the three weeks there than in my entire life previously. Sadly, almost none of this food was properly photographed. This seems like an incredible oversight now.
Unfortunately, the trip was too short. It always is. But I’ll be back in May.
Tags: cse, delhi, environment, food, greenpeace, india, jnu, nmml, research, shenanigans, wwf
Finals blogging hiatus and “I wish I were here…”
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under united states
The view from Namchi
In between fevered bouts of studying for Environmental Economics and Environmental Science, I’ve been dreaming of the himalayas. Here’s an old favorite photo.
I’m officially powering down the blog for a while (possibly until after the new year, but I almost never succeed at leaving it alone). Happy holidays to all.
Tags: american university, economics, environment, grad school, himalaya, india, photography, science, united states
Dear Mr. President…
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under united states
The President is now apparently waffling on the latest attempts to lay a new pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The administration last month announced it would review the pipeline again for additional social and environmental concerns. Those of us opposed were thrilled; the delay of more than a year would likely kill the pipe. If approved, the pipeline very well could be game over for the battle to stem climate change.
Then the John Boehner-led U.S. House decided to tack a pipeline rider to a tax cut extension. This has become a political wedge and word has it that Obama may now try to use pipeline approval to win other short-term economic aid.
Cough*bullshit*cought
I recognize that while writing a letter feels incredibly empowering it’s still almost entirely symbolic. But I write to the president nonetheless. I’d encourage anyone else who cares about this to do the same.
Mr. President:
I was the 1,253rd person arrested protesting outside your house late this summer. That made me the final person to be cited for civil disobedience — officially failure to obey a lawful order — as we called on you to stem our planet’s addiction to dangerous oil and, in particular, dirty crude from the Athabasca tar sands. Our nation’s foremost climatologist James Hansen has called the Keystone XL pipeline “game over” for the battle to slow the tide of climate change.
Note: I’m not just a fringe tree-hugging hippy. I was a legal and political reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, raised in small-town middle America (central Illinois). I covered your campaign in 2008 as well as your efforts on behalf of others in 2006. I voted for you in your presidential run and your senate bid. I’ve followed you since Springfield and the state senate. I pay my taxes.
And I ride just left of center, politically.
Or at least I did. But the condition of our planet has convinced me to shed my neutral observer hat and don the fighting gloves an activist. That’s why I’m in grad school at American University, researching global environmental policy and issues. That’s why I was happily arrested in September for this cause. That’s why I was shouting “Show me what democracy looks like!” outside your house again in November. And that’s why I expect you to keep the promises you made when you were elected.
Sir, we need a fighter today; yes, the country is in dire straits economically, but you know as well as I do that short, myopic time horizons — the ones that set up the false environment-jobs dichotomy — only cause more problems in the future. Compromise is laudable to be sure, but how far will you bend?
You are a man of faith and morals; you and I pray our creator for the safety of those we love. Well, I believe that if we’re truly made in God’s image then we have a duty to look after our brothers and sisters and the lilies of the field as well. I heard you tell the world that we are our brothers’ keepers. Well, sir, addressing the environmental destruction of our planet is part of fulfilling that responsibility. By helping to look after the planet, you help to look after all its inhabitants.
Please, stop thinking about what Boehner or Fox News pundits will say about you tomorrow or next month. Please, stop worrying about a future date with Mitt or Newt or Rick. Please, instead start thinking about what kind of a world Malia and Sasha and (some day) my children will need.
Respectfully but urgently,
Adam Jadhav
Tags: barack obama, climate change, conservation, environmentalism, keystone xl, pipeline, politics, president, tar sands, washington d.c.
Jingle bells, ringing in my ear…
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under united states
My christmas tota
There’s been no sign of snow around, and the weather has actually been unseasonably warm until this weekend. But per tradition, I have had a decorated Christmas tree in my apartment and holiday music on the stereo for weeks now.
I actually bought the seven-foot Frazier fir on Thanksgiving itself (the grocery store was open and I had no desire to go the next day and put up with Black Friday crowds). In keeping with my goal of not using cars, I Metro’d and walked to a Whole Foods, bought the tree, carried it back to the Metro stop, rode in an almost empty car with my tied tree and then marched the rest of the way home.
I of course left a breadcrumb trail of needles and broken fir branches along the way.
The tree is spartanly decked with ribbon, white lights, wall hangings with sayings of the Dalai Lama and some strings of Indian door hangings, including the papier-mâché parrots. I also strung some holly garland around a few lamps and tied a long red ribbon around a door (giving it the loose impression of a wrapped present.
The apartment smells like a combination of cinnamon scented pine cones, a lovely sage candle and that beautiful fir.
I’ve also hung the annual string of lights across the top of the blog.
I realize this season is too often a celebration of gluttony and satisfying material addiction. But perhaps we can cleave to peace and goodwill amongst all, instead. Happy holidays everyone.
Tags: christmas, decorations, holiday, photography, tree, washington d.c.
