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
Panchayats the answer to India’s environmental woes? Not yet…
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under united states
I spent much the past semester debating all the various ways society and individuals might protect the environment. What else would you expect from a policy program?
One answer I stumbled upon and investigated is India’s traditional form of local government, made constitutionally secure not quite two decades ago: the panchayat — literally the council of five.
Panchayats represent India’s attempts at decentralization, the supposed transfer of powers from the central and state governments down to village-level actors. For the environment, this theoretically promises that resource, conservation and protection decisions are made at the level where they are actually felt. In reality, panchayats today are hardly robust institutions of local governance. They’re mostly used as implementing agencies for India’s development agenda. Meanwhile they face competition from other less than secure or democratic institutions specifically designed to manage resources.
I’m not promising it’s the most riveting read; and I’m not certain I like the final product. This issue could be a much longer paper involving substantial field work. But click here if you really want to know.
Tags: american university, conservation, decentralization, environment, global environmental politics, government, graduate school, india, local government, natural resource management, panchayat, research, washington d.c.
Dark in deep places
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
A lot of light already gets filter out when you’re 30 meters below the ocean’s surface. Overhangs, gorges and swim-throughs make things all the more eery when sunlight seems so far away.
Tags: andaman and nicobar, divemaster training, fish, india, jackson's bar, ocean, photography, scuba diving, silhouette, wildlife
A man yesterday asked me why I care about the ocean…
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Lionfish...
And I actually struggled briefly. I can list all the ecosystem services the ocean provides: carbon sink, climate regulation, regional weather control, vital food chains. I can talk about all the direct human needs that are satisfied by the ocean: the billions that live off fish for protein, the hundreds of millions whose jobs depend on the seas.
Those are all reasons why I care. But my passion is really driven by the wildness of the blue below, and how exhilarating and yet also peaceful it is to visit that world.
Tags: andaman and nicobar, divemaster training, fish, india, lionfish, ocean, peace, photography, scuba diving, wildlife
I’m a lionfish, hear me roar
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Lionfish eyeing me suspiciously. But with his protection of poison spines, he’s not going anywhere.
Tags: andaman and nicobar, divemaster training, fish, india, lionfish, ocean, photography, scuba diving, the wall, wildlife
