Sexy Savanah

posted by Savanah on Jul 2

I was alarmed about the number of Shisham trees dying in India. I read a survey by the Forest Research Institute (FRI) which sites that the mortality of Shisham trees, also known as the ‘money’ tree in the timber business vernacular, has caused a loss of well over 1,000 crore in the Indian sub-continent. When I arrived and checked into the Palace Hotel India, my first call was to the Forest Pathology Division and make arrangements to help out as an environmentalist and scientist.

Nearly 8 to 10 lakh trees have wilted causing a huge loss in the nation. The FRI have set up multi-location trials through a series of root-dip methods. The trials, they tell me, are trying to bring back the resistance in the Shisham trees. These trees are the biggest provider of timber for making furniture and for building materials in India. So, the whole timber industry is helping out financially with these trials.

It appears that as soil-born fungus called Fusarium Solani is the root cause of the disease plagued Shisham. This fungus inflicts upon the trunks of the trees and causes them to be unable to recoup. A telltale sign that the fungus has stuck a tree is that the leaves turn pale and within a week, maybe two, the tree dies. The fungus works that fast. The staff at FRI showed me satellite pictures which show a brown haze over Delhi and extends the entire stretch of the lower Himalaya and up to West Bengal on to Bangladesh and other Southern Asian countries. They tell me that they believe it’s due to this phenomenon along side the drought which has aided to the stress of the trees not being able to fight off the fungus.

The Shisham is a most important timber in India, so we are taking steps to save it from further decay. I don’t know if there’s anything more to be done than what is already being done, but I’m not the only environmentalist working diligently on this task.

posted by Savanah on Jul 1

The show that just happened over the past weekend was much more than a rock concert.  U2 paid tribute to the late Micheal Jackson, transmitted the concert to the International Space Station, and became Bono’s platform for Human Rights issues throughout the world.  When the ninety thousand tickets went on sale in Barcelona, those tickets sold out in a mere fifty-four minutes.  And it was not long afterward that the five star Barcelona hotels were booked up as well.  These guys are megastars, hailing from a small town in Ireland they have continually sold out shows world-wide for more than two decades.  The show this weekend was held at Camp Nou, the stadium and the home of the football team of Barcelona.  The stage was immense and the crowd in attendance was punctuated by those, unable to score tickets, surrounding the arena and listening from the grassy parks on the other side of the fences.

The innovative stage design included a massive structure.  A giant creature with four metal legs suspended and weighing in at almost four hundred tons.  Once Snow Patrol had warmed up the audience, Bono and his band mates took the stage.  This was the first date on the upcoming worldwide tour, and as stated, was more than a show.  Bono commemorated the fortieth anniversary of the first landing on the moon, spoke frequently about peace and the necessity of that idea in this modern world, and even sent a message to those in the government of South Africa, imploring them to put a non-concerted effort into fighting malaria and AIDs epidemics.  The song dedicated to Michael Jackson, was ‘Angel of Harlem’ of which Bono included a montage of Jackson’s songs, including ‘Don’t Stop til You Get Enough’.  What started years ago, with a few lads singing about what they believed in, has turned into an institution wherein what they sing about, is something that all have come to believe.