Cost of Oxygen

PNLIT Trustee Prasanna recieved this as an email forward.

The mathematics of it is very interesting!

In one day a human being breathes oxygen equivalent to 3 cylinders.
Each oxygen cylinder on an average costs Rs.700/-, without subsidy.

So, in a day one uses oxygen worth Rs 2,100/- and for a full year it is Rs 7,66,500/-. And, if we consider an average life span of 65 years, the cost of oxygen we use becomes a staggering sum of Rs 500,00,000/- (Rs 50 million).  All this oxygen is derived free of cost from the surrounding trees.

Very few people look at trees as a RESOURCE and there is rampant tree cutting going on everywhere which must stop.

CARE FOR TREES!

Spark the Rise grant update!

We are delighted to tell you that Spark the Rise Jury has gone through our project in detail and has reached the conclusion that "PNLIT is a great project." Mahindra will be releasing the entire grant amount of Rs 4,00,000 (four lakh) to us in due course. This is the amount given to winners in the preliminary round. Heartfelt thanks to all who supported and voted for us in the preliminary round.

Voting for the grand finale will be between 2nd and 15th April. We are counting on you and every single reader of this message to take us into the top four in the grand finale and enable us to win the runners-up prize of Rs. 20 lakh if not the grand prize of Rs. 40 lakh.

Thank you

PNLIT team

A Report on Bangalore BirdRace 2012

Nice to see Puttenahalli Lake find mention:

"Puttenahalli Lake, which has been rescued and rejuvenated by the PNLI Trust, was one of the venues that yielded a lot of bird sightings, including those of migratory water fowl like Garganeys and Northern Shovellers."

Read the full report here.

Reminiscing on Bangalore of the 1960-70s

Reading this news item on Egypt's lakes, Egypt's lakes: 'a truly tragic environmental tale' http://www.egyptindependent.com/node/650181, one cannot but reminisce about the way Bangalore used to be during the childhood of the 1960-70s generation.

PNLIT Trustee Prasanna K. Vynatheya, writes:

It is tragic indeed. I thought India was the worst, but all over too (especially surprised that even in places where the water and greenery is so important to ward off the advancing desert) such blatant things continue to happen.

I am, I guess, one of the only generation that has seen what was before, and how quickly things changed.

We moved to Jayanagar 4th 'T' block in 1964, and our house on 19th Main was the end of the concrete buildings. Beyond and towards North, East and South it was all orchards and farm lands. There was no connection by road from Jayanagar to Bannerghatta Road and the only way to go on towards Bannerghatta (if at all anybody did), was from the Bangalore Diary Circle. Right from Bangalore Diary the road cut through wetlands with birds, and paddy and sugarcane fields to the left and right of the road, all along, and interspersed by water bodies (free of weeds). Today all those wetlands are converted into shanty spaces or high rises as Mantri, Apollo & Fortis Hospital and so on and on. Unfortunately the best of the agricultural lands have been converted into cities or towns, not only in India, but all over the world.

I am from the only generation who saw the Old and the New world extensively, because our fathers neither had the roads to travel nor the vehicles. Hence we were just the lot that got active on the roads when our Bangalore and surroundings were still not discovered by the Realtor.

People may not believe if I say that in 1976 when a group of us managed to find our way to a remote village beyond Bannerghatta (called Choodanahalli, infamous in recent times due to elephant trampling a man), our's were the first bikes that had entered that hutment, and many of the people there were seeing a motorbike for the very first time in their lives. Here's the surprise - that place is not more than about 10 km from Bannerghatta, as the crow flies. Today, that place, well, I have not bothered to go to though there is a good road. I want to preserve that bit of memory...

"May the Best Name Win" - competition

We plan to induct children between ages 8 and 16 as PNLIT's junior members and have already identified four children who have shown tremendous potential to be future leaders of society in some way or the other. We will have much to learn from them while we nurture their interest in the Puttenahalli lake and knowledge about the flora and fauna. They will assist us in the many activities we conduct and also take the lead on occasions themselves (such as taking other kids on a bird watch at the lake on their own). We hope to get more children to join our panel in due course.

What do we call these young champions? PNLIT what? PNLIT Juniors? Naa! PNLIT Herons? Hmmm... PNLIT Coots? No way! Coot is the name of a bird we have at the lake in plenty but it also means someone who's eccentric as in a "crazy old coot".

Can you do better? Can you come up with a name for these young enthusiasts that is catchy, captures their zeal or their association with the lake? Therefore no tigers and cubs please! Start thinking! The person who comes up with the winning name will get a handsome prize (no prizes for guessing what it will be!)

The competition is open to children between the ages of 8 and 16. We shall not object if parents, grandparents and older siblings want to help their ward but the prize will still go to the child!

All you imaginative people out there - put on your thinking caps! Email your best name before mid-night on Mon, 13th Feb 2012, to puttenahalli.lake@gmail.com.