Environmental Education

I'm not sure if it's because I've been teaching long 11th grade Environmental Education classes lately, but I am recently stricken with India's natural environment.

• India is home to 2,000 species of orchid, only 10% of those found worldwide.
• Like cows, lions are sacred. The goddess Durga is said to use a lion as her special means of transportation.
• Hibiscus flowers are vibrantly abundant as summer approaches. These flowers are offered to the goddess Kali. Kali is associated with eternal energy and as the students tell me, known as the lordess of death. She is a fierce goddess. Perhaps the fiery hibiscus flower parallels her fearsome nature.
• Dhatura flowers are offered to Shiva.
• A recent article describes a tumeric-derived drug found to be useful in stroke patients or potential stroke patients according to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. India Aryvedic Medicine has been using tumeric for centuries to treat similar conditions.   

Here at Shanti Bhavan we are almost completely self-sufficient and certainly sustainable. Complete with solar power capability for hot water and current, veggie garden and fruit orchards (mango season coming soon!) One of my new favorite vegetables is called bitter goard. It tastes like a very bitter squash and looks like a wart-ridden winter squash. The students don't like it much, but mixed with some curry it adds a wonderful counter flavor to chili spice. Also the cooks here have served it lightly fried. This makes the bitter guard taste like calamari. For a vegetarian campus, it is a special treat.

Yesterday at lunch we had a red beet salad. Tom Robbins was right --- something so complete and fulfilling about a rich, metallic, earthy red beet.

In fauna news, I am proud to say that I have figured out why each cow I see is undoubtably accompanied by a white egret. As the cows eat grass, it stirs up the insects in the grasses for the egrets to feast on. Luckily for my Environmental Education class, this relationship served nicely as an example of symbiotic commensalism.

That's all for nature news. I wonder what's for lunch today...