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How do Flush Toilets Work?
Toilets are an amazing invention. Nearly every home has at least one. It is a very necessary utility needed in all homes to maintain hygiene. It is really amazing how this system works – you press a lever or pull a chain and whoosh! About two gallons of water rushes down into the porcelain bowl in three and four seconds. Gurgle-gurgle-urp it is clean and ready for use again! Toilets were known in India as early as three thousand years ago!...
Birds Which Eat Their Feathers
We all know that birds use their feathers to line their nests. But have you ever heard of a bird eating its own feathers? It is a bird which lives in water and is called the great crested grebe. It eats its own feathers and feeds them to her young ones too. And, it always prefers soft feathers, which it sheds throughout the year. Scientists believe that its feather-eating habit is linked to the process with which it throws waste....
The Earthworm's Good Turn
Every day, countless dustbins are emptied in dumping grounds. A lot of this garbage ends up polluting the ground water and also the rivers and seas. Actually, a large part of this junk, especially the biodegradable waste (waste that can be decomposed) can be disposed in a more efficient manner, without polluting water bodies. Many countries are now doing it by using a cheap and eco-friendly option – the earthworm. Yes, earthworms have been in the business of decomposing waste and enriching the soil for thousands of years....
Pollution – an old ancestral legacy
If you thought today’s pollution and environmental damage was just as old as the coming of industrial factories, smoke and chemical waste, you were wrong. A recent report in the journal ‘Science’ says that environmental pollution is as old as human existence itself, though industrialisation certainly hastened the process. The report is based on a study consisting of the combined research of 19 scientists across four continents, who found that the diversity of marine life was among the first to be affected....
Footprints on Earth
Have you ever been to a national park? If so, you must have tried to trace or locate a wild animal by trying to see its footprints on the soil. For example, people who go to Jim Corbett National Park, in Uttar Pradesh, India, spend most of their time looking for tigers. They do so by trying to look for its pug marks on the soil. If they find even one, they return happy and spin tall tales of adventure to their friends, about “How I saw a tiger”....
An Earth Day Fable
Indians are masters of junk. And out of junk they produce masterpieces. One such junk master is the sculptor Nek Chand who fashioned his sculptures from waste. The story goes that Nek chand was once invited to America to fashion sculptures, works of art out of waste. Nek Chand came back disillusioned and glum complaining that their junk was not so good, that its feel and smell was so alien. If Nek Chand turned masterpieces out of junk (see picture below), the slum is a craft built around junk....
Indians: Masters of Junk
Where: New Delhi, India In the last couple of years, in the Indian capital, Delhi, and in many other parts of the country, schoolchildren have led a very effective campaign against plastic – the material that is choking the earth. But why do we Indians store so much junk? Well known sociologist Shiv Visvanathan tells us the reason in a simple and detailed way. June 5, 2000: Indians are masters of junk. And out of junk they produce masterpieces....
Papier mache Club
The name of Hanuman makes us think of sheer physical strength. The club was the dreaded weapon with which this faithful devotee of Rama defeated his enemies. So, here’s a chance to make your own club and have a swinging time during Dussehra. Papier mache Club [Illustrations by Shiju George] You will need: Balloon, waste paper, adhesive, chart paper, blade and paints. Step 1: Mix the adhesive with water and make it watery....
Creating Light from Garbage
July 22: We all create garbage. Every day we throw away armloads of things that we don’t need. Wrappers, leftovers, car parts, torn cloth, vegetable remains and mounds of other such stuff. What we throw away at home is domestic garbage. There’s much more that factories throw away. Garbage from factories is often very dangerous, because it could be poisonous chemicals, or plastics that choke the earth. The result of all this throwing away is that garbage levels around the world are rising, and fast....
Birds!!!
October 6: If feeding pigeons is your hobby, then the place to go is London’s Trafalgar Square. With about 40,000 pigeon tummies to fill, you can be sure that demand will never outstrip supply. Trafalgar Square’s pigeons are a major tourist attraction. Thousands of pigeons can be found in the square at any given time, which has a fountain and the monument of famous English general Lord Nelson at the centre. Some tourists and residents visit the square only to feed the birds....
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