On Monday, March 20, 2017,means today, the day and night will be of almost equal duration at most time zones in the world. Here are 10 facts about the March Equinox you might not know. March Equinox is also called the Spring Equinox. 1. Also Autumnal Equinox The March Equinox is known as the Vernal (spring) Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the Autumnal (fall) Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. 2. First Equinox of the Year The second equinox, the September Equinox, takes place on or around September 22 every year. It’s the Southern Hemisphere’s Spring Equinox and is called the Autumnal (Fall Equinox) in the Northern Hemisphere. 3. Marks the First Day of Spring In the Northern Hemisphere, astronomers and scientists use the March Equinox as the start of spring, which ends on the June Solstice, when astronomical summer begins. For meteorologists, on the other hand, spring in the Northern Hemisphere begins three weeks before the March Equinox on March 1 and ends on May 31. 4. Happens at a Specific Time All Over the World Earth in relation to the Sun’s rays. (Not to scale) While cultures around the world celebrate the whole day as the March Equinox. However, in reality, the equinox occurs at a specific moment in time when the Sun crosses the celestial equator, the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s Equator, from south to north. At this moment, Earth’s axis is tilted neither away from nor towards the Sun, but is rather perpendicular to the Sun’s rays, like the illustration shows. In 2017, this will happen on March 20, at 10:29 UTC. 5. The Date of the Equinox Can Vary Remember when Spring Equinox was celebrated on March 21? Well, remember again, because the last time that happened was in 2007 and the next time it will happen is in 2101! Contrary to popular wisdom, the March Equinox can take place on March 19, 20 or 21. In the 21st century, the March Equinox has only occurred twice on March 21 – 2003 and 2007. A March 19 equinox will be more frequent during the last decades of the century. Note: These dates are based on the time of the equinox in UTC. Due to time zone differences, locations ahead of UTC may celebrate the March Equinox a day later, and locations behind UTC may celebrate it a day earlier. 6. Equal Day and Night… Conventional wisdom suggests that on the equinox everybody on Earth gets to experience a day and night of equal lengths – 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night time. In fact, the name equinox is derived from the Latin words aequus, meaning equal, and nox, meaning night. 7. …But Not Quite In reality though, most places on Earth get to see more daylight than night time on the equinoxes. This is because of two reasons: how sunrise and sunset is defined and atmospheric refraction of sunlight. Most locations of the Earth, except those on the Equator, do have almost equal day and night twice a year. The dates for this event, which is also known as equilux, depend on the location’s latitude and can be a few days before or after the equinoxes. 8. Not the Only Day to Balance an Egg On Its End Every year on the Spring Equinox, we hear about how it is the only day of the year when an egg can be perfectly balanced on its end. Many try it and those who fail are told that they didn’t try it at the exact time of the equinox. The truth, however, is that there is nothing magical about the equinox or the time it occurs – you can balance an egg perfectly on its end on any other day. Don’t believe us? Try it yourself! 9. 1 of 2 Days You Can do This Experiment To do this experiment, you’ll need a straight stick or a long wooden ruler, a protractor and a compass. Find an empty space such as a park or a parking lot where there are few tall buildings, trees or hills to obstruct the Sun. Find your location’s latitude. Subtract this number from 90. This will be the angle you will affix the stick in the ground. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, use your compass to find south and point the stick in that direction. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, point the stick or the ruler to the north. Using the protractor fix the stick in the ground at the angle you just calculated – remember to point it in the direction opposite to the hemisphere you are on. Wait till Noon and see the shadow of the stick disappear. At Noon, the stick will have no shadow at all! You can only do this experiment twice a year – on the March Equinox and the September Equinox. 10. Celebrated Around the World Many cultures around the world hold feasts and celebrate festivals and holidays to mark the March Equinox.
Kids can be hard on a forest if left to run wild and free, but that’s the best way to teach them to love nature. And kids’ games will never be as destructive as what adults continue to do to the planet. So in order to let your kids grow a responsible citizen let them be little mischievous, this way some day they will learn to respect nature. When I was hiking on a muddy forest trail, my four-year-old son found a big fuzzy caterpillar. He was elated, running back and forth along the trail to show everyone, shrieking, “Look! Want to see my caterpillar? See how cute it is? Try petting it.” His enthusiasm was so infectious that I held back my usual response: “OK, now it’s time to let the caterpillar go.” My instinct is to protect the animals and insects that he finds, but that day I was struck with a thought – that perhaps kids need to ‘entrap’ nature in order to learn how to appreciate it. Children who spend a lot of time playing outdoors, enjoying hours of unsupervised, unstructured fun just messing around in the woods, will be hard on nature. They will leave traces of their war games, fort building, bushwhacking, and weird mud-leaf-berry concoctions. They might hurt animals inadvertently – baiting chipmunks with peanuts, catching frogs and fish and putting them into buckets, touching birds’ eggs, collecting chrysalises, caterpillars, and insects in glass jars, netting butterflies – but these children will grow up into adults who love and feel comfortable in nature. A few squashed, over-handled, or neglected critters are a small price to pay for adults who value the wonders and beauty of nature and will return to these childhood memories when deciding whether to vote for a conservation measure. Compare that to children who grow up fearing the outdoors. Nature is bubble-wrapped for them, handed out in small, sterilized doses, and is always mediated by a parent who conveys that same fear or discomfort. They grow up disliking it, feeling intimidated by its immensity and unable to appreciate its complexity. They don’t like getting dirty and handling critters makes them squeamish. As adults, they will feel less of a pressing urge to protect nature through policies and activism because they have no personal connection with it. Matthew Browning studies the recreational use of natural spaces. He is an advocate of creating “nature play areas” within national parks, where kids can do all the glorious things they’re usually told not to do by paranoid adults – leave the trail, climb rocks and trees, pick flowers, whack trees with sticks, dig holes, move rocks. In Scandinavia he witnessed these nature play areas in action and concluded that, yes, kids do beat up the forest, but they develop a wonderful active relationship with nature and clear empathy with other living things. This does translate to greater respect for nature in adulthood. Emma Marris writes in Slate about a 2010 study that found that “among people who ended up dedicated to nature and conservation, most had a childhood filled with unstructured play in nature, some of which was ‘not environmentally sensitive by adult standards; rather, it included manipulation of the environment’.” The scientific observer effect states, “You cannot observe or measure something without changing it.” I see how that principle applies to my children. They interact with the natural world in a tangible, head-on, physical way that leaves its mark on everything they touch. I watched my son love his fuzzy caterpillar to the point of near-death. He kept dropping it, picking it up, cradling and stroking it, jiggling it in the palm of his hand. It got lost briefly in the car but was retrieved from the car seat. Finally it returned to a leafy branch, a little worse for wear but still alive. For weeks afterward, my son talked about that caterpillar. It’s time we let the children play, let them cultivate relationships on their own terms with the beautiful forests around us, let them play free from the fussy criticisms of adults who have clearly forgotten their own wonderful hours of forest play, or never had them. As Richard Louv says, “Unless you know something, you are unlikely to love it.” And we need the next generation to love nature more than ever before. Katherine Martinko
अनेक समस्यांचे एक समाधान – जा बाहेर जाऊन खेळ जा बाहेर जाऊन खेळ हे आपल्या आई वडीलांचे वाक्य आपल्यापैकी अनेकांना नक्कीच आठवत असेल. आता एक पालक या नात्याने तुम्ही तुमच्या मुलांना वरील जादुई आज्ञा दिल्याचे तुम्हाला आठवते आहे का? अनेक जण सांगतात देखील असे अजुनही, पण बाहेर म्हणजे कुठे? असा मोठा प्रश्न पालक आणि पाल्य दोघांच्या पुढे असतो. पुर्वी आता जेवढी आहे तेवढी वाहनांची वरदळ नव्हती, पुर्वी आता जेवढ्या आहेत तेवढ्या मोठमोठ्या इमारती नव्हत्या. पुर्वी आता एवढी वाहनांची दिवसेंदिवस वाढत जाणारी संख्या नव्हती, पुर्वी संध्याकाळच्या वेळी आताएवढे प्रदुषण नव्हते, पुर्वी मुलांच्या अपहरणाची आताएवढी भीती नव्हती, खुप बदल झाले आहेत. मला आठवते आहे, बाहेर जाऊन खेळ म्हंटल्यावर सगळे गाव – शिवारच आमचे प्ले ग्राऊंड व्हायचे. नदी वर तासन तास पोहणे, मधे-मध्येच तापी घेणे, नदीपात्रातुन झाडाझुडुपातुन वर-खाली जाण्यायेण्यासाठी वेगवेगळे मार्ग शोधणे, कधी बोर खायला रानवनात फिरणे, चिंचा आंबट लागल्या तरी गाभुळलेल्या चिंचा निवडुन निवडुन खाणे तर कधी जांभळांवर ताव मारायला घोळक्याने रानात जाणे. शेण्याल्लो, दगड्य्ल्लो, विटी दाम्डु, सुरपारंब्या , लपाछपी, टायरचा गाडा फिरवणे, एक ना अनेक “बाहेरचे कार्यक्रम” केलेले मला तरी आठवते आहे. सध्या एखाद्या संवेदनशील पालकास जर खरेच स्वतच्या मुलांसाठी “बाहेर जाऊन खेळ” असे म्ह्नावेसे वाटले तरी, हे खरच शक्य आहे का? शहरी भागातच नाही तर निमशहरी भागात देखील असे बाहेरचे खेळ खेळण्यासाठी जागा आहे का? ज्यांना आपण सध्या गाव म्हणतो अशा गावांमध्ये मुलांची संख्या लक्षणीय रीत्या कमी झालेली दिसते. याचे कारण पालकांचे शहरी तसेच निमशहरी भागात नोकरी व्यवसायाच्या निमित्तने झालेले स्थलांतर. आपल्या मुलांस शहरी मुलांना मिळणा-या शैक्षणिक सुविधा उपलब्ध करण्याच्या अट्टहासापायी देखील अनेक गावाकडचे पालक शहरात येऊन राहत असलेले मी पाहीले आहे. या व अशा अनेक कारणांमुळे बाहेर जाऊन खेळ हे जादुई वाक्य उच्चारण्यास कोणताही पालक धजावेल असे चित्र सध्यातरी दिसत नाही. मग याचे परीणाम हेच दिसताहेत की मुल इलेक्ट्रॉनिक उपकरणांसोबत त्यांचे बालपण घालवीत आहेत व त्यांचे आईवडील जेवढे पारंगत नसतात तेवढे पारंगत ही मुले इलेक्ट्रॉनिक उपकरणे हाताळण्यात झालेली दिसतात. कालानुरुप तंत्रज्ञान अवगत झाले पाहीजे व त्यात पारंगत ही झाले पाहीजे हे जरी खरे असले तरी त्यांचे बालपण हिरावुन घेतल्यासारखे आपणास नाही का वाटत? मुलांना जंगली प्राण्यांविषयी आजकाल जास्त माहीती असु शकते, कारण डिस्कव्हरी, नॅशलन जिओग्राफी सारखे वन्य जीवनाला समर्पित टीव्ही चॅनेल्स व त्यावरील एका पाठोपाठचे कार्यक्रम , मुलांना माहीतीच्या बाबतीत अद्ययावत ठेवतात. पण प्रत्यक्ष अनुभव कसा मिळणार? एखाद्या मोठ्या झाडाच्या खोडाला मिठी मारुन त्या झाडाशी गुजवार्ता करण्याची संधी आपण आपल्या मुलांस देतो आहोत का? पावसामुळे नद्यांना पुर येतात व त्यामुळे कधीकधी भोवरे तयार होऊन अभेद्य खडकांना रांजणासारखे मोठमोठे खड्डे कसे पडतात, हे कधी आपल्या मुलांना आपण दाखवले आहे काय? रानावनात फिरताना सापडलेल्या पक्ष्यांच्या लहान मोठ्या पीसांचा पेन करण्याची प्रेरणा आपल्या मुलांना मिळु शकते काय? निसर्गातले सौहार्द काय असते हे समजण्यासाठी आपण खरच कधी आपल्या मुलांस निसर्गात घेऊन जातो काय? कधी शिंपले सापडले तर त्यावर चित्रकारी करुन आधीच सुंदर दिसणा-या त्या शिंपल्यांना तुमची मुले अधिक सुंदर करण्याचा प्रयत्न करतील, पण आपण त्यांना अशा स्थळी कधी घेऊन जातो काय? असे खुप काही आहे जे प्रत्यक्ष अनुभवण्यापासुन आपण आपल्या पीढीला वंचित ठेवतो आहोत. परीणामी ही मुले पुढे जाऊन एकलकोंडी, निसर्गाशी नाळ तुटलेली, उपभोक्तावाद हेच जीवन समजणारी, व सर्व नैसर्गिक साधनसंपत्ती ही माणसाकरीतच आहे असे समजुन निसर्गास, पर्यावरणास धोका निर्माण करणारी घडत आहेत. प्लास्टीक कचरा नसलेले रस्ते, डोंगर नद्या कशा सुंदर दिसतात, हे आपण त्यांना दाखवीत नाही, परीणामी प्रत्येक नदी पुलावरुन नदीत प्लास्टीक कचरा फेकणारांची संख्या दिवसेंदिवस वाढतच आहे व नद्या शहरीभागात कचरा वाहीन्याच झाल्या आहेत. हे सर्व घडते आहे निसर्गाप्रती असलेल्या संवेदनशीलतेच्या अभावाने. अनेकानेक समस्यांचे मुळ आहे निसर्गाशी नाळ तुटणे. निसर्गसहलींचे फायदे काय आहेत? यातील अनेक समस्या सामाजिक आहेत तर काही व्यक्तिगत स्वरुपाच्या आहेत. उदाहरणच पाहायचे झाले तर, आपण नदीप्रदुषण, वायुप्रदुषण, वाढते जागतिक तापमान, इत्यादी समस्यांचे निराकारण करण्यासाठी तुमच्या मुलांस निसर्गाशी जोडा असे जर आपण सांगु जाऊ तर काही पालक म्हणतील यात माझ्या मुलामुलीस काय फायदा? कारण नदी प्रदुषण ही सामाजिक समस्या आहे व समाज/ सरकार त्याला जबाबदार आहे, त्यासाठी मी किंवा माझ्या मुलाने का म्हणुन काही करावयाचे? साहजिक आहे असा विचार करणे. असा विचार करण्याचे कारण असे आहे की पालकांस अद्याप निसर्गाशी नाळ जोडल्याने व्यक्तिगत पातळीवर किती प्रकारचे अनेकानेक फायदे मुला-मुलींस होऊ शकतात याच्या विषयी कल्पनाच नाही. तर मग काय आहेत हे फायदे आपल्या मुलांसाठी व्यक्तिमत्व धाडसी बनते नेतृत्व गुण विकसित होतात रिस्क ॲनॅलिसिस करण्याचे कौशल्य विकसित होते सामाजिक जबाबदारीचे भान होते सुप्त कलागुणांस चालना मिळते सृजनात्मक कौशल्य विकास होतो रचनात्मक कौशल्य विकास होतो अभिनव कल्पना शक्तीचा विकास विरंगुळ्यासाठी इलेक्ट्रॉनिक साधनांच्या वापरापासुन सुटका लठ्ठपणा एकलकोंडे पणासारख्या संभाव्य आजारांपासुन सुटका वैज्ञानिक दॄष्टीकोन तयार होण्यास मदत होते ग्रहगोल, तारांगण पाहील्यामुळे खगोलशास्त्र विषयी रुची निर्माण होते त्यामुळे पालकांना हे सर्व समजले तर पालक आपल्या पाल्यांना निसर्गाशी जोडण्यासाठी नक्कीच तयार होतील. नव्हे ते मुलांस निसर्गात घेऊन जातील देखील. पण हे सगळे एकदम घडणार नाही हे लक्षात ठेवा. मोबाईल गेममध्ये आकंठ बुडालेल्या आजच्या पीढीस, म्हणजेच भावी जबाबदार नागरीकांस निसर्गाशी गट्टी करायला लावणे हे देखील एक कौशल्य आहे. कसे कराल हे ? सुरुवातीस त्यांना त्याच्या इच्छेविरुध्द काही ही करायला भाग पाडु नका लक्षात असु द्या की “ तुला हे करावेच लागेल” किंवा “ सगळा भात खावाच लागेल” किंवा “होमवर्क लगेच कर” अशी आपणा जर “च” ची भाषा वापरली तर मुले बंडखोरी करतात. त्यामुळे निसर्गशी मैत्रीसाठी देखील “च” शी भाषा वापरु नये. कार्टुन, टिव्ही, व्हिडीयो मोबाईल गेम विषयी नकारात्मक भाषेचा उपयोग देखील टाळावा. टीव्ही बघणे व मोबाईल गेम खेळणे यासाठी कमी वयापासुनच काही नियम बनवा बाहेर जाऊन खेळ या जादुच्या छडीचा उपयोग करण्यापुर्वी वरील इलेक्ट्रॉनिक साधनांच्या वापराविषयी काही छोटे व सोपे नियम बनवा. उदा – फक्त रविवारी दोन तास कार्टुन पाहणे किंवा फक्त शनिवारी एक तास मोबाईलवर गेम खेळणे. आणि असे नियम मुलांच्या अगदी सुरुवातीच्या वयापासुनच घालुन दिले तर ह्या मुलांना या नियमांचे काही वाटणार नाही. पण असा नियम पाळताना “जा बाहेर जाऊन खेळ” असे म्हणायचे मात्र विसरु नका. मुलांस निसर्गशिबीरांत पाठवणे, घेऊन जाणे विविध संस्थांमार्फत घेण्यात येणारे समर कॅम्प्स, विंटर कॅम्प्स ला आवर्जुन आपल्या मुलांना पाठवा. स्काऊट बुट कॅम्प सारखे अनुभव घेताना मुलांना नक्कीच आवडेल. मुलामुलींस निसर्गात घेऊन जाताना हे नेहमी लक्षात ठेवा की ते आपल्या पेक्षा लवकर थकतात व त्यांना आपल्यापेक्षा लवकर भुक देखील लागते निसर्गात गेल्यावर जर मुले रडवेली झाली, त्रास द्यायला लागली तर याचा अर्थ असा घेऊ नका की त्यांना निसर्गाशी मैत्री आवडली नाही. याचा अर्थ असाही असु शकतो की भुकेच्या वेळी खाण व थकल्यावर आराम ह्या गोष्टी त्यांना मिळाल्या नाहीत. निष्कर्श – कमी वय असतानाच निसर्गात घेऊन जाणे सुरु करा व निसर्गभेटींचे सातत्य
Spend awesome time in nature at our camping site near Pune. You would love as you will be completely in natural world.
Western Ghats As many of you have been to Nisargshala campsite, why not learn more about it? Nisargshala campsite is approximately 65-70 kms from Pune, towards southwest of Pune city. The campsite is in the core western ghats, surronded alomost by all sides with Sahyadri sub-ranges and hill. Towards north is the tallest mountain in Pune region i.e. Fort Torna. We will see the historical importance of Torna fort some other time. Towards east is Rajgad. The campsite is towards south of Madheghat and towards east of Lingana fort and Rayling Plateua. Means there is alot to explore at Nisargshala. The campsite has 5 different sacred groves in the perimeter of 10 kms. The most interesting part is Western Ghats. Let’s understand some really interesting facts about Western ghats like what, how its formed, its flora n fauna and much more The Western Ghats, is a mountain range that runs along the western coast-line of India. The Ghats are older than the Himalayas. It runs, about 1600 km, North to South, along the western edge of the Deccan Platea It is one of the ten hottest hotspots of biological diversity in the world. It originates near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, and runs through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, finally ending at Kanyakumari. These hills cover 160,000 km (62,000 sq mi) and form the catchment area for complex riverine drainage systems that drain almost 40% of India. The average elevation is about 1,200 m (3,900 ft). In 2012, thirty nine places in the Western Ghats region have been declared as World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO. Basalt is the predominant rock found in the hills reaching a thickness of 3 km (2 mi). Other rock types found are charnockites, granite gneiss, khondalites, leptynites, metamorphic gneisses with detached occurrences of crystalline limestone, iron ore,dolerites and anorthosites. Major gaps in the range are the Goa Gap, between the Maharashtra and Karnataka sections, and the Palghat Gap on the Tamil Nadu and Kerala border between the Nilgiri Hills and the Anaimalai Hills. The range is known as Sahyadri in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Anaimudi (2695 m), is the highest peak of the Western Ghats, which is situated in Eravikulam National Park, Kerala. Mullayyanagiri (1,950 m) is the highest peak in Karnataka. Doddabetta (2637 m), is the Highest peak of Tamil Nadu. Kalasubai is(1646 m), is the highest peak in Maharashtra Flora and Fauna The Western Ghats are home to thousands of animal species including at least 325 globally threatened species.There are at least 139 mammal species. A critically endangered mammal of the Western Ghats is the nocturnal Malabar large-spotted civet. The arboreal lion-tailed macaque is endangered. Only 2500 of this species are remaining. The largest population of lion tailed macaque is in Silent Valley National Park. Kudremukh National Park also protects a viable population. The largest population of India’s tigers outside the Sunderbans is in the forests where the boundaries of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala meet. Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary and Bhadra tiger reserve of Karnataka has large populations of Indian muntjac also known as the Barking Deer. Asian elephant, gaur, Sambar deer, vulnerable sloth bears, leopards, tigers and wild boars are found in the forests of Karnataka. Dandeli and Anshi national parks in Karnataka are home to leopards and significant populations of the great Indian hornbill. Indian Purple Frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), endemic to Western Ghats of India. This is an endangered species. The frog spends most of the year underground, surfacing only for about two weeks, during the monsoon, for purposes of mating. Micrixalusfrogs are popularly known as dancing frogs due to their peculiar habit of waving their feet to attract females during the breeding season. Flying Lizard – This is the only Flying Lizard (Draco dussumieri) species found in India! This lizard when perceives a threat, rises to the top of the tree, opens its wings and glides onto another tree! These flying lizards are found in the Western Ghats and associated hill forests of southern India. The region has significant population of vulnerable Mugger crocodiles 288 freshwater fish species are listed for the Western Ghats, including 35 also known from brackish or marine water. There are at least 508 bird species. Most of Karnataka’s five hundred species of birds are from the Western Ghats region. The Western Ghats are not true mountains, but are the faulted edge of the Deccan plateau. They are believed to have been formed during the break-up of the super continent of Gondwana some 150 million years (mya) ago. Geo-physicists Barren and Harrison from the University of Miami advocate the theory that the west coast of India came into being somewhere around 100 to 80 mya after it broke away from Madagascar. After the break-up, the western coast of India would have appeared as an abrupt cliff some 1,000 metres in height. Soon after its detachment, the peninsular region of the Indian plate drifted over the Réunion hotspot, a volcanic hotspot in the earth’s lithosphere near the present day location of Réunion ( 21°06′S, 55°31′E). A huge eruption here some 65 mya is thought to have laid down the Deccan Traps, a vast bed of basalt lava that covers parts of central India. These volcanic upthrusts led to the formation of the northern third of the Western Ghats. Since these uplifts are dome-shaped in nature, the underlying rock is ancient, dating back 200 mya, and can be observed in some parts such as the Nilgiris. Basalt is the predominant rock found in the hills reaching a depth of 3 km (2 mi). Other rock types found are charnockites, granite gneiss, khondalites, leptynites, metamorphic gneisses with detached occurrences of crystalline limestone, iron ore, dolerites and anorthosites. Residual laterite and bauxite ores are also found in the southern hills. External references https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Ghats http://unesco.org/