The Magic Garden

See more photos here

Once every three years, there is an international competition in horticultural sculpture, called “mosaiculture,” in a major city in the world. This year it is in Montreal . 

 This is not topiary but rather creating sculptures out of living plants. The greatest horticulturalists in the world, from 20 different countries, submitted plans a year in advance.  

 Steel armatures were then created to support the works (some 40 feet high); they were then wrapped in steel mesh and filled with dirt and moss and watering hoses. Then they ordered 3 million plants of different shades of green and brown and tan, and these were grown in greenhouses all over Quebec .

 In late May, these horticulturalists came to Montreal and planted all of their plants in the forms at the Montreal Botanic Gardens, and they have been standing for three months now. 

There were 50 major sculptures along a path two miles long.  They were incredible. If you would like to visit a few and walk along the path, click on:

 

India’s Vastly Oversubscribed Solar Allocations

Renewable Energy World Editors

Last week India finally held its national solar auction, the first in two years, seen as the least risky of several national and state-level solar auctions held over the past few years.

Demand was as heated as expected: 58 bids were received pledging to develop more than 2.1 GW of solar energy capacity, nearly triple the 750-MW that state-run Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) was offering. Here’s the full list of eager developers, which includes Azure Power India (200 MW), Welspun Energy (160 MW), Goldman Sachs-backed local developer ReNew Solar Power (50 MW), First Solar (30 MW), and a handful of state-run utilities. Part of the spur behind the activity was the government’s promises to cover as much as 30 percent of project costs; part of the delay was the adjustment of payout period from one year to five years. And perhaps part of the huge interest was the delay of the auction to help clarify some of its structure and sooth investor and developer concerns.

More than half of the bids (36 bids for 700 MW) proposed to take advantage of the domestic content requirement (DCR), more than double what SECI expected. Developers appear to be hedging reliance upon domestic suppliers’ ability to support projects by de-emphasizing those requirements in favor of Viability Gap Funding (VGF), points out Bridge to India’s Jasmeet Khurana.

Another positive takeaway is that more than half (60 percent) of the bids in terms of capacity would end up being managed as an independent power producer (IPP), a big increase in their level of participation. Pure-play solar IPPs don’t enjoy some advantages of tax incentives such as accelerated depreciation, but separating such tariffs is giving pure-play IPPs a more level playing field, he added.

 

 

Cold weather awareness

(this is funnier in an email with large text size and you have to scroll down to see the picture)

Please remember, now that it’s winter, animals seek out the heat of vehicles to stay warm. Before starting your car, please check around the wheels and engine for these cold animals. You may not even notice they are there.

This is how our cat James came into our family — Madhu found him curled up as a kitten in his engine compartment.

 

The Number 1 Wrench Guy

Here is a cow made out of wrenches from a guy who makes sculptures out of wrenches.

Check out some more here.

 

Herds of Cows Can Stop Global Warming

 

Shake,Shake That Cream

When Vidya was a brahmacarini they used to make butter during kirtan.

 

Milk Offsets –The Fourth Alternative

“Without protection of cows, brahminical culture cannot be maintained; and without brahminical culture, the aim of life cannot be fulfilled.”Srimad Bhagavatam 8.24.5

The discussion of whether devotees should use industrial milk currently has 3 schools of thought.

1. Use it and ok if it is offered .

Advantages: Fulfills Srila Prabhupada’s (ACBSP) instruction use milk to develop finer brain tissues

Fulfills ACBSP’s instruction to use milk to lure meat eaters to prasadam

Scaleable as what is needed can be purchased as needed

Cheap and abundant

Cow unknowingly benefits from having milk offered to Krsna

Disadvantages: Requires animal slaughter to subsidize cheap price

Cows lives shortened unnaturally and generally raised in poor unnatural conditions

Lose credibility with animal rightists and situational vegans

Creates complacency in not following ACBSP’s instruction to get from protected cows

2. Become a vegan

Advantages: Not implicated in animal slaughter or suffering

Credibility with animal rightists and situational vegans (preaching to Westerners programs   double size when menu shifts to vegan)

Disadvantages: Most devotees can’t/won’t perform the austerity

Doesn’t fulfill ACBSP’s instructions to use milk

Creates complacency in not following ACBSP’s instruction to get from protected cows

3. Drink milk only from protected cows

Advantages: Fulfills ACBSP’s ideal

Credibility with animal rightists and vegans

Cows live full life naturally and reciprocate loving relationship with devotees

Better quality safer milk

Major step towards varnashram

Disadvantages: Benefit (milk) short term but obligations (care for cows up to 20 years) long term

Capital intensive – up to 6 times more expensive than industrial milk

Requires dedicated milker(s)

Requires 20+ year commitment to calves born

Requires enforcement mechanism so money collected now is there for cow’s old age

 Not easily scaleable – good for small groups not peak events or increasing numbers

 Complex logistics to supply devotee and well wishers diaspora

Requires oxen program to be true cow protection

A fourth alternative has been discussed, Milk Offsets. It is based on the widely accepted concept of Carbon Offsets which is applied a couple of ways. One is when renewable energizes are produced they are given credits that utilities purchase to fulfill state law mandates that they produce a % of their energy from renewables. They are also offered to individuals paying their electric bill to pay a premium over what they owe and the extra used to buy renewable energy credits offsetting their individual usage.

  4. Milk Offsets

 Advantages: Anyone anywhere can do it requires no authorization

Use of industrial milk and its disadvantages offset by donation to cow protection program

Donation is used by programs to expand cow protection

Milk is used and a cow is protected

Scaleable as Krishna Consciousness spreads and for peak events

Concept accessible to animal rightists and vegans who tend to be environmentalists

Disadvantages: Cows still suffer

Requires financial sacrifice

Not understood by persons unfamiliar with current environmental practices

References:

Carbon offsets

Srila Prabhupada on why devotees should protect cows

 European GBC discussion of the milk

 

Sacred Cows In India