Location: Madikeri, Coorg
Date: 11 May ‘15 - 23rd May ‘15, 13 days
Students: 32
Course instructors: Mansi Shah and Jennifer Rae Pierce
Jennifer Pierce and I taught a course as a part of CEPT summer school- ‘Sustainable living practicum’. Students lived on an organic farm and biodiversity hotspot in the tropical montane rainforest of the western ghats of Coorg. The site is the homestead of two biology doctors - Sujata and Anurag. Course involved working in the plantation, hands-on construction, rainforest trekking, eco films, night treks, learning the biodiversity assessment methods and lectures on sustainability, permaculture and urban agriculture. The first week focused on grasping sustainability and ecosystems, particularly as they relate to agriculture. The second week revolved around hands on activities, constructing onsite, working in the plantation.
The learning objective was to experience the realities of small-scale sustainable living and to rethink what this means for an urbanizing, globalizing Indian cities.
We had great support from the entire team of Rainforest Retreat. Thank you Sujata, Anurag, Maya, Adil, Laurie, Ravi, Muthu and Mytresh. We also thank Jackson Porretta for leading the mud construction and Mr. Vassan for demonstrating beekeeping.
To see the day to day work plan, click here.
Date: 11 May ‘15 - 23rd May ‘15, 13 days
Students: 32
Course instructors: Mansi Shah and Jennifer Rae Pierce
Jennifer Pierce and I taught a course as a part of CEPT summer school- ‘Sustainable living practicum’. Students lived on an organic farm and biodiversity hotspot in the tropical montane rainforest of the western ghats of Coorg. The site is the homestead of two biology doctors - Sujata and Anurag. Course involved working in the plantation, hands-on construction, rainforest trekking, eco films, night treks, learning the biodiversity assessment methods and lectures on sustainability, permaculture and urban agriculture. The first week focused on grasping sustainability and ecosystems, particularly as they relate to agriculture. The second week revolved around hands on activities, constructing onsite, working in the plantation.
The learning objective was to experience the realities of small-scale sustainable living and to rethink what this means for an urbanizing, globalizing Indian cities.
We had great support from the entire team of Rainforest Retreat. Thank you Sujata, Anurag, Maya, Adil, Laurie, Ravi, Muthu and Mytresh. We also thank Jackson Porretta for leading the mud construction and Mr. Vassan for demonstrating beekeeping.
To see the day to day work plan, click here.
Lecture series
Jennifer Pierce
Global Sustainability
Permaculture
Sustainble living
Mansi Shah
Community sustainability: Food, water and waste
Urban Agriculture in India
Pollinators: Bees and Bats
Sujata Goel
Development vs conservation
Maya and Anurag Goel
Biodiversity of Western Ghats
Jackson Porretta
Alternate and sustainble building methods
Giulia Setti
Sustainable Achitecture
Vassan
Beekeeping
Global Sustainability
Permaculture
Sustainble living
Mansi Shah
Community sustainability: Food, water and waste
Urban Agriculture in India
Pollinators: Bees and Bats
Sujata Goel
Development vs conservation
Maya and Anurag Goel
Biodiversity of Western Ghats
Jackson Porretta
Alternate and sustainble building methods
Giulia Setti
Sustainable Achitecture
Vassan
Beekeeping
Plantation activity
Students prepared beds for ginger and turmeric plantation. They hauled compost, sowed seeds, mulched the soil with dry leaves and learnt about 'natural way of farming' with environmentally friendly methods which supports our planet's biological interdependence.
Biodiversity assessment
Butterfly bait traps and pitfall traps were set up in different parts of the rainforest to measure the diversity of organisms.
Study of micro- ecosystem
Various aspects of rainforest eco-systems were introduced, starting with the fragile layer of soil with its millions of microbes and networks of fungi to plants and trees and the animals that inhabit the rainforest. The exercise was to examine a small area and understand the interaction and interdependence of various components of this intricate ecosystem. Students collected soil samples, leaves, fungi to show the variety of species they could identify in a small area.
Learning sustainable adobe construction
As a part of the course, students also constructed a toilet block in mud. The process involved hauling of materials from in and around the site, making the soil mixture, putting it in the mould and setting up the blocks for drying. The students then used the sun-dried bricks and mud mortar to build an adobe block. The construction was led and instructed by Jackson Porretta.
Beekeeping demonstration
A practical demonstration of sustainable ways of beekeeping, equipments used and tools were showed by Mr Vassan. A healthy bee frame box was also installed in the rainforest.
Rainforest trekking
Walks and trekking through the rainforest were a very integral part of this course, engaging students to think about different ecosystems, to observe biodiversity, and an opportunity to document the variety of species they encounter. Walks were planned at different times, through
very different transects and included night walk through plantation, birding trek in the wee hours of the morning, trek to Kalur Ridge for overview of the unique shola-grassland ecosystem.
very different transects and included night walk through plantation, birding trek in the wee hours of the morning, trek to Kalur Ridge for overview of the unique shola-grassland ecosystem.
Rainforest flows
The use of alternate energy systems like photovoltaic panels, solar heating, bio-gas, rain water harvesting were studied by students to understand the water, energy and solid flows through the rainforest. This was presented in the form of small skits.
Biodiversity of the western ghats
The Western ghats are home to some of the richest biodiversity on earth and a part of this course was to document the treasure of nature in rainforest which is rapidly vanishing due to human activities.
Final Exhibition
From lectures to hands on participation in plantation and construcion gave students the opportunity to think about environmental issues, especially the importance of biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture and what it means for growing country like India. In the final project, students explored ideas on how cities should be, building upon their learning from the rainforest, and translated into beautiful posters.
On the final day, the posters were displayed as an exhibition aganist the backdrop of rich rainforest canopy.
On the final day, the posters were displayed as an exhibition aganist the backdrop of rich rainforest canopy.
Notes from the students
The awesome 32 students!
Amulya Bhat
Neelakshi Mour
Niveditha Thirunavukkarasu
Himanshu Suryakant Suthar
Himani Pandya
Komal Thakker
Rishita Lunawat
Shruti Saraf
Sunaini Talanki
Deepu Purnachandra Singh Asheibam
Dhaarna
Jigisha Nandkishor Jaiswal
Jyoti Suresh Kumar Verma
Pallavi Prabhakar Kukdolkar
Mayuri Harish Raichur
Prajakta Sanjay Shinde
Tanmay Madhav Vishnu Talak
Ekta Gohel
Anand Vardhaman Ashvinkumar
Ansari Asfiya Ejaz Ahmed
Gadhvi Nirbhay Nikunjkumar
Jayesh Sharad Mahadik
Patel Ami Arvindkumar
Patel Dhruv Harshadkumar
Prajapati Shilpankumar Kalpeshkumar
Turakhia Darshan Jigneshbhai
Gaura Kanval Tikku
Acharya Gina
Agarwal Anshul
Ghasi Eshan
Lukose Anna Mariya
Thakkar Anushka
Neelakshi Mour
Niveditha Thirunavukkarasu
Himanshu Suryakant Suthar
Himani Pandya
Komal Thakker
Rishita Lunawat
Shruti Saraf
Sunaini Talanki
Deepu Purnachandra Singh Asheibam
Dhaarna
Jigisha Nandkishor Jaiswal
Jyoti Suresh Kumar Verma
Pallavi Prabhakar Kukdolkar
Mayuri Harish Raichur
Prajakta Sanjay Shinde
Tanmay Madhav Vishnu Talak
Ekta Gohel
Anand Vardhaman Ashvinkumar
Ansari Asfiya Ejaz Ahmed
Gadhvi Nirbhay Nikunjkumar
Jayesh Sharad Mahadik
Patel Ami Arvindkumar
Patel Dhruv Harshadkumar
Prajapati Shilpankumar Kalpeshkumar
Turakhia Darshan Jigneshbhai
Gaura Kanval Tikku
Acharya Gina
Agarwal Anshul
Ghasi Eshan
Lukose Anna Mariya
Thakkar Anushka