The Plymouth-Cantoon Community Schools District in Michigan banned the kirpan ‘because it violated local, state and federal polices against bringing weapons or items that look like weapons to school.’

2% of India’s 1 billion plus population are Sikhs, as is its Prime Minister. In all these years we have never heard of any violent attacks in schools using a kirpan in India. Meanwhile gun violence in American schools have happened almost every year. Just today a 17-year old senior shot dead his assistant school principal in Omaha, Nebraska.

The fears of the Plymouth-Canton parents  are understandable and completely justified. But what is the 4th grade Sikh student to do if his religious beliefs require him to carry the Kirpan? No easy answer on this one unfortunately. Never is where religion or the safety of kids is involved.

But it is really heartening to hear that the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion is co-sponsoring a forum tonight to shed some light on the Sikh religion for the Plymouth-Canton residents. There may be no answers yet, but dialogue fostering understanding is a good place to start.

Here is an amazing turnaround story of Hiware Bazar, a village in Maharashtra that must be read in its entirety at thesolutionsjournal.com

All it took was one man Popatrao Pawar, to inspire the people in his village, create a self-sustaining plan with watershed development at its core, and smartly utilize Government funded programs.

Excerpt below:

Watershed management worked in Hiware because the village plan was a well thought out, integrated ecological plan. It first treated the forests, the catchments for the village wells. Then it addressed water conservation, and soil conservation followed this [...]

Today, the number of wells is 217, up from 97. Courtesy of the watershed works, grass production went up from 100 metric tons in 2000 to 6,000 metric tons in 2004. According to a household survey conducted in 1995, 168 families out of 180 were below the poverty line (BPL); the number of BPL families had shrunk to 53 in the survey conducted in 1998. There are now only three BPL families in Hiware Bazar out of 216. The state government spent a total of about 4,200,000 rupees (about $90,000) on EGS in the village. Treating 2,471 acres of land, the per-acre cost of treatment was about 17,000 rupees ($370). But in terms of raising village residents’ incomes, the cost benefits were phenomenal.

We’re not scientists so we can’t argue the scientific merits of this.  We are surrounded by chemicals in every aspect of our lives.  Our food, water, cosmetics, creams, air, medications, stressful lifestyles.  We don’t have to be scientists to have a hunch, it’s all ultimately killing us.

Read full post at Physorg including link to a copy of the paper:

Professor Rosalie David, at the Faculty of Life Sciences, said: “In industrialised societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. But in ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.”

The Toronto Environmental Alliance is supporting Yeh Hai Life’s benefit concert for AidIndia. We are humbled and honored by their support. We couldn’t have found a more fitting partner for what we are trying to do.

‘We’re all in it together’ as they say. The Toronto Environmental Alliance campaigns passionately for a “green, healthy and equitable city with economic activity that sustains our environment.” Their success in Toronto crosses over the human made boundaries into where we live in the US.

And what we do here in the US helps a farmer all the way out in India.

Small steps, small gesture, by hundreds and thousands of us around the world add up to ONE BIG DIFFERENCE!

See you at the concert September 11th! Gaze on over to your right and buy your tickets to one amazing show.

4nr 5Fs bthoom evre1 ewi

Don’t know what any of the above means? They’re acronyms posing as real English these days. And here’s a handy dandy reference guide if you need one.

When did these annoying acronyms become acceptable email communication as well? Did a memo go out that I just missed? I received one of these from a 25-yr old in a business related situation today. One among many such abbreviated texts and emails that confuse not just me but my Hotmail inbox as well – I spend almost as much time rescuing them from spam as I do trying to decipher the message!

I suppose I should take solace in the fact that Victorian poets were using this lingo 130 years ago. So maybe all these abbreviated emails that I consider ugly and unprofessional are really poetry, and I’m just not sophisticated enough to get it.

YYSSW!