soil | Shravan charity mission

Over the course of its life, an average tree can absorb a ton of carbon dioxide. Only about one in a million acorns makes it all the way to becoming a mature oak tree.

Trees form by far the bulk of Earth’s biomass. In life and in death trees contribute to the biosphere by making oxygen, moving water, storing carbon dioxide, enriching soil with dead and decaying parts, and recycling the nutrients that life on Earth depends on.

Trees are vascular plants that develop a single woody stem known as a trunk. Generally, trees grow to 15 feet or taller. Trees differ from shrubs, which are shorter and usually have multiple stems. Trees span the three botanical groups that represent vascular plants—pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.

Gymnosperms and angiosperms propagate by seeds. In the former type, seeds are exposed, or naked, on a structure such as a cone; on the latter, they are within the ovary of a flower. Pteridophytes, on the other hand, are seedless vascular plants such as the tree fern.

Not all parts of a tree are alive at one time, especially, in mature trees. Keeping so much mass alive all the time would require more energy than a tree’s system could handle. The inner core of the trunk, called the heartwood, is composed of out-of-commission xylem that no longer transports water throughout the tree. Similarly, the oldest layers of phloem, which transports the food manufactured through photosynthesis, form the outer, dead bark of the tree’s surface.

In between the heartwood and bark lies the tree’s sapwood, its living energy-storage tissue.

WHY DO LEAVES CHANGE COLOUR?

As days grow shorter and temperatures cooler, deciduous trees prepare for winter dormancy. Lacking sufficient light and water, photosynthesis shuts down, and trees must live off food stored during the growing season.

In spring, leaves lay the groundwork for their demise. A special layer of cells forms at the base of each leaf, called the abscission or separation layer. Its work is to transport water to the leaf and take food, created by photosynthesis, back to the tree.

In autumn, the cells of this layer begin to swell and the bottom of this layer forms a corklike substance that eventually cuts off all transfer between leaf and tree. Meanwhile, the top of the layer begins to disintegrate, making it easy for the leaf to detach.

As photosynthesis ceases, the leaves lose their chlorophyll, which gives them their green colour. Without chlorophyll, other colours emerge. Yellow and orange, for example, are normally present in the leaves but are overshadowed by the chlorophyll. Maple-leaf red occurs because glucose remains when photosynthesis shuts down. Drab oak-leaf brown represents wastes left in the leaves.

A TREE FROM AGES PAST

The long-needled Wollemi pine is a survivor from the age of dinosaurs. While fossil records made the 200-million-year-old species known to us, it was believed to be extinct. Then, in 1994, an Australian parks officer found a single tree in the Blue Mountains in Wollemi National Park. Subsequently, a hundred adult trees were counted there. Conservation efforts funded in part from the sale of saplings go to save and strengthen the species.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

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Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10^th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

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Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was a famous English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. He was born in Motihari, Bihar, India on 25^th June 1903 of all the places.

Very few are lucky to be a Mozart the world famous composer of classical era who found passion for music at the age of three. The way to tell you’ve found a passionate work is when it doesn’t feel like work.

Around 30% Americans get less than seven hours of sleep per night, and among single mothers, this rises up to 47%.

India is one of the world’s most flood prone countries with 113 million (11 crore) people exposed to floods. According to a UN report India’s average annual economic loss due to disasters is estimated to be around $9.8 billion, out of which more than $7billion loss is due to floods.

Talisman is an object, typically, an inscribed ring or stone, that is thought to have magic powers, and brings good luck.

In a country with a median age of below 30, where, a million people enter the work force every month, sudden demonetizing can be devastating.

Even after a full scale up, a fully, financially, digitized economy, like Sweden, still conducts, about 20% of its money transaction in cash.

England: Running a palace is becoming tougher and tougher. It seems that London’s Buckingham Palace is in urgent need of essential repairs, mainly in the plumbing department. However, a number of British taxpayers—over 85,000 of them, who have signed a petition to that effect- are reluctant to foot the bill for the job.

Drawbridge—is a bridge that can be lifted so that ships can pass.

For far too long, emerging economies such as India have been at the mercy of a supplier’s cartel. It’s therefore time now to change the rules of the game—this is especially in the context of oil.

China and India are the second and third largest oil importers respectively. When they negotiate together their combined influence in the oil market will help them get a good deal. But will it ever happen?

The global market of merchandise exports today is approximately $15 trillion. Share of India in these exports is only 1.6% compared to that of 12% of China.

References to Bihar regions like Magadha, Mithila and Vaishali can be found in ancient texts and epics. The world’s first known republic was established in Vaishali in 6^th century BC.

The ‘Umbrella Movement’ was a political movement that emerged during the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2014. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police’s use of pepper spray to disperse the crowd during a 79-day occupation of the city demanding more transparent elections, which was sparked by the decision of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress (NPCSC) on 31 August, 2014 that prescribed a selective pre-screening of candidates for the 2017 election of Hong Kong’s chief executive.

Soil and water are not commodities, but life-making material.

The element composition of the human body is 72% water and 12% earth.

Since most of our rivers are forest fed, the best way to resuscitate them is with more vegetation. But the organic content of soil has fallen drastically and the rapid pace of desertification is alarming.

Soil depletion in this country is so acute that nearly 25% of the Indian agricultural land will not be cultivable in the next 3-5 years.

In 40 years time, it is estimated that over 60% of our land will be uncultivable.

The only way to increase organic content of our soil is through tree cultivation and animal waste. If we destroy that our capability to generate food, will be heading towards a disaster.

Due to lack of vegetation and indiscriminate urban expansion, we are witnessing alarming cycles of food and drought. In the last 12 years, nearly three lakh farmers have committed suicide.

There are many reforms that India could carry out to become more competitive in manufacturing. These would involve changing its cumbersome labour laws, cutting corporate taxes to levels seen in East Asian countries and improving the transportation networks.

Bullet train in India is likely to cost $17 billion which is a third of India’s annual defence budget.

India was famous for having many sick industries but no sick industrialist. But I guess the trend is changing now with Mallaya and Nirav Modi in spotlight in the U.K.

Bengaluru, once a city of 2,500 lakes, boasted of an efficient storm water drainage system of interconnected lakes. If one lake overflowed water would automatically flow into another lake. But with increasing encroachment and solid wastes blocking the channels, floodwater cannot flow to the next water body. Drawing similarities are Hyderabad that has reported extinction of 375 lakes, and Delhi where 274 of 611 water bodies have dried up due to neglect and exploitation.

Not a single Indian city has drainage system that can promptly evacuate intense monsoon rainfalls that occur over short time periods.

A large part of BMC (Bombay Muncipal Corporation) revenue amounting to Rs 61,000 crore is locked up in fixed deposits and are not being deployed for civic amenities.

Almost all Indian cities are water-scarce in dry seasons and prone to severe flooding during monsoons. Cities like Delhi, that witness floods every monsoon, are also, some of the most water-stressed cities of the world.

Singapore, a monsoon country, has for the most part, solved urban drainage and water scarcity problems by installing a proper functional drainage system and collection of rainwater harvest.

When a poor man gets government money, it’s called subsidy, when a rich man gets it, it’s called incentive.

GST replaced 17 state and central taxes to make India one common market.

Vidur the royal counsellor in Mahabharat, tells the king that he should sacrifice a person for the sake of a village and a village for the sake of a nation.

The National Mental Health Survey 2016 published by NIMHANS recently showed that 13.7% of Indians are likely to have some mental illness during their lifetime.

INTERESTING QUOTES & LINES.

The worst form of democracy is a million times better than an ideal form of dictatorship.

Muslims are Islam’s biggest enemy—says Hasan Suroor, London based journalist.

All labour is precious but some are more precious than others: “Believe me, the man who earns his bread by the sweat of his brow, eats oftener a sweetener morsel, however coarse, than he who procures it by the labour of his brains—Washington Irving, American author.

Buddha said that the past is—already gone and the future is not yet here; there is only one moment when you can be fully alive, and that is the present moment.

If one’s mind is agitated, one’s breathing will not be calm.