Email list for Indian Subcontinent
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List name: NatHistory-India
List address: nathistory-india@lists.Princeton.EDU
List description:
Natural History of South Asia - General discussion and
research
A new mailing list called NatHistory-India has recently been created
for discussions on the Natural History of South Asia.
This includes the geographic area that roughly falls under the political
boundaries of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Maldives.
The primary purpose of this list is to provide a forum for discussions
on the - biogeography, distribution, status, behavior, ecology,
conservation, taxonomy of all biological taxa in the Indian subcontinent
- birds, mammals, insects, herps, plants etc.
Discussion is un-moderated and the topics include :
1. Topics of general interest - birdwatching, national parks and
wildlife sanctuary information, trip reports, news articles, books,
travel tips for specific sites etc.
2. Topics from the perspective of researchers who are professionally
involved with natural history research in S. Asia
- research aids, opportunities, sites, experiences, publications,
etc.
By accomodating the above topics, it is hoped that the list will be
of some use both as a research tool, as well as a
medium for informal exchange between people who share an interest in the
natural history of South Asia at any level.
Topics dealing with environmental issues from the point of
view of economy, development, society, politics, law are well suited
for another list - S-ASIA-ENVIRON at Columbia University.
While some overlap between the two lists may be inevitable, attempts
should be made to keep this at a minimum. At the same time,
cross-fertilization of ideas/information from other list(s) is
encouraged where appropriate.
To subscribe to NatHistory-India, contact Vivek Tiwari at Princeton
University
vivek@ee.princeton.edu
OR, send the following message to listproc@lists.princeton.edu
subscribe nathistory-india your_email_address first_name last_name
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List name: NatHistory-India
List address: nathistory-india@lists.Princeton.EDU
List description:
Natural History of South Asia - General discussion and research
A new mailing list called NatHistory-India has recently been created
for discussions on the Natural History of South Asia.
This includes the geographic area that roughly falls under the political
boundaries of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Maldives.
The primary purpose of this list is to provide a forum for discussions
on the - biogeography, distribution, status, behavior, ecology,
conservation, taxonomy of all biological taxa in the Indian subcontinent
- birds, mammals, insects, herps, plants etc.
Discussion is un-moderated and the topics include :
1. Topics of general interest - birdwatching, national parks and
wildlife sanctuary information, trip reports, news articles, books,
travel tips for specific sites etc.
2. Topics from the perspective of researchers who are professionally
involved with natural history research in S. Asia
- research aids, opportunities, sites, experiences, publications, etc.
By accomodating the above topics, it is hoped that the list will be
of some use both as a research tool, as well as a
medium for informal exchange between people who share an interest in the
natural history of South Asia at any level.
Topics dealing with environmental issues from the point of
view of economy, development, society, politics, law are well suited
for another list - S-ASIA-ENVIRON at Columbia University (send a single
word message - subscribe, to s-asia-environ-request@columbia.edu).
While some overlap between the two lists may be inevitable, attempts
should be made to keep this at a minimum. At the same time,
cross-fertilization of ideas/information from other list(s) is
encouraged where appropriate.
To subscribe to NatHistory-India, contact Vivek Tiwari at Princeton
University
vivek@ee.princeton.edu
OR, send the following message to listproc@lists.princeton.edu
subscribe nathistory-india your_email_address first_name last_name
X-To: nathistory-india@lists.princeton.edu
I would humbly like to remind our members of the original motivation
for the creation of this list. I am quoting from the introductory
message that I try to send to every new member.
"The primary purpose of this list is to provide a forum for discussions
on the - biogeography, distribution, status, behavior, ecology,
conservation, taxonomy of all biological taxa in the Indian subcontinent
- birds, mammals, insects, herps, plants etc.
Topics dealing with environmental issues from the point of
view of economy, development, society, politics, law are well suited
for another list - S-ASIA-ENVIRON at Columbia University (send a single
word message - subscribe, to s-asia-environ-request@columbia.edu).
While some overlap between the two lists may be inevitable, attempts
should be made to keep this at a minimum. At the same time,
cross-fertilization of ideas/information from other list(s) is
encouraged where appropriate."
The recent thread on the population issue really falls under the second
paragraph above. That should not be taken to mean that the issue is
not important. It is. In fact, I have been moved enough to
take the plunge and post something about it next.
But we will be spreading this list too thin unless we try and stay focussed on
natural history oriented topics. But having said that, note that conservation
of ecosystems, biodiversity, and individual species is VERY-VERY
much under the intended scope of this list. In a way, that has to be the
most important topic.
So for example, Ashish Kothari's post about the Wildlife Act and
the ensuing debate is therefore very appropriate and hopefully we will
see more like that.
But issues like the population thread have the potential to degrade into
emotionally charged tirades. It is to the credit of this group (and its
strength) that this did not happen here. I would hate to play the role
of a policeman monitoring the content of the list. I don't think that
would be necessary here. But please try to follow the following guidelines:
1. Topics should roughly fall under the announced scope of the list.
2. Replies of a personal nature should be addressed directly to the
intended recipient. Note that using the "reply" feature of your
mail program will cause the reply to go to everyone on the list.
3. Every message posted to the list goes on to an archive and gets
stored for all time to come. Anybody in the world can access the archive.
(Details on accessing the archive will be posted later). Think a bit
about that before sending off an instinctive, emotionally charged flame !
4. Remember to include your name and email address (optionally the geographic
location, and organization) somewhere in the body of the mail. Some
mailers strip off the mail headers, making it difficult to identify
the sender.
If you have any concerns whatsoever, about the above, do write to me
at vivek@ee.princeton.edu
Thanks for your cooperation,
Subject: Counting People (Re: population etc.)
About a year ago a similar debate occurred on another discussion list
of which I am a member. What started it was a post whose message was
roughly that - "the whole issue of biodiversity conservation is a waste
of time since human populations are ever-increasing. The only solution
is wars, famines, and disease. Aren't the western countries doing a
disservice to Earth, by helping eradicate infectious diseases in the third
world, and trying to prevent civil wars" !!!!
Needless to say, what I perceived as the undercurrent of thought in the message
got my blood boiling. I was tempted to send of a scathing flame. I
resisted that, but sent a reply anyway, after I had cooled down.
In light of the recent thread I was moved enough to post it here. Since it
somewhat goes against my previous message on list content, I promise
that this will be my first and only post on the topic.
Vivek
vivek@ee.princeton.edu
Princeton, NJ
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Advocating the virtues of famine and war as a means of environmental protection
is a pitfall that should be avoided at all costs.
1. It betrays cultural/geographic/racial prejudices. Even if unintended, such
arguments will be taken to reflect these if presented before a mixed
audience.
Something that was posted earlier today is a good example of this -
Are people in Somalia/Rwanda/Burundi somehow more expendable than people in
the Netherlands? While this may not have been the intention of the earlier
post, it is very easy to believe that it was.
2. It is also a well-known fact that it is not just the size of the population
but the (size of the population X per capita consumption) that is a more
valid determinant of the environmental impact of a population. If one wants
to advocate "saving the Earth" by reducing human population, then reducing
the population of the USA and western Europe by half will be much more
beneficial than reducing the pouplation of Africa or Asia by an equivalent
amount.
It is easy to see how this line of argument will get nobody anywhere. I have
seen more than one international environmental debate fail because of the blind
emphasis on population control. This is a very sensitive topic and has to be
treated delicately.
Everybody agrees that controlling population growth is important and that any
environmental gain will eventually be lost if the population keeps growing
forever. But that is no reason for informed and concerned people to get overly
pessimistic and dejected and hopeless (and yes, start being foolish).
It is not just the raw population number BUT ALSO HOW THE POPULATION INTERACTS
with the natural world that determines the well-being of the environment -
and therein lies the source of OPTIMISM in my view:
1. Maybe people will realize that the Florida Everglades are more important
than a Blockbuster theme park (they did).
2. Maybe the govt. will be made to realize that the virgin rain-forests of
Silent Valley in India are more important than yet another hydro-electric
station (it was).
3. Maybe the river people of the Amazon and the govts. there will realize that
there is more money in eco-tourism than in just about anything else they
could do with the rainforest (they are beginning to).
And maybe ....
4. the Congress will realize that the long-term preservation of the Arctic
Regfuge is economically and environmentally more sound than the short-term
exploitation for oil (may or may not).
5. the govts. in Central Africa will stop civil wars and do something
positive to stop desertification, save forests , eliminate starvation, save
elephants and promote tourism and maybe the rest of the world will help them
do this (rather than "let them all kill each other" !) (may or may
not).
6. the Unabomber won't declare himself to be an environmentalist
(yikes!).
7. the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton will realize that the extra
money from selling its lands for housing develpoment is not worth the loss of
the fabulous migrant songbird hot-spot (may or may not).
8. my office-mates from Wyoming and MIT will go birding with me this evening and
get a different perspective on appreciating nature, other than just hunting
(seems likely that they will).
There are reasons to be optimistic and pessimistic. I think there is more to be
said about being hopeful and doing the best one can, rather than being
despondent and doing nothing, or worse, getting desperate, and doing or saying
something that only hurts the overall cause.
Subject: List options, archives etc.
I have composed a message regarding some basic guidelines and some
useful list options. Please read it and save if for future reference.
I also intend to send this to every new subscriber. If you any
suggestions/comments regarding this, please contact me directly.
Vivek
vivek@ee.princeton.edu
Princeton, NJ
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IMPORTANT: Please read this document and save it for future
reference.
List name : Nathistory-India
-------------------------------
Description : Natural History of South Asia - General discussion and research
List address: nathistory-india@lists.Princeton.EDU
List owner : Vivek Tiwari (vivek@ee.princeton.edu)
Contents:
---------
#1 General guidelines for posted messages.
#2 Some useful list options
#3 Accessing the archives
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#1 General guidelines for posted messages:
-------------------------------------------
1. Topics should roughly fall under the announced scope of the list
(Refer to the introductory welcome message).
2. Replies of a personal nature should be addressed DIRECTLY to the
intended recipient.
WARNING: Use of the "reply" feature of your mail program will cause
the reply to go to EVERYONE ON THE LIST!!
3. Every message posted to the list goes on to an archive and gets
stored for all time to come. Anybody in the world can access the archive.
(Details on accessing the archive included below). Think a bit
about that before sending off an instinctive, emotionally charged flame !
4. Always remember to include your name and email address (optionally the
geographic location, and organization) somewhere in the body of the mail.
Some mailers strip off the mail headers, making it difficult to identify
the sender.
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#2 Some useful list options:
-----------------------------
There are several options you can set to tailor the delivery of messages.
The options are set by sending commands to the "listproc". For this,
include the command in the body of a message and address it to
listproc@lists.princeton.edu
Note that this is not the list address. This is the "listproc" address.
Useful commands and options:
HELP
This command returns a file of very useful information.
The following will tell you about the most useful commands, but try the HELP
command anyway, for a comprehensive list of commands.
SET nathistory-india MAIL POSTPONE
Stops delivery of messages without unsubscribing. Useful for temporarily
turning off messages, say while you are travelling.
SET nathistory-india MAIL
To restore normal delivery.
SET nathistory-india MAIL DIGEST
To set the "digest" mode. You will receive just one file each day. This
will contain every message posted to the list that day.
SET nathistory-india MAIL
To restore normal delivery.
SET nathistory-india MAIL ACK
The listproc will start sending an acknowledgement for every message
you post. This acknowledgment confirms delivery of your post. This is
not the default setting.
SET nathistory-india MAIL NOACK
Reset the ACK option. This is the default setting.
RECIPIENTS nathistory-india
Returns list of current subscribers and their email addresses. You can
choose to conceal your name if you want (send HELP).
You may also want to send the list-owner (vivek@ee.princeton.edu) your contact
information, and a 2-3 line summary of interests, if you want to be included
in an informal on-line directory of subscribers (under construction).
UNSUBSCRIBE nathistory-india
To request removal from list. You should send this message from the
email address under which you subscribed. You can find that address by
sending the RECIPIENTS command. You can also change your address without
unsubscribing and re-subscribing (send HELP). Or contact list-owner.
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#3 Accessing the archives:
---------------------------
Every message posted on the list is stored on an archive, which is hosted
by the listproc. New members can browse the archive to see earlier messages.
It is also possible to search the archives for specific text strings.
1. Access through "gopher": gopher lists.princeton.edu
This is the easiest way to access the archives. "gopher" is a text based
precursor to the Web. Contact your system administrator if you don't have
access to gopher. Once inside gopher, use the menu features to browse
or do text searches on all previous messages.
2. Access through listproc:
Anyone can use this method. It is best explained with examples.
To listproc@lists.princeton.edu
send
INDEX nathistory-india
This will send you a list of all the files on the archive. Each file
corresponds to about a month of messages. Example of filename - log9511.
You can access individual files by:
GET nathistory-india file_name
Searching:
----------
You can also do searches. Lets say we want previous messages related to
mixed foraging flocks of birds. I can do a search with a loose target
such as "foraging". So, send the following:
SEARCH nathistory-india foraging
This will return a list of files which contain messages that contain the
string "foraging". Sample response provided below.
You can now get the relevant files by using "GET".
You can also construct more sophisticated queries. Send the command HELP for
more details.
Matches for pattern 'foraging'...
--- Archive: nathistory-india (path: nathistory-india)
File log9511:
time -- making foraging mor efficient. I think I should look into the
End of matches in file log9511
File log9602:
Subject: Mixed foraging flocks
Does anyone know of research done on mixed foraging flocks
of
Subject: Re: Mixed foraging flocks
foraging bird flocks. Proc. 42nd Annual Sess. Sri Lanka Assoc.
Advan.
Subject: Re: Mixed foraging flocks
foraging etc. These were for single species and I had asked him if they
End of matches in file log9602
File log9603:
Subject: Mixed foraging flocks (again)
Subject: Re: Mixed foraging flocks (again)
I have points to be made of about mixed foraging flocks. It is not the
End of matches in file log9603
Contact the list-owner (Vivek Tiwari: vivek@ee.princeton.edu) if you have
questions or problems.
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