Season Watch is an initiative to compile a nationwide database on seasonal patterns across India. With climate change modifying our seasonal patterns around the world, Season Watch is an attempt to map these changes through observation of trees.
This year, our very enthusiastic Nature Club will be monitoring the trees in their schools as part of the Season Watch program. A job that takes only 5 minutes a week has multifold implications in the world of biological sciences. Once our students accurately record their data on the trees, Season Watch’s scientists analyse it to understand the bigger question of seasonal changes around India.
This week, we had Ashish Shah from the National Centre of Biological Sciences come down to conduct an induction workshop on Season Watch.
In order to understand seasonal changes, we must first understand why we even have seasons. With students representing the sun and earth, Ashish demonstrated the effect the tilt of our planet on its axis and the sun has on our world.
Next, he very wittily explained to the students, by making one of them stand in the sunlight with some water in his hand that we cannot make food simply from the sunlight and water- thus, highlighting the significance of trees. It is only trees that can do this job which till date seems near miraculous to the human race. Humans can make the most technically advanced gadgets but still struggle to replicate the seemingly simple process of photosynthesis. Without trees, we have little chance of survival.
With some amazing visuals from the BBC documentary ‘How to Grow a Planet’, students understood how trees keep our planet going (They also saw footage of chloroplasts grabbing some sunlight that fell on the leaf’s surface!)
After this visual treat, the students learnt the simple process of observation and recording and made their first independent observation of their school trees.
Here’s looking forward to being a contributing member of the Season Watch program and putting our students from Pench on this national Season Watch map!
To know more about this initiative visit: www.seasonwatch.in