
This month, our students finally got a solution to the mounting pile of old and torn textbooks in their school backyards and store rooms. Mr .Himanshu Joshi and Vinod Gosavi of Bhavans College, Mumbai, paper mache experts came to the rescue to show the students a few tricks with their old textbooks.
On our second anniversary at the E-Base Pench, we would like to introduce our E-Base to the students at the Third Pole E-Base in Leh.
The Third Pole E-Base which was set up in August, 2013 is the third E-Base in the world. Once again, an E- Base set up in India! With an E-Base in Antarctica, two in India and many more in the pipeline around the world, a network of global environmental leaders connected through the E-Bases is no longer a distant dream.
Our students wished to virtually bring the students of Leh into their special green educational space and this is a shout out to all at the Third Pole E-Base on this very special day for all of us in Pench.
Perhaps one of the biggest elephants in the room, waste, was literally welcomed to the E-Base this workshop. To introduce students to waste and its hazards, Green the Gap jumped in to share a little of their knowledge with our students at the E-Base.

At this moment, we are more than just blue. We are borderline furious! Our second attempt at the Palak and Methi plants got nullified by terribly untimely rain in October. We thought we had left the monsoon behind in September, but it was just lurking around the corner.

The Spinach looking not so very good.

Nature is our biggest teacher and this week the students learnt just that. Humans have always knowingly or unknowingly looked at nature for inspiration for designs.
To introduce students in schools at the Karmajhiri side of the Pench Tiger reserve to simple scientific concepts, professors from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) conducted a hand- on entertaining workshop.

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.

Ashish Shah addressing the students.
One would think the failure of half of the patch would bring the morale of our students down. We were expecting some very upset students. However, it turns out our students know how to take things in their stride.

Starting all over again .. but with happy face!
Just as we were basking in the glory of our successful sowing, the weather decided to put an end to it. With record breaking amounts of rainfall, there was absolute no chance our little methi and palak plants could survive. The torrential rains of August and unusual downpours in September ensured the patch a hard time.
So, what’s the damage?
The Methi and Palak plants completely withered under all that rain. Half of the patch flooded and amounted in a complete failure.

The 8th graders patch that got destroyed in the rains.

With topics ranging from distribution of animals in the oceans, the physical and chemical properties of water, ice and steam, water as a conductor, water as a source of energy, and the power of water to the history of water use over the ages, this interactive and experimental session was a fun space for the students to explore everything to do with Water.