April Comments

First comment:

Seminar: What does India think of snakes?

Although I did not attend this seminar, I really enjoyed reading your post. You made a great use of this layout, and I really liked the fact the you also included videos (very helpful).

Now back to the matter at hand, I think that the Indian government neglects the issue of snake bites particularly because there are no solid statistics about the number of people which are affected. And because of this, they don’t seem to understand the full magnitude of this problem, which also affects India’s economy (basically putting more than 150,000 people out of work each year). And like you mentioned, treating people with a polyvalent antivenom (specifically designed for “The Big Four”) (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0080090) for more than ten other types of snake bites is not they way forward. I fully agree with the aim of TGMP, there is dire need for basic education and awareness about snakes and snake bites, especially in rural areas. However, sadly this will only reduce the problem, at best. The only way to completely eradicate the effects of snake bites (since complete prevention is almost impossible) lies in the hands of the government.

If I were to make one suggestion for this post would be to include more references. But this may be more of a personal preference. Either way, a great piece of writing.

 

Second comment:

Dont Panic! A Hitchhikers guide to Urban Forestry!

I really enjoyed reading your post. Even though I did not attend this seminar, your post gave a pretty good idea of the topic and what was discussed. I liked the way you broke up the text and bolded the important points. The use of questions also helped put everything in context. My only observation would be, maybe, to mention the sources from where you got your information (for example, the source for the definition of “Urban forestry” used by the Swedish government). It might be worth also putting some extra information about “forest bathing” (origins, curing properties).

I’m really glad to hear that the advantages of living in a vegetated area are finally getting their proper recognition and, as you mentioned, increasing the area of urban forests is one of the ways forward in tackling the increasing amount of pollution (this might be even more useful in heavily industrialised or polluted areas, such as Beijing).