The Hindu Business Line : We're all the earth's crew

MOST of us left school years ago. It is, therefore, quite likely that we are not the direct beneficiaries of an apex court decision, delivered about a year ago, that there should be a model syllabus for environmental education in schools. An alternative is to catch up with the annual Green Olympiad from TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) organised since 1999 in schools all over the world. Perhaps, the Institute has given up on adults, so there is no quiz for them. Yet, if you want to check your level eco-awareness, the best thing to do is to get from your kid the question paper of the latest Olympiad, conducted about a week ago.

The exam has a 100 objective-type questions, touching all aspects of environment, natural resources, pollution, and sustainable development. Let's try out a few. You can always check your answers with your child. But watch out, posers can stump you.

"When a forest has more species than a wheat field, it is said to have a higher level of which of the following: Biodiversity, extinction rate, ozone layer or ecosystem?" Looks easy, right? "When cloud particles become too heavy to remain suspended in the air, they fall to the earth as precipitation." Oh, is that so? "Precipitation occurs in a variety of forms. Which of the following is such a form? Dew, snow, frost or water vapour." If you're already feeling queasy, please note that eco awareness is a matter of participation, because as somebody said, on this spaceship called earth, there're no passengers; we're all the crew.

"Banana plant is called a `tree' though it does not contain true woody tissue." We know that our leaders yell "naya Bharat banana hai," not if banana is a shrub, herb, grass or none of these. Do you know there is the `Queen of Hearts' phenomenon (or is that the Red or Black Queen?) in evolutionary theory, that "all organisms are evolving at a furious pace just to stay in the same balance"? A hint, that is, for you to keep pace with eco knowledge at a furious pace, so you don't get pushed out of the spaceship!

"What do bears primarily use to find food? Sense of sound, sense of smell, vision or paws." These are not the ones who attack the bourses and feed on bulls. Okay, another animal question: "The phrase `grey blanket over Australia' refers to the spread of this animal that causes millions of dollars worth of agricultural damage every year. Name this creature: Kangaroo, rabbit, koala bear or cat." Before you pull a blanket over your head, let me move to water. "Which of the following activities consumes the largest volume of water: Irrigation, industrial use, hydroelectric activity or public supply?" Not Chennai, we can say confidently, because it has no large volume of water to worry about, in the first place.

Cricket, butterfly, snake or dolphin: Which of these has "a special extra-sensory organ in the roof of its mouth called the `Jacobson's organ,' which sharpens its sense of smell"? Red, blue, green or violet: Which wavelength of light is the least effective "during photosynthesis in a bean plant"? Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Honda Civic Hybrid or Ford Focus: "Which of these was the first hybrid car to go on sale?" Oxygen, carbon dioxide, bacteria or phosphorous: "Which of these is an example of a biotic component in a forest ecosystem?" Do I hear you say, "Excuse me, I know antibiotic, what is biotic?" The question explains, therefore: "Ecosystems consists of various non-living (abiotic) and living (biotic) components." One last question, the hundredth, actually: "To which family does the koala bear belong: Reptile, mammal, marsupial or rodent."

Psst... How many did you get right, out of the twelve?

SayCheek@TheHindu.co.in

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