Green this Green that

The cry "Go Green" is more vehement and audible than ever before. In recent months (or may be years) articles about global warming have mushroomed in many popular newspapers and websites. Such advertising is a positive sign because nothing educates or influences people more than the media. Reaching out to people and educating them spawns individuals, activists and groups that can eventually join hands to tackle climate change. Individuals, NGOs and environmentalists have to come together to help people wake up to the reality of pollution and heating up of earth's atmosphere.

My concerns are specific to India where people are unmindful of effects of vehicular pollution, plastic bags, chemicals etc. In my view, plastics are the main culprits in global warming and pollution. In the west, usage of plastic bags is more prevalent (which is also a cause for great concern) but they are not littered around on roads, public parks and bus stops. In India, some of these public areas are grazing grounds and food sources for cows, dogs, birds and other domestic animals. Animals and birds can easily feed on plastic garbage and hence I see plastic bags as more dangerous to India than any other developed country. Gone are the days when local flower vendor used to wrap flowers in banana leaves....Gone are the days when people carried their own cloth/canvas bags for grocery shopping....Gone are the days when newspaper was preferred method of wrapping dry grocery products (On the flip-side, I dont like newspaper wrappers because they are not "cool". I don't want to carry my groceries wrapped in old newspapers. But fact is that paper is more environment friendly than plastic and newspapers can easily give way to "cool" paper bags.). Today, plastic bags are fancier to own....I have seen people asking for extra plastic bags from grocery/apparel shops as a gift when they shop big.

The other big culprit in pollution are chemicals - not just the chemical waste from factories, but also the ones used in cosmetics and cleaning agents. These chemicals have become a part of our everyday life and it is really hard to live without them once we get addicted. I cannot live without my hair gel, body spray or moisturizer. However, it is always possible to live in an educated way - conscious of effects of some chemicals and cosmetics. It is not hard to choose one brand of body spray over another if one is lesser pollutant than the other and if the same brand achieves the intended purpose of "beautification". It is not hard to take a canvas bag to buy our groceries. There are several ways to go green. We can go back to our old ways to discover future. We can go back to the future. In my "go green" quest I found (and received as forwards) several links that might be helpful for people wanting to contribute against climate change and pollution.....

1. www.treehugger.com is a complete repository of ways to go green - from your coffee to your car, you can live and die green.

2. Greenpeace International - to volunteer and campaign for "greening" your environment.

3. Cosmetics saftey database - to choose Old Spice over AXE or vice versa.

4. Dienviro - to green your home - from cleaning to eating.

Artistic Liberty on Social Awareness

The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments. - Friedrich Nietzsche

Domestic abuse happens. Just not to us or anyone we know. Because the abusers are usually crazy or raging alcoholics. And the victims are usually utterly helpless.

Despite our own personal awareness, this is the general opinion. As advocates of violent truths, those who have the power to bring about such awareness ought to dispel the public of such notions. It can happen to absolutely anyone. Do not underestimate anger. It can afflict anyone, in any socio-economic situation. It is the worst of the seven deadly sins. And is the primary cause of abuse. Not necessarily emotional trauma or substance abuse. Anger is enough to violate any human right.

Director Jagmohan Mundhra decided to tell a true story about a tragic tale of a wife abused for 10 years, who then kills her husband and is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without any consideration for her aggravating circumstances. The mistake he makes is that he decides to tell an 'engaging' tale instead of a true one. The victim, Kiranjeet Ahluwalia is reduced from a somewhat self-sufficient factory worker, to a completely helpless housewife. The abuser, Deepak Ahluwalia is depicted as a raging alcoholic which may not be true. The rest of the deviations, in my opinion, are not as harmful as these. I think it's a disservice in telling a stereotypical story instead of the real one. I'm not sure how it is supposed to be more engaging, but certainly perpetuates the "it's not going to happen to us" assurance. Despite the tragic tale, the subtle yet important false assurance that it carries, does little to spread the message it may have intended.

India and China - part 2

Unlike movie sequels, it is the same story with a familiar ending - India rising, leaving behind its economically disadvantaged sections and China growing in a well-rounded manner. The grim truth about India is well-known and accepted by everybody but nothing is being done about it. China, on the other hand, now has a greater global presence than any other country in Asia. It even has a major influence on sensitive issues like Darfur. China's has a big impact on African economy and soon, we might have African kids learning Mandarin! (like Nicholas Kristof's kids). China's towering presence all over the world might be scary for India since they share common borders but I think India can ignore that fact and can learn a thing or two from China. Of course, India need not go to Sudan and sell arms like China does but it can use China's development as a good model in some areas like poverty, education and rural development.

Rural Doctor and Activist Arrested

Senior human rights activist and renowned paediatrician Binayak Sen, has been arrested on May 14, 2007 by Chattisgarh police. Dr. Sen is a renowned doctor working in rural Chattisgarh and has been associated with Jan Swasthya Sahyog, a long-time AID partner, as well as People's Health Movement and National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM). He is a respected human rights activist and General Secretary of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Chattisgarh. A detailed bio from his alma mater Christian Medical College, Vellore, is available here.

According to noted activist, Medha Patkar

We have reason to believe that Dr. Binayak Sen, as a member of PUCL is being targeted for continually raising civil rights issues in Chhattisgarh including the recent killing of 12 adivasis in Bijapur district on 31st March. We strongly condemn this politically motivated arrest and are deeply concerned about the health and safety of Dr. Sen while in custody.

A petition has been launched to urge the government to release Dr Sen at the earliest.

Dr. Sen and other human rights activists have been among the few in Chhattisgarh consistently documenting and raising voice against human rights violations and injustice in the state. The arrest is seen as part of a harrassment campaign to stifle these voices. Many rights activists across the country have condemned the arrest, including Medha Patkar and others from NAPM.

The situation in Chhattisgarh's tribal areas, especially Bastar district has a history of being unstable.

Women, sexual harassment is all your fault!

While this is something that happened in Pakistan, how often have we heard of such occurrences happening in India too. An interesting news item in The Dawn, one of Pakistans more known newspapers caught my eye this morning. The writer of this article, apparently a woman herself, goes on to suggest that Pakistani women who Adam tease men are inviting for trouble in the form of sexual harassment.

Not only are the boys and men to blame here but from what I have been witnessing nowadays in universities, colleges and public places, etc. I have reached the conclusion that girls are the main cause for this growing menace.

So whats new you may ask? Well, for one I have usually found such sentiments expressed by chauvinist men who try to justify sexual harassment and rape by saying 'She asked for it'. While this justification is deplorable in itself, you can never justify rape no matter what the circumstances, the fact that a lady is saying this is something which I have not seen before.

The other thing that bothered me is that a newspaper of the size and readership of The Dawn is publishing such misdirected socially parasitic views as this. Maybe The Dawn is as bad as that great Indian sleaze tabloid but even such publications are driven by the pure motive of money and thus they print what sells. The fact that The Dawn is printing this means that people don't mind reading this, they find nothing wrong in such views else it would not have been printed.

In India too from time to time we see such views expressed. One remembers the controversy that erupted not too long ago when Shiv Sena's Mr Thackarey tried to connect the rape of a student in Mumbai by a policeman to women wearing skimpy clothes a few years back (maybe not in as many words or as directly but still..). After all politicians cater to the market too and push an agenda that sells. Thankfully, the furore that ensued made sure that expression of such sentiments (at least in public and by people of standing) is not easily forgiven and forgotten in India.

Let wind blow hard and let sun never set...

Relentless extraction of fossil fuels is crippling the earth and its environment. Most of the very little renewable energy that is created or developed never reaches home. Alternative energy sources like wind and solar are widely available but the development of power from these sources is too localized. However, with India facing power crisis due to rising demands of industry, alternative energy sources must be made available to the doorstep of either companies or homes. I came across these two articles (1, 2) on BBC that I thought were good first steps. The first link talks about UN's plan to spread the use of solar energy in India and other developing countries. The second link describes how India has started to tap wind energy to meet its power demands. I wish these technolgies mature and be available for easy use. I also hope that UN has such plans for developed countries in the west. One would think that, in today's industrialized world that develops new technology, new electronic gadget and new car every day, coming up with useable renewable energy source/technology is not rocket science. Oh!...by the way, can rockets use solar energy to fly? ;) ;)

A global problem, literally!

The word "Global" has become a global catch phrase in this era of globalization. Global warming, global rise in temperatures, global crisis, global trade, global war, global economy and global disease are some commonly (and globally!) used "global" terms. I came across a new such phrase today, called Global governance, that can be added to that plethora of existing definitions in modern man's dictionary.

Global governance/World Parliament was apparently an idea conceived in 1842 by Alfred Tennyson. I read about this
here. Lets shelve the literal problem for a moment for the article has more interesting pointers or cases for arguments. The article is an opinion and so is this post. However, the article points out that having a global government gives "poor" countries a real voice. A global government will not have messengers or "goodwill ambassadors" like Bono or Angelina Jolie or George Clooney. There will be more African names and Asian names (Ahh!...Guess who Indians will nominate?) because they represent the "poor" continents. The parliament will contain members from all countries and hence the poor will have a real voice. Nice!!..but who will listen to a Muthuswamy or a Bhandarkar speak at this world parliament?... Won't the west and the G8 dominate again in this "world parliament"?...If someone like Bill Clinton is a nominated member of this world parliament, won't his voice override others' to reach top echelons of this "government"?

The idea of global governance seems implausible to me. I agree that world is flat now but that doesn't call for making any issue global or creating a world parliament. If the idea does germinate to take a proper shape as a government, we will soon see posts like Minister for African diseases, Minister for water problems in Asia and US Advisor for global war on terrorism - Funny!