This is probably one image that has brought smiles all over the planet. Professor Stephen Hawking experiencing zero-gravity on a special Boeing flight, with an expression of exhilaration on his face. For the uninitiated, the famed physicist is preparing for his upcoming trip into space. Surely, a life worth lived...

Just before boarding the Boeing, he said the following:

"I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers. I believe the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space."


I will let the images do the rest of the talking...

Here's an interesting news. Researchers at some university in UK have shown that being fat or slim, diabetic or non-diabetic in adulthood can be modulated by adjusting your diet in infancy or probably while you are still in womb.

The researchers showed that pregnant rats fed with leptin-enriched foods (LEF) produced kids whowere lean in their adulthood. Also, infant rats fed with LEF showed a pre-disposition to being slim and trim. Thats cute, no?

The news is all the more relevant for me today because I have been forced to go to the gym now-a-days by my terrorist family members. "You have grown a double-chin, you glutton! And look at your tyres!!", roared my mom before picking me up by my collar and throwing me on a tread-mill 3km aay from my house.

The fact that I have grown fat, I can say now with confidence, was my mom's mistake and is my gluttony, over-eating and couch-potatoing is not responsible for it. She did not bring me up properly. She should have fed me with such leptin-rich foods in my infancy. I should probably go and tell her this...hope she allows me to rest peacefully at home...

And now China has also woken up to climate change. A report by the Chinese Government titles - National Climate Change Report - goes on to assess the impact of climate change on chinese resources. The report projects more droughts, the spread of deserts and reducing water supplies.

Some excerpts from the BBC article (link below):

"By 2020, the average temperature in China will increase by between 1.1C and 2.1C, causing worsening droughts in northern China and extreme weather," the Chinese report states. Its projections suggest that production of rice, corn and wheat could fall by 10% by 2030, and by up to 37% during the second half of the century.
But the report, compiled by more than 10 government bodies including the ministries of foreign affairs and science and technology, stops short of recommending cuts in China's greenhouse gas output. The report says China should not risk slowing its economic growth by curbing greenhouse gas production.


China is not just producing reports, its also taking some measures (and seeing to it that they get widely publicised!). Through UNDP, China and Norway (the world leader in climate activism and measures) entered an MoU on developing technologies for a sustainable environment. Both the countries would now work on redistribution and more efficient utilization of water and harnessing alternate energy resources.

There was another report somewhere of GM Motors launching cars having fuel cell and hydrogen powered propulsion systems at the Shanghai Car Expo. Although the venture is commercially unviable because of the high costs of lithium powered batteries, GM envisages an increased use of such technologies in the coming years. GM also carried out a feasibility study of the Chinese urban market and hopes to launch such cars in China soon.

Again...what are we Indians doing? I cannot expect the animal obsessed Maneka Gandhi to do something about climate change, but can we expect one more modern Sunderlal Bahuguna? A political initiative is needed here. We have a Ministry for Environment and Forest at whose helm is an insignificant DMK MP called A.Raja (who?) and someone called Namonarain Meena (INC) as a Minister for State. These, I guess, would be people who are happy and satisfied because they have got cars with red beacons and a "Minister" tag worth all its glamor and power. Who the hell would want to care about climate then?

The only thing this Ministry is involved in doing is making assessment reports on how buildings should be constructed, redevelopment plans should be passed or dams and power stations be built. Why do you need guidelines for that when you can bloody grease the palms of the ministers and the bureaucrats and get your work done?

As reports go, the British Foreign secretary proposed a debate on the topic of Climate Change in the UNSC, which the BBC report says, was countered by China, Russia and Pakistan (these three countries are mentioned in the report) on the grounds that UNSC was not the right forum to discuss such things.

I am not going into the debate of whether or not their point was justified. My question is why was India's voice so insignificant? After all, India is going to be one of the worst affected countries.

Our Himalayan glaciers melting are gonna render the Gangetic plain dry, the coasts will witness severe and more unpredictable torrents, the central lands will experience heavier droughts, Mumbai and Kolkatta will be partially submerged, a lot of flora and fauna are gonna get extinct due to the redistribution of climate zones...

Then why is our government so lethargic? Why do our politicians lack foresight? When the whole world is debating about CO2 storage and putting up space reflectors for bouncing off solar radiation, we squabble over petty issues like OBC reservations and whether Sachin should remain in the cricky team or not.

Such a waste of precious time and resources. We should be investing into sustainable energy sources. Brazil has been using ethanol-based fuels since the 1970's. Norway is surging ahead in using wind and solar power. The British government is talking about giving Energy Monitors to all homes to reduce greenhouse emissions and conserve energy. The US is funding large number of projects that aim to negate the effects of global warming...

Where are we in the picture?

BBC NEWS | UK | First climate debate divides UN

Human ingenuity never fails to stun me. Here's an extract of a news article that appeared on the website Fool.com. Its about this NGO from South Africa who is using Merry-go rounds to pump water from the earth. Its a one-shot solution for both....Billions of people facing an acute shortage of water and their children, who get a fantastic place to play!!

Here's the extract:
"
...
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PlayPumps is based in South Africa, and like so many great things, it got its start from the mind of an entrepreneur. Trevor Field, an advertising executive, saw an opportunity when he came across a machine an engineer had developed that used a child's merry-go-round to pump water. Mr. Field saw a way to turn such a contraption into a more complex watering system. He also realized that the mechanism could solve one of the real problems that has bedeviled governments and other organizations for years: developing a water pump that circumvented the various unreliable sources of power to operate it.

But Mr. Field also noted that in the poorest areas in South Africa, children had precious few alternatives to play. So why not combine the two into a water-pumping system driven by playing children? He deployed the first two pumps in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province in 1994, and they're still working today. The cost to provide water to a person using the PlayPumps system breaks down to about $0.60 per year.

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Who would have thought that the man who started his filmography with the movie - Hercules in New York - would go to become the second-time Mayor of California and a climate spokesperson !! California today has the toughest laws in the world when it comes to pollution.

Making climate hip was his advice to students. Well, it is hip today to some extent. Greenpeace activists are hip. An association with Richard Gere is hip. But still the climate is not changing for the good...

Making Climate Hip is not as easy as making going to gym hip. There is trillions of dollars of investments on stake in the former...do u think Shell and ExxonValdezMobil, with lakhs of people on their payroll, billions of dollars of profits and revenues and undisputedly strong political clout would agree to the demands of the climatists of they were "hip"? I dont think so...

One quote from Arnold's speech is worth mentioning....

"Successful movements aren't built on guilt, they are built on passion"

Well, thats Arny for you...he didnt bcome the Mayor of California for nothing!

BBC News: Schwarzenegger: Make climate hip