India’s poor: What a fat load of numbers
‘A theory which explained everything else in the whole universe but which made it impossible to believe that our thinking was valid, would be utterly out of court. For that theory would itself have been reached by thinking, and if thinking is not
What would ‘butch cassidy and the sundance kid’ do?
An absence of aspiration is putting sustainable development goals in jeopardy All film lovers will recall the famous scene in the acclaimed Western movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: our anti-heroes stand at the cliff edge with the prospect of either jumping
Will Anyone Join Your Revolution?
Margaret Mead once said, ‘The only person who likes change is a wet baby’, to which Hunter Lovins added ‘and the baby squalls all the way through the process.’ So change is never easy, especially on the big issues of sustainability. In thinking
Watching the watchers
Lack of cooperation on supervision of sovereign credit raters is undermining Rio+20’s pursuit of new sustainable development goals… When Cyprus announced in June 2012 that it was edging closer to being the latest Eurozone country to seek bailout money, the fragile nature of
When do we learn to kill?
As parent to a two-year-old, I very often find myself at random toy shops”by random I mean ‘non-branded’, the equivalent of the local kirana store. And more often than not, the category of ‘toys’ that is most prominently displayed is guns. I suspect
Aap ki caste kya hai? (What is your caste?)
This shabbily dressed thing drenched in sweat and stinking like a bin opens his big mouth full of an ugly reddish substance, lets wind out of his broken brown molars, and asks – kya naam hai, bhai? (What is your name, brother?) He
Shall we just say ‘prevention is more complicated than the cure’?
The way we human beings hurtle ourselves into disastrous scenarios has an uncanniness about it. Think. The traffic signal is flashing yellow/amber and it’s seconds before it goes red. We push the accelerator faster and make it to the other side in a
Why Agni? Light up the grassroots, instead, you people in power!
Well, they all are celebrating. The Prime Minister, the President, the media, the administrators, the defence forces and the department of science and technology… all of them are clinking crystal glasses and have their chests bulging out in pride. I don’t know what
A New Reason to Not Be Upset with Carbon Offset?
Why urban CDMs is big news for city planners as well as climate campaigners? It is perfectly understandable that many passionate people working in development and sustainability remain downbeat about the glacial speed of progress to arrive at a meaningful global deal to
Fat of the matter
Obesity is big: physically, of course, but also in terms of business for multinationals peddling instantly gratifying junk and pharmaceutical biggies telling the cure. Obesity is bad for individuals who are, well, obese: it decreases productivity and increases the risk of heart disease,