Paulo's Way of Putting it

He writes about saving the planet and I personally feel its a fantastic perspective which remains unexplored!

Whenever I read articles in newspapers or magazines written by politicians using global warming or the destruction of the environment for their electoral campaigns, I think:

How can we be so arrogant?
The planet is, was and always will be stronger than us.
We can’t destroy it; if we overstep the mark, the planet will simply erase us from its surface and carry on existing.

Why don’t they start talking about not letting the planet destroy us?
Because “Saving the planet” gives a sense of power, action and nobility.
Whereas “not letting the planet destroy us” might lead us to feelings of despair and impotence, and to a realisation of just how very limited our capabilities are.

Let’s be humble. Let’s respect Mother Earth because if She becomes furious with our behavior, we are in trouble!!

This Jewish Day should be celebrated World over!!

I read this article recently on this interesting day that the Jewish people celebrate in Israel. It is called Yom Kippur - A day of Atonement, where they fast for 25 hours. This is the holiest day of year in Judiasm. It is day of prayer, forgiveness and by the end of this day, the Jews consider themselves absolved by God.

But this is not why I found it interesting. It was the fact that the streets of Israel go vacant of cars, buses, and everything that pollutes. People are either on foot or on bicycles. According to recent studies, it has been observed that there is a remarkable decrease in the emission of greenhouse gases on this particular day and even the sky seems a lot clearer! The levels of carbon monoxide are reduced by 50% to 75%. This is incredible. The whole concept seems amazing to me. This is something that every nation should inculcate and declare a national holiday once a year. Call it by any name but a day should be reserved when there are no vehicles on the road, no chimmneys chugging smoke out and instead everybody is walking or cycling to their destination. A day where the human race asks for forgiveness from Mother Nature to bringing her to such a state of almost no-return. Then maybe, we can hope that God will absolve us from our sins!!

The "Green" in Marketing

This particular ad has a cute looking polar bear making his way to meet his saviour.

Saviour in this case--- A guy who drives the new Nissan "Leaf" electric car.

Nice ad.

Makes me wonder why many morons argued otherwise. It was laughable when they ridiculed the advertisement stating how can a Polar Bear be considered huggable. Seriously those critics need to get a life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOmAHqi8Jc4

A must watch! My 1 year old daughter made me replay the ad atleast 15 times.

From the "Green" point of view, I applaud Nissan for being innovative in their advertising and raising awareness about such an important issue such as the melting of the ice caps. Through this simple but effective advertisement idea, they have driven home the point. Even to simplest of minds, the message registers.

According to wikipedia.org, using electric cars would reduce the carbon dioxide emissions because they have zero tail pipe emissions.

Nissan "Leaf" is the first all electric car and provide an inspiration to all the car manufacturers to follow suit and help in reducing the carbon footprint

Dry water powder - global warming

Got this off the internet. Found it interesting enough to post it here.

A bizarre substance known as "dry water," which resembles powdered sugar but is 95% 'wet' water could help fight global warming.

Scientists claim the powdered water will change the way chemicals are used and that it could even be used to soak up greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Each powder particle contains a water droplet surrounded by modified silica, which prevents the water droplets from combining and turning back into a liquid.

This means it has an amazing ability to slurp up gases, which chemically combine with the water molecules to form what chemists term a hydrate.

The World that was... The World that is...

Indians ( people from INDIA), if you ask me, have been the most nature friendly people apart from probably the other south east asian countries like China etc. When I say this, I completely exclude the modern, cosmopolitan lot that's globetrotting, earning the big moolah and care a damn about nature or being natural.

What I meant was the the time and world that I grew up in.

This is an attempt to compare the world that I grew up in vis-a-vis the world that my daughter is growing up in.

I was brought up in an Industrial township called Mithapur. Run by the Tatas, the township was a model one. Life was one straight line like the road from my home to the seashore. We would have seen the beach more than a zillion times but each time even after that was a treat. The green ocean, the seagulls, the fishing boats in the horizon, the golden sun and the beautiful seashells-- everytime everything looked so different. So inspite of the pollution from the company, beach breeze was felt far from being polluted. Many a times I think, God must have a smoke seive ( if there is any such thing)up there to not let any of it settle in. Thinking rationally, I feel it could be because there was absolutely no pollution from the vehicles. Nobody drove any vehicles back then. All the commutation was by walking or the bicycle. There were only 2 or 3 cars in the entire township, if I remember correctly.

While today, my daughter, has already lived in 4 countries and she isn't even a year old! She has suffered the traffic, the incessant honking on the road and all pollution in its cruellest form already. She hasn't seen the sea ever and doesn't know what a cool, gentle sea breeze feels like. Cars and airplanes are the only mode of commutation she's experienced and how she hates being on the air plane!

During my growing up years, we made this annual visit to our grandparents' homes in kerala. They lived in a village and so the life there was even simpler than what we were used to in Mithapur. My grandmother used to churn the curd to bring the butter out of it and all the grandchildren got to taste it. Trust me, even today I remember how amazing it tasted. It was pure and tasted so. She grew vegetables in her back yard using organic fertilizer. She plucked them off everyday to make curries for the entire family. Meal times were like get togethers with conversation, laughter, fun, teasing and great food.

My daughter accompanies us to the supermarket for our weekly shopping and she looks forward to it. This is because she loves watching people. Through out the week she hardly gets to see anybody other than me, my husband and the maid. So the trip to the supermarket is a fun activity for her where she coo coos at other kids in the alley.

Back in Mithapur, I remember my mum and dad shopping for vegetables in the local market. What I do not remember is them carrying plastic bags with their goods. They always took their shopping bag ( A cloth bag or a jute bag) with them when they went shopping for groceries.

Today, with each shopping trip the pile of plastic bags tucked away in my store rooms is increasing day by day. It is scary and scary to the evxtent that one night I had a dream where I saw my house filling up with multi-colored bags and we could not breath. There were plastic like things all around us and I even smelt like plastic. Got to do something about it about this as there is no recycling policy here in Manama.

When it rained in Mithapur or in Kerala, my brother and I went out in the first rains to get drenched. It was quite an experience! Then we went to our friends' places, gathered them all and took off to the beach for a swim.

Now first rains are far from being an experience because it brings with it all the fumes, acid and the smoke. I would dread to ever let Mimi go out in the first rains.

I just hope and pray that Mimi gets to enjoy a few of these wonders. I fear that she wouldn't even know what those wonderful things were like. I might have to take her to a museum to show her photographs, relics, constructs. I imagine a time where we would have to buy her tickets to shows and rinks where she could experience natural -like breeze and rain. I fear, she might be growing up in a world where her parents would have to pay for the oxygen to breathe because the whole world would be so polluted that it would be life threatening to walk around without oxygen masks.

I fear.

Just the beginning....

This is for my daughter and to her future.

Not until she came into my life, did I worry about the world and how things were going to be in the time to come.

Her very presence makes me want to be responsible about making this world a better place to live in.

Clean air, pure water, healthy food and a safe environment is all I wish for her.

To this end, I want to do my best in making sure that she gets it all.

To Mimi,

With love,

Amma