Some of my thoughts in recent times. Written in Tamil.
நிரந்தரமானவன் [தே. குமரன்]
4 years ago
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
Walmart go back
Walmart is coming to India [16] and I am not exactly prepared to roll out the red carpet. Walmart go back. You can restrict your utterly destructive practices [17] to North America. India already has enough problems, that overwhelm the best of leaders (not that India has many), without walmart and does not need walmart to complicate things further.
A cursory search about walmart in google or wikipedia will yield us a tonne of results with a million arguments for [1, 2, 3] and against [4, 5, 6] walmart's case. With almost equal amount of 'scientific' study on either side of the argument, it would be difficult for the common man to determine the positive / negative effects of walmart. But history has an important lesson here for us. When studies started to emerge about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption, the tobacco industry ganged up and gave their own 'scientific' studies on the advantages of tobacco consumption. A more recent example would be of global warming where one can find equal number of articles for and against the case. Thats the history and to me it certainly has a lesson or two.
The primary reason why people are able get away with solecisms such as the ones that argue for tobacco consumption and the lack of global warming is that the so called advantages are on the face. It does not require too much analysis for the listener to convince himself of the 'correctness' of the arguments put forward. But, one must keep in mind that this is the hallmark of sophistry. To understand the harmful effects of say walmart one must NOT treat it as a black box and restrict oneself to its externalities i.e low prices. Instead one should analyze how it is able to give such low prices and what the real costs of these low prices are. This is obviously much harder than looking only at the fall in prices. But it is required to understand the realities.
The first and most important step to understand the ill effects of having a walmart in town is to understand that it is NOT the modern day incarnation of karna from the Indian epic Mahabharat. It does not give low prices for philanthropic reasons. It is an out and out capitalistic organization and is there to make profits. Elementary knowledge of economics is enough to understand that profits arise by selling above the cost price. So, as it drives its selling price down, it obviously is pushing its cost price way down. This results in what is now famously known as the walmart squeeze [7].
Walmart pushes its vendors every year to reduce their prices. This squeezes the profit margins of these vendors to such wafer thin level that it forces them to fire many employees, shut down factories and makes their lives hell [8]. The simple threat of removing a companies' product from walmart's shelves is enough to bring many a vendor in line. Walmart follows an all too common business tactic to achieve this. It becomes the biggest customer of any vendor by purchasing more than 50% of its produce. After a few years of operation like this, the vendor would now have lost many of his other major customers. Now, the vendor has to dance to every whim and fancy of walmart or else he goes out of business. Anyone who wants to find out more about such tactics from walmart can find tonnes of information on the web.
Now, consider the effect on its competitors. If there is one word that can describe what walmart is doing, then it would be predatory pricing. If selling at a high price is one way of making profits, driving out competitors is another way. Walmart adopts this strategy with absolutely no qualms [9, 10, 11]. The sad reality is that walmart is in the market to make big money while the local mom and pop store owner is there to make his living and that its an absolute certainty that walmart is going to win the market. With walmart selling everything from lingerie to electronic goods at an unbeatably low price, the local shop owner has no hopes of surviving the walmart threat. Many of them have to close down their shops and join walmart. From being a proud owner of a shop, they get transformed to a lowly worker in the jungle called walmart and have to dance to the tunes of their managers. Walmart is like the famed Sauroposeidon, the largest dinosaur that ever walked the earth [18]. The Sauroposeidon had no known natural predators due to its size. The same is the case with walmart. Its impossible for any of the retailers to even think of competing with walmart. One will simply get crushed under the gargantuan size of walmart.
Many other criticisms have been hurled at walmart with unending regularity. They have ranged from opening stores at culturally significant places [12] (I would absolutely detest a walmart in front of the Meenakshi temple at Madurai or the Taj mahal at Agra), extremely aggressive stance against labour unions and very poor employee treatment [13], environmental degradation it causes due to its world span of supply chain and its packaging of every single item [14] etc.. Most of them are well substantiated and corroborated with evidence. When walmart can indulge in so many not so ethical practices in the west where rules and regulations are reasonably well implemented, I can only imagine what they will do in places like India where enforcement of rules and regulations is lax. More so, in places like India, where money can absolve you of any guilt whatsoever, walmart will only be doubly at ease in carrying on many of its totally unethical practices.
Anyone who has shopped at walmart will attest to the fact that it is extremely difficult to purchase only the stuff that you had originally intended to purchase. By placing related products together and by placing products at strategic locations, walmart literally forces people to buy more and more. This unnecessarily increases consumption and brings with itself a plethora of problems. The most easiest one of them to fathom is the amount of garbage that this will result in. Every single item is packed with cardboard and plastic. All of them end up in the garbage and as a result the amount of waste produced by a city increases manifold. A large percentage of such waste is non-biodegradable. With waste collection and disposal being at such wonderfully efficient levels in Indian cities, the problem of waste can only be terribly exasperated.
All these facts and statistics will have no meaning if one does not visualize them. If you are from chennai, try and visualize a walmart in Pondy Bazar. The very thought makes me shudder. Thousands of people make their living directly by selling stuff there on the streets and in some of those big shops (which will become puny in front of walmart). Their supply chain consists of many more people. I am pretty confident that all of them will go home almost empty handed once walmart establishes itself in Pondy Bazar. Think what Saravana stores (Chennais own mini walmart) does to all the other shop owners in Pondy Bazar. This single shop attracts half of all visitors to pondy bazars and the whole of the market gets the other half. With walmart, which is known for a ruthlessness that far outweighs Saravans stores' and a pocket that is as deep as the mariana trench, one can expect an absolute carnage of the retailers wherever they go.
It is almost impossible to stop the juggernaut called walmart given the wonderful leaders we have in the government and the culture of greed that has descended amongst us. But there is hope and it comes from the most unexpected quarters. Sam walton, the founder of walmart, claims in his book [15] that the customer is the boss and that he can fire everyone including the CEO from the company by deciding to spend his money somewhere else. Rings a bell in me.
References
[1] Pro walmart article
[2] Pro walmart study - 1
[3] Pro walmart study - 2
[4] Anti walmart article
[5] Anti walmart study - 1
[6] Anti walmart study - 2
[7] Walmart squeeze
[8] Criticism of walmart - article on wikipedia
[9] Walmart Inc vs American Drugs Inc
[10] Walmart settles predatory pricing charge
[11] German high court convicts walmart of predatory pricing
[12] Walmart next to mexican pyramids
[13] Walmart and labour union at Quebec, Canada
[14] Walmart watch
[15] Made in America by Sam Walton
[16] Walmart report on rediff
[17] Walmart: high cost of low price - trailer on youtube
[18] Sauroposeidon article on bbc
PS: I've been at this for more than 2 hours now. Though I had done a lot of study on this over the past one week, I just cant seem to end. So, fatigued by this effort, I stop at this point. Please bear with me if some paragraphs look/feel half baked.
Walmart is coming to India [16] and I am not exactly prepared to roll out the red carpet. Walmart go back. You can restrict your utterly destructive practices [17] to North America. India already has enough problems, that overwhelm the best of leaders (not that India has many), without walmart and does not need walmart to complicate things further.
A cursory search about walmart in google or wikipedia will yield us a tonne of results with a million arguments for [1, 2, 3] and against [4, 5, 6] walmart's case. With almost equal amount of 'scientific' study on either side of the argument, it would be difficult for the common man to determine the positive / negative effects of walmart. But history has an important lesson here for us. When studies started to emerge about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption, the tobacco industry ganged up and gave their own 'scientific' studies on the advantages of tobacco consumption. A more recent example would be of global warming where one can find equal number of articles for and against the case. Thats the history and to me it certainly has a lesson or two.
The primary reason why people are able get away with solecisms such as the ones that argue for tobacco consumption and the lack of global warming is that the so called advantages are on the face. It does not require too much analysis for the listener to convince himself of the 'correctness' of the arguments put forward. But, one must keep in mind that this is the hallmark of sophistry. To understand the harmful effects of say walmart one must NOT treat it as a black box and restrict oneself to its externalities i.e low prices. Instead one should analyze how it is able to give such low prices and what the real costs of these low prices are. This is obviously much harder than looking only at the fall in prices. But it is required to understand the realities.
The first and most important step to understand the ill effects of having a walmart in town is to understand that it is NOT the modern day incarnation of karna from the Indian epic Mahabharat. It does not give low prices for philanthropic reasons. It is an out and out capitalistic organization and is there to make profits. Elementary knowledge of economics is enough to understand that profits arise by selling above the cost price. So, as it drives its selling price down, it obviously is pushing its cost price way down. This results in what is now famously known as the walmart squeeze [7].
Walmart pushes its vendors every year to reduce their prices. This squeezes the profit margins of these vendors to such wafer thin level that it forces them to fire many employees, shut down factories and makes their lives hell [8]. The simple threat of removing a companies' product from walmart's shelves is enough to bring many a vendor in line. Walmart follows an all too common business tactic to achieve this. It becomes the biggest customer of any vendor by purchasing more than 50% of its produce. After a few years of operation like this, the vendor would now have lost many of his other major customers. Now, the vendor has to dance to every whim and fancy of walmart or else he goes out of business. Anyone who wants to find out more about such tactics from walmart can find tonnes of information on the web.
Now, consider the effect on its competitors. If there is one word that can describe what walmart is doing, then it would be predatory pricing. If selling at a high price is one way of making profits, driving out competitors is another way. Walmart adopts this strategy with absolutely no qualms [9, 10, 11]. The sad reality is that walmart is in the market to make big money while the local mom and pop store owner is there to make his living and that its an absolute certainty that walmart is going to win the market. With walmart selling everything from lingerie to electronic goods at an unbeatably low price, the local shop owner has no hopes of surviving the walmart threat. Many of them have to close down their shops and join walmart. From being a proud owner of a shop, they get transformed to a lowly worker in the jungle called walmart and have to dance to the tunes of their managers. Walmart is like the famed Sauroposeidon, the largest dinosaur that ever walked the earth [18]. The Sauroposeidon had no known natural predators due to its size. The same is the case with walmart. Its impossible for any of the retailers to even think of competing with walmart. One will simply get crushed under the gargantuan size of walmart.
Many other criticisms have been hurled at walmart with unending regularity. They have ranged from opening stores at culturally significant places [12] (I would absolutely detest a walmart in front of the Meenakshi temple at Madurai or the Taj mahal at Agra), extremely aggressive stance against labour unions and very poor employee treatment [13], environmental degradation it causes due to its world span of supply chain and its packaging of every single item [14] etc.. Most of them are well substantiated and corroborated with evidence. When walmart can indulge in so many not so ethical practices in the west where rules and regulations are reasonably well implemented, I can only imagine what they will do in places like India where enforcement of rules and regulations is lax. More so, in places like India, where money can absolve you of any guilt whatsoever, walmart will only be doubly at ease in carrying on many of its totally unethical practices.
Anyone who has shopped at walmart will attest to the fact that it is extremely difficult to purchase only the stuff that you had originally intended to purchase. By placing related products together and by placing products at strategic locations, walmart literally forces people to buy more and more. This unnecessarily increases consumption and brings with itself a plethora of problems. The most easiest one of them to fathom is the amount of garbage that this will result in. Every single item is packed with cardboard and plastic. All of them end up in the garbage and as a result the amount of waste produced by a city increases manifold. A large percentage of such waste is non-biodegradable. With waste collection and disposal being at such wonderfully efficient levels in Indian cities, the problem of waste can only be terribly exasperated.
All these facts and statistics will have no meaning if one does not visualize them. If you are from chennai, try and visualize a walmart in Pondy Bazar. The very thought makes me shudder. Thousands of people make their living directly by selling stuff there on the streets and in some of those big shops (which will become puny in front of walmart). Their supply chain consists of many more people. I am pretty confident that all of them will go home almost empty handed once walmart establishes itself in Pondy Bazar. Think what Saravana stores (Chennais own mini walmart) does to all the other shop owners in Pondy Bazar. This single shop attracts half of all visitors to pondy bazars and the whole of the market gets the other half. With walmart, which is known for a ruthlessness that far outweighs Saravans stores' and a pocket that is as deep as the mariana trench, one can expect an absolute carnage of the retailers wherever they go.
It is almost impossible to stop the juggernaut called walmart given the wonderful leaders we have in the government and the culture of greed that has descended amongst us. But there is hope and it comes from the most unexpected quarters. Sam walton, the founder of walmart, claims in his book [15] that the customer is the boss and that he can fire everyone including the CEO from the company by deciding to spend his money somewhere else. Rings a bell in me.
References
[1] Pro walmart article
[2] Pro walmart study - 1
[3] Pro walmart study - 2
[4] Anti walmart article
[5] Anti walmart study - 1
[6] Anti walmart study - 2
[7] Walmart squeeze
[8] Criticism of walmart - article on wikipedia
[9] Walmart Inc vs American Drugs Inc
[10] Walmart settles predatory pricing charge
[11] German high court convicts walmart of predatory pricing
[12] Walmart next to mexican pyramids
[13] Walmart and labour union at Quebec, Canada
[14] Walmart watch
[15] Made in America by Sam Walton
[16] Walmart report on rediff
[17] Walmart: high cost of low price - trailer on youtube
[18] Sauroposeidon article on bbc
PS: I've been at this for more than 2 hours now. Though I had done a lot of study on this over the past one week, I just cant seem to end. So, fatigued by this effort, I stop at this point. Please bear with me if some paragraphs look/feel half baked.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Indian programmer article
Got the link to an article titled 'A myth called the Indian programmer' from a friends blog. The article is quite interesting and for most part of it, I found myself saying 'Amen'.
Some interesting quotes from the above mentioned article.
' Most software professionals in India are not programmers, they are mere coders'
'Coders are akin to smart assembly line workers as opposed to programmers who are plant engineers'
'Coders have fallen into the trap of the software hype and now realise that though their status is glorified in the society, intellectually they are stranded.'
'Software companies started picking all the engineers they could as the US authorities granted visas only to graduates who had four years of education after high school'
'After Y2K, as American companies discovered India's cheap software professionals, the demand for engineers shot up'
Points to ponder over for the over-hyped, over fed on ego, wastrel software engineers in India. Am not too proud that I was part of the gang once upon a time. Also points to ponder over for all the to be father-in-laws and mother-in-laws who are shouting from roof tops for fiancees for their sons/daughters with the condition that he/she should be employed in IT :). While the nature of the job cannot be changed, one can definitely get a reality check on what one is doing.
Got the link to an article titled 'A myth called the Indian programmer' from a friends blog. The article is quite interesting and for most part of it, I found myself saying 'Amen'.
Some interesting quotes from the above mentioned article.
' Most software professionals in India are not programmers, they are mere coders'
'Coders are akin to smart assembly line workers as opposed to programmers who are plant engineers'
'Coders have fallen into the trap of the software hype and now realise that though their status is glorified in the society, intellectually they are stranded.'
'Software companies started picking all the engineers they could as the US authorities granted visas only to graduates who had four years of education after high school'
'After Y2K, as American companies discovered India's cheap software professionals, the demand for engineers shot up'
Points to ponder over for the over-hyped, over fed on ego, wastrel software engineers in India. Am not too proud that I was part of the gang once upon a time. Also points to ponder over for all the to be father-in-laws and mother-in-laws who are shouting from roof tops for fiancees for their sons/daughters with the condition that he/she should be employed in IT :). While the nature of the job cannot be changed, one can definitely get a reality check on what one is doing.
Friday, February 16, 2007
After close to a year and a half of blogging, I've finally manged to reach 50 posts (excluding this one). Its taken a while to come, close to a year and a half to be more precise. Though its been so painfully slow, I've loved every bit of it. It used to be quite slow initially, but I should say I've been much more regular these days.
A big thanks to a all you folks who've been visiting this space regularly. Special thanks to Ba3, Kumar, Sriram, PS, DK, Naina, Arul, Narasim and one Anon for all the comments over the past 50 posts. I am guessing there have been few other people who have commented too but I can only remember these off the top of my head. Sorry about missing out on the full list. Also, lots of visitors from Calgary off late. Please continue to provide the vital traffic. There could be nothing as enthu crushing to a blogger as lack of traffic :D.
I've been receiving lots of hits from Fair Oaks (California), Delhi (India), Pune (India), Mumbai(India), New Jersey, Washington, Ohio, New York amongst other places. Obviously most of you are folks whom I know but am not able to identify you by the place of your residence. So, please do drop in a line now and then.
Lastly, will provide a quirky little statistic. The most frequent keyword on google that generates a hit to my blog is 'Tamil Kamam' (more than 12 times so far) which roughly means 'Tamil Sexual lust'. The choice of words look too contrived to me for many different people to be using the same keyword but I've had this hit from 3-4 different places in Europe, the gulf, japan and India. I just have one post on this (a tamil poem) but this obscure little post is what is generating the most traffic through google searches.
Thanks again to everyone :)
A big thanks to a all you folks who've been visiting this space regularly. Special thanks to Ba3, Kumar, Sriram, PS, DK, Naina, Arul, Narasim and one Anon for all the comments over the past 50 posts. I am guessing there have been few other people who have commented too but I can only remember these off the top of my head. Sorry about missing out on the full list. Also, lots of visitors from Calgary off late. Please continue to provide the vital traffic. There could be nothing as enthu crushing to a blogger as lack of traffic :D.
I've been receiving lots of hits from Fair Oaks (California), Delhi (India), Pune (India), Mumbai(India), New Jersey, Washington, Ohio, New York amongst other places. Obviously most of you are folks whom I know but am not able to identify you by the place of your residence. So, please do drop in a line now and then.
Lastly, will provide a quirky little statistic. The most frequent keyword on google that generates a hit to my blog is 'Tamil Kamam' (more than 12 times so far) which roughly means 'Tamil Sexual lust'. The choice of words look too contrived to me for many different people to be using the same keyword but I've had this hit from 3-4 different places in Europe, the gulf, japan and India. I just have one post on this (a tamil poem) but this obscure little post is what is generating the most traffic through google searches.
Thanks again to everyone :)
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Poornamadah Poornamidam
When nothingness is perceived all around
and when one fathoms that nothing but nothingness exists,
When one feels hurtling towards nothingness via nothingness
and when one comprehends that nothingness pervades,
When one thinks that one has merged with nothingness
to finally realize that what got merged was nothing but nothingness all along,
the following exquisitely beautiful sanskrit sloka makes sense...
Aum Poornamadah Poornamidam
Poornaath Poornamudachyathe
Poornasya Poornamaadaaya
Poornameva Vasishyathe
When nothingness is perceived all around
and when one fathoms that nothing but nothingness exists,
When one feels hurtling towards nothingness via nothingness
and when one comprehends that nothingness pervades,
When one thinks that one has merged with nothingness
to finally realize that what got merged was nothing but nothingness all along,
the following exquisitely beautiful sanskrit sloka makes sense...
Aum Poornamadah Poornamidam
Poornaath Poornamudachyathe
Poornasya Poornamaadaaya
Poornameva Vasishyathe
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Yoga Tidbits
Krishnamacharya opines
if you hold Chaturanga dandasana for 12-15 minutes a day
your body will have no diseases
I opine that its probably because
ull be dead after the first try
Ashtanga yoga for 3 hours
water droplets on cheeks
Is that sweat or tears?
Yoga for physical health
an exact analogy would be
marriage for sex
Ujjayi pranayama necessarily needs to be
soft and gentle
else you'll necessarily feel
like ur body is on fire
Diabetes, Hyper-tension, Hypercholesterolemia
are amongst our deadliest foes
Bhujangasana is amongst their deadliest foes
Bhadrasana, Gomukhasana, Padmasana and Simhasana,
Svastikasana, Veerasana, and Sukhasana
are the 7 most important asanas
so opines Thirumoolar in stanza 563 in Thirumandiram
Yama and Niyama
are basic qualifications
for Asana and Pranayama
so say Shankara, Patanjali and Thirumoolar
Yoga is 99% practice
and 1% theory
so says Sri. Pattabhi Jois
Before you've practiced, the theory is useless
After you've practived, the theory is obvious
Pearls of wisdom on yoga, by David Williams
Ashtanga vinyasa yoga in mysore style
or Iyengar yoga
or yoga from the Sivananda school of yoga
you may practice anything
but practice it till the end
Greet the rising sun with yoga
thou shalt be blessed with
mental and physical well being par excellence
Moolabandha, uddiyanabandha, jalandharabandha
one who masters these
is indeed the master of death
so says adishankara in yoga taravali
Practice Paschimotanasana everyday
and kiss your tummy goodbye
Appearances are deceptive
Trikonasana might look simple
but remember it is also called The Tricky Trikona
Though its not the reality
some asanas indeed give you the designed to kill feel
like Sethu Bandasana alias Satan Bandasana
A perfect rendition of Padangusthasana
is when your legs feel like the barks of a banyan tree
strong, firm and unyielding
You think you are a good yogi
as you can do headstand and shoulderstand
your ego gets crushed as your
guru demonstrates handstand
A good indication of an excessive midriff
is when you attempt Sarvangasana
and it ends up as Vipareetha karani
You end up in disgrace many a time
when people around you easily do Karnapindasana
and you cant even do Halasana
Do yoga everyday and be healthy and wise
if you dont have the time for yoga
you dont have time for life
Krishnamacharya opines
if you hold Chaturanga dandasana for 12-15 minutes a day
your body will have no diseases
I opine that its probably because
ull be dead after the first try
Ashtanga yoga for 3 hours
water droplets on cheeks
Is that sweat or tears?
Yoga for physical health
an exact analogy would be
marriage for sex
Ujjayi pranayama necessarily needs to be
soft and gentle
else you'll necessarily feel
like ur body is on fire
Diabetes, Hyper-tension, Hypercholesterolemia
are amongst our deadliest foes
Bhujangasana is amongst their deadliest foes
Bhadrasana, Gomukhasana, Padmasana and Simhasana,
Svastikasana, Veerasana, and Sukhasana
are the 7 most important asanas
so opines Thirumoolar in stanza 563 in Thirumandiram
Yama and Niyama
are basic qualifications
for Asana and Pranayama
so say Shankara, Patanjali and Thirumoolar
Yoga is 99% practice
and 1% theory
so says Sri. Pattabhi Jois
Before you've practiced, the theory is useless
After you've practived, the theory is obvious
Pearls of wisdom on yoga, by David Williams
Ashtanga vinyasa yoga in mysore style
or Iyengar yoga
or yoga from the Sivananda school of yoga
you may practice anything
but practice it till the end
Greet the rising sun with yoga
thou shalt be blessed with
mental and physical well being par excellence
Moolabandha, uddiyanabandha, jalandharabandha
one who masters these
is indeed the master of death
so says adishankara in yoga taravali
Practice Paschimotanasana everyday
and kiss your tummy goodbye
Appearances are deceptive
Trikonasana might look simple
but remember it is also called The Tricky Trikona
Though its not the reality
some asanas indeed give you the designed to kill feel
like Sethu Bandasana alias Satan Bandasana
A perfect rendition of Padangusthasana
is when your legs feel like the barks of a banyan tree
strong, firm and unyielding
You think you are a good yogi
as you can do headstand and shoulderstand
your ego gets crushed as your
guru demonstrates handstand
A good indication of an excessive midriff
is when you attempt Sarvangasana
and it ends up as Vipareetha karani
You end up in disgrace many a time
when people around you easily do Karnapindasana
and you cant even do Halasana
Do yoga everyday and be healthy and wise
if you dont have the time for yoga
you dont have time for life
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Review:- An Inconvenient truth
References
[1] An inconvenient truth - on Wikipedia
[2] Carbon footprint - on Wikipedia
[3] Bargraph of footprint by region
[4] List of quotes on data
[5] Kyoto protocol - on Wikipedia
[6] Quote about truth
[7] An Inconvenient Truth on IMDB
The ecoclub at UofC organized a screening of 'An Inconvenient Truth' [7] as part of its activities for the environment week. The screening was well publicized with posters in all important notice boards across the campus. It was organized in a rather large hall and was advertised that the doors of the hall would be closed 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the movie. But, alas, not many people at school were bothered about it and the hall was not even 25% full. Thats precisely the reason why more such movies are needed. They attempt to address the utter lack of environmental awareness.
The movie is an attempt by Al Gore, the former vice president of America (or as he describes himself in the movie, the person who used to be the next president of America), to create awarenss on how human activites affect the global climate. He starts with an explanation of the phenomenon of global warming in lay mans terms. He then proceeds to provide more detailed explanation on CO2 levels in the atmosphere and the corresponding atmospheric temperature over vast periods of time. Most scientists who watched the movie have agreed that the reasoning provided in the movie is based on solid scientific ground [1]. The talk revolves around the melting of ice sheets in the poles and in greenland. He also goes on to describe how this will affect fellow species on our planet and finally, the perpetrators of global warming, humans. All this scientific data is interlaced with humurous cartoons, poignant scenes from his personal life and videos of the live presentations around the world that he has provided on this topic. Images have a greater impact on the human psyche than words and numbers. The movie exploits this fact to the hilt. Every discussion is accompanied by touchy videos and images. For e.g., discussions of melting ice is accompanied by images of breaking glaciers, barren tops of Mt.Kilimanjaro etc...
The movie briefly touches upon the opinions of the detractors of the movie and Al Gore tries his best to convince people with both scientific data and emotional appeal about the importance of the message that this movie carries. It also tries to clear out the misconception that scientists are doubtful about global warming by pointing out that none of the scientific articles on this topic that have appeared in peer reviewed journals have doubted global warming. It clearly points out that all articles that doubt global warming have appeared in magazines. To me, this prooves conclusively that scientists who know the field are in no doubt about global warming. The movie concludes with a number of suggestions of what one can do to reduce ones carbon footprint [2], thereby reducing ones contribution to global warming. The movie is primarily targetted at the american audience as many reports suggest that USA is the primary contributor to global warming [3].
Some people argue that the graphs were not perfect as though it showed a projection of the CO2 levels for the next 50 years, it did not provide the projected levels of atmospheric temperature for that period. While, this is true I feel it is pointless to argue about statistical data. I feel one should look more into the force behind the argument than the words used to argue. Fred Menger's quote, 'If you torture data sufficiently, it will confess to almost anything' [4], comes to mind. While sceptics might harp at this point, it is only because there are no other points that they can talk about. Words have utterly no significance once the meaning has been conveyed. So, I'd simply ask people to mull over the movie at a higher level and not get carried away by trivial and insignificant details.
Lastly, there was one sore point about the movie. Towards the end, Al Gore talks about the mileage of cars in the different countries around the globe. He uses this to refute critics' point that the automobile industry stands to loose if measures to tackle global warming, like ratifying Kyoto protocol [5], are taken. He contends that low mileage american automobile companies like Ford and GM have been steadily losing markets and on the other hand high mileage automobile companies like Toyoto and Honda have been steadily gaining markets. By this, he means implicity, though he does not say this explicitly, that producing fuel effecient cars is better for the company. This argument is wrong from many different perspectives. First, any decent management graduate will be able to tear to pieces the correlation that Al Gore provided between company performance and fuel effeciency. Its like correlating the production of nylon in UK and the growth of population in India. Though it would be great to have a high correlation between company performance and fuel effeciency, as things stand today, they are totally unrelated. While it is true that Toyota and Honda are doing better than GM and Ford, its probably due to 100 other reasons and fuel effeciency is definitely not one of them. Second, if his argument were true, then it automatically means that people want to buy fuel effecient cars and that there is a good amount of public awareness on this issue. I am pretty sure that this is not the case. Lastly, and most importantly, suggesting that companies should improve fuel effeciency so that they can be competitive defeats the whole purpose of creating an awareness of the energy intensive modern lifestyle.
Al Gore also talks about steps one can easily take at a personal level. He talks about using fuel effecient cars, energy effecient appliances, better insultaed homes etc... and claims that if these steps are taken immediately our carbon emissions can be reduced to the level of carbon emission in 1970. I totally agree that the suggested mechanisms are good and very important first steps but I dont agree with the way it was presented. The way he presented them gave the impression that these are panaceas to the global warming problem and if we do these, we will all be fine. This will lead to dangerous complacency and will dilute the seriousness of the problem on hand. These steps can never be the solution. They can only be tiny first steps towards a possible solution. This, I feel, is the truth and one must not be scared to face this. A famous saying comes to min - ' In order to be effective truth must penetrate like an arrow - and that is likely to hurt' [6].
All in all, this is indeed a very good movie. Try to watch this in a theatre near you or try and get hold of the DVD. Also, recommend this movie to as many people as possible.
The movie is an attempt by Al Gore, the former vice president of America (or as he describes himself in the movie, the person who used to be the next president of America), to create awarenss on how human activites affect the global climate. He starts with an explanation of the phenomenon of global warming in lay mans terms. He then proceeds to provide more detailed explanation on CO2 levels in the atmosphere and the corresponding atmospheric temperature over vast periods of time. Most scientists who watched the movie have agreed that the reasoning provided in the movie is based on solid scientific ground [1]. The talk revolves around the melting of ice sheets in the poles and in greenland. He also goes on to describe how this will affect fellow species on our planet and finally, the perpetrators of global warming, humans. All this scientific data is interlaced with humurous cartoons, poignant scenes from his personal life and videos of the live presentations around the world that he has provided on this topic. Images have a greater impact on the human psyche than words and numbers. The movie exploits this fact to the hilt. Every discussion is accompanied by touchy videos and images. For e.g., discussions of melting ice is accompanied by images of breaking glaciers, barren tops of Mt.Kilimanjaro etc...
The movie briefly touches upon the opinions of the detractors of the movie and Al Gore tries his best to convince people with both scientific data and emotional appeal about the importance of the message that this movie carries. It also tries to clear out the misconception that scientists are doubtful about global warming by pointing out that none of the scientific articles on this topic that have appeared in peer reviewed journals have doubted global warming. It clearly points out that all articles that doubt global warming have appeared in magazines. To me, this prooves conclusively that scientists who know the field are in no doubt about global warming. The movie concludes with a number of suggestions of what one can do to reduce ones carbon footprint [2], thereby reducing ones contribution to global warming. The movie is primarily targetted at the american audience as many reports suggest that USA is the primary contributor to global warming [3].
Some people argue that the graphs were not perfect as though it showed a projection of the CO2 levels for the next 50 years, it did not provide the projected levels of atmospheric temperature for that period. While, this is true I feel it is pointless to argue about statistical data. I feel one should look more into the force behind the argument than the words used to argue. Fred Menger's quote, 'If you torture data sufficiently, it will confess to almost anything' [4], comes to mind. While sceptics might harp at this point, it is only because there are no other points that they can talk about. Words have utterly no significance once the meaning has been conveyed. So, I'd simply ask people to mull over the movie at a higher level and not get carried away by trivial and insignificant details.
Lastly, there was one sore point about the movie. Towards the end, Al Gore talks about the mileage of cars in the different countries around the globe. He uses this to refute critics' point that the automobile industry stands to loose if measures to tackle global warming, like ratifying Kyoto protocol [5], are taken. He contends that low mileage american automobile companies like Ford and GM have been steadily losing markets and on the other hand high mileage automobile companies like Toyoto and Honda have been steadily gaining markets. By this, he means implicity, though he does not say this explicitly, that producing fuel effecient cars is better for the company. This argument is wrong from many different perspectives. First, any decent management graduate will be able to tear to pieces the correlation that Al Gore provided between company performance and fuel effeciency. Its like correlating the production of nylon in UK and the growth of population in India. Though it would be great to have a high correlation between company performance and fuel effeciency, as things stand today, they are totally unrelated. While it is true that Toyota and Honda are doing better than GM and Ford, its probably due to 100 other reasons and fuel effeciency is definitely not one of them. Second, if his argument were true, then it automatically means that people want to buy fuel effecient cars and that there is a good amount of public awareness on this issue. I am pretty sure that this is not the case. Lastly, and most importantly, suggesting that companies should improve fuel effeciency so that they can be competitive defeats the whole purpose of creating an awareness of the energy intensive modern lifestyle.
Al Gore also talks about steps one can easily take at a personal level. He talks about using fuel effecient cars, energy effecient appliances, better insultaed homes etc... and claims that if these steps are taken immediately our carbon emissions can be reduced to the level of carbon emission in 1970. I totally agree that the suggested mechanisms are good and very important first steps but I dont agree with the way it was presented. The way he presented them gave the impression that these are panaceas to the global warming problem and if we do these, we will all be fine. This will lead to dangerous complacency and will dilute the seriousness of the problem on hand. These steps can never be the solution. They can only be tiny first steps towards a possible solution. This, I feel, is the truth and one must not be scared to face this. A famous saying comes to min - ' In order to be effective truth must penetrate like an arrow - and that is likely to hurt' [6].
All in all, this is indeed a very good movie. Try to watch this in a theatre near you or try and get hold of the DVD. Also, recommend this movie to as many people as possible.
References
[1] An inconvenient truth - on Wikipedia
[2] Carbon footprint - on Wikipedia
[3] Bargraph of footprint by region
[4] List of quotes on data
[5] Kyoto protocol - on Wikipedia
[6] Quote about truth
[7] An Inconvenient Truth on IMDB
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Save the earth
This has become a big catch word these days. IMHO, this is a rather moronic and egoistic statement. Recycling material, car pooling, turning off appliances not in use etc., cannot save the earth. Nothing can save the earth.
Its our ego that makes us think that we are bigger than the creator and hence we try to control fellow creations of the creator. Creations do not only mean humans, animals and plants. All the so called lifeless matter are also creations of the creator. Every atom has the stamp of the creator. It is our ego that triggers us to try to 'save the earth'. The earth can be saved only by itself. All it has to do is to unleash a few tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes. Or better still, it should invite a few of its celestial friends home. Unless this happens, the earth is indeed doomed.
The earth today is like a terminally ill cancer patient who is counting his days. By trying to save the earth, we are actually claiming to be the doctor with the golden touch who can invent a miraculous drug to cure the patient. This is just pure and unadulterated humbug. At best, we can be like the empathizing, compassionate nurse who tries to make the end slightly less painful. Any effort towards reduction, recycling etc., should be founded on this realization.
Why is the earth like a terminally ill cancer patient?
Most of humanity (99.99%) today is trying to grow towards infinity in the physical domain. Material possessions has become the raison d'etre for us. The force of ego and greed that this triggers is like a juggernaut and no force is potent enough to stop that. Such actions driven by ego and greed magnified by 6 billion is the cancer that has inflicted earth.
Why is claiming to save the earth like the claim of pseudo doctors?
Human needs are infinite and this can be realized only in the spiritual domain. Unless this realization dawns on a vast majority of the human race, nothing significant can be done. The chances of this happening is zero. As a result, all efforts to 'save the earth' are gonna fail. So claiming to save the earth is similar to the claims of those pseudo doctors who claim cures for cancer and AIDS.
If thats the case, why should I recycle?
A woman is being sexually harassed by a gang of armed ruffians. You are truly incapable of preventing them. This does not mean, you join the party.
This has become a big catch word these days. IMHO, this is a rather moronic and egoistic statement. Recycling material, car pooling, turning off appliances not in use etc., cannot save the earth. Nothing can save the earth.
Its our ego that makes us think that we are bigger than the creator and hence we try to control fellow creations of the creator. Creations do not only mean humans, animals and plants. All the so called lifeless matter are also creations of the creator. Every atom has the stamp of the creator. It is our ego that triggers us to try to 'save the earth'. The earth can be saved only by itself. All it has to do is to unleash a few tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes. Or better still, it should invite a few of its celestial friends home. Unless this happens, the earth is indeed doomed.
The earth today is like a terminally ill cancer patient who is counting his days. By trying to save the earth, we are actually claiming to be the doctor with the golden touch who can invent a miraculous drug to cure the patient. This is just pure and unadulterated humbug. At best, we can be like the empathizing, compassionate nurse who tries to make the end slightly less painful. Any effort towards reduction, recycling etc., should be founded on this realization.
Why is the earth like a terminally ill cancer patient?
Most of humanity (99.99%) today is trying to grow towards infinity in the physical domain. Material possessions has become the raison d'etre for us. The force of ego and greed that this triggers is like a juggernaut and no force is potent enough to stop that. Such actions driven by ego and greed magnified by 6 billion is the cancer that has inflicted earth.
Why is claiming to save the earth like the claim of pseudo doctors?
Human needs are infinite and this can be realized only in the spiritual domain. Unless this realization dawns on a vast majority of the human race, nothing significant can be done. The chances of this happening is zero. As a result, all efforts to 'save the earth' are gonna fail. So claiming to save the earth is similar to the claims of those pseudo doctors who claim cures for cancer and AIDS.
If thats the case, why should I recycle?
A woman is being sexually harassed by a gang of armed ruffians. You are truly incapable of preventing them. This does not mean, you join the party.
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