Monday, May 28, 2007

Green is the colour this season

Edit meetings tend to be quite dull nowadays because everybody, and I must admit that even I have been guilty of this, wants to do a 'global warming' story and the rather vague impact tglobal warming will have on India. Here is the rub, while I don't disagree that there has been significant global warming, the Indian media has failed in getting the message across, because while we want to 'promote' green living on the one hand, lifestyle reporting has been the flavour of the season for the last two years and rampant consumerism and being green are more or less mutually exclusive sets. Sure, you find some 'Fairtrade' products in Khan Market, but for god's sake, you expect people to put off their air-conditioners in the summer, or even for that matter spend shitloads of money building more environmentally friendly houses.
You see, while the West carries on about global warming and former politicians make boring movies and believe me, I know the habitat of Polar Bears is sinking, what I don't get is the white man telling India and China to cool down development. The more I read stories about global warming and how India and China are contributing increasing amounts towards raising the global temperature, the solution the West is devising is telling us to chill out. You don't build dams, you shouldn't run air-conditioners, low-cost air travel? Bad. Seriously, the hipocrisy shown by the west is getting to me, and what is more upsetting is that South Delhi kids who sit in air-conditioned offices and use ten times the amount of water that someone in a slum does, lap it all up.
Here is the problem. Sure India is contributing more towards global warming and the solution isn't writing solutions the West wants us to adopt. Because global warming is going to lead to Mumbai sinking, eventually. Heck, if Bangladesh goes under (and it will), we'll be flooded with 150 million refugees, perish the thought. But, we have to devise our own solutions, because you're not going to put off your purchase of that Rs 10 lakh Honda or take that flight to Goa. Even if you do, try and convince six million people to stop buying motorcycles. Blindly follwing the Greenpeace agenda will not help, sustainable development is a joke - because sustainable development intends to keep us a third-world country while the West carries on with their lifestyle. I'm sorry Mac, it ain't happening. Eat less beef!

8 comments:

Consumer said...

Seems to be a point well worth writing about my friend, in your paper. I have always wondered, when we compare per capita consumtion of just aboput anything that contributes to global warming, diretly or indirectly, we seem to be at 1/10th or lower levels of the west. And they expect us to cut down?? Just compare India electricity consumtion with Canada, Iron consumption with the EU, water consumption with the US, and you will know just who has been jacking off the earth.

Anonymous said...

Indian media has only one objective to despise, criticize or to make a mockery of important things.

A cow is better off in America than in India, at least it dies with dignity.

rums said...

heh i like this post.
and anon, it's a good thing that the poor american cows can't read. you'd be in serious trouble with them over that last line of yours :)

Anonymous said...

Hi have been an avid reader of this blog. Just raising a small issue. And if you believe... think this needs to be opened up of some kind of debate???

Bombay Times today morning happens to have a headline "Amitji is sexy but I prefer Abhishek". The story is about the kid Swini Khara who has done the role of sexy in Cheeni Kum.

A simple question, would you as an editor carry this headline on your front page ? The point to take into consideration is that we are talking about a ten-year old kid.

Of course, she may have been called sexy in the movie... but asking a question like "Do you find Amitabh Bachhan sext"is in my view rather crude.

What is your take? ... I, as an editor, would have tried to get something more substantial from such interview or asked the joker to ask her more questions... and not about glabal warming...

Anonymous said...

I'm Indian and if you say were not helping look at the fat cows in america. Cows are better off in India. They are sacred nobodys gonna kill em. People drink their piss for crying out loud instead of cutting them up and compressing them into a delicious burger. So screw you........ I bet your another fatcow.

K said...

About Cows, well I will have to agree with the others - at least in India cows can roam free on the streets and motorists have to kill themselves in trying to avoid them! In America have you even seen the amount of cow that goes into a Wendy's Triple Stack!

thalassa_mikra said...

Who's been nagging India about its energy consumption except Dubya (and even that was a while ago)? China's the 900 pound panda everyone's worried about. India they can take or leave.

K said...

900-pound Panda.. funny! At least they have panda's - because they're eating all our tigers.