Friday, January 22, 2010

This brilliant post on the LabRats blog over at Mint which a day before the paper skewered Rajendra Pachauri explained the issue at hand excellently. The Google analogy can only be described as f***ing brilliant – one of those that really make you go ‘Damn, I wish I had thought of that!’ See being green is quite a money-spinning venture for many Indian media organizations, though no-one is quite as shameless as NDTV which along with Toyota does this ‘Green-a-thon’ business. But I doubt the network will even question Pachauri. But, while most other papers and channels are laughing a bit at Pachauri, Mint is miles ahead.

Frankly, after the University of East Anglia incident and now this, Climate Change science has received a body-blow and speaking as a lay person, it seems that the votaries of climate change are speaking the same way that the ‘World is Flat’ and ‘the Sun revolves around the Earth’ folks spoke several centuries ago. I’m not doubting that mankind is impacting the earth and that temperatures are rising – though after this miserable winter in Delhi (where I’m a lot luckier than friends in Western Europe) people might question that. The last few times I’ve flown out of Delhi, I’ve looked back and seen the city covered in a grey gloom – try it next time – on a morning flight choose an ‘Alpha’ window seat (if you take off in a westerly direction) and look back at the city.

Frankly, here is what I think, Pachauri believes he is being hounded by the media – but what is the old adage again – if you ride the tiger you bloody well ought to be ready to get eaten alive. Frankly, ‘one mistake’ is not an excuse. This sloppiness is going to be used as a stick to beat not just climate change but also Indian science, already reeling from the 'Ten dollar laptop' screw-up. The longer Rajendra Pachauri stays as the head of the IPCC the more he will damage climate change science and worse, Indian science. Even though the ND Tiwari incident was a precursor of things to come, it hasn’t opened the floodgates, the western media does not live by the same rules.

As for the IPL not choosing P players - frankly big deal! That said, given that most Pakistani players will be well-rested for the ICC T20 World Cup in the West Indies, they'll probably win it again.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Typo of 2350 to 2035!!

Unknown said...

even if pachauri is wrong by a mere 350 years, he is still correct about global warming's impact on earth. it is not an exact science, people who accept what the TV holymen predict are now suddenly mocking pachauri and all he stands for. indians who use horoscopes to arrange weddings, funerals, inaugrations, constructions, elections, birth by caeserian, school and college admissions, purchase of house and transport, should just shut up. and all those in the west, be thankful that you have 315 years to educate the rest of the world about saving the planet.

Unknown said...

earlier comment did not make the grade. ok. pachauri has been hounded for being inaccurate by a mere 300 years. in the history of the planet, scientists talk in millions when they give us the time range of different Ages, e.g the jurassic period (199.6-145.5 million years ago), triassic (251.0-199.6 million yars ago), creataceous (145.5-65.5 million years ago) paleogene period (65.5-23.03 million years ago) and neogene period (23.03-0 million years ago). who has questioned these figures? why can't the neogene period range from 23.0 million years to present? we are talking about the difference of .5 million years - 500,000 years. see how silly is the current pachauri controversy? 300 years are the equivalant of 1 nanosecond as far as the history of the planet is concerned. so instead of scoffing at this 2035 or 2305 nonsense, be grateful that the end of the world is 315 years away and not 25 years. what measures will humans adopt to slow down the global warming and fix the climate problems in the bonus time we have now? going by past results, NONE.

GBO said...

Why is everybody taking something written on global warming by Dr. Richard North of the Bruges Group (their stand on immigration and EU and foreign policy with "redrawn borders" - polite word for former colonies - has to be seen and read to be believed) so seriously, anyways?

Anonymous said...

Just to add a point. Almost a decade back Mr Pachauri and his Teri team were dead against CNG in Delhi. They were lobbing for bio-diesel.

Anonymous said...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6847227/Questions-over-business-deals-of-UN-climate-change-guru-Dr-Rajendra-Pachauri.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/7062667/Pachauri-the-real-story-behind-the-Glaciergate-scandal.html

The above links are from Telegraph. Must read

Anonymous said...

http://mazoomdaar.blogspot.com/

A climate of Chaos by Jay (another must read)

GBO said...

Pachauri or otherwise, fact remains, the whole anti-IPCC and anti-Pachauri tirade is being spearheaded by Richard "Bruges" North. The Bruges Group has as its main charters things like anti-immigration, anti redrawing of colonial borders and anti-EU. A few billion people getting wasted in the East is not an issue as long as the West is protected for them appears to be the message?