Saturday, September 22, 2007

The Kannada Teacher

I went to meet my seven year old son's Kannada teacher at school. This was the first time I was meeting her, even though my son has been under her tutelage for more than a year now. I began the conversation by saying that we are not native Kannada speakers and that even though I can read Kannada, I have trouble speaking it.

She stopped me short and said "The first thing I tell parents is that they should not go about advertising their lack of knowledge in front of their kids. This demoralises the children into thinking that even when their parents have difficulty with a subject, how will they surmount it?"

I saw tremendous sense in her words. So whenever my son has any query, I have decided to say " Lets find out..."..

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Harvard's New Green Buildings

This year Massachusetts announced that all major real-estate projects qualify for regulation under the state’s environmental protection laws, and their developers must quantify the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with the projects and detail what they are doing to reduce those emissions.


And Harvard, in its latest 537,000 square feet complex is going to do just that ! It has agreed to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the university’s proposed four-building science center in the Allston section of Boston. This agreement represented the first legally enforceable limits on emissions from a large real-estate project.

The design of buildings — how they are heated, cooled, insulated and a host of other details — plays a significant role in determining national energy use and emissions. The technology associated with green construction has dropped dramatically in the last decade. Geothermal wells, natural ventilation, natural lighting — most of it doesn’t cost a premium anymore. Moreover, operating costs go down -when you save 50 percent on greenhouse gases, you’re burning less fuel and buying less fuel.

Maybe its realistic to expect India to follow suit in 50 years time. At least we have got to the stage of mandatory rain-harvesting facilities for all buildings (in Chennai). There are some cities that dont need air conditioning 24*7*365. Opening the windows may be pleasant, and environment-friendly. When I suggested this to my office, somebody said the noise percolating from outside is too disturbing. Any thoughts on how we can handle that?

Monday, September 17, 2007

Tree Penance by Vatican

This mornings NYT had an article that says the Vatican is compensating for its sins on the carbon emissions front by planting trees in Hungary!

Now, this I feel is a cool idea. This, in twenty first century morality, is an extension to the Chipko movement of hugging tress to prevent deforestation, which was practised in the Uttarkhand area of India!

Back in those days, we tried not to sin. Or may be I should say one was taught not to sin. Now of course its okay to sin and make up. In fact the company,Klimafa, that will be planting the forest on behalf of the Vatican claims that its donation to the Vatican is worth about $130,000, as carbon credits trade at $28 in the European market. (One credit counters one ton of emitted carbon dioxide).