Book Tag: Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

Thanks to Silent Eloquence for book tagging me. I have a good reason to wake me up from my blog slumber. The rules of the tag - Get the book closest to you. Open the book to page 123.Count to line five. Write the next three lines. Tag five people and acknowledge the person who tagged you

I would eat in silence until they were finished and then begin a long discourse on the problems of the city and the politics of the disposed. I scolded Maya for spending one evening watching TV instead of reading novels I'd bought for her. I instructed my mother on the various ways that foreign donors and international development organizations like the one she was working for bred dependence in the Third World.

I still remember the Christmas of 2007. I was at a friend's party being all merry. The conversation eventually wandered into American politics and the presidential election. The primaries were picking up steam and everyone acknowledged the inevitability of a Hillary Clinton win. I ventured to remark that if Obama were to win Iowa, he has a good shot at the presidency. There was a brief awkward silence.

I could never support Hilary Clinton. Her calculated posturing on Iraq and her about-face on bankruptcy laws made me very wary. Barack Obama on the other hand, started off with immature and ridiculous policy stances on energy and the environment, but was quick to learn and correct himself. If you read this book, you will see a man who is constantly learning, adapting and then learning some more.

Obama takes us through three distinct chapters of his life in this book. The Origins, Chicago & Kenya. I found origins the most interesting of all. He talks about his life in Hawaii, his move to Indonesia and back, about his father from Kenya, about his mother and grand parents from Kansas.

I am not sure I want to get into a detailed book review. I liked reading the book. It might not be a great book, but it is a good book and is definitely worth a read. He comes across as someone who is well read, who understands the history and brutality of colonialism and the struggles of post colonialism. Has a healthy respect for different cultures and a healthy respect for his own. I would definitely recommend this book to folks in the Indian media who are all hulla gulla about Obama not making that phone call and so Obama might not care about India and blah and blah.

So I tag all the hyper ventilating media pundits in India!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally I can breathe better! This is historic!

The picture above was taken by a friend of mine when Obama won the nomination. I can only imagine the electricity in Grant park now. I so wish I was attending the rally. I am happy as happy can be. The axis of idiots, Bush-Blair-Howard has finally fallen.

Now comes the important task of solving grave problems like climate change. It is my hope that President Obama will go about tackling these problems with the same discipline we saw from him during the campaign

Greener JavaOne

I had the opportunity of attending this year's JavaOne conference. The conference is a yearly event where Java gurus from the world over descend upon Moscone center in San Francisco for a week. While the conference is mainly about Java, this year I sensed a thread, to my surprise and delight, about Java and sustainable development.

In the photograph above, John Gage, Chief Researcher at Sun Microsystems, is explaining how the entire conference is wired with sensors running Java and how these devices are communicating back information in real time on escalator usage, people movement and how all that helps understand electricity consumption better. The point being made was that technology can be used to facilitate energy efficiency.

Of course...plates, forks, knives, cups and such were all biodegradable. There was a visible effort to reduce paper and print. Information was made online for the most part. An embedded chip running Java in your ID card ensured access in and out of sessions. While all this was great, what I found more encouraging was the intersection of Java and sustainability.

I thought the technology leapfrog effect in Africa was particularly interesting. Mobile phones have outpaced land lines in the continent. Engineers from Nokia talked about how they developed a Java based application that helped Kenyans listen to internet radio on their mobile phones. Low power consumption, limited and intermittent bandwidth are important design considerations when developing applications for developing countries.

Engineers at Sun Microsystems talked about how mobile to mobile money transmissions are becoming popular in developing countries especially in microfinance operations.

Mobile phones were at the center of this year's JavaOne. Intel talked about its upcoming Atom line of chips for mobile devices. In fact, all chip makers had one message in common, that of energy efficiency. As chips get faster, smaller and smarter, mobile phones are expected to be the next hot platform for software development.

To me, mobile phones, open up new intersection points between technology and sustainability. Don't believe it ? Then take the case of eco2go, a great idea to reduce your carbon footprint using your phone.

Another project/idea that I found interesting was Sun SPOT (Small Programmable Object Technology).
Essentially these are micro devices running Java, capable of bridging the physical world with the digital. Intelligent sensors monitoring your environment for things like humidity, light etc.

Sentilla had a similar product showcase. Chips running Java connected to sensors. A winery in Napa is using their technology to monitor soil moisture and humidity to optimize water consumption. The same idea can be used to help optimize water consumption in agriculture. Even better, if we can figure out a cheap way to plug this into suburban lawns, it could greatly reduce over watering.

Finally, the Open Eco initiative. A global online collaborative community to reduce green house gas (GHG) emissions . It brings Web 2.0 to the world of sustainability.

To me, all this is very exciting!

A hairy proposition

I couldn't help but smile when I heard this piece of news. Human hair it turns out can be a natural fertilizer and pest control !!! A company by the name of Smart Grow is behind all the buzz or should I say frizz :)

Apparently human hair has other noble uses like cleaning up after an oil spill. Here is another interesting fact, China & India both have a thriving human hair export business.


Image Credit : Smart Grow

Tata Nano Air

A lot of has been said about Tata Nano in the past few weeks. Many like me feel a sense of pride at the achievement. Many like me are also concerned about the environmental ramifications of Nano.

In terms of fuel economy, it might be as good if not better than a Toyota Prius. The volume of adoption will however be the devil.

One can argue that 2 wheelers and 3 wheelers are the single largest source of air pollution in Indian cities. If they were to be replaced with a much cleaner vehicle like Nano, wouldn't it be better?.... I am not so sure.

What I am sure about is this, a true peoples car will have to be easy on people's wealth and environmental health. What we need is Nano Air. A Nano running on compressed air.

It has been almost a year since Tata Motors signed an agreement with MDI of France. Nano is the perfect platform to be airborne.

Mr Ratan Tata make us all proud.





Image credit: tatanano.com , aircar.com

My Tree

Where was I all this while? Between tough deadlines and even tougher professors, blogging took a hit. On the positive side, I have my own tree and a little backyard now!

Chicago Green Drinks

Nothing like a cold beer to jolt me out of what is commonly known as environmental fatigue. I keep myself upbeat and optimistic most of the time. However, a series of bad news this summer took the joy out of blogging. Raging wild fires, droughts, heat waves, floods and what not! Images of people precariously perched on tin roofs waiting for flood waters to recede can make any person feel blue. Millions of people increasingly affected and displaced by unpredictable and extreme weather.

Now getting back to the beer... Chicago Green Drinks is a monthly event here in the city where sustainability minded folks meet, socialize, get a little happy drunk, discuss and listen to local sustainability gurus. The idea originally started in London and soon spread to various parts of the world.

The speakers at this green drinks were from Chicago Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), Chicago Department of Environment and The Clinton Foundation. The theme for the evening was "Working locally to reduce Global Warming". Mayor Daley was among the many mayors who pledged to reduce their city's global warming pollution by 7% below 1990 levels as part of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. The presentation at the drinks was about how Chicago would achieve that target.

DOE has partnered with CNT to do the carbon footprint and inventory analysis. They talked about their audit process, assumptions and limitations. It turns out electricity and not transportation is the biggest carbon contributor here in Chicago. This is where the Clinton Foundation comes in. Clinton Climate Initiative is engaging the 40 largest cities to reduce their green house gas emissions and they are injecting about 5 billion dollars worth of energy efficiency building retrofits into these cities. Chicago is expected to get a fair share of that retrofits.

Retrofits aside, the city is pursuing several other programs to achieve the necessary reductions. I have to confess I had a little too much beer that day to comprehend all the details! The city is expected to publish their road map soon. All in all the presentation and the plan of action sounded good. 2012 is almost here. I hope Chicago meets its targets.

Dandelions, Wine & Some Thoughts

I was in Iowa a week ago, driving through acres upon acres of genetically modified Corn. The scenery rarely changes except for a few. One of them being the Amana Colonies. These colonies were once an experiment in communal living. The experiment was not all that successful but it is does make for an interesting stop. You still get to see parts of their history and taste the local harvest. I walked into a small wine shop with the idea of buying a local red wine. To my surprise, I found wine made from Dandelions! I was amused to say the least. Why so? Let me explain...

To many in the US, Dandelions invoke a sense of rage and disgust. Dandelions can be very persistent and are the perfect survivors. They can quickly turn a green lawn into a blooming yellow. Every one in American suburbia is a conformist when it comes to their lawns. There seems to be an unwritten law that mandates every house have well maintained square patches of green grass. In the front, in the back and every where around. Dandelions are unwelcome here. People go to any lengths to get rid of them. It is no surprise that there thrives a million dollar industry in the business of killing Dandelions!

Here are some scary facts. [via Organic Consumers Association]

# 67 million pounds of pesticides are applied to roughly 30 million acres of lawns in the U.S. each year.

# The #1 most water intensive crop in the United States is lawn grass. The average lawn is doused with 10,000 gallons of water each year (in addition to rainfall).

# Synthetic fertilizers run off into streets and local waterways, choking aquatic life and polluting our water.

# The EPA estimates that a mower emits as much pollution in one hour as a car emits in driving 20 miles.

# Numerous studies have linked common household herbicides and pesticides to asthma, cancer, reduced fertility and neurological harm to fetuses, infants and children.

The moment I saw the wine, I knew I had to taste it. I tasted it and I bought myself a bottle. It is very sweet and makes for an interesting sip after any meal!

Live Earth

I caught a few glimpses of Live Earth coverage on MSN yesterday. I thought Snoop Dogg's performance was fun!

While there have been a myriad of sounds bites doubting the benefits of such a concert, I just hope it brings about real actions to combat Climate Change!

Urban Farming

The class this quarter is focused on issues related to global urbanization, the challenges and opportunities it brings with it. As was widely reported this week, 2008 is expected to be the year when half of the world's human population will be living in an urban environment. This is a big deal. It is happening for the first time and it is a big milestone in human history. A milestone in our journey towards what, is the bigger question. Are we headed towards collapse? Or is there a brighter future awaiting us?

Today's cities are resource hogs, hogging food, energy, water and everything in between like there is no tomorrow. To feed the ever increasing needs of cities, food production and distribution today has become a massive global endeavor. The global food supply chain is increasingly dependent on massive amounts of oil, petrochemicals and genetic engineering. Food travels on an average of 2000 miles before it reaches our tables! The food industry has undergone unprecedented consolidations in the last few years to achieve economies of scale. About 10% now control 90% of the market!

Making cities more and more self sustainable is where the challenges and opportunities lie. Localizing resource production and consumption is gaining wider acceptance and popularity in sustainability circles. Think Globally & Act Locally seems to be the new mantra.

To make a long story short, I did a small project looking at decentralizing and localizing food production and consumption. A bottom-up approach of sorts! A perfect example of how this can work is the urban farm located in the heart of Chicago. It is called the City Farm and it is run by a non profit environment education organization called Chicago Resource Center. They explained to me how they took a vacant 1 acre lot and made it into a very productive organic vegetable farm growing 10,000 pounds of vegetables last year. They supply the produce to several local restaurants and the local community. The organic waste from these restaurants is composted back into the farm. Planting a combination of high intensity and low intensity crops, totaling 55 different varieties, they ensure a continuous availability of vegetables. On any given day, you can walk in and walk out with a bag full of fresh and great tasting vegetables. I have to say the Cilantro was yum! All this on a vacant lot that otherwise would have turned into a dumping ground with rat infestation.



It is estimated that the city has about 8000 such vacant lots. Imagine the good it will do if all it were put to productive use. An even great opportunity is the millions of square feet of rooftops available in Chicago. As of Oct 2006, 1 million square feet of roof is being converted into green roof. That is probably less than 5% of the total available roof space. Green roofing is big in Chicago. There are several city funds promoting it. Just imagine the possibilities if food were to be grown up there! That is exactly the idea Chicago Resource Center plans to promote. What they have done is prove that the concept works. What they will need is leadership from the City of Chicago. The Mayor's office is very supportive of the idea. While there are several funds and initiatives that help, there is no comprehensive policy on food.

Chicago calls itself a green city. I am not sure if it is entirely there yet. One city that is leading the pack is City of Vancouver, Canada. They have chosen to take a holistic approach to urban farming and sustainability in general. They have formed a Food Policy Council, bringing together local, regional and even global stakeholders and formed a comprehensive food policy. Policies are aimed at reducing sprawl, protecting metropolitan farm lands, and providing easy access to farmer's markets. No wonder a majority of Vancouverites eat local food and an impressive 44% of them actually do some sort of urban farming. In case they grow excess food, there are several easy mechanisms to sell or donate them. Local farmer's markets are available all over the city. Vancouver is expected to have 2010 community gardens/farms by the 2010 Olympics opening! The ingredients for success: leadership from the local government, consumer awareness and community involvement.

City of Portland looked at what worked in Vancouver and in Chicago. They too have formed a Food Policy Council.


A new kind of food future is possible!

Quote of the day
"To forget how to dig the earth & tend the soil is to forget ourselves" -Mahatma Gandhi