Thursday, October 09, 2008

Everything we do or more often as we realize it – everything that we face can be directly linked to nature. Its as easy as saying you'd die without clean air (clean air α health α life years). Conservative Economy (as (up) against Alternative Economics) is played and understood by people who view nature as a mere resource and not as life itself., this visual impairment costing us dear in terms of poverty, barren lands, pollution, diseases and in general unrest and unhappiness at an individual level.

We are surrounded by what we get from nature – directly or indirectly, every bit of it is from what the Earth has grown (for us ? Or not is a question we'll deal with later). With the plunging of the world's greatest economy (which nobody understands but simply follow) that is being summarised by the economists world over “The earnings of most Americans haven't kept up with the cost of living. That means there's not enough purchasing power to keep the economy going.” This statement is the closest that they could get to understanding 'economics'. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/04/INTM139L8L.DTL


Now, 'purchasing power' is what you get from nature, processed by men and paid for only the 'processing' part and not the raw material itself which comes free of cost provided by nature which cannot really demand (but can definitely take, 'coz of the nature science we are bound by). You have consumed more than what your purchasing power is (or simply put as credit), translates to 'lack of resources' or there isnt more you could take away from nature and still continue to live, ofcourse there are forest patches and wildlife that you could eventually destroy to make up for the deficit and keep your economy going but for how long ? You have kids, dont you ? You are supposedly a responsible parent, aren't you ? If your naivety makes you think technology can always make up for nature lost then your kids will have to be trained in either breathing in co2 or live without breathing or maybe just have to move to Mars or manufacture 'clean air' and 'clean water and food' with whatever dirt you leave behind – you know 'recycle'....lots of options those.

Technology and economics: i am definitely not the first person in believing that 'technology' and innovation is controlled by the market and politics. A few on top (or bottom or wherever, i am not sure where they are...they sure are being hidden, but for the sake of being in sync with the views of the rest, we'll leave them on top) who keep the old rusty engine of economics going, the banking industry that aids investments – now none of us think the bank officials go out there and chop down forests, i dont think so either. But the people on top are the ones who benefit from nature's bounty in the true sense of the present economics, they are either those that dig oil wells (petroleum industry), mine the earth(metals and minerals), cork rivers (power generation), the entire gamut of industries that aid the other industries and also sustain the mass by sucking in more of the mass into the system as they throw out goodies for the mass (consumer goods industries, automobile, software etc)

Now lets sort them out one by one
Petroleum industry – Gives us refined crude oil
Greatest profit makers, now slowing down but have made enough profits and the sheer demand for it and the dependence (near life and death factor, even though its inedible in any form) of human life on it., the momentum is on.

A bit on the economics(beware its slightly the non conservative economics) of it, please follow the link below -

Cheap Energy and Limits to Growth


Now with some one person hoarding up so much natural resources converted to what everybody understands best (thanks to globalisation) – 'currency', everybody wants a share of it, in come the bankers who are ready to convert this into other forms of goods that'll help sustain the 'hoarding up of money' or as we all understand it – 'sustaining the present economy', so we now need consumers and technicians or better still consumers who will also play the role of technicians ! The common man. While we are involved in sustaining the economy ( by offering man power – our time and the 'instruction set' that has been imparted to us by the system). So, we are the consumers and the laborers. And We pay for what somebody is asking us to produce.

Effects of oil -
Speed (faster we work for the industries)
Money – Everybody works faster and harder so more money, so we can buy more
Mobility – Again faster we work, and ofcourse the security factor of being a part of the virtual society
Space – We own spaces to live in, we pay for it, who is the ultimate owner of it we know not., just Yet another industry !
Food – Finally something tangible, we have built on the space where we could grow so we ask someone else far far away to grow for us...industry again ! We need oil for transportation too ! So, its because of oil we get our food -- courtesy present economy.
Air – Damned ! Oil pollutes our air (not mine really), just shut it out and forget about it, we have kids (again not mine, mine will just move into other places) who'll deal with it.
Water – Affected in areas where oil is mined. This is large scale destruction of water tables due to digging deep as possible. Bursts of devastation – oil slick, this again concentrated in certain regions only so the majority is still happy.

So, this whole 'Somebody else's problem' problem is exactly how economics control technology. The ones on top are least affected by the above 'Food, water and air' problems. A bit more in detail -

We get cars in shapes and colours – A make believe reflecting the virtual society whose senses are appeased – thanks to the creative common man working for advertisement, creative journo, the entertainers – all of them get a small share to keep it going.
We need cars that are fuel efficient ?! - Real technology lies here. Low oil consumption so not in line with the present 'economic' progress and hence development. So, we continue to pollute.
We could slow down a bit to breath cleaner air – Cycle, walk, public transport ?! - Its Alternative economics and thats about it.
We need the attitude and open minds – Its Alternative economics again !


Newsmakers:
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?Page=article&sectid=15&contentid=20070530022210718d7460de5
The man has earned it – well, thats not the debate i want to get into, he has earned it at the cost of natural resources that are irrecoverable. Its impossible for everyone to aim at building a 27 storeyed home, unfortunately Earth does not have so much for people's greed knows no bounds.




Mining Industries -
Economics makes us speak thus – 'Soil rich in minerals (metals) are wasted if not dug out and used up'. Used up to make buildings, infrastructure & vehicles
Buildings – http://lauriebaker.net/work/work/booklets-and-writing-by-laurie-baker.html. There are more than the 'one way' which is followed by the mass to build homes and buildings. Unless you are blind, hate sunlight and have really conservative family non-thinkers.
Unless you are in the mining business where you have dug out all you can and now need to sell at any cost !
Infrastructure – As long as i can grow my own food and have a place to stay, i do not really need any government or infrastructure and i am not interested in charity to the government and diggers either !
Vehicles – (Done)

Newsmakers:
Reddy adds and subtracts


Power generation -
The most redundant of science whose ill-effects are well established proven with extensive experiments on humans. But since this is mostly again only a 'supply side' management where everybody would like to flock simply 'coz thats where all the profit lies. The government always appreciates dams and power projects not only because it is capable if generating huge revenues (large tracts forests cleared flourishing sales in timber, wild plant and animals (poaching etc) – the entire forest produce which can bring in unfathomable profits to stakeholders involved in the project) , also because it keeps the government busy and in the news.

Electricity is highly inefficient with disastrous environmental impacts. 'Samagra Vikas' documented the entire working model for efficient/ clean energy emphasising on the point that there was no need to any extra installations of power plants since the existing capacity if made efficient (fixing transmission losses, mending the existing infrastructure, intelligent distribution etc) will suffice for all energy needs upto 2017 including an annual growth of 6%. The report is comprehensive which includes all technical & factual details. This was prepared with the help of A K N Reddy 20 years ago.

Again there is minimal encouragement given to research in the renewable energy sector, well not to discredit the so many available alternative solutions but no takers and no promoters, for obvious reason., though there is no dearth for people who strongly oppose such initiatives by mediating the wrong message to the mass and outsourcing the brute force needed to the goons.

Just to re-list – Wind energy, Solar energy, Micro hydel, bio fuel or simply work between 7-6pm


Newsmakers:
Political reasons


Consumer goods/services industry (Software, Communications, entertainment) -
Software - & SEZs : The irony of rules and amendments, if you are really interested in the twist you should read it articulated in less than a 100 pages in the 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell.
While the Karnataka has strict rules regarding ownership of land by and for non-agricultural purposes, the exception to the rule being 'government' and money fetching MNCs. I fail to understand the “Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1995”
Bangalore's green belt defined and constantly redefined by MNCs, we can never recover what we have lost – the huge glass buildings are useless and dangerous as scrap and rubble, if the software industry falls. They are built on fertile red soil, built on our food, they generate incomes again for food (and mostly unnecessary extravagance) coming to us from farther away. These kinds of losses are irrecoverable !
Softwares are mainly used for – Communication, administrative work for larger industries, most futile and purposeless 'is there life elsewhere?' projects – have you ever wondered how this is going to help ? Unless we plan to have a human-alien cross breed that could live on another planet once this ruined.
Communication – There is so much the emphasis on speed, so people can move farther away from each other still communicate normally ?!, for faster download of porn, for people to know about a distant place while they remain ignorant about their immediate surroundings.
Also, these days research is more focused on getting phones to work as cameras, juke boxes and vice-versa...its all about over feeding the consumer or fattening the chicken.
Entertainment – Well, another bunch of stakeholders in getting a share of the huge natural resources, they are the mediators. While they are supposedly mere entertainers that need to be seen and forgotten (without doubt they are overpaid for their work), they are worshiped, most talked about (thanks to the technological advancement in communication – the whole nation advices Aishwarya on her choice of clothes), sports is now a commodity – time and resources wasted on a large scale. Based on what do we think mankind is actually becoming smarter ? The only sense of ours that seems to be developing which could in some millions of years(if we survive that long without destroying ourselves) lead to 'highly advanced' visual senses !
We are fast losing local entertainment that have survived the internal fights, but are unable to survive 'globalisation'. We have lost folklore known and unknown. Isn't communication supposed to aid us in getting to know each other better unlike getting to know some one else better ?

Most of the science and technology today are either creating more problems than solutions or countering the effects of human induced deficiencies. Though this kind of process of creating problems and then finding solutions is cyclic and hence sustainable, unfortunately the resources are limited.

There is no greater science than nature and there is no greater understanding of God than understanding nature.

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