Rekindling Hope

I don’t know why I miss you today

The smiles we exchanged

The time we spent

The dreams we shared

All have united to haunt me

To create a pungent feeling of guilt, shame and despise.

Will it be ever possible

To reverse the flow of time

To undo the events of past

Some of which unfolded naturally

Some because of our ego

That led to perpetual denial of errors and mistakes

Don’t say life has its tortuous path

And this event is a lesson for life

No, I don’t want to learn these painful lessons

At this heavy price

What is the point in learning life’s lesson

That forces to a state of regret and scorn

I don’t know how you are, where you are

But today after a long gap

I have realised your value

Value of your smiles, and your admonishments

Don’t say it’s too late, too wrong a time

Just be brave to rekindle the hopes

Of being together

Together forever.

Naturally Coloured Cotton

Cotton is normally white, off-white, yellowish. Chemical processing of cotton removes the colour of cotton. The process is called bleaching. Bleached cotton is subsequently dyed to impart desired colour.

Processes of bleaching, dyeing are complex. Require heat, water, chemicals. Ability to get desired shade is a function of science and art of dyeing.

Many will be surprised to know that cotton could be naturally coloured. Yes, there are some varieties of cotton that are naturally coloured. We have cottons that are red, green, brown etc.

There was a time coloured cotton was being commercially produced. However, due to lack of strength coloured cotton could not be machine spun. But as the demand of organic products and eco-freindly fibres is going up, there are discussions on reviving commercial production of coloured cotton.

Many international textile retailers have started procuring colured cotton. Agronomists around the world are working to produce genetically modified coloured cotton with strength adequate for machine spinning.

Sally Fox's Natural Colour Cotton Inc. and Raymond Bird's BC Cotton Inc. have already started commercial cultivation of coloured cotton. The companies are also investing in research to improve commercial viability of these cottons. Hopefully, in near future we will see more of coloured cotton around us.

Role of Global Partnerships in Environmental Sustainability

Sustainable management of ecosystems is increasingly recognised as essential for combating climate change, underpinning progress towards a green economy. It focuses on sustaining ecosystems to meet both ecological and human needs, and integrating social, environmental and economic perspectives to manage geographically defined natural ecological systems. The ongoing process of economic globalization and economic growth demands strong and sustainable environmental globalization. The intellectual as well as political world has realised that the environmental concerns need a holistic view. The decisions and activities of one nation could have a serious impact on the environment of the other nations. This demands systematically strategized efforts to assess ecological significance of economic activities and economic growth on the natural resources of the world as a whole. This makes global partnership imperative for environmental sustainability.

Critical environmental issues like climate change, ozone layer depletion, global warming, soil erosion, excessive use of non-renewable energy, controlling carbon dioxide emission, maintaining the bio-diversity etc. are global issues that could be resolved only through global partnerships. Resolution of these critical issues requires cooperation between large portions of international community. The entire concept of global partnership has to be premised on a need to reconceptualise the ecological management regimes, reconnect with stakeholders of the world environment.

United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) acts as a global platform to address issues related to environment. It has identified six priority areas for its focus as the environmental challenge of 21^st century. These are climate change, disasters and conflicts, ecosystem management, environmental governance, harmful substances, resource efficiency and other key thematic environmental areas. The UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It is the leading body for the assessment of climate change that provides the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences.

Despite the presence of UNEP and numerous other organisations for global coordination on climate change, there is a striking difference of opinion on the implementation policies among the developed and the developing nations. There is a need of global leadership with commitment and competence to tackle the entangled issues of sustainable environment. Only a strong global leadership which can think globally and can act locally addressing the local issues of each nation on the basis of its socio-cultural structure could bring the entire world on a common platform. A good world leader can root the environmental diplomacy on the edifice of good governance rather than on the principles of business transactions. It is expected that a developed country would play this leadership role.

In principle countries across the world agree the dire need of controlling the disastrous and detrimental consequences of climate change. However, the developed and the developing countries find it very difficult to arrive at a consensus on the cap of carbon emissions. In per capita carbon emission, the developing countries are still much lower than the developed ones. They believe that big reduction in their emission will severely affect their growth momentum. Additionally these countries do not have ample facilities and infrastructure for the use of clean technology. They expect economic cooperation from the developed countries on building sustainable, clean and environment friendly technologies. On the other hand, the developed nations are in favour of reduction of emission by all countries despite the difference in their per capita emission. In the process one group has started visualising the other as an environmental fundamentalist.

Despite the differences, global partnership is inevitable to combat the challenge of sustainable environment. Each country needs to recognise its responsibilities by way of mitigation and adaptation. Mutually agreed global sustainable environment agenda, meaningful cooperation and commitment and compliance to the international agreements among the global partners could address the crucial issues of environment. At present many countries are willing to make environmental sustainability more effective by ensuring use of clean, sustainable technologies. Global partnership that respects the doctrine of interdependencies through commitment to common goal and compliance to international agreements on environmental issues would help to achieve the goal.

The Dilemma of Hypercharged Economy

Many of us notice the world around us undergoing a swift change. Life has become a race. Race for everything. Many of us (in India) miss normal life that people used to enjoy two decades ago. Today, when we talk about life we talk about corporates, jobs, pollution, degradation of moral values, money and corruption. On one hand we blame the current socio-economic scenario, on the other we all love to earn as much as possible to satisfy our needs (knowing or unknowingly we have modified the definition of needs in such a manner that now luxury has also become a need).

People say change is the most inevitable thing in life. It’s impossible to stop, avoid it. True. At the same time there is a need to understand the fundamental factors that drive change. Where the change is leading towards? Is the change desirable?

The answer is not simple. It requires systematic research. It requires ability to identify patterns embedded in world economics and politics.

The book “Super capitalism” by Robert Reich helps the reader to unravel some key patterns of American and world economics and identifies the underlying principles of the same. The concepts and ideas substantiated by data makes the book an enjoyable read.

There is a dilemma within all of us. We all want to earn more and more. We all want a decent social set up. This desire is not incorrect or irrational. But the means we deploy to achieve our desire are contradictory to some extent.

For earning we look for stock market. We invest our money where we can get maximum return. That makes the companies to focus too much on their stock performance. If stock market performance is not good they will face the heat…even the top executives may lose their jobs. Too much focus on stock market many times forces companies to neglect social, cultural and environmental aspects. We as citizens face the heat of such negligence. Now the question is who is responsible? The companies? Yes. But what made them neglect factors other than stock market? We investors. Our pension funds, mutual funds etc.

We also look for a stable job. No one wants a job full of stress and insecurity. A job with decent pay. At the same time we love to get cheap products. And the pressure of cheaper product forces companies to trim their workforce, to put additional burden on their employees, to curtail their pay (Wal-Mart is notorious for its pay, and for bringing its supplier in the same loop). Who faces the heat? We, the citizens. And who is responsible? Right, not the companies. We, the consumers.

Now what should we look for? To be happier consumers and investors or to be happier citizens. We are in a dilemma. We want to be both. But the present model is forcing us to choose one.

Robert Reich is right when he says that blaming companies or the governments won’t help much. It’s is the dilemma faced collectively by the society.

How green is your green cloth

Green is a buzz word today. Green means eco-friendly, natural. Individuals as well as companies have been advertising their greenness like anything.

Understanding green is not as easy as it seems. It requires technical knowledge about environment and eco-friendliness.

Which is more eco-friendly? Cotton cloth or Polyester cloth.

Many will say cotton. Polyester means chemicals, synthetic chemicals and formulations. Cotton is natural, so more nature friendly.

No. Not correct. Polyester is more eco-friendly. To understand this we have to understand the entire life cycle of both cotton and polyester and the chemicals used in production/cultivation and so on. Cotton is no doubt natural. But at the same time cotton cloth has more adverse effect on environment than polyester cloth. Two convincing reasons:

• Use of chemicals/pesticides in cotton cultivation. The toxic pesticides affect many inhabitants of the ecosystem.
• Cotton cloth requires frequent ironing than polyester cloth. Ironing means heat generation and excessive energy consumption.

Researchers with analysis of the end-to-end life of cotton and polyester clothes and effect on environment of various chemical and physical processing have concluded that on an overall basis cotton is less eco-friendly than polyester.

Similarly if you pay a premium for organic cotton, you need to understand many organically grown cotton are latter subjected to toxic chemicals. It is not about only cotton cultivation. You need to ensure that the organically grown cotton has been processed as per organic processing standards. So think twice before paying premium if you are paying only for organically cultivated cotton.

Many times natural dyes are also not that natural. Many natural dyes use metal complex as binding agents. And these metal complexes are not eco-friendly.

The so called green cloth may not be green. If you are paying premium for greenness ensure that you have evaluated all aspects of greenness. And people with degrees in textile chemistry may also fail to evaluate this.

If you have already paid premium for your green cloth, without investigating further assume that the cloth is green and enjoy the feeling of happiness for contributing to environment.