Moonstruck sanity

For the umpteenth time, I had crossed that acclaimed gang-plank of a bridge, on campus, with tall thickets sprouting out of the bog. It must have been after 3 in the night for not a soul gamboled past. And the wind was blowing with the nonchalant ferocity that provokes a tussle between instinct and intellect. The swarming fire-flys were peevish in spluttering miniscule tinges of yellows to break the black of the night sky.

It is over three months now in this city, they call it the city of joy. It has been a roller coaster with the brake wire yanked away. Presentations, assignments, quizzes !! Mud baths and swearing hordes !! The constant hum inside the campus has been fervent. The first week had been the icing, now etched in stone. Those were night-less moorings that straitjacketed our animated countenances; we slept after daybreak and had to be up again in time for a sumptuous breakfast. I write sumptuous breakfast for lack of a precise and apt description. Then on a Monday, began the insipid monotonies of class room lectures. Lord Dalhousie, I had thought I wouldn’t have to bear with after the Class X history, came back with a vengeance. And he wasn’t alone. In four weeks of Indian political and economic history, I clearly recall opium showed up somewhere in between. And so did Ms Gandhi. Please don't try to connect the two. I cannot dare to begin my tirade against the misnomer that is marketing. Or the nuances of behavioral sciences. Engross on academics further and it might rankle you too. Submission deadlines, everyone exhorts are sacro-sacrosanct. Yet, often they are eventually extended. Hope we are not seduced into a capacious indolence over here. The schedules would pull us out of our two day long recluse tomorrow, for an onwards stride. One of the charms here are the parties that aren’t a rarity. They churn out music and booze unto well after daybreak.

The realization of spending two more Februarys over here evokes a chaotic sentiment. Waiting for an entirely new saga to emerge, to unfold into its many colours.

The Global Impact of Green Technology Companies

Are we in time? More methane has escaped from permafrost in the past five years than in the previous fifty. Water shortage remains a pertinent challenge; millions of square miles of land in the poorest of nations are turning into deserts. One issue that champions attention is sustainability and climate threats. The planet cannot, possibly, cart the relentless growth each nation strives for today. Of the nine billion people that would be alive in 2050, most of them would have seen strife and will aspire to consume more. The need for an exact inquiry into carbon abatement costs and climate change finance arises.

Had green ways been cheaper than non- green ones, innovative businesses would have enveloped us by now. For a quantum leap in green technology, the price of oil will definitely be one of the most significant market forces. The Stern report estimates that the necessary global action could cost an additional one percent of global economic activity. The world’s armed forces spend twice that amount every year for national security.

If nations upgrade to green energy as part of the natural cycle of replacement, there may be no additional capital cost of going green. Germany is an example where a strong policy decision boosted the global schema of the solar photovoltaic industry. Heat pumps in place of air conditioners make for smart avenues to offset the C impasse. Add to that, most efficient wind and hydro generators provide electricity at a competitive price to that of coal based generation.

Appreciating the taxonomy of environmental investments is essential to comprehend the impact of the ‘green’ injunction. Climate change presents institutional investors with risk as well as investment opportunities. The inherent fluidity makes climate change impacts and timing tough to conceive. Here lies an opportunity for the daft manager, an opportunity to exploit to generate a return greater than what the market has to offer.

As the majority of countries adopt green-tech, a sustainable market may evolve with an unsustainable market bringing up the rear. Rich countries would use their muscle to close down the latter. Countries outside the sustainable club may enjoy low prices initially. But in due course, these countries would suffer from the sanctions imposed by the countries committed to sustainability. Over time, most producing countries will transform their processes to gain access to the premium market. In general, prices of the world sustainable market would rise sharply. Resource-rich, poor undeveloped countries will learn to maintain a stable national market. Market entry would be at premium for such countries due to the clout of the developed countries. Countries where commodity prices are higher, for example, Switzerland and Japan would be forced to reduce consumption. This is because any policy that depended on imports would be a risky bet in such a setting. Recognition of agents of inveterate over-consumption would benefit all clusters.

The strains are already provoking an acerbic rift. The grain clamours for its raison-d’etre. The U.S. blatantly harps on the rising food consumption in the developing world as reason for rising commodity costs. It comfortably overlooks the fact that they have already blended over 7 billion gallons of biofuel into gasoline. The green economist Volker Heinemann succinctly claims that “Free trade is out of touch with reality.” Green technology has led to the design of alternative policies that required sound economic thinking to implement sustainable technology.