Germany decides to shut down Nuclear Power Plants

Till recently this blogger too used to think that Nuclear energy is relatively safe and efficient. With carbon emission preoccupying our mind the dangers of radioactive radiation and the safety concerns of Nuclear power plant were undermined. Until Fukushima happened. Clearly the radioactive risk is significant. And unlike Chernobyl that was an accident caused by negligence Fukushima’s cause is natural that makes nuclear power plants extremely vulnerable. Despite what nuclear scientists may profess (it is difficult to be neutral here since it is an industry now with competing forces that may not like the truth) the fact is that there isn’t any technology that can neutralise radioactivity. Germany’s decision to shut down its Nuclear Power plants (by 2022) is quite significant since nuclear energy contributes to about quarter of its energy needs. This a lesson for those who seek to see nuclear energy as energy of future. Clearly any source of energy has to be sustainable in the long run, and radioactivity is as much damaging (if not more) as increasing carbon footprint. Angela Merkel said it is a "transformation towards efficient and renewable energies, with all the opportunities that it has, for exports, development, new technologies and jobs”

It is astounding that sustainable source of energy is not given as much importance as was needed till recently, i guess with the world reaching the tipping point (or have we already crossed it) the addiction with hydrocarbons will have to give way to renewable sources. Sun seems to be the answer, not only taping and storing sunlight but the fusion reaction. When i was studying in school there was lots of excitement about nuclear fusion (“to light the whole city with a glass of water”) and superconductivity. Wonder what happened to these?

The world watches brutal repression of people in Syria and Yemen...

The way the regimes in Syria and Yemen have reacted to aspirations of people is shocking to say the least. People in these countries just want to live in dignity, for long rulers in these countries have treated common people with appalling impudence. And when they have come out in the street protesting (must add in remarkable restraint), the regime have chosen to show its contempt through brutal violence. Everyday people are being shot dead, they are massacring at random. It is shocking that international community has not initiated action against these brutal regimes. The UNSC has been blocked by China and Russia, in what seems like a reaction that goes back to cold war period. They seem to be playing to the power structure needs than the aspirations of common people.

Hopefully people of these countries as also other countries specifically countries like Egypt and Tunisia should know what role China and Russia are playing. People around the world should note these responses and decide. China might be economically powerful but if it doesn’t learn to respect and give dignity to people then people around the world should force their governments from dealing with countries like China, at personal level we can even stop buying Chinese products and services. Human rights are not subjective things that are to be decided by few people, this blogger doesn’t understand how an undemocratic authoritarian China is given a veto right in UN. It is also not a coincidence that China has warm relations with repressive regimes around the world (start with Burma and NKorea). This blogger expresses serious concern on the well being of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei as also others who fight for justice. As Confucius once said “Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles”. I have great respect for Chinese people and civilisation (and have written about it in the earlier blogs) but the rulers in China are letting its people down. The world waits for Chinese spring. O what a day that will be!!

defeating the Leftist arrogance in Bengal

it is a reflection of lack of social mobility that most leaders in Bengal belong to same strata of society, a severe indictment of elitism in Bengal communism that stalled and failed to perceive or act on the aspirations of common people. The arrogance came into fore in last few years that they treated common people with disdain (kerala communists are more connected, the same reason why communist rarely have foothold in Tamil Nadu though there is a space and need...people don't trust pretentious elite). Though this blogger has apprehensions about the new government in Bengal but will have to say: this is rebirth of Bengal. Time to push out self serving people and bring in (let's say Bihar model) of social responsibility .

How Americans eliminated Passenger Pigeon

And it is man we eat and man we drink

and man who thickens round us like a stain.
Ice at the polar cap smells of men.

A word, a class, a formula, a use:
that is the rhythm, the cycle we impose.
The sirens sang to us to the ends of the sea,

and changed to us; their voices were our own,
jug-jug to dirty ears in dirtied brine.
Pigeons and angels sang us to the sky

and turned to metal and a dirty need.
The height of sky, the depths of sea we are,
sick with a yellow stain, a fouling dye.

Whatever Being is, that formula,
it dies as we pursue it past the word.
We have not asked the meaning but the use.

What is the use of water when it dims?
The use of air that whines in emptiness?
The use of glass-eyed pigeons caged in glass?

That was an extract from ‘Lament for Passenger Pigeons’ by Australian poet, Judith Wright...

Passenger Pigeon's story is about how American dream can be world's nightmare. These birds were once the most numerous birds on the planet (about 5Billion) they were completely eliminated -from the most ever to zero - in less than a century from the wild by a ruthless campaign of eradication. Though it need be added that Passenger Pigeon’s habitat and foraging needs too were unsustainable in long run, as they ransacked in flocks of millions (John James Audubon writes about how he rode under a sky darkened from horizon to horizon by a cloud of passenger pigeons. He estimated that more than a billion birds had passed over him). But what cannot be denied is that these birds were dealt brutally by early American settlers. Thousands of men worked as professional pigeon hunters, they travelled around the country on the new railroads, searching for nesting grounds. When they found one, they killed all they could. When the birds moved to a new roost, the hunter followed them. They were targeted for meat and were shot for sport, both in the wild and in carnival booths where the docile birds proved easy targets. Their tactics were brutal but efficient, long sticks were used to knock the birds and their young from nests where they were then clubbed as they rained down. Fire and sulphur were used to suffocate the birds as they roosted. Live pigeons with eyes sewn shut were also used as decoys to attract other pigeons (they were called “stools”, hence the phrase “stool pigeon”), shotgun was an ever-popular option. One published account quoted a man who recalled shooting blindly into a tree at night and collecting 18 birds. Migrating flocks provided a steady stream of birds that flew so close that 50 could be brought down with a single blast. When the bounty proved too much for a single man or even a single town to use, hogs were loosed to clean the ground of dead pigeons and helpless chirping squabs. The real onslaught began with the onset of large-scale commercial hunting carried out by well-organised trappers and shippers in order to supply the developing cities on the east coast of the United States with a cheap source of meat. These had significant impact on the population of these pigeons. Read these...

In the summer of 1878, the last large breeding colony of Pigeons arrived near Crooked Lake in Petosky, Michigan. The flock covered 40 square miles and for three months yielded over 50,000 birds a day to hunters. One hunter reportedly killed 3,000,000 of the birds and according to one account earned $60,000–more than $1 million in today’s dollars. All told, between 10 and 15 million birds were dressed, packed for sale, and shipped out of Petoskey that summer. Estimates of the total number slaughtered vary widely but agree that the harvest rate was upwards of 90%. Though moderate-sized colonies nested in Michigan in 1881, the bird was never again spotted in that state after 1889.

In 1896, the last remaining flock of Passenger Pigeons settled down to nest. All 250,000 were exterminated in one day by sportsmen who gathered to kill what was advertised as the last wild flock of the birds. Fully aware of the rarity of the species, a 14-year-old boy in Ohio shot the last wild pigeon in the spring of 1900.
All efforts at breeding in captivity failed. The Passenger Pigeon reproduced slowly, had odd mating habits that prevented crossbreeding, and were seemingly incapable of breeding within their species outside of large colonies. One by one, pigeons in captivity died without producing offspring. Finally on September 1st, 1914 the last Passenger Pigeon fell off her perch and died. Martha had lived to be 29. She was frozen in ice and shipped to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington where she was skinned and stuffed. She remains there on display.

These lines by Syrian poet Al Maari

We laughed; our laughing betrayed scorn.
People on this earth should live in fear.
When man shakes hands with Time, Time crushes
Them like tumblers; little pieces of glass.