According to a recent McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) study, by the year 2025, nearly a billion people in China will reside in urban centres. As many as 221 urban centres in China will have a population greater than one million; out of which 23 centres will have a population greater than five million. By 2025, over 90 per cent of China’s GDP will be generated by China’s urban economy.
You can read MGI’s full report on China, titled Preparing for China’s urban billion, here. [PDF registration required]
30 April 2009
27 April 2009
Ecological Intelligence
“Every item we buy has a hidden price tag: a toll on the planet, on our health and on the people whose labor provides those goods. Each man-made thing has its own web of impacts left along the way from the extraction or concoction of its ingredients, during its manufacture and transport, through its use in our homes and workplaces, to the day we dispose of it. These unseen impacts are incredibly important. For instance, an ingredient in sunscreen primes the growth of a deadly virus in coral reef. Four thousand to 6,000 metric tons of sunscreen wash off swimmers each year worldwide. The dangers are greatest, of course, where the most swimmers are drawn to the beauty of coral reefs.
Our inability to instinctively recognize the connections between our actions and the problems that result from them leaves us wide open to creating the dangers we decry. Our brains are exquisitely attuned to pinpoint and instantly react to a fixed range of dangers, such as snarling animals. But our perceptual system misses the signals when the threat comes in the form of gradual rises in planetary temperature, or minuscule chemicals that build up in our body over time.”
– Daniel Goleman, American psychologist, author and science journalist, best-known for his 1995 book ‘Emotional Intelligence’
[Citation: Quote reproduced from Truth and Consequences, an article by Daniel Goleman, in Newsweek’s Science section, 18 April 2009 – based on his latest book ‘Ecological Intelligence’.]
Our inability to instinctively recognize the connections between our actions and the problems that result from them leaves us wide open to creating the dangers we decry. Our brains are exquisitely attuned to pinpoint and instantly react to a fixed range of dangers, such as snarling animals. But our perceptual system misses the signals when the threat comes in the form of gradual rises in planetary temperature, or minuscule chemicals that build up in our body over time.”
– Daniel Goleman, American psychologist, author and science journalist, best-known for his 1995 book ‘Emotional Intelligence’
[Citation: Quote reproduced from Truth and Consequences, an article by Daniel Goleman, in Newsweek’s Science section, 18 April 2009 – based on his latest book ‘Ecological Intelligence’.]
23 April 2009
Green is a state of mind
Yesterday, 22 April 2009, was Earth Day.
And, I am ashamed to say that my contribution to our beautiful planet Earth was virtually nothing. The best I could do was buy some clothes made from organically-grown and organically-dyed cotton… and resolve to eat organic food as often as I could.
At work, too, there was zero participation from my colleagues in celebrating Earth Day. I guess, we were all to weighed down by work pressures to pay attention to, or make time for, something as esoteric as celebrating our planet even for a day… or choose a green lifestyle for ever.
This made me wonder about the lifestyles we have adopted these days: our fascination with urban life, our dependence on things plastic and non-organic, our disregard for our environment, and our move away from nature and her bounty. But, was it always like this?
I wondered if it was convenience or carelessness or pure selfishness that drove us away from a pure and natural life that our forefathers enjoyed… and into destroying our planet bit by bit. And I wondered how great a commitment it will take us now to go back to our original pure state… and save the planet.
It was while dwelling on these thoughts that I received an email from The Body Shop advertising its ‘Bag For Life’ on the occasion of Earth Day. The promotional email advertised a free reusable organically-grown cotton tote bag with the message ‘green is not a colour, it’s a state of mind’ with any $30 purchase from The Body Shop.
And I was immediately overwhelmed. The message ‘green is not a colour, it’s a state of mind’ had me mesmerised. True it wasn’t action of any kind – it was just a message on a bag. But, perhaps, this was a start. Perhaps, this was the kind of consciousness we needed to wake up to every morning.
[Citation: Image courtesy The Body Shop email for ‘Bag For Life’.]
And, I am ashamed to say that my contribution to our beautiful planet Earth was virtually nothing. The best I could do was buy some clothes made from organically-grown and organically-dyed cotton… and resolve to eat organic food as often as I could.
At work, too, there was zero participation from my colleagues in celebrating Earth Day. I guess, we were all to weighed down by work pressures to pay attention to, or make time for, something as esoteric as celebrating our planet even for a day… or choose a green lifestyle for ever.
This made me wonder about the lifestyles we have adopted these days: our fascination with urban life, our dependence on things plastic and non-organic, our disregard for our environment, and our move away from nature and her bounty. But, was it always like this?
I wondered if it was convenience or carelessness or pure selfishness that drove us away from a pure and natural life that our forefathers enjoyed… and into destroying our planet bit by bit. And I wondered how great a commitment it will take us now to go back to our original pure state… and save the planet.
It was while dwelling on these thoughts that I received an email from The Body Shop advertising its ‘Bag For Life’ on the occasion of Earth Day. The promotional email advertised a free reusable organically-grown cotton tote bag with the message ‘green is not a colour, it’s a state of mind’ with any $30 purchase from The Body Shop.
And I was immediately overwhelmed. The message ‘green is not a colour, it’s a state of mind’ had me mesmerised. True it wasn’t action of any kind – it was just a message on a bag. But, perhaps, this was a start. Perhaps, this was the kind of consciousness we needed to wake up to every morning.
[Citation: Image courtesy The Body Shop email for ‘Bag For Life’.]
18 April 2009
Art is irreplaceable
“Art is an irreplaceable way of understanding and expressing the world – equal to but distinct from scientific and conceptual methods. Art addresses us in the fullness of our being – simultaneously speaking to our intellect, emotions, intuition, imagination, memory, and physical senses. There are some truths about life that can be expressed only as stories, or songs, or images.
Art delights, instructs, consoles. It educates our emotions. And it remembers. As Robert Frost once said about poetry, ‘It is a way of remembering that which it would impoverish us to forget.’ Art awakens, enlarges, refines, and restores our humanity. You don’t outgrow art. The same work can mean something different at each stage of your life. A good book changes as you change.”
– Dana Gioia, American poet and Chairman National Endowment for the Arts, in his 17 June 2007 Commencement Address at Stanford University
Art delights, instructs, consoles. It educates our emotions. And it remembers. As Robert Frost once said about poetry, ‘It is a way of remembering that which it would impoverish us to forget.’ Art awakens, enlarges, refines, and restores our humanity. You don’t outgrow art. The same work can mean something different at each stage of your life. A good book changes as you change.”
– Dana Gioia, American poet and Chairman National Endowment for the Arts, in his 17 June 2007 Commencement Address at Stanford University
16 April 2009
Watchmen
It’s 1985. In the United States, Richard Nixon has settled into his fifth term as President. Globally, the Cold War is about to reach its climax as the US and the USSR are at a standoff, their nuclear weapons ready and aimed to annihilate each other. The US, of course, has a secret weapon – Dr Manhattan, a superhero who can control matter and may possibly be able to stop the USSR’s nuclear missile attack and save the US from destruction.
Other superheroes have retired – some too old or dead; some living ordinary lives; some living their last days in asylums. Crime fills the streets and homes of ordinary people – especially one that has ex-superhero Rorschach’s hackles up. For, this crime is the murder of Edward Blake – the erstwhile superhero known as the Comedian, a member of a group of six superheroes who used to be called the Watchmen.
But very few people know that. So, Rorschach smells a rat and starts his own investigation of the Comedian’s murder, dropping in on his old cronies (both ex-superheroes and villains), and recording his progress in a journal. Watchmen – British writer Alan Moore’s 1986 graphic novel turned into film by American director Zack Snyder in 2009 – tells the story of Rorschach’s investigation of the Comedian’s murder from this journal, travelling across the globe, across timelines and even to outer space.
Unlike most Superman, Spider Man or X-Men films, Watchmen is not a film for adolescent/teenage boys and girls. The film’s content is definitely for adult viewership, with scenes of strong graphic violence and, in instances, sex (parts of it censored for Indian audiences). However, the film is impressive, with great cinematography and special effects; and some great 1970’s music (Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Jimmy Hendrix, etc).
And, of course, the tension of the investigation continues till the very end: Who killed the Comedian? Why was he killed? What happens now? What happens after?
But most importantly, Watchmen shows us the dark side of superheroes; their pasts and their penchant for vigilantism. Watchmen portrays our superheroes as far from being the perfect human beings we hero-worship. Rather, they are troubled characters, full of flaws, trying to redeem themselves and improve the world they (and we all) live in. In Watchmen, Rorschach is a wonderful embodiment of this dark superhero… and my favourite.
A few things did bother me about the film. First, at two and a half hours (in Indian cinemas), Watchmen tended to be long. Second, the plot, and its switching back and forth through flashbacks, was a little confusing at times. And third, the characterisation of the superheroes – the Comedian, Rorschach, Dr Manhattan, Nite Owl II, Silk Spectre II and Ozymandias – was somewhat weak. Still, in my mind, these failings weren’t enough to stop Watchmen from achieving epic status.
Watchmen is directed by Zack Snyder and stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan (the Comedian), Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach), Billy Crudup (Dr Manhattan), Patrick Wilson (Nite Owl II), Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre II) and Matthew Goode (Ozymandias).
Other superheroes have retired – some too old or dead; some living ordinary lives; some living their last days in asylums. Crime fills the streets and homes of ordinary people – especially one that has ex-superhero Rorschach’s hackles up. For, this crime is the murder of Edward Blake – the erstwhile superhero known as the Comedian, a member of a group of six superheroes who used to be called the Watchmen.
But very few people know that. So, Rorschach smells a rat and starts his own investigation of the Comedian’s murder, dropping in on his old cronies (both ex-superheroes and villains), and recording his progress in a journal. Watchmen – British writer Alan Moore’s 1986 graphic novel turned into film by American director Zack Snyder in 2009 – tells the story of Rorschach’s investigation of the Comedian’s murder from this journal, travelling across the globe, across timelines and even to outer space.
Unlike most Superman, Spider Man or X-Men films, Watchmen is not a film for adolescent/teenage boys and girls. The film’s content is definitely for adult viewership, with scenes of strong graphic violence and, in instances, sex (parts of it censored for Indian audiences). However, the film is impressive, with great cinematography and special effects; and some great 1970’s music (Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Jimmy Hendrix, etc).
And, of course, the tension of the investigation continues till the very end: Who killed the Comedian? Why was he killed? What happens now? What happens after?
But most importantly, Watchmen shows us the dark side of superheroes; their pasts and their penchant for vigilantism. Watchmen portrays our superheroes as far from being the perfect human beings we hero-worship. Rather, they are troubled characters, full of flaws, trying to redeem themselves and improve the world they (and we all) live in. In Watchmen, Rorschach is a wonderful embodiment of this dark superhero… and my favourite.
A few things did bother me about the film. First, at two and a half hours (in Indian cinemas), Watchmen tended to be long. Second, the plot, and its switching back and forth through flashbacks, was a little confusing at times. And third, the characterisation of the superheroes – the Comedian, Rorschach, Dr Manhattan, Nite Owl II, Silk Spectre II and Ozymandias – was somewhat weak. Still, in my mind, these failings weren’t enough to stop Watchmen from achieving epic status.
Watchmen is directed by Zack Snyder and stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan (the Comedian), Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach), Billy Crudup (Dr Manhattan), Patrick Wilson (Nite Owl II), Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre II) and Matthew Goode (Ozymandias).
11 April 2009
Life and gender in advertising
A recent lifestyle and compensation survey of advertising professionals by The Drum – one of UK’s leading advertising, media and marketing magazine based out of Glasgow, Scotland – found that
“71% of the sample were married or cohabiting and 28% single or divorced. The mean ages of these groups were as expected with single people at 20 years, cohabiting at 24 years, married at 30 years and divorced at 38 years.”
I wonder if this progression of age and marital status is a fate we all have to surrender to in our profession… even in India.
Needless to say, the survey found, men in advertising are paid substantially more than their women colleagues… with higher prospects of securing board-level positions.
I guess all’s not fair in advertising either.
A report on The Drum survey titled A Work-Life Balance? can be found here. [registration required]
On the issue of gender bias in executive pay, please read Men make more money than women.
“71% of the sample were married or cohabiting and 28% single or divorced. The mean ages of these groups were as expected with single people at 20 years, cohabiting at 24 years, married at 30 years and divorced at 38 years.”
I wonder if this progression of age and marital status is a fate we all have to surrender to in our profession… even in India.
Needless to say, the survey found, men in advertising are paid substantially more than their women colleagues… with higher prospects of securing board-level positions.
I guess all’s not fair in advertising either.
A report on The Drum survey titled A Work-Life Balance? can be found here. [registration required]
On the issue of gender bias in executive pay, please read Men make more money than women.
10 April 2009
We now wield the paintbrush
“Few people realize the speed of change as civilization’s consumption grows but the Earth’s resources don’t. I’ve found one illustration so dramatic it makes the point painfully clear. The present total weight of vertebrate life on land and in the air can be divided into two parts: the human-related (humans and their livestock and pets) is 98%, and wild nature just 2%. If you’re keeping score, we have won – but in winning may lose a grander game.
The following two sentences summarize the situation at this wonderful moment of human life on Earth:
Over billions of years, on a unique sphere, chance has painted a thin covering of life – complex, improbable, wonderful, and fragile. Suddenly we humans (a recently arrived species no longer subject to the checks and balances inherent in nature), have grown in population, technology, and intelligence to a position of terrible power: we now wield the paintbrush.”
– Dr Paul B MacCready (1925-2007), inventor of human-powered flight, founder and former Chairman, AeroVironment Inc, in his 1999 web essay An Ambivalent Luddite at a Technological Feast
The following two sentences summarize the situation at this wonderful moment of human life on Earth:
Over billions of years, on a unique sphere, chance has painted a thin covering of life – complex, improbable, wonderful, and fragile. Suddenly we humans (a recently arrived species no longer subject to the checks and balances inherent in nature), have grown in population, technology, and intelligence to a position of terrible power: we now wield the paintbrush.”
– Dr Paul B MacCready (1925-2007), inventor of human-powered flight, founder and former Chairman, AeroVironment Inc, in his 1999 web essay An Ambivalent Luddite at a Technological Feast
07 April 2009
The Winner Stands Alone
“One of the recurrent themes in my books is the importance of paying a price for your dreams. But to what extent can our dreams be manipulated? For the past few decades, we have lived in a culture that privileged fame, money, power – and most people were led to believe that these were the real values that they were to pursue.
What we don’t know is that, behind the scenes, the real manipulators remain anonymous. They understand that the most effective power is the one that nobody can notice – until it is too late, and you are trapped. The Winner Stands Alone is about this trap.”
– Paulo Coelho, in his latest novel The Winner Stands Alone
[Reproduced from the Foreword of The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho; translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa; HarperCollinsPublishers 2009.]
What we don’t know is that, behind the scenes, the real manipulators remain anonymous. They understand that the most effective power is the one that nobody can notice – until it is too late, and you are trapped. The Winner Stands Alone is about this trap.”
– Paulo Coelho, in his latest novel The Winner Stands Alone
[Reproduced from the Foreword of The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho; translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa; HarperCollinsPublishers 2009.]
04 April 2009
02 April 2009
Could have fooled me
Pranks on April Fool’s Day have been commonplace in my life. Though, with the advent of technology, these days, my friends have (thankfully) chosen emails and mobile text messages over the more elaborate pranks we used to play on each other while growing up. So, apart from the usual jokes that filtered in or beeped into my inbox yesterday, the day had ended rather uneventfully.
However, while surfing the internet before going to bed, I came across two hilarious April Fool’s Day pranks – both, amusingly, from the world of journalism – that, if it hadn’t been April Fool’s Day yesterday, could have easily fooled me, and perhaps the rest of the world, into accepting their facts as reality.
The first was a Guardian article announcing Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink – a light-hearted account of how Guardian’s news stories will now be available on a message service. And the second, a Christian Science Monitor story, titled Scientists worldwide admit global warming is a hoax, on how Al Gore and his mantra on global warming have really been fooling us for years.
You can read the stories here and here.
I wish the Indian media had a sense of humour to match these stories.
[Citation: Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink by Rio Palof from The Guardian website dated 1 April 2009; Scientists worldwide admit global warming is a hoax by Eoin O’Carroll from The Christian Science Monitor website dated 1 April 2009.]
However, while surfing the internet before going to bed, I came across two hilarious April Fool’s Day pranks – both, amusingly, from the world of journalism – that, if it hadn’t been April Fool’s Day yesterday, could have easily fooled me, and perhaps the rest of the world, into accepting their facts as reality.
The first was a Guardian article announcing Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink – a light-hearted account of how Guardian’s news stories will now be available on a message service. And the second, a Christian Science Monitor story, titled Scientists worldwide admit global warming is a hoax, on how Al Gore and his mantra on global warming have really been fooling us for years.
You can read the stories here and here.
I wish the Indian media had a sense of humour to match these stories.
[Citation: Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink by Rio Palof from The Guardian website dated 1 April 2009; Scientists worldwide admit global warming is a hoax by Eoin O’Carroll from The Christian Science Monitor website dated 1 April 2009.]
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