Back to School

I went back to my old school Mayo Girls on the 11th of August after five years. It felt really strange to be back, I felt happiness, nostalgia, sadness as well as a sense of joy that I didn't have to follow some of the ridiculous rules! A lot of changes have happened at school, a lot of new buildings, a temple, a new swimming pool and other stuff. But so much hasn't changed at all, the food tastes absolutely the same, the girls are as obsessed with boys as ever, the rules are still antiquated. The six years I spent in school were some of the happiest years of my life but I wish that they would move ahead with the times and be more relaxed about certain things. By providing such a sheltered atmosphere school doesn't prepare the girls for the big bad outside world. Anyway it felt really good to go back and next time I want to go with as many of my friends as I can.

Climate Change

The world needs to divert substantially from today’s main energy sources within a few decades to limit centuries of rising temperatures and seas driven by the buildup of heat-trapping emissions in the air, the top body studying climate change has concluded. In an all-night session capping four days of talks in Bangkok, economists, scientists and government officials from more than 100 countries agreed early today on the last sections of a report outlining ways to limit such emissions, led by carbon dioxide, an unavoidable byproduct of burning coal and oil.

The final report, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said prompt slowing of emissions could set the stage later in the century for stabilization of the concentration of carbon dioxide, which, at 380 parts per million now, has risen more than a third since the start of the industrial revolution and could easily double from the preindustrial level within decades. See more here

The companies that pollute the most

Rank	Company	Headquarters Country	2007 CO2 Emissions (MillionTons)	Stern Bill (@$77/Ton) ($Billion)
1	ESKOM	South Africa	234.94	$18.09
2	HUANENG POWER INTERNATIONAL	China	210.02	$16.17
3	SOUTHERN CO	USA	175.10	$13.48
4	AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER CO INC	USA	170.89	$13.16
5	NTPC LTD	India

See more here

Malnourishment in India

India may well be 'shining' to the world at large but when it comes to its children's health the picture is far from glossy. The recently released National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), the third pan-India survey conducted since 1992 (covering 200,000 people from 15-54 years), highlights some sobering facts on this front. According to the survey, conducted between December 2005 and August 2006, a whopping 45.9 per cent of India's under-three kids are underweight, 39 per cent are stunted, 20 per cent severely malnourished, 80 per cent anaemic while infant mortality hovers at 67 per 1,000. More than 6,000 Indian children below five years die everyday due to malnourishment or lack of basic micronutrients like Vitamin A, iron, iodine, zinc or folic acid. Overall, India hosts 57 million - or more than a third - of the world's 146 million undernourished children. See more here and here

The last two months

I recently spent two days in Mussoorie and realized all over again how much I love it. Its one of those places where I feel instinctively at home and comfortable.
Rajasthan was amazing, difficult and challening but amazing. Indicorps and Piramal Foundation is definitely doing some interesting work in Bagar. Potentialy I think Radhika's vermicomposting project looks the most promising.
Recruiting has been intense, I've been to so many schools in the last week that I have lost count. Visiting Doon and Welham Girls was cool, especially after hearing so much about them over the years. All the schools I've been going to have a lot of potential, I just have to follow up and keep at it.
Its getting insanely hot but only to be expected I guess, May is almost here.

Recruiting for Mount A

I have been recruiting for Mount Allison at schools in India in the last few days and its insanely difficult!! We've been to lots of schools in Calcutta and and are trying our hand out in Delhi now, lets see how it goes....

The end of an era...

So 2007 is dawning upon us, the end of an era, of Mount Allison and my time in Sackville. I don't know how I feel, excited yet nervous. What now? Visions of getting a job, having to be "adult", no more crazy sleeping in :( yet I'm escaping from Sackville, isn't that what I wanted??
Confused as always!
Happy New Year to whoever may be reading this.

Global Warming aka WEIRD Weather in Sackville

So for the last one week its been averaging between 5 and 8 degrees here and at night goes down to about 0 or -1. It is shockingly warm, usually Sackville in December is COLD, there is snow and blizzards galore. It snowed a little bit in November which is what the photograph shows, but all the snow's gone. This is the second winter where its been unnaturally warm. My first winter here January 2004 it was -45 degrees with wind chill and now??!! So no hopes of a White Christmas I guess.
Right across Europe's highest mountain chain, says the World Meteorological Organisation, only a third as much snow as usual has fallen so far this winter. Temperatures are up to three degrees centigrade higher than normal, and in some resorts the weather is so warm that even artificial snowmaking machines will not work. See more here
Global warming anybody? I recommend Al Gore's movie An Incovenient Truth