Before saying anything, let me ask you to watch the videos embedded below. If you've already watched it on TV, its optional.
and this...
What do you feel about it?
These are actually promotions for a cause by the telco companies in making us aware of our environment.
One may initially feel sorry for the environment, may feel the urge to go green n eco etc.
Lets look into it in a more indifferent manner. Lets take them one by one.
1. Idea's urge to save paper, use mobile.
Go through the video once again if you want to, it gives you many ways to save paper. One can see browsing newspaper through mobile, giving autographs on a touchscreen, taking notes on a mobile(in a court), boarding passes in airports, university certificates, menus and orders in a hotel and what not?
The ad goes bang into the market and is a big hit. Though there are many filmy elements. One major flaw I felt was nobody uses a mobile to type in a court when one can have a desktop/laptop. Storage and transmitting could also be more spacious/faster in the latter case.
Agreed, as they are promoting their product, that is their gimmick. I'm not against the entertaining aspect of it.
Coming to more serious matter, who would implement such ideas? May be a few enthusiasts who got interested would make it a point in following the steps guided by the ad. Aged people would hardly feel the urge to type. They prefer hard copy paper than its counterpart. I don't see any long term implementations of it. On the other hand, these could be the advertisements of the mobile manufacturers and not of the service providers strictly speaking.
Lets hold it for a moment and discuss it after the second ad.
2. Aircel's urge to save the tigers of India.
Its a bit more serious than the previous ad. They ask us to involve in saving tigers. Specially Indian tigers. (Well, how can we save tigers that aren't in our country?) Wanna know more about it? Check it out here.
It has got three brand ambassadors. Cricketing star, M.S. Dhoni, Football captain, Bhaichung Bhutia and Tamil hero Suriya (Aircel is basically from TN).
Again, lemme list the positives here.
1. Effectively depicts the condition of our tigers.
2. Makes us think about Tigers as endangered species.
3. No filmy things in the ad. Thanks for that.
Now lemme tell you my opinion on this ad. Ultimately whatever a common man does, he cannot literally help in saving tigers. Blogging about it, speaking on it in meetings, sharing your thoughts with your friends... nothing is practically gonna help saving tigers. If I'm wrong, please enlighten me in this matter.
Forget everything, we cannot see a tiger except for zoos. Lively tigers are hard to search in jungles. Many of my treks n hiking have gone unfruitful to watch the predator in an open forest. (Not that normal person wishes to see tigers)
Whatever this ad is meant for, should reach the actual hunters of tigers. Not only the hunters of tiger alone, but all wild animals in general.
No 'Save wildlife campaign' helped to any extent in hunting down Veerappan, the elephant poacher. All we could wait for is to turn the minds of these poachers n hunters as well as their supporters on the good side.
Now to summarize everything discussed, its just a market gimmick for these telco providers to gain more publicity boasting themselves as eco-friendly. I'm not saying that they're always wrong. We do have truth on their side, but still I feel its just their marketing strategy. All I want to say is that because of these mobile operators, we have lost our sparrows from the urban areas. Not only sparrows but almost all birds. All we could see is a few crows here n there sparingly.
How many will turn in my side, if I say 'Stop using mobiles, save the sparrow. Lets do our bit'. Who will turn my side?
Or yet another agenda, 'Use less plastic, save the environment'?? How many will turn up? How many street cows have fallen sick/died just because of consuming plastic?
You might think I'm always cynic towards such things. Thats how I am.
As always, If I've left out some points or you feel that I'm wrong on some statements, please do let me know.
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Friday, February 05, 2010
Monday, August 03, 2009
Rant on Saving Paper...
I took this pic while I got some printouts for my uncle say half a year ago. I had asked for a cover for the printouts for which the shopkeeper had given me this.
Just have a look... You might have it elsewhere too...
It says, every ton of paper, uses 17 trees, 463 gallons of oil, 4077 KW of energy, 6953 gallons of water, 587 pounds of air (which gets polluted later) and acquires 3.06 cubic yards of space.
(Source: American Forest and Paper Association)
When one can store data electronically, why use paper which consumes so much of resources? Some of you might argue that even electronic data uses power and even that has a carbon trace. Carbon trace by electronic media is much lesser than that of paper. (If I'm wrong, kindly correct me)
Now, when you say paper consumption, what are the major areas paper gets consumed?
1. Newspapers/ Magazines/ Journals.
2. Notebooks (books in general).
3. Files maintained/Printouts taken by government and private enterprises.
4. Tissue papers ( or napkins as some say)
Have I left out any? Hoping that I've covered major chunk of it, lemme continue in discussing how can we minimize such usage.
1. Newspaper, People are going electric and many news firms have an "e" version of their newspaper. In the west, many have gone with e-papers banning hard copies of news, which is a step ahead towards saving our ecosystems.
(Many may have counter arguments which says, to save revenue, Even that might be the reason sometimes, but we should be happy that it saves the environment a bit)
Here in India, the younger generation might be okay with papers going online but those elders (exception always do exist) dislike such a change. They just want things as they were before. They find it hard to go to the PC/laptops, start the browser, type the address/click on their bookmark, login and read their newspaper. They find it easy to pick the hard copy which is delivered to their doorsteps by the delivery boy.
Newsgroup companies may feel that they may be under loss if they go online as one just logs in and reads their content. If they want to make money, they may charge a few bucks for the registered customers on a monthly/yearly basis which works out for both the parties (I strongly don't think this is gonna happen coz, news is available for free on the net, anybody would hardly pay and read) May be they can attract the customers by saying that we deliver you the complete, detailed news, first... Those will be market strategies which I'm not interested in...
Even if they do not charge, they might always get some money by going for ads on the net.
To sum it up,
Advantages of papers going online:
1. Saves lots of paper.
2. Saves the cost for the company for door-to-door deliveries.
3. Faster delivery.
4. Saves space.
Disadvantages:
1. Not all can read the content.
2. Media may go for a loss (If they do not go for ads and are giving a free a service).
4. Jobs of delivery boys are at stake.
5. Petty shop owners will have less papers to parcel.
6. housewives cannot get the money they get by selling old papers.
2. Books:this is another major part where paper is getting used. I might dissappoint a huge lot (even myself) when I say that books acquire a lot of space, and consume lots of resources as mentioned before. When we can save them, why can't we go for it?
So, again, what are the ways we can do such things. Let us split them into two parts.
a. Printed books (usually novels, texts that you read)
b. notebooks onto which you write.
Consider the printed books. How can we save them from getting printed?
1. Going online as newspaper. If you do not have any copyrighted material or you want everybody to know about your content, why not go online for free. You've got blogs, you can create your own websites...
2. If you own a copyright of the material, one can charge an amount to those interested and allow them to download the content. Terms and conditions apply to the consumer (He shouldn't make illegal copies of the content neither he should sell it. Add on more clauses you want)
3. If one finds it tedious to read from laptop/PC, you have devices like kindle, for your ease. I've heard its an amazing tool. try it out if you're interested.
4. All hardbound books can be digitized so that they can be stored in your CDs, DVDs, SSDs, HDDs whatever electronic media you're comfy with so that you can save the space taken by books.
When it comes to notebooks,
1. If you are taking notes on a book, I suggest you to carry a laptop. Nowadays, governments are planning 'one laptop per child' joining hands with MNCs like Intel, while some institutions like IISc, are planning some projects like a laptop for Rs. 1000. Hence, whatever notes one takes in class can be digitized using laptops. (Of course, one might do other things as well in the name of laptop, thats issue of ethics, let us not take it any further in this post)
2. Adding onto the last point, the burden on the student's back will be less. Many books will be replaced with one laptop which is an additional advantage.
To sum it up,
Advantages of storing books digitally:
1. Takes less space.
2. Weighs less.
3. Ease of access.
4. Ease of editing.
4. Easy to handle, sort, manage library...
Disadvantages:
1. Some might find it hard to gaze constantly at the CRT/LED screen.
2. Some won't find it a pleasing experience as of reading a book holding it in hand (If they cannot afford gadgets like Kindle).
3. Files maintained in Government and private firms, again, these can be stored electronically, even transactions can be made online. Issuing receipts, acknowledgments all can be done electronically. Almost all points discussed previously hold true here.
Regarding printouts, take them only when necessary. I've seen many taking printouts of huge texts in the corporate world just because they can't read the e-version. Ease rules over eco-friendly. Please don't do that.
Advantages:
1. Saves space.
2. Eases the transactions.
Disadvantages:
1. Not so educated people might suffer with the process. Government can educate them in this regard.
2. crime rate over transactions made might increase if proper security measures are not taken.
4. Tissue papers, sad to say that tissue paper culture has increased with the boom in IT since late 90s and early 2000s. It has become a norm to place a tissue paper container in all the restrooms. Some make complete(over) use of it. Some take 4-5 tissues once and just hover over their face once and throw it onto the dustbins. Lots of paper is getting wasted in such a filthy manner.
Alternatives are many.
Electric hot air blow, which ejects a jet of hot air everytime you keep your hands under it. This saves paper but consumes lots of power, thats a demerit.
Some hotels provide cloth that can be washed instead of tissues. This saves paper a lot while some amount of water gets consumed in washing them. Durability is lot, lot better (incomparable with paper). That's a plus point.
What I suggest is, I add onto the second point mentioned above. Instead of them providing a cloth, you can yourself carry a hand-kerchief saving lots of public resources.
I don't think this has any disadvantages as such but advantages, which are listed above with the alternatives.
To end the post, I suggest you to save paper and other natural resources as much as you can.
Now, the stage is open for your opinion/critics/suggestions. Please...
Just have a look... You might have it elsewhere too...
It says, every ton of paper, uses 17 trees, 463 gallons of oil, 4077 KW of energy, 6953 gallons of water, 587 pounds of air (which gets polluted later) and acquires 3.06 cubic yards of space.
(Source: American Forest and Paper Association)
When one can store data electronically, why use paper which consumes so much of resources? Some of you might argue that even electronic data uses power and even that has a carbon trace. Carbon trace by electronic media is much lesser than that of paper. (If I'm wrong, kindly correct me)
Now, when you say paper consumption, what are the major areas paper gets consumed?
1. Newspapers/ Magazines/ Journals.
2. Notebooks (books in general).
3. Files maintained/Printouts taken by government and private enterprises.
4. Tissue papers ( or napkins as some say)
Have I left out any? Hoping that I've covered major chunk of it, lemme continue in discussing how can we minimize such usage.
1. Newspaper, People are going electric and many news firms have an "e" version of their newspaper. In the west, many have gone with e-papers banning hard copies of news, which is a step ahead towards saving our ecosystems.
(Many may have counter arguments which says, to save revenue, Even that might be the reason sometimes, but we should be happy that it saves the environment a bit)
Here in India, the younger generation might be okay with papers going online but those elders (exception always do exist) dislike such a change. They just want things as they were before. They find it hard to go to the PC/laptops, start the browser, type the address/click on their bookmark, login and read their newspaper. They find it easy to pick the hard copy which is delivered to their doorsteps by the delivery boy.
Newsgroup companies may feel that they may be under loss if they go online as one just logs in and reads their content. If they want to make money, they may charge a few bucks for the registered customers on a monthly/yearly basis which works out for both the parties (I strongly don't think this is gonna happen coz, news is available for free on the net, anybody would hardly pay and read) May be they can attract the customers by saying that we deliver you the complete, detailed news, first... Those will be market strategies which I'm not interested in...
Even if they do not charge, they might always get some money by going for ads on the net.
To sum it up,
Advantages of papers going online:
1. Saves lots of paper.
2. Saves the cost for the company for door-to-door deliveries.
3. Faster delivery.
4. Saves space.
Disadvantages:
1. Not all can read the content.
2. Media may go for a loss (If they do not go for ads and are giving a free a service).
4. Jobs of delivery boys are at stake.
5. Petty shop owners will have less papers to parcel.
6. housewives cannot get the money they get by selling old papers.
2. Books:this is another major part where paper is getting used. I might dissappoint a huge lot (even myself) when I say that books acquire a lot of space, and consume lots of resources as mentioned before. When we can save them, why can't we go for it?
So, again, what are the ways we can do such things. Let us split them into two parts.
a. Printed books (usually novels, texts that you read)
b. notebooks onto which you write.
Consider the printed books. How can we save them from getting printed?
1. Going online as newspaper. If you do not have any copyrighted material or you want everybody to know about your content, why not go online for free. You've got blogs, you can create your own websites...
2. If you own a copyright of the material, one can charge an amount to those interested and allow them to download the content. Terms and conditions apply to the consumer (He shouldn't make illegal copies of the content neither he should sell it. Add on more clauses you want)
3. If one finds it tedious to read from laptop/PC, you have devices like kindle, for your ease. I've heard its an amazing tool. try it out if you're interested.
4. All hardbound books can be digitized so that they can be stored in your CDs, DVDs, SSDs, HDDs whatever electronic media you're comfy with so that you can save the space taken by books.
When it comes to notebooks,
1. If you are taking notes on a book, I suggest you to carry a laptop. Nowadays, governments are planning 'one laptop per child' joining hands with MNCs like Intel, while some institutions like IISc, are planning some projects like a laptop for Rs. 1000. Hence, whatever notes one takes in class can be digitized using laptops. (Of course, one might do other things as well in the name of laptop, thats issue of ethics, let us not take it any further in this post)
2. Adding onto the last point, the burden on the student's back will be less. Many books will be replaced with one laptop which is an additional advantage.
To sum it up,
Advantages of storing books digitally:
1. Takes less space.
2. Weighs less.
3. Ease of access.
4. Ease of editing.
4. Easy to handle, sort, manage library...
Disadvantages:
1. Some might find it hard to gaze constantly at the CRT/LED screen.
2. Some won't find it a pleasing experience as of reading a book holding it in hand (If they cannot afford gadgets like Kindle).
3. Files maintained in Government and private firms, again, these can be stored electronically, even transactions can be made online. Issuing receipts, acknowledgments all can be done electronically. Almost all points discussed previously hold true here.
Regarding printouts, take them only when necessary. I've seen many taking printouts of huge texts in the corporate world just because they can't read the e-version. Ease rules over eco-friendly. Please don't do that.
Advantages:
1. Saves space.
2. Eases the transactions.
Disadvantages:
1. Not so educated people might suffer with the process. Government can educate them in this regard.
2. crime rate over transactions made might increase if proper security measures are not taken.
4. Tissue papers, sad to say that tissue paper culture has increased with the boom in IT since late 90s and early 2000s. It has become a norm to place a tissue paper container in all the restrooms. Some make complete(over) use of it. Some take 4-5 tissues once and just hover over their face once and throw it onto the dustbins. Lots of paper is getting wasted in such a filthy manner.
Alternatives are many.
Electric hot air blow, which ejects a jet of hot air everytime you keep your hands under it. This saves paper but consumes lots of power, thats a demerit.
Some hotels provide cloth that can be washed instead of tissues. This saves paper a lot while some amount of water gets consumed in washing them. Durability is lot, lot better (incomparable with paper). That's a plus point.
What I suggest is, I add onto the second point mentioned above. Instead of them providing a cloth, you can yourself carry a hand-kerchief saving lots of public resources.
I don't think this has any disadvantages as such but advantages, which are listed above with the alternatives.
To end the post, I suggest you to save paper and other natural resources as much as you can.
Now, the stage is open for your opinion/critics/suggestions. Please...
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Benglooranna ondonde kade mundaaystha iddare!!
Literally translates to "They are balding Bangalore gradually". ( Note : Balding is a term I take from Shruthi, from one of her post.)
Here are some of the pics which i took on this Saturday. I was about to meet my friends in Majestic and hence I took a bus to Majestic which went all over Cunningham Road to bypass the Guttahalli BDA junction. I just reached the High Grounds to see this pathetic view. I don't have the pics to show its previous beauty. I apologise.
If you just check the below photograph, you can observe that 'The Le Meredian' previously 'Holiday Inn' of Bangarappa, has not been touched. They cut down trees but do not touch private buildings. They may demolish the public buildings like the Bala Brui Guest house right opposite to the High grounds police station but not the so called posh Hotels like 'The Le Meridian'. I don't know one thing, Don't they have the basic understanding that they can re-build any building to any extent but the are impotent to grow trees of that mammoth shape?? Dont they have common sense?? Let them demolish the buildings and be eco-friendly. Nope! They won't do that.
You know why?? Its just because that the owners of these hotels would have dumped their money into the hands of these stupid politicians and those idiots would sanction any of their orders in a godly manner. Poor creatures.
I have one Idea, dunno how many agree to it. Let them retain the trees and demolish only the buildings. That would retain the beauty of Bangalore.
You see in the above pic, they are busy playing Golf. =(
One more contractor giving a finishing to the Arch for his apartment. Doesn't he know that that part would be acquired for the expansion of the road or has he given ransom??
On the whole, they are giving a major blow to Bangalore. Major hit is to its Greenery. I cannot think of any other thing which can stop this other than government taking any action on this. Do you have any better idea?
Here are some of the pics which i took on this Saturday. I was about to meet my friends in Majestic and hence I took a bus to Majestic which went all over Cunningham Road to bypass the Guttahalli BDA junction. I just reached the High Grounds to see this pathetic view. I don't have the pics to show its previous beauty. I apologise.
If you just check the below photograph, you can observe that 'The Le Meredian' previously 'Holiday Inn' of Bangarappa, has not been touched. They cut down trees but do not touch private buildings. They may demolish the public buildings like the Bala Brui Guest house right opposite to the High grounds police station but not the so called posh Hotels like 'The Le Meridian'. I don't know one thing, Don't they have the basic understanding that they can re-build any building to any extent but the are impotent to grow trees of that mammoth shape?? Dont they have common sense?? Let them demolish the buildings and be eco-friendly. Nope! They won't do that.
You know why?? Its just because that the owners of these hotels would have dumped their money into the hands of these stupid politicians and those idiots would sanction any of their orders in a godly manner. Poor creatures.
I have one Idea, dunno how many agree to it. Let them retain the trees and demolish only the buildings. That would retain the beauty of Bangalore.
You see in the above pic, they are busy playing Golf. =(
One more contractor giving a finishing to the Arch for his apartment. Doesn't he know that that part would be acquired for the expansion of the road or has he given ransom??
On the whole, they are giving a major blow to Bangalore. Major hit is to its Greenery. I cannot think of any other thing which can stop this other than government taking any action on this. Do you have any better idea?
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