A Group That Everyone Who Cares About the Environment Should Join

As someone who grew up in Chennai (then known as "Madras," a name that I still prefer) my fondest memories are of the beautiful Marina Beach and of my family's Sunday evening trip there. Over the years, the beach has suffered tremendously. The shells that we would collect as children are no longer to be found because sewage that is let into the sea kills off virtually all of the marine life. And the daily encroachments of "civilization" and its runoffs, continue to inflict harm on one of the most beautiful things about a lovely city.

There is now a great group working to preserve the Marina and Besant Nagar and other beaches, and trying to influence other cities to do the same to beaches that they have messed up as much as Chennai has messed the Marina up. With the controversial name Let's Rob, this group plans to "Reclaim Our Beaches" as a beautiful environment for the Indian people to enjoy again. This is a group of highly dedicated people working hard to do something that will benefit millions. I would request everyone who can to please volunteer or spread the word about them. These are good people. They deserve all the support that they can get and I hope that they succeed beyond their own wildest expectations. For India's sake, they deserve to.

Good News from India - "Solar Valleys"

I often click onto the URLs of Indian newspapers with a sense of trepidation - news of some idiotic coal fired powerplant coming up somewhere or of some similarly wasteful enterprise is what I have come to expect - call that the cynic in me, but when you have been looking at how things move in India for as long as I have, it is difficult not to be skeptical, if not entirely cynical. However, The Hindu has this excellent piece on a new "Solar Valleys" proposal that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hass embarked upon: Link The proposal for a 20,000 MW target for harnessing solar energy by the end of the 13th Five Year Plan is something that India sorely needs to achieve. It is a matter of survival for India as a nation - the country simply cannot afford to buy horrendously expensive oil, gas and coal anymore with the hard-earned money of the Indian people. The costs in terms of environmental pollution, foreign exchange outflows and of money going to countries that have arrogant and condescending attitudes to Indians is something that India needs to halt asap.

I am no fan of Indian politicians or politics but I hope that this plan succeeds way beyond what the Prime Minister desires. There are only positive results to be expected no matter what degree of success is achieved.