GEO MUSINGS

Are you Free - No I am not

2011-07-28T05:50:00.001-07:00

Often i get to listen to people asking me are you free to discuss or work on important things. I say, no I am not free, but if you think the purpose for which you are inviting me important, I will just come and support you. Yes, when people say are you free, it means it is voluntary work. Any one paying professionally would never use that term, rather they would restrict number of days and use the time efficiently. If I say I am free and would come, a free persons time is not valued, even if I was made to wait for them, because I am free, it does not matter to them.
When I am really free, I would spend time watching a movie, sleeping, etc. Therefore I say, if we want to do some thing like that together you can ask me - are you free. But are you free is meant for something important and most often where I need to contribute for a real purpose.

Government and Social welfare

2010-11-10T08:30:00.001-08:00

If governments take the social responsibility there is no need of organisations, they have tax collection system and currency printing machine to meed the funds requirement. Why organisations should exist? what is the difference between government, organisation, Foundation, agency, corporation, Public sectors, Industries, contractor, etc. there is a social aspect in everything they are doing. Government is permanent and an accountable system as compared to any other thing. If our government is a social welfare state many other things will disappear, hope one day it happens!

WISDOM IN SPACE AND TIME

2009-01-30T01:05:00.000-08:00

The people over years have learned how to make a sustainable living from the available resources. That wisdom had greater meaning for sustainable life on earth eg., the way of life of Bushmen of Kalahari or Eskimos of the circumpolar region in the North. If the “clever” people from lower latitudes are sent to those places, all the resources would exhaust within no time. Because, our definition of sustainability is “too much sustainability”, those places become inhabitable within no time, for not only humans but for all life existing there. In the past all the places on earth were sustainable. There is a lot to learn from each place how the practices worked earlier. The history still exists in every place, just open up and learn to create a sustainable present and future.

THE HYPE OF FUTURE

2009-01-08T09:05:00.001-08:00

People started enjoying things of future. This is possible through "credit". This leads to over exploitation of resources at present at the cost of future generations. An young IT employee could able to purchase an house due to high salaries, other wise he would have purchased the same house say after 20 years of hard work. Such things are possible only by human beings. All other living things live in the present, but man is able to exploit the future of our children too. This system leads to imbalance on earth. This is only an "Hype" already we are witness to how it is collapsing.

YES, IT IS THERE

2008-12-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

One cannot recreate what does not exist on this earth. This universe, earth and the life existing on this earth has certain set of rules / principles / laws of nature, which can never be cheated, but only be used / exploited. All the human creations or innovations fall with in these natural laws. Are the humans imagine that they have created new laws of nature? That is only ignorance.

For more on laws of nature see the following link:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/l/lawofnat.htm

INCOME AND SUSTAINABILITY

2008-12-25T08:50:00.000-08:00

The development interventions should always look at the short and long term impacts. A micro-finance institute should look beyond the payment of loans and mere economic development of its stakeholders. The source of income is most often from the immediate environment directly or indirectly. The access to resources by one stakeholder might impact access of the same by another. The resources might get damaged sometimes beyond sustainability in the process of maximizing income. The development should be always non-exploitative and sustainable. One should analyze and relate the income and source, while formulating the programs. Yes, this principle being looked at a micro-scale is also relevant to any other action / activities at Meso- or Macro- Levels. Income term does not exist in nature, it is only a creation by human beings, leading to non-sustainable development.

PATENTS AND PATENTS

2008-12-19T10:25:00.001-08:00

The dicovery / innovation / design / Process / etc all are eligible for patenting. Patenting retards the progress and development. Human beings are not the Gods nor the creators of the universe. Everything works on this earth based on the laws of nature. The language and description is only a process to decipher this knowledge for better understanding. Recognition for ones work and Economic benefits are some of the main benefits for the person / organisation. All the work of GEO is declared as Creative Commons for common good.

HUMAN BEINGS PURPOSE OF LIVING

2008-12-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

Human beings existing on earth is part of the evolutionary process and are not the original creation of God. Even God may not be in the form of human being. All the knowledge acquired by human beings in ones own life time is very little. Human beings are selfish, most often the priority of all acts are of concern to themselves. Sustainability is the term created by human beings for their own sustainability, in the process some lucky species and resources do sustain. Human beings together constitute one big living thing sole purpose is the sustainability of this living thing.

STRESS AND PERFORMANCE

2008-12-18T11:21:00.003-08:00

Does stress lead to better performance? The answer is yes / no. It is said that some times Human beings perform better under stress. I could do / perform difficult tasks sometimes under stress. My memory power increases as the exams near. Regarding plants, some farmers believe that by cutting trees the yield of the fruits increases. If eggs of a bird are stolen then it tends to lay more eggs, to compensate. What is more worried is that children are put to more stress for better performance in their education and this trend is increasing year after year. Performing without stress is freedom. Where there is love there is no stress. Many people getting headache is a result of performing tasks without love. Stress is a relative inbuilt mechanism for many species.

SURVIVAL OF SHORT AND FAT

2008-12-13T09:36:00.003-08:00

This is the basic question regarding what type of human being has more chances of survival and existence on this earth? The short people would occupy less space and would easily get their required space in an over crowded earth. The fatness symbolizes the well off (rich) people, who would consume more than the poor. Average weight of a sample of urban people is always more than rural people (this is my observation). As nutrition / vitamins / minerals / etc., contained in the food is decreasing due to over exploitation of the soils, people tend to consume more and more food to replenish the same and also as nonvegetarian food would be costly, more people would shift to vegetarian food. In majority of cities in the developing world, the tall and weak people cannot travel comfortably in a crowded public transportation system. The living space, is becoming smaller and smaller. The small dinosaur species are still surviving.Yes these statements are debatable, requires modeling exercises with empirical data.

I KNOW

2008-12-12T09:47:00.000-08:00

LIFE IS ALSO ABOUT KNOWING, i.e.,

I KNOW WHAT I KNOW – REALITY AND WAY OF LIFE ultimately in misery or bliss.
I KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT I KNOW - ASSESSMENT
I KNOW WHAT I DON'T KNOW - INSPIRATION for learning and understanding.
I KNOW WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW – ARROGANCE (often)
I KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT I DON'T KNOW MORE THAN WHAT I DON'T KNOW – OVER CONFIDENCE
I DON'T KNOW WHAT I DON'T KNOW - BLISS like a just born child.

MORE SPACE FOR LIFE ON EARTH

2008-12-11T09:28:00.000-08:00

When GOD has created universe and especially earth for the life. Earth is a laboratory for life for evolving or creation of new species. One of the intelligent and critical species is Human beings. This species alone in the last 150 years has been responsible for all the distruction that is hapenning on earth. Human beings in large numbers growing exponentially, require large space for their own survival and thriving. The 8 inch deep soil (earth), the atmosphere and the sea are the three important aspects for human beings. The surface area of the earth is increasing with huge human constructions of multistory apartments. The animals are caged in multi-layers for more yield per unit of area. Cutting down forest areas for agriculture, the multi-crops, muti-tire crops, increase in gross cultivated land, intensive application of fertilizers, pesticides, intensive-short duration- cropping system, etc., are the manifestations of the greed, demand and aspiration for more space and self actualization. The use of charcoal in soil (terra preta), coral reefs, etc create more space for soil microbes and aquatic life respectively apart from several co-benefits.

HUMAN SPATIO-TEMPORAL ENERGY

2008-12-11T08:39:00.000-08:00

The spatial and temporal energy (not in physical sense) of human beings does exist. This is the ultimate energy experienced by the other people about a specific person. One of the simplest form of measurable aspect is the distance maintaned or the space given to that particular person by others. Say a leader is speaking and people surrounded in thousands are listening, but the space given to that leader is more. This space varies from place to place and time to time. There are several factors contributing for human energy like leadership, spiritualism, religion, ritual, cultural, social, political, environmental, economical, devotion, fear, etc. Even the statue of a person or just thought of that person may contribute for such energy whether living or dead. Some animals in the Jungle like Lion, Black Mamba, Elephant, etc and some of the alpha males also attain such energy out of demand, respect or fear, etc. This energy is also referred as territoriality among animals. We may not compare energies of both Humans and Animals, some humans behave like animals and demand that energy.

PROCESS

2008-12-09T08:28:00.001-08:00

INPUT => OUTPUT => OUTCOME

[ INPUT => OUTPUT => OUTCOME]
[============PROCESS=============]
[============SUSTAINABILITY=========]

Process is very critical for sustainability of programs. The process is very rarely monitored, as it is costly and large amount of data need to be collected, stored and analyzed. There are tangible and intangible factors in process documentation. In development programs the process documentation is the most costly factor. Two same processes followed in same program in two different locations may give different outcomes. The processes may or may not be standardized, the adaptation of processes to the existing situation is more important. Some of the processes are standard, ritual, cultural, scientific, spatial, temporal, legal, innovative or left to the stakeholders.

ONE LEAF TO TWO LEAVES

2008-12-09T08:03:00.001-08:00

The growth of a plant is possible because of the basic rule that one leaf is able to produce two or more leaves. A seed while in the process of germination emerges with one or two leaves, these leaves give raise to two or more leaves. This process expands from a sapling stage to a fully grown tree. The leaf takes energy from the sun. Human creations cannot match the nature. The total energy from a solar photo-voltaic (PV) panel will not be able meet the energy requirements to produce two or more solar PV panels. There fore they are not sustainable as much as any plant. The solar PV panel is a manifestation of energy spent from other sources renewable / non-renewable. The direct solar energy and the energy from biomass are the two main sources of energy which would sustain life on this earth in the future.

BIRD ON THE BRANCH OF A TREE

2008-12-09T00:52:00.001-08:00

I saw a beautiful bird on the branch of a beautiful tree. This was the reference of what I saw, today, that tree is no more and also the bird. The tree was cut down and there is no purpose for the beautiful bird to be on the tree. This reference in time and space has disappeared. The kids born today, has no such reference of the past, they have a new reference, their references are different. How can we bring back that reference of a bird on the branch of a tree ? The bird has flown and the branch was cut down along with the tree.

LIVING ENVIRONMENT

2008-12-08T23:19:00.001-08:00

The term environment is often used for the immediate surroundings from the point of reference. We are mainly responsible for altering the natural environment. Evolution of species was based on the current environment and the changes that happened in environment over a period of several thousands of years. People are moving from place to place, as much as at least minimum of three places in ones life time. Born in one place, get educated in another place and finally settle in a different place for the rest of life. We have recreated environments at home and workplace through use of technologies.People live in congestion in the high density areas. Recreating environment for living and comfortable living is the main concern as much as climate change and global warming. The housing, work places and commuting media are also of important concern, which are the environments created by human beings. The living environment for wild animals is a natural aspect, but for humans apart from natural, social, cultural, physical, human, political, economic aspects also impact living environment.

CLIMATE, ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY, ECOSYSTEM, GEOECOLOGY

2008-12-05T09:52:00.001-08:00

CLIMATE, ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY, ECOSYSTEM, GEOECOLOGY The above five words are often used in the development world. There is a hierarchy on the usage of the words, based on the meaning and implications and impact. For me Geoecology stands at the top as a term which encompasses everything and being more holistic. Sometimes by having limited meanings we ignore the broader implications and we tend to focus only on the immediate concerns as the cost of future impacts. The rain forests depletion is not the immediate concern of the Brazilian government, it is the concern of whole world. Earth is the only planet, it is precious let us understand it more under Geoecology, rather than limiting ourselves in understanding it through use of shallow terms.

BEING SENSITIVE

2008-12-04T01:33:00.001-08:00

Sensitivity is the greatest skill god has given to human being. A sensitive person is more useful to the society. Often people are sensitive to only few things of interest or ignorant or not at all sensitive to some of the aspects. The level of sensitivity also varies in space, time, experience and interest. Sensitivity might lead to awareness, knowledge, acquiring skills, practicing, ultimate understanding and action. Which, is the highest achievement in being sensitive. Being sensitive is a great boon for able to lead any aspect. This was led to Gowtham Buddha seek for nirvana ultimately. "One glorious day as he went out of the palace to the pleasure park to see the world outside, he came in direct contact with the stark realities of life. Within the narrow confines of the palace he saw only the rosy side of life, but the dark side, the common lot of mankind, was purposely veiled from him. What was previously conceived only mentally, he now saw in vivid reality for the first time. On his way to the park his observant eyes met the strange sights of a decrepit old man, a diseased person, a corpse and a dignified hermit. The first three sights convincingly proved to him, the inexorable nature of life, and the universal ailment of humanity. The fourth signified the means to overcome the ills of life and to attain calm and peace. These four unexpected sights served to increase the urge in him to loathe and renounce the world. " We all might have seen many such sights, but how many of us have followed his path for the world. Yes, we might be sensitive, but true sensitivity is one which leads to action. Buddha helps us to understand the highest value of sensitivity. Similarly, we can be sensitive on Gender, Climate change, global warming, social backwardness, poverty, etc. and work for mitigating the impacts.

KARMA MY CHOICE

2008-12-02T09:40:00.001-08:00

Traditionally the specialized work of forefathers was adopted by the progeny for generations and in the process caste system was developed for sharing of different types of work. All types of works are important in a system. The types of works are changing in the present society. Technology has contributed to the efficiency of the traditional works. New types of jobs have emerged, which demand different skills and knowledge. Diversification is the best form of securing livelihoods and prosperity. Living with only one type of jobwork through out the life is not the order of the day. Diversification of skills, experience and adopting to new jobs with time and space is more secure and enjoyable. The people who diversify less seek, comfort in what they are doing and are not willing to take risk. Those who don't diversify is like living only one life. Those who diversify live many times in just one life and for them life is ever expanding. The life shrinks with routine work. Initially on this earth there were generalists, like Plato, Charles Darwin, etc. later on due to development of science, technology and innovations the specialists evolved. Yes they had a specific task in those days. Now with so much development of science and technology, again generalists are increasing and ever willing to take any job of interest "Karma my choice".

WORK FOR WORK SAKE

2008-12-01T09:11:00.001-08:00

Work should be productive, enjoyable, and lead to more work. The answer of having done work but no results is what irritates many. Some people seem to be very hectic and doing lots of work, but the results are not as per the total energy utilized in doing such work. This is what happening in many government organisations, where the employees are paid for attending the job. All the species on earth work with their maximum efficiencies. Some number of human species are not so. Majority of species do not exploit their own species as much as the humans do. Karma yoga is what to be preached on priority to majority of people who are lazy or in search of easy jobs.

CONFIDENCE OF FLYING

2008-11-30T10:17:00.001-08:00

I have very little knowledge about the flying machines. My curiosity to learn more about them increases as soon as I get into a flight. Through out the journey I keep an eye on the visible and moving parts. The more I observe, it seems the mysteries of technology are understood. The more my learning, the more I tend to learn about the variables. As a geographer, every jerk leads me to recollect my atmospheric sciences, pockets of convection currents, jet streams, type of clouds, low temperatures at higher altitudes, etc. How come this metal bird is able to overcome so many variables and steers through the sky. The pilot may not understand about each and every part, he just knows only how to fly in the air, by using all the controls, as I don't understand much about the car that I drive. The flying machine is a single unit like an organism having human brain and controls. The whole system works in coordination, with the sole purpose to fly. Why I should think so much about the flight, while I fly? Of course I am not afraid of death. Every bird has a chance of getting hurt or risk of dying if it suddenly stops flying in the middle of flying high in the air. But every bird is confident of continuing to fly till to decides to land. I prey god to give me the same confidence as that of the bird, in every activity / endeavor I take up.

GOING BACK IN TIME OR ADAPTATION

2008-11-29T07:32:00.000-08:00

This is the basic question that always comes to my mind. I am seeing that with time things are changing at different phases - fast / normal / slow. I don't see the same bird on the branch of neem tree singing same song any more. It is impossible. There are only moments to capture. The environment has changed a lot, the climate change and global warming are bringing lots of changes on earth. Man made or natural changes are very much visible, measurable in ones own life time. To reconstruct the scenario and bring back things lost in time is nearly impossible. But to prepare for the future seems to be more easy as an adaptation strategy. The problem with human beings is that majority of times we live in the past and expect future to be similar to our past, i.e., because we get habituated to a particular environment and expect the same evironment to continue. We tend to like a given environment as we grow in it. The challenge is to change and adapt. Both change and adaptation happens in the process or through circumstances. Finally, on earth the existing species are only the most adaptive species. Like crocodiles, cockroaches, etc.

SUSTAINABILITY OF INTEREST

2008-11-26T07:51:00.001-08:00

Most often the definition of sustainability is explained in terms of interest. Interest sustains or interest makes a resource unsustainable ? ! Too much interest is selfishness? The over exploitation of resources, leading to unsustainability of that resource. If all the animals in a Jungle one day were taught about sustainability as do humans think. One alpha male tiger herded all the animals it can eat, into one corner as a shepherd does put the sheep in a pen at the end of the day. Denying the right to other tigers as it owns them now. The super-sustainability of this tiger is achieved for generations and also for its progeny. The sustianable interest of one tiger is the non-sustainable aspect for other tigers. Similarly, if all the animals have thought about their sustainability similarly, what would have been the sustainability of earth ? (Note: The sustainability defined here is as perceived by the most "interested" people).

THE MORE YOU SHARE THE MORE YOU RECEIVE

2008-11-25T11:00:00.001-08:00

The laws of patenting and the subsequent rights originated in the west, where the development of latest science and technology happened very rapidly. Although the basic foundation of sciences developed in the ancient countries much more before. Nothing is in isolation, everything is interconnected from microcosm to macrocosm. Creations / innovations / discoveries in time and space are not discrete they are integral part of the whole. No laws are different from what is existing in the universe. No other creature on this earth patents except humans. Patenting is an exclusion method for personal gains. Denying the right over laws of nature. In the long run patents, would kill the spirit of development. Let us share the knowledge and our creativity as commons for a better world and bliss.

JOB AND DUTY

2008-11-24T10:24:00.001-08:00

"the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money" - JOB
"the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force" - DUTY

The above two are the definitions are per the dictionary. Many people in India want to have a Government Job. One of the important reasons is security and money. Job and right are always together, but duty is invaluable and not tangible. Duty happens beyond monitory concerns and altogether has a different value system. Duties are declared under the job, but most often duties are not binding and only act as guidelines. But duties extend beyond office hours too. Sometimes, the rights of a job clash with duties.

Many people in Government services are doing simple jobs. The responsibility of Government employee most often ends up with their right to job and the rights of that job. Sometimes the costliest services delivered are the government services, because of inefficiency.

SCALE OF HAPPINESS

2008-11-23T10:02:00.001-08:00

Some people are very happy, some are not so happy, some are sad but pretend to be happy and some are not at all happy in a given situation. Why it happenes? A poor happy villager getting a chance to spend one week in a luxury hotel, as he has come to attend a seminar which sponsored the farmer. The farmer learnt that the bills amount is equal to all that he earns in one year as income. Now he goes back to the village. Now he has some real experience to compare with his past or present life style. How happy he is now ??! How happy he would be to lead rest of his life ?! Now due to globalisation and communication many such scales are emerging into the minds of people. Do we think the whole world is much more happier now than in the past ?!

NO BACKLOGS IN LIFE

2008-11-22T09:33:00.001-08:00

A doctor cannot give prescription now for a past ailment. One cannot sleep days together now to cover up the past sleepless nights. We need to shape rod only when it is hot. We live now and only now. Say, if we dont have memory / no history / no records in what way our past affects the present. What is the punisment value for an young person commiting theft and a 100 year old person doing the same crime. In the history of both the persons, the remark is the same. But the young man sent to Jail matters the most (for whome) for the same amount of theft. The backlogs does not exist in ones life as it is only virtual past. We can always take steps for the future and not for the past.

PROGENY AND LIFE

2008-11-19T08:07:00.001-08:00

The beauty of life is the progeny. There is no continuity / existence with out progeny. The ultimate goal is to secure the life of this very progeny, for which we put all our energy and efforts. All life on
this earth exists with the same purpose. Unfortunately some life extincts as the environment over a period acts against its own nurtured adaptive capability to survive through evolution. The present environmental changes caused by one single species "Human Beings" is threatening the existence of many species on earth and already is the cause of extinction of many species. The "progeny" purpose is at stake.

FAT AND THIN

2008-11-18T08:49:00.000-08:00

The whole world has problems because of only two types of people existing on earth. The simple way to define fat people and thin people (the fat and thin does not represent the physical nature of people). Fat represents ones greed and growth at the cost of thin. With this analogy we can explain all the existing inequalities / inequities at all scales. The present environmental problems / economic crisis / energy crisis / global warming / poverty / food crisis etc can be understood easily from this analogy.

In a given geographical location, except alpha males, queen ants / termites / bees etc., all others species of same age look similar in size and shape, except human beings.