Carbon credit system: a gimmick?

Carbon Credit Gimmick, Destruction of Nature Cover up, Sham, Dew Drops, Ravichander Rao

Carbon credits have come into existance due to the Kyoto Protocol that requires signatory countries to bring their CO2 levels 5.2% below their 1990 levels and achieve a certain target by 2012 (source: economictimes.indiatimes.com). Each carbon credit is obtained by reduction of 1 ton of CO2, and countries having the surplus credits can choose to trade these credits for a premium. Interestingly India has surplus of these credits (since it is less industrialized in India, there is lower GHG level and most likely not because of better processes), which gives her an opportunity to make huge wealth . The reason is simple - cost benefit. Cost of bringing down the CO2 levels in developed countries could be $350 per ton whereas it would be $10 per ton in a developing nation.

Something that bothers me is, how is it possible to achieve lower levels of GHG (green house gases) by trading the carbon credits, if the beneficiaries currently are industries? An industry always tries to maximize its wealth, which means larger industrialization. With rate of research success for lowering the GHG lower than that of rate of industrilization, it won't be possible to cutdown on GHG. To worsen the case, developed countries are going to buy carbon credits from developing nations to offset for the difference, instead of cutting their existing levels. So what it means is - overall there is no real any effort to curb the GHG level and to make the environment greener.

Take the example of PUC (pollution under control) certifcate implementation in India (this is quite analogous). Though we have tried to implement Euro I norm for vehicular pollution control, we haven't seen any reduction in pollution levels. Every other city in India is highly polluted. Let us consider a case to understand why is it so.

"If every vehicle produces 10 gm/km (approx. Euro I norm) of GHG and there is a raise of 1 million vehicle on the road every year, assuming every vehicle drives at least 1000 km in a year, there is surplus of 10 million kg or 10,000 tons (which is approx. equivalent to hauling capacity of 160 goods wagons) of GHG in a year! Since there is no program in place for recycling GHG produced, we start with a surplus of 10,000 tons of GHG in the next year. With each year that goes by GHG levels get compounded, so each year is worse than the previous one ..."

So some things that need to be investigated at this point to verify the effectiveness of carbon credit system are, does the Kyoto Protocol address any of the following:
- provides guidelines on how should one use the revenue generated by selling the surplus credits?
- defines what role should government play in this whole gamut?
- verifies have we become more greener than we were before?

Goes without saying: your suggestions and comments are welcome.

Fun at Work

Humor at Work, Dew Drops, Ravichander Rao

I was sitting bored in the office after having a couple of hectic weeks, and almost dozed over Sun Tzu's Art of War, while trying to finish the book. Something snapped me...two guys just a cubicle away were discussing with each other something over the phone and look how ....

Wandering Mind

Reflections, Depth of Knowledge, Insights from Nature, Dew Drops, Ravichander Rao

Once in a while my mind gets into a philosophical mode. This usually happens when I am on a nature trail or sitting totally bored in my office and looking for something to do with the spare time. So my idle mind starts to think of: similarities between nature and corporate world, or an abstract concept or creating a satire.


This purple flower caught my attention in Big Basin, which in SantaCruz, Ca, USA, during a trekking trip. I was deeply amazed by what I saw as nature's team management and mentoring program. The three flowers in the full-bloom were competiting against the other, yet were in a perfect synergy. At the same time, the buds were sharing the light space with these flowers. If I look at this in its entirity, it looks so beautiful in the first glance, and yet it never makes us realize there is so much beneath this...


This is a picture of what I call as "as much over, as much under?". This was taken at lake Bei Hai Park in Beijing. The tip of the tree is touching the wafer surface, creating a sort of illusion. I am not sure whether the tip under the surface or it is a relfection of itself. I can not realize the truth unless I get inside water and make my hand wet. On a philosophical note, nothing can be realized without due efforts.





Now moving away from the trails of the nature to the boredom of the office labour... This, what I am call as "Fun at Work", is a satire. It conveys two meanings. One perspective projects it as, a group trying collectively to achieve the objective and the dynamics it undergoes at each phase. The other is, life of cycle of an employee in an organization - what keeps him going to what makes him gone...




In this one, I am trying to compare the management/organizational structural difference between a small and a large company. The model consists of interactions of two pyramids. It starts with an assumption that small organizational structure is ideal, as there is a great deal of interaction between top management and employees. There is easy flow of ideas from both sides, hence both agree with each other at equally. So this is how I ended up with a structure on the right.

In the case of a large organization because of its size, it requires representation at strategy(S) and creativity (C) levels from both the sides - different pyramidical structure. As a result there are lot of S+C planes. S+C planes are the points where interactions occur and ideas are agreed upon. With numerous S+C planes the creativity content is more, but communicating this across multiple level becomes critical and challenging.

In the large organizational structure, there are two new pyramids which are formed, as result of the arrangement. It is interesting to note about their base and the tips. They provide a good insight into the working and problems of the corporate world.

Langkawi Island

Langkawi Malayasia, Dew Drops, Ravichander Rao

On a recent trip to Malaysia, I went to the Langkawi Islands. Though I didn't know anything about the place, still preferred going there on my off-day rather than sitting inside the room. Well, every place gets interesting when friends are around, hence there was nothing for me to regret.


(view from 652m point)

We took a 3 hours cruise ride from Penang through the Melaka strait to our destination. The day was perfect for our picnic - water was tranquil and sky was azure. As we started moving farther away from Penang, we noticed the changes in the colors of the ocean from blue to blue-black and changes in wave patterns from ripples to quite, probably a characteristic of changing depths or may be effect of mixing currents, and once in a while a few small boats. As we reached closer towards Langkawi, another spectacle awaited us. Many small and big islands situated on an emerald color ocean appeared perhaps nothing lesser than a paradise to the city dwellers like me. Whole journey was myriad and a wonderful experience.

At Langkawi, some people prefer island hopping, ie. go from one island to the other island (hopping) on boat rides, some prefer snorkling and diving, some prefer sun-bathing and some just spend time away from routine to bust-off the stress. We unfortunately belonged to the last lot.


(hanging bridge)

Since we didn't have much time to spend, we went around the beaches and took the cable-car ride. Beaches were very picturesque - emarld colored water dabbed with black color because of the reflections from the clouds. The cable-car ride was equally amazing. Unique thing about this is cable-car ride is that, it takes you from ground to one mountain top and from there to another and back to the ground, rather than to a mountain top and then back. At one of the mountain tops, about 625m above the sea level, there is one hanging bridge - an engineering marvel. It gives a feeling of being in space, provides nice views of horizon, and lot of thrill. Distant view from the mountain tops are equally amazing, humbling and empowering, when one feels the distance, height, and surroundings.


(sunset from cruise)

The late sunset is the most appropriate sunset for such an ideal day. On our way back, we enjoyed the cool breeze and colorful sky painted by the sun. For sure, it was one of the best trips I have made, but not sure, if I would be visiting it again or not. Because there are probably many more Langkawi that I haven't seen.