Reflections

For the developed world the car was the ultimate symbol of the last century. For the developing world it has been the ultimate aspiration which, many thought would come to fruition in this one. However just as Indians were thinking of the Nano as the model T Ford for India, albeit one century late, comes the economic downturn and many of these dreams seem to be turning to dust. The pioneers of the automobile industry in Detroit are in dire straits. The mighty three automobile makers of the USA, all based in Detroit, are on the verge of closure To many , Detroit is the home of the automobile, and home to three of Americas biggest car makers: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. In the heady post World War II days they made as many as 80% of all the world’s cars. The Chief Executive of General Motors Charlie Wilson famously said “What is good for General Motors is good for America”. These automakers spent the last two decades fighting all regulatory measures that were proposed by...

William Ruddiman is a paleoclimatologist, that is somebody who studies the climate of long ago and how it influenced and even now influences the world today. He recently retired as the Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia and is now the Professor Emeritus in the same department. He has long been known for a series of bold hypotheses about climate change. He was the man who in the 1980s postulated that the rising of the Tibetan plateau created the highly seasonal Monsoonal circulation which dominates the climate of South Asia today. However today he is best known for his controversial Ruddiman hypothesis. According to this hypothesis Human activity has been a basic and important factor in causing climate change not for the past two hundred years after the Industrial revolution released large amounts of fossil fuels and their byproducts into the atmosphere, but for the last 8000 years during which mankind has changed the face of many regions of the world. He ...