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Author Archive: T. Vijayendra

T. Vijayendra

Masanobu Fukuoka

Bookshelf

The heritage of 20th century science for the 21st century: A list and an invitation

29th January 2018

Some of the most celebrated scientific ideas and books of the 20th century may not be useful for us in this century, while lesser-known works of the past acquire new relevance. Here, then, is a selection of such works, along with an invitation for readers to critique and contribute their own suggestions to this list….

Consumerism/Lifestyle

Sustainable consumption, sustainability in the value chain and hawkers

17th June 2017

There is a difference between an apple sold on a bandi and in a supermarket. It can happen that the price in the supermarket is lower, but it’s not difficult to understand that the ‘value’ added to it in a super market is more. Thus, the lesser the value added, the more sustainable it is….

Gujarat-based Amul kick-started the milk revolution in India

Consumerism/Lifestyle

How Indians started drinking milk (and what it has cost us)

17th April 2017

Many people think that milk is normal good food. But a large part of the world until recently never consumed the milk of other animals. Even today, Eastern Asia as a rule does not use milk. So, for some, milk is the greatest food, while for others, milk is one of the five white poisons….

Ecologise Events

Report on Ecologise Hyderabad’s first rainwater harvesting workshop

19th May 2016

For the first workshop of Ecologise Hyderabad, we chose the topic of Rain Water Harvesting because it is of great current interest. We were both overwhelmed and humbled by the huge response we got for the workshop. The workshop was attended by 24 registered participants, 5 members of the Ecologise group and 5 resource persons….

ALTERNATIVES

Peak Oil returns to haunt the global economy

14th May 2016

It is a peculiar combination of technological, economic and geopolitical factors that has led to the present crash in oil prices, lulling many observers into dismissing peak oil. Through it all, the fact remains that the production of ‘conventional oil’, drawn mostly from established oil wells, has not gone up since its peak in 2008….

Shunya.net

ALTERNATIVES

Ecologise Hyderabad: Workshops for Sustainability and Equality

29th April 2016

Some of us have recently created a small group called ‘Ecologise Hyderabad’. The aim of the group is to look at the many ecological crises of the city holistically, interact with experts and social activist and run programmes to strengthen the efforts of the activists in running green programmes in different localities of the city….

ALTERNATIVES

Peak Oil (Or why city slickers should learn to get their hands dirty)

15th November 2015

Peak Oil, Food Security and Urban Agriculture T. Vijayendra Abstract Peak Oil refers to the point when oil production reaches a peak, and henceforth can only fall. This has already happened. This has enormous implications for food security. It raises cost and prices of food because farm inputs – primarily fertilisers and pesticides – are petroleum…

ALTERNATIVES

T. Vijayendra: Post Carbon Society And Transition

17th February 2015

The Industrial Society or the Carbon Society The present social system that we are living is called Industrial Society. It began with the Industrial Revolution (1760 -1830) in the West and was followed by social revolution in various countries – Holland, France, England and the USA, ending the age old feudal society and ushering in…

Arayil/Flickr

Development/Growth

Negative entropy and sustainability

16th February 2015

When we talk of sustainability, we often hear terms like eco-friendly technologies, appropriate technologies etc. To this, critics often say that we’re talking of going back to nature, we are being primitive, unscientific and that this is not possible. This article tries to provide a logic for eco-friendly, appropriate technologies using human and animal power….

CLIMATE CRISIS

T. Vijayendra: You Too Brutus!

19th November 2014

Why climate scientist James Hansen’s exhortation to embrace nuclear power is just wishful thinking T. Vijayendra Climatologist James Hansen is the former head of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the world’s leading advocates of the dangers of climate change. Last year, he joined senior scientist Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of…

ENERGY

Old Age and Peak Oil

1st September 2014

By T. Vijayendra, POI Founder-Member “Old age is a tiredness that does not disappear the next morning, as we ingenuously expected upon going to bed”. – Baldomero Fernández Moreno, Argentinean poet OLD AGE People above sixty years are considered old or senior citizens. It is the percentage of old people in the total population that is…

ENERGY

Population: A Heretical View

18th June 2014

T. Vijayendra argues that today’s population explosion is essentially a product of cheap oil, and that the end of oil means we will be forced to consider a new approach to population which many would find unpalatable now – but would ultimately help humans strike a balance between population and resource consumption The twentieth century was…

ENERGY

Letter: One Year of Peak Oil India

6th June 2014

T. Vijayendra, a Founder-Member of POI, writes to the group reminiscing on its formation and offering pointers towards the future It is just about a year since the informal group called Peak Oil India was formed (on June 7, 2013) and we decided to have a website. The website has been active for quite some…

ENERGY

Peak Nuclear Energy May Be Behind Us

4th June 2014

In the context of Peak Oil and the general depletion of fossil fuels, we often hear about Nuclear Energy as an option. However, if we look at the empirical data, we will soon discover that it’s not – even if we discount all the dangers associated with Nuclear Energy programme, such as waste disposal problems…

ENERGY

Cheap Oil, Peak Oil and Kitchen Gardens

10th October 2013

By T. Vijayendra A pamphlet on World Kitchen Garden Day (August 25)! The idea of kitchen garden is becoming popular because of: • awareness on growing healthy food • rise in vegetable prices But why have prices risen?

ENERGY

Peak oil and wildlife

By T. Vjayendra and Shashank Srinivasan ABSTRACT Wildlife across the world is endangered due to habitat loss caused as a by-product of modern human society in the past 200 years. Most attempts at conservation have been unsuccessful in the face of the consumerist juggernaut because they are being carried out without questioning industrial society or…

ALTERNATIVES

Peak Oil, dying cities and cities of tomorrow

By T. Vijayendra Peak oil means when the production of petroleum products has reached a peak and hence forth it will only fall. This has already happened. It heralds the collapse of industrial societies. Cities are energy consumers, not producers. With the fossil fuel era coming to a close, and no viable alternative energy source…