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Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 8 December 2013

Nelson Mandela is no more. The world is exceptionally united in saluting the iconic fighter for democracy, freedom and equality for all humans.

The man who famously chronicled his ‘long walk to freedom’ also had a ‘long goodbye’ that stretched for several months. So his death did not come as a shock. Nevertheless, his departure provides an opportunity to reflect on what he accomplished — and, more importantly, how.

The news from South Africa on the evening of December 5 sparked off a global ‘mediathon’. In this frenzy, it is easy to overlook that Mandela was a complex personality who had his strengths and weaknesses. And that he headed a political struggle that involved many others.

American journalist and activist Danny Schechter, who made six documentary films with and…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 1 December 2013

I felt a sense of Déjà vu as I spent the past week in the Philippines witnessing how the archipelago nation is struggling with the trail of destruction left by super typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda). The aftermath is uncannily similar to what we in Sri Lanka went through following the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004.

The atmospheric disturbance that hit them on 8 November 2013, which was accompanied by tsunami-type sea waves, is their deadliest natural disaster on record. By November 25, the official death toll exceeded 5,600 with another 1,700 missing. Nearly 26,000 people were injured, and over a million homes destroyed or damaged.

In all, more than 11 million Filipinos have been affected in one way or another. The total economic cost, still being assessed, is likely…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 24 November  2013

Twenty years ago, Italian police and Customs officials going after narcotics were considered ‘heroic’ while those investigating any environmental crimes were seen as ‘boy scouts’. After all, what could be so criminal about waste and pollution?

Plenty, as it turned out. In the early 1990s, Italy’s notorious organised crime syndicates – or the mafia – discovered that they could make lots of money fast by helping industries to get rid of their toxic waste.

So mafia groups decided to ‘go green’ – and ecomafias emerged.

The Italian environmental advocacy group Legambiente started investigating this in 1993, when a pile of toxic waste was discovered near a NATO military base in Italy. In fact, they coined the term ‘ecomafie’ (ecomafia), which soon entered popular vocabulary.

Legambiente has been researching on ecomafia practices…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 12 November  2013

Robert S McNamara, who was US Secretary of Defence under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, then served as President of the World Bank from 1968 to 1981. Despite his contentious legacy in the US government, he is credited to have shifted the Bank’s focus to population and poverty issues.

McNamara, whom I once interviewed when in retirement, had a razor sharp mind and a wit to match. The story goes how, in the early days of his Bank appointment, he was visited by three highly accomplished Ceylonese officials — all of who happened to be well built men.

“Do you gentlemen represent the starving millions of Ceylon?” McNamara reportedly asked them with a sarcastic smile.

“No Sir,” one of them replied. “We represent their aspirations!”

The Ceylonese trio – who epitomized…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 3 November  2013

My favourite example of how not to support innovation comes from (James Bond creator) Ian Fleming’s children’s story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Written in 1964 and turned into a popular movie in 1968, the story revolves around a struggling inventor who builds a magical car that can ride, fly and float.

Soon, Baron Bomburst, tyrant ruler of the kingdom of Vulgaria, hears about it. He promptly rounds up top scientists and engineers of his land and imprisons them in a dungeon equipped as a lab. To earn their freedom, they must produce a similar gravity-defying vehicle.

Years pass, with the captive scientists trotting out all sorts of contraptions while getting rather long in the tooth. But still no breakthrough…

In their case, the goal was unattainable. But even when chasing feats…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 27 October 2013

Indian environmental activist Sunita Narain was seriously injured while cycling in New Delhi last Sunday, October 20.

She was hit by a car while on her daily cycling run near Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences. She suffered fractures on both her arms and her nose, and underwent nine hours of surgery. She is currently recovering. The car had fled without stopping.

This news was particularly shocking as Sunita is an old friend — and alarming because she has been at the forefront calling for safer and healthier cities in South Asia.

“Cyclists in Indian cities are being edged out systematically to make way for cars – sometimes literally so,” said a statement from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the independent research and advocacy group that Sunita heads.

Sunita…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 20 October 2013

Chamara Pahalawattage had just turned 18 when we met him in early 2009. By then, he was already into his sixth mobile phone.

An only child raised by a widowed mother, Chamara — a resident of Gonapola, in Sri Lanka’s western province — developed an interest in mobiles while in his mid teens. He bought his first mobile at 16.

Since then, he tried to keep up with technology by buying second-hand phones with better features: he’d paid LKR 7,500 (US$ 65 at the time) for his latest only a few weeks earlier. Besides voice and SMS (texting), his phone supported MP3, video recording, song downloading, voice recording and other functions.

After leaving school, Chamara started assisting at construction sites. The enterprising young man boosted his chances of work by spreading his…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 13 October 2013

The Nobel Peace Prize 2013 was awarded on Friday to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.

This Hague based inter-governmental organisation was recognised for implementing — through inspections, destruction and by other means — the Chemical Weapons Convention, an arms control treaty in effect from 1997 and singed by 165 countries.

In the past, the Norwegian Nobel Committee – which administers the Prize — has through several prizes highlighted the need to eliminate nuclear weapons as well as landmines. With the 2013 decision, it has lent support to the global campaign to end the production and use of chemical weapons.

There were 259 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize 2013, 50 of them organizations. These included the Pakistani schoolgirl activist

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 6 October 2013

Meet the 21st Century Demons!

That was how I started a recent talk to the annual scientific sessions of the College of Community Physicians Sri Lanka, held in Colombo in late September.

I don’t believe in ghosts and spirits, but I’m interested in how such notions shape people’s behaviour. As literacy and education levels rise, I notice how old demons are being replaced by new, more potent ones.

With modernisation, fewer Lankans uncritically accept Maha Sona, Mohinee and Riri Yaka that dominated the psychological landscape for generations. In their place, a new set of modern-day demons have emerged.

These ‘demons’ come in many shapes and forms. They include various half truths, misconceptions, fallacies, myths and conspiracy theories. Playing on an insular and insecure national psyche, these elements seem to have multiplied…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 29 September 2013

The UN climate panel (IPCC) reconfirms that accelerated climate change is happening without any doubt.

In its latest assessment report, released in Stockholm this week, the global scientific body says the main cause is human actions that emit planet warming (greenhouse) gases into the atmosphere.

The authoritative report, distilling the work of hundreds of climate researchers, projects global temperatures to rise by between 0.3 and 4.8 degrees Celsius by late this century. (The low end can only be maintained if governments sharply cut emissions.)

As temperatures rise, polar ice and glaciers melt. Due to this and the thermal expansion of water in warmer climes, world sea levels could rise by between 26 and 82 cm (10 to 32 inches) by or before 2100.

Meanwhile, the world’s oceans have acidified rapidly in recent…