Category: Uncategorized

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 5 May 2013

May 3 was World Press Freedom Day – a misnomer in this multimedia age, but nevertheless a cause worth celebrating and defending.

There are various indicators of media freedom including direct and indirect censorship, diversity of media ownership, and physical attacks on journalists and media organisations. A growing concern is how governments and large corporations are trying to control freedom of expression on the web.

Another useful barometer of media freedom can be the level of satire in a society. Satire and parody are important forms of political commentary that rely on blurring the line between factual reporting and creative license to scorn and ridicule public figures.

Political satire is nothing new: it has been around for centuries, making fun of kings, emperors, popes and generals. Over time, satire has manifested in many…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 28 April 2013

One of my favourite cartoons on energy is one drawn years ago by Australian cartoonist Ron Tandberg. It shows two men standing on a bare land, looking down at the ground. One says to the other: “There must be a source of energy down there!”

Overhead, meanwhile, the sun looms large and blazes away.

As we reel from the latest energy shock – delivered by the state owned electricity monopoly, the CEB – I wonder whether all 20 million of us have become like those two narrowly focused men.

How can our tropical island plug into the sun, wind, trees and the ocean to meet more of our energy needs? Why don’t renewable energies produce a larger share of our energy mix? Who or what are the bottlenecks?

Such questions pop up…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 21 April 2013

I enjoyed the mid April traditional New Year holidays for a very practical (and selfish) reason.

When much of the country shuts down, traffic congestion on Colombo and suburban streets disappears, as do crowds in most public spaces. For a few days, we natives of Colombo and suburbs have our city for ourselves…

Curiously, though, many friends and colleagues pity me for not having a village (‘gama’) to return to. When one called me ‘rootless’, I protested. Born and raised in Kotte, just south-east of Colombo city, I’m attached to the place. My roots are just as real as anybody else’s…

A city-dweller’s loyalty to her place of origin can be just as authentic as any villager’s. Sadly, this isn’t widely appreciated in Sri Lanka where too many urbanites harbour real –…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 14 April 2013

Last week’s column, on Sri Lanka’s climate change adaptation needs and priorities, elicited some predictable reactions.

Environmentalist friends — with whom I frequently disagree — faulted me for not once mentioning climate mitigation, or actions to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

A couple of activists were also miffed that I didn’t get on their bandwagon of demanding global climate justice for historical emissions from industrialised countries. (Sorry, but that one is full of recycled hot air…)

Some felt that I had kept my analysis too much at the macro level, ignoring micro (or community) level measures. As I see it, the challenge is to keep ‘zooming in’ for detail and ‘zooming out’ for better perspective. Scattered action without a coherent vision is wasted effort.

Yes, reducing emissions…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 7 April 2013

As Sri Lanka sizzles in April heat, some ask: is this due to global warming?

Well, not exactly: high temperatures are typical for this time of the year. At the same time, meteorologists confirm that average temperatures in Sri Lanka have risen by almost one degree Centigrade during the past 70 years.

Global warming accelerated by human activity is now scientifically accepted. The UN’s climate panel (IPCC) predicts that global average temperatures could rise by somewhere between 2 degree and 6 degrees Centigrade by 2100. (And we thought this is too hot!)

The big challenge for most non-specialists is: how can we discern climate change impacts that unfold slowly over time and in many different ways?

Dr W L Sumathipala, former head and now chief advisor of the Environment Ministry’s climate change secretariat

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 31 March 2013

Now it can be revealed. A highly advanced but devious alien race has been sapping the island of Sri Lanka of its freshwater, and secretively dispatching it to their parched and dying planet.

Deepening the mystery, the aliens have either intimidated or brainwashed everyone who found out, to make sure this ultimate ‘resource grab’ continues. That explains the recent severe droughts – and the spate of UFO sightings.

Alright, I just made it up – and it’s not even original. I simply adapted a theme very common in science fiction.

But trust me, if I said this on local TV with a straight face, at least half my audience would probably believe every word. Some might even panic…

As I said last week, when it comes to matters of water, many Lankans…

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

When it comes to collectively and rationally managing our freshwater, many Lankans seem to suspend their good judgement. Any passing conspiracy theory, no matter how far-fetched or implausible, is uncritically accepted and readily passed around.

Why do some people get so ‘drunk’ on water? Sure, everyone is entitled to their own opinions (and fantasies). But not to their own facts. When myths and paranoia shape activist agendas and influence (or inhibit) public policies, things go wrong.

As we marked another World Water Day this week (March 22), I wondered how we can seek greater clarity in these muddied waters.

Sri Lanka isn’t yet classified as a country with water scarcity by global definitions – at least when cumulative national values are taken. But there are local disparities in how freshwater is distributed.

According…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 17 March 2013

See also: When Worlds Collide #53: Saving Lives on India’s ‘Mean Streets’

“You lay crushed
Under twisted metal.
I held you, stunned
until someone in the crowd shouted
She’s Alive.
At the hospital
they asked my name, told me to stop weeping
And take charge
… of your jewellery.”

Thus opens a deeply moving poem by Vivimarie VanderPoorten. She wrote it in memory of her best friend who died in a car crash.

That human tragedy repeats, with increasing frequency and ferocity, on our roads everyday. Most of us have had the harrowing experience of a family member or friend being killed in a road accident. Aggregated statistics can never capture that grief.

“I listened to one of our leaders talk about the statistics, and I just lacked the power to tell…

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 10 March 2013

The prevailing big match fervour raises the question: why is the quintessentially English game of cricket our de facto national sport? How did a one-time colonial and elitist pursuit evolve into a national obsession, a rare common denominator in a land that has so few?

Cricket didn’t achieve this status automatically (the game was played on the island from the early part of the 19th century). It wasn’t any politician’s diktat or some committee’s recommendation that took cricket beyond urban and English speaking sections of Lankan society.

It was the power of radio: broadcasts of cricket commentaries in Sinhala (and later, in Tamil).

In his 2003 feature film Ira Madiyama (August Sun), award winning filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage captured this unifying power of cricket. The story’s events take place on that heady day…

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

See also, previous columns:
23 Dec 2012: Avoiding the ‘Mother of All Tsunamis’

24 Feb 2013: ‘Wake-up Call’ from Outer Space

Imagine this scenario in the near future.

Thanks to enhanced surveillance of the skies, astronomers detect a five-km-long asteroid on a collision course with our planet. They also calculate that the impact isn’t due for another…25 years.

What reactions, if any, might this elicit?

As we noted last week, a very early warning in such situations can make all the difference. In this game of cosmic billiards, even a modest ‘nudge’ or pull, done far enough in the trajectory, can deflect a hazardous space rock from hitting the Earth.

But how many governments — or inter-governmental organisations or humanitarian groups, for that matter – can really focus on something a full…