In India, Even Gods Are Going Hungry

Poor Struggle to Donate to Temples as Food Prices Skyrocket

Check out this story from Washington Post today. All's not well around the world. India and China - countries that are often held up as examples of rising standards of living are facing problems. Rampant inflation, specially for energy and food have begun to impact the fragile economies - much of which is reliant on the an abundant supply of cheap labor pool.

What you did is not as important as what you'll do next

You might have seen this Accenture advertisement already. It's amazing though how many different things you could apply it to. Truly, a brilliant advertisement.

Spring's in the air

The smell of spring, warm days, kite flying, ah-chooo! Yes, it's been that kind of weekend.

Energy efficiency needs more than hybrids, solar and wind

We often get too focused on panaceas for problems facing us. Case in point is the energy crisis. Improving fuel efficiency of cars will only go so far. That is when you get these Eureka moments like this study from the Pacific Institute.

The Pacific Institute estimates that in 2006: * Producing the bottles for American consumption required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy for transportation * Bottling water produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide * It took 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water

The American fascination with bottled water - this in a nation that should pride itself on the best tap water availability anywhere in the world is taking a big toll on its energy independence. Plastic bags in supermarkets and grocery stores are another area of concern.

But before you start running out and replace plastic bags with paper - think about this - that paper is coming from a felled tree! So what is the solution - consider "moderation", "thriftiness" and other such words that have fallen out of our vocabulary. Consider using as few bags as possible to pack your groceries. Consider reusable water bottles and drinking tap water where available.

Click here for more from the Pacific Institute.