Here is a book-review, giving us an idea of its
contents. The question raised in the book (highlighted in yellow) is
fallacious !!! (to put it mildly). The paragraphs occurring before the
question, are on track. But the question itself and the offered
solutions to the question raised, are preposterous, judging the contents.
Consider the following sentence from the review. (red color text) “Our economic activities
are becoming information-dependent and many products and technologies process
only information and so consume less energy.” Our own experiences belies this
sentence !!! Just try to recollect the number of computers and printers we
(only ourselves) had changed/thrown-out/exchanged in the last say ten years.
Obsolescence is the twin-brother of technology, and generates
lot of wastage. From the tenor of the review, we are lead to conclude that the
authors have not fully understood what entropy really is and thus this
book is bound to mislead.
A brief take on this subject ie Entropy, is
given in my blog-page http://msradha.blogspot.in/2013/04/caution-men-at-work-about-karma.html
The real price of development N.
BALASUBRAMANIAN
Many sins are committed in the name of development. We are
becoming aware that much of what were hailed as achievements over the past few
centuries were actually “sordid boons.” Curiously, the words ecology and economics have a common root, okios , which means ‘habitat’ in
ancient Greek. But dialogues between economists and
ecologists/environmentalists on how to achieve development with the least
incomprehension of, and violence to, habitat have been of recent origin.
The strain imposed by development has been measured using a
number of Indicators. In its report released on September 27, 2013, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that the warming of the
climate system is unequivocal — oceans have warmed, snow and ice have
diminished, sea level has risen and greenhouse gases have increased — and there is a 95 per cent chance
it is all manmade. The living planet index based on a number of
indicators of biodiversity has fallen in the poorer countries. Materials
Footprint is increasing by 6 per cent for every 10 per cent increase in GDP.
Earth Overshoot Day is the day every year when we have consumed natural
resources at a rate beyond what our planet can replenish and have produced more
waste than can be reabsorbed. In 1970 it fell on December 29. Advanced by two
days every year, it fell on August 20 in 2013.
Physical and social sciences
Physical
and social sciences together must address the problems of growth and its
implications. To the growing community of scholars who are equally
at home in both sciences, the book’s emphasis on “the role of entropy law of
thermodynamics in making the basic assumptions regarding a development model”
is encouraging. Frederic Soddy
(not mentioned in the book), a Nobel-prize winning chemist, was the first to
introduce thermodynamics into economics. Working with Rutherford, he
split the atom and was the first to produce and name isotopes. Aware of the
destructive power he unleashed, he wanted to improve the economic system, which
was not in a position to act on scientific advances. So he shifted his career
to economics and came up with radical ideas in the 1920s. He was derided by economists and
none of them quoted him for 70 years, but he was rediscovered recently.
The
book makes the point that development increases entropy, and asks: “Can growth
of human knowledge and technological progress reverse the effects of entropy
law and delink economic growth and rise of entropy?”
The role of knowledge and human values in directing
development cannot be over-emphasised. Our economic
activities are becoming information-dependent and many products and
technologies process only information and so consume less energy. The
internet changed the way we consume energy. To what extent can we uncouple
economic growth from energy growth? How soon can we have a grid of wind, solar,
geothermal and tidal energy, and next-generation nuclear fission and fusion,
and energy from nuclear waste? Advanced diesel engines with low
compression ratio and the consequent benefits resulting in much higher fuel
efficiency, and electric transport, can prove game- changers. We can prospect
for materials in space colonies. These involve uncertainties and we must also
get better at technology forecasting.
Clean technologies with minimal reduction in productivity
are the concern of all countries: a rise of 2.5 per cent in global temperature
will reduce agricultural productivity by 6 per cent in America but by 38 per
cent in India.
The author covers comprehensively 14 interrelated topics
relevant to the title of the book. A background in mathematics is needed to
understand the concept of sustainable development and the ideas of Partha
Dasgupta and Nardhaus. There is even a mathematical model to choose an optimum
family size (my next wedding present!). The data in the book refer mostly to
India, although a few tables draw information from the International Energy
Agency, the World Bank and the UN.
Among some minor blemishes, the description of
photosynthesis is sketchy. In the accompanying chemical equation — the only
equation in the book — a chemical formula is written without saying it means
glucose. It is hoped that the next edition will have more recent data in the
tables. In the current edition, some of the data go back to the 1990s.
The book will appeal to researchers in the area of development
economics and policy analysts /makers and succeed as a textbook . Hopefully, it will stir the
conscience of a new generation.
( N. Balasubramanian is Advisor, Centre for Study of
Science, Technology and Policy, Bangalore )
Link to the review http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-bookreview/the-real-price-of-development/article5283383.ece
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