Power sector a big contributor to global warming

Global warming is a serious threat staring at us is well-known, but few would know that the power sector has been a major contributor to it over the years. Its contribution is significant in the form of ever-increasing coal power plants that hugely pollute the environment.

Experts said India may soon become the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases globally. To combat global warming, the need to minimize CO2 emission from the power sector becomes obvious. Moreover, within the energy sector, electricity alone accounts for 65.4% for all greenhouse gas emissions.

There is an urgent need to reduce emissions from the power sector, which is possible only by minimizing the number of large conventional projects, and not by increasing them by a wide margin. We can lead comfortable lives even if we use one-third of the energy (electricity) that we are utilizing now. The need is to figure out how to use, transmit and save energy.

Elaborating on the power crisis in the state, YB Ramakrishna, executive chairman of the Karnataka State Biofuel Development Board, said a high 35% of electricity is lost in transmission and distribution.

Unless the overall efficiency in transmission and distribution of electricity is improved, the combined losses at the national level may increase from Rs 68,643 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 1.16 crore by 2014-15. Such losses have led to deprivation of adequate funding to other crucial sectors of our developmental process such as drinking water supply, poverty alleviation, health, education, rural infrastructure, etc.

"Leisure" by William Henry Davies

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Summary:

The poem "Leisure" has been composed by an American poet William Henry Davies. The poet believes that life must be enjoyed in a casual leisurely manner. He thinks that we should spend our free time enjoying and appreciating the beauty of nature. We should find time to stand under the trees and look at beautiful objects of nature as sheep and cows do. While passing through the woods, we must pause to see the squirrels busy in hiding their nuts in the grass. We should also stop by streams of clear water glittering like skies at night. We must also find time to see the beautiful glance of a maiden and admire the skill of her dancing feet. We should not miss the beautiful smile playing at her face. In this way we can fill our lives with happiness.

The poet expresses his grief at the fact that modern rush of life has deprived us of many commonplace pleasures. We run around after our material pursuits, so crazily that we get no time to spend in a relaxed manner. He warns us if our life remains full of worries and problems with no opportunity to enjoy its simple pleasures, it will be a very miserable life.

"Oh You Are Coming" by Sara Teasdale

Oh you are coming, coming, coming,
How will hungry Time put by the hours till then? --
But why does it anger my heart to long so
For one man out of the world of men?

Oh I would live in myself only
And build my life lightly and still as a dream --
Are not my thoughts clearer than your thoughts
And colored like stones in a running stream?

Now the slow moon brightens in heaven,
The stars are ready, the night is here --
Oh why must I lose myself to love you,
My dear? 

Summary:

“Oh You Are Coming” from Teasdale’s work Flame and Shadow, is a beautiful commentary on the girl who is eagerly waiting for her beloved. In the first stanza, she describes her excitement and frustration, about how hard it is for her to wait for the love of her life and wonders, why is she so desperate to meet just one man among all men in this world. In the second stanza, she wishes to keep her feelings to herself only and live a simple life, but then she realizes that it would be no reality, but just a dream. She even used a metaphor to relate her clear “thoughts” with the “colored stones in a running stream”, where she thinks whether he is able to understand her or not. Finally, she closes the poem with the third stanza stating that the moment has come, but still she is not able to stop her thoughts of loving someone special.

"Advice to a Girl" by Sara Teasdale

No one worth possessing
Can be quite possessed;
Lay that on your heart,
My young angry dear;
This truth, this hard and precious stone,
Lay it on your hot cheek,
Let it hide your tear.
Hold it like a crystal
When you are alone
And gaze in the depths of the icy stone.
Long, look long and you will be blessed:
No one worth possessing
Can be quite possessed.

Summary:

The poem means that you cannot totally possess anyone, even your lover or that you truly will never know them totally. The first two lines in the poem caught my attention. That someone worth keeping and holding onto cannot be held down and restricted. In a relationship, I believe, both partners must be equally in love and one person cannot love the other one more. If so, they become obsessed. If they both know they are sharing love and know that they don’t have to hold onto too tightly to possess the other one. Then they both truly possess love and freedom.

"Only in Sleep" by Sara Teasdale

Only in sleep I see their faces,

Children I played with when I was a child,
Louise comes back with her brown hair braided,
Annie with ringlets warm and wild.

Only in sleep Time is forgotten --
What may have come to them, who can know?
Yet we played last night as long ago,
And the doll-house stood at the turn of the stair.

The years had not sharpened their smooth round faces,
I met their eyes and found them mild --
Do they, too, dream of me, I wonder,
And for them am I too a child? 

Summary:

“If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older”, quoted by Tom Stoppard.

This poem is about a lady remembering her childhood friends in her dreams. Childhood days are the most memorable days in anyone’s life. It is a touching piece which bridges the times between our childhood and our today. I especially love the idea that sleep and imagination are the only places where time cannot reach.  The poem evokes such happy thoughts/memories of my childhood.