New Delhi - Chapter 1

It is amazing to me how people associate certain memories and feelings with the places they visit. For me, India is place of great comfort and happiness. Although I haven’t been here that many times, I always have a great sense of peace associated with my arrival. The smell of India is so distinctive: A mix of dust, pollution, people, and culture. Is like the familiar smell of coming home: Not always pleasant, but always comforting.

A mix of chaos combined with progress: Delhi’s sprawling lights could be seen as far as the eye could see. The airport and roads were surprisingly un-crowded. I couldn’t help but laugh at how a country changes peoples’ behaviour. As I attempted to line up to go through customs, the crowds became a bit of a pandemonium. I thought: “Ah, this is India!” As I looked around, I realized that I was in a crowd of foreigners and that every passport I could see was either American of European!!! What is it that makes a line filled with the same people perfectly orderly in Amsterdam, and complete mayhem in Delhi??

The drive home was another surprise. Being past midnight, the roads were relatively empty. I could feel the beauty of India – crumbling monuments mixed with new construction, dusty scooters puttering over huge overpasses, red traffic lights that apparently mean “go faster” after midnight.

There is chaos in the construction: concrete mixed with culture, development mixed with beauty, and progress mixed with tradition.

On y vas

My walk home last night was reminiscent of Dr. Zhivago's trek through the Russian Tundra….it is only a great relief then, that in 48 hours, I will be soaking up 25C sunshine (and smog) in New Delhi!!!

I’m off for a 2-month jaunt in India and Thailand. And I just can’t believe it has happened so fast! I’ve had an incredible time in Toronto, an invaluable professional experience, and made life-long friends.

So…thank you! Thank you to all of you who have touched my life, who have mentored me over the past two years, and who have made an indelible impression on my life.

Talking about Impact?

Sir Richard Branson’s latest “stunt” is a challenge to make true global impact. According to Green Business News (http://green.itweek.co.uk/2007/02/bransons_climat.html), Branson is offering up $25 Million to the first scientist who is able to develop a workable means of removing at least one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.

What a brilliant, world-changing challenge! And has this great use of celebrity gained world-wide attention? Actually, quite the contrary: Branson’s challenge has instead been called a “futile PR-stunt of a craven self-publicist.”

Personally, I think this is absurd. Not only is Branson lending his celebrity to help find a truly global solution, but he’s recruited highly credential scientists to help the cause. Al Gore, former US Vice President; Sir Crispin Tickell, former British Ambassador to the United Nations; James Lovelock, inventor of the Gaia theory; James Hansen, climate scientist and head of the NASA Institute for Space Studies; and Tim Flannery, Australian mammalogist and palaeontologist have all agreed to sit on the judging panel for the new prize.

It reminds me of an article I read last year where business leaders spoke out about NOT being recognized for their community service as the publicity inevitably led to criticism. This challenge is case and point of society’s need to be critical. How can we expect talented young people to step up to new business and political challenges if even the good things that leaders do leads to criticism, disapproval, and denigration?

I say “Bravo” Sir Richard Branson! Not only is he taking a lead role in tackling climate change through a triple bottom line approach (people, planet, profit), but he has appreciated that clean technology is a needed and valuable investment opportunity. So what if he’s using his PR skills...who better to highlight the seriousness of the threat of global climate change?