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Until very recently, man-made climate change was believed to be a crisis of the distant future. We’ve learned, painfully, that we are already in the midst of manmade climate change, with worse to come. Rich and poor countries alike have already been hard hit: killer heat waves in Europe, extreme droughts in the US and Australia, major floods and tropical cyclones in Asia and the Gulf of Mexico, extreme floods and droughts in Africa. Part of our response, of course, must be to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases causing these changes. Another part, however, should be to adapt skilfully to the changes already underway.
    Climate change was once simply described as global warming, but we now appreciate that the changes ahead go far beyond temperature alone. Climate changes affect crop productivity through changes in temperature, rainfall, river flows, and pest abundance. Droughts and floods are becoming more frequent. Tropical diseases such as malaria are experiencing a wider range of transmission. Extreme weather events such as high-intensity hurricanes in the Caribbean and typhoons in the Pacific are becoming more likely. Changes in river flow already threaten hydroelectric power, biodiversity and large-scale irrigation. Rising sea levels in the coming decades may inundate coastal communities and drastically worsen storm surges.
    No region, not even the richest, is yet ready for these changes. All parts of the world will have to increase their scientific understanding, public awareness and investments to reduce climate risks and to adjust to climate shocks as they occur. Yet the poorest, as usual, are most in the line of fire. The tropics, home to a large proportion of the world’s poor, stand to bear the greatest adverse hits to agricultural productivity. The impoverished dry-land regions — especially in Africa, the Middle East and Asia — are already fighting the multiple disasters of drought, degraded pasturelands and rapidly rising populations. These dry lands are now likely to become drier still, adding further potentially explosive pressures in places like Darfur, Sudan, the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
    Yet there are many things that the new adaptation science can allow us to do, to adjust more skilfully to the coming shocks. New sustainable engineering techniques can teach poor farmers new ways to harvest and store rainwater, in order to protect them from the rising risks of drought. Improved seed varieties can add drought-resistant traits to vital food crops. Improved weather and climate forecasting can give a region the advanced warning of seasonal and multi-year climate trends.
    Financial innovations can create novel market instruments such as rainfall-linked bonds that enable regions to insure against climate risks. There is talk about a new global fund to help poor countries to stop deforestation, and thereby to help them build up greater ecological resilience as well as to protect biodiversity and reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
    Many of these changes are already being put into place. The International Research Institute of Climate and Society (IRI), part of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, is working in many parts of the developing world to hone the new tools of adaptation science. The Millennium Villages led by the UN Development Programme and the Earth Institute, are empowering poor farmers to diversify crops, improve small-scale water management, insure against droughts and build a financial buffer against climate shocks. Countless other successes, at small scale, are also being demonstrated.
    It is now time to take the adaptation challenge, and the emerging adaptation science, to a much larger scale. Less than two months from now, when the world’s governments convene in Bali, Indonesia, to negotiate a new climate protocol to follow the Kyoto Protocol (which expires in 2012), adaptation should be high on the policy agenda. We are moving into a new era, when we must not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply, but learn to live wisely with the changes we have wrought.

The corporate sector is designing innovative products and programmes to improve energy efficiency, cut costs and counter global warming.

One of the most frequently used key combinations to log off a PC is ‘Ctrl+Alt+Del’. But every time we do this and walk away, the computer remains on and consumes energy, resulting in wastage of both money and power.
    Not just that, the power consumed by your PC also adds to global warming! A 65 watt power processor in a computer consumes about 234 KW power if it works for 12 hours a day for 300 days. If there are an estimated 15 million PCs in India, then it could result in consumption of 35.25 terra watts of power a year— which means a whopping 4,92,748,000 barrels of oil to produce that amount of energy.
    This is just one aspect of the energy crunch facing India. According to the Central Electricity Authority, at the current annual generation capacity of 1,35,000 MW, there’s a shortage of nearly 10% and it will only get worse. No wonder that the corporate sector is opting for intelligent power usage. Companies are designing innovative products and programmes to increase energy efficiency and cut costs.

INDIA INC STEPS IN
For example, IBM has integrated energy conservation into its environmental management system since 1974. Between 2000-2005, it reduced PFC emissions by 58% and made the technology available to others in the industry. In India, they launched Intelligent Energy Campaign last year and Project Big Green in June 2007. ‘‘The initiative includes new products and services for clients to sharply reduce data centre energy consumption, transforming the world’s business and public technology infrastructure into ‘green’ data centres,’’ says Reji Kumar Pillai, head, energy and utilities, IBM India.
    Statistics show IT data centres consume 15 times more energy per sq ft than a typical office building and, in some cases, may be 100 times more energy intensive. According to IDC, expenditure on power and cooling in data centres is growing at eight times the rate of expenditure on hardware. So ‘‘green teams’’ of energy efficiency specialists, as set up by IBM, is a step forward. Similarly, AMD India makes sure the PCs in its offices are switched off, screen savers are not used and ACs are fitted with thermostats that modulate temperatures. ‘‘The company also uses PowerNow in its server processors that helps reduce energy consumption of the server,’’ says Deepanshu Sharma, GM Marketing, AMD India.
GREEN GRID
In another initiative, a consortium of IT giants like AMD, Microsoft, Dell, Sun, IBM et al, have set up The Green Grid — a platform for IT professionals who aim to cut power consumption in data centres. It offers solutions and suggestions on the best practices available.
    ‘Green’ buildings is another concept fast gaining popularity. Commercial buildings are responsible for at least 40% of energy use in most countries. Industry estimates say ‘green’ buildings can save up to 50% energy, 35% of water usage and improve employee productivity by up to 10%. Adds Manoj Mathur, regional head, Trane India Ltd which helps make ‘green’ buildings, ‘‘Better usage of heat from the building can also be done. For example, in the process of cooling buildings, a lot of heat is wasted. This heat can be captured and used for a wide range of applications, like water heating etc.’’ The commonly-used incandescent bulb too wastes up to 95% of its energy on generating heat — only 5% goes into producing light. This at a time when the global demand for energy is expected to grow 53% by 2030 — 70% of this demand will come from China and India alone.
    S Venkataramani, head, lighting division, Philips Electronics India, says, ‘‘In India, 18,000 MW power is used for lighting purposes alone annually. A study done by MAIT-Emerson Network Power (India) on network power downtime reveals... India Inc could be losing over Rs 22,000 crore in direct losses due to poor power quality and operating environment related downtime. This is estimated to be around 2.2% of the gross output of the total industrial and service sectors.’’ Now, Philips India is in the process of creating an ‘‘ecosystem’’ comprising industry bodies, governments and NGOs and education institutes to break down the barriers against adoption of energy efficient lighting. It’s promoting compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) that save energy by 80%. ‘‘That’s a saving of Rs 500 and 84 kg of CO2 per lamp per year,’’ says Venkataramani.
    None of these initiatives will work unless there is collaboration by all concerned. As Pillai says, ‘‘For intelligent energy solutions to succeed, there must be a concerted and collaborative effort by industry, government and consumers; no company or organisation can do this alone.’’ Recognising this, the corporate world seems to have taken up the challenge of balancing both market needs and environmental priorities.

A Devon town that sparked off a national movement to ban plastic bags from its shops is making the initiative a permanent one.

 

All 43 shops in Modbury joined the town-wide ban on 1 May and after a six-month trial it is becoming a permanent plastic bag-free zone.

Instead shoppers are asked to buy 100% biodegradable alternatives made from corn starch, canvas, paper or cotton.

A number of towns around the country have followed suit.

The Modbury initiative was started after a local resident saw the damage plastic can cause marine life.

Rebecca Hosking, who works as a wildlife camerawoman, said she had been inundated with calls from around the world including Australia, Russia and America following Modbury's ban.

Modbury's bags are offered at cost price of £1.50 for a small bag and £3.95 for a large bag.

The reusable bags are imported from a small factory in Mumbai and printed in the UK using water-based organic ink.

The town also has "amnesty" points for people to recycle their old plastic bags.

A Metro rail link is being planned between the upcoming airport at Panvel and the old domestic and international terminals for the benefit of flyers and commuters.

 MMRDA commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad said the new link, planned by Cidco and his agency, would run along the second line of the Metro’s Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd route. “There will be a new link from Mankhurd to the Navi Mumbai airport, a distance of 20 km,’’ he said.
  

MMRDA officials said the extra 20 km would be planned as a separate project and the survey for it might be done by RITES. These will be combined at a later stage. This is being done as planning for the Metro’s Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd line is almost complete, said officials.
    A small link has already been planned from Santa Cruz airport to Bandra-Kurla Complex to meet the Metro line. This will allow passengers to alight at the terminal and go directly to the Panvel airport.
    While the financial details are yet to worked out, the extra bill could run up to Rs 1,200 crore-Rs 1,500 crore, officials said. Gaikwad said Cidco was keen on having a Metro link between the two airports so that passengers could swiftly move from one to another. Officials said the link would help both Indian and foreign passengers move to other domestic destinations from Santa Cruz. “Most international airports around the world have Metro stations close to them for easy movement of passengers,’’ said one of them.
    The new Metro line will increase the MMRDA’s scope of work. The agency is already going ahead with execution of the first two lines of the first phase of Mumbai Metro. The first line of the Metro will run along the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar route, a distance of 15 km.

They're lightweight, convenient, water-resistant, and freely given with every purchase. The down-side is that they can be seen littering the streets, fluttering from trees and fence posts, and floating on the ocean—not to mention cramming your trashcan or recycling bin.

Today, thirty years after their introduction, plastic bags have become a major environmental concern, mostly due to the staggering numbers used worldwide.

According to Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization that works to build a sustainable society, factories worldwide produced 4–5 trillion plastic bags in 2002. This figure includes large trash bags, thick shopping totes, and grocery bags.

So when the environmentally conscious among us talk about "reduce, reuse, and recycle," the emphasis needs to be on "reduce" when it comes to plastic bags, says the Recycling Council of Ontario (RCO).

"We're recommending that you don't even actually have a plastic bag, that you find ways to avoid it," says Joanne St. Godard, RCO's Executive Director.

RCO coordinates the annual Waste Reduction Week (WRW) in Canada, held October 15–21 this year. Educational events across the country kept the staff at RCO and partner organizations busy raising awareness and assisting schools, businesses, and communities.

Federal Environment Minister John Baird marked the launch of WRW by giving out reusable bags at stores to shoppers out buying their weekend groceries.

Shopping bags are part of the bigger picture of reducing waste generally, the minister says. For example, Baird drinks tap water rather than bottled—another way to reduce plastic and be environmentally responsible.

 

Waste Reduction Target Reduces Environmental Impact

The ubiquitous plastic bag is guilty of a multitude of sins.

When they end up as garbage, plastic bags take upwards of 1,000 years to disintegrate, decomposing into toxic particles that contaminate the water and soil.

When washed into the sea, whales and other marine life that mistake them for food slowly starve to death as the bags fill their stomach, giving a false sense of fullness.

Made from petroleum, the worldwide manufacture of plastic bags consumes an enormous amount of this non-renewable resource, emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide in the process.

But reducing waste is the benefit cited by St. Godard when asked about the recent Ontario initiative to dramatically cut plastic bag use in the province. Announced in May, an agreement was signed between RCO and industry groups, retailers, and grocers that have committed to a 50 percent reduction by 2012.

Retailers and grocers are implementing different ways to achieve this goal, said St. Godard. More and more are offering reusable bags or bins for sale, to replace single-use plastic bags. "That's sort of the first step."

Additionally, many businesses are introducing incentives such as purchase discounts, rebates, air miles, store points, or charging for a plastic bag as a disincentive. IKEA stores across Canada, for example, began charging 5 cents per plastic bag on Monday. However, the money goes to a good cause. All proceeds will be donated to Tree Canada, a charitable organization that will use the funds to plant trees. Stores are also offering financial incentives to remind customers to reuse their bags repeatedly, and many stores now accept plastic bags back for recycling.

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association operates a website that maintains a database of Canadian municipalities where plastic bag recycling is offered. It also maintains a list of stores across Canada that will take back their own bags to recycle through their own recycling program.

 

Remember Your Bags

St. Godard advises consumers not to take plastic bags at a store. Instead, shoppers should bring reusable bags, have large items stickered rather than bagged, and carry out purchases without a bag when buying only a few items. As far as what consumers can do, "that's really the first step to solving the problem."

Good reusable bag options include cloth bags made from hemp, canvas, or cotton, and bags made from recycled plastic bottles.

Baird says these are all good ideas, and individuals can make a difference in protecting and improving the environment. "We just need more people to follow these ideas."

Does he have any tips for overcoming barriers to using reusable shopping bags? "Just remember to bring them!" he said.

Brighton and Hove may have been named as one of the most sustainable places to live in the country but when it comes to being environmentally friendly, the city falls way behind. Ruth Lumley reports

Last week, when city leaders declared a war on waste by launching a bid to turn Brighton and Hove into a plastic bag-free zone, traders welcomed the move.

But despite the continuing efforts to make the city more environmentally friendly and to reduce our carbon emissions, we are still consuming more than most places in Britain.

Research carried out by the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF-UK) put Brighton and Hove and Chichester in the bottom four of a table of mainland cities' "ecological footprints".

An ecological footprint measures human impact on nature by comparing consumption of natural resources with Earth's ecological capacity to regenerate them.

It is an estimate of the area of biologically productive land and sea needed to regenerate the resources the human population consumes and to absorb the corresponding waste.

Using this assessment, it is possible to estimate how many planet Earths it would take to support the human race if everybody lived a certain lifestyle.

According to the report, we would need 3.47 planets if everyone lived as people do in Brighton and Hove and 3.49 planets if everyone were the same as Chichester residents.

Brighton and Hove City Council has run campaigns encouraging people to cycle to work and use public transport but the city is still very congested.

Last month, the council revealed levels of airborne pollutants exceeded recommended levels in 15 locations across the city, including Sackville Road, Western Road and St James' Street.

In the Sustainable Cities Index study conducted by environmental charity Forum For The Future, Brighton and Hove scored badly in the environmental test, coming in 15th, despite coming top in most of the other categories.

The report said that although the score for waste collected per head was good, air and water quality let the city down.

Green Party councillor Keith Taylor said: "I think claims of us being more sustainable compared with our ecological footprint offer us a challenge to reduce the impact on the environment and the way we live.

"There is a public aspiration to do just that.

"The big thing is the air pollution and traffic, which is getting worse I believe, and congestion appears to be worse.

"We could recycle more products such as kitchen waste and businesses should look at the amount of packaging they use."

One co-operative at the forefront of recycling in the city is Infinity Foods, which has been running since 1971.

All its products are organic or bought locally and the business, in North Laine, Brighton, has been a member of the Soil Association for more than 30 years.

Fifty people make up the cooperative, working in the shop and the warehouse.

Eliz Ridaut, a co-operative member, said: "We are carbon balanced as a business.

"We try and put back in what we get out of the land and one of the things we do is pay to plant trees to offset our carbon emissions.

"We are very good with recycling and the only things that go in the bin are the things that can't be recycled.

"We are also really careful with our energy use. We have energy lightbulbs, our refrigeration units are environmentally friendly and most of the furnishing and shelving is made of wood or metal.

"Our floor is made from linoleum, which is made from plants and wood pulp.

"On a business basis we are exceptionally environmentally rare.

"Luckily, everyone here has the same kind of mindset and wants to make a difference."

Infinity Foods uses degradable plastic bags but its customers often bring their own cotton bags in.

It is looking into using corn starch bags, which would be more environmentally friendly but have the same appearance and weight as a normal plastic bag.

If the city council's proposal to ban plastic bags goes ahead, more people will have to get used to using cotton bags or other environmentally friendly containers.

Plastic bags last for thousands of years and there are 300 of them for every person on the planet. They are used for just 12 minutes each on average.

Brenda Pollack, who lives in Brighton and is the Friends Of The Earth regional officer for the South East, says banning plastic bags would be just a drop in the ocean and we will have to do a lot more to improve our ecological footprint.

She said: "Many cities in the South East have got the same problem with over-consumption of resources.

"Although Brighton is aware of the issue, we need to be pushing for strong legislation at Government level. It cannot just be left up to the individual.

"This is why we are pushing for the climate change law. We use cars too much, we leave lights switched on unnecessarily. People know a bit about changing their behaviour but they need to put it into action.

"Banning plastic bags is a good measure but you cannot monitor it.

"Brighton and Hove City Council has been encouraging more car parking in the city centre and that is going to encourage more people to use their cars. It is things like public transport that we can control and help people to change their choices.

"All this has a direct link to obesity cases. The more we consume, the more unhealthy we become and the worse we are for our environment."

 

Makena Brown, grade 8, has a plan to help keep the planet healthy and make money, too. Makena collects all of her family’s recyclables and stores them in the back yard. About once a month, she and her family load up the car with the many bags of bottles and cans and take them to the local recycling center. Because it’s her project, Makena gets to keep the money paid by the recycling center for the aluminum, plastic and glass. "Makena is the chief of our recycling plant," says Mr. Brown proudly. "She’s the recycling queen."

"The money is the number one thing that’s in my mind," says Makena. "I’m like, that’s great! And in the back of my mind I know that this is helping the environment, [reducing] pollution, and helping the earth to get better step by step." With her recycling money, Makena is helping to pay her mom back for her new computer.

Ask a little more about Makena’s interest in protecting the environment, and you’ll find that she’s a fountain of knowledge. For example, she explains that more water is used to make plastic water bottles than can be contained by the bottles after they’re made. She’s also especially interested in renewable energy. Her eyes light up when she talks about San Francisco’s proposal to get electricity from tidal power generators.

It’s been about a year now that the Brown family has been saving their recyclables for Makena’s recycling project. Makena’s grandparents have also started to save their recyclables to contribute to the Brown family’s recycling program. "We end up with a big pile of bottles and cans on the side of the house," everyone chuckles. "We can’t walk past until we clean it up."

In addition to supporting Makena’s recycling project, her parents and her younger sister, Ashley, all have their own ways of helping the environment. These include choosing environmentally friendly cleaning products and using cloth shopping bags.

Ashley says, "we watched a show on Oprah and it was ‘Green Day’ and she gave organic cotton bags that help the environment to everybody in the audience."

"So when you go to the grocery store," she says cheerfully in unison with her mom, "and they ask ‘paper or plastic?’ you can say neither because you have your own bags."

It was Makena’s school that gave her the interest to pursue her recycling business. "It actually started last year when I learned about global warming," recalls Makena. "In 7th grade, we did a project on global warming. Each group was assigned to do something. There were groups for food, recycling, pesticides, and all these things about global warming. It was called the Green Fair. And I learned about recycling and how much litter is on the side of the roads. And I was like, that’s a great way to get money and help the environment."

Mr. Brown adds that he has taken Makena to see a wetland preservation project in which he is involved with the hope that it would interest his daughter in environmental protection.

What’s the family’s least favorite part of delivering their recyclables to the recycling center? "The smell," everyone says together, laughing. "It’s pretty bad."

Makena and Ashley explain, "When we go, we do not want to catch the germs and the stickiness on our hands so we wear latex gloves."

With her recycling business rolling along, I wondered if Makena would like it if companies stopped producing plastic bottles, even if having fewer bottles to recycle might put a hole in her profits. "I would," she said, "because then we’d be saving the water and it would be healthier for the planet. It would be another step to stop global warming." Spoken like a conscientious and environmentally responsible businessperson.

For people Makena’s age interested in starting an at-home recycling project, Makena has some advise. "The only thing," she says, "is just to keep your mind on it and help your family know and make rules. I told my family that if they’re done with a bottle or can, they could just put it on the counter. I put it in a bag and take it out to the yard. Keep your family informed. And the other thing is just try to get other people involved because you’re going to get money for it and you’re also helping the environment."

SOUTH Dorset MP Jim Knight has added his voice to a campaign to rid Portland of all plastic bags.

Portland mayor Tim Munro wants to banish them from the island to protect the environment and reduce litter. Now he has the backing of his MP.

Mr Knight said: "It's a really good aim to have, and something we should work together to achieve.

"There is still some work to be done with retailers on this but if they can take on the challenge it will be good for visitors, but more importantly it will make residents feel good about the island.

"Hopefully, it will capture people's imagination."

The men met at the Aubergine healthy living store in Easton - somewhere that has taken the lead in banning plastic bags.

Instead, visitors are encouraged to use cotton bags available at the store, or bring their own.

Portland volunteer group Ivy is now helping to distribute the eco-friendly bags across the island.

 

Councillors in Brighton and Hove took the first steps towards ridding the city of plastic bags this week. Ben Parsons reports on how shopkeepers can work towards this ambitious goal. They last for a thousand years, there are 300 of them for every man and woman on the planet and we use them for an average of just 12 minutes.

Plastic bags are an ever-present part of British life - always visible, whether at the supermarket checkout or cluttering the streets as litter.

But the love affair is coming to an end. Brighton and Hove City Council is taking the first steps towards becoming a plastic bag-free city.

Councillors voted unanimously on Thursday to support moves to eliminate the bags from the shops.

Councillor Maria Caulfield put forward the motion. She told The Argus: "We want retailers to provide an alternative so plastic bags can be eliminated once and for all."

Coun Caulfield praised the Republic of Ireland for its bag tax, which requires customers to pay a 20p charge if they want to use a plastic bag.

The country has seen a 90 per cent reduction in plastic bag use since it introduced the fee in 2002.

At the moment, Brighton and Hove City Council is looking at ways of persuading stores to abandon plastic bags voluntarily.

While smaller towns around the country have outright bans in place, no city has yet gone so far.

Modbury in Devon became the first town in Europe to go plastic bag-free in May this year.

Simon Wilkinson, of Modbury Chamber of Commerce, helped spearhead the move.

The butcher has had enquiries from the King of Tonga and a visit from the Colombian ambassador to find out more about the ban.

People in Modbury adapted quickly to the policy.

Mr Wilkinson said: "It was pretty easy. We used to go through 30,000 plastic bags a year in our one shop.

"This year we'll probably have used just 3,000 or 4,000."

Modbury had the support of its only national chain store, the Co-op, in its decision to go plastic bag-free.

Co-op spokeswoman Sandra Everett told The Argus the chain had since introduced voluntary bans in six more stores across the South West.

She said: "It has been fantastic.

We have had a 90 per cent reduction in carrier bags."

The store helped ease the transition by sending out free cotton bags to every house in the town with a leaflet about how the ban would work.

Now customers either take their own bags to the shop or can buy bags made from corn starch, which decay naturally when thrown away, for 5p each. Giving away a free corn starch bag would have cost the store £20,000 a year, nearly ten times more than the old plastic bags.

About 100,000 birds, turtles, seals and whales are believed to die each year after eating plastic bags but the "bio-bag" can be eaten safely by larger animals.

The chain is looking at even greener materials, including potato starch, for future bags.

Modbury, which has 43 shops, is a very different proposition to a city the size of Brighton and Hove, which hands out an estimated 3.5 million bags each year. But moves are already under way to bring the problem under control and work towards a plastic bagfree city.

The council is organising a plastic bag-free day early next year.

The city's sustainability commission, led by Councillor Denise Cobb, is working with small traders to persuade them to voluntarily stop handing out plastic bags.

The council is to begin talks with major chain stores and supermarkets to cut the number of bags being handed out. This week, shopkeepers in North Laine unveiled their new reusable cotton bags, which cost £2.50.

On one side they bear the logo of North Laine Traders' Association.

The other is blank so shops can customise them and retain one of the few advantages of plastic carrier bags - their use as a marketing tool.

There are now about 3,000 cotton bags in circulation among 148 shops in North Laine.

Association chairman Peter Stocker said: "The feeling is that now is the time for change."

 

The photograph said it: Men and women, seemingly belonging to the educated middle class, mimicking monkeys as Andrew Symonds walked out to bat in Mumbai on Wednesday. Four spectators, including a woman, have since been arrested on charges of harassment and misbehaviour. BCCI officials have sought to underplay the incident. Prior to the Mumbai incident, spectators in Vadodara targeted Symonds in a similar manner and that city’s police chief, without a trace of irony, said they were invoking Lord Hanuman. For the lord’s sake, let’s not be apologetic about rotten eggs in our midst.
    Of course, not all Indians are racist, but there are many who openly display racial prejudices. They should be told in clear terms that there is no place for such behaviour in a liberal democracy. Australian bloggers have said they will take the cue from our fans when India tours Australia in December this year. That too is unacceptable, because racism, whatever the provocation, is uncivilised. Cricket Australia officials should take the threat seriously, since the South African as well as English teams had accused Australian fans of racism in the past.
    Is there any reason to believe that the racist acts in Vadodara and Mumbai were simply hostile antics, as BCCI chief Sharad Pawar has claimed? No, especially since the target all the time was Symonds, who is of West Indian origin. Yes, he was smashing Indian bowlers all over the park. But so did Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting. Even bowlers like Mitchell Johnson and Brad Hogg, who exposed the limitations of Indian batsmen, were not harassed. We wonder if the boors who saw a monkey in Symonds realised they were insulting one of the finest one-day players of all time, an all-rounder any team in the world would be proud to have in their ranks. The real ape — though apes may object to this — is the one who has not evolved into understanding that everyone has a right to respect and dignity irrespective of ethnicity and skin colour.
    Indian cricket fans are changing. They increasingly resemble football fans in European stadiums. Cricket, for them, is a carnival where ribaldry and raucousness have a free run. As long as it’s clean fun, it’s fine. But these fans are representative of a society which secretly admires fair skin. Just look at our matrimonial adverts. Many sociologists and political activists also say caste prejudice among Indians is nothing but racism. So, let us not be in denial, but recognise the malaise.