Greenhouse concerns

Ever since the various earth summits and protocols we have been hearing about the exponential growth in Carbon emissions and how such growth is crippling our sustainability and our future. To those not much familiar with math, the term 'exponential' causes unphantomable distress. This week we retell a story that explains this term quite succinctly.

Akbar was a master chess player, more of a Vishwanathan Anand of his times. He accepted challenges from his subjects, with liberal prizes to the winner and grateful smiles to the losers, who could still retain their honour and lives.

One day a commoner, Lilavati, a beautiful young girl barely out of her teens came to Diwan Ae Aam where the emperor was holding court, and she told the mighty Akbar that of her desire to challenge him in an encounter on the chessboard. They played a game and Akbar having lost (we will not go into a debate whether it was due to the charms, or genuine skills of Lilavati, as that is not relevant to the story) asked what reward she now expected having won the challenge, to which Lilavati replied, "Oh King! I am just happy winning a good game of chess against one as accomplished as you, and have no use for riches as these are of little use to me; coming as I do from very modest family with no need for worldly objects". But the King persisted, to which Lilavati proposed, "On this chessboard where I have defeated you, give me grains of rice every day till the number of squares are over; just one grain on the first day, 2 on the second, 4 on the third, doubling it every day till all the days are completed". Akbar was amused at this lowly request, and instantly agreed, much to the chagrin of his star Navratna, Birbal.

And so it started. Lilavati came on the first day and with the court laughing loud, but Birbal visibly upset and nervous; Akbar gave Lilavati a grain of rice. The 'farce' was repeated the next day when she got 2 grains, and soon became a normal feature of the court, with the courtiers amused but Birbal visibly upset and squirming.

By the 30^th day Lilavati had taken a hundred tons of rice. Lilawati proposed that as this rice would last her complete village for more than 2 months, she would now return to collect the balance till completion only when the total period of 64 days gets over. By the 40th day she was entitled to a total of more than 10,000 tonnes, and by the 52nd day the King’s granaries were to get depleted, as the tab had exceeded the world’s rice production for one full year. And by the 59th day had outgrown world’s production for a full 100 years.

Near panic prevailed, as Birbal told the court that at this rate, as per the terms of the bet, Lilavati was entitled to rice, which the entire world would need the next Four Thousand year to produce.

Of course Carbon Emissions will take much longer than 64 days to do us in. This is because it is not the exponent 2, but closer to 1.006 that is more valid for the greenhouse gases to multiply. Which means that with the increase in emissions of just 0.6 % every year, it multiplies to 120 years for a doubling of these obnoxious emissions. This is very alarming and a signal that the World better pay heed to the environmentalists, and stop calling them as prophets of doom.

President Obama of the USA, in his 800 Billion Dollar package set aside Thirty Billion Dollars for making government buildings energy efficient. Though small attempts have been made to this effect, this is the first major step towards efficient building systems. We can only hope, wish and pray that such good sense prevails on all progressive governments of the world, and they formalize a plan, maybe under the aegis of the United Nations, to implement the same.