Green Technology: a Dorsal View

Green Technology: A dorsal view
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Shameek Ganguly, IIT Guwahati
'Going green...' read a popular advertisement hoarding of a popular electronic goods brand.
It had a beautifully signifying logo assigned for its visual resemblance as well. But what it lacked to
mention was its motto for going green. Its a familiar situation for us today with the world around us
suddenly arising from the deepest chasms of sins against our planet into the heavens of sanctity by
'GOING GREEN'. However, what of the street-side man who runs a small-scale industry that processes
lets say, waste paper, and lets off a variety of chemical affluents? Is it the lack of intention to save our
environment that leads him to mindless polluting? Perhaps... but not so in most cases out of the tens of
millions of such small scale industries which are involved in similar practices. The missing link
between these seemingly double-faced coin situation is the resources that currently go into bringing
about this so called global eco-technology drive. Apart from the obvious lack of financial strength for
this reformed 'morality', most people lack or misjudge the very purpose of it. Bluntly put, even an
MNC status manufacturer may opt for going green simply for the charm that its adds to its popularity.
The major problem in the concept lies in the definition of the term 'eco-technology' itself. A
hierarchical order may be established in its many possible interpretations based on the cross-section of
the society it obviously subjects to. While the creamy layer of cell-constrained researchers may be
burning gallons of mid-night oil to improve the efficiency of silicon-based solar panels by a few
percents or trying to develop a nano-technology based fuel-cell to use water as fuel to drive cars,
manufacturers and construction companies around the world are busy trying to reduce pollutants let off
by their products or improve energy efficiency of their devices. However it is the cost of the...