swathi20

[swathi20]

WHY ECON?

As much as I am usually hooked on surfing through music channels on the idiot box in my leisure time, I truly admit what really makes me all the more glued to my television set are the business channels. I verily take delight in spending time watching these channels. In fact, I do have a few favourite programs too that I take utmost pleasure in watching being Commodity Champions, India Business Hour, Global Eye of TV 18 and The Money Show of ET Now to name a few.

I guess that is when I became aware of the fact how economics plays an essential role in our daily lives and why everyone must at least know its rudiments. Some students find it a dry subject while some find it challenging as one would have to spend hours reading and learning about concepts, including research techniques and quantitative analysis. However, some take it up for the myriad benefits it offers as a subject, the huge range of skills one might gain from an Econ degree to the exciting types of employment one might be geared for, being a few.

Most economic books carry definitions of "economics" akin to the ones published in the others with the slightest of variations, the primary definition being, "The study of scarcity and how it affects the use of resources, the production of goods and services, the growth of production and well-being over time, and many other important and complicated issues that affect society.", divided generally into two main parts, microeconomics and macroeconomics.

While studying economics makes one ready for a career as an economist, it also assists in nurturing the development of invaluable hard and soft skills, including critical thinking, communication, numeracy, research skills, data analysis, time management, teamwork, problem-solving, computing, and commercial and cultural. Environmental economics is yet another field of study. It is very intriguing as a matter of fact to notice how closely economics and environment are intertwined, something that environmentalists might find enthralling.

Environment and economics are two concepts that go hand in hand. Many renowned economists believe that a better environment helps a lot in strengthening the economy of the country. The environment provides lots of free natural resources to the economy like fossil fuels, ores, minerals, light, air, water, etc. While in return the economy of a country invests a lot in conserving the environment by finding substitutes for natural resources. This gives rise to the notion of sustainable development. There are three pillars of sustainability – economic viability, environmental protection and social equity. Sustainable development is something that has set the internet traffic abuzz, being on everyone's tongue.

So why study economics? The study of economics helps people interpret the world around them. It facilitates one to fathom people, businesses, markets and governments, and thereby better respond to the threats and opportunities that emerge when things change. Concepts such as supply and demand, market demand, willingness of the customer to pay, cognitive biases and key strategies like the Porter's Five Forces, SWOT Analysis and Core Competencies are a must know. Econ might assist one in making the right decisions at times of dearth in resources. All said and done learning about economics helps one understand the major problems facing the world today, prepares one to be a good citizen, and helps one become a well-rounded thinker!

[swathi20]

HAPPY CODING!

So the coding bug bit me when I was in 11th grade. I even remember the first handbook that I bought myself, I would literally read every book on programming I could get my hands on. I would search up for articles online and subscribe myself to a dozen of newsletters only to enhance my knowledge.

With every passing day, my interest would only grow deeper. I could feel a completely engrossed plus intrigued self of mine grow fonder and fonder of typing lines of code on the IDE, completely devoted to and immersed in the editing, compiling and debugging cycle (a.k.a the 3 phases in the development of a program). For some a part of course while for some a learning pathway, I definitely knew what it meant to me. For me, it was not only an activity fun by nature but also definitely something that would everytime take me to a creative space, my happy place:) to be more descriptive, a place that would inspire me with new ideas and empower further creativity.

The first programming language that I made myself familiarize with was C++ where I started with very basic programs and soon shifted towards a more advanced level. I loved it how the very concept of programming would challenge me everyday as I would write pieces of code and rectify errors everytime I would compile a program, boy it surely did teach me patience and the need to be accurate. After learning C, I opted to go forth with teaching myself SQL and DBMS concepts. It surely was a damn absorbing and captivating experience.

C and C++ were indeed riveting, but what piqued my true interest was learning to code in python. Python has its own advantages that encouraged me to delve further into "The World of Python". I surely understood why python ranks among the most popular and fastest-growing languages in the world and why it is preferred by most of the programmers. With its extensive support libraries, versatility and high efficiency that it provides, it surely stands out among the various other programming languages. Being dynamic in nature, it is free and open source and supports high level programming, the biggest advantage however being that it follows a simple syntax that is very much similar to the English language.

So I began to code in python and it was one amazing experience. Next, I taught myself the nuances of Django, coding on VS Code Editor and finally I actually built my own website. It was a unique and liberating feeling, something that you sense when you try out something different in life, when you cognize you are no longer pigeonholed!

I would implement my front-end skills that I possessed (HTML, CSS, JavaScript with a bit of bootstrap added to it) and build websites the way I wanted, create content and try to make them as interactive as I could. It was sheer bliss. Taking online help, I subsequently went on to teach myself a bit of git and bingo! There it was, a collection of my work on my very own GitHub site. I began to work on further projects, ace my full-stack skills as one might call it.

The next thing I know, I familiarized myself with Php, ASP, the dot net framework and C#. The more I practised, the more I would find myself get a step closer to finesse. Then I discovered myself getting inclined more and more towards machine learning. Every topic under it would generate more curiosity inside me as I would feel the urge and hunger to learn more and find my mind twice inquisitive as it was before.

All said and done, there surely is nothing as cool and fun as coding and I surely encourage readers to go ahead and give it a try. It surely helped me realize where my passion lies and improvise on it.😉

[swathi20]

Today's actions are tomorrow's results!

It's 2023,around 4.54 billion years right from the day our Earth was formed,approx one-third the age of the universe. That's what one might get from a Google search I guess.

Our Earth not only provides us with everything we want, but also with everything we need to survive! Right from the food we need for fuel, water we need for hydration, air and the oxygen we breathe, raw materials, literally everything we need comes from this one planet.

I remember a couple of activities that I participated in when I was in school. A few of them were in fact compulsory to make us realize the importance of saving our "Mother Earth" as kids. These were activities such as writing slogans, drawing posters, coming up with creative write-ups, preparing visual presentations on nature, debates and even brainstorming sessions to come up with the best ideas to conserve our wildlife,natural resources and environment on the whole.

Coming to the present, nowadays I often get to read these articles in newspapers on the depleting resources of our planet, the urging need to raise awareness among the population of the world to preserve our rich biodiversity and wildlife that are on the very verge of getting extinct, the rising case of global warming and its effects along with the need to adapt practices that keep our environment safe from pollution with an aim to keep it as clean as possible. We get to see an alarming rise in the AQI of various cities. And then climate change has been gathering momentum over the past few months or over years with the governments of various countries holding talks on this issue.

'Decarbonization is the need of the day', the titles of various articles I come across would say! Sort of a message to the readers..BTW for those of whom who are wondering what climate change really is. Let me go ahead and briefly explain it.It refers to the variations in the average weather conditions leading to events such as heatwaves, severe floods, droughts, intense storms, rising sea levels, warming oceans that can terribly destroy animal habitats and wreak havoc on people's livelihoods and communities in simple words. There are also cases of rise in inflation levels due to weak supplies, a result of harsh weather conditions.

Most recently there have been shifts in consumer behavior with consumers preferring to buy EVs as they reduce air and noise pollution since these work on electricity. But did you know that EV battery production can adversely impact the environment, such as a loss of biodiversity, air pollution and decreased freshwater supply and EV batteries consist of materials like nickel, lithium, cobalt and others, which are energy-intensive to mine. These minerals are also often mined in regions with a poor environmental record. There have been debates on positive and negative impacts of EVs. Recently India has been emerging as a major player in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. That surely is a yippee factor for us Indians that could lead to our country's further economic growth.Right?!

Semiconductor chips are key components in many green technologies like EVs, solar panels and even turbines. But research also says that semiconductor chip making is an energy and water-intensive process and also creates hazardous waste. This could worsen climate change. This industry also poses health hazards to workers that include exposure to solvents, acid and caustic solutions, toxic metals, and radiation. However, you know what they say "every coin has two sides".

As the 5G services have begun to roll out most recently, there surely has been quite a buzz lately with 5G promising peak data speeds of up to 10 Gbps—up to 100 times faster than the 100 Mbps of 4G. 

It is said that it may serve various purposes besides providing high speed data to internet consumers one of them especially being 'benefits to the environment'. That surely is something for the environmentalists to look for.

International standards have called for 5G to require much less energy to run than 4G, which means using less power while transmitting more data. By enabling more people to work or access entertainment remotely and avoid commuting and flying for business, 5G will save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and airplanes.

However,there prove to be a couple of negative impacts too like the full deployment of 5G could have a disruptive impact on ecosystems.

A study found that sparrows exposed to cell tower radiation for five to 30 minutes produced disfigured eggs. In Spain, the nesting, breeding and roosting of birds were disturbed by microwave radiation from a cell tower. Wireless frequencies have also been found to interfere with the navigational systems and circadian rhythms of birds, affecting migration.

Another study found that bees exposed to low-band spectrum radiation for 10 minutes suffered colony collapse disorder. Radiation is definitely one of its greatest negative impacts.

We need to raise more awareness among people. Today's resources are surely exhausting and soon we might have nothing to offer the future generations. We have to raise awareness about sustainable development among the people of today. Tata Power's approach to "Sustainability" is surely laudable. And so is Mondelez International's decision to go for Cocoa Life to source their cocoa for all of its chocolate brands. A small label at the bottom of the Dairy Milk bar indicates that the cocoa used to make the product is '100% sustainably sourced'.

Epson's claim on its attempt to bring about an EcoRevolution in printing by adapting a HeatFree technology, which consumes less power and generates less eWaste is yet another formidable drive towards achieving sustainability.

This in fact is the whole concept that economics deals with: Meeting the unlimited needs of human population against a reserve of very scarce resources to satisfy human wants. Human wants are never ending, this makes man exploit the natural resources to levels quite extreme so as to satisfy his greedy needs.

In Milton Friedman's words: "If the means are not scarce, there is no problem at all, there is nirvana". But surely this has never been the case.

We surely need to adapt eco-friendly practices and create as much awareness as possible. The Young Rangers initiative by TOI group for example is indeed great and praiseworthy.

#Let'sliveforacause #saveourplanet

~ Swathi