Tata has been talking about the 1 lac car for a few years now…

and here is the description of the car by Ratan Tata

Tata Motors has not released a photo of its prototypes, but Ratan Tata, a trained architect with a penchant for designing consumer goods, sketched its outlines for a reporter’s eyes only. He drew an egg-shaped car with a ceiling high enough to handle his tall frame. He pointed proudly to the air intake scoop in front of the rear tires and the vertical taillights similar to those found on the Tata Indica. Under the front hood it will have a small storage space, “like an overhead bin” on an airplane, Tata says. “It is not as small as a Smart,” he says. “It is not a car with plastic curtains or no roof–it’s a real car.” The design was outsourced to Italy’s Institute of Development in Automotive Engineering, but Tata himself ordered changes along the way. Most recently he vetoed the design of the windshield wipers. His solution: a single wiper instead of two, giving the car a cleaner look. And cutting the cost of windshield wipers for the People’s Car in half.

[link]

My buddy Freddie said it best. Hurray to east coast cities with public transport!

in the developing world, the recycling is more out of financial necessity – but the end result is the same. i wish the US would be more frugal, but we are a wasteful country. but education – of the masses and the corporations – is the only thing that will change it. of course, the financial bottom line is what seems to matter for most people.

i’ve been living in cities since i began college, so public transportation/walking has worked relatively well. in certain cities and in the suburbs, however, this is very difficult.

Not sure if you realize that it takes about seven litres of water to make one litre of Coke. This is a huge debate currently raging in Australia. Many Australian cities have severe water restrictions. In Melbourne we cant wash our car!!

I strongly believe that climate change is a potential catastrophe but the persons who can stop it are the ones in the western world – by consuming less. I dont see it happening in the near future.

There is a lot of recycling in the Third World – possibly more than in the First world. Dharavi is a hotspot for recycling in Mumbai.

That doesn’t fix it, you know. Farting cows are a real problem.