Krishnan's Blog

28-Dec-09, 11:43 Chennai. What was I doing at this time last year? Well I was waiting outside the labor room at SMF hospital . My wife was inside the labor room. My parents were with me. Exactly at 2:29 a.m 29th Dec 2008, my beautiful daughter Tanya was born. This is how she looked the day she was born. "Well I broke the custom, where we are not allowed the take photos of the new born baby". Today, when I look back, I am amazed to see that one year has passed like a bullet. So fast and swift, that you never know it has passed. Tanya has been my strength, my source of inspiration, she is the reason behind my happiness in this world and the motivation behind my hard work. In this one year I have grown along with Tanya. Learnt a lot, become responsible. When I started writing this post, there was just one thing in my mind and heart Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya Tanya , I am not able to get words to form sentences, as I can see they are mo

Yes she is my precious daughter :) . She is turning one year old this 29th December 2009. :)

Though my profession is running a company called FoodPunch , I also have lots of interests and hobbies which I wish to pursue. They are running an online magazine or newspaper with some unique topic or title, visiting the Indian country side, cooking, blogging, photography, owning a coffee shop. Have I atleast tried to accomplish any of these hobbies? "No" . The reason is simple and an usual one, I was busy falling in love with a girl in college, after college I was busy looking for a job, at job I was busy trying to climb the corporate ladder and running a family and now I am busy running a company. All these days I have only worked worked and worked. Relaxing and enjoying life though was in my mind but was not in my priority list. My current aim is to take FoodPunch to great hieghts. Till then there is no relaxing in my mind. You might wonder why am I blowing my own trumpet. :D I a few days back during one of my casual browsing I had a chance to visit a blog being maint

Name: Tanya. K D.O.B: 29/12/2008 Birth Time: 2:29 a.m Birth weight: 2.92 kg Gestation period: 40 weeks +2 Birth height: 48 cm Head circumference: 32 cm

I am writing a blog post after quite some time. The main inspiration behind this blog post was an email sent by my friend Imran. The email had an URL which redirected to a powerpoint presentation, which outlined the doom of "Subhiksha", the retail giant. The presentation was well drafted and covered almost every point which was the main reason behind Subhiksha's doom. You can view the original article here . I do not want to write an explanation on this presentation. I want to concentrate and write about one point - "Rapid/Uncontrolled Expansion". Is rapid or uncontrolled growth good for a company or a human being? The answer is a simple "no". The reason is very simple. A building built on a weak basement is for sure to fall. So the fact " building strong basement konjum weak " is applicable to everything present in this world. Be it a company or an individual. Hence instead of attaining rapid or uncontrolled growth one should concentrate

Working from home is everyone's dream. The same is with me. I take care of FoodPunch's day to day business. FoodPunch has recently got its first office, a 5 mins walk from my home. I do not want to have a seperate cubicle for myself there. The reason, I want to sit and work with my employees. Though I would like to have a small conference room for conducting some confidential discussions and meetings. All these things keeps me excited and I think I will hardly come back home from my office complex. However there is also another side of me, which loves to work from home. I have in the past (also at present) felt that working from home makes me more efficient and also enables me to spend more time working. Hence I decided that I should setup a home office, so that I can work more and more and more and more....... ;) . Now comes the fact on how I am going to (or in true words how I dream of) set up my home office. Well here is the detailed description. First of all I would l

When Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948, he was already a legend. He was born as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 1869 in Gujarat/India. He showed the world that social and political changes can be achieved not only through violence and terror, but also through love and compassion. The tradition of nonviolence (ahimsa) plays an important role in the Indian culture - and its religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Tolerance for other religions, and a vegetarian diet forms an integral part of their lives. Therefore, Gandhi’s love of truth and his commitment to nonviolence are expressions of ancient traditions on the Indian sub-continent. Predominantly, Gandhi tried to realize and eradicate his own shortcomings on his path to self-transformation. He tried to meet all living beings and creations of nature with great respect and humility. He argued and fought for his convictions and aims using nonviolent means, and was always ready to compromise. Gandhi lead India from c

I since long wanted to write and maintain a financial blog. I love to read about financial things and also love to achieve financial freedom. But the fact is a lot of good financial blogs and books are for the western people. There is no India centric blog or book. I think I should start writing a financial blog which are useful for Indians. I have also started preparations. The preparations have to go on for some time and it might take atleast another year. I am however sure that a blog will come up soon, which will talk about all the financial matters which are Indian centric and useful to Indians. It might take atleast a year for me to be ready to really write a blog. Mean while some of the blogs that I really likes are as follows: I will teach you to be rich The simple dollar

Chennai is indeed a beautiful city. It is a IT hub and stands second next only to banglore in terms of IT export, which means it also has a large number of educated population. But are these so called educated people really educated? Are they aware of the traffic rules? Are they aware of civic sense? Wearing formal dresses and working in an MNC sitting in an air conditioned office doesn't mean being cultured. It means a lot more than that. The below picture made me write this small blog post. I prefer to reduce my words and let the picture do the talking. 

Making the will during your life time is one of the most important aspects of everybody's life. The hard work done by you for the entire life can get washed away in a moment if you happen to die without making a will as to who will be your successor. Hence, making a will well in time in your life is as important as living a healthy life. The laws and procedures for making the will are different in all the countries. I am going to briefly cover on the procedure of making the legally valid will in India. The will can be made at any age after 21 years in India. The procedure of making the will that is legally valid is very simple in India as compared with many other countries of the world. You can make the will on plain paper in India. It is not necessary to make the will on judicial or non judicial stamp paper in India. You can get the will typed on a plain paper. However, it is advisable to write your will in your own hand writing as the same can be verified later in case of any d

Road Rage can be frequently seen in every country and in every traffic conditions. In traffic when a person comes in our way, we get angry and we scold him. This is a very basic type of road rage. But when the same anger crosses a certain limit road rage of course becomes a serious issue. We on a daily basis read a lot of cases about fights on the road and a lot of us might have also witnessed some. From my personal experience I once argued with a driver who was about to hit a man riding in a moped before him wantedly. The moped man's mistake, he camein the way of the car driver's track. Another similar incident happened in my locality, where a car driver punched a motorist on his eyes. The car driver was later thrashed by the public and handed over to the police. These kinds of scenes are very prevalant in the city traffic. The main reason for such nuisances is lack of awarness about taffic rules among common people, ease of getting license ( can be obtained by paying bribe

So far we have taken a medical insurance, opened two R.D accounts ( one for next year's medical insurance and another one to get a life insurance next year ) and of course realized our mistake. Now its time to pay for all the mistakes already done, that is clearing all the debts ( card balances & other loans ). The first step is to know what is the balance amount that needs to be paid in all the cards. In my case I found out which card had the lowest balance payable and which card had the highest balance payable. I also found out that in which cards where free. I took one such free card and went to a shop I know and swiped the card for the required amount and took the money from him. I then paid back all the balances in the card which had less balances. I then converted this new balance into EMIs. Then I did similar rotations and converted all my balances into EMIs. This way I will not be charged any useless fees and can also pay back my card balances easily. The loans are also

One big mistake that we all can avoid are some unnecessary expenses. Let's take my pwn case as an example. I recently had a Sony ericsson k660i cell phone ( Rs10,000/- ). That cell phone was not even a year old. I have a bad habit of taking my cell phone with me inside the washroom. Suddenly one day the cell phone fell inside the toilet seat and it was done. I had to buy a new cell phone, there was no other go. That month we had some excess cash and hence I got my hands on a new cell phone. I bought a Nokia 7210 supernova ( Rs5400/- ). So my entire expense within one year for the same purpose was Rs15400/-, which on invested would have been a useful asset. A lot of people do the same mistake. Though this is a very small post but could explain a lot. Lesson: Avoid purchasing things which you do not need. Think twice before buying something.

" I was browsing the internet and there were lots of blogs which told about investment and how to achieve financial freedom, but they did not tell anything about the baby steps that we need to take in the beginning. "  This was the email that my cousin sent me one day. He was also interested in becoming rich and investing his money and having good control over it. He also wanted to take some insurances but felt that he cannot pay some huge amounts ( Rs6000/- ) as a one time payment. A valid point indeed. A lot of us feel the pinch if we need to pay the medical insurance or any other insurance as a full one time payment. Taking Rs6000/- out of monthly budget is going to cripple our finances of that month. I myself felt the pinch when I renewed my medical insurance this year.  Here comes something called a Recurring deposit account aka a R.D account . This is an account in which we can pay any amount ( min Rs100/- ) on a monthly basis for any number of years that we choos

" Medical insurance " is an insurance, in which the person who purchases the insurance is covered for all his medical expenses and their by need not spend for any of his medical or hospitalisation bills. Many people tend to shy away from this very important type of insurance. Almost every company in India offers group employee medical insurance and hence people feel that they do not need any insurance at present. This notion is completely wrong. People do not think what will happen if they loose their job or after they retire . For eg: A person in the age group of 20-25 needs to pay Rs6000/- per year for a medical insurance of 3 lacs, where as a person in the age group of 50-55 needs to pay Rs15,000/- per year. If a person is having medical insurance for a longer period of time then he/she also gets a 5% discount in the consecutive policy renewal premiums. Also when he reaches the age group of 50-55 he can comparatively pay a lesser premuim for a higher sum insured. While w

"Cheese" the moment we hear this word it reminds of the burgers, pizza and other delicious stuffs. A lot of diary farms that manufacture cheese do it by hand and have started out in a very simple way. Since some time I have also been very interested in running my own diary farm and a diary company. Hence I felt that its time that I do some homework. After some research and readings and googling I found out simple ways to make cheese at home. I took some quantity of curd and passed it through a muslin cloth ( you can use any cloth that is thin and is fit to filter ). The watery content of the youghurt went down and the curd was left in the cloth. After some draining and gentle squeezing I transfered the somewhat dry curd into a stainless steel container and left it for some time ( 2 to 3 hours approx. ). Then I rolled the cheese into balls and made them roll on salt and wrapped it with aluminium foil and left it in a dark, clean and hygienic place. Thats it the cheese was rea

I went out of my home in the late 2006 in search of a living. I had to manage my finances all by myself. I was completely good at it. I did everything perfectly. Though I had a credit card, I was very good in managing it. Though there was a time when slightly I over used my credit card but still managed to take control of the situation. I did a lot of savings and of course some good stock investments. Things were going good, when one fine day things became some what worse. The main cause of that problem was there was way too much cash in my hands. Lot of cash made me very arrogant and hence my spending also went up. I used all my credit cards extensively and at a certain point lost track that when should I drop cheque for which card. Due to this confusion I lost track of all my billing cycles and hence interest charges were levied. As I mentioned I had good cash flow I somehow managed it. Then a time came when I felt that it is the right time for me to start a company. I quit my job an

I recently designed image, in support of our troops. Anyone who wants to show their support to the Indian troop can download this image from here and display it on their blog or website.

Did you know that 'Happy Birthday' is copyright protected? Now what about the disclaimer which goes with copyrights? No public performance, copying, playing in movies, television programmes, or incorporating into musical products (read cards, watches...) allowed? So are we all gonna get sued? Also anyone who wants to make a hollywood movie can get inspired from this info .

Rajeev Motwani , was a great scholar. He did his B-Tech from the IITs and like all other IITians went to the U.S to pursue his future. He has mentored a lot of startup like Google and PayPal in becoming global enterprises. Sergey Brin the Google co-founder has not updated his blog since a long time, but Rajeev's untimely death has made him write a blog post about Rajeev . A website has also come up on his remembrance - Remembering Rajeev . I as a human, really feel sorry for Rajeev's untimely death and my deep condolences are with his family but as an Indian I am totally not bothered about Rajeev. I am writing this blog post not to praise Rajeev, but to throw some light on the way he left his country. Rajeev is a professor in the Stanford university. He has helped many great companies and minds, but why did he leave India. He studied in IIT and he should have used the opportunity to serve India. He should have developed the IT field in India. He should have stayed in India and

Measurements of temperature taken by instruments all over the world, on land and at sea have revealed that during the 20th century the Earth’s surface and lowest part of the atmosphere warmed up on average by about 0.6°C. During this period, man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased, largely as a result of the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation, and land use changes including deforestation for agriculture. In the last 20 years, concern has grown that these two phenomena are, at least in part, associated with each other. That is to say, global warming is now considered most probably to be due to the increases in greenhouse gas emissions and concurrent increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, which have enhanced the Earth's natural greenhouse effect. Whilst other natural causes of climate change can cause global climate to change over similar periods of time, computer models demonstrate

here are a lot of interesting blogs out there focusing on FOSS and Linux development, even though most of them are news aggregators, some of them publishes original contents which is what I am most interested in. Every week I find a new interesting site that I wish I knew about before; so today as I share with you some of the interesting Linux/FOSS blog I follow, I am hoping you will also share your favorite Linux blogs that I might not have seen before. There are three elements that I look for when I subscribe to a blog: 1) They are regularly updated. 2) They have full content for feed readers. 3) They publish original contents. While corporate and big name blogs with many authors has more refined contents, I am personally more interested on personal blog with their own style of writing that I can relate to. Here are some of the interesting Linux blog I follow (in no particular order): Mark Shuttleworth: This is where the founder of Ubuntu unwinds his thoughts. Though not as frequ

I was first introduced to cell phone, when I was in college. My first cell phone was a reliance phone which was the craze in those days. Reliance phone was the one, which brought the cell phone revolution into India. Later I moved to Nokia 3305, with an Airtel sim card. This phone was quite different from my previous phone as it had more features. During the end of my college in 2006 I got my hands on Motorola C700. This cell phone had GPRS and we need to call Airtel and ask them activate the GPRS facility and we could use the internet through our phones. Damn believe me it sucked. The sites where opening at snail pace and I almost hated it. I made up my mind that mobile internet was an utter fiasco. I didn't knew that this is going to change in the future. Slowly I went on upgrading my phone and at a time after the sudden death of my Sony Ericsson k660i, I bought Nokia 7210 supernova. This phone is cool. It is slim, stylish, light weight and has all features that one needs nowaday

My decision of creating a blog on the google server, is a good one. I need not worry about the server uptime or down time. I neither worry about maintaining the server. This blog is completely free for me. I am enjoying this currently and hope I do not change it. While writing this post I have been suffering from severe fatigue and headache. It is due to the continuous hard work for the past one week. I am hoping to get some rest and resume work again, though I hate to take a day off.

Hello everybody out there. This is my new blog. From now on I will be posting on this blog. I will be mapping my domain names to this blog in a few days. I think instead of using my own server, it is better to use the services provided by Google. The reason being it is free of cost and also this ensures 99.99% uptime. Hence this is for me from now on. :)

Measurements of temperature taken by instruments all over the world, on land and at sea have revealed that during the 20 th century the Earth’s surface and lowest part of the atmosphere warmed up on average by about 0.6°C. During this period, man-made emissions of greenhouse gases , including carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide have increased, largely as a result of the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation, and land use changes including deforestation for agriculture. In the last 20 years, concern has grown that these two phenomena are, at least in part, associated with each other. That is to say, global warming is now considered most probably to be due to the increases in greenhouse gas emissions and concurrent increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations , which have enhanced the Earth's natural greenhouse effect . Whilst other natural causes of climate change can cause global climate to change over similar periods of time, computer mod

Climate change has potential risks for the British Isles. Most critical of these risks is an increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather such as hot spells, drought and storms. Accompanying a projected rise in average surface temperature of between 0.9 and 2.4°C by 2050 will be the increased occurrence of hot, dry summers, particularly in the southeast. Mild wet winters are expected to occur more often by the middle of the 21 st century , especially in the northwest, but the chance of extreme winter freezing should diminish. Higher temperatures may reduce the water -holding capacity of soils and increase the likelihood of soil moisture deficits, particularly if precipitation does not increase as well. These changes would have a major effect on the types of crops , trees or other vegetation that the soils can support. The stability of building foundations and other structures, especially in central, eastern and southern England, where clay soils with a large shrink-swe

Methane (CH 4 ) is a colourless, odourless non-toxic gas consisting of molecules of four hydrogen atoms and one carbon atom. Methane is combustible, and mixtures of about 5 to 15% in air are explosive. It is the main constituent of natural gas, a fossil fuel . It is released into the atmosphere when organic matter decomposes in environments lacking sufficient oxygen. Natural sources include wetlands, swamps and marshes, termites, and oceans. Man-made sources include the mining and burning of fossil fuels , digestive processes in ruminant animals such as cattle, rice paddies and the burying of waste in landfills. Most methane is broken down in the atmosphere by reacting with hydroxyl (OH) radicals. Like carbon dioxide , methane is a greenhouse gas whose molecules absorb heat trying to escape to space. Methane contributes to the Earth's natural greenhouse effect . Man-made emissions of methane are helping to enhance the greenhouse effect. Since the beginning of the Industrial Re

Chlorofluorocarbons, commonly known as CFCs, are a group of man-made compounds containing chlorine, fluorine and carbon. They are not found anywhere in nature. The production of CFCs began in the 1930s for the purpose of refrigeration. Since then they have been extensively utilised as propellants in aerosols, as blowing agents in foam manufacture and in air conditioning. There are no removal processes or sinks for CFCs in the lowest part of the atmosphere called the troposphere. As a result they are transported up into the stratosphere, between 10 to 50 km above the Earth's surface, where they are broken down by ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun, releasing free chlorine atoms which cause significant ozone depletion . Although the amounts of CFCs in the atmosphere are very small, measured in parts per trillion (million million), they do contribute significantly to the enhancement of the natural greenhouse effect , because they are very good at trapping heat. Molecule for mo

Global warming will lead to an intensification of the global water or hydrological cycle through increases in surface temperature and rates of evaporation, and in some regions, increases in precipitation . Changes in the total amount of precipitation and its frequency and intensity directly affect the magnitude and timing of run-off and the intensity of floods and droughts. Such changes will have significant impacts on regional water resources. It is not certain how individual water catchment areas will respond to changing evaporation rates and precipitation. It is likely however, that currently dry regions will be more sensitive to changes in climate. Relatively small changes in temperature and precipitation could cause relatively large changes in run-off. Arid and semi-arid regions will therefore be particularly sensitive to reduced rainfall and to increased evaporation. An increase in the duration of dry spells will not necessarily lead to an increased likelihood of low river fl

A change in global climate would be accompanied by shifts in climatic zones, thereby altering the suitability of a region for the growth of distinctive species. Trees in particular have long reproductive cycles, and many species may not be able to respond to the climatic changes quickly enough. A shift in climatic zones not only affects the vegetation but also affects the incidence of tree pests such as insects and diseases. These pests have less difficulty in migrating with their climatic zones than vegetation and may damage tree species with lower immunity. As well as the effects of temperature and precipitation variations, and changes to weather patterns, forest growth may also respond to increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. Studies with immature forest plantations suggest that an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide would be beneficial to tree growth. The elevated carbon dioxide concentrations enhance photosynthesis rates with increased utilisation of carb

The Sun, which is the Earth's only external form of heat, emits solar radiation mainly in the form of shortwave visible and ultraviolet (UV) energy. As this radiation travels toward the Earth, 25% of it is absorbed by the atmosphere and 25% is reflected by the clouds back into space. The remaining radiation travels unimpeded to the Earth and heats its surface. The Earth releases a lot of energy it has received from the Sun back to space. However, the Earth is much cooler than the Sun, so the energy re-emitted from the Earth's surface is much weaker, in the form of invisible longwave infrared (IR) radiation, sometimes called heat. Greenhouse gases like water vapour, carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide trap the infrared radiation released by the Earth's surface. The atmosphere acts like the glass in a greenhouse, allowing much of the shortwave solar radiation to travel through unimpeded, but trapping a lot of the longwave heat energy trying to escape back to space

Conventional power stations burn coal, oil or gas to produce electricity. Road vehicles also burn fossil fuel in the form of petrol or diesel, products refined from oil. Coal, oil and gas are called fossil fuels because they form over millions of years through the decay, burial and compaction of rotting vegetation on land (coal), and marine organisms on the sea floor (oil and gas). Burning fossil fuels in this way releases carbon dioxide , a greenhouse gas , which enhances the natural greenhouse effect . Coal is a solid fuel formed over millions of years by the decay of land vegetation. Over time, successive layers become buried, compacted and heated, a process through which the deposits are turned into coal. Coal is widely used in the generation of electricity in power stations because it is a highly concentrated energy source. However, it is not a particularly "clean" fuel, releasing more sulphur dioxide than either oil or gas. Coal was the first fossil fuel to be exploit

Climate is the most significant factor in determining plant growth and productivity. Without intervention to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, global average surface temperature is projected to increase by about 0.2°C per decade during the 21st century. This rapid change in climate will have major implications for agriculture around the world. Crop growth is often limited by temperature. Temperatures during the 21st century are expected to increase more in the higher latitudes where shifts in vegetation will be greater. In Britain an increase in temperature of 1.5°C by 2050 is the equivalent of a decrease in altitude of approximately 200m. This is the same as a shift southward in latitude of 200-300 km. Such an increase in temperature would allow widespread maize cultivation across southern England to take place. In other regions however, a rise in temperature may not be so beneficial. Small increases in temperature would extend the range of temperature-limited pests. The European

Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is a colourless, odourless gas consisting of molecules of two oxygen atoms and one carbon atom. Carbon dioxide is produced when any form of carbon or almost any carbon compound is burned in an excess of oxygen. For example, it is released into the atmosphere during natural forest fires and the man-made combustion of fossil fuels . Other natural sources of carbon dioxide include volcanic eruptions, decay of dead plant and animal matter, evaporation from the oceans and respiration (breathing). Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by carbon dioxide "sinks". The main removal processes are absorption by seawater, and utilisation (for photosynthesis) by ocean-dwelling plankton and land-dwelling biomass, including forests and grasslands. Through Earth history the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has varied significantly. The Earth's early atmosphere was probably composed mostly of carbon dioxide. At that time, the natural greenhouse e

Although we are currently concerned about global warming caused by mankind's enhancement of the natural greenhouse effect through greenhouse gas pollution, the Earth's climate has fluctuated many times in the past in response to natural mechanisms of climate change. Such changes in global climate have also occurred over much longer time scales, from hundreds and thousands of years to millions and hundreds of millions of years. In fact the current global warming trend which began at the end of the 19 th century spans only a tiny fraction of the Earth's climatic history. Taking a longer perspective on climate variability can help us gain a better understanding of the global climate and of the evolution of the climate today and in the future. The overall state of the global climate is largely determined by balance between energy the Earth receives from the Sun and the heat which the Earth releases back to space, called the global energy balance. Many causes of climate ch

One of the impacts which global warming may have on the surface of the Earth is to exacerbate the worldwide problem of desertification. A decrease in the total amount of rainfall in arid and semi-arid areas could increase the total area of drylands worldwide, and thus the total amount of land potentially at risk from desertification. Desertification was defined at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 as "land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human activities". Desertification involves the depletion of vegetation and soils. Land degradation occurs all over the world, but it is only referred to as desertification when it takes place in drylands. This is because these areas are especially prone to more permanent damage as different areas of degraded land spread and merge together to form desert-like conditions. Global warming brought about by increasing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere is

Everyone contributes to global emissions of greenhouse gases , but it is not only governments which can take action to reduce the threat of global warming. We all use energy for heating our homes, running electrical appliances, cooking food and driving our cars. Most of this energy comes from the burning of fossil fuels , such as oil, coal and gas, which release carbon dioxide , the main greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. Despite uncertainties, the general scientific consensus is that increased levels of greenhouse gases as a result of mankind's activities are enhancing the Earth's natural greenhouse effect and causing global warming. Energy use is responsible for about 75% of man-made carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, it is important to try to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce energy consumption. Energy used in the home can be saved by a number of measures, including draught proofing, insulation, and using energy efficient lighting and other household

During the 20 th century , the global climate has warmed by about 0.6°C, or about 0.06°C per decade. Computer models which simulate the effects on climate of increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations project that global average surface temperatures will rise by a further 3°C by the end of the 21 st century , or 0.3°C per decade. It is currently believed that most ecosystems can withstand at most a 0.1°C global temperature change per decade, before experiencing severe ecological stresses, leading in some cases to species extinction. A warming of even 2°C over the next 100 years would shift current climate zones in temperate regions of the world about 300 km towards higher latitudes, and vertically by 300 m. The composition and geographical distribution of unmanaged ecosystems will change as individual species respond to new conditions. At the same time, habitats will be degraded and fragmented by the combination of climate change, deforestation , desertification and ot

Greenhouse gases are present in the atmosphere naturally, released by natural sources, or formed from secondary reactions taking place in the atmosphere. They include carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide and ozone. In the last 200 years, mankind has been releasing substantial quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These extra emissions are increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, enhancing the natural greenhouse effect , which is believed to be causing global warming. While man-made greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, some like the CFCs are completely new to the atmosphere. Natural sources of carbon dioxide include the respiration (breathing) of animals and plants, and evaporation from the oceans. Together, these natural sources release about 150 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, far outweighing the 7 billion tonnes of man-made emissions from fossil fuel burning, waste incineration, deforestation an