India

I learned a lesson in tree planting while in Bangalore, India recently. The job is much easier and more fulfilling when you team with children, especially from orphan schools, to accomplish the task. Their eagerness, enthusiasm and elbow grease was a perfect compliment for the dozen Applied Materials India employees who ventured to the outskirts of the city to do a good act for mother nature. We partnered with the NGO Trees for Free who made all the arrangements, found the location and provided volunteer experts to show us the proper tree planting methods.

For 12 year old, Savitri from Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh, India, school was only till dusk and she had to manage with a kerosene lamp, which used to cast shadow on the books and gave limited amount of light. Throughout rural parts of India, many children work in the fields during the day and attend school only at night. Due to electricity outages there is often not enough power to light the classrooms after dark.

Last week in snow-covered Davos wrapped up with a very different feel than previous Davos summits. The mood was slightly more optimistic than last year but attendees were also pragmatic about the pace of global recovery. Not surprisingly, the global economic outlook panel was one of the most widely attended demonstrating the reality of what is really on the minds of world leaders.