Baalu, claimed that India produces particulate emissions as a “neces-
sity,” because its people are poor and must therefore burn animal dung
and other readily available materials. The reaction recalled the Bush
administration’s dubious decision to simply excise a whole section on
global warming from an Environmental Protection Agency report.
The outcry produced its own fallout, most notably a loss of further
funding for UNEP’s INDOEX work. The controversy is particularly dis-
tressing for Ramanathan, who grew up in India with cow dung on the
cooking fire. One of the loudest protesters against the UNEP conclu-
sions is Ramanathan’s own alma mater, the Indian Institute of Science
in Bangalore. Some research will undoubtedly continue, but UNEP is
now using the more general phrase “atmospheric brown cloud.”
92 Jim Motavalli