Green Options

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The city of Agra in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has a rich heritage and culture. It is the next big city on the banks of river Yamuna after the capital Delhi. The city also has a series of forts, monuments and structures of historical importance that invite travelers and tourists from all over the world. However and unarguably, it is the Taj Mahal - one of the seven wonders of the world, that not only puts Agra on the world map, but also makes it one of the three tourist destinations that form the Golden Triangle (Delhi - Jaipur - Agra).

The city of Agra has stood the test of time as conquering forces have passed through the subcontinent and taken hold of this jewel.  But now that the hitherto unknown force of climate change looms large, citizen groups and the Indian Youth Climate Network have called for a city wide Youth Summit on Environment and Climate Change.

Tucked away in the northeastern most part of India, with snow-capped Himalayas in the north and the plains of Brahamaputra river valley in the south is the diversity rich state of Aruanachal Pradesh. But for its geographic location and other political factors, the state would have been an ideal eco-tourism destination and an ultimate getaway for the rest of India and the world.

Presently, it’s a region hidden away from repeated human intervention, aptly tagged: Paradise Unexplored! Such is the lack of information about the biodiversity of Arunachal Pradesh that the Arunachal Macaque (Macaca munzala) - a species of monkey already known to the native people of Arunachal as Munzala or the “monkey of the deep forest”, remained unknown to scientists and biologists till it was “discovered” in 2004. The so called “discovery” was waiting to happen and it was after more than a hundred years that a new species of macaque was discovered (the last recent discovery being the Indonesian Pagai Island Macaque in 1903).

Now, for the past few years, the Prime Minister of India has had a vision. A vision to make India energy secure. And this is to be achieved beyond just the Indo-US nuclear deal, by tapping the over 50,000 MW hydroelectric potential from the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

In India, the press does more than report the daily happenings of the country, it establishes initiaves to steer citizens into taking action. The Times of India newspaper has recently published a series of articles relating to the shortfall of teachers in India.

It was only yesterday that the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) - the ruling party in India - was negotiating the Nuclear Deal with the United States, in an attempt to boost the country’s Nuclear Power sector. And now that the deal is set and ready to be signed, the Government is itself struggling to stay in power. Energy and ‘Power’ have indeed been closely associated in the recent past and politics is known to be governed by the energy sector. But when the world’s largest democracy faces a political crisis over an energy policy, we can safely conclude that in the climate constrained world of today, the only way to stay in power is to get the energy policy right!

In continuing with its commitment to bring together and unite the youth from across India, to tackle the issue of climate change and demand stricter policy level interventions to mitigate the same, the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) – the youngest Indian coalition on the issue – has called for an Indian Youth Summit on Climate Change (IYSoCC). The summit will take place in the Indian cyber city of Hyderabad (now also known as Cyberabad) from 7th to 10th August, 2008 in the Infosys campus and will be the voice of young India, to secure and safeguard the future of the Nation and the Planet. The summit will also highlight the importance and need of youth representation in policy level decisions and push to ensure that the voice of the youth is heard for the fact that it is the future of the youth which is actually at stake.

Universities and academic institutions are developing new technologies aimed at solving the world’s energy and climate change challenges at a truly amazing pace. Some of the most exciting and promising cleantech ventures are being developed at universities around the world right now, yet barriers to commercialization prevent most from being realized.

While many top U.S. universities have tech transfer specialists on staff and departments dedicated to the commercialization of research, many others, especially in developing economies such as Brazil, India and China, don’t have readily available access to investors and industry.

Several years ago I was invited by the Danish Prime Minister to attend a globalization council meeting on the commercialization of university research. We found that although there are 7,500 universities and more than 10,000 research institutions worldwide (twice the size of the global automotive industry), there is no annual forum for academic researchers to convene and exhibit their latest research and innovation to industry.

Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh at the National Action Plan on Climate Change Release Function

Barely a week after the release of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), citizen groups and civil society members from across India have been putting forward their viewpoints on the Action Plan. Shortly after the release, the Climate Challenge India (CCI) coalition, a grouping of environmental experts, financiers, businesspeople, analysts and activists committed to developing a positive leadership agenda on climate change for India, issued an independent Interim Assessment of the Government of India’s ‘National Action Plan on Climate Change’. The assessment gives the Government a B+ for effort and a D for vision. NAPCC was released on the 30th of June 2008 by the Prime Minister of India, in a high profile function in New Delhi.

The Indian capital city of New Delhi will be hosting the upcoming Commonwealth Games 2010. This will be the first time India will host the Commonwealth Games and the second time that the Games will be hosted in Asia. Preparations have been on for quite some time now, to not just renovate and construct sporting facilities all over the city but to also beautify the city and gear it to ensure that visitors during the Games have a comfortable stay. Cashing upon the tourism potential is another motive of all the gearing up. The preparation of the Games has not been untouched by the green wave and Delhi’s Department of Environment, Forest and Wildlife has already asked all concerned authorities to, “ensure that Delhi’s latest showpieces are environmentally sound and reflect the city’s commitment to preserving nature”. However, the ground realities are far from that and the ecological impact of the Games may be much more than the economic gains.

India Launches Climate Change Plan Focusing on Solar Power

In a brief summary at New Delhi today (June 30), the Prime Minister (PM) of India released the National Action Plan on Climate Change. Prepared under the guidance and direction of Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change, the Plan was released amidst members of the Council, representatives of civil society and senior officials of the Government.

At a time when India is faced with the challenge of sustaining its rapid economic growth in a climate constrained world, the Action Plan pushes for not just promoting sustainable production processes, but also, sustainable lifestyles across the globe. The Action Plan focuses attention on eight priorities National Missions, the first among which is “Solar Energy”, whose success, according to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, has the potential to change the face of India.

We sure do love our tote bags around here. Target, denim and sail cloth; yup, we are definitely in love. So, to add to our never ending list, I submit to you - Conserve.

Just like Be Sweet, Conserve is a company with a conscience. Based in Dehli, India, Conserve employs rag pickers in the slums of the city to collect an abundant resource; discarded plastic bags (the bags are so prevalent that they clog water drains and cows will try and eat them.) The bags are then washed and prepared and made into beautiful fashion bags. The process they use to make the bags produces no extra pollution and uses less energy than conventional recycling methods.

Getting the plastic off the streets and made into bags is a win-win for Conserve. They offer income to an otherwise disenfranchised people and help clean up the streets. They use no dye in their bag making process, relying on the variety of colors and color combinations that is found on the streets instead.

A few months back, two young Indian environmentalists felt the immediate need to bring together the youth and youth based groups all over India - working on the issues of climate change, environmental equity and on the path to development in a climate constrained world. They went around figuring out the best ways to do this, attended seminars-workshops-conferences, got trained by Al Gore and Dr. R.K. Pachauri, went out of their way to learn, teach themselves and get involved with a lot of people and organizations all across the country. They also teamed up with other like minded youth, notably with an Indian residing in Australia and went on to launch the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN)!

The IYCN now, has called for one of its first - the Delhi Youth Summit on Climate (DYSoC) on the 28th and 29th of this month at the residence of India’s first Prime Minister Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru, less than a mile away from both the President’s House and the Parliament of India.