A new green

Updated on: Monday, December 21, 2009

Ruchi Soni recalls how she always had to urge her parents not to throw garbage out of the car and to carry jute bags when shopping. She never asked herself, “Is my little contribution really helping to keep the city clean?”

A student of The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), Delhi, Soni witnessed a breakthrough, when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Al Gore and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chaired by RK Pachauri, chancellor of TERI University. It made her realise that “pressing environmental issues like climate change are in fact, linked to world peace.”

She adds, “It provided me with the impetus to contribute in my own way towards environmental preservation.”

As a student, Soni pursued several internships to gain a practical understanding of environment protection. She joined the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, CMS Vatavaran, Energy Alternatives, and more recently, the World Bank, as an energy analyst. She also wrote a paper to suggest ways for solving the problem of depleting energy sources in fossil fuels and mounting wastes from development. It discussed ways to create energy out of waste.

Soni represents a new generation of young minds that believe wealth generation and environmental protection have to be inclusive. Aashish Gaurav, a third-year chemical engineering student at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur is another example. Recounting his expereinces, he says, “In school, I participated in tree plantation programmes and cultural events Later, I focused on the bigger issues around environment protection — conceptualising, implementing and organising a carbon trading workshop in college and working as an associate member for an annual technomanagement festival, wherein I was instrumental in planning the global warming theme.”

In his first year at the IIT, he modelled a solar hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle and investigated the roadmap for implementation of such vehicles in the commercial sector. As part of his summer project at The Energy and Resources Institute, Bangalore, Gaurav worked on developing bio-degradable plastics from cellulose derivatives. He also won the gold in Cheminnovation 2008, an industrial strategy forum for presenting the most viable waste recycle strategy for a Bhilaibased aluminium plant.

Gaurav insists, “We are here to add to life; not to get what we can from it. My primary duty as an engineering student is to contribute to the progress of science. What I have learnt from my educational institution, must be implemented for the betterment of the country.”

Satinder Bindra, director, communications, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), believes the youth are particularly sensitive and intelligent about environment issues. The energy that is leading countries around the world to find indigenous solutions, is showcased by the TUNZA web initiative of the UNEP, where 30,000 student bodies share information on what works in their country. “What works in India, can work in Indiana; what works in Gambia, can work in Greece, and given that 47% of the world’s population is under 25, this positive, pragmatic approach is heartening,” said Bindra. Fifty-three envoys from 19 countries, including Soni and Gaurav, shared their ideas with the scientific community at the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy Programme in Germany.

So, what can one say about the general fatigue around environment discussions, and the issues that seem to bring governments, industries and people at loggerheads? “We have to get over our doomsday mindset, and find solutions through innovation,” declares Soni, adding, “I would not like to be part of the lobby of environmentalists, who embrace a strong anti-technology perspective and hold a pessimistic view of the future. My idea of the future is one where scientific advancements and social equity and cooperation exist side-by-side.”

Timesofindia

A new green

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