Need for environmental improvement, pollution control & sustainable development to promote wellbeing of mankind

 

Shri. Rajendra Shinde

​Rajendra Shinde opened the session by stressing on the need to look to the environment seriously and to understand how to aid Mother nature in healing herself.

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Dr Madhavrao Chitale

The learned Dr started by stating that the complex topic of the environment had to be understood in both the psychological and the scientific platforms. He said that this is an important issue today and cannot be ignored. Even our ancient prayers said so and we achieved equilibrium with the environment, time and again, with the help of great men. Now it is attached to science and is ingrained in the learning process so that even kids are aware of it now. All environments are different like Kerala or Rajasthan have different environments. Thus there is a need for an in-depth understanding of nature. On the surface of the earth, watersheds are the smallest unit on which the environment can me practically managed and improved. Much more meaningful now that it was before. The environmental impact has been bothering people for some time as is evident from the earliest organization to safeguard the environment, the World Environment Federation. Furthermore, he states that evaporation is its own worst enemy. In fact, Ambuchor is the name of the Sun in ancient India and it means water stealer! More importantly, the community needs to be organized in order to recycle water and reduce consumption.

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Farshad Fatouhi

 The learned professor spoke of sustainable engineering. He works in the Urban Public Research University located in Detroit, Michigan. The Great lakes surround Michigan with the area also having many manufacturing industries. Thus he is vested in sustainable engineering. To make sustainability is to ensure that the rate of using resources must not exceed a boundary which disturbs the environment as it is today or hampers the future generations from harnessing that resource at the rate it is consumed today. He firmly believes in Peace Engineering which is engineers working towards world peace. With the World population growing there is a desperate need for engineers to come up with solutions to maintain the living standards while also maintaining the environment. He believes in the future engineers will have a vital role to play in environmentalism.

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Ayhan Doyuk

Mr Doyuk started with an impassioned plea that the Planet is wounded and needs immediate help. He blamed mostly the pollution arising from hydrocarbons, something which is an industrial age byproduct. Water is our greatest resource and as such we cannot be content with simply recycling it but also completely rehabilitating it (which means 100% of the water used can be used again). He said we must also bring down emissions and that Planet Earth needs clean and beautiful environment energy. Thus the traditional energy sourced must be done away with. He believes that the Ganga cleaning can happen now if everyone agrees to it and helps out, something that drew cheers from the crowd. It is simply a challenge that must be met in the mind of Ayhan Doyuk.

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Prof Lee

Prof Lee is a Social scientist and specifically an ethnographer. He believes that No environmentalism can exist without social organizations. Thus the social position is important, something he is an expert on. Since 1975, in the middle of Satara district, he is working in a village where the Dnyaneshwari that is read is different from what is read here, amongst the Urban and enfranchised centres. Ever since a canal came through the village standard of living increased exponentially. New temples and mosques were constructed and right next to each other too. The people are into spirituality, but there is also an increase in Public alcoholism and garbage which are byproducts of the increased standard of living. And while experts claim and quote data which is empirical, there are microclimates within the villages which farmers know and experts don’t according to which they etch their lives. Thus the Dnyaneshwari here relates to minor and minute things of everyday living and not grandiose ideas. This is something that must be understood by everyone if they wish to help out with the environment while lifting the standard of rural living.

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Dr Kamal Taori

A retired IAS officer and a firebrand author Dr Kamal stressed that Time is time, action is action and youth is youth. He then called his chairman and his England and German team to the podium to get them recognized. He then spoke of speaking of productivity announcement. He says that Climate change is the ‘paap’ and blunder of the elder generation and they must hold themselves accountable for it. The only way to aid the environment and people simultaneously, especially in India is to use local resources to address issues, like using local biogas and local job generation from villages. He says inclusive ideas is what we want and that they should only be positive.

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Mr Vasily

Mr Vasily gave his Speech in Russian with a translator. He first thanked everyone present before postulating that as connectivity increases, ‘connectedness’ decreases and thus trust decreases. For example, the Internet makes us one, but trust is not there. Then he went on to say that Water scarcity, healthcare and climate changes are the most serious events around and Prof Dr Vishwanath D Karad deserves the highest praise for his initiative to battle these issues. He further states that necessity is the mother of invention.

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Mr Gulfram Beig

An Air pollution scientist, Mr Beig ensured that by 2010 India became self-reliant in air forecasting. The point remains that it is still not sufficient. The need of the hour is for pollution control and the well-being of mankind. Air pollution is big news. He spoke about how to keep emissions in check. Like not having any ‘bhattis’ and brick kilns and definitely not burning plastics for fuel. He then showcased a film about SAFAR, his clean air initiative which is backed by the government of India.

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Dr Ashok Joshi

The session was closed by the humble Ashok Joshi who stated that Sustainability is a fine line game which is often very deceptive. Lead batteries were adversely affecting the environment so now there are lithium-ion batteries. But Lithium is a rare earth metal so it cannot be sustained for long. This he helped develop the Sodium-ion battery but that cannot even cover it. Finally, there is the hydrogen battery created by Japan recently which is sustainable. In conclusion, only reliance on natural products can lead to sustainability in the long run.