In my last article I wrote about the effects of global warming on Indian climate. Globally, all nations are urgently working on measures to reduce generation of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The next global conference on Climate Change is being held in Paris in Dec 2015. IPCC, the international body on Climate Change has, in its last report, said that unless efforts are made to reduce use of Fossil Fuels to ZERO by 2050, our world will keep facing increasingly intense climatic events, which will have an adverse effect on all of us. While we wait for countries and governments to enact policies, it our responsibility as citizens to do reduce the generation of GHGs in their own neighbourhood. These are not difficult. Here are a some of these techniques:
1. Tree Plantation - Trees play a very crucial role in maintaining the CO2 / Oxygen balance in the nature. They are the most cost effective solution to reduce pollution & improve air quality. They absorb CO2 & release Oxygen. However, trees are rampantly cut across the country. Every year, there is "Tree Plantation" drive as an annual ritual. These trees have a very minimal survival rate, and most trees die because no one looks after them. What is required, is tree plantation drive with an aim to ensure maximum survival of trees. Our aim should be to plant native fruiting tree species for better survival rate and to balance the local eco-system. In 5 to 10 years such a drive will start showing results. It is a slow, but a very long lasting & effective process. It also provides habitat and food to native birds & wild life.
2. Water Management - Water is an all important natural resource. This planet can survive without this resource, but we can't. However, despite this, we have polluted this source drastically. Our "use, pollute & discard" attitude towards water needs to be changed. Unsustainable overdrawing of ground water is reducing our ground water table at alarming rate. Recharging of ground water through rain water harvesting will help improve water table. This will reduce our dependence on tanker water. Reduction of 1 Water Tanker a day per bore / open well will help reduce about 8 Kg of CO2 assuming the use of 3 liters of fuel for a 20 km round trip. India has thousands of cities, towns and villages dependent on water tankers for their daily water needs. These places, collectively, have thousands of bore / open wells. Reduction by even a single tanker at each of these bore wells across India, will reduce tonnes of CO2 emissions across the country. Similarly as the water table rises the electrical energy required to draw the water will also be less. Saving of 1 Kwh of energy will help reduce CO2 emissions by about 0.5 kg. In our society in Viman Nagar in Pune, our daily dependence has reduced to ZERO from 3 tankers, saving of about 24 kgs of CO2 a day or about 26,400 Kgs of CO2 per year, Pune has about 7000 bore wells, imagine the impact on city’s environment if every bore well has recharge system in place , it amounts to reduction of 56 tonnes of CO2 generation daily. This is only considering ONLY ONE TANKER reduction per bore well per day.
3. Vehicles Use - Pune city has 25 lakh registered vehicles. Hundreds of vehicles are added to our streets every day. Our city air is highly polluted. As a citizen of this city, not only do we have to take care of the health of our family, but also of our environment. Vehicles not only pollute our city, but also add to our traffic problems. Even if we consider that only 50 % of these vehicles are on road every day it amounts about 1.2 Million vehicles. If their usage is reduced even by ONE KM per day, it amounts to 12 lakh kms. Considering 10 kms to a liter of fuel it means daily 12,000 liters of fuel saved per day. This will remove 30 tonnes of CO2 from city environment DAILY. It will reduce considerable amount of traffic problems, improve our air quality and improve our quality of life.
4. Solid Waste Management - As per Supreme Court directions, every house hold must segregate kitchen waste as DRY & WET garbage & dispose of wet garbage in the society / residence area. Decomposing wet garbage generates methane, a gas that is more dangerous than CO2 in climate change. Composting of wet garbage will reduce release of methane, thereby, reducing the effects of GHGs on our climate.
5. Use Of Electrical Energy saving Measures - Changing a 40 watt tube-light with 10 watts of CFL bulb will reduce considerable amount of electrical energy. Every 1 kwh energy saving will help reduce 0.5 Kg of CO2 generation. In our society we replaced our 135 tube lights with 85 CFL bulbs of 10 watt capacity. This has helped reduce our monthly energy bill reduction from Rs 20,000 to about Rs 14,000/- per month, and has reduced our CO2 emissions.
All these steps are do-able by every citizen like you & I. If we could successfully do recharging of ground water through Rain Water harvesting System, dispose about 35 kgs of wet kitchen waste through composting & using energy saving measures to reduce electrical energy consumption, every hose hold, every society in city too can implement same. This way, not only can we save Pune's environment, but we can also become a model city in the country. If every city, town & village in the country implement these cost effective & easy measures, it will help India's war against Global Warming in a big way. Let this be our 2015 RESOLUTION.
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