My City My Responsibility - Why Educational Campuses should go low carbon?

Dear All, 

Pune is a hub of education. It is known as the Oxford of the East due to the presence of innumerable universities, management education institutes, professional degree colleges etc..

Due to all these organizations, the city is full of youngsters who migrate from different parts of the country and world, making the city a live and vibrant city. However, migration for education or job opportunities has led to mass urbanization in the city leading it to be one of the reasons for increase in carbon emissions of the city. It has now become crucial for all of us to be prepared for erratic changes in weather pattern and other potential disasters arising from climate change. At the same time, it is equally important to keep the future carbon emissions under control. Mobilizing the enthusiasm and energy of the youth to undertake strategies for reducing carbon emissions can be a good step to cope with the upcoming challenges.  

As educational institutions form the source of knowledge, if these institutions undertake the activity of calculating their carbon emissions and design a strategy to reduce the same in order to attain carbon neutrality (reducing the net greenhouse gas emissions to zero) by involving the enthusiastic faculty and students of their colleges. This activity will enable a win-win situation for both the institutions as well as the youth. Here the institutions can provide hands-on learning by acting upon what they preach. This in turn can create a good opportunity for brand building as a green or eco-friendly institution. Every year the institutions can take up this activity and publish their carbon emission reductions year on year in order to showcase their contributions towards mitigating climate change.  In the process, the youth undertaking this activity will be sensitized to be environmentally conscious citizens and professionals of tomorrow. 

From this perspective, we at Samuchit along with Laya Resource Centre, The Indian Network of Ethics and Climate Change (INECC) and Pune International Centre (PIC) thought of introducing the concept of making college campuses go low carbon. The first step of this process is a one day workshop under the YuvaDrishti initiative of Laya-INECC. This workshop is focused on youth (below the age of 35 years) from colleges in Pune that are keen to make their campuses go Carbon Neutral. The idea is to involve young faculty along with students as a team to work on this activity. Though the workshop will be just a one day event, the activity can run for an entire semester depending upon the initiative of the college. Our panel of resource persons will be available throughout for mentoring and guiding the faculty and students in the entire process. 

Source: https://www.plt.org/greenschools/engage-your-students/

If interested kindly write to me at pournima@samuchit.com. All the educational institutions from Pune are invited to participate in this event.

Pournima Agarkar. 

www.samuchit.com

My City My Responsibility - Raksha Bandhan 'Bond with Environment'

Dear All, 

With the Kerala floods making headlines everyday, we all are witnessing the dreadful impacts of ignorance towards our environment and its sensitivity as well as its potential at the same time. According to the Western Ghats ecology expert panel, most of the regions in Kerala facing this disaster were recommended to be classified as ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs). However these recommendations were either rejected or ignored by the government, giving priority to so-called 'development'. Madhav Gadgil, the chairman of committee thus termed this disaster as a man made calamity due to the irresponsible environment policies made by the state governments. 

Metro Pillars under water near Baba bhide bridge

Riverside road under water seen from Lakdipul

We are not far from facing such a disaster in our city, Pune. Areas around Pune, Mumbai, Konkan, Goa fall under the purview of Western Ghats, any illogical and inconsiderate development around these places is going to affect us sooner or later.

Its been raining in Pune since past one week continuously, the dams are full and water from the dams has been released into our rivers. The riverbed is fully covered under water, riverside roads are flooded and hence closed. Pillars being built in the riverbed for the upcoming metro rail are already under water. The city is facing heavy traffic congestion, causing delays in our day to day activities. In order to resolve the traffic problems we are constructing rapid mass transit options like metros, however if we ignore the climatic conditions and environmental flows we are going to create another menace. Pune will also be undergoing riverfront development soon which completely neglects the flooding nature of our rivers. We are underestimating the potential impacts of environment and climate change thus we are bound to face disasters like that of Kerala 2018 and Chennai 2015 soon.... 

Riverbed under water

In this era of changing climate and environment degradation, our very lives are at stake. It would therefore be madness to prioritise 'development' over these concerns! In order to save ourselves we need to advocate for rational environment friendly policies and actions at the central and state level. At the community level we need to be vigilant of all the development activity happening in and around our surroundings and raise voice against any activity that violates the norms of environment.

We also need to be prepared for disasters. Are we as citizens of Pune ready to face floods? Do we have the required infrastructure for giving early warning signals? Imagine if there will be no electricity, our mobiles will not work for more than two days. In such a situation, is there any alternative for us to communicate??? Does our disaster management cell reflect or train or undertake any such workshops or drills anywhere??? If NO, we need to demand such inputs. If YES, we need to review and promote such activities in our community. At an individual level we need to adhere to Eco-friendly lifestyles, reducing our carbon as well as ecological footprint is one of the first steps towards it. 

Just a thought, coming Raksha Bandhan where we celebrate the bond with our siblings, let us reflect upon our bond with our environment and pledge to protect it from irrational developmental decisions in order to save ourselves! 

Pournima Agarkar. 

www.samuchit.com

My City My Responsibility - Why Should Anyone Learn Carbon Accounting?

Dear All, 

In my last blog, I introduced our online course on Basic Carbon Accounting that will be launched very soon. In today's blog, let me explain why this is a great opportunity for all of you readers!  

Carbon Accounting is a process of measuring, monitoring and reporting any individual's or activity's or event's or process's greenhouse gas emission in a defined period. Greenhouse gases (GHG's) are the gases that are able to trap heat in the atmosphere that make the Earth's surface warmer, and therefore a habitable place for all living beings. However when the concentration of these gases increases beyond a certain limit, that's when it starts creating a problem leading to what is called as CLIMATE CHANGE. Carbon dioxide is the main GHG, however there are other gases that contribute to the effect too. While the amount of GHGs in our atmosphere has fluctuated due to natural causes over the billions of years of the Earth's existence, in the post-industrial era, the GHGs have been accumulating in the atmosphere at an alarming rate, due mainly to various human activities fueled by coal and petroleum.

Carbon accounting helps us account for all the GHGs by creating a greenhouse gas inventory of each activity in a systematic manner. It provides a holistic picture of all the emissions and thus enables us to design an appropriate emission reduction strategy. This allows you to set GHG mitigation targets and contribute towards preventing Earth from tipping into a 'hothouse' phase, which will be highly destructive to humans.

With the signing of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change by the world's nations,  post 2020 it may soon become mandatory for businesses to submit or publicly declare their annual carbon account. Already, some of the major corporations in the world are undertaking carbon accounting in their organizations. Reporting carbon annual emissions and the reduction targets is a norm among all major multinational companies. 

Source: http://fortune.com/2017/05/22/climate-change-co2-fortune-100-companies/

All this means is that:

a. If you are a young person at the start of your professional career, having at least a basic understanding of carbon accounting in addition to the other skills required for your profession, will add value to your resume, and make you an attractive candidate to recruit for the best companies in your sector.

b. Once you acquire a basic understanding of the principles of carbon accounting, you can build on the knowledge and become an auditor or a consultant in this sector. China and India are the two leading carbon emitters in the 21st century. There is a tremendous pressure on us to keep our carbon emissions in check, without derailing the story of development. We can only manage what we measure. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before government of India will have to demand carbon accounting data from its industries in order to meet its international commitments and to cement its position as a responsible member of the global community. In the next 10 years or so, thousands of new job opportunities may open up in this sector, and those with an early start and some experience in the bag will benefit the most!

Our online course on Carbon accounting can definitely be a starting point for you. You can build a great career path for yourself, AND contribute to solving the greatest problem faced by humanity today!  

Dr. Priyadarshini Karve & Pournima Agarkar. 

www.samuchit.com 

My City My Responsibility - Carbon Accounting Online Course

Dear All, 

Regarding action towards Climate change, India has committed to the Paris Agreement in December 2015, where India will have to measure, regulate and report it carbon emissions. In order to have an Climate friendly development, India has submitted its Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The NDCs are climate actions taken by the country considering its socio-economic and environmental conditions for reducing emissions and undertaking measures for adaptation and mitigation of climate change impacts. We understand that, in order to reduce emissions it is important to know how much we are emitting? For the same purpose, all the institutions or organizations may have to measure and perhaps report their emissions to their clients/donors/investors/government agencies, post 2020 when the Paris Agreement will be operational. In order to get the hang of accounting of our own carbon emissions, we at Samuchit have come up with an opportunity for all of you. 

Samuchit is organizing an online training program on Carbon Accounting. The online course will cover all the basics from understanding the science behind climate change, its economics and politics, mitigation and adaptation measures, to carbon footprinting for an individual, or an household or any activity, institution, process or any event considering the scope 1, 2 and scope 3 emissions. Anyone who is involved in working with sustainability or environmental issues like green entrepreneurs, architects, urban planners, researchers, academicians or freelance environment consultants can join this program. Since the course will be conducted in online mode it enables homemakers, work from home professionals as well as full time professionals anywhere in India to access the course. All you need is a laptop or a computer having Microsoft excel and reasonably good internet connection. The course will be divided into five modules, each module will last for a month so accordingly it will take about five months for you to complete the course. However assignment submission within the given time-frame is crucial for accessing the next module, depending on when you submit your assignments, the course may take longer. In that case, there may be additional charges. You will get a certificate at the end of this course. 

So, if you feel that you can contribute to solution to climate change and want to become a climate conscious individual or institution/organization this course is for you. It may not make you an instant expert, but will give you sufficient understanding of the basics to understand what the experts are talking about. 

Kindly send in your entries to me on or before 15th August, 2018 and I will send you the registration form for enrolling yourself in the course or if you have any queries write to me at 

pournima@samuchit.com

Basic online course on Carbon Accounting brochure

Pournima Agarkar. 

www.samuchit.com