Internship Encounters - Memories from Before Covid Times!

Internship work is fun... most of the time!

 Dear All, 

Sharing an incident by Architect Tejaswini Datar while she was interning with us. She along with other fellow interns conducted a socio economic survey for our Sustainably Smart Pune project. She narrates one of her experiences during the survey. 

Here it goes...

This is the story of a day of my internship I would never forget.

I was doing an internship under the guidance of Dr. Priyadarshini Karve ma'am as a part of my post-graduation in environmental architecture. We learned so much from Dr. Karve ma'am for which we are forever grateful. Our mentor taught us not just about the carbon auditing, self-sustaining lifestyle and practical application of such environmental concepts, but also how to see the big picture. We were part of a study that sought to define Sustainably smart city. To make such a proposal, we needed to understand 'people'. We were tasked to conduct surveys to understand the choices people make based on their perception, necessities, priorities, convenience and routine. For example: Someone driving a petrol fuelled four-wheeler for an hour and half to drive their young kid to primary school, taking a big detour on the way to their office, seems very bad at the outset. But their choice may be based on - 1. Desirable schools are just that far away. 2. Travelling by bus in rush hour is tedious. 3. Not comfortable about safety and hygiene a school bus offers. 4. Convenience of leaving at your own time. 5. Four-wheeler is just more comfortable for driving that far. 6. Comforts of air conditioned, non-polluted air. 7. Extra time with family. 8. We don't want to get tired before even reaching our destination. 9. We do a lot of other stuff to protect the environment, so let this one vice slide.... These are some of the reasons which are absolutely valid or at least understandable. Many of the choices we make have a negative impact on the environment. We exist, we consume, we hurt mother nature. We have to take steps to reduce that impact and make more positive outcomes. To study and understand such issues, to figure out what civic systems will encourage more eco-friendly behaviour, we conducted a survey of around 500 families, from different parts of Pune.

So, there we were, out in the world, to make some sense of the current situation. We were prepared. We went through our questionnaire, made it easier, simpler, to the point of better understanding. We interviewed each other to understand how people will react, what would be their questions? We practiced explaining why certain questions were asked. We were ready. We went in a group (safety first), always at the door, never went in, always after morning rush or after the 1 O'clock nap time (we were in Pune, we knew better than to disturb them between 1-4 PM). Our smile and patience would put the stewardess to shame. But nothing would have prepared me for what came next.

Nearing the end of our assignment, I was allocated an affluent area, which consists mainly of Army families. Army families are by default more concerned about their responsibility towards society in general. I hit a JACKPOT! Most of the families welcomed us with open arms, asked if we would like some water, where are we from, what is the project about, what more they can do to help, what they can do on their level, etc.

One person I interviewed was a little tricky. We met at her doorstep. I introduced myself and explained the purpose of our survey. Showed my ID card, verification contact numbers, etc. She was busy and asked us to leave the form and to come the next day to collect it. So far, many people entertained us, some agreed to take a survey, some rudely declined, some declined politely, some offered water and listened to us, some were even more welcoming but that's not always the case. So, when she said she was busy but would like to take the survey, even offered to write down the details herself, I was ecstatic.

The next day was a different story. The next day, I went to her place to collect the form. She opened the door and grabbed me inside. I was there with my two friends and was the only one pulled inside, and the door was closed leaving my two friends dumbfounded. I politely asked to let me out or at least keep the door open. She was having none of it and started interrogating me. I consider myself to be brave when needed and I have no shame admitting that at that point I was on the verge of panic. I tried calmly to ask her what the issue was. She was apparently suspicious about our motives.

I assured her that none of the information would be disclosed. “If you are still not comfortable, ask us why such and such question. If you don't feel comfortable don't give specifics, like name and address and income, just don't mention it on the form. We would like to understand how much income plays a part in your choices. We will just mention Mr. ABC, living at XYZ chooses this..... - (Not based on income, little/more influenced by income). Usually we fill out the forms, if you would like to see what we have noted down, we are happy to oblige. If you would like to verify our details, here are numbers of our teacher, college office and internship office. If you are still not convinced about our intentions, we would answer any other query you have. If you still don't believe us, well then, that’s still okay, we will move on, you have yourself a good day!” Nope! Nothing worked!

At that point I was in flight or fight mode. I left the form and our internship details in her hand (we were meant to provide those if asked), said my thanks and dashed towards the door. I made it to the door before she could catch up. Found my friends, on their phone, ready to call for help. Fortunately, we all left unscathed.

Party after the work was done!

Despite this traumatic event, I was not about to lose hope. We had our target, omitting that area wouldn't have given us an accurate conclusion. There was no way around it. So, we pulled ourselves and went ahead. Unfortunately, the lady had called ahead and warned a few of her neighbours to not entertain us. Our request was shot down multiple times. Doors were shut even seeing us approaching. We were discouraged but our spirits were lifted by a very kind, old home owner. 

He understood my position, offered me some water and advice. He said that army families are known for their service to the community but also for their vigilance. She may be right at her place to question my intentions. I totally agreed with him. Although I would have much appreciated if the conversation happened in front of my team and out in the open. I would have been more relaxed about her intentions too and would have tried to explain even longer. We both laughed and moved on.

Turns out this interviewee was a proud ex-army grandfather, whose two sons, a daughter and a daughter in law were in the army. He eagerly showed us all the systems he installed to make his home more sustainable. His family was aiming to become a self-sustainable and carbon neutral family. He was researching solar electricity generators. The problem was the required space as it was already crowded with a solar water heater system in his new home, constructed with sustainable materials and methods. He was also looking for a natural air purification method to go with his viticulture garden. His motivation behind all this is just so he could contribute more to his country. He was asking what more he could do to help (!!!). He insisted on keeping a few forms with him, so he could help spread the word. He put a good word about me to some of his neighbours. His enthusiasm was endearing and energizing. We all could learn from him.

It is not enough to say that we do some of the eco-friendly things. It is high time we do ALL the things and then some more.

Author: Tejaswini Datar

My City My Responsibility - Earth Week Summit 2021

Dear All,

Collage of screenshots taken during the webinar

Happy to update you all, in case if you missed our week long Earth Summit on keeping the Earth day momentum going. We at Samuchit Enviro Tech, Laya Resource Centre and the Indian Network on Ethics and Climate Change (INECC) , undertook this week long initiative to elaborate on creating environmental consciousness and action as we believe every day is Earth day.  

Some organizations who have been working closely with us, partnered with us for this week long summit. Our partners and collaborators were Climate Collective Pune(CCP), OrjaBox, VaayuMitra, Rupa Rahul Bajaj Centre for Environment and Arts (RRBCEA), Zillionth Bistro and Black Gold.  

The week long summit started on the 19th April and went on till 24th of April, 2021. Each day we organized some activity on specific topics to promote thinking consciously about sustainable options as a solution to the current environmental crises. We all are well aware of the dreadful impacts happening on Earth due to our actions, we know the problem and the causes. Its time we start taking the right actions for the right cause and make our planet sustainably habitable for all.   

I introduced all, with a warm welcome (as the temperatures are rising :P) and a video showing what all progress humans have made in the last 50 years, since the first Earth day (22nd April, 1970).  Dr Priyadarshini Karve, opened the summit week with her crisp and clear presentation on Earth Friendly Economy. The current economic model is driven by the pursuit of exploitative growth with the least consideration for the people and the planet. Hence there is a need to shift to a model of growth that is sustainable for all. Aditi Kale from CCP moderated the question-answer component and concluded the session. To access the recording of this session click here.

The second day was focused on Renewable Energy (RE) and its applications within the home. A young entrepreneur from CCP Siddarth Bhagwat opened the session with a video showing off his new e-bike the Ather 450x. You can watch the video here. Siddarth then introduced the speakers:Vishakha Chandhere from OrjaBox, who showcased how solar cookers can be effectively used for cooking and how all of us can contribute to using clean cooking options, Priyadarshan Sahasrabuddhe from VaayuMitra, who spoke about his model on using kitchen waste for generating biogas, another clean cooking fuel alternative, and Isha Vyawahare from Black gold who presented the making of Biochar (new black gold) from dried leaves (biomass) using Samuchit's Trashflasher kiln. We had some interesting questions and answers post presentations! It looked like a lot of people would like to adopt these practices in their day to day life in order to lead a sustainable lifestyle. Kedar Champhekar from RRBCEA concluded the session. To access the recording of this session click here.

The third day of the summit was focused on Sustainable Water management. Saili Jahagirdar Mirikar  of Zillionth Bistro (the cafe with an upcylced decor) welcomed the crowd and spoke about her café where you can see upcycling in practice. Here's the link to check out her café! She introduced Col. Shashikant Dalvi, an ex-armyman who set up rainwater harvesting system in his society and made the society water tanker free. He shared his experience and also explained how tapping rainwater is the need of the day. Then Priyadarshan Sahasrabuddhe of VaayuMitra spoke about managing household sewage water through the biogas technology. Both these ways of managing water are climate friendly as well. Isha Vyawahare of Black Gold concluded the session. To access the recording of this session click here. 

Before the start of the Earth Week Summit, we had requested people to send us 1 min action videos showcasing sustainable practices in their daily lives. We received overwhelming response from the kids of Bal Bharti School, Dwarka, Delhi and a few citizens. A few of the good quality videos with a clear messaging were compiled together in a single video. We acknowledge everyone's effort in contributing towards the Earth Week Summit Action video activity.  On the fourth day of the summit, which also happened to be the Earth Day itself, we premiered the video compilation. To watch the movie. Click here. 

On the fifth day, we participated in the final webinar in a series of three webinars on Climate Resilient Architecture organized in association with Dr Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture (BNCA). This consisted of a panel discussion on building sustainable cities. You can watch the live streaming on INECC's Facebook page Click here.

The sixth and the last day of the Summit was all about basking in nature's glory through literary reads. Date with Nature is a part of our monthly activities. This time's theme was focused on the Desert ecosystem and this included short stories, articles and poems on how this ecosystem reflects resilience and unique beauty that can kindle love in spite of its harsh and empty appearance. This online meeting is not recorded, due to copyright issues. However if you are keen on participating in this monthly event, please contact us at pournima@samuchit.com. 

Every month we conduct 3 to 4 activities that are focused on creating awareness among the general public about science based and thought provoking information related to sustainability. We do keep posting educational information as daily posts as well. You can connect with us on our FB, Twitter and Instagram handles as Citizens of Sustainable City for more information on our activities.

Pournima Agarkar.

www.samuchit.com

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Additional links: 

Samuchit Trasflasher Kiln

My City My Responsibility - Future of the Story of Plastic!

Dear All,

PPE made of Plastic

Plastic an ubiquitous thing on earth and is quite indispensable for most of us whether we like it or not. Yet this invention has now become an evil for the environment due to innumerable reasons.  When it comes to sustainability, plastic appears to be one of those materials that can be very efficient, cost effective and user friendly. However plastic waste disposal is a global problem that is choking up our oceans, filling our lands and entering our food chains. These thoughts were triggered after watching the documentary titled Story of Plastic aired on the occasion of this year's Earth Day. 

This documentary not only shows how big is the plastic pollution problem but also shows where does it come from and how it is a systemic problem than just an individual's choice. It captures the entire supply chain right from the use of petroleum to produce plastic to plastic pollution to its implications for climate change. Indeed it is an eye opening documentary when it comes to the life threatening impacts of plastic pollution. It pictures how managing the plastic waste is bigger challenge for developing countries where the plastic wastes are being shipped all the way by the developed nations. But when plastic wastes are no more accepted by the developing countries, how ineffective recycling plants create downgraded plastic products that cause even much more harm. Plastic pollution and its linkages with poverty, cheap labor and women who are involved in the overall process of sorting the wastes, recycling and processing especially in India have been highlighted as well. However packaging material and consumption of single-use plastic products like straws, carry bags and shampoo or food sachets etc pose bigger challenges of disposal, is the ultimate issue that we have been grappling with as per the documentary while the mismanagement of plastic is just an excuse to get away from the hidden agenda of the petroleum companies.

Given all these facts and concerns, the movie fails to effectively showcase the way forward apart from a ban on single use plastic and packaging material. The movie completely disregards the benefits of plastic especially if we consider the current pandemic scenario where PPE's made out of plastic have been the most efficient and easily affordable material for our safety. 

Me @Khamir in Kachchh
learning to weave plastic bags
PC: Dr Priyadarshini Karve

I believe it is important to understand that even if we ban plastic completely today, an existing single waste bottle will take upto 450 years to decompose. From the entire host of plastic products that we consume to the huge plastic products that we use, its quite obvious that plastics are here to stay forever. So definitely banning plastic may not be that helpful, however can we explore and have stringent policies in place in order to phase out the production of virgin plastic along with creating complex recycling techniques that are effective, local and low cost that will ensure upcycling plastic waste into a much better and more durable and eco-friendly product? One such local example that quickly comes to my mind is of Aarohana Ecosocial development a plastic upcycling initiative by Amita Deshpande where plastic carry bags are cleaned and woven into attractive handbags, purses and mats that even generate local livelihoods for women. Inspired by Khamir, a platform in Kachchh that promotes indigenous knowledge on handicrafts and allied cultural practices for creation and preservation of local communities.

From the packaging problem perspective, a global standardization for packaging can be adopted that will improve recycling and ease resource recovery which in turn will enable circular economic models. As per Our World in Data statistics, mismanaged plastic waste is generated highly by the high income groups versus low income groups, but that is mostly due to accessibility, its not that the low income groups are wiser! Also countries having longer coastlines have seen tremendous mismanaged plastic wastes. So the question of managing plastic waste can be tackled only with the help better segregation and effective waste management infrastructure.  

When we talk about segregation another challenge is the segregation within the various plastic items, because some products like transparent PET bottles can be easily recycled or reused, while some products may need complicated processes in order to recycle them. The used PPE's are of hazardous nature and will have to be incinerated right away. For such products we need more effective technologies for incineration that are least polluting. Given the nature of plastic and its versatility, we need to explore for more such processes where a plastic waste turns out to be the raw material for another product.

Now that there is so much plastic in nature, some bacteria and fungi have started evolving the ability to eat it. Apart from recycling, such interesting ways to deal with plastics wastes are upcoming. Another concept of producing bioplastics from startch are already available, however problems with this plastic is about its look and feel which is exactly same like ordinary plastic and hence differentiating it is difficult plus its also a controversial issue when it comes to food security. Hence there's a lot of scope for research in this field to produce sustainable polymers.

In one of my earlier blogs I did mention why plastics were ever invented. A lot of scope lies for sustainable innovation given the technological advances today, industries have a great role to play. Better quality of plastics can be produced that have low carbon footprint and hence can reduce pollution. The idea is to no longer term plastic as WASTES but as a KEY resource and start reusing it at source. Many individuals do come up with innovative ways that ensure their plastics don't end up in a landfill or an ocean. A more systemic approach will help to solve the plastic problem that involves engaging public sector as well as private sector to pitch for effective enforcement of existing policies and strategies. 

In October 2018, UN Environment programme and the Ellen Mcarthur Foundation announced the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment with more than 290 signatories having a common vision to treat plastics at source based on circular economy models. One of the pioneers in circular economy has been the Banyan Nation who are converting collected post consumer and industrial plastic waste into high quality recycled granules which are termed as Better Plastic that has strength as good as virgin plastic. There are several such examples already who are using plastic as a resource for better economic gains. Its time we start valuing plastic as a raw material and use it effectively for the betterment of the environment.

Pournima Agarkar. 

www.samuchit.com

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MUSINGS FROM PRIYADARSHINI KARVE: What Is Your Idea Of Sustainability?

Migration - Birds and People

I hope everyone is staying home and following all precautions as we are in the grips of COVID-19 pandemic. One outcome of the lockdown is that people are more than usual active on social media. A lot of the social media traffic is fake news or rants... but in between some interesting thoughts, data, news items, opinions, etc., are also getting shared. 

There is one class of social media posts that caught my attention. Several people are posting their own observations, other people's observations, pieces of prose and poetry, photographs, videos, memes, etc., echoing one thought: The withdrawal of humans and human activities is giving nature a breather and helping it recover. This is a true observation. But then many people are going a few steps ahead and projecting this as 'a positive outcome' of the pandemic. Some people are thinking that this is the way forward to a solution to climate change. 

So let's think about the cost of this so-called 'positive outcome'. 

As per today's (28 March) available data (check this for updates): Today there are 436,715 active cases of COVID-19, out of which about 5% people are critically ill, and already 27,370 people have died worldwide.

The numbers are still rising daily, and the pandemic is likely to continue for a few months. I should also mention that this is the data of 'detected' cases only. There may be an even larger number of people who are infected with either no or mild symptoms worldwide, spreading the infection to others. Also, there will be a lot of deaths across the world that may be caused by this infection but will not be recorded as such due to a variety of reasons.

The only way to deal with the pandemic is to try and minimise the death toll. This will be possible if all the patients with high risk get proper treatment on a priority basis. This will in turn be possible if the number of people needing treatment do not overwhelm the health systems available in a country.

From this viewpoint, a two-pronged strategy is being employed across the world: 

(a) lockdown - minimising the contact between people (almost every country including India is doing this in varying degrees), and 

(b) widespread testing to detect carriers of the virus - so that they can be further isolated and treated (not all countries including India are as yet doing this, but this too is an essential step without which the first step will not be hugely effective)

However, the lockdown is causing huge economic impacts. All economic activity has come to a standstill. I am not refering to loss of GDPs and fall in share markets and what not. Those are only notional losses. Because both 'corporations' and 'money' after all are just figments of human imagination, as pointed out by Yuval Noah Harari in his world famous book 'Sapiens'. So these imaginary losses of the imaginary entities can be overcome through policies, mutual agreements, bailouts, etc. The hardest hit by the halt of economic activities are the marginal populations - those who typically depend on daily earnings to meet their survival needs. This is a worldwide tragedy for all those who eke out a hand to mouth existence, with no savings and social security support systems to fall back on.

In the Indian context, the migrant workers, who as it is live very precariously in most cities, are the worst affected. It is really tragic to see hoards of people walking away from the cities that were shut down with a single television announcement, leaving them uninformed and unprotected. No amount of economic packages declared subsequently can help them HERE and NOW. The only option they see is to follow the ancient natural instinct of the human species - if things get tough at a location, pick up and leave! Start walking and hope to find a better place to live in!

THIS is the price we are paying for the so-called 'positive outcomes', my dear friends!

If you are a true believer in sustainability you will not rejoice over this. Because sustainability is NOT about sacrificing humans for the sake of the planet. Yes, sustainability opposes destruction of the planetary ecosystems for the sake of human civilisation, but the opposite is not desirable either!

We seek sustainability FOR human species. This means social and economic wellbeing for ALL humans through judicious use of natural resources. We want to protect the planet so that it will continue to sustain humans on it - not at the expense of human lives and wellbeing! The fight for sustainability is the fight against inequality in human society and the destruction of planetary ecosystems, simultaneously - not just the one or the other.

So what this is showing you is not the way forward to solve the climate crisis. What this is showing you is how we DO NOT want to attempt to solve the climate crisis! We do not want to be pushed into a situation where we have our backs to the wall and drastically shutting down everything is the only option left to us. We need to start changing our social, political and economic systems today in the direction of going low carbon without losing sight of the goal of universal human wellbeing.

And there is some good news now that says that this is indeed possible. A recently published paper shows that contrary to popular belief the link between energy use and quality of life is much weaker than previously supposed. More specifically the contribution of increase in the use of fossil fuels to increasing the life expectancy of people is only about 25%. This means that use of fossil energy can be reduced without harming the wellbeing of people. The only change that needs to happen is shift in the priorities of the national governments and global decision making bodies.

This fits very well in my idea of sustainability. What about you?

Priyadarshini Karve
Director
Samuchit Enviro Tech

#BeModernBeResponsibleBeRespectful

   

Samuchit Enviro Tech.     samuchit@samuchit.com     www.samuchit.com 

My City My Responsibility - Quest for Sustainability in Bhuj

Dear All, 

Through our project work on Sustainably Smart Pune 2030 and Citizens Charter & Action Agenda for Sustainable 2030 me and Dr Karve were invited to attend a consultation in Bhuj on Sustainability. This consultation was organized jointly by The Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Kachchh University and Homes in the City  (HIC) a network of CSO, NGOs and Citizens' Collective that work towards decentralized and participatory governance, equity and conservation of ecology, slum redevelopment, participatory ground water management and waste management. In this blog I would like to share my experience and learnings from the people of Bhuj.

4.30 am on a highway near Bhuj

In order to reduce our work related carbon emissions we thought of travelling by a train to Bhuj this time. However we had to opt for a flight from Pune to Ahmedabad as the connections available were weird. So we booked a train from Ahmedabad to Bhuj and also for our return journey to Pune. We were all excited to go by train after a long time. However, our excitement was shattered as our flight from Pune to Ahmedabad got delayed and we had to cancel our ongoing train as well. HIC had to book a cab at the last moment for us from Ahmedabad to Bhuj and thus we landed in an adventurous night ride. Adventurous as the driver was super sleepy and needed to sleep for an hour or so but he happened to sleep from 2.30 am to 4 am. He simply parked the cab aside near a random Dhaba on the highway mid of the night. This was scary as well as exciting, we were sleepy but couldn't sleep. I still tried to get a nap but Dr Karve was wide awake. I had to wake the driver sternly but then he rushed us to the hotel soon. 

We had a meeting with the coordinator of this consultation Aseem Mishra later that day post lunch. Our pick up was arranged in a Chaggada (big broad rickshaw just like our six seater) and I was amazed to see a woman driving this rickshaw. We got to know that Bhuj has got two women rickshaw drivers named Asha Waghela and Chandni Parmar. Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KVMS) has been doing some great work in empowering women in the city through various such initiatives.

Aseem accompanied us to a solid waste management facility, where we could see wastes was being segregated in to different categories by the migrant rag pickers in an area. However, we saw a lot of biomedical wastes lying around due to a hospital nearby. Mostly it was discarded injection syringes and plastic tubes, since it was plastic it was also collected by the rag pickers without realizing its harmful effects, we even saw their children playing bare footed near the facility. Knowledge about biomedical wastes and overall hygiene is still lacking among the people. however its the hospitals that need to ensure that no waste from their premises mixes with the local solid waste system. In general if we see Bhuj seems to have a major waste management issue. The entire city looked full of rubble and construction wastes lying around. This is sad as well as alarming!!!

The same day we visited Khamir a place where I tried my hand at weaving upcycled plastic mats. It was a fun experience learning to weave on a traditional hand loom under the guidance of a local woman weaver. Khamir is place where you can get a variety of goods made from leather, upcycled plastic, cotton, wool, recycled metal etc. that reflects the culture and heritage of Kutch. A great place for outsiders to buy souvenirs from Kachchh!!!

Later we visited the Ramkrishna Trust near Kukma a place where we could see sustainable practices from an organic farm, a big biogas plant, rainwater harvesting system, solar cooker, gravity grade separater, cottages (huts) made out of eco friendly materials to metal drums recycled to make seating, traditional roofing made out of woven rice straw etc. However, the amply available cow dung that is used in various preparations for health emphasizing the importance of cow dung and urine, reflected pseudo scientific analysis to an extent commented Dr. Karve. I agree with her as well, using cow dung in the form of a small chip and pasting it onto our mobiles to help us being unaffected by harmful radiations was something serious marketing gimmick! But people do fall for such stuff.

From L to R: Waste management facility, us in Khamir and Biogas plant in Ramkrishna Trust

Now I would like to give just a few glimpses of the two day consultation.

The first day of our consultation was held in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science of Kachchh University's SMART Classroom. Yes the SMART Classroom was indeed a hi-tech classroom equipped with white board enabled projector screen that was touch sensitive, a 360 degree camera and decent audio system. Not yet seen any such thing in Pune's academic institutions in spite of being a SMART city.

We were a small group of people for the consultation around 20 of us. I was glad to see a woman as a VC of the Kachchh University in Bhuj. She welcomed us to the vibrant city of Bhuj having diverse cultures and was appreciative of how all like-minded people come together and work towards making Bhuj a Sustainable city.

Aseem Mishra the coordinator of HIC gave a broad background of the city also known as a WALLED city. The city was defended by four gates and the Bhujio Hill however post-earthquake all the walls collapsed and now one can see only the remnants in the old core part of the city. Since then the entire city has expanded three times in terms of area with an increase in population as well. There is no river in the city, however there are several lakes in the city-Hamirsar lake is the largest catchment area. It is an intricate network of lakes, streams, wells that feed the groundwater reserves. There have been no rains in the city since last three years and the Hamirsar lake has gone dry creating severe water crunch in the city. People even said ‘that only when we see water in the Hamirsar lake, the water in our eyes will dry’ People of Bhuj are completely dependent on ground water reserves for their water needs, however part of the water comes from Narmada dam but less than what is supposed to. The value of WATER and the water systems for a common man in an arid region is something that we can never understand having a continued water supply. Learning about Climate change and Sustainability are far off when you are struggling with day to day water needs. However understanding it will definitely help in adapting to such situations. 

HIC has been working since last ten years in collaboration with other local organisations and running pilots that can be easily implemented in the city on a large scale. The only thing we felt is kind of missing is the lack of reaching out to the citizens that are living in the city. Though the locals in the city are few and the city consists of migrated inhabitants, its time they start contributing for the betterment of the city. The outskirts of the city have haphazard development while the old part of the city shows the remnants of the earthquake even after nineteen years. It seems that the city takes pride in the earthquake in a way and wants to keep the remnants as a mark of the historical event that affected so many lives. But the point is old part of city looks really sad and dry and shattered we couldn't see it closely but didn't even feel like going.

Dr Mrugesh Trivedi, Kachchh Univerity, spoke about the potential for carbon sequestration at industry level, community level and research level. The fact that such studies and discussions are happening from academic purpose is a good news. However they have a long way to go since understanding climate change and its impacts was in itself a challenge.

Dr Himanshu Burte, TISS gave a background on sustainable landscapes, relevance of mapping at different scales. Role of interlinkages and interplays is very crucial and needs to be understood when we need to acheive sustainability was something that he stressed on and we were glad that our study on Sustainably smart Pune is based on some of these concepts.

Dr Priyadarshini Karve, Samuchit Enviro Tech, spoke about our project study, the INECC sustainability index that we have derived and how it is SDG compliant unlike the smart city mission goals for Pune.

Jyoti Awasti and Nakul Sharma, CANSA (Climate Action Network, South Asia) showed the impacts of climate change during 1990 to 2010 in the form of rainfall and cyclones that severely affected the city. Recognition of vulnerable communities and the importance of developing adaptation and resilent strategies for them is the need of the hour specifically in urban areas.

Glimpses of the consultation

After the session several site visits were arranged. The first one was a DEWATS (Decentralised Wastewater System). This is a demonstration plant that picks up some of the water from the city's sewage water flow and treats it before releasing it in a stream. It was set up by a local NGO and has been handed over to the Municipality, in a hope that similar systems would be set up all over the city to clean up the city's sewage water and prevent it contaminating precious fresh water resources. However, nothing has happened so far.

Site visits 

Next we visited the rainwater harvesting system implemented by a bungalow society named Jubilee colony. Since a part of the parking area would get flooded every monsoons, water would infiltrate their bungalows and spoil all furniture, bugged of spending money on costly furniture every year, the residents approached a local NGO and they installed an innovative rainwater harvesting system using the parking space. Installing the system enabled increase in the ground water levels as well which the society realized later. But such innovations are required and will be sustainable if they are managed by communities with the help of minor or little facilitation through local organisations.

Then most interesting part of the site visit was the seeing the owner driven community housing project led by Hunnarshala and HIC through a participatory approach. The people in a particular community were fully satisfied with the interventions made by Hunnarshala a local organisation working for skill development in indigenous technologies. Happiness of owning one's house the way you want is something that is really precious. We could see the happiness, confidence and sense of ownership among all the people in the community. This is a perfect example showcasing successful implementation of government scheme on ground through participatory and integrated approach.

The next day was a kind of a closed group discussion as HIC wanted to build on a framework for further actions. My role was to conduct interactive activities for the group. So we conducted our usual mentimeter based polls and our SDG 11 related brainstorming activity. Based on the results and discussions, it was decided that core strategies for Bhuj should focus on showcasing their incredible work to a larger mass in the city in order to get things moving in the required direction. Also a focus on equity, climate change and environmental issues from a scientific perspective needs to be work on.  

Happy us in the train

Definitely we had great enriching time in Bhuj. Thanks to the team of HIC, especially Aseem Mishra for giving us this opportunity. I hope our inputs will help them freeze a framework for Sustainable and climate friendly Bhuj. 

Finally we could travel by train on our journey back to Pune and of course me and Dr Karve had a great time.

See you all next week....till then stay tuned to this space.

Pournima Agarkar.

www.samuchit.com

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Upcoming Events Update!!!

Dear All, 

Kindly note we are conducting two events in the last week of July.

One is our monthly Climate Friendly Lifestyle Workshop in collaboration with Jeevidha scheduled on the 25th July 2019. Here we talk about the basics of Climate Change, help people calculate their contribution to Climate Change using our simple web based Carbon Footprint calculator, and discuss what individuals and communities can do to tackle the climate crisis. 

See the poster and email me for confirming your participation. 

Poster - Climate Friendly Lifestyle Workshop

Another event is an interactive session where we would like to talk to people who are clueless about Climate Change and Sustainability but are concerned about day to day issues. Let's all sit down and learn to connect the dots! We are happy to collaborate with Yolkshire, Aundh for hosting this first session in our own Avengers Series where we will Challenge Thanos with ideas to save the world without killing off half the population! 

So if you know anyone who needs to know about Climate Change and Sustainability but is currently clueless, please send them to our event.  

See the poster for other information.

Poster on interactive session on Water Crisis

Pournima Agarkar.

www.samuchit.com

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My City My Responsibility - Climate Friendly Organic waste management workshops

Dear All, 

As part of our initiative on Citizens Charter and Action agenda for Sustainable Pune, we are planning to promote case studies or projects happening in Pune that have a potential to lead us towards Sustainability. We will be organizing a number of workshops in the coming months under this initiative. To start with, we are focusing on organic waste management in a climate friendly manner. We will be having two such workshops back to back in the next week.  

Workshop on Climate Friendly Garden Waste Management. 

In my last blog I mentioned about our Workshop on Biochar - Garden waste management. 

We received an overwhelming response from everyone. Seeing the enthusiasm and the demand for such simple, local and low carbon technologies we will repeat the same workshop next week. For more information please see the poster below. 

Workshop on household Biogas technology by VAAYU

Our next workshop will be focused on managing kitchen waste and going LPG free. Are you curious to know more about it??? Vaayu is a Biogas technology that converts kitchen and food waste into cooking and heating fuel and can be set up by any individual in their home, balcony or kitchen itself. Join us to know more about this. We will be discussing all the issues related to the use of Biogas and its feasibility for an urban household. For more information please see the poster below. 

Both the waste management innovations not only enable us to lead Sustainable lifestyles but also gives us the joy of going carbon negative - i.e., subtracting rather than adding carbon emissions to the atmosphere! Its definitely a win-win situation for all of us.  

Looking forward towards your participation in both events!!!

Please RSVP! It will help us in making the logistical arrangements for both the workshops. 

Pournima Agarkar. 

www.samuchit.com

My City My Responsibility - Eco-friendly lifestyle

Dear All,

In my last blog I wrote about the importance of carbon footprint in living a low carbon lifestyle. Earlier I have also written about water footprint and its importance. In today's blog I want to talk about ecological footprint and why it is important for living an eco-friendly lifestyle. Note that water and carbon footprint are the sub sets of ecological footprint. 

Ecological footprint is the measure of human demand on nature's productive resources (for example, cropland, grazing land or sea) and the quantity of waste generated. This demand is compared to the nature's capacity to absorb and generate new resources also known as biocapacity or the supply side. Ecological footprint and biocapacity are expressed in terms of global hectares (gha) per person. Note that keeping our consumption and waste generation rates well below the absorbing and renewing capacity of nature is crucial for attaining Sustainability. However, as per Global Footprint Network the world's average ecological footprint is 2.84 gha per person and the biocapacity is 1.73 gha per person which means that our consumption and waste generation rate exceeds the nature's capacity to renew and absorb and hence we are facing a global ecological deficit. Since we do not have another planet from where we can import resources, we are using resources from our natural capital. Our natural capital is the stock of natural resources that are as yet unexplored like some reserve forests, rivers etc. We are in a race of exploiting more and more natural resources. Because of this excessive exploitation we are about to face the Earth Overshoot day on the 1st of August this year. 

Graphical representation of ecological footprint, biocapacity and ecological deficit

I will be writing more on this and how we can live an eco-friendly lifestyle with these finite resources in my next blog. 

Pournima Agarkar.

www.samuchit.com  

My City My Responsibility - Reflecting on #UrbanLab workshop about Smart spaces (Part I)

Dear All,

I would like to share my reflections on a workshop, that I recently attended on Development of smart spaces under the #UrbanLab series of workshop organised by Indo-German Smart Initiative (IGSI) in Pune city supported by Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture (BNCA) and National Institute of Urban Affairs, Delhi. 

I missed the first day, however managed to sync in with a group of creative architects on the second day who were working on creating smart spaces. Our task with this topic was to identify the need and issues related to creating smart spaces and coming up with alternatives. 

Before proceeding further, I would like to highlight that the location where the workshop was conducted was a seminar hall named Bhauudeshiya Bhavan on baner road a municipal initiative for social development. This place apparently had NO USABLE TOILETS as good as having no toilets which I think is a basic need for any community space. The space for toilets was demarcated but not built. There was enough parking space, though! I wonder what's the intention of designing a community place without a provision of a functioning toilet??? In this era of Sustainability where we talk about inclusive designing having toilets for all the members of the society considering the differently-abled persons, senior citizens, women etc..This particular community space lacked providing a basic feature that too in an area which is being developed under the smart city area development scheme. (Note: The organizing team was completely unaware of this aspect and some last minute scrambling had to be done to deal with the problem.) 

Anyway, I was glad to have a group where all of us believed in understanding the NEED of creating a smart space in the first place, instead of just creating something for the sake of it. Also I understood that creating a smart space was not only about creating something new, its also about making optimum usage of any existing space.

Interviewing the local milk supplier

For instance, consider roads. The basic features a road should have is a proper storm water drainage system, access to parking spaces, usable cycle tracks, walkable footpaths, solar powered LED street lights etc... however while conducting a random survey on the Highstreet road in Baner all the above mentioned features of a road were missing on this 'so called posh' street which comes under the smart city area development plan. We observed water logging on the roads due to inappropriate storm water drains, footpaths were tagged with cycle track boards and the recently introduced PEDL cycles under the Pune Cycle Plan were parked on footpaths. However this footpath was blocked even for walking due to some concrete structure and pipes. On the other side, we could see a lot of paved area right in front of the hotels that were completely vacant probably because it was morning time.

Privately owned company buses were parked on the road reducing the driving space of the road. The road on one side had tall corporate companies with glass facades and hotels, bars plus luxurious residential societies on the other side.

Vacant space in front of hotels

We were searching for some localites to ask our queries, we met just one local milk supplier who stayed around 3-4 km away from this street. He mentioned that this place is very crowded in the evenings causing heavy traffic jam in the area since most of the people come to hang out in these hotels and bars. When asked about improvement in quality of life, he replied that he is happy just because of the increased income growth and schooling facility for his children but was sad that his family does not like to come to his shop and that they saw a loss of local culture. He felt like he has lost his hometown. A local person felt like an alien in his own place. 

Another highlight of this area is the Energize Park  - a smart 

Energize Park

initiative by the municipality to create an environment friendly public space. The park has solar powered street lights, seating areas, library (but no books! Basically it is just a space for reading i guess!), a yoga center and lots of greenery. However one of the residents of this area said that we don't really visit this place because our society's open space is much better and greener. Some people visit the park mostly in the evening, but some people don't know that such a place even exist.

I feel this is another example of a planning disaster because this space seems to be created either without even checking if it was needed at this location or may be they have failed to promote its significance and hence it is under utilized.

With all these observations and inputs we were supposed to come up with a prototype of solution. 

I will write about our solutions prototype in my next blog. Happy learning!!!

Pournima Agarkar. 

www.samuchit.com

My City My Responsibility - Sustainably Smart city

Dear All, 

I have been travelling in the last few weeks to a lot of places from Vizag-Delhi-Tokyo-Mexico-Pune and all the while I missed blogging, however after this long journey, I would like to share some of the insights of my journey through the sustainability lens. 

For conducting carbon audit of Laya Resource centre, I got an opportunity to visit Visakhapatnam (Vizag in short). Vizag is one of the smart city having a coastal ecosystem with clean beaches having toilets considering disabled people which is rarely seen. The streets and beaches were free from plastic wastes to an extent though there is no official ban! However, in the wave of beautification, the city has set up several statues of babies and wildlife all around the city which made the city look colorful but a bit weird! 

Meanwhile I could attend a RWA (Resident Welfare Association) meet where citizens gathered to discuss waste management issues in their areas which I feel is a good step towards attaining sustainability through citizens' participation which is otherwise not a common thing in Vizag.   

India Gate, Delhi

Happened to visit Delhi yet another smart city in the making, which consists of rich cultural heritage worth seeing (amidst the heavily polluted air and extreme weather pattern). The people in the city seem to be used to the drama happening in and around the city and have become resilient to it. Especially the safety issues, religious protests and terror attacks and all is quite a norm for all. On other hand,  where I attended a conference on #youthwagingpeace by UNESCO MGIEP. I could see a lot of young Delhites advocating for peace against violent extremism in the name of religion, caste, gender, safety, education etc. Met a 17 year old Rohingya community boy educating his community as a social service since he believes that education alone can help improve the situation of his community. I feel that the youth undertaking such initiatives in the city like Delhi can be a wise and sustainable way forward for the capital city. 

Then I landed in Tokyo, en-route to Mexico where I was to attend the conclusion event of my Mentoring for Leadership program on #EducationforSustainableDevelopment. I had a layover of 11 hours at the Tokyo/Narita airport. The airport is huge, it displays various forms of Japanese art and theatre through art galleries inside the airport. Even here I noticed that the washrooms were designed inclusively for the safety and support of mothers with babies, for blind by having braille and audio visual facility, disabled friendly and very user friendly. Inclusiveness which is one of the key aspects of sustainability is so well imbibed in their approach that portrays Sustainable smartness.  

Finally reached Mexico, and my program was held in the University of Guanajuato in Leon, a small city around 380 kms away from Mexico city. I got an opportunity to present our work on Sustainability in the public space of the University and was appreciated by all the people who visited the stand. From here I traveled to the heritage city of Guanajuato. The city is situated in a valley and is full of alleys which makes it walking and biking friendly. Its a good way to connect to the city and also good for health. The city has several tunnels for the cars and buses to move in and out of the city. Various aspects of sustainability could be seen in and around the city that makes it a livable city.

All the above aspects can be easily adopted in Pune city to make it a Sustainably smart city. Our city is rich in culture and heritage. Especially the central part of the city if kept free from four wheelers can be maintained and promoted as the heritage area of the city. The activeness of the citizens and the youth in the city make it a vibrant and live city which can ensure good governance in the city. Appropriate use of ICT can make our city disaster resistant and user friendly. Waste management and conservation of our natural resources will make us a ecologically robust city.

So what is holding us back from being a Sustainably Smart city???

Pournima Agarkar.