My City My Responsibility - River Rejuvenation Campaign#3

 We at Samuchit Enviro Tech, Indian Network on Ethics and Climate Change (INECC) and Jeevitnadi Living River Foundation are opposing the Riverfront Development plan being enforced by the Pune Municipal Corporation. Since the plan totally disregards river ecology and impacts of climate change we want the project to be cancelled and a genuinely nature-aligned river rejuvenation undertaken in a democratic and transparent manner.

समुचित एन्व्हायरो टेक, इंडियन नेटवर्क ऑन एथिक्स अॅंड क्लायमेट चेंज (आयनेक) आणि जीवितनदी लिव्हिंग रिव्हर फाउंडेशन या सर्व संस्था पुणे मनपा पुढे रेटू पहात असलेल्या नदीकाठ विकास प्रकल्पाला विरोध करत आहेत. या प्रकल्पात नदीची परिसंस्था व जागतिक वातावरण बदलाचे परिणाम यांच्याकडे पूर्णतः दुर्लक्ष केलेले असल्याने हा प्रकल्प रद्द करावा व लोकशाही पध्दतीने व पारदर्शकपणे सच्चे निसर्ग-पूरक असे नदी पुनरुज्जीवन हाती घ्यावे ही आमची मागणी आहे.

Image 3 - Natural Rejuvenation

PMC or Rejuvenation?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! A structured and manicured garden may look good for
a while but will become boring soon. But the wilderness of a natural forest simply lifts your spirit! A beautiful array of built-embankments with artificially carved out spaces for human recreation makes a pleasing image indeed. But then the natural beauty of a meandering free flowing river between naturally wild riverbanks too energizes us! So how do we say what is right and what is wrong?? 
The real question to ask is not what looks beautiful on paper today but which of these images is
long lasting and sustainable say beyond a decade from now? 
Constructed structures are always trying to hold back nature. They need constant service and
maintenance. As the city’s financial fortunes ebb and flow and political priorities swing between
two extremes, the beautifully constructed structures are at a high risk of falling into disrepair in a
decade or so.
Water made artificially still will stagnate and become polluted. Natural constructs on the other hand
are by default aligned with the forces of nature. These ‘greenscapes’ will change too but in harmony
with natural forces. The free-flowing river teeming with natural life will keep on self-cleaning itself.
What the river needs is REMOVAL of human interference rather than excessive heavy-handed
attempts to ‘tame’ it! A free river will endow the settlement on its banks with beauty and serenity,
water and food security, protection from the impacts of climate change, and many more blessings! 
So think carefully! What is your choice? PMC’s plan or Ecological Rejuvenation?
For more information and to participate in the movement against the PMC's riverfront development plan, please visit: https://puneriverrevival.com/

पुणे महानगरपालिकेची योजना की नदी पुनरुज्जीवन?

सौंदर्य बघणाऱ्याच्या नजरेत असते! भौमितिक रचनेतील आखीवरेखीव बाग काही काळ चांगली दिसेल पण कालांतराने

कंटाळवाणी होईल. पण नैसर्गिक जंगलाचा मोकळेढाकळे पणा  मनाला उभारी देतो! बांधकामाने उभारलेल्या कृत्रीम

किनाऱ्यांची मालिका व मानवी करमणुकीसाठी त्यात केलेल्या नियोजनबध्द जागा ही डोळ्यांना सुखावणारी प्रतिमा आहे.

पण नैसर्गिक हिरवाई असलेल्या नदीकाठांमधून वळणे घेत मुक्त वाहणाऱ्या नदीचे नैसर्गिक सौंदर्य आपल्याला ऊर्जा देते!

मग काय योग्य आणि अयोग्य हे आपण कसे म्हणायचे?? 

खरा प्रश्न आज कागदावर काय सुंदर दिसत आहे हा नाही, तर यापैकी कोणती प्रतिमा दीर्घकाळ - किमान एक दशकभर -

टिकणारी आणि शाश्वत आहे, हा आहे.  

माणसांनी बांधलेल्या रचना नेहमीच निसर्गाला रोखण्याचा प्रयत्न करत असतात. त्यांना सतत देखभाल आणि दुरुस्तीची गरज

आहे. पुढच्या दशकभरात  शहराचे अर्थकारण चढउतारांमधून जाईल आणि राजकीय प्राधान्यक्रम दोन टोकांमध्ये झुलत

राहतील. अशा परिस्थितीत सुंदर बांधलेल्या रचना दशकभरात दुर्लक्षित होऊन मोडून पडण्याचा धोका मोठा आहे.

कृत्रिमरित्या स्थिर केलेले पाणीही या कालावधीत प्रदूषित होऊन जाईल. निसर्गाने केलेल्या रचना मुळातच निसर्गाच्या

शक्तींशी जुळवून घेत तयार होत असतात. हे 'ग्रीनस्केप' देखील बदलतील पण हे बदल नैसर्गिक शक्तींशी सुसंगत असतील.

समृध्द सजीवसृष्टीने परिपूर्ण असलेली मुक्त वाहणारी नदी स्वत:ची स्वच्छता करत राहील. आज नदीला गरज आहे ती तिला

'काबूत' ठेवण्याच्या अवाजवी प्रयत्नांऐवजी मानवी हस्तक्षेप काढून टाकण्याची! एक मुक्त नदी तिच्या काठावरील वस्तीला

सौंदर्य आणि शांतता, पाणी आणि अन्न सुरक्षितता, हवामान बदलाच्या प्रभावापासून संरक्षण आणि इतरही बरीच वरदाने देईल! 

तर मग नीट विचार करा! तुम्ही काय निवडाल? पुणे महानगरपालिकेची योजना की पर्यावरणाशी सुसंगत नदी पुनरुज्जीवन?

अधिक माहितीसाठी आणि पुणे मनपाच्या नदीकाठ विकास प्रकल्पाच्या विरोधातील मोहिमेत सहभागी होण्यासाठी कृपया पहा - https://puneriverrevival.com/

www.samuchit.com

Like/Follow/Share us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter  Citizens of Sustainable Pune

My City My Responsibility - River Rejuvenation Campaign#2

 We at Samuchit Enviro Tech, Indian Network on Ethics and Climate Change (INECC) and Jeevitnadi Living River Foundation are opposing the Riverfront Development plan being enforced by the Pune Municipal Corporation. Since the plan totally disregards river ecology and impacts of climate change we want the project to be cancelled and a genuinely nature-aligned river rejuvenation undertaken in a democratic and transparent manner.

समुचित एन्व्हायरो टेक, इंडियन नेटवर्क ऑन एथिक्स अॅंड क्लायमेट चेंज (आयनेक) आणि जीवितनदी लिव्हिंग रिव्हर फाउंडेशन या सर्व संस्था पुणे मनपा पुढे रेटू पहात असलेल्या नदीकाठ विकास प्रकल्पाला विरोध करत आहेत. या प्रकल्पात नदीची परिसंस्था व जागतिक वातावरण बदलाचे परिणाम यांच्याकडे पूर्णतः दुर्लक्ष केलेले असल्याने हा प्रकल्प रद्द करावा व लोकशाही पध्दतीने व पारदर्शकपणे सच्चे निसर्ग-पूरक असे नदी पुनरुज्जीवन हाती घ्यावे ही आमची मागणी आहे.

Image 2 Concretization of rivers

Concrete Intoxication

Natural banks are not just a rock, soil , sand etc.. but also marshes, rocky outcrops, etc. ( under natural banks) held together by the root zones of a variety of vegetation – trees, shrubs, grasses and so on. A world of fishes, insects, birds, and many other animals thrive around this habitat.  When the river floods the WATER overflows into the flood plains (which are also natural riparian that reduce temperature, increases soil moisture and reduce evaporation losses) and eventually recedes and in the process nurtures this ecosystem. The vegetation on the riverbanks also helps reduce the speed of the overflowing water during floods reducing damage and destruction. 

But then… humans took over. Land covered by vegetation in the middle of a city? Such a waste

of space! Let’s concretise and commercialise! The natural river bank is replaced by a ‘concrete

retaining wall’ with some cosmetic vegetation to hide the concrete. But this fails to retain anything!

When it floods the water is now gushing faster! The ‘reclaimed’ land in the floodplains has rigid

concrete buildings replacing flexible firm-rooted vegetation. Submergence is now a bane rather

than a boon! 

With climate change leading to INCREASE in rainfall per episode of rain, the flooding is now

UNPRECEDENTED year on year! What is actually needed is to strengthen the natural riverbanks

– to lessen the force of flooding waters. What is being done is ‘hardscape’ concrete banks and

concrete structures - adding to the destructive power of floods! 

Are we paying taxes to PMC to destroy our beloved city?? Just think about it.   

For more information and to participate in the movement against the PMC's riverfront development plan, please visit: https://puneriverrevival.com/

काँक्रीटची नशा

नदीचा नैसर्गिक काठ म्हणजे फक्त खडक, माती, वाळू इतकेच नाही, तर झाडे, झुडुपे, गवत इत्यादी विविध प्रकारच्या वनस्पतींच्या मुळांच्या जाळ्याद्वारे एकत्र ठेवलेले दलदल, खडक, इ. घटक असतात. या नैसर्गिक संरचनेभोवती मासे, कीटक, पक्षी आणि इतर अनेक प्राण्यांची दुनिया वसलेली आहे. जेव्हा नदीला पूर येतो तेव्हा पाणी नदीच्या पूरक्षेत्रात येते (नदीचे पूरक्षेत्र ही पण एक नैसर्गिक परिसंस्था आहे - हिच्यामुळे परिसराचे तापमान कमी होते, जमिनीतील ओलावा वाढतो आणि बाष्पीभवनाने होणारा पाण्याच ऱ्हास कमी होतो) आणि नंतर ओसंडते. या प्रक्रियेत या परिसंस्थेचे पोषण होते. नदीकाठावरील वनस्पती देखील पुराच्या वेळी ओसंडून वाहणाऱ्या पाण्याचा वेग कमी करून नुकसान आणि विनाश कमी करण्यास मदत करतात. 

पण कालांतराने… माणसांनी हे क्षेत्र ताब्यात घेतले. शहराच्या मध्यभागी हरित आच्छादित जमीन? जागेचा असा अपव्यय! चला कॉंक्रीटीकरण आणि व्यापारीकरण करूया! नैसर्गिक नदीकाठाच्या जागी आता आली 'काँक्रीटची संरक्षक भिंत' आणि हे कॉंक्रिट लपवण्यासाठी कृत्रीमपणे केलेली थोडी हिरवाईची लागवड. पण ही भिंत कशाचेही संरक्षण करण्यात अपयशी ठरते! पूर आला की पाणी आता अधिक वेगाने वाहते! नैसर्गिक पूरक्षेत्रात कृत्रिमरीत्या तयार केलेल्या जमिनीवर लवचिक घट्ट रुजलेल्या वनस्पतींच्या जागी आता काँक्रीटच्या अजिबात लवचिकता नसलेल्या इमारती आहेत. जमीन जलमय होणे आता वरदान न राहता शाप बनले आहे! 

जागतिक वातावरण बदलामुळे प्रत्येक पाऊस पडण्याच्या प्रसंगी पावसाचे प्रमाण वाढत चालले आहे. त्यामुळे दरवर्षी पुराची तीव्रता अभूतपूर्व रित्या वाढते आहे! पुराच्या पाण्याचा जोर कमी करण्यासाठी प्रत्यक्षात नैसर्गिक नदीकाठ बळकट करणे आवश्यक आहे. पण जे केले जात आहे ते म्हणजे 'हार्डस्केप' काँक्रीटचे किनारे आणि काँक्रीटच्या इमारती - हे सारे पुराच्या विनाशकारी शक्तीमध्ये भर घालत आहेत! 

आपले लाडके शहर उद्ध्वस्त करण्यासाठी आपण पुणे महानगरपालिकेला कर देत आहोत का? जरा विचार करा!

अधिक माहितीसाठी आणि पुणे मनपाच्या नदीकाठ विकास प्रकल्पाच्या विरोधातील मोहिमेत सहभागी होण्यासाठी कृपया पहा - https://puneriverrevival.com/

www.samuchit.com

Like/Follow/Share us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter  Citizens of Sustainable Pune

My City My Responsibility - River Rejuvenation Campaign#1

We at Samuchit Enviro Tech, Indian Network on Ethics and Climate Change (INECC) and Jeevitnadi Living River Foundation are opposing the Riverfront Development plan being enforced by the Pune Municipal Corporation. Since the plan totally disregards river ecology and impacts of climate change we want the project to be cancelled and a genuinely nature-aligned river rejuvenation undertaken in a democratic and transparent manner.

समुचित एन्व्हायरो टेक, इंडियन नेटवर्क ऑन एथिक्स अॅंड क्लायमेट चेंज (आयनेक) आणि जीवितनदी लिव्हिंग रिव्हर फाउंडेशन या सर्व संस्था पुणे मनपा पुढे रेटू पहात असलेल्या नदीकाठ विकास प्रकल्पाला विरोध करत आहेत. या प्रकल्पात नदीची परिसंस्था व जागतिक वातावरण बदलाचे परिणाम यांच्याकडे पूर्णतः दुर्लक्ष केलेले असल्याने हा प्रकल्प रद्द करावा व लोकशाही पध्दतीने व पारदर्शकपणे सच्चे निसर्ग-पूरक असे नदी पुनरुज्जीवन हाती घ्यावे ही आमची मागणी आहे.

Image: I want to break Free!

I want to break free

Rivers have been flowing through and shaping landscapes for billions of years. Humans appeared on the scene about 2.5 hundred thousand years ago. We are infants in front of these ancient planetary miracles! 

About 12 thousand years ago, as the last ice age ended and the water started receding from land, humans started settling near the water sources – rivers and lakes. Population increased, empires grew, businesses thrived… human settlements grew… and grew and grew! Our houses and places of worship and other constructs started spilling into the flood plains of the river. To control the flooding, we built dams and embankments and tried to move the river ‘out of the way of our progress’. 

The river is ancient. She has immense patience. But our haphazard and mindless ‘progress’ has no limits which is also impacting changes in the climatic conditions locally and globally. The river is losing its patience with us now. She is getting restless. She wants to break free… and we are making even more grand plans to further constrain and chain her! 

We have to realise… we are no match for the planetary forces. The river WILL break free… and sweep away all our ‘progress’.

For more information and to participate in the movement against the PMC's riverfront development plan, please visit: https://puneriverrevival.com/

मला मुक्त व्हायचे आहे कोट्यवधी वर्षांपासून नद्या वाहत आहेत आणि भूपृष्ठाला आकार देत आहेत. सुमारे 2.5 लाख वर्षांपूर्वी मानव उदयाला आला. या प्राचीन ग्रहाच्या विस्मयकारी आविष्कारांपुढे आपण अर्भक आहोत!

सुमारे 12 हजार वर्षांपूर्वी, शेवटचे हिमयुग संपल्यानंतर आणि जमिनीवरून पाणी ओसरू लागल्याने, मानव जलस्रोतांजवळ - नद्या आणि तलावांजवळ - स्थायिक होऊ लागला. लोकसंख्या वाढली, साम्राज्ये वाढली, उद्योगधंदे वाढले… मानवी वसाहती वाढल्या… आणि वाढल्या आणि वाढल्या! आपली घरे, प्रार्थनास्थळे आणि इतर बांधकामे नदीच्या पुराच्या मैदानात हात-पाय पसरायला लागली. मग पूर आटोक्यात ठेवण्यासाठी आपण धरणे आणि बंधारे बांधले आणि नदीला ‘आपल्या प्रगतीच्या मार्गामधून दूर’ करण्याचा प्रयत्न केला.

नदी प्राचीन आहे. तिच्याकडे अपार संयम आहे. पण आपल्या अव्यवस्थित आणि बेफिकीर ‘प्रगती’ला मर्यादा नाही. यामुळे स्थानिक आणि जागतिक पातळीवरील हवामानातही बदल होत आहेत. नदी आता आपला संयम गमावत आहे. ती अस्वस्थ होत आहे. तिला मोकळे व्हायचे आहे… आणि आपण तिला आणखी रोखण्यासाठी आणि साखळबंदांत अडकवण्यासाठी आणखी भव्य योजना आखत आहोत!

आपल्याला हे समजले पाहिजे ... पृथ्वीच्या नैसर्गिक शक्तींपुढे आपण कःपदार्थ आहोत. नदी मोकळी होईल… आणि आपली सर्व ‘प्रगती’ वाहून जाईल.

अधिक माहितीसाठी आणि पुणे मनपाच्या नदीकाठ विकास प्रकल्पाच्या विरोधातील मोहिमेत सहभागी होण्यासाठी कृपया पहा - https://puneriverrevival.com/

www.samuchit.com

Like/Follow/Share us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter  Citizens of Sustainable Pune

My City My Responsibility - Action oriented approach for Sustainable Behavior

Dear All, 

Awareness to Action Model - Gurudas Nulkar

When we started working on our project on Citizens Charter and Action Agenda for Sustainable Pune, we met a lot of citizen groups who were keen to adopt sustainable lifestyles, but due to lack of access to appropriate services or lack of knowledge about sustainable practices or limited motivation....many could not undertake actions towards sustainable behaviors. Given the fact that if we decide, we can achieve anything, we wanted to explore what are the problems/barriers that people are facing in order to undertake Sustainable Behaviors. 

When we met Gurudas Nulkar an expert in Environmental Sustainability from Ecological Society, he explained us the concept of Awareness to Action. In our December event on Sustainably SMART Pune 2030  he very well articulated the overall concept. 

Yesterday Gurudas Nulkar undertook a brainstorming session on creating a model for any issue where people are aware about the issues to an extent, yet there is no effective action towards resolving the same. So, along with a few members of Jeevitnadi we brainstormed on using the concept for enabling sustainable behaviors or Pro Environment Behaviors (PEB). Gurudas Nulkar stressed that policy alone may not be always helpful in creating change in the society, but a collective action driven by the citizens can definitely lead to change in the society. 

According to Gurudas Nulkar, behavioral change is linked to the following aspects - Awareness, Attitude, Barriers and Benefits along with Enablers. Let us see all these aspects in brief. 

Awareness, in this world of Google, awareness about any topic like climate change or pollution is not an issue, however the issue lies in knowing that am I the cause of the problem and I am the one who can help resolve the same. Awareness about sustainable actions is missing. Many a times, we all know climate change is happening, there's a lot of pollution etc etc...but we are not aware about individual or community actions to mitigate the same. Based on the awareness levels, socio economic strata of the society, age and gender etc, we can design an awareness strategy for the target groups.  

Attitude is an important aspect for any behavioral change, some of us have a very negative or indifferent attitude towards a lot of issues in our city. For e.g. public transport is looked down due to lack of proper buses, frequency, time of travel, etc...in spite of knowing that public transport is pro environment or climate friendly, we end up taking our own vehicle for daily commute. Our indifferent attitude is in a way hindering us from undertaking the sustainable behaviors. Our attitudes many a times are also influenced by certain good practices, or some habits that are pro environment. Can we as individuals give thought to our attitudes, can we be more responsible, fair or take the initiative in the above case an initiative of using the public transport and advocating for the same for all good by creating pressure groups will certainly help in getting a better transport facility.  

Mapping and analyzing the Barriers that may be in the form of cultural, social, economical, political or personal and the Benefits in the form of financial, non-financial, social, status related, moral, or selfless is very important to understand. There is need to reduce these barriers by changing our attitudes and raising or creating barriers for unsustainable practices. For instance if water supply is reduced to only two hours a day, we tend to use water cautiously, whereas if its available for 24 hrs we don't really bother about our usage. 

Similarly raising the benefits may be in the form of a financial gain or as a source of income generation is very effective and should be advocated. Newspaper recycling is a classic example of a  win-win situation. Important to note that any benefits accrued from any unsustainable practices should be demotivated. In order to achieve these various Enablers like the central, state or local bodies or community watch dogs, social groups or religious values can play a crucial role. 

Its easier to write about it or talk about it, but in practical its a difficult task but not impossible for sure. We need like minded people who would like to participate in creating such action oriented strategies that can help result into more and more pro environment or sustainable behaviors and lead us to sustainable cities and communities. 

Pournima Agarkar. 

www. samuchit.com

PS. Members who attended the session, please feel free to give your inputs. 

My City My Responsibility - Eco-friendly Lifestyle Part 2

Dear All, 

As mentioned in the last blog, we are facing the global ecological deficit and Earth Overshoot day is the day which marks a calendar date when we have used more from nature than our planet can renew in a year.

Graph showing earth overshoot days till date

The concept of Earth Overshoot day was initiated as a campaign to raise awareness about our continuous exploitation of the Earth's resources and its renewing capacity. As per the calculations done by Global Footprint Network, in 1970 we crossed the threshold and since then every year we are in a debt towards the Earth. If we are to continue with consumption-centric lifestyle we will require 1.7 Earths i.e practically one more planet to suffice our needs. If we see the past earth overshoot dates right from 1970 to 2018, i.e in the last 48 years the dates have been rapidly shifting from December to August which means that we will soon reach to a time when we will be deprived of some of the Earth's resources at global level if not all.
However, as a country and as a city we have the power to move this date backwards by undertaking small but effective steps now. We need to adopt a lifestyle that is minimalist. Its not about being a miser, its about discovering whats most important for us and adjusting our day to day activities based on this principle. 

By 2050, more and more people will be staying in urban areas, hence it is important for us to have a city that helps us manage our resources well. For instance, we should demand for better and safe roads with efficient public transport, so that we use less of individual vehicles to travel, which will in turn help saving on fossil fuels and lower carbon emissions. Air pollution problem caused majorly due to vehicular emissions will also be reduced. Another resource consumptive activity coupled with enormous carbon emissions is construction. Instead of developing haphazard buildings in every corner of the city, it is important to survey the need for housing demand and accordingly develop affordable housing with basic facilities. These houses can be built using materials that redue energy and water usage. There is a need of research on developing such innovative materials in this sector. Similarly waste minimization and management at the source is one of the most important ways to reduce our ecological footprint which will help us move the overshoot date ahead to an extent. Above all our attitude towards our resources should be just like the way we manage our finances. Otherwise soon we will be taxed for overusing our resources as well!

Individually, we can make a minimalist calendar, where in every month we can reduce or minimize use of our resources. For eg. Discovering the one thing that maximizes your electricity bill and trying to reduce the same by an alternative process or by minimizing usage will in turn reduce your energy consumption and save your money too.

In case if you have any specific ideas on minimalist lifestyles or you are already living a minimalist lifestyle, please write to me so that I can spread the message to maximum number of people. 

Pournima Agarkar.

www.samuchit.com

My City My Responsibility - Reflecting on #UrbanLab workshop about smart spaces Part II

Dear All, 

In continuation with my previous blog, for the issues that we faced during the quick survey, we had to suggest a prototype of solution. Issues like lack of dedicated spaces, loss of local culture, low awareness levels about municipal initiatives in the area and improper storm water drainage were the highlights of our survey.  

Our prototype design 

Since our group was about creating smart spaces, we created prototype of spaces for the street where we surveyed. The spaces we created included an Art Katta (here Katta means a place where people can meet, discuss, design or just hangout if possible under the shade of trees). Art Katta is a place where people can meet and co-create articles out of waste/recycled material as smart art. Similarly we created a Food Katta for setting up eateries and also like a marketplace for selling/buying of organic fruits and vegetables. We created a bus stop having toilets with access to differently-abled persons. We also demarcated parking spaces for private and public vehicles,  and provided street lights that were designed in the form of a lantern to give it a nostalgic look. Street walls would depict our history through paintings. Instead of creating an open space with trees, we thought of creating a biodiversity park having native trees especially fruit and flower bearing trees to attract more native birds, butterflies, bees and other pollinating insects etc. We included cycle tracks in green colour and walking areas in dotted yellow lines. The whole idea was to give all the spaces aspects of sustainability and usability. For creating awareness, we came up with an app for citizens that could give all the above information about the spaces. Our aim was to connect spaces and people through 3E's which is explore, engage and enjoy. 

Our group photo

Moreover, the whole experience of surveying, brainstorming and co-creating a prototype gave us a good hands-on experience on developing a space, which I feel is one of the most effective ways of learning. However, the experience would have been richer with a more diverse group. So, I feel considering a multidisciplinary approach and involving effective decision making criteria through activities like brainstorming with all the stakeholders is one of the ways that can make our development a better process if implemented in the correct manner. 

The overall learning experience was indeed beneficial for me and I thank IGSI and BNCA for this opportunity. Post workshop, all our inputs would be presented by our coordinators to the concerned local authorities. I am eager to know their thoughts! Will get back when I learn more! I also invite other workshop participants to share their experience/opinions in the comments.

Pournima Agarkar. 

www.samuchit.com