6 way to save the planet

6 way to save the planet

It’s a journey that began on World Earth Day (April 22) and concludes today, on World Environment Day. The ‘Take Care, Take Charge’ campaign, presented by The Times of India in association with Garnier, invited readers from six cities — Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, and Kolkata to share ideas on how to save the environment. The response was overwhelming — more than 5,000 ideas poured in within just three weeks. In keeping with our promise to recycle 10kg of waste paper for every idea received, the ‘Take Care, Take Charge’ campaign purchased over 50,000kg of waste paper, which has been distributed to NGOs to recycle.

The 5,000-plus ideas were then sorted into six themes — water conservation and pollution, energy generation and conservation, recycling and waste management, transportation and vehicular pollution, heritage and conservation of culture, and biodiversity and greening. Our knowledge partner CEE (Centre for Environment Education) and a panel of experts sifted through the ideas and shortlisted 10 per city. The 10 city finalists then presented their case to a panel consisting of top environmentalists and eminent representatives from various walks of life. Finally, one winner was chosen from each city.

Scientist and innovator Ramachandran Rajkumar was the winner from Chennai while Venky Vadde, an electronics engineer, won from Bangalore. Rajkumar has developed a roof insulation that helps in power conservation and reduction of carbon dioxide emission. Vadde’s idea is to create bicycle rental infrastructure around Bangalore city to remove the last-mile disconnect in public transport.

Delhi’s winner Atul Jain, a businessman from Chandni Chowk, has an idea similar to Vadde’s, though he has been working on it for three years. He plans to set up cycle stands at all major transport hubs as well as residential areas so that people can cycle short distances and be fuel-efficient. Encouragingly, Delhi Metro authorities have already agreed to provide Jain with land at a few Metro stations to carry out a pilot project.

Mumbai’s Rajendra Ladkat, a government contractor in operation and maintenance of air conditioning plants and electrical installation, won for his idea of a ‘Dropping Catcher’ — a locomotive toilet for long-distance trains that avoids discharging mounds of excreta near railway stations and instead disperses it on to the tracks once the train attains a speed of 40km per hour.

Pramit Kumar, a medical college student, won from Kolkata. His idea talks of creating ‘green hand print’ points by planting trees. Hyderabad’s winner, Swaminathan Rajavelu, an electrical engineer by profession, focused on ‘off the grid’ living which comprises switching to natural daylight instead of electric bulbs, using the most efficient ways of cooking, using vegetable food wastes as manure for rooftop gardens, etc.


6 way to save the planet





source page http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/6-ways-to-save-the-planet/articleshow/6012514.cms