Environmental Meet up
Date- November 18th 2018
Venue- Investopad, Gurgaon
Smog has been giving me a lot of trouble. I own a car, but for long distances I opted to take public transport and reduce my contribution to increasing pollution. Travelling in auto and walking on roads made me go closer to polluted air and I could feel the pain that we all have been having from last several days in Delhi NCR. The state of air quality has beaten all records this time.
It’s scary.
It’s real.
It’s HAZARDOUS, VERY HAZARDOUS.
It’s killing.
It’s come with the loudest alarm.
If you see the index the air quality has been bad in our region since years. It has been dangerous, has gone to be very dangerous and then became hazardous.
We have many opinions on this occurrence. Some say it’s purely and primarily because of Stubble burning. Others believe that construction dust, Coal power plants, Vehicular Emissions, Industrial emissions, Overflowing Garbage has been contributing to the increasing pollution. We agree or not we all are responsible for such an occurrence.
2041, Climate force organized an event where in people concerned, and who wanted to figure out ways to combat the hazard joined the discussion on Environment saving, the discussion on saving people of Delhi NCR to the possible extent. Small steps matter. Here are some of the views –
1) Corporate houses should take ownership – Paharpur Business Centre in Delhi is a live example of creating a healthy environment at work. Plants which can be kept inside, air purifiers, LED lights instead of CFL bulbs – creating a happy workplace.
2) Construction of houses or small buildings needs to take taken care, so that the cement and other construction material doesn’t go in anyone’s house or harm the health of people.
3) Construction sites should be covered with Green cloth, so that the particles of cement etc doesn’t fly in the air and harm, as a mandate
4) Building Construction Law should be adhered by and penalty should be charged if not followed
5) NGT to play its role effectively
6) Construction dust is one of the prime reasons , the audience said
7) The roads should be cleaned often and parking time allotment in areas
8) Corporate Buildings should be accountable for the greenery in the area
9) There is more and more need to create awareness about doing the right things right way and reaching out to right kind of people for any thing wrong
10) Swachh Bharat App to be utilized more and more
11) We all need to educate ourselves our selves about recycling, preservation, renewable energy use, reduction of waste to a large extent, so that we can implement the correct measures
12) Apps like Saahas – Zero waste solutions to be implemented in maximum cites like the way its being implemented in Bangalore currently.
13) Twitter to be used for getting response from authorities
14) Many people think that Odd Even in Delhi doesn’t even control pollution to an extent but also eases life in terms of stress, anxiety, noise pollution, and many other ways
15) Improper parking in the city has been contributing to the pollution. One of the studies done by Uber portrays that. We must address this.
16) Public ease for transportation should be bettered and increased by the government.
17) Many people have faced that Pollution certificate is just a norm and no strict action is taken for pollution emitting vehicles. Rules for the same to be made strict.
18) No diesel cars should be allowed for private vehicular use.
19) One of the studies say that number of Public transport in India versus the population is 0.27%. This to be addressed
20) Overloading of trucks is one major problem contributing to lot of pollution, Strict rules for this to be made.
21) Education about Climate Change & Pollution to be shared with the students in schools as a mandate.
22) Stubble burning to be addressed in many ways and one important way is to educate farmers
23) NGO and CSR of the corporate can work together to sort stubble burning by providing machineries and managing the cost and man power
24) Engineering colleges’ students to work on creating machines in a less cost
The views might be many. More and more discussions on our only existence called earth and the environment we live in can help us to reach out to the right authorities to take correct measures around us.
Robert Swan says – “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it”.
Lets us think and work towards saving the planet Earth and have a harmonious, long lasting living.
-Shruti
