Resolve to wear seasonal cloths, eat seasonal fruits and walk when you can!

New year resolutions to 'save the world' - we can do a lot more! 

There is a lot more we can do for the environment besides taking pride when the children make drawings on the subjects such as ‘save trees’ or ‘save environment’. Here is what could be our very own seven-point New Year resolutions to save the world–resolutions to ‘be the change we want to see in the world’:

1. Engage yourself with the environment debate - search, read, explore about the environmental issues. Involve yourself, engage yourself first in understanding and then making up your mind to do something about the issue.

2. Live as per the weather - Wear seasonal clothes, eat seasonal food. Avoid cooling yourself unnecessarily. Choose a house with ample light and wind, it will save your energy bills for the life time.

3. Sensible use of transport energy - Walk where you can, cycle if you are alone, motorbike is for the double ride, rickshaw is for the triple ride, use cars for four people and bigger cars/SUVs for large families. Be smart about your air travel and avoid the unnecessary ones, take trains for longer distances – it’s fun! Demand bonus for using public transport from your boss, if you are a boss - give the bonus to the public transport users. Do not resist parking charges to park your vehicles on roads – it is an act of ‘privatising’ public space! Do a campaign for better public transport, good walking/cycling infrastructure, more green spaces around your house and give your vote to such ‘green’ parties in the local elections!

4. First local then global - use more and more local materials, food and groceries. If you like local cheese, don’t go for the Swiss. If you can live with Ambaji’s marble, don’t import them from Italy. Eat a local burger, don’t fall for the American wheat and the French lettuce. Make a small garden and make your house green... even if you just have a little balcony.

5. Adopt green technologies - They will be in vogue if we use them! Use wind energy, solar energy where you can. Conserve rain water. Don’t use clean, potable water for gardening or to wash your motorbike and car(s). Use water miserly, get a plumber and fix that leaking tap.

6. Re-use and re-cycle - make a quilt out of the old saris and a shopping bag out of old shirts and use them with pride. Do the same with the food and don’t waste it. Don’t buy things with lot of packaging. Demand green products from the companies.

7. Be content - Don’t buy everything sold to you. Seek a great joy if you are not being sold anything. Go for shopping after eating, you will buy less. If you are depressed meet your friends instead of going for shopping to pamper yourself. Don’t fall for sentimental consumerism of all things!

Many of these ideas have been very much part of our lives but they are being forgotten slowly. Saving environment is actually saving that lifestyle which taught us to be fair, balanced and not be too extravagant in consuming resources. If we build our life around such ideas (which you will, if you explore the environmental issues) then you will not only add your two pence in climate change mitigation and adaptation but also change your lifestyle for the better. A new year is the best time to be ‘naively’ optimistic about the small acts, when they are multiplied by millions, can transform the world.

(28th December, 2015: DNA Ahmedabad edition, Cities Supplement, Page 5)

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=76046&boxid=3177&ed_date=2015-12-28&ed_code=1310009&ed_page=5

Delhi Air Pollution: Ahmedabad should wake up and act, now!

Imagine a city where you wake up and look at the official alert on the air quality and then decide about your day – whether to go out or not. It might be safe to go out on the ‘saffron alert’ days but with a face mask on. Wearing a face mask does not bother you any more. On the ‘red alert’ days, people are advised to stay indoors. Only on the ‘green’ days, you may freely go out without a face mask. But ‘green days’ are decreasing every year. The air purifier installed in your house is working relentlessly and increasing your energy bill with the same rigor, just like those blooming air conditioners. Of course, It is a luxury to have air purifiers at homes and offices and it is even greater luxury to have a choice about going out or not. Since not everyone in the city have these luxuries, majority of the population in this city suffers by breathing the worst air possible for human beings. No, this is not a description of the distant, dystopian future from a sci-fi novel. This is happening right now in an Asian city, Beijing. 

Delhi’s air pollution problem is not less severe than the one in Beijing. Triggered by toxins and high levels of particulate matter, Delhi's air has crossed all limits of safety, breaching even WHO (World Health Organization) standards. The air pollution in Delhi has started a national debate about the quality of air we breath in our cities. While it is heartening to see that the Judiciary, the government and the private sector is working towards the possible solution, the time is running out. The air pollution levels in Delhi are a public health emergency. But let us find out how severe is the problem in Ahmedabad. 

Unfortunately, we not have reliable data about ambient air quality in Ahmedabad from the recent months. One wonders if it is the case of ‘if we don’t look that way, we don’t have to worry about it’. However, the earlier trends show that Ahmedabad does not have a very good track record of healthy ambient air quality. The levels of particular matter, specially the particulates less than 2.5 micrometers are quite high in the Ahmedabad air, often at unhealthy levels. Along with the vehicular exhausts and re-suspended dust due to vehicles, what make the things worst are the industrial fumes, open garbage burning, construction dust and the power plant emissions. 

So what is the plan of tackling the growing air pollution problem in Ahmedabad? There is nothing comprehensive in sight yet. The need of the hour is to have an air quality management unit within the Municipal Corporation with the support from the State government. This unit should have short-term plan of managing construction and road dust better while prohibiting open burning of garbage and other residues. The long term plan would include promotion of walking, cycling and public transport while improving the efficiency of the industries and the power plant in dealing with their emissions. 

Apparently, Ahmedabad has just submitted the plan make the city ‘Smart’. One important parameter of making Ahmedabad smart is to prevent or mitigate the air pollution disaster rather than passively waiting for it to occur.

(21st December, 2015: DNA Ahmedabad edition, Cities Supplement, Page 5)

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=75721&boxid=3695&ed_date=2015-12-21&ed_code=1310009&ed_page=5

A dynamic city deserves a charismatic and inspiring mayor!

A dynamic city deserves a charismatic and inspiring mayor! (Will we ever get one?)

Can you name the last three mayors of your city? Do you know their achievements during their tenure? Did we even get to ask them what they have achieved? Have you come across the interview of your mayor in the local media? We hardly know the mayors of our cities and what they set out to achieve. However, the mayors of various cities across the world are reaching new heights on their charismatic leadership and leading the urban development initiative in their cities. This is for them to elevate to national-level politics after becoming the mayor of an important city. But, quite an opposite turn is taking place in India’s urban politics. The last ten mayors in the city – whether from BJP or Congress – did not make to state-level politics or held an important public office after their tenure as a mayor. The position of mayor in our cities is a ceremonial position in our cities without any real political power.

Many cities have the Mayor-in-Council kind of system where the Mayor has full authority and ultimate political and financial autonomy in his city. In India, we do not have such a system. Our cities are indirectly governed by state governments and do not enjoy full political or financial autonomy even after the 74th constitutional amendment act. Most urban projects would have to pass through the scrutiny of the state officials and politicians. But it is still possible for a mayor to have a decisive role and vision and forge a partnership for development with the municipal commissioner and the standing committee chairman. The successful mayors around the world are punching above their own weights. Cities like New York and London have famous mayors like Michael Bloomberg and Boris Johnson respectively, who managed to implement many successful and people-centric projects in their city. For successful politicians, it is always ‘people first’ and not ‘friends first’.

In many developing cities, a positive turn in urban politics is being lead by their mayors. Tri Rishmaharini is the first female mayor of Surabaya in Indonesia. She is a trained architect with a masters’ degree in urban management and with a work experience of 20 years in government agencies. She decided to make the most of public open spaces and empty lands. In a short time span of three-four years, she managed to develop 11 parks with full WiFi access, libraries, fitness and sports facilities. Similarly, Enrique Penelosa who was recently re-elected in Bogota, Colombia had a track record of developing a new public transport system, building public libraries, giving space to the street-hawkers and building sidewalks. Similarly, Lee Myung-bak was the mayor of Seoul before he became the president of South Korea between 2008 and 2013. 

From Bogota to Surabaya, the city-level politicians have turned adversities into advantages for their cities. Our cities have their own dynamism of local culture and businesses, and are bustling with indigenous entrepreneurs. The results of the local body elections are due in Gujarat and it is the right time to hope for a dynamic mayor in your town!

(30th November, 2015: DNA Ahmedabad edition, Cities Supplement, Page 5)

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=74800&boxid=5019&ed_date=2015-11-30&ed_code=1310009&ed_page=5