Karnataka: Green Dreams campaign for Earth Day receives good response
Bengaluru: On World Earth Day, climate change enthusiasts stood at 15 junctions across the city, holding placards to remind people to turn off their engines at traffic signals. The initiative, #RedOff, marks the debut campaign of Green Dreams for the Planet, a not-for-profit organisation founded by C.B. Ramkumar, climate change expert and president of the Karnataka Tourism Forum.
“I am completing work on my book, Green Dreams, and I wanted to do something extra as well. That’s why I decided to set up an NGO that would spread the message of climate change,” said Ramkumar.
“Nearly 17 per cent of vehicles’ fuel is used up while idling. Most of it happens at traffic signals and it normally does not occur to people to switch off their engines. All they need is a reminder once in a while,” he said.
The initiative will run for the next three days, after which he hopes to scale it up. “Having people hold placards won’t work, and we are looking at technology to get the message across,” he said. Green Dreams for the Planet is tying up with a group of scholars from Cambridge University to develop an audio byte that will be heard when the engine is turned off, he said. The sound will be broadcast across media channels to condition people’s responses whenever they hear it.
“We’re looking at apps and even building it into traffic signals,” he said. The response to the first day of #RedOff was better than expected, he said. “We even had auto drivers giving us thumbs-ups from the road and cops coming up to us, telling us to do this every day!” #RedOff will take place on Thursday and Friday, between 8 am and 10 am at 15 major junctions across Bengaluru.
$1.5 billion opportunity for VOW
The market for generating value out of waste (VOW) is expected to touch $1.5 billion by 2017 from the current level of under-$1 billion in India, according to a report by Assocham-cKinetics that was released on ‘Earth Day’ on Wednesday.
The study – ‘Value out of Waste, next USD 1.5 billion opportunity for Indian Industry,’ conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India and cKinetics – revealed that the daily per capita urban waste generation is expected to grow at a steady rate of 10 per cent from 0.37kg in 2012 to 0.82 kg in 2052.
“With technological improvements, improved waste management systems and better quality of source waste due to increased segregation, the potential capacity for waste to energy plants is expected to grow to approximately 2200 mw by 2030 and 5,400 mw by 2052,” said Mr D.S. Rawat, Secretary-General, Assocham, releasing the study.
