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Education Plus
Blowing in the wind
G. KRISHNAKUMAR
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Students are refreshingly aware of the importance of addressing issues such as climate change and global warming, as The Hindu-EducationPlus found in the course of an informal discussion at the School of Management and Communication, Kochi.
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— Photo: Vipinchandran
IT MATTERS: Climate change is an issue that could spell trouble to all of us in the long run and these students of School of Management and Communication have plenty of points to make about it.
Students concerned at climate change across the globe, taking a cue from the popular singer John Lennon’s song “All we are saying is give peace a chance … ,” are nowadays chanting “All we are saying is give the youth a chance … ”
Rising temperatures and energy problems on a global scale have forced them to sit up and think about the fate of Mother Nature.
Back home, the student community is equally concerned. Ideas rained, as The Hindu-EducationPlus caught up with the youth recently on the School of Management and Communication (SCMS) campus at Muttom in Ernakulam district for a “green discussion.”
Kicking off the debate, Nisha Jayadas, a sixth trimester student of the Postgraduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) course, said that humans had destroyed and abandoned the earth to a tailspin of epic destruction to meet our greedy and mercenary desires.
“We cut down trees to build skyscrapers, [drive] hi-tech cars for flashy commutation and use products containing CFC for the modern lifestyle while ignoring the slow poison of global warming that is killing our very home,” she said. Pointing out that the awareness about environmental degradation across strata of society had increased significantly, Rolly Shah, another sixth trimester student, said that action taken to deal with issues involved had not been commensurate with the magnitude of the problems. “That environmental issues have still not moved to the centre-stage of political decision-making is evident, particularly in the case of global warming,” she said.
Explaining that if “we do not kill global warming, it will kill you,” Chaitanya Sistla, of the same trimester, said that youth participation in building awareness and fighting deforestation was important.
Laws needed
“The lawmakers should enforce more stringent laws for businesses that cause pollution. Use of solar power for electricity and heating should be encouraged. The Indian industry should also look into proactive methods to mitigate global warming and climate change,” she said.
Listing out alternatives to check global warming, Tobin Roy, of the PGDM programme, suggested that society replace regular incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps. “Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air-conditioner. Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases,” he said.
Urging the public to wake up and understand the impact of our never-ending pursuit of industrialisation, Vivek Namboodiri of the PGDM programme said that global warming was an imminent danger. “We should work towards ensuring a world which has a perfect ecological balance,” he said.
Stressing that India had to work hard to realise the goals of the Kyoto Protocol, Ms. Shah said that climate change would cause additional stress to the already difficult living conditions for the vast majority, if sufficient care was not taken.
“India and other developing countries must adopt response strategies to combat climate change on a wider scale. An important response strategy is to prepare the communities and increase their resilience to face and cope with the adverse impacts of climate change. The global community must come forward to help in building capacity in this respect in India,” she said.
Suggesting that use of gas or battery instead of petrol can serve a great purpose, Ms. Sistila said that carpooling was an excellent way to reduce the number of cars on road.
Recommending that India and other developing countries must adopt response strategies to combat climate change on a wider scale, Ms. Shah said that an important response strategy was to prepare the communities and increase their resilience to face and cope with the adverse impacts of climate change.
“India has to tackle climate change from a short-term and long-term perspective. In the short term, energy-efficient and low carbon fuels need to be encouraged through suitable incentives like tax rebates. A long-term approach to deal with this problem should emphasise the use of renewable sources of energy like solar and wind energy. Greater application of solar energy in rural areas (farming and household energy) would go a long way in reducing dependence on conventional fossil fuels,” she said.
Mr. Roy suggested use of recycled paper products. “It takes 70 to 90 per cent less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide,” he said.
Encouraging people to stop the use of CFC emitting products, Ms. Jayadas requested the public to use clean vehicles and plant more trees to save the Earth.
“I believe that if each one of us put an effort, difference can definitely be made. And this can truly make the world a greener and better place to live for you and me,” she said.
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