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Dreaming green

Global warming is a concept that has been floating around for a long time now. But how many of us really know what this is about and how to fight it?

Now a number of students from nine engineering colleges across Kerala, are joining together to tell you why and how. Together they have started ‘Green Dream,’ an initiative to fight global warming and to spread the message of ‘the need to be green.’

It was a group of students of the Mar Baselios College in the city who came up with the idea for the green campaign. Varun Raj and his brother Arun Raj, students of the college, say that the idea cropped up after a student meeting at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in December 2008.

Nivedita Baliga, another student of Mar Baselios College and an active Green Dreamer explains: “At one of the meetings we had a discussion on global warming. We realised that people in Kerala are not doing enough to prevent it. We felt that we can do a lot to change that attitude. Even small things such as switching off lights when you don’t need them, can help. Every little thing makes a difference.” Adds Varun: “Roping in the other colleges was with the help of the IEEE.”

The group intends to spread awareness among youth about global warming, climate change and to inspire an eco-friendly lifestyle. “We have specifically targeted the youth because they are the ones who can change their ways and make a difference. We are hoping to get school children involved in this as well,” say the Raj brothers.

Green Dream’ started doing their bit for the environment on March 13, when they joined with UST Global, a Technopark-based company and ‘TidyCity,’ a city-based waste disposal awareness initiative, on a clean-up drive at the Veli Beach. To kick things off properly, ‘Green Dream’ has organised its ‘climate week’ from March 16 to March 22 at six different locations across Kerala, namely Kollam, Amritapuri, Pala, Kochi, Thrissur and here in the city itself. Environmental experts from the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) will conduct talks, to which most colleges in Kerala and youngsters in the corporate field have been invited. Caroline Howe, a renowned speaker for climate change and coordinator of IYCN, will be one among them.

Team Green The members of ‘Green Dream’ started off their campaign with a clean-up drive at Veli beach

Caroline of Viswa Jyothi College of Engineering, Kochi says: “It is quite difficult to change habits so we decided to start with basic things and move on at a small pace. We will focus on a small group first and then move on to a number of programmes such as massive clean-up drives. There is also a greenhouse project scheduled.”

The function in the city was on March 16 at the Priyadershini auditorium. On March 17 it was Kollam’s turn and the following day it was at Amritapuri. Other than talks, there is another clean-up drive at all the six locations scheduled on March 21. The campaign is set to come to a close on March 22 at Kochi, to which all interested are invited.

Says Arun Raj: “We are also planning to bring a concept called ‘Green Houses’ at three levels namely, at schools, colleges and the corporate level. Through this we hope to inspire others to join us and function out of different localities.” Green Dream which aims to support and encourage all projects aimed at creating an environment friendly world, would do so through technical help, surveys and such activities as planting ‘vetiver’ for erosion control.

The Green Dreamers also hope that their initiative is taken on by each succeeding batch of students, in such a way that the objectives are carried out over the years. Though all of them are students, the group have proved to be quite professional at handling the affairs of the initiative, both management and financial. They have come up with an executive board for each locality and a parent board to govern it all. “Membership is based on self-recruitment,” says Arun. They are given enough flexibility to decide for themselves on what they can do for the environment.” There are even different levels of membership. When they register, members are ‘noobs.’ After attending a couple of meetings they progress to being ‘citizens’; then it is on to the ‘Ministry of Green’ level and ultimately to ‘Circle of Gems.’

The nine colleges involved presently are Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology, Government Engineering College, Barton Hill and Lourdes Matha College of Science and Technology in the city; TKM Institute of Technology at Kollam; Amrita College of Engineering, Amritapuri; St. Joseph’s College of Engineering and Technology, Pala; Viswa Jyothi College of Engineering and Technology and Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology in Kochi and Vidya Academy of Science and Technology at Thrissur. The IEEE Kerala section has volunteered to fund the initiative.

Those interested can join ‘Green Dream’ by registering at the website www.greendream.co.in

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