Ved Krishna, Vice Chairman, Strategy Head, CHUK opens up about simple yet effective methods to reduce our imprint on the planet and preserve nature
Awareness and pressure leads to innovation and there are so many amazing ideas that are underway around the world to work towards a more sustainable and hopefully regenerative planet. We will be seeing a flood of new products and ideas coming forth in the coming times and governments too will continue to apply the required pressure, leading to a lot of change. We notice that each effective step by the government totally changes the pace of innovation and leads to a flurry of activities. This is such a wonderful scenario and so many changes are happening.
We as the citizens of the planet need to take advantage of the possibilities and push organisations through raising consumer awareness and insisting on being provided with better solutions.
Some of the innovations that we can already start thinking of and adapting this Earth Day onwards:
- Go solar: Solar technology has evolved so much and there is no reason to not have a few panels on the rooftop. There are companies that are competing in the space and some states also provide subsidies or net metering. There are so many energy efficient inverter grade electronics available now and one can look to live off the grid with solar energy and a battery backup. Even if we don’t want to be that drastic, we can definitely utilise our rooftops for water heating and reducing our energy bills through net metering.
- Adopt compostable food service products: We are served with so many carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals) when we eat in styrofoam and plastic coated products. We don’t even realise at times that each of the paper plates and paper glasses that we use have actually been lined with polyethylene that is harmful to us and to the planet. It is important to insist on bio-degradable and compostable products. There are products easily available now made out of sugar cane residue, areca leaves, bamboo etc. and the companies that serve us will be forced to shift if we demand it. There is definitely no reason to not move from a plastic straw to a paper one and we definitely need to insist on not buying plastic disposable water bottles.
- Think of generating biogas: We have wonderful waste matter that gets generated in our homes everyday and there is no reason to not utilise the same. At present most of our toilet waste probably goes into soak pits or ineffective sewage system and our kitchen waste gets thrown mixed with other waste. There are small biogas generators available and we need to adopt the same to replace or reduce LPG from our kitchens. Methane is super combustible and can provide a high source of energy whereas it can also be harmful if we just let it escape into the atmosphere from landfills or sewage systems. We need to capture and make use of the same at home and we will also get organic matter as manure in the end.
- Your next vehicle needs to go electric: There is so much development that is happening in the automobile world and there is not a single company in the space that does not have an electric motor programme. I am sure there will be a number of launches in the next couple of years and charging stations would also come up. I already see so much adoption in China. Literally all 2 wheelers now are electric and so many of the public transport systems are also going that way. The technology is bound to keep improving and we need to keep a look out for the right vehicles that can be invested in.
There are of course number of innovations that are happening in all sort of domains that lead to reduction of our imprint. Let us us keep becoming more aware and pledge to keep doing our bit on this Earth Day.