Going green, together

ldquoWhen people do small actions together it can make a huge difference and improve quality of liferdquo said Justine Veit Consular Officer at the US Consulate General Mumbai Veit was the main speaker at an event organised by the US Consulate in conjunction with the Bombay Natural History Society at the latterrsquos Colaba office at Hornbill House on Monday evening The event was a part of the Consulatersquos Mumbai Mondays series Surrounded by sample antlers of different types of deer hanging from the walls Veit spoke enthusiastically on Collective Action in Megacity Environment and detailed the initiatives which residents of three megacities Tokyo Mexico City and New York City took to make their environment greener and how Mumbai can do it too Justine Veit addresses the audience at Bombay Natural History Society office at Colaba PicAbhinav Kocharekar Veit defined a megacity as one that has 15 million plus people ldquoWhen there are lots of people in a small space it creates a heat island effect This leads to over usage of climate control devices such as airconditioners Other problems include an inability to control rainwater runoff trash and overcrowdingrdquo she said Urbanisation is dangerously close to destroying mangroves near Gorai beach File pic Tokyo she said has a population of more than 25 million people and hence suffers from the heat island effect ldquoPlants and other organic structures absorb the heat from the sun They help to keep evenings cool But inorganic structures such as buildings absorb the heat and release it in the evening Thatrsquos why evenings are not cool anymore We then use more airconditioning which worsens the situationrdquo she said People charge their cell phones at a free solarpowered charging station set up at Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City Twentyfive such stations are being set up in parks beaches and other spaces throughout the city by a private service provider The towers can accommodate six devices at a time with dedicated ports for different smartphones across service providers picGetty ImagesAFP Green roof To mitigate this heat island effect the residents of Tokyo adopted the green roof concept Said Veit ldquoWhen one grows grass on the roof of buildings the soil and the grass create an insulating effect thereby turning a concrete inorganic heat absorbing structure into an organic heat releasing structure This leads to lesser use of airconditioning When 6 per cent of the buildings in the city adopted the green roof concept it was found that the entire cityrsquos temperature l owered by 2 degrees Celsiusrdquo Cyclists take a road littered with trash during a bicycle rally to create awareness about the environment File pic The green roof also helped to reduce flooding ldquoIt gives water a place to go thereby reducing runoffs into sewersrdquo said Veit The concept has its downside too Veit admitted ldquoIt is expensive and labour intensiverdquo But the Japanese found a way to make it work to their advantage Said Veit ldquoBusinesses cultivated crops on their roofs instead of growing grass and gave jobs to displaced farm workers The green roof brought in profits lowered the indoor temperature and thus reduced airconditioning costs and at the same time helped the environment as it was a local food sourcerdquo Cyclists take part in the lsquoCyclonudistarsquo World Naked Bike Ride an initiative against cars in city centres in Brussels Belgium PicAFP Cool Biz Businesses also launched the Cool Biz campaign which urged offices to increase the temperature settings of their airconditioners to 28 degree Celsius and allow the employees to wear breathable less formal clothes such as cotton shirts as opposed to suits and ties ldquoThe city government adopted the programme in its buildings in the city Studententrepreneurs Lodewijk Bosman R and Hidde van der Straaten recycle parts from abandoned bicycles into designer fashion items and furniture at their workshop in Delft Netherlands PicAFP In 2005 the first year of the project they saved 460000 tonnes of carbon dioxide CO2 and in the second year they saved14 million tonnes South Korea the United Kingdom and the United Nations have also launched their own Cool Biz initiatives This campaign was not the government telling the people what to do it was the people showing the government how it can be donerdquo said Veit raising a toast to people power Talk trash Veit gave the example of Mexico City to show how change is possible even if the majority of the citizens are not well to do like the Japanese Said Veit ldquoMexico City has 23 million people in half the space of Tokyo It was literally swimming in trash The mayor closed down the dump and opened a recycling centre Then they realised that the recycler does not have the necessary features to sort the trash Many nongovernmental organisations NGOs came together to educate the people on sorting the trash into organic recyclable and regular trash The government started a trashforfood campaign where they offered food vouchers in exchange for sorted trash As a result people started looking at trash differently They stopped littering and in six months they recycled 140 tonnes of garbage in exchange for 60 tonnes of produce In two years Mexico City went from being one of the most polluted cities in the world to becoming one of the cleanest citiesrdquo Car shares From trash Veit moved to traffic in New York City Traffic jams and gridlocks were a daily issue as the city did not have enough space to expand roads while the number of cars on the road continued to rise Thatrsquos when a few entrepreneurs came up with the idea of car sharing a step ahead of car pooling In this scheme a company with a fleet of cars would have designated parking spots all over the city For a fixed membership fee a person could hire a car for a predetermined amount of time He or she could pick it up from one of the parking spots and at the end of their ride park it back ldquoIf you want a car to drive to work you could do so and while you are at work the car would be used by other customers of the company That way it doesnrsquot stay idle for those eight hours you are at work You can then hire the car again to drive back home Car fumes contribute to heat island effectrdquo said Veit ldquoEach shared car took 20 cars off the road Fewer cars meant lesser fumes This also enabled people to have the correct car for the right occasion for example a twoseater for a date and an eightseater for a family outing Users also found that it helped them to save USD 500 per month compared to having their own car The fuel saved in a year was enough to power 15 million houses for a monthrdquo Small steps At the QampA session after her talk Veit said that many ecofriendly initiatives have been started in Mumbai too ldquoIn Dharavi a small group recycles about 7000 tonnes of trash every day NGOs have awareness campaigns there are websites on composting and car pooling We just need community management and a little more publicity In a city of 23 million people even if one million people do something it can bring about major change rdquo When asked which of the different ideas she had outlined is most suitable for Mumbai Veit said ldquoThe simplest one would be trash sorting as everyone can do it on their own However there is no reason why someone canrsquot start car sharing or build a green roof All are more or less applicable to Mumbai but recycling is the easiestrdquo Money matters Veit also pointed out that profits play a big role in the sustainability of these campaigns ldquoIn these cities businesses and the government found a way to make these ecofriendly measures profitable If it makes money people will adopt these measures These cities are great models on how to make ecofriendly measures profitablerdquo She also said that while collective action can bring change ldquowhen you get the government involved in a positive way it can take it to the next levelrdquo One disgruntled audience member pointed out that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC had started a trash segregation programme a while back but it hasnrsquot made much progress He also stated that the fight for the environment gets a setback when people find that running businesses that contribute to the heat island effect such as parking lots are more profitable than employing ecofriendly measures To which Veit suggested ldquoYou may not be able to change those who are making money while increasing the heat island effect but you can focus on other areas change those practices and then tackle these peoplerdquou00a0Veit who arrived in the city six months ago after a stint in Mexico summed up the gist of her talk with the message ldquoYou have a wonderful city but it is up to you to take care of itrdquo BMCrsquos trash plan The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC started a garbage segregation campaign in 2001 It made it compulsory for all Mumbaikars to sort trash into dry and wet garbage before handing them over to the BMC trash workers The corporation also started awareness campaigns to urge people to use the wet waste as vermicompost in the public places of housing societies while the dry waste would be sold to scrap dealers However the city is yet to actively take part in sorting garbage with many housing societies refusing to cooperate with the BMCrsquos instructions Hence from next month onwards the BMC will strictly enforce 100 per cent segregation and will fine erring housing societies Try This Justine Veit suggests a few ecofriendly measures Sort trash Donrsquot litter Turn off lights once you leave the room Turn off the tap when brushing teeth Take more showers less baths Fix toilet leaks Use appropriate amount of water when using the washing machine Use cold water when washing clothes to save energy Reuse rainwater to clean floors or water plantsu00a0