Month: June 2023

PSE-CSD: Climate Conclave 2023

Planet Symphony jointly hosted the Vision Smart Planet & LiFE Online Climate Conclave on 15 June 2023 with Centre for Sustaninable Development (CSD).   Some of the top environmental experts and implementors from Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Richmond, Madison etc brainstormed on how to cool the planet down and specifically on Roof Greening and Rainwater Harvesting.  Its video is available live at https://fb.me/e/U2DaJtU4.

The Conclave was declared open by its Chairperson Dr Ravindra, former Chief Secretary of Karnataka, who stated that there was a need for  ‘change in the socio-political climate for climate change’.

Chitravina N Ravikiran of Planet Symphony welcomed the speakers and explained the objectives of the session: to suggest easily implementable SURE solutions to Cool Cities (and other regions) Down using a 3-R approach: Roof greening, Rainwater Harvesting and Renewable energy. He said that Climate Literacy was the need of the hour as it would inspire Climate Action.  He also highlighted that even if Govts could set aside merely 50% of the funds for Disaster Prevention than they did for Disaster Management, things could improve drastically.

Padma Vibhushan Awardee Dr Sonal Mansingh, Hon MP Rajya Sabha in her address spoke of water as a primary element of our ecosystem and the importance of RWH in our lives. She said greening roofs not only cools down the natural temperature but also cools our minds 

Dr Kartikeya Sarabhai, Director CEE, said that we had come a long way since the 1992 Earth Summit, wherein the US President George Bush had refused to even consider any mention about US citizens’ Lifestyle whereas today, the Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was able to get the concept of Lifestyle for Environment across to his counterparts in other countries.

Mr Sekhar Raghvan, pioneer of RWH in India emphasised why it was important for it to become a peoples’ movement.

Prof B K Chandrashekar, former minister of Karnataka said that emphasis should be given to climate change in rural areas as a vast majority in many countries like India still live there.

Prof Noah Sachs of Richmond University USA explained how tax credits on EV and solar energy are changing the way climate change is being addressed in the US. He however also stated that anti environmental litigation is slowing down regulatory actions.

Dr M K Ramesh, former prof at National Law School said that environmental law is connected to providing environmental justice. People should not wait for governments to act but must suo moto take action on climate change.

Prof Bharat Desai spoke of Common but differentiated Responsibility CBDR that has changed the developed and developing countries negotiations on climate change. He said it was a ‘game changer’.

Dr Ashwin Mahesh suggested that accelerating sustainability is important. People know the problem and solution but are not acting on time.

Dr Satapathy, former MoEF officer emphasised on the need for capacity building at all levels especially at the community and individual levels to enhance adaptive capacity.

The Conclave was concluded by Dr Srinivas Ravindra who summed up the various observations and also emphasised that the recommendations of the panelists would be submitted to leaders of the Government as well as Corporate houses by the Planet Symphony and CSD to initiate or support immediate climate action.