Solution for Climate Management

3R Climate Management Plan

ISSUES: According to a majority of experts, yesterday’s Climate Crisis is today’s Climate Catastrophe and tomorrow’s Climate Chaos (by 2030 when global average temperatures go up by over 2°C compared to pre-industrial era. At this time, it is expected to impact every home (like Covid did) and our responses will not be sufficient to arrest a full-fledged Environmental Meltdown, unless billions of citizens chip in now.

Planet Symphony’s 3R Formula of Roof & Land Greening, Rainwater Management and Renewable Energy is the most scientific, realistic and organic solution for High & Mid Income Group Citizens and Businesses to implement in their own premises or areas of their choice. If done with massive community participation, this can reverse Global Warming and cool down the planet at least partially within the next 1-3 years. Planet Symphony also recommends other Lifestyle changes for the Environment including Sustainable Food Choices.

HIGHLIGHTS & BENEFITS of 3R-FORMULA:

Roof Greening has been scientifically proven to substantially cool the roof area by 30–40°F and overall regional temperature by up to 5°F, besides offering a humongous set of benefits, including reducing pollution, increased moisture in drier areas increasing the probability of attracting rain, mitigation or prevention of weather extremes, droughts, storms and flooding, reduced energy bills and heating outside due to overuse of air-conditioners. It can also augment one’s food supplies through homegrown vegetables and fruits. Coupled with Land Greening, this is the speediest way to reverse global warming.
Rainwater management includes Recharge Wells and restoration of Water bodies which are essential to increase groundwater table and reverse biodiversity loss.
Renewable Energy shifts even up to 50% of what is required by a few million can decrease dependence on fossil fuels, not to mention savings on energy bills.
If done in scale, these will go a long way in regulating weather patterns locally and globally.
Government mandates and incentives for citizens to implement these can eventually reduce national spend on disaster management.

Upcoming / Recent Events

Part 1: Attracting Rain: Roof & Land Greening:

When development goes vertical, Greenery also must go vertical

While Roof & Land Greening offers multiple benefits, PSE was perhaps the first to show a clear connection between this and the potential to attract rain, especially in drier regions, collating multiple studies from different regions. While expensive Roof-scaping options are available, they need a larger investment and maintenance, which would be accessible to only a section of the population. PSE recommends economical, functional Roof Greening: 3-5 feet tall plants in light-weight pots or grow bags covering 50-70% of the roof and 10-15 trees per 2400 Sq feet (1 ground) on land. The primary goal is to create shade and reduce temperatures.

NECESSITY: Roofs Greening is an urgent Climate Imperative today as most buildings are much taller than the greenery and also use a surfeit of heat absorbing, heat radiating and rain-repellant materials. This makes all discourse on Rainwater Harvesting lead to a fundamental question: What can one harvest if there is no rain? In other words, Step 1 is to convert Rain-Repellent Cities into rain friendly ones by greening every possible area including roofs and walls of buildings.

Please consult local experts on plants most suited to your region.
Likewise experts can help one with greening solutions for roofs which are too sloped or weak to support heavy potted plants or greenery.
Ideal to also to un-pave over-concertized areas on the ground and increase percolation and vegetation there too.

SCIENTIFIC BASIS: It is known that Trees create rain. They also help draw the rainwater into rivers, lakes and underground water table. The 5.5 million sq km Amazon Forests make more rain when there is more greening of fresh leaves. Can micro systems replicate this? They can, as this video from USA and this one from Ecuador show. Greenery also draws moisture from water bodies to land & non-green areas repel rain as this UK video proves.

ROOF-GREENING LEADERS: Europe initiated Roof Greening in 1970s and USA greened nearly 100 million square feet of green roofs in every possible climate zone from around 2001-2011 and has continued to do lots more. Several cities in USA including Chicago, Washington DC, New York & Houston and countries like Canada, Singapore, Denmark, Switzerland and France have initiated or incentivised Roof Greening with excellent results. These need to be replicated everywhere.

HOW TO GO ABOUT IT: Always choose greenery according to the type of roof and climate you have. Flat roofs are usually fine with even 50-60% of plants at least 3-4 feet in height in pots (or grow bags). These can create shade on your roofs and immediately bring the temperature down. One can find other solutions for sloped roofs or vertical greening on walls. Similarly, there are options of various plants for desert type of climates, for cold weather where the greening itself mitigates the cold, tropical and sub-tropical climates etc. In places with extreme heat, we may need to grow roof plants in shade but the greening will eventually bring down the temperature, though it may be a challenge over the first few years but countries like Dubai are embracing it in a large scale and a few others like Egypt are exploring potential in eventually providing clean food supply. Remember that Roof or Land Greening is not an expense but only an investment.

Part 2:

Harvesting Rain, Micro Reservoirs and Biodiversity

Rainwater harvesting at a micro-level is a common sense idea which was in vogue for centuries but has thoughtlessly been discarded in many regions in recent times. It is being re-appreciated now that scientific Roof Rain Water Harvesting solutions can exponentially increase water management at the micro as well as macro level.

HOW TO HARVEST RAINWATER: A combination of Recharge Wells, Sumps and where possible, traditional dug wells, can ensure that months of drinking water supply can be harvested within a few hours of good rains and also raise the overall water table. According to Rain Centre, Chennai, 1 inch Rainfall in a 2000 Sq Ft roof can translate to at least 4731 liters of water harvested. It is equally imperative to restore zillions of lost water bodies or create new ponds and lakes wherever possible to restore biodiversity, that is necessary for our species too.

WATER MANAGEMENT LEADERS: Parts of Canada, UK, USA, New Zealand, Uganda, Thailand etc salvage some rainwater, it is imperative even for them to adopt more holistic measures and for other countries to follow suit. A few NGOs in countries like India run inter-village Water Salvaging and Storing competitions, which has led to a huge Climate awareness and action by citizens. Some water bodies are also being restored by committed individuals and NGOs as well as some Governments but replicating their efforts and exponentially scaling up is the need of the hour.

Part 3:

Not Repelling Rain: Shift To Renewable Energy:

A macro level shift to green, clean energy like Solar panels on rooftops and Wind and other renewable energy options is as necessary as Roof Greening and Rainwater Management if we need to prevent many regions from repelling rain or causing weather extremes due to global warming. Contrary to popular perception, we already have 95% resources to shift to renewable energy before 2050 and we only need to allocate $2.21 trillion per year, slightly higher than the $2.1 trillion Global Military Spending. It is also necessary, especially for countries with coastlines to balance Wind and Solar as some studies suggest that the former could affect local climate while others argue that this is not so though everyone agrees that more research needs to be done. GREEN ENERGY LEADERS According to CSIS, China is the global leader in renewable energy and they just connected their first deep water floating Wind Farm to the grid. USA’s renewable generation surpassed that through coal and nuclear recently. Scotland, Spain, Denmark and several European countries are taking huge strides while Costa Rica and Urugway produce almost 98% of their energy through renewable energy. Parts of India and other countries are making progress but in the macro picture, many countries need to (or be helped to) progress faster. HOW CITIZENS CAN MAKE A BEGINNING Since the 3R Formula can secure some of the most essential necessities PSE recommends that everyone acts today, rather than wait for someone else to start tomorrow. Even simple steps can help:

Individuals and businesses can start off Roof & Land Greening their own premises or nearby areas and scale up their Rainwater Harvesting efforts to aim for self-sufficiency at the earliest. If possible, shift at least partially to Renewable Energy.
Governments can do this on a larger scale and also spread the concept to Roof Greening Bus Stops, Railway Stations, Airports and other buildings as is being proposed in New York.
Corporates and non-profits need to adopt poorer areas to implement Roof Greening.
Water bodies need to be recovered and or new ones built on a war footing.
Renewable energy hackathons and competitions conducted regularly may be able to overcome even seemingly impossible challenges like partially or wholly Wind power driven vehicles tapping on the wind created by moving bodies.
Other solutions that preserve or rejuvenate eco-systems.

Climate Patrons and EFGs of PSE

PSE is a “By the people – for the people” initiative. While we request Governments, Charities and Philanthropists to be our Climate Patrons, we also wish to directly engage with the people who can be our Environmental Fund Generators by donating a token $1 or Indian Rs 10 or higher, as a symbol of solidarity with the PSE’s Vision and Activities. The Funds will be carefully deployed by PSE directly and/or allocated to collaborators and other organizations focused on similar initiatives.

Please use Donate Buttons or QR codes to donate in Dollars or Indian Rupees.

You can also be a Volunteer and participate in our Climate Action initiatives directly or online by sharing PSE posts our Facebook Group, Instagram and Twitter page on your Social Media handles. To volunteer, please email us.