Anagha Speaks

Since the past two days I have been interacting with people talking about the Copenhagen Conference to be held in December 2009. Its quite interesting, I thought, that the media has made the jargon accessible and I find words like Climate Change and even Kyoto Protocol being used everywhere. After hearing these words being mouthed by some most improbable people, I was motivated enough to look up the Copenhagen Conference. And here I am sharing a few snippets of information that I managed to garner. Here goes.... What is it that the world is looking forward to from the Copenhagen Conference? Though, quite ambitious in itself, this conference 'merely' aims to bring clarity on the action towards Climate Change that the major economies of the world will take up. This is what the UN Exec Secretary of (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Mr Yvo de Boer aims to achieve at the least. He speaks about bringing clarity on four essentials for collective Interna...

A few days back, I and my students had a chance to interact with a Nuclear Physicist. The pertinent question that all of us had on our minds and came out in our discussions was Would Nuclear Power mean a boon or a curse for India? Nuclear Power is amazing! In a nutshell, it takes just a little radioactive substance to be 'processed' in a Nuclear Power reactor and the whole substance with its looooong half life, takes its own sweet time to divide itself into smaller and smaller particles, producing large amounts of heat and thereby power for India. Sounds simple, isn't it? However its not so! The underlying political, administrative and technical processes finally will define how the nuclear power gets generatedand used. The N-Deal that was publicized by the media and politically negotiated by our Prime Minister simply states that we can now import Nuclear fuel for power generation in our country. The technical negotiations will now begin to fire up existing nuclear reactors...

. . . And that is the classic question that Punekars have been asking since the last 10 years. Frankly, I have been unable to take either side. At one end I know that the remaining 'open' space will disappear surely if permissions are given to build on the hill tops and hill slopes. At the other end, I am not sure if Pune, via its municipal corporation, has the capacity to develop hill tops and hill slopes as natural preserves for biodiversity. Is there a middle way? I often ask myself. What is it that it prompting activists to react on one end, while the municipal government is pressured to act on the other end? Is it just the developers lobby seeking more core city land to build premium condos and earn money that is pressurizing action against biodiversity preservation or are their other forces at play too? When in San Francisco, I had a chance to look at a hilly and completely contoured terrain of California being developed as breautiful city suburbs, which led me to thinkin...

In my explorations of San Francisco, I came across a very innovative architectural exhibition. This was organized by American Institute for Architects, SF Chapter. The idea of the exhibition was to commend six architectural not-for-profit organizations and their contributions to Social Architecture. These visionaries have shaped the urban landscape by designing affordable housing for the poorest San Franciscans (Asian Neighborhood Design); rebuilt Sri Lankan villages devastated by tsunamis (Architecture for Humanity); challenged our assumptions about the use of urban parking spaces (Rebar); plowed up urban sidewalks and created wildflower gardens (PlantSF); educated kids about careers in architecture (Architectural Foundation of San Francisco); and reshaped the possibilities of pro bono (voluntary without pay) service in the architecture profession (Public Architecture). The innovative designs were amazing to see. The most simple one that I liked and I feel made a difference in our eve...

In April 2009, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) had their annual convention in San Francisco. Under the umbrella of this event and in partnership with various orgnizations, a small exhibition was organized titled as '10 x 10 cities - Green Facts Challenges Futures. The exhibits were organized as datascapes showing the current challenges facing the 10 major North American cities, including San Francisco. The interesting part of the exhibition was the responses to these challenges by architects in terms of their green designs and planning of energy efficient buildings. The exhibition also showcased San Francisco's Environmental Action Plan aiming towards its Climate Change goals. The interesting and perhaps unique point about this exhibit was the effective use of visual language used in communicating green facts about cities. The 10 cities were compared on a 10 point Sustainability Scale, which included parameters such as garbage production, water consumption, air quali...

San Fransisco, a leader in sustainable city development, commissioned a Solar Energy Project five years ago. The idea simply was a public-private partnership (PPP), where the private player (Recurrent Energy) would finance, construct, own, operate and maintain a solar PV plant on rooftops of public buildings. The public entity (SF City) would buy the energy generated, thereby producing a pool of green energy units available to the consumers. After 7 years or at 15 years, the City would buy the project at fair market value or $33 million, whichever is greater. The solar PV installations are designed to generate 5MW power, enough to power 1500 homes. The PPP initiative is amongst the various targets the city of SF has set for itself, which is to generate 50MW of Renewable Energy in the city by 2012. Currently, 7.24 MW of Solar Energy is being generated in SF, with city owned installations amounting to 2MW. The city generates 150MW hydro power, which is, of course, not a part of the renew...

As I am now settling into the daily routine in CA, I am exploring various ways to move about the place (with two kids in row) using any means of transport than the car. I was very much excited initially, as the city here is offering me alternatives...the bus, the light rail and the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train! The public transport infrastructure here is amazing. All the stations and stops are well designed, accessible within 1 mile walking from any point, with nice shelters where I could stand / sit with my kids. The websites gave excellent schedules and connections that I should take, properly indicated on a map of the city. I also have a hot line number which I can call to access transport related information at any point of time. The buses, the trains were amazingly clean, properly maintained and up and working! Despite all this and more, I found all the public transport EMPTY..of people! I rode with 2 other persons on the bus and the train stations were deserted to the poin...

As a part of the Paud Road Mohalla Committee, 25 Paud Road residents have been initiating clean up action at one stretch of the Sutardara Nala, which crosses Paud Road at Shivtirtha nagar. The local corporator has proposed a garden along this nala, providing a natural recreational amenity for the nearby residents. The idea behind the nala clean up action is to trigger a symbolic gesture, where citizens spend 1-2 hours per week for the ci ty and let the government officials know that they not only care and keep a watch but are also ready to partner to help them maintain the local urban environment. I came across a similar initiative at Union City, at Fremont, CA. Union City has developed a jogging / walking trail along the entire stretch of the nala. This stretch is part of the Alameda Creek Trail, a historic walking / cycling trail that runs along Alameda Creek famous for its bird and other fauna habitats. Although a concretized waterway and currently dry, the restored nala (or the pr...

The day I opened the newspaper when Inlanded in California, this week, the headlines that greeted me were heart warming. The headline announced that California's Air Resources Board approved a first-in-the-world regulation to minimize the amount of Carbon in fuel...putting CA as the first region to promote alternative fuels in a bid to combat global warming. Its intereting to note that the regulation is applicable to automotive fuel manufacturers and they are liable to a stringent penalty if the carbon content in their fuels do not match the presribed standards. The idea is to reduce the Carbon content by 10% by 2020...lowering the amount of GHGs (Green house gases) released for every unitof energy produced. This is amongst the first of such targets being sent in the US towards reducing GHGs and thus initiating action against global warming. The regulation is framed not only to combat global warming, but to initiate innovation in fuel manufacturing, perhaps marking a shift towards ...

22nd April is celebrated as Earth Day - Vasundhara Divas! What will be our committment towards Mother Earth this year? As I started writing this blog, I started thinking about possibilities of my commmittment. What can I promise to Mother Earth that will cause her a little less pain and a little less pollution from my activities. In other words, how will I lighten my ecological footprint in this year? Last year, I had committed to stop asking for plastic shopping bags for groceries. To be fair, I would rate myself a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. I avoided the plastic bag use wherever I could, but I should have tried a little more. So this year, I will continue on this committment. For this year, I will commit to make my home ZERO garbage! I will be composting my biodegradables and ensure recycling of my non biodegradables! One of my uncles, having spent the last year striving (and acheiving) to become a ZERO garbage home, has committed to be an environmentally Conscious and a Responsible Co...

Since the election code has been enforced, the city has seen the removal of the infamous flex banners hanging at every nook and corner...each one more garish and more colorful, with numerous faces wishing some obscure leader 'heartiest congratulations'! And in the background of all these local faces are the unfortunate faces of their party leaders, fighting for space in the limits of the banner. Where have all the 'best wishes' gone? Will we see them sprouting up again post elections? Frankly, just the other day, I realized that Punekars are really missing out on the hearty entertainment that these flex banners provide. For one thing, its entertaining to count the number of people lined up to wish their leader. Secondly, it is also very entertaining to note that the 'wisher' often occupies more space, with his face covering up most of the banner. Of secondary importance is the 'wishee' to whom the entire banner is addressed and the reason for the celebra...

The week before, Puneites woke up to find the city's garbage bins overflowing with three days garbage. The stink was evident when a waft of breeze flowed through Pune in those 3-4 days. having 'endured' this ordeal, Puneites saw the garbage collection resume its normal routine since yesteray and smiles appeared on our faces. The garbage was 'rightfully' being collected and taken away...away from our backyards! Today I had a chance to speak to a young leader from Devachi Urali. He started talking with an apology. He apologized to us Puneites for having inconvenienced us for the past week. after all it was the agitation led by him and his collegues that was stopping the garbage trucks from dumping the 1200 tonnes of solidwaste that Pune generates everyday. He then went on to explain how he and his entire village is putting up with Pune's garbage for the past 18 years! He told me a story of his neighbor, a middle aged woman that works as a daily labourer on a farm...