Education in India – why aren’t we focusing on sustainability?

by Jenica Carly SEO, SEM, PPC, Enthusiast & Writer

Everyone is aware of the global environmental crisis that we are facing now. The latest buzzwords are eco-friendly, carbon footprints and green living. Though being environmentally friendly has become fashionable, with many amongst the glitterati signing up for saving the environment, not many people are aware of the real facts. Our people, particularly the younger generation and children need to learn to be environmentally friendly in the true sense of the word.

Education in India has been sadly lacking in this area. Ever since the impact of excessive deforestation and industrialization has become accepted and has been identified as the reason for the loss of the ozone layer, there has much talk, but little action. Wipro, in its effort to correct some of the damage, has decided to start from the ground up, literally targeting children to educate them to become eco-conscious adults. It has tied up with 30 educational institutions to reach out to the younger generation.

Over the years, Wipro has implemented a variety of energy efficiency measures. They were one of the early adopters of Green Building Design with 19 of their current buildings certified to the international LEED standard (Silver, Gold, and Platinum). Wipro believes in the value of education as an enabler, and so has begun the drive to teach our children the importance of green buildings.

The program aims at educating the children about the modern way of life, and the heavy toll it exerts on the environment. The importance of sustainable living, sustainable farming, re-forestation, organic farming, water and soil conservation and preserving the biosphere are being taught to the young children and young adults in an attempt to rectify the lack of green education in India.

Dr. Allan Savoury from South Africa, a bio-chemist has dedicated his life to spreading the idea of rejuvenating the grasslands across continents, which he contends will help in controlling desertification of the lands, soil preservation, groundwater sustainability and control carbon emissions. He says:

“Burning one hectare of grassland gives off more, and more damaging, pollutants than 6,000 cars. And we are burning in Africa, every single year, more than one billion hectares.”

He goes on to prove his theory with practical demonstrations across hundreds of acres of pilot projects in all the different continents where the lush grasslands are flourishing, soil and groundwater states are better and all this while supporting livestock. He proposes that livestock is the key, as they give back to their environment, with their droppings which turns to mulch and fertilizes the land. In the past few decades he has turn semi-arid areas into fertile grasslands, across Africa, Australia and both the Americas just by increasing the number of livestock left to graze.

Companies like Wipro and people like Dr. Allan Savoury are the frontrunners and have taken several steps towards educating the importance of sustainable workplace and green buildings.

Get more information on: Green Building & Education in India