Climate Solutions Project
Create
Communicate
Celebrate
Taking Gujarat’s embroidered garments to international stores
Hansiba , the first rural artisan of SEWA, talks to Madhur Tankha about her life and how she has been instrumental in encouraging rural women to earn their living through traditional skills.
She is the face behind the thousands of traditional garments that have now found their way from villages to international retail stores. Hansiba, the first rural artisan of Self Employed Women’s Association, has been instrumental in encouraging rural women to earn their living through traditional skills.
A master of 16 different types of embroideries, this nonagenarian grandmother grows her own cotton, spins her own yarn and does her own embroidery in Datarana village in Gujarat. She is held in greet esteem by the new generation that looks up to her for guidance.
Report: Natural Farming Workshop, Kheti Virasat Mission (25th-27th December)
Written by Trent Brown
In many ways now is not a good time to be a farmer in Punjab, or anywhere in India, for that matter. Debts are high. The price of inputs is increasing. Soil quality has diminished. The development of pesticide-resistant insects is leading farmers to use more and more toxic chemicals on their crops, thus increasing the risk of cancer for them and their families. The combination of these factors has led many farmers to commit suicide. The Natural Farming Workshop, hosted by Kheti Virsat Mission from the 25th to the 27th of December 2009, showed farmers another way. It showed them a type of farming that requires no external inputs whatsoever, that does not involve violence against humans or nature and whose yields are good.
Light brings Calm Amidst Storms
Wild typhoons have raged, both literally and metaphorically across the world over the last few weeks. Not only have we seen flooding in Southern India and heavy storms in the Philippines, we have witnessed deep thunder cracks and sharp lightning bolts shock through the international climate talks as North met South, as expectation met reality, as hope met fear, and as a yawning gulf re-emerged between the global leaders negotiating our future in Bangkok.
The Road to 350 is Paved with Solutions
This post is part of Blog Action Day, 8414 blogs and counting, all writing about climate change on the same day and together calling the US to take serious action on climate. Sign their petition here.
Here in India, we started on the Road to 350 a long time ago. It’s been one year since I quit my job and decided to drive across India in solar powered and electric cars with 350 literally written all over them (that’s our Revalution to the right!), to show the world that there is a Road to 350 ppm (the safe upper limit of CO2 in the atmosphere). We know that The Road to 350 is a path paved with solutions that are beautiful, powerful, and inspiring. We worked to demonstrate that there is no silver bullet, there is no single solution — that there are 350 and counting! The Road to 350 drives straight through October 24, straight through COP15, and straight onto the future that we are creating every day we wake up and commit to being the change. As it gets closer to October 24, I’m more and more inspired by those actions planned that are showing what the Road to 350 looks like – what our world of solutions will be! We hope you can join us on 10/24 on the Road to 350.
Pedal to Freedom
Cross-Posted from The Green Ride
Sadhana Forest: A Temple of Environmentalism in the South
Integrating the planet into daily life: Aviram Rozin
“I don`t see any conflict between human development and the health of planet. By integrating planet in our thoughts, in our daily life we will realize the importance of Madre Earth”, said Aviram Rozin, Founder of Sadhana Forest, whilst telling me about this forest-in-making.
Sadhana Forest is to be found in the extreme south-east of India, in a village called Morathandi near the former French Colony Pudducherry (Pondicherry). It is not a fully-fledged forest yet, but is on the way to becoming so. Under the supreme guidance of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, this project started on the 19 December 2003, on the day of the Jewish Light festival in the Aiyanar Temple. It is a unique collaboration of eastern and western spirituality, that could be called a Mecca of Environmentalism in India.
Too Stupid
Yesterday evening was momentous. A day after the Global Campaign on Climate Change saw people take to the streets around the world and climate week was launched in New York, the Age of Stupid had its' global premiere.
India joined the army of 63 nations showing this groundbreaking film to more than 10,00,000 people - over two days. It shook us in our seats, waking us up to the imminent threat that climate change is already and reminding us that we still have the chance to salvage our common future.
The film tracks back from 2050, where a lone grandchild-less father sits in a deadened archive of world relics, elephants and antelopes in brine, and surrounded by all the data that ever existed saved on wind-power driven servers in a grey and dreary archive towering like a great iron mushroom above the sea. Climate change has escalated and humanity did nothing to prevent it. And there he sits, asking the question, how did we let this happen?
Techfest launches Energise, a Competition for Clean Tech Innovators
Techfest is the annual Science and Technology Festival of IIT Mumbai. Each year, close to 60,000 young innovators and entrepreneurs participate from 1800 colleges across India.
This year, they have launched a competition, Energize, which welcomes implementable clean energy solutions for India and beyond.
To meet India's challenges of energy security, rising emissions and a staggering 52,00,00,000 people still without access to electricity, innovate and make your submissions for a 1 lakh prize.
Climate Solutions and Political Change
It's so exciting when the work that young people do on the ground begins to be the influence for international political change! The example that Greenpeace's Solar Generation gave us in Kenya this week is one such example. 25 youth of Kibera participated in a twenty-day solar workshop, much like those we saw at Barefoot College in Rajasthan. They ended with the skills they need to install and maintain solar photovoltaic panels, to fabricate self-assembling solar lamps and to market all kinds of renewable energy technology. Robert Kheyi, project coordinator for the Kibera Community Youth Programme, said: “The workshop and practical installation of solar power are a critical opportunity for us to develop our own skills in renewable energy installation. Not only do we get to act against the devastating effects of climate change in Kenya, but also develop a source of revenue.”
Yet, this project is SO exciting because it combined this work on the ground with major political action. These young Kenyans began their work by installing solar panels on the Senator Barack
Obama School in Kogelo and on the roof of the house of Mama Sarah – the US President’s grandmother. Mama Sarah said: “I am very pleased that my home has been improved thanks to solar energy and I'll make sure my grandson hears about it. Solar power is clean, reliable and affordable, unlike paraffin that is widely used in the area. Also, we now have qualified youth in the
village who can help with the upkeep of the systems.” The rest is from Greenpeace's press release on August 20 about their project. I hope to share pictures soon!
Monsoon Waitings
It seems that all around the world people need epidemics, wars, rivers on fire in order to get a message. Why can't we learn to invest in prevention? Why does the media not cover our possibilities to prevent more such catastrophes!? This monsoon, more people in Delhi are talking about swine flu than anything else. Any autorickshaw driver can tell me what H1N1 is, but not what CO2 is! Why?
Why does the threat of a new disease terrify us more than the threat of the air pollution which kills hundreds daily? The threat of monsoons being two months late every year as they are in this one? The threat of no more monsoon weddings? The threat of more flooding like we had today when a week of monsoon rain fell in one hour?
While stuck in Delhi's snarls during today's floods, I looked around and saw literally thousands stuck in traffic that was bumper-to-bumper for at least fifteen kilometers in both directions. Whether on buses or in chauffered cars, everyone waited. Except, the cyclists. Delhi cyclists are amphibious - pedalling with wheels half under water, pedals sinking below the water every stroke - and are the fastest people on the roads during monsoon waiting. Even walking was faster than waiting in some stretches, once the Delhi roads drained through the clogged drainpipes full of plastic bags, chip wrappers, and other garbage.