Updates from the Climate Solutions Project

Written by Caroline / 01 July 2009 / Read Caroline's latest blog entries.

The Climate Solutions Road Tour has not only inspired all of us on it, but also - we've learned - has inspired people all over the world, many of whom we don't even know about yet! Feel free to tell us your story or your solution, or read more about the inspirational impacts of the road tour here. It means a lot ot us to learn how our work is spreading, so please do share it with us!

To hear more about what we're still up to in India, please read more, as we've been sharing our story all around the world and across India and working to implement even more solutions across the nation, from working with filmmakers in Mumbai to ragpickers in Delhi and Ahmedabad. We're passionate about finding and implementing more solutions that are addressing climate change, development, green jobs, and livelihoods all at the same time!

Presentations

The Climate Solutions Road Tour Team has presented our project all over the world, including:

• PowerShift 2009, United States
• Yale University Sustainability Summit, United States
• City of Atlanta city government, United States
• World Bank, New Delhi, India
• Tallberg Forum, Sweden
• UN ISDR Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction, Geneva, Switzerland
• UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Interim Meetings, Bonn, Germany
• BP Antarctic Voyage, Antarctica
• Hong Kong Youth Climate Summit, Hong Kong
• Sankalp Forum for Social Entrepreneurs, Mumbai, India
• Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India
• Global Humanitarian Forum (Youth Forum and Global Forum) 
• American Center, US Embassy, and American Embassy School, New Delhi, India

Documentation:

At present, the India Climate Solutions Project remains focused on documentation of exciting solutions, with teams in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kerala and Bangalore documenting projects in their area so as to create a Guide to Action for campuses and corporates about successful ways to reduce emissions and green campuses and communities.

The Climate Solutions Project is continuing to work to draw out more climate solutions from youth in India, supporting the RE Expo's and IYCN's youth Climate Entrepreneurship Awards, for students, young professionals, and entrepreneurial youth who have created and implemented their own solutions. All solutions entered will be entered on to the ICS website, even those who don't make the final stages. Check back here for more information!

Scaling Up, Implementing and Distributing

Climate Solutions Project has identified a few key areas of solutions needing to be scaled up, and found primarily lacking connectivity between organizations working on waste. The key opportunity of generating livelihoods from waste is an amazing way to remove methane producing waste from landfills and streets, while raising incomes of the urban poor.

Climate Solutions Project has also developed a line of climate solutions' products that are sold and distributed at IYCN events, festivals, and has organized Climate Solutions Fairs at more than a dozen various events organized by other institutions. Many of the organizations we've identifed as Climate Solutions (those selling home composting units, the waste-based products above, solar flashlights/torches, handcrank lanterns, CFLs) don't always have the marketing potential or the staff time to sell their products at such festivities. However, by bundling our products together, and using events that IYCN would already be present at to display our activities, we've been able to greatly reduce the transaction costs and make it effective to be at various events!

Interns are focusing on a few main projects at present:

• Creating networks of urban craftsmen making bags from newspapers and scrap fabric as an alternative to plastic and approaching major plastic consumers (store owners, vendors) to reduce the use of plastic bags
• Creating guides to action on solid waste management on campuses, with partnerships with vendors of composting solutions and biogas manufacturers. Creating a few pilot projects of high waste, low area composting units and urban biogas solutions.
• Supporting waste-based product manufacturers, including Darpana's Fateh bags, made from plastic bags taken from urban Ahmedabad and woven in a village of Gandhinagar; Conserve's products made by putting newspaper and plastic under high pressure; Haathi Chaap's papers and games made from elephant dung, thus reducing the methane released from dung heaps; and starting networks of women making neckalces from waste paper. You can find more on the bags at http://indiaclimatesolutions.com/bag-lady
• Utilizing existing networks of rural entrepreneurs to support the India Post's project to bring computers to 130,000 rural post offices through solar computing entrepreneurs and Indian Postal Life Insurance staff.
• Supporting green trainings through the actual greening of the Tihar Jail, one of India's most prominent jailing facilities that was transformed into a training facility that gave prisoners the skills and knowledge they needed to re-enter society and contribute by the remarkable Kiran Bedi, who is also committed to climate change.