Climate Solutions Project
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Pedaling the Path to Empowerment
Guest post from Rudmila Rahman of Arohi at arohicycling @ gmail . com
On Friday Feb 25th, a group of thirty passionate women from diverse walks to life got on their bicycles and rode through Dhaka to promote bicycles as an alternative means of mobility for women in Bangladesh. They cycled more than 5 kilometers together, through the streets of Dhaka. They joined this rally organized by Arohi - Bangladesh’s first women’s cycling initiative aimed to gather a critical mass of individuals who are interested to promote cycling for women in Bangladesh in order to ride a bicycle to work, school or for recreation, with an aim to break the stigma attached to a girl on a cycle
They believe this, in turn, will promote freedom of mobility in Dhaka for women, as well as a cleaner environment. Bangladeshi women face significant barriers from family, neighbors and society in getting on a bike a riding around town in bright daylight. Freedom of mobility is seriously curtailed in Dhaka if women don't feel safe to travel independently in their own city. Over 35% of female commuters in Dhaka depend on a cycle rickshaw and as more major roads ban these rickshaws, daily mobility for women is threatened furthermore. Arohi’s tagline: “Pedaling the way to empowerment” summarizes the links that we plan to draw between cycles, mobility and empowerment.
Arohi will follow in the coming months with awareness and advocacy events with the community and local government. The organization’s long term objectives include creating broader social impact by increasing uptake of cycling on target communities of highly mobile women such as students, garments workers, NGO field workers, etc through developing a model that will encourage urban cycling and provide rental bicycles to these communities. First create the path and then motivate others to follow!
Beyond the objective of empowerment, bicycling is a clean and green way to travel in a city which has one of the highest levels of air pollution in the world. The density of airborne particulate matter can reach 463 micrograms per cubic meter- the highest level in the world. Pollution from vehicles is the main cause of smoke, smog and dust. Therefore, Arohi plans to combine the perception of cycling as an alternative to mobility through cars and public transport and work with the Dhaka City Corporation to promote cycle friendly interventions in the city for both men and women.
The response to a cycling initiative in Dhaka has been tremendous. But a major hurdle is the fact that the last time many women got on a bike was when they were 10 years old, for reasons such as social taboo, family displeasure or a lack of self-confidence. To commemorate international Women’s Day, Arohi will to host a bicycle training workshop to help interested women learn how to maneuver on two wheels in Dhaka and take the first step toward the path of empowerment.
A Little Village in the Sun
Reposted from The Hindu, Jan 7, 2005 written by AD Rangarajan
Here is a bright little village in Andhra Pradesh that is all solar and smoke-free — the first of its kind in the country.
Bysanivaripalle, 125 km northwest of Tirupati, has 36 families. Their main means of livelihood is sericulture. The eco-conscious residents of the electrified village went in for the first biogas plant in the region two decades ago. The officials of the Non-Conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NEDCAP) did not need to put in much effort to motivate them to go solar.
Intersol, an Austrian non-governmental organisation, sponsored the provision of "Sk-14" cookers here last year. Gadhia Solar, a Valsad-based environmental body that imports, supplies and installs them, executed the job. It is the single largest cluster of cookers that Gadhia Solar has installed anywhere. A group of schoolchildren from Austria visited the village last year to witness the project.
"With 23 biogas plants and 26 solar cookers, we do not have to use a matchstick," says Sadananda Reddy, a progressive sericulturist who was honoured by the Karnataka Government recently for his top quality cocoons.
Himalayan Hope: Empowering Women for Sustainable Development
Crossposted from the Environmental Defense Fund blog
In Delhi, it’s easy to lose hope in the fight for environmental protection and climate mitigation – a thousand new cars every day; thousands of tons of garbage that make their way to the landfills coming from millions of homes, industries, and street sides; constant new construction of flyovers and widening of roads; and the sensation that it is too big for any individual, even any well-intentioned local politician to make a difference.
An overnight train ride away from Delhi, though, there exists another world. One that is full of enormous challenges in a rapidly changing climate, but also one full of Himalayan hope. The Environmental Defense Fund, in partnership with the Hunger Project and local NGOs in Uttarakhand, are giving female political and community leaders the tools they need to be able to engage in the development decisions happening every day.
One cold but warming day in mid-January, I had the honor to join Richie Ahuja to visit a leadership program, bringing together more than 100 of these female leaders from throughout the Kumaon district. Some of these women (and three generations of their family members) travelled by bus for more than 2 hours to reach this workshop, through winding mountain passes from their villages. Many of these women were Sarpanches (elected heads of villages) or members of their panchayat (an elected board of community representatives), while others were community leaders of other kinds, working with Self-Help Groups in their village.
Millennium goals for the rich?
Earlier this month, Sri Lankan scientist Dr M Munasinghe made an innovative proposal at the discussions for the 2012 UN Sustainable Development Summit: the creation of Millennium Consumption Goals to task the rich with using less “stuff”.
Just as the eight Millennium Development Goals were designed to tackle some of the challenges of “underdevelopment”, which include extreme poverty, inadequate healthcare and widespread illiteracy, the “MCGs” would target the symptoms of so-called “overdevelopment” such as widespread environmental degradation, social deterioration, high levels of obesity and unbalanced lifestyles.
Currently the richest 20% of the world’s population consume more than 80% of the Earth’s resources (60 times more than the poorest). By reducing such demand amongst the rich, said Munasinghe, the MCGs would provide poorer parts of the world with better access to their share, resulting in more balanced and sustainable growth.
Renewable Energy at Bhil Academy
by Naiara Tejados, from Real Medicine Foundation Blog
In Jhabua, electricity is scarce and typically only available for a few hours a day. After the sun went down, the children could do little but go to sleep: our children could not study at night or even walk to the toilets because of the darkness.Designing for the Future, Learning from the Past
Today is a hot, sticky day in Delhi, almost 38 C in the shade, and in my apartment, less than ten years old, I’m sweating as I type underneath the fan. In fact, I’m sweating even when I turn on my air conditioner. And yet, outside, in Delhi’s most beautiful park, Lodhi Gardens, I can sit outside in an open air tomb built almost five hundred years ago, and I feel cool.
If I were in Jaipur right now, in hot, dry western India, where it is more than 42 C, and yet feels like 30 inside the forts of the ancient Rajput kings. Admittedly, it may be hotter now than it was in the summer of 1734, when it was built, but these palaces were designed to keep their residents cool without electricity, conditioned air and refrigerants. How? By recognizing some fundamentals of heat and physics.
If we want to design for the future, we need to learn from the past. We have known for hundreds of years that solids cool more than liquids which cool more than air. And yet, in US and in India, corporate attempt to cool spaces and people with air. We also know that the human body loses its heat from radiation far more than from convection (moving air over your surface) or even perspiration (though, it sure feels like sweating is the only option, right now!). Yet, our air conditioning systems rely on convection – blowing cold air over all of us. Instead, we can design like the Rajputs, just as Infosys has done with its new buildings
India's Invisible Heroes: Trailblazers of an Economic Boom
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It’s funny how we popularise our movie stars,” said Vinod Shetty, director of the Acorn Foundation, when we met in his crowded office in Mumbai. “There are so many other people we should popularise for the work that they do, but instead, they are invisible and expendable.”
This experienced advocate was referring to the work of the thousands of recyclers who reside in the city’s largest slum, Dharavi, and whose rights he spends much of his time promoting.
Although the BAFTA award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire did a lot to highlight the plight of Mumbai’s slum-dwellers, Shetty believes it overlooked a story of true heroism in this infamous quarter; one that forms part of the day-to-day reality for its residents, and for millions of others across India.
Sula's Green Fingers
Viticulture is growing at a rate of knots in India, and the country's largest winery is leading by environmental example
Nestling just 200km from the bustling metropolis of Mumbai lies Nasik, an area of natural beauty, rich spiritual heritage and home to one of India's newest and burgeoning industries: wine.
As you look towards the sweeping horizon, across undulating hills and sloping valleys, it is an increasingly familiar sight to see straight rows of leafy grape vines stretching far into the distance.
Sula, founded in 1999, now produces 20 different wine varieties from the region, including red, white, rosé and, most recently, port. Not only is it the largest winery in Nasik, but also, as of last year, the largest winery in India, distributing wine across the country and to a rapidly expanding international clientele.
Although only accounting for a small percentage of agriculture in India, the wine industry here is growing at a rate of 25-30 per cent a year (globally, grape-growing accounts for around 4.9 per cent of arable and permanent croplands).
Organic, biodynamic and 'sustainably produced' wines have been popping up with increasing frequency around the world. As a nascent Indian industry, can these principles be adopted early on?
Rajeev Samant, founder and CEO of Sula, believes so. 'Sustainability for its own sake is very desirable, and it has to be a part of the way we work as companies today,' he says. 'Even if it costs us a bit more it is totally worthwhile, in my opinion, if it results in our using fewer natural resources.
From Muck to Riches
"Do you have something to wrap around your face?” asked Vijendra Singh Shekawat, my host for the afternoon, as he waited beside a sleek black Enfield that shone in the glaring sunlight. Rajasthani summer was in full force and anyone would be wise to protect themselves against it.
We set off, weaving our way past buses, cars, rickshaws and camels, over flyovers and along muddy lanes towards the outskirts of the city of Jaipur. The air blew hot like a hair dryer and was filled with a fine dust, coating us with a gritty layer. Forty minutes later, we reached a small plot of land close to the airport. Through a small doorway was a private compound where Shekawat and his six-member family live in a two-room house. In their concrete yard, they have set up a factory to manufacture paper. But not just any paper -- paper made from elephant dung.
Vijendra Singh Shekawat (second from left) with his family
EcoFestival 2010
On Saturday I visited the EcoFestival 2010 at the American Center in New Delhi. The event was hosted by the KRITI Team, a Public Trust self-described as “a development, research, praxis and communication team” (for more details, see their website: http://krititeam.blogspot.com). I wanted to speak with the women from Jan Sandesh (http://www.jansandesh.org), who make a variety of products – notebooks, boxes, picture frames, journals, and more – out of recycled paper (newspaper, cardboard and such). Here is a sampling of photographs of those products:
