India's eco-warriors: The men sowing hope
Himalayan glaciers are melting. Rivers are dying. Pollution is killing people, animals and marine life. But champions who have risen to the challenge are taking on vested interests.
Clean Sweep
India has recorded a 56 per cent increase in the number of hazardous waste generating industries between 2009 and 2016-17. There has been a 22 per cent rise in greenhouse gas emissions between 2010 and 2014. We need eco-warriors to fight all this.
Jose Joseph Moonjely of Kochi is one. Today, he is working on making Kerala a waste-free state. “Every problem has a solution,” he says. The 65-year-old decided to make the three ‘R’s (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) his mission mantra and founded the Clean City Movement in 2007 after a group of builders in Kochi approached him seeking help to install a waste management system in their buildings.
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The project became a successful model and his advice was sought all across the country. Joseph believes that cities can never solve the waste problem unless influential people with vested interests stop throwing spanners in the works.
56 per cent increase has been registered in the number of hazardous waste-generating industries between 2009 and 2016-17
Drops of Hope
The worst of disasters often bring out the best in some people. After Cyclone Gaja devastated the Cauvery delta in December 2018, 31-year-old R Nimal Raghavan of Nadiyam began a series of discussions in villages surrounding Peravurani on reversing the damage.
The group decided to work on rejuvenating water bodies. Nimal quit his job as an advisor to the Animal Welfare Board of the UAE and became vice-president of the Kadaimadai Area Integrated Farmers Association.
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With 70 committed members and 270 WhatsApp members, the association began work on desilting Periyakulam Lake, which occupies 564 acres and irrigates 6,000 acres of land. The initial corpus was just Rs 21,000, but as work gathered pace, money started trickling in.
To ensure transparency, expenditure details are shared on the WhatsApp group daily. “We plan is to desilt water bodies in at least 50 villages,” says Nimal.
Nimal quit his job as an advisor to the Animal Welfare Board of the UAE and joined Kadaimadai Area Integrated Farmers Association.
With 70 committed members, the association started desilting of the Periyakulam Lake, which is spread over 564 acres and irrigates 6,000 acres of land.