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Environmental Engineers of the Future (E2F) offers funding for students interested in studying environmental engineering. The funded students must work for the sponsors for three years. Many good universities have partnered with E2F. Check them out. Best time to appy for funding is between October 1st and December 1st.
Soon after my K2K journey last year, I decided to pursue research in the area of environment and natural resources. Here is a list I have compiled of some of the degrees in the domains I am interested in. Considering time and money, I may apply to five different programs.
If you need additional information, please visit the websites. Note that this compilation is based purely on my preferences. BTW, education in Sweden is free till 2010. If you apply this year to any of the universities in Sweden, you just have to manage your living expenses. From 2011 onwards, Sweden would be charging tuition fee to foreign students.
If you know / come across any interesting quality programs in environment sciences / management, please let me know.
Participating in TFN has been my new cycling goal. But TFN requires tremendous amount of stamina. I am not sure whether I would be able to complete TFN, but I surely want to give it a try.
TFN starts in second week of December 2009. I have roughly 5 months to prepare. My plan is to increase the distance organically. I ride around 30km everyday. In next five months I want to increase the distance by 3km every week and reach 66km/day close to TFN. Once in a month I want to take up some serious riding. So here is my plan
Major rides planned
There are some concerns though. Read the rest of this entry »
I would say – No, not at all.
Cycling has different connotations.
Let us consider the first group. If a person is poor, he is struggling to meet his needs. His overall carbon foot print will be minimal. So he is the most eco-friendly person among the lot. (India’s carbon emission, in relation to its population, is very minimal because 70% of the population is poor enough to have minimal carbon footprint)
The second lot, the most complex of the lot, tend to be self righteous, sometimes. Cyclists tend to be a bit arrogant to the rest of the population. They act as though they are putting all the effort to save the planet while the rest are basking in the luxury of automobiles. Cycling can be one of the ways to minimize carbon footprint. I don’t know how many of those cyclists are firing unnecessary printouts or keeping their computers on at office, always. I don’t know how many of them take prolonged showers, keep tap water running while brushing teeth or shaving. I don’t know how many of them compost their kitchen wastes, refrain from burning crackers during diwali or harvest rainwater during monsoons. I don’t know how many of them have reduced their meat consumption or eating organic or non-exotic food items. I don’t know how many of them are really bothered about unnecessary consumerism and have cut down on shopping. I don’t know how many of them reject plastic bags and carry their own cloth bags.
I have seen people who don’t cycle but have adopted many other ways of being eco-friendly. So we need not be arrogant to non-cyclists.
Cycling, as a sport, is very resource intensive. Also, these cyclists may be squandering environment in their normal way of living but might have adopted cycling as a fun sport. These people might use an SUV to carry a bicycle to a hilltop and then ride the cycle down. When you look at cycling as a sport, you cannot talk about environment. We should just appreciate it as any other sport. Running or walking is the most eco-friendly way to move from one point to another. But an Olympic runner need not be the most eco-friendly person on earth. Cycling as a sports completely falls into a different category.
Cycling is one of the most humble ways of moving around. Hence a cyclist can never be arrogant. By cycling, we are not saving the planet or fellow humans, we are trying to save ourselves.I
My cycling goals for 2009 are
It has been six months now. I cannot imagine any means other than cycle for commuting. Reason? My commute time is now almost fixed – 1.5hrs. Earlier it was entirely dependent on traffic. I have tried Hero Thunder, Merida SUB-10V, Trek 4300 and BTwin Rockrider 5.3.
I have stopped using my motorcycle. I don’t remember spending any money either on petrol or on maintenance. In last 6 months I have saved more than Rs.6000 just on fuel (other than maintenance and insurance). I listen to audio books while cycling since I don’t have to focus much on traffic – one book in a week – that alone accounts closely to 25 books in last six months.
I have cut down my weight by 3.5kilos. I don’t worry about parking. My life has become less stressful and more beautiful. In past six month I have converted 6 of my friends to cycling. I have also reached 50% mark of my annual goal of 7000km. Currently I am using Mycyclinglog. My friend Thej is working on a new WordPress plugin. I will shift to it soon.
Here is my log:
Currently I am reading this book – “The Humanure Handbook” by Joseph Jenkins. I am impressed.
If there is one thing human beings don’t want to talk about, it is their excreta. I don’t remember discussing managing the excreta with anyone – either at home or at school. All I knew about excreta was that it stinks and is host to millions of pathogens. Today it is “the thing” that is killing the planet.
We all know that excreta is organic in nature and just as any organic substance, under the right conditions and time frame, it will turn into humus. But we are putting our excreta in clean water and pushing it out of our house. In few cases the excreta is stored in a pit just in front of the house. But in most of the urban areas, it is ferried away for hundreds of kilometers just to be dumped in a river, with almost no treatment.
Nobody wants to own the waste created by oneself – let it be vegetable peels, plastic covers or human excreta. To start with, almost 60% of the Indians do not have safe drinking water. To add to this woe, people are building leach pits and allowing the waste water to seep down into groundwater sources. Human excreta contains all kinds of pathogens. If not treated properly, it can contaminate water sources and spread various diseases.
I keep saying this – People talk about HIV, but in India, number of deaths by dysentery and diarrhoea is greater. If we want, we can blame the government and continue shitting with our eyes closed. But the danger is looming. 70% of our rivers is polluted either with domestic or industrial waste. It is time to cut down this pollution. What is the option?
The best option which people would like is – treating the waste water. But this requires infrastructure to carry waste water from every corner to the treatment plant and huge amount of energy and chemicals to treat it.
The best option nature would prefer is – composting the waste – let it be kitchen waste or toilet waste. Daily Dump, a small initiative to compost kitchen waste is picking up in Bangalore. But most people fail to compost properly and complain about smell, flies and maggots. The key lies in keeping the mix dry by moist enough to encourage microbial breakdown. Composting is an art. If performed right, it can create the very essence of soil – HumusW
Human waste can be composted. The stinking excreta turns into fragrant humus within a year. The ‘How’ part of it is technical and lengthy to be put into a blog post. Good thing would be to read the Humanure handbook. Best thing is – it’s available free of cost.
In India, composting human excreta is done through ecological sanitation (EcoSanW). There are many villages near KolarW and MysoreW which are reaping the benefits of human compost. EcoSan is a dry toilet. You don’t need water to flush the excreta instead you deposit it directly in a pit. The urine is collected separately, stored, diluted and used on crops. The combination of human compost and urine replenished the fertility of the soil. Farmers don’t use fertilizers thereby avoid the damage imparted to nature in producing and using it. Humanure eliminates the need for clean water to carry the excreta and puts an end to the pollution caused by dumping human waste into rivers, lakes or leach pits.
Countries like Singapore are struggling to meet their water demands. Singapore recycles waste water to manufacture bottled drinking water.
Newater Bottle
But people have not accepted this form of recycling fully. Last week, our CEO, Sunita Nadhamuni got us a bottle of NewaterW from Singapore. I tasted the water and just could not find any difference. The problem lies in our culture – we treat our excreta as waste – but it is a precious resource that returns the fertility back to the soil that fed us. Singapore is ahead in thinking. Singapore does not use words like waste water treatment plants or water reuse. Instead it uses words such as Water Reclamation Plants or reclaimed water.
I am constructing an EcoSan at my house. It should be ready by September. I will update you all on my findings. In the meantime, you read the book and let me know about your opinion.
I am a fan of Merida and Trek cycles. As recently as last month I never thought about buying any other bicycle. But when my colleague Deepak Menon wanted to buy a bicycle, he somehow got to know about Decathlon and the wholesale prices. I did not believe him in the beginning. But a visit to the website shocked me – almost everything at a minimum discount of 10%. Some of them carried as much as 30% discount.
I paid Rs.350 for BTwin Coil lock. It costed only Rs.250 at Decathlon, pant clips at Rs.100 (instead of Rs.130). The list goes on. But the best part was Rockrider 5.3 – Rs.23000 cycle for Rs.20,000. When I went through the features, I jumped with joy – dual disc brakes, 100mm fork with lockout, SRAM 27 gear combination, double walled rims – all for Rs.20,000.
To purchase items from Decathlon at wholesale prices, you need to have a valid sales license. We got our memberships done. Pulkit and Sejal wanted to buy a bicycle. So we decided to visit Decathlon on Saturday. I and Diwakar (my brother) reached the shop by 12:00pm. Pulkit and Sejal were already there. They were little confused between Rockrider Hybrid and 5.1 After some deliberation, they decided to go with 5.1. I and Diwakar drooled at 5.3 and other accessories. We decided to pick up a 5.3 for our youngest brother – Kaushik. We got mirrors, mudguards, locks, pant clips and saddle covers.
Deepak joined us at 4:00pm. In all, we shopped for two 5.3s and one 5.1. We got real good goodies as free gifts. Each Rockrider 5.3 purchase got us Rs.3000 discount + a hydration bag worth Rs.1800 + Puncture Kit worth Rs.1000 and an insulated bottle worth Rs.1200. Virtually, a 23k bike costed us Rs.16k. I don’t know whether 5.3 can be compared to any of the Meridas or Treks. But I am very happy with the bike. I will post the review after using this bike for few months.
Decathlon has other sports items too. You must visit it at least once.
Since yesterday, all my siblings (we are three brothers) have been commuting to office by bicycle. I hope this trend continues. Here are some snaps of our new family member Rockrider 5.3.
Rockrider 5.3
From past few days I have been reading about rain failure, power shortage and water problems. Bangalore Mirror posed a question to its users – “Should Bangaloreans take the issue of power shortage to streets just as Delhites?” Today 80% have responded saying ‘YES’. I wonder how many among that % really know the cause of power shortage.
Almost half of India’s electricity comes from coal and almost the other half from hydel power. Wind and solar power are still new concepts gaining momentum. So if rains fail, India drowns in darkness. The best part is the awakening of the bourgeois. All of a sudden bourgeois is showing concern – it wants electricity to run its televisions, ACs, treadmills and what not. These people must have domestic UPS right? Yes. Most of them do. But these UPS require 8-14 hours of power to charge completely. How can they charge 100% when there is intermittent supply? The best part is, for every 10 units an UPS absorbs, it gives away only about 7-8 units. 20% is lost in storage and reconversion. After 3.5 years, the entire fleet of batteries needs replacement, adding to the pollution caused by improper disposal of these batteries/chemicals.
Now that bourgeois has no option, it may retaliate. Delhi feeds on Tehri. Even then it has still not been able to meet its demands. How can we meet demand when the demand is on a constant rise with ever increasing population and frivolous needs?
I remember Nandan Nilekani’s words. I agree with him. We, the middle class, have created a parallel society of our own. We are not bothered about good education or transportation facilities because we can put our children into private schools and buy motorbikes and cars. We have even solved the problem of water with our own borewells and that of power with domestic UPS.
But we have forgotten the fact that we are connected to nature. How can your borewell suck water when nobody is worrying about recharging it? How can your UPS function when the electricity that charges it is dependent on rains? When rains fail, even government cannot do anything. China has tried chemical techniques for catalysing cloud formation and bringing home rain. But it cannot work on a larger scale.
This is a glimpse of our greed. The worse part is yet to come. Bangaloreans should worry about conservation of water, electricity and other resources. If we all protest, nature is not going to budge.
We are just worried about us. Think about all the living creatures that are on the brink of extinction because of severe deforestation. Think of all the people who get displaced in our country just because the urban population needs water and power. Think of all the damages made by our large dams – today they are dry – neither they have water nor they are producing electricity – these dams stand as a testimony of our ego and folly.
There are several options. We all can adopt solar and wind power. We have been using solar water heater at home. We use it for almost 330 days in a year. But now hybrid power is also an option – you can harness the power of Sun and Wind at the cost of Rs.2.2lakhs per house hold (after 50% govt. subsidy). Time to sell your extra car and worry about nature.
I am reminded of Jared Diamon’ds book – Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or SucceedW. It is time that we wake up and worry about our future not just today or tomorrow. Remember – someone else is paying for our comforts.
We Indians are known for our insensitivity to our fellow beings. When mobile phones started percolating the Indian market, the excitement masked the nuisance it could create. Initially people were thrilled to find a mobile phone user – it was a rarity. I very well remember my uncle carrying a mobile phone in 1999 paying for incoming calls. Outgoing was around Rs.9/min and incoming probably around Rs.5/min.
By 2002 tariffs fell to Rs.3/min. By the end of 2002 BSNL came up with a postpaid plan with free incoming calls. There was a heavy rush for SIMs. Then came Reliance CDMA with 40p/min plans – Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer Offer. By the mid 2003 every operator was offering free incoming calls. The cost of a basic phone has fallen from Rs.6,000 to Rs.1300. SIMs are available at every possible place with flexible recharge vouchers of up to Rs.10. Today almost 20% of Indians have mobile phones while only 3% of the population has landlines.
Now that 1 in every 5 Indian has a mobile phone, one in every three urban dweller has a mobile phone, mobile phones have started to become a nuisance. Most people do not know how to use silent mode – let it be a cinema hall or a night service bus. Some of the ring tones just shoot up your blood pressure.
People don’t differentiate between a hospital and a marriage hall – volume level remains constant everywhere. Ringing is just the beginning of the conversation – the tone of the conversation is also high. People don’t try to cut the call short or keep their voice low. I have fought with the educated elite at around 12:00am – a boy was having his midnight chatter with his girlfriend at the cost of the sleep of 35 fellow travellers. Today’s news headline – Mind your manners: Government to mobile users
As I said, insensitivity is in our culture – we disregard everything. It is not just the phone – even the ordinary conversations happen without any concern for other people. Try travelling in Indian train in a sleeper coach at night – lights are never switched off, conversations never die. Same is the case with night service bus – all the chatting happens after 11:00pm.
Even our automobile drivers express affection for each other through constant honking – let it be a school campus or a hospital premises – we don’t change. “Do not honk” signs are near every hospital and school. We don’t care. When we drive, we don’t care for pedestrians. Rarely do we slow down when women, children, elders or handicaps try to cross the road.
Why are we so insensitive? What else can we be when more than half of the population lives on daily labour, when 30% of the population is below poverty line and 60% do not have access to safe water.
If we become sensitive, we cannot carry the burden of misery around us. Handicaps are allowed to beg in the bus stand and train station. Children rummage through dump yards to make a living. How can we be sensitive with so much pain around us? We need to be insensitive to be blind to all these problems with our country, with our politics, with our democracy.
In a country like India insensitivity is a way of life for sensitivity kills you.
India is one of the countries where getting access to public data is very difficult. Through RTI has enable the citizens to file an application and get data, the scale to which it can be used to get national level data is limited indeed.
Even straight forward data such as rainfall data is not available to public. Recently IMD agreed to put up last five years data in public domain.
Data plays a crucial role in research, policy making, planning and implementation of public works etc. In India, most of the time data is either generated by a private institute or an international institute. Very few government websites provide current and relevant data to public. Department of Drinking Water Supply is one of the few government departments putting up data for public use.
The next challenge with data is its presentation. Providing people with raw data is good, but everybody will not be in a position to interpret data. Data, if presented in the right format, can overturn laws and policies. One such effort has been enabled by Google’s Fusion Tables. Now that google has solved the problem of visualisation, we Indians should get back to the business of collecting data and making it publicly available.
Below is a very good representation of Total Renewable Freshwater Supply across the world. If you can observer, India is not doing bad. China is doing even better. But both India and China will soon be water stressed countries since we are not harvesting the rains to the best of our efforts. I am sure that once we overcome the challenge of collecting data and its visualisation, we would have to solve the greatest problem of humanity – convincing fellow humans to act in the right direction