TENDER STEPS TOWARDS A GREENER FUTURE

Background. We all know that we are part of the environment we live in. And the solution to many environmental problems lie in our attitude towards environment. Be it awareness to keep our surroundings clean or the realisation to conserve natural resources by re-using and recycling wherever possible, they all are attitudinal. The best way to attempt to bring about a change in the attitudes in the society is through children. They have no vested interests. They are impressionable. They are our future. They are the single most important influence in any family who can drive home the message of ISHRAE.
Initiative. In association with West Bengal Pollution Control Board, ISHRAE Kolkata chapter as part of the ‘K-12 Initiative’, commemorated the World Environment Day on 1st June, 2008 at Netaji Indoor Stadium, Kolkata. A gathering of 1900 children from schools of Kolkata and surrounding districts came and participated in a Sit & Draw competition from 10 AM to 11.30 AM on a warm Sunday morning. The topic of the competition was World Environment, Global Warming, Energy Conservation. The whole objective of this ISHRAE Kolkata, co-sponsored event was to inoculate among the children, the “Save Your Environment” concept.
Execution. The ISHRAE Kolkata chapter worked on the aim to educate children about their immediate environment and impart knowledge about the eco-systems by means of pictorial sketches. The brief that K-12 team at Kolkata worked on, was to mobilise youngsters by graphical displays of banners posters and caps for instilling in them the spirit of inquiry into environmental problems and involving them in the efforts of environmental preservation. A deliberate attempt was made not to sound too preacher like in manner. Simple punch lines of ‘Global warming is So uncool’, ‘Reduce ur carbon footprint’ and ‘Save Energy’ was delivered to the children through powerful images / sketches splashed across banners and posters. Also a Sun cap with a small ISHRAE motif and the K-12 message, was presented to each and every child who attended the event, these caps the children happily adorned in the blazing summer heat. The environment friendly theme of ISHRAE was repeatedly conveyed to the audience by means of 10 feet X 3 feet size banners and 2 feet X 31/2 feet size standing posters strategically placed at the entrance and the prize distribution stage of the halls. Also an eco friendly jute bag with ISHRAE logo for advocacy of our organization was distributed to all the participating students. Since the whole gamut of environment covers a lot of subjects, The K-12 squad at Kolkata conscientiously narrowed down on the agenda of energy conservation, global warming and carbon footprint, because these three contents have a co-relation to the core business of HVAC.
Conclusion. The pioneering K-12 initiative at Kolkata chapter was a grand success in terms of not only spreading the altruistic message of ‘Tender steps towards a greener future’, but also in creating awareness of ISHRAE in hinterland of West Bengal beyond the metropolis. The event got a overwhelming response from the 1900 children their accompanying parents, who despite the absence of any big commercial brand or blitzkrieg of media publicity thronged the venue and participate with gung-ho and jest out of pure passion for the social cause. The concept of advocacy of ISHRAE also got a spinoff from the event, since the platform at the venue was shared by ISHRAE with West Bengal Pollution Control Board and Paschim Banga Vigyan Manch, both these scientific-organization have a Standing to reckon-with on the issue of environmental-friendly growth in society. This agenda of ‘Infrastructure growth within environmental constrains’ is an activity that today crosses path of all mega size MEP projects of the HVAC industry within ISHRAE domain.
K-12 Team at ISHRAE Kolkata: Steered under stewardship of Mr Basab Ghosh President Kolkata Chapter by Mr Vishal Kapoor, Mr Asis Sarkar and Cdr Gaurav Pande.