World Is One Family

Last week, it was an absolute honor and privilege to not only graduate out of my fellowship in Climate Action as part of Anant's 7th Convocation in their Ahmedabad Campus but also to receive the Academic Excellence Award from our Chief Guest, the hugely respected and inspirational Dr. Sridhar Vembu in the presence of Shri. Ajay Piramal, President and Dr. Sanjeev Vidyarthi Provost, Anant National University and Jasmine Gohil ma'am.

I had quit Infosys and the corporate world last year, wanting to make a lasting impact in raising climate awareness among the youth and inspire them on a path of Climate Action in terms of either taking up a Sustainability Career Path or to devote themselves towards volunteering towards Environmental Protection or Nature Revival Projects. My enrollment in the Anant Fellowship for Climate Action (AFCA), hugely helped in giving structure to that dream, helped largely by the wonderful course material (across the first 4 terms) designed by Sustain Labs Paris. The passion project in the 5th term was when I decided to revive my venture World Is One Family to not only enhance the website with the necessary features but also to build a curriculum of simplified chapters across the wide spectrum of EHS and Sustainability aided by few college interns who have joined hands with WIOF inspired by the guest lectures on Climate Action that i have given in their institutes. Some of them have joined WIOF as volunteers for Nature Projects which we hope to execute across different parts of India and the world to restore our fragile planet's ecosystems.

I am deeply grateful and thankful to Miniya Chatterji, CEO of Sustain Labs Paris and director of the AFCA programme and Anunaya Chaubey Sir for selecting me for this fellowship last year and my professors Rohan Dutta Dr Naga Chaitanya Kavuri Ashima Sood and my mentors in SLP Aman Gupta Amrit Rath Gokulram A for their guidance and direction. And last but not the least, my wonderful batchmates Sameera Fernandes Priyank PATEL Tina Garg Giriprashad K Aswath Ganesh who made this journey of acquiring Climate Knowledge very fulfilling to embark on this quest to rejuvenate the world riding on youth power.

Let's do all that we can to save our Planet Earth, the only place in the vast, empty, darkness of space in the cosmos, which we can call home.

It was an honour and privilege to be invited as a Guest Lecturer by the Department of Environmental Studies of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda to deliver a talk on "Climate Action and Opportunities" to the MSc Sustainability Students there. Addressing a big classroom completely filled with around 100 students listening in rapt attention was the stuff of dreams. Covered topics like the Science of Greenhouse effect, Adverse impacts of Global Warming with comparisons between 1.5 and 2 degrees scenarios, what amount of GHG Emissions reduction by 2030 is needed to limit ourselves to these levels, what GHG reduction goals have been set by top companies in different industry segments, Decarbonization methods, EHS/ESG Data Management Tools and their performance, Double Materiality, GRI Standards Overview, Day-Day Actions which individuals can take to combat Climate Change and some opportunities out there in the industry for environmental science freshers to get started on their journey. Got a thunderous applause in the end and many students stayed on to ask futher questions about the job options available out there in the market. Got felicitated with a beautiful momento by the university faculty followed by lunch with some amazing insightful discussions with the academicians. Couldnt have asked for a better hospitality than this. My journey towards teaching younger minds on Climate Action and Sustainability has well and truly begun now and I just have to keep going on with hope and enthusiasm in the path ahead. I am very thankful to the HOD and all the faculty of the Environmental Sciences Department of MS University Baroda and my friend, WIOF team member and MS Univ Alumnus: Devraj Soni for this wonderful opportunity to teach and guide the younger minds and inspire them for Climate Action. I am also thankful to my mentors in the Anant Fellowship for laying a roadmap for my teaching journey. Feeling grateful and blessed and looking forward to many more such opportunities from other schools, colleges, firms and universities in the upcoming months to have a wider impact.

Last week, March 27, 2024, was observed as Manatee Appreciation Day. Celebrated on the last Wednesday in March, its a global call to protect the Manatees, the gentle giants of the sea. Manatees are aquatic mammals and herbivores and eat over 60 different freshwater and saltwater plants. They look a bit like walruses or porpoises and are sometimes referred to as sea cows, but they are actually much more closely related to elephants. They have no natural predators which contributes to their serene demeanor. However, human activities pose significant risk to manatee populations. Boating, pollution and habitat destruction stand out as the 3 greatest threats. Despite legal protections against hunting, manatees continue to be poached for their meat and hides. Their natural habitats are also being decimated due to human development and intrusion. Boat strikes are particularly alarming, leading to tragic injuries or even death for these wonderful gentle creatures. It's time to come together to protect the manatee. For more information on endangered animals and birds, please visit our WIOF Website at: https://worldisonefamily.com and subscribe to join a community to raise awareness to protect our Planet Earth, the only place in the vast empty universe that we can call home. Join the movement.

Today, 21 March, 2024, is World Forest Day. Hence thought it appropriate to post few of my photos taken today in the forest of Shimla near the Shimla British Resort. Nothing better than taking a nature bath by walking through the forest to commemorate the International Day of Forests. The United Nations General Assembly announced March 21 to be the World Forest Day back in 2012. Forests are the lungs of the planet and play a key role in balancing the air by absorbing the CO2. Hence, they are needed in the forefront in the battle against global warming and climate change and its imperative for us to do everything we can, to save them from deforestation and habitat degradation which is rapidly happening due to urbanization and human exploitation. The theme for this 2024 World Forest Day is "Forests and Innovation: new solutions for a better world". This clearly indicates that technological interventions need to be leveraged to develop tools that can track the growth and decline of forests, their related ecosystems and biodiversity and suggest mitigation and adaptation plans to prevent further decline and do our utmost to regrow trees and rewild barren areas as much we can to increase the green cover. Let's come together to make this happen and save our forests. To know more about forests, please do visit our WIOF website at: https://worldisonefamily.com and subscribe to us to be part of a community to raise awareness to protect our Planet Earth the only place in the vast empty universe that we can call "home". Join the movement.

Today, 18 March, 2024, is observed as Global Recycling Day. The idea is to raise awareness to people on the need to reduce, reduce and recycle resources or materials so that we dump lesser items to the landfills which are hazardous to the environment and human health due to leaks. Landfills also release methane due to decomposing waste that contributes greatly to global warming as a GHG. The Theme for this 2024 is Recycling Heroes. There is an urgent need for recycling heroes whose stories in their individual lives can inspire others to follow suit and lead to a larger movement against dumping waste recklessly. Many of these recycling heroes separate dry and wet waste at their homes daily, compost their wet waste and recycle their dry waste comprising of plastic or paper mainly with NGOs working on this front. One of the NGOs in Pune doing such a stellar job is ProEarth Ecosystems headed by Anil Gokarn. We have featured them in our NGOs in Focus section. They take care of Garden Waste and E-Waste as well. For more such information on such NGOs please visit our WIOF Website at: https://worldisonefamily.com and subscribe to us to be part of a community which can raise awareness and protect our planet Earth, the only place in the vast universe that we can call home. Join the movement.

Today, 16 March, 2024, is commemorated as National Panda Day and aimed at creating awareness regarding the threats they face to their existence and the urgent need to protect them. The panda is the featured animal on the logo for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Once on the brink of extinction, panda numbers in the wild have grown in the recent years, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifying the species from "Endangered" to "Vulnerable" in 2016. However, there are only about 1800 pandas in the wild and there is a lot of scope of improvement in terms of increasing their numbers. Pandas live around 18-20 years in the wild and bamboo makes up 90 percent of their diet. Their black and white coat with the spectacled eyes not only makes them adorable to look at but also serves as a camouflage to protect them from their enemies. Let's get together to do all that we can to preserve and protect the pandas and make them thrive. For more information on other endangered and vulnerable species of animals and birds, please visit our WIOF Website at: https://worldinsonefamily.com and subscribe to us to join the community to help save our planet Earth, the only place in the vast emptiness of the universe that we can call home. Join the movement.

Today, 14th March, 2024, is commemorated as the International Day of Action for Rivers. This is a day where we need to stand in solidarity for saving our rivers which are facing huge challenges to their survival due to rapid human development and exploitation. Effluents from Industries are being discharged into the rivers, raw untreated sewage flows into them in many areas increasing bacteria many times above the safety limit, rapid urbanization has affected river beds due to increase in impervious surfaces leading to more storm runoff and erosion, rivers have become stagnant with their free flow disrupted, due to construction of dams and diversions impacting fish population and altering sediment transport. There is a huge need for us all to come together to save our dying rivers and on our WIOF website: https://lnkd.in/d7ZNr4A, we have featured a NGO Jeevitnadi Living River, who are doing a great job in reviving rivers and riverbeds in and around Pune. Please visit our NGOs in Focus Section on our landing page to know more about them. We also have a River in Focus Section on our Water Page as well. Please subscribe to us for becoming part of a community to protect our planet, the only place in the universe, we can call home. Join the movement.