Environment Day 2019: Let’s Plant More Trees To Breath Clean Air

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP, or UN Environment) annually organises events for World Environment Day on 5 June every year. Since its inception in 1974, the main aim is to encourage people worldwide to create awareness and action for the protection of the environment. Also, more than 100 countries celebrate this day.

The theme for this year, set by the United Nations Environment Program is Air Pollution, a much-needed theme to raise awareness and action in India.
 
To support the theme of the year, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has launched a campaign in the form of a song ‘Hawa Aane De’ to tell people how important clean air is to breathe.
 
Our industry players are also contributing to the cause through their businesses and are utilizing there potential for sustainability. Here what industry is doing to support it:

Alok Bardiya, Head - Internet of Things (Business Unit), Tata Communications.

This year, World Environment Day brings focus to air pollution, a crisis in our country given that we house seven of the world's worst polluted cities. A major challenge in maintaining air quality control is the absence of accurate monitoring measures.

It is essential to understand the extent of pollution and its sources, to control it effectively. Advanced technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) can help address this issue. IoT has enabled real time monitoring of various parameters of our environment via solutions that track air quality in smart homes & offices, smart cities and communities. The data collected through these devices can aid in identifying the pollution trends and build sustainable solutions to mitigate these pollutants. IoT solutions that reduce traffic congestion and signal times and enable more efficient energy generation and consumption, in turn lead to less air pollution.

As a leading digital infrastructure provider, we recognise our role in collaboratively working with various organisations and government to enable these smart solutions. We are betting big on IoT to deliver on our commitment and strive to continue developing solutions that can lead to a more sustainable future.

Bhavin Turakhia, CEO and Founder, Flock and Zeta
One of my primary moral obligations has been to ensure that each business unit make an impact that is directly proportional to its potential. There are three main pillars that will solve every risk for humanity and which I believe everyone across the globe should have access to: Education, healthcare and sustainable living. The entire concept of sustainability rests on the resources our planet possesses, judicially using and sustaining them for our entire planet. That said, we need to ensure we take steps towards reducing the ill effects of global warming such as climate change and abnormal weather conditions.  Flock and Zeta were built with the same concept of reducing carbon footprint of organizations by ensuring more work gets done virtually through less amount of paperwork and reduction in employee commute and travel time. Flock has been known to increase productivity, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and reduction of in-person meetings and mail exchange. Zeta platform offers solutions that make every day corporate and employee-related processes completely digital. It enables organisations to completely remove paper and digitise their employee tax benefits, rewards and recognition programmes and corporate cafeteria. We are looking at creating a virtual environment that supports sustainability to the core, thereby helping build a sustainable future.”,

Vishal Gondal, CEO and Founder GOQii
Nearly 80 per cent of citizens living in cities today breathe polluted air (World Health Organization). Our annual GOQii India Fit Report too revealed that the air and water quality has consistently deteriorated and in 2018, 9 out of 10 people breathed polluted air. These statistics are alarming and are a strong indicator that lifestyle diseases will be on the rise. 

A lack of awareness on how our environment plays a crucial role in our health is a key reason contributing to unhealthy living conditions today. Thus, it's imperative for each of us to contribute to build a healthier environment and enable a shift from a curative to a preventive lifestyle.

Rajesh Uttamchandani, Director, Syska Group 

Today, rapid technological advancements and innovation have simplified our lives but is also impacting the availability of resources and having a negative impact on our planet. It is thus a responsibility of every organization and individual to focus on creating a sustainable future for future generations. One of the ways we can achieve this, is through the promotion and adoption of energy-efficient and environment-friendly lighting solutions. We at Syska have an extremely focused mission of creating and promoting a sustainable future, through the manufacturing of LED lighting solutions which consume up to 70 percent less power. The use of LED technologies has the potential of lowering the carbon footprint by half and significantly reducing electrical waste. Factors that cause overconsumption of resources should be nipped in the bud by harnessing new age technological solutions such as Internet of things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Kishan Jain, Director, Goldmedal Electricals

Caring for the environment is the responsibility of every citizen. Whether it is homes, offices, institutes, shopping malls or factories, the use of sustainable and energy-efficient solutions is the single biggest factor that will decide the future of our environment. Today, with the rapid advancements of new technologies, there are several options for us to choose from and each one of us can do our bit towards protecting our planet. We can begin by adopting LED lighting instead of traditional CFL lightings which offer immense environmental benefits and help in reducing carbon emissions. We at Goldmedal are focused towards the promotion of energy-efficient solutions such as LED lighting and others in order to build a greener planet for future generations.

Pallavi Utagi, Founder, Superbottoms - Sustainable and skin friendly diapering for babies
Celebrating an environment day is about taking a moment to express gratitude towards all that the planet has given us.

However, as we are waking to realise the damage we have done to the planet with our actions, this day is more about reflecting upon the choices we have made that has lead to the current condition of the planet.

More than that, it is about figuring out sustainable alternatives to our daily needs to ensure that in our need for convenience, the planet is not compromised.

Shashwat Diesh and Aqib Mohammed, Co-founders of Azah, a premium wellness brand for women 
The need for Eco-friendly products has become an absolute necessity nowadays to encourage green and sustainable living that help to conserve environment such as energy, prevent air, water or land pollution. It helps to save the environment and also prevent human being health from deterioration.

Deep Bajaj, Founder, Sirona Naturals
Small things go on to make a big difference in life, would like to request everyone to use electricity and all natural resources (including water) wisely and request women to move to sustainable menstrual hygiene products to save the landfills.