Our urban world grows every day like a menacing, authoritative monster that engulfs all green patches that come in its path and evolves into a more grey concrete jungle that drains out the biodiversity of our once pristine surroundings. Our team saw so many instances where the state of our city’s biodiversity was nothing but deplorable that we felt we had to do something and not just sit idle at our desks. Firstly we wanted support for our hypothesis of the degradation of the natural elements and we decided to observe our environment for clues that gave us solid proofs for the same. Honestly, we were clueless and didn’t know where to begin this daunting task, however with sheer determination and with passion for our surroundings we were able to delve deeper into the concept of local biodiversity and climate change.
The Clouds 180˚ Project-
DAY 49 DAY 97 DAY 171
(Photographs above were taken by us)
(Photographs above were taken by us)
As a simple experiment, we took photographs of clouds everyday for a time span of 180 days and made careful observations by recording the type of clouds seen, made predictions of weather based on it and then checked if these held true with the real weather our place experienced. The photographs were of the sky at a particular time of the day by three of us who lived in distanced regions of the city. When we finally tallied all our observations and recordings we found out that for a majority of cases the weather that the cloud cover promised did not hold true. Also, the piece of sky above Hussainabad, a busy market place lacked cloud coverage as compared to the sky over the Aliganj area which also provided great discrepancies in the amount of rain each of the areas received even though they were situated within the same city. It was disappointing to us as we also did not experience as much rain as we had the year before especially in September.
Shocking yet true, climate change is not something we read in books. It is certainly not that is just happening at the polar ice caps, it’s happening around us, all the time. The next step to combat this sad yet inevitable consequence of our deplorable actions is to determine the carbon footprint of individuals in a community. This would thus help us set a goal for our self so that we could meet the basic well-being of our environment.
The Climate Watch Program-
As part of the climate watch program, we observed the Asian house Gecko; the common lizard. This included keeping a track of mating calls (a distinct scratching sound against the wall), a rough idea of population density in various environments around the household.
(Places chosen as observation points)
Scientific classification
Kingdom-Animalia Phylum-Chordata Class-Reptilia Order Squamata Genus-Hemidactylus Species-H.frenatusSeveral national geographic channel episodes and various news channels have already reported instances of animals that have changed their migratory patterns, have reacted to familiar situations in a very unusual manner and have changed their habitats. We went out looking for such proofs in our own homes.
The following inferences were derived-
1. They love to live in warm, humid conditions especially behind electrical appliances like air-conditioner.
2. They are active at night and wander close to the light-bulbs where insects smaller than it’s size thrive in abundance and thus feed on them, including moths.
3. They emit a distinct and periodic scratching noise against the surface to which they cling as part of their mating ritual. However, mating was not observed.
4. The pestilence caused due to these creatures has increased over the years, summer after summer. The number of the house geckos that are fond of tropical climates has increases significantly.
5. They mated early in the summer season which is an expected phenomenon due to the effect of increasing temperatures because of climate change.
6. Also, these lizards have grown more aggressive over the course of time and are not afraid of humans even when they’re standing close, especially in air-conditioned rooms. This can be a result of the effect of climate change that has driven them so cold. If such tiny creatures get so affected by climate change, we can only expect the bigger ones to become more unruly and act weirdly in the days to come.
Understanding our Homes-
We’ve divided Indian households into three classes i.e. Class I, Class II and Class III and then analysed the facilities and basic amenities that are present in their homes and proposed changes and suitable additions to help them mitigate climate change.
Class I- The people who live in mansions, bungalows or cottages that have a garden or too!
Class II- Persons who live in apartments and have community gardens or an array of potted plants.
Class III- People who do not own either a garden or potted plants and live in congested areas.
CLASS I | CLASS II | CLASS III | |
Type | Mansions Bungalows Cottages | Flats Penthouses | Individual houses in flea market areas that usually are given out for rent |
Free Space | Ample(Gardens, Terraces) | Medium(Balcony, Terraces, | Limited(Courtyard, Verandah) |
Ecological Economics | Can afford eco-friendly devices and systems | Can afford eco-friendly systems | Cannot afford sophisticated eco-friendly systems |
Carbon Footprint | Generally, such homes have the most impact on environment(use more resources as they can meet expenses) | Have a somewhat smaller carbon footprint | Have high or low carbon footprints(due to lack of awareness) |
Awareness of Environment | Well aware, educated masses. | Aware of consequences of daily actions on the environment | Unaware, least bothered as they are self-engrossed in trying to earn themselves a meal for the day. |
Changes that can be made to achieve an eco-friendly goal in the name of the community |
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We all know that people lead extremely busy lifestyles these days. No body has got the time to do something for the environment. The children are expected to spread awareness but no one pays heed to their pleas. There is no point in actually suggesting changes in a person’s lifestyle. The point is to cleverly make them ‘adapt as we go by’ so that they don’t feel they’re doing any extra work and still render a little help to the environment.
Keeping in mind that everybody knows polythene is harmful and kills our cows by chocking them to death. People continued to buy stuff in them and did not care at all. The initiative of charging money for polythene opened the eyes of the local masses and has proved successful as now no one wants to actually pay more form their pockets for something that can be replaced with free cloth bags available in their own homes.
We propose something similar as the trick is to inculcate a law or policy into the lives of the average man that would bind him to remain committed in good ways that help the environment. Spreading news about how their actions will affect biodiversity and will bring about climate change does nothing. We feel that the more authoritative, educated and responsible governments and NGOs must bring about such projects.
We propose something similar as the trick is to inculcate a law or policy into the lives of the average man that would bind him to remain committed in good ways that help the environment. Spreading news about how their actions will affect biodiversity and will bring about climate change does nothing. We feel that the more authoritative, educated and responsible governments and NGOs must bring about such projects.
To promote local biodiversity, we would like to propose a project that would benefit birds, butterflies and bees.
The Beautiful Biodiversity Project
Helping our Bees, Butterflies and Birds
Why save them? According to the Operation Bee campaign, there are primarily three reasons behind this-
Food Shortage because pollination or seed dispersal does not occur
Lack of Biodiversity
Economic Crisis
Who it involves? The local cleaning body, local government and NGOs, Schools
What is to be done? A collection of seeds of the plant species that attract bees, birds and butterflies can be done which can be distributed freely to homes who will plant them. An inspection during the course of the season can be done to ensure that this is being followed. Also, in the city, the home with the most eco-friendly adaptations can be handsomely rewarded. This would result in a healthy competition for the greater good. NGOs can assist the poorer families with this project as something needs to be done until its too late and our future generations no more get to see the sparrows perched on our window sills.
We suggest planting seasonal plants and trees that would give rise to blooms that would benefit local biodiversity, keeping in my plants that are available with ease in India
Observations have it that bees are attracted to blue, yellow and purple flowers. They prefer single whorled flowers to multiple whorled flowers. Moreover, a lawn that is excellently manicured will not be as inviting for them as one which has wild shrubbery and the like growing in abundance
Also, butterflies like flowers that have petals that are slightly bigger and in a variety of vibrant colours. Sweet smelling flowers are a favourite source of nectar for them.
Small birds like sparrows and humming-birds whose populations have had to bear the consequences of climate change and green belt removal within our cities will benefit from trees that have dense foliage for protection of nest. One should try planting these trees where they won’t be subjected to periodic trimming.
REPORT BY OUR MEMBER- NIKITA NAYAK
WITH- ASREEN ABDULLAH, SRISHTI BHATT, ANANYA MATHUR, OSHIN DEEPAK AND SHUBHANGI SAXENA.
WITH- ASREEN ABDULLAH, SRISHTI BHATT, ANANYA MATHUR, OSHIN DEEPAK AND SHUBHANGI SAXENA.
THE REPORT WAS DONE FOR THE EARTHIAN PROGRAM BY WIPRO THE REPORT WAS RECOGNIZED AS THE TOP 20 RESEARCH PAPERS AMONG 569 SCHOOLS IN INDIA.. :)
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