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ENVIRONMENTALIST OF THE WEEK

RAONI METUKTIRE Born in 1930, Raoni Metuktire is an environ-mentalist and chief of the indigenousBrazilian Kayapo people (a BrazilianIndigenous group). He is the figurehead ofthe fight against deforestation in theAmazon, and is famous as a living symbol ofthe global fight for the preservation of theAmazon rainforest and indigenous culture.AGENCIES

ENVIRONMENT02

Lessons from

Meet 84-year-old Mumbai-based Aabid Surti,who is nothing less than a ‘water warrior’, fighting tosave every drop of water that goes to wastedue to our complacency-lednegligence Every Sunday, Aabid Surti, an

award-winning Indian author,goes door-to-door to correct leaky

taps in the Mumbai suburbs of Mira Road,his neighbourhood. He goes around askingif there are any leaks that can be fitted. “Weare offering free plumbing service, Is there anyleakage in your bathroom, toilet, or kitchen,” asksSurti. The activity takes him a couple of hours, butit could save litres of water, something India is shortof. The octogenarian is much better known for many ofhis other vocations. He wears many hats — author, painter, cartoonist, and a screen-play writer. The additional feather is that of an environmentalist. With the launchof latest book ‘Sufi’, Surti has penned over 80 books till date along with seven plays.He was given the President’s Award for his book named ‘Teesri Aankh’ in 1993.

“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what weare doing to ourselves and to one another.” Chris Maser

A MISSION TO FIXLEAKY FAUCETS

Surti’s Drop Dead Foundation in2007 is now funded by the gov-ernment, Azim Premji,

Amitabh Bachchan among others.His crusade to save water started

when he read somewhere that in onesecond if one drop falls then in amonth, thousand litres of water goesdown the drain. “Since I am a car-toonist, I could imagine somebodydrowning 1000 bottles of Bisleri intoa drain,” he says. Between 2007 and2008, he visited 1,666 houses at MiraRoad to fix over 500 leaky faucets andsaved 4.14 million litres of water. “Wehave conserved 20 million litres inten years,” he said. His aim to targetresidential areas with middle-classor lower-middle-class people.

He is now inspiring more youngcrusaders like him, and his model isnow a part of school books.

100 MILLION SUFFERING

India probably had the worst yearin terms of monsoons, floods andwater crisis. And more cities could

suffer from lack of water for basicneeds, just like Chennai did this year.According to NITI Aayog, 21 majorcities are expected to be devoid ofgroundwater by 2020. As many as 100million people in the country are al-ready suffering from the nation-widewater crisis. And a small beginningto try and slow down this deep crisisis by saving whatever little we have-— one tap at a time. According to asurvey, ‘A dripping tap can waste 20,000litres of water in a year’. Surti wish-es what he started would spread acrossthe country and the world and becomea global movement. BI

2According to the Royal Horticultural Society,the best time to water most outdoor plants is

in the early morning or evening.This is because watering in theafternoon can lead to water lossthrough evaporation, since it isgenerally the warmest part ofthe day. That is not good foryour plants or your budget.

3If you have been looking foran excuse to indulge in a new

shower head, here is one — whenyou install a high-efficiency faucet

aerator or showerhead, you can savealmost 3,500 gallons of water peryear. That adds up to major savings

and is better for the environment.

4Fixing a leaky faucet is no one’s idea of an excit-ing afternoon, but letting leaky fixtures drip can

cost you serious cash and waste water.According to the US EnvironmentalProtection Agency, a leaking faucet

can waste up to 3,000 gallons per year.

5Even highly-efficient modern washing machinestypically use 8 to 12 gallons of water per cycle,

according to laundrymachine maker Samsung.Although it is not goodpractice to stuff yourwashing machine to themax, running this water-hungry appliance withjust a few items of cloth-ing inside is a seriouswaste of resources and money.

YOUR GREEN CHECKLIST

THE LATEST

INTERTWINED! A pair of wild forest elephantsfight in Bayanga EquatorialForest. This forest is part ofthe Dzanga Sangha Reserveand is the last refuge of forestelephants and Central Africangorillas, in south-westernCentral African Republic. Dueto the increase in poachingamid an ongoing internalconflict, the number of largemammals in the CentralAfrican Republic hasdecreased by 94% in 30 years,according to a 2018 Ecofaunereport. In the north of thecountry, all rhinos, giraffesand savanna elephants havedisappeared. AFP

Are sun creams bad for oceans? ‘Reef-safe’ is the new buzz-word in suntan lotions - butcan swapping your SPF helpsave the planet and keep youprotected?

Wearing a sunscreen every sin-gle day – a high factor onewith UVA and UVB protec-

tion – is the single-most importantthing you can do for your skin. It is vi-tal for preventing sun damage, themain cause of both ageing and skincancer. But now there are whispersthat our SPF usage is harming theplanet and killing coral reefs – how doyou combine the best protection withas little harm as possible?

Are sunscreens really damaging our oceans?Yes. Two chemicals in particular –oxybenzone and octinoxate. Accord-ing to skincare expert David Delport,“There is a lot of data that these chem-icals destroy corals very quickly andeven in small quantities.” Hawaii andFlorida are both banning sales of SPFcontaining them. But, says David,“These are the ones we know about.We don’t know what damage otherchemicals do. A reef is more than justcoral — every organism needs to beconsidered.” Some holiday destina-tions are now considering bans on all

chemical SPFs; the island nationof Palau near the Philippines

is banning 10 chemicals, in-cluding the common oc-

tocrylene.

Is suncream pollution thebiggest problem facing reefs?Not by a long shot. “The single biggestproblem is human-induced climatechange,” says oceanographer Dr Si-mon Cripps. “Carbon emissions arecausing the seas to warm up, killingthe algae that the coral needs to sur-vive. There is also run-off from farm-land near reefs that starves the coralof light, damage from trawling and dy-namite fishing, and pollution, espe-cially single-use plastic”, he adds.

Will swapping my sunscreenreally make a difference?“Actually yes,” says Dr Cripps. “As in-dividuals, there is not a lot we can doto make the oceans cooler – that’s aglobal job – but we can help to limitother factors causing stress to thecoral. Reducing the chemicals in thewater could help make the coral moreresilient to other stress factors, like

the rising temperature.”

1Choose sunscreens that don’tcontain oxybenzone or octi-

noxate: Check ingredient lists asmany big brands don’t use thesetwo. Cream formulas are prefer-able to aerosols. If you are holi-daying near reefs, choose physical(mineral-based SPFs), rather thanchemical blocks.

2Use waterproof sunscreenwhen swimming: It bonds to

the skin, so less comes off in thewater. Also try once-a-day formu-las so you apply less of it. Followthe instructions carefully, and re-member even waterproof sun-screens are not towel-proof, so ifyou dry off, reapply.

3Let it dry off: Apply sunscreenat least 20 min before you swim.

Allowing waterproof formulas todry properly is essential to themworking correctly and preventsthem getting washed off while youare in the sea.

4Think bigger: Choose prod-ucts that use recyclable pack-

aging. Do not litter beaches withempty bottles (or anything else);find out about local recycling; ortake your plastic home with youwhere you can recycle it correct-ly. Besides this, look for brandsthat support or donate to envi-ronmental charities.

5Consider swimwear with spfprotection: Then you do not

need to wear sunscreen underneathas it is equivalent to an SPF50, soyou only need cream on areas thatare not covered. DAILY MIRROR

BUYING A SUNSCREEN?REMEMBER THIS

More environmentalscientists needed inIndia, say experts

In view of rising pollutionacross the world, the needfor experts in this field has

become a necessity. There is ashortage of skilled workforceneeded by different industriesin the field of environment.

WHAT ARE YOURCAREER OPTIONS?

The sector has a plethora of jobopportunities such as environ-mental scientists, environ-mental biologists, environ-mental engineer, environmen-tal modellers, environmentaljournalist, environmental con-sultants, environmental man-ager, lecturer, wildlife film-mak-er, environmental photogra-pher, conservation hydrologistand director of waste manage-ment to offer to those opting forany course in EnvironmentalScience.

INDUSTRY “Skilled and semi-skilled per-sons in this field can be em-ployed in the pollution controlboard, water authority and ur-ban planning, food processingindustries, refineries, distill-eries, fertiliser plants andmany more. The higher stud-ies are also an important fieldto go in research and teaching,”says Rajesh Kumar Ranjan, as-sistant professor, departmentof Environmental Science,Central University of South Bi-har, Gaya.

Contrary to Ranjan, JNUprofessor Amit Kumar Mishrasays that job opportunities forthe environmentalist in Indiaare still limited as compared

to western countries. Mishraalso emphasises that one needsto be passionate about the en-vironment before stepping intothis field. Apart from jobs, thesector has plenty of researchopportunities in India as wellas abroad. In the private sec-tor there are opportunitiesavailable in the environmen-tal consultancy

COMPENSATION The average salary offered mayrange anywhere from `3-`8lakh per annum depend on theexpertise and skills in thisfield. The minimum fellowshipfor research being offered bythe government is currently`31,000 monthly.

WHERE TO APPLYCertificate, diploma, bachelors,master’s and PhD are majorcategories of courses offeredby various universities such asDelhi University, JNU, AMUAligarh, NEERI Nagpur, FRIDehrdun, ISM Dhanbad, BHUVaranasi, various Central Uni-versities, Amity University,JSS University Mysore,Vikram University, Ujjain, Pat-na University, Magadh Uni-versity, Bodhgaya , and othereducational institutions acrossthe country. EDUCATION TIMES

Are you planning to become one? Here is yourchecklist on how to go about it

The inclusion of eco-friendlypractices in industries andsustainable developmentshas resulted has lead to agrowth in the the demandfor experts in environmentalsciences

On August 13, it was announced thatthe Delhi government will emulate en-vironmentalist Aabid Surti’s model andrun a pilot project to prevent waterleakage problem in a South Delhi lo-cality. The results of this pilot projectwill help in deciding better on how thisproject can be implemented across theCapital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriw-al said. According to Surti’s model,teams knock at everyone’s doors andappeal to them to check whether thereis any form of water leakage in the res-idences from any source – taps ortanks. In case a leakage is found,then they are fixed immediate-ly by the plumbers who are partof the team. This minimises wa-ter loss.

WATER WARRIOR

He is Mumbai city’s ‘Water Warrior’ and introduced a water con-servation model in 2007 through his ‘one-man’ NGO, Drop DeadFoundation. “Whenever I see a tap dripping, my heartbeats. I just

get disturbed,” he says. And this choice came after he saw his mother’sstruggles during his humble beginnings. “I was brought up at the pave-ment, and I have seen my mother standing in the queue for long hoursto get just a bucket full of water. I have seen people fighting over water,”Surti says.

ARE YOU WASTING WATER? HERE IS HOW YOU CAN AVOID WASTING WATERBY INCORPORATING THESE SIMPLE CHANGES:

1You probably don’t think twice about givingyour dusty terrace or porch a quick rinse

with a hose, but it is a wasteful way to keepyour home tidy. Considering that a garden hosecan emit between 6 and 24 gallons of waterper minute, you are much better off sweepingyour outdoor living areas with a broom.

WARRIOR A WATER