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Global Warming and Rethinking India’s
Development Strategy
Oak Brook, IL: India Development Coalition of
America (IDCA) organized a seminar on above topic on July 28, at the Oak
Brook library. There were three speakers who presented interesting
perspectives on this burning issues. Dr. Hari Lamba spoke on the
consequences of global warming for India, and what the country could do
to respond to this by the way of alternative energy and development
policies. He began by summarizing the consequences of global warming for
the world and the US, which he has described in his recent book, Rethinking
Progress
@ http://www.rethinkingprogress.com/
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He then
outlined what forum attendees could do in the US in terms of encouraging
alternative energy policies. He then described the consequences of
global warming for India, via extremes of climate, worsening natural
disasters, and the adverse impact on economy and health. He communicated
the fact that the Prime Minister of India had already become apprised of
the problem and had formed a committee to help him develop a strategy to
deal with global warming and related alternative energy issues.
Dr. Lamba then summarized the current situation
in terms of the energy use in India, and the current projected plans for
energy which place a heavy reliance on fossil fuels - coal, oil and
natural gas, and some on nuclear energy.
He advocated an alternative energy strategy for India that, while
increasing use of fossil fuels, would place a reduced reliance on them,
help use them with less pollution and with less carbon emissions, and at
the same time aggressively develop renewable energy - solar, wind,
biogas, biomass, geothermal and small scale hydro-electric. This will
help India become more self-reliant in energy, reduce the local
pollution, help rejuvenate natural resources (especially water), and
help the world solve the problem of global warming.
Following Dr. Lamba’s global perspective Mr. Prem Mehrotra, founder
and President of General Energy Corporation spoke about the alternative
energies that could be used for reducing global warming at the local
level. He described in
detail the zero energy building that has been built in Glenview,
Illinois. His firm was involved in planning the building which has
solar panels and vegetation on the roof.
Many energy saving techniques and technologies used in the
building were also discussed.
Dr. Tata Prakasam outlined ways one can trade carbon credits by using
green technologies and make money.
He was joined in a lively discussion by D. Vidyasagar, M.D. of
University of Illinois, Chicago.
India Development Coalition of America (IDCA)
promotes networking and collaboration among organizations and
individuals interested or engaged in promoting sustainable development
in India. Its mission is to inform, inspire, and involve people of
Indian origin, as well as others around the world, to support
projects in their native locales or elsewhere in India. IDCA encourages
financial gifts and facilitates volunteer opportunities. It organizes
seminars, workshops and annual conferences in the US and India focusing
on education, healthcare, water and livelihoods needs in India. IDCA
conducts and disseminates research on best practice and project
outcomes. To learn more about IDCA visit: www.idc-america.org.
Contact IDCA at: info@idc-america.org or by calling 630-303-9592.
IDCA is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation.
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