Dwaraka Doss Govardhen Doss Vaishav College’s School of Management conducted their first International Conference on Sustainable Innovation, Confluence 2017, on October 25th.
Our Director and Chief Designer, Ms. Pavitra Sriprakash gave the keynote address of this conference. In her talk, she stressed on the importance of adapting to CHANGE in order to SURVIVE. With the earth’s resources being depleted at a terrible rate, Ms.Pavitra believed that unless we made a conscious effort to take the responsibility soon, we may perish.
Therefore, she pointed out that at such a juncture, it is very important for us to come out with sustainable and innovative solutions to problems that lie ahead of us. In fact, she said that sustainability and innovation go hand in hand in creating a better world. For instance, at a recent zero waste event conducted by Reciprocity Foundation, ( a foundation working towards holistic sustainability) to avoid use of plastic, food was sold in banana fiber cups which were made by underprivileged women. She expressed her passion towards working for holistic development in communities where there is social, cultural and environmental sustainability.
Ms. Pavitra who represents the building/real estate industry and pointed out that buildings globally contribute to 6% of green house gas emissions and in India the statistic stands at 7%.
On thetrending topic of Smart Cities, Ms.Pavitra believed that this project has a lot of potential in bringing out sustainable solutions. According to Ms.Pavitra, for a city to be smart, it needs to be responsive to the people’s needs and its changes need to be relevant for the population living there. Adequate water and electricity, good transport and infrastructure facilities, recycling and waste disposal, health and education, were some of the elements of a smart city mentioned by Ms.Pavitra.
She also cleared the air surrounding the myth that sustainable and eco friendly solutions come at a high price. On the contrary, she said, they reduce cost as less resources are used.
She also spoke on the importance of dreaming big when it came to sustainable living and looking to solve answers to these problems.
Can we develop waterless detergents? Can we breed rice that grows without water? Can biodegradable packaging seed the earths with plants and trees?
We need to be angry, she said, angry enough to want change, only to realize that the future is ours for taking.