Our ecology needs to be preserved. Of course environmental changes take place at their own pace can be a matter of concern but human indifference coupled with irresponsible lifestyles are hastening change.
Our ecology needs to be preserved. Of course environmental changes take place at their own pace can be a matter of concern but human indifference coupled with irresponsible lifestyles are hastening change. The recent disaster at Kerala is bewildering. Its better to understand the status of the ecology and take affirmative action.
A large number of NGOs like Siruthuli are doing their bit in Coimbatore and in the rest of the country. The experiences of Scientists like Swarna Muthukrishnan will help us to reduce the gap between the ' cup and the lip'. Swarna Muthuskrishnan is a Staff Scientist at ' Clean Ocean Action ' and she bubbles with energy and concern while speaking about the environment.
Learning more about the seamless nature of work done in connection with the environment in the developed world will definitely help the people in our country to put their act together. Its about time that this is addressed. Lets all fasten our seat belts.
The energetic couple, Karthik and Swarna live in New Jersey at the USA. Scientist Swarna had done her B.Sc in Chemistry from the Meenakshi College in Chennai. She has furthered her academic credentials by completing her M.Sc ( Environmental Chemistry ) from A.C.Tech and also by doing her M.Phil in Environmental Science from the Anna University. This was followed by a Ph.D on the same subject from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Swarna moved over to the USA thereafter and this Chennai born Indian has done a course in pharmaceutical chemistry in the University of Florida and has also completed a water related course ( UNSECO ).
Swarna has been in the USA from the year 2001 and has worked for the US Environment Protection Agency. The scientist was at Coimbatore in order to inculcate values that will impel school going kids to take affirmative action with regard to the environment. She spent time in a number of schools along with Priyadarsini and other volunteers connected with the T.K.Subramaniam Memorial Students Support Programme.
Swarna spoke at length about her work in the USA and her experience helps us to understand the seamless nature of the process in the developed world.
" I used to work on storm water management. American Water is the largest waste water & drinking water utility in the USA. Research is this entity is connected with waste water treatment technology, drinking water research ( disinfection research ) and reclaimed water research. I co own three patents in waste water treatment.
I have now moved over to ' Clean Ocean Action ', a non profit which works out of the New York & New Jersey territory. We try to use scientific expertise to make real world changes. We use citizen science and grass roots people are involved in projects like water shed management. Currently we are trying to restore hundred square miles of watershed.
Its a shell fish harvest territory and the water quality has gone down because of the urban area run off. Now shell fish harvesting is banned in the River Navisink territory. We also interact with officials and legislators ( policy makers ) in order to extend our influence over policy making in the interest of the ecology and its enormously and is purely based on scientific findings.
There is a policy attorney at ' Clean Ocean Action ' and this helps us to approach the subject legally. It helps us advocate better policies for eco management. Now we are working on a state level policy on banning single use plastics. The other area of work is connected with plastics & micro plastics research.
Litters are a huge problem. About 7000 volunteers clean up the 70 beaches in the New Jersey area, Through our data collection system, we monitor the debris regularly. The data helps us to implement policy. Thanks to this exercise, smoking is banned on the beaches. I write articles and present papers from a scientific stand point. A lot of documentation connected with proposed legislations are reviewed by me.
The documents contain several hundreds pages. I provide constructive criticism. The book - The Use of Best Practices in Urban Storm Water Run Off, is co authored by me. The other co authors are Richard Field and Ari Selvakumar.
Right now I have been chosen to participate in the ' Water Leadership Institute ' as a Fellow by the World Environment Federation ( WEF ). This is a leadership programme and is specifically for water industry professionals. I am happy to share my bit with the good natured volunteers at Coimbatore", shared the Scientist Swarna Muthukrishnan.
The Fellowship programme will culminate at the prestigious WEFTECH Conference. More than 135 applications come in from USA, Mexico, Brazil etc., and about 60 are chosen on a competitive basis. The water industry professionals hail from a number of quarters which include a number of segments ( drinking water, waste water, engineering firms who consult and some of they include state run companies also ).
The participants are either engineers or water treatment professionals and Swarna is among the few Indians who have been part of this leadership programme. Emerging leaders in the water sector from the NGO world and the world of business are identified through this programme.
Grassroots work followed by study, scientific analysis, understanding the environmental impact of pollution, creation of an eco wish list, working on the possibilities through brainstorming and debate, converting the same into a document, making the document into a legal draft, discussing with officials and legislators, converting all of this into a bill and getting it passed in the interest of the environment with the aid of policy makers, officials, voluntary support, grass roots work and scientific inquiry is being practiced in the developed world by organizations like ' Clean Ocean Action '. The work is seamless.
Indians like Swarna Muthukrishnan are doing well for themselves and the environment in the developed world. The role and experience of Scientists like Swarna would definitely add value to the environmental work taking place at the grass roots level, scientific level and policy level in our country.