Way back in school, I heard a boy say the following words in the morning assembly, “Apples fell down like always, only Newton asked Why”. Of course, he discovered Gravity and hence disillusioned our ideas of becoming Superman and saving the Earth. Yet, to counter him humans used their brains to create airplanes and spaceships! But that is a separate story. While Newton did wonders by asking ‘Why’, the human race today is already aware of the ‘Why’ behind Climate Change.

And, hence, simply stopping at ‘Why’ won’t serve any purpose. Rudyard Kipling wrote some very beautiful lines:

We know What Climate Change is. We know Why it is being caused. We know since when it has been affecting us (especially in the last few decades). We know Where it is occurring (On our Mother Earth). We know who is causing it! (Us!) But WE also need to find the HOW of stopping it. Reversing its alarming effects.

Our efforts here at Chemozale 2010 (at Institute of Technology, Nirma University, Ahmedabad) transcend beyond the fact that we are students. We call ourselves Nature’s Advocates. A growing group of intellectually stimulated, purposefully driven individuals who are both trying to understand the complexity and also trying to find answers in our own big and small ways.

Chemozale 2010 Official Poster

Curiosity is one of the best teachers and we learned that while hosting Chemozale 2010 (The event’s eleventh edition), we should also address the pollution we would be causing. And, hence, our efforts are directed at not only not compromising the event quality but also offsetting all negative effects on the environment it will cause.

Hence, in addition to our Paper Drive (which is growing stronger and is getting increasing support from the people of Ahmedabad) that will provide 100 page used-A4 notebooks to public school students, the event will witness widespread planting of trees based on the evaluated Carbon emissions. Data for the quality and species of trees to be planted based on the agro-climatic conditions of Gujarat has been kindly granted to us by the Director of Research at Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, S. K. Nagar (Gujarat) and we are thankful to them for it.

We are in the process of finalizing the species to be chosen that will be planted in a mass campaign during the event to show Mother Earth our care and utmost concern.

The workshops on Climate Leadership Training and COP-15 (i.e. interaction with Copenhagen delegates) in association with Indian Youth Climate Network and 350.org is directed to help participants grab both the scientific and socio-political side of it. Where as, workshops on the Solar Cells is designed to bridge the gap between renewable sources and students (who can learn about it first hand and go on to adopt it in their roles as future leaders worldwide).

It comes as a surprise that the exhibition EnvironTech ‘10, a very bold effort, has been taken on by a student body, but due to our strong team and association with EnvironXChange.com, the exhibition is going to be an eye-opener for hundreds of people (both for delegates across India and the public of Ahmedabad and around).

In our own way, we are trying to walk of the talk of our theme which we whole-heartedly believe in: GO GREEN or DIE YOUNG!

These were a few HOWs that we have begun with at Chemozale 2010 and hope to see everyone take this mission forward and extend it in their personal/professional lives in all ways possible. Changing from a light bulb to a CFL is not a very tedious job! A journey of a 1000 miles begins with a small step. Chemozale 2010, we hope, is a giant leap to begin with and thn accelerate.

Advocating for Nature is every human’s birthright. Make full use of it! Attend Chemozale 2010 here.