Brief Report of Guest Lecture organized on Climate Change - it's
Science, Effects and Mitigation Strategies by Gyan Sangam Club
of Jaipuria, LRC
On Friday, 29 July 2016, Gyan Sangam Club, the library club of Jaipuria, Noida
organized a guest lecture under SGA activities. Topic of the guest lecture was Climate
Change - it's Science, Effects and Mitigation Strategies. It was organized on occasion of
World Nature Conservation Day that falls on 28 July 2016 every year. Lecture was
organized for all the sections of first year students divided into two sessions.
Mr. Krishan Kalra was the Guest Speaker. An engineer by education, Mr. Krishan Kalra
has worked in the corporate world for 38 years, followed by 7 years as Additional
Secretary General of FICCI and another 3 years as Secretary General of the PHD
Chamber of Commerce. He is past president of All India Management Association
(AIMA) and Delhi Management Association (DMA). He has also served on the Board of
Governors of IIM Kolkata for 5 years and as a member of the PHD Chamber Managing
Committee for 10 years. Mr. Kalra now does voluntary work in the areas of skill
development, health care, environment conservation, urban development and
empowerment of visually impaired persons. He is associated with Indian Branch of an
International NGO (climatereality.org).
Introducing the guest, Mr. Jitender Sharma requested Prof. Banasree Dey to welcome
Mr. Kalra with a bouquet of flowers.
Putting light on the topic and brief background, Mr. Jitender Sharma mentioned the
famous quote of Mahatma Gandhi “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs,
but not every man's greed.” He went on describing how over the last one century, we
have exploited mother earth beyond its capacity and played with fine balance of ecology
in the name of development that has caused our atmosphere to grossly heat up resulting
in climate change.
He cited how year 2016 has been predicted to be the hottest year and how in May 2016,
five islands that were part of Solomon Islands, a nation of over 100 islands washed away
and disappeared due to rising seas and erosion as a result of climate change and global
warming. Citing the example of farmers taking their lives for crops failure due to severe
drought or floods as a result of climate change, he urged everyone that agreement made
in Paris Climate Talks during December 2015 has provided us with a last chance to save
this planet with a strong resolve and action.
Mr. Kalra in his an hour long talk described in detail impact of climate change on the
whole world. Citing examples from all corners of the world, he demonstrated how no
nation irrespective of rich or poor has been affected by Climate change.
He mentioned how 93 per cent of heat produced is absorbed by oceans and seas but that
has heated up them and resulting in permanent damage of marine life. Many islands
have either drowned under water or at the verge of sub-merging. He mentioned energy
trapped by man-made global warming pollution is equivalent of exploding 400,000
Hiroshima atomic bombs per day. He also mentioned continually increasing CO2
concentration in the atmosphere.
Through his slides, he demonstrated how glaciers are melting and shrinking and how
global warming has not spared any nation rich or poor. He mentioned about how crops
yields and their nutrition values are reducing as a result of rise in temperature and how
rising temperatures has given rise to new wide spread diseases.
Finally he offered solutions to the problem in terms of using solar energy rather than
fossil fuels, reduce waste, conservation of all natural resources etc. He mentioned that
India can save US$42 billion by enhancing energy efficiency. He showed some examples
of states like Gujarat, Rajasthan who have taken lead in solar panel installations and
how others also have started taking initiatives on this front. He also suggested of using
wind energy that has potential to provide energy 40 times than the current energy
consumption.
Finally he concluded his session by quoting Mahatama Gandhi “Be the change that you
want to see in the world”.
Prof. Moid proposed vote of thanks for the session.
Later, Mr. Kalra again delivered his lecture to the remaining two sections of the first
year. Students in full strength were present during both the sessions and learnt new
insights about importance and impact of climate change to their lives. They pledged to
do their best in terms of reducing waste and using renewable energy sources as much as
possible.