Integrated Human Practices
Our project stems from an ever increasing need to address and tackle the issue of environmental pollution. Our interactions with the slum dwellers of Mohali, Punjab made us conscious of their inability to get access to clean and green sources of fuel which therefore forced them to breathe in toxic gases released upon burning cheap firewood. We immediately understood that the need of the hour is to stop further damage to our environment and make people aware of the steps to be taken in order to stop the crucifixion of our Mother Earth; but firstly we needed a way to assess the level of toxicants present in our atmosphere. This inspired us to design a cost-effective model based on co-cultures that could detect, capture, and consume pollutants from the air that we breathe. Our intention is to market this color based biosensor cum detoxifier as a cheap wristband model that can be worn by anyone to assess the level of contaminants present in the air that we breathe.
Thus, people can be better cautioned to adopt greener practices in their life including:
1) Adopting a non-smoking lifestyle.
2) Encouraging the government to distribute clean gas to poverty stricken slum dwellers for cooking, as opposed to burning firewood.
Slum Awareness
With the aim of creating awareness among people, which is the prerequisite for mass revolution, the following activities were carried out by the iGEM team members:
Awareness session for pollution control and waste management conducted by team members at the Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Mandi Village, New Delhi, 110047 on 23rd September 2017. 10:00 Hrs.
During this session, children were told the very basic steps that can be taken at the individual level to contribute towards pollution control and waste management. It was an event where we learnt as much as we taught as the students too came up with several innovative ideas to deal with the environmental problems being faced by the society paving the path to development for countries like India.
A slum survey was done and people living there were given guidance to lead a healthy life. The details of the same are as written below:
Time and Date: 17:30 Hrs - 20:00 Hrs on 07-10-2017 and 17:30 Hrs - 19:00 Hrs on 08-10-2017. Place: Jagatpura, Beside Sector 48-C, Chandigarh (30.679218, 76.756539). The team members met 5 families and 2 cluster joint families, consisting of 6 nuclear families each. It was found that:
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All of them had settled temporarily and most of them had no identity proof. People settled there were from different states - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Punjab. No sanitary facilities were available in their settlements. All of them defecated openly near the drainage that passed through the slums. No waste disposal mechanism was provided. Large piles of plastic were seen everywhere. Except two families that alternatively used gas, all others permanently used wood as fuel for Cooking food. Wood, used as fuel, was mainly procured from nearby woodland and waste grounds. While some said they picked the dry, dead branches, others axed out fresh trees and dried them in their localities. Also we were told that whenever they came to know about any clearing of forests for industrial purposes by the government, they picked up wood from there in masses.During winters, even those who use gas, shift to wood burning as they don't want to spend their money on heaters nor electricity.
Despite government distribution of free gas connection, most of them couldn’t register for it due to the lack of address proof for their temporary settlements. On being asked about the government scheme Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, they said that the number of people using wood as fuel has fallen a lot but hasn’t dropped to a nil. It was found that nearby government toilets charged Rs. 5 for one instance and it was not known if the charge that was procured was on a legal basis.
We told the people about the issues with using wood as fuel, about the breathing problems it can lead to in a long run and also about the pollutants released in the environment as a consequence of such practices. Also we told them about the problems associated with open defecation since it leads to mixing of toxic substances and harmful bacteria with underground water sources.
Green Survey
We conducted a green survey via a set of questions and collated data from the responses we got from various countries. The countries that participated include India, France, Sweden, Costa Rica, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Taiwan, Slovenia, Hong Kong, Brazil, Panama, Honduras, Mexico, Spain, Egypt, Chile and Bulgaria. The total number of responses came out to be 119. This survey highlighted many aspects that need to be taken care of if we wish to make people participate in mitigating the effects or controlling further pollution:
58.5 % of the population does experience the effects of pollution in their everyday life. This includes problems becoming very common like respiratory problems and troubles in vision to be counted as a few among them. This points towards the fact that people do realize the problems associated with pollution and this would help in motivating them to work towards it.
33.1 % responses were received for either-‘They do not know” about "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle" or they know but do not practice. This calls for large scale awareness!
Among all the people that participated in the survey, 39.3 % never make use of the public transport. This occurs due to many reasons including poor transport facilities, using personal vehicles as a symbol of status, lack of awareness about advantages of car pool system etc. The number of personal vehicles increase the carbon-footprint many fold contributing heavily to not only pollution but also to the quick consumption of resources like petrol, diesel, etc. This can be checked by focusing on improving the status of public transport facilities which would incentivize more people to use them.
The results of the survey shows that 58.8% of people think that the governing authorities are not taking up effective measures to check the issue of pollution. This calls for attention on the part of the higher authorities like Pollution Control Boards. Furthermore, this needs to be focused upon mainly in the developed countries due to higher energy demands in comparison to those of the developing or under-developed countries.
In short, the survey points out the requirement of awareness among the public, to encourage their participation with the authorities, the latter being required to be more responsible on their part to take actions to deal with the pollution and waste related issues.
Fountain Pen Survey
Our dependency on plastic items has increased many fold. So recently we issued a Google Form and asked people to mention the number of pens they used throughout a year with the typically used brand. We recorded 26 responses to it which we will present here.
