Ecology and green living

Sustainable Development

Sustainable development

Dr.N.C.Martin, Ph.D

Lecturer – HOD

Department of Social Work

Shree Chandra Prabhu Jain College

Minjur, Chennai.

 

After independence several development efforts in India created a lot of mess with misguided policies. The immediate task in front of us is it to clean up this mess. We have 50 crores of people living in rural areas excluding rich-to do households. These people live in mainly rain-fed areas. The resources are limited for these people. From a population of 100 crores 70% of are poor. Majority of the lands owned by them are categorized as wastelands where yields are about 0.5 to 1 ton of grain per hectare Forests and pastures have been highly degraded, and the top soil has been eroded or deprived of nutrients. Usually one crop per year (with poor yield) is cultivated in these areas due to inadequate irrigation facilities. On the whole, the present natural resource endowment in this region appears quite bleak. Even though we talk about privatization, there is no real investment in agriculture, especially in these rain-fed areas that are outside the much hyped “Green Revolution” areas.  That is why the theme of this talk is “turning the present crisis to an opportunity.” In fact, by the combination of a scientific and participatory approach to land improvement and micro-watershed management a sufficiently large bio-mass surplus can be achieved in these areas.

The basis of industrialization is energy. We need to identify the energy needs based on “end-use.” This is the departure from Western calculations of energy needs. The main departure is we must look at energy in the following areas:

 

Materials: Steel, metals etc.

Synthetic Polymers: PVC, polyethylene, adhesives etc.

Liquid fuels

Cement

 

In developed countries, energy needs are looked as the availability of “gas and/or gasoline” and electricity. There can be a major leap in rural infrastructure (villages & small towns), economy and livelihoods if 5T of coal-equivalent energy supply is available per family per year. We currently make available only 0.5-1 ton. However, there is capacity to provide this level of energy with 50% from solar and other 50% from materials such as bamboo, small timber chemical intermediates from plants (such as non-edible oils, phenols, starch, ethanol) etc. So far we have been neglecting solar energy. Currently, from the point of end-use, 40% of energy from coal is in the form of steam (or heat). Steam can also be produced at low-cost by solar-thermal systems. An overhead of a low-cost, high-performance solar thermal equipment, fabricated at Bhusawal (Maharashtra) was shown.

 

Bamboo as a material for infrastructure

In Andhra Pradesh a large arched-roof community-hall type structure using engineered bamboo elements was built three years ago taking the local conditions as part of the design (overhead shown with the structure). In fact this structure, while built as a cyclone resistant structure, turned out to be the optimal design after exhaustive CAD studies.

Another example is in the case of village/small-town roads, where bamboo-grid reinforcement of the road base, (along with natural or synthetic fabric under layer for preventing water entry from below & sides) has enabled the construction of very durable roads (overhead shown).

 

A side note: There are instances in China, where bamboo used for some applications have survived 2000 years.  The point is that preservation treatment of bamboo is not a major issue, particularly so with modern techniques. We glorify traditional knowledge only because times tested lessons are the only ones remain for us to glorify from traditions and they deserve to be studied as sources of knowledge.

 

Using modern knowledge of structural engineering, and the inherently superior properties of bamboo, engineered wood-bamboo composite structural members with innovative joining techniques have been designed which are as strong and durable as reinforced cement columns and beams (overhead shown). Of course, these do need skilled labor. But, then local artisans can be trained in rural areas, leading to rapid increase in livelihood opportunities and the capacity to build excellent rural infrastructure at very low cost. The main point is that we need to look at the approaches of using traditional resources to meet our energy needs. Fortunately, there is a small but important segment of people who do want to look at eco-friendly resources for alternate energy needs. The question to ask is “if we can not provide something do we have the right to use it?” The science has given us the ability to make otherwise worthless material into valuable products. (E.g. silicon for computer chips, optical cables in stead of copper as medium).

 

After all, all mining activity basically involves converting mud or rocks into materials to which we attach greater value. If we can use modern knowledge properly, half of the energy needs have deprived rural areas and small towns can come from solar-thermal energy, while the other half can come from in the form of high-value materials and chemical intermediates from biomass. But to achieve this we need a different world-view. We need to look at the concept of producers & users (or consumers). These are all part of the same global system. Ultimately, economics is all about value-addition, whether the value-addition is in the form of primary production (agriculture, fishery, forestry), manufacturing, services or the arts.  However, “ADDING VALUE WITHOUT A VALUE SYSTEM IS NOT SOCIALLY OR Ecologically DESIRABLE”

 

How do you plan to reform current education system in India with alternate energy emphasis?

We need to have programs such as “education at work place” and options such as Open University. In fact if we have a life-time partnership between producers and students with real world experience, we can hope to train students better equipped to handle these activities.

Are there structural studies done for bamboo?

Yes. In fact there are many studies including computations of Young’s Modulus, specific gravity etc. done and classification and categorization work is also being done. It is indeed possible and being done in terms of modeling and analyzing bamboo as a building material. We are rapidly moving towards development of quality standards for engineered bamboo at levels required for ISO certification.

 

Consider the following scenario being looked at currently:

Suppose we have 20 students per teacher, with 10 teachers helping out 20 days per year. They are given 1000 Rs.. Then there will be a post graduate student working in one village first year and expand to three villages next year. In one district we want to select two areas of 5000 hectares each and create a network of the above mentioned set up and encourage the concept of open learning. A possible scenario is a practicing ITI student with real world experience can challenge an academic IIT an equipped with no practical knowledge. That will be the ultimate achievement of bringing users and producers together in the education system.

 

Activity

Forest Village: Produce primary products i.e. bio-mass, wind and hydro energy; avoid unproductive water losses and erosion. Forest fringe settlement: Processing of bio-mass & local mineral to produce intermediate products. Village Producers: Grain pulses etc. for food security. Small Town & Rural neighbors: Fabricate equipment & produce material required for infrastructure and energy sector to serve entire population. Urban fringe settlement: With Internet connectivity & market opportunity, we can convert intermediate products according to consumer demand. Metropolitan cities & large energy intensive industry: These can become major demand centers. The consequences of this activity are:

Reducing distance between produce and consumers, thereby reducing prices, creating more livelihood opportunities in rural areas, and enabling better governance & conflict resolution through convergent community action.

Income generation in dispersed town so that common people benefit from reduced cost of land and infrastructure.

Overall reduction in transmission and transport cost as well as associated losses.

System Management and Policy

System management can be improved by setting up service enterprises for energy generation and distribution. A joint sector leasing and financing company with participation of the state renewable energy development agencies, private enterprises, professionals, user groups and cooperatives of artisans is an attractive prospect. This will help to separate the ownership and service functions. A pre-requisite of success is social acceptability of a two part tariff system where basic service will be provided at affordable price by availing of existing generation of distribution facilities and concession for development of renewable energy sources.

 

The elements of sustainable development have challenged and stretched our thinking as we’ve worked with it the past eight years in pre-collegiate school setting. It’s relatively simple to develop Environmental Education materials or lessons to teach economics. It’s not even that difficult to put them together. But to add the equity leg of the stool, which is rarely addressed in school settings, and to ask what fairness issues also need to be addressed not only makes the curriculum developer stop and think, it excites students who have a natural passion for fairness. It moves the lesson from simpler to more complex thinking. It calls for creative solutions to some of our species’ recalcitrant problems. The increased difficulty for the lesson writer is paid back manifold in the engagement of students in real issues and growth in the treatment of open-ended controversy. Students join the global community of international bureaucrats, governmental representatives, business executives and union members, environmental professionals and local citizens in a stimulating, sometimes frustrating, but always energizing ride on an accelerating learning curve.

What is sustainable development? The full answer’s not in yet, and probably never will be. But the direction toward the answer is getting clearer all the time.

References:

K.R. Datye, Mass Utilization of Renewable Energy: Scenario for 2025, Society for Promoting Participative Eco-system Management (SOPPECOM)

John W. Twidell & Anthony D. Weir, “Renewable Energy Resources” National Academy of Sciences, “Energy for Rural Development”

World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987

About the Author

Dr.N.C.Martin, Ph.D
Lecturer – HOD
Department of Social Work
Shree Chandra Prabhu Jain College
Minjur, Chennai

Training program for sustainable development of rural areas