The clock is ticking and we are seven years and 148 days away from an irreversible environmental catastrophe of 1.5 degree rise in temperature. This was the grim warning of Chetan Singh Solanki, who is on an 11-year mission to change energy illiteracy in the country.
He was sitting at the edge of the Neknampur lake, with dozens of students listening to the dire forecast if citizens don’t change their behaviour. “Get rid of your refrigerator. Limit your energy consumption. Eat fresh locally produced food. It is a battle of now or never,” said Mr. Solanki who is travelling in an energy efficient customised bus that is taking him and three others through the length and breadth of the country. Inside the bus, there are different markers about the journey, the road map and the goal. But the one marker remains the ticking clock of doom: 7 years and 148 days.
“We must remember Mahatma Gandhi’s message that the earth has everything for everyone’s needs but not everyone’s greed. When we take more than we need, we are stealing from the environment,” said Mr. Solanki who teaches at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.
