In the recent past months there has been a lot of noise regarding the Copenhagen summit on climate change, Kyoto protocol commitments, Green House Gas emissions, sustainability etcetera on a global scale. Closer home the bad monsoons have resulted in droughts and shortage of drinking water supply, erratic climate patterns. All these have resulted in a call for adoption of “Green” approach towards everything, every process, life cycle and toward every human need - be it built forms, water, fuel resources, food or any materialistic & non materialistic pursuit. “Green” has become the keyword for development now.
Why green? What is that “Green” signifies’ that today this keyword “green” has come to be associated with every process, every structure, and every community that we imagine for the future? “Green” is just a color, a median among a rainbow of colors and yet there are countless voices which can be heard from across continents of the world which talk about a “Green” future. What then signifies this green movement? Just as the trees and plants convert Carbon dioxide to Oxygen, replenishing or renewing our atmosphere with fresh oxygen, so that our ecological environment (also consisting of human and other species of life) can “sustain” in this world for a long time, we need to have mechanisms, community and possibly structure which carry on the same endeavor – sustainability. So we can have Sustainable communities, sustainable buildings, sustainable processes and mechanism. Metaphorically, the term “Green” has been used to mean “sustainability”, being inspired from the color of trees/plants in general, which otherwise essay the nature defined role of sustainability.
In the Built environment space, we have “Green Buildings” which thanks to the pioneering role of Robert K Watson and the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) in the development of LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Ratings system have become benchmark for sustainability. In India, there is the Indian Green Buildings Council (IGBC), a licentiate of the USGBC’s LEED® rating system, which promotes the development of “Green buildings” in India. The Indian Government is also promoting an indigenously developed rating system GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment), promoted by TERI (The Environmental Research Institute) and also the Energy conservation Star ratings promoted by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) for and based on the usage of electronic/electrical/power appliances and machineries.
Such small “Green”steps taken today will go a long way in having a sustainable and safe life tomorrow for all of us.
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