Saved Environment Saves

Save the environment, It will save you.

We all know that that man is the most intelligent animal on earth. He not only proves to be intelligent, but a social animal too. The question of how intelligent and social he is , depends on his responsibilities towards the environment . Does his behavior and action speak about the responsibilities that he bears on his shoulders? ...? Not everyone, but few are on the right track.

Nature was never selfish, is never selfish and can never be selfish. It’s the man who is so busy today, forgets his responsibilities towards the mother earth …. Forgets that he was born in her lap. Nature has sacrifices everything for the huis the one who can eve he mans without any bounds. But the question is .. . .?

“is man so generous and responsible towards the nature .. . .?

Is he giving back the care that he receives from it .. . .?

We are taking everything from environment …, what about giving back?

Is the eco-system balanced?

In this context, an architect proves as the socially responsible person ….. Towards man and nature. He is the one who can inspire even a lay man to be aware of the responsibilities towards the environment. We acquire many things from the nature in the form of resources for our own development; but many of us forget to take the responsibility to give back or tribute to the nature.                                                                

In spite of creating awareness; yet there are many people who are not aware of the new techniques introduced by the world of architecture –“to give back to our nature”.                                                                        

•       Green buildings technology
•       Architectural conservation
•       Energy efficient buildings
•       Disaster management designing
•       Biomimicry
•       Landscaping
•       Earth-sheltered architecture
•       Waste management
•       Vernacular techniques

Each minute

·         At least 51 acres of tropical forests are destroyed.

·         We consume almost 35,000 barrels of oil.

·         50 tons of fertile soil are washed or blown off cropland.

·         We add 12,000 tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Each hour

·         1,692 acres of productive dry land become desert.

Each day

·         Over 230,000 babies are born.

·         25,000 people die of water shortage or contamination.

·         10 tons of nuclear waste are being generated by the 350 existing nuclear plants.

·         60 tons of plastic packaging and 372 tons of fishing net are dumped into the sea by commercial fishermen.

·         Almost 5 species of life become extinct.

One russian scientist has declared that at this current rate of ozone depletion, in 200 years no life will be able to live on the surface. 

There is an accurate balance between what the human gets from oxygen and between the amounts of released oxygen by plants

The oxygen in the air is 21%, this percentage if it is more than that the earth may burn from the first spark and if it is less than that all creatures will suffocates.

Also the carbon gas is less than 1%, if the percentage is more than that, human will die and if it is less than that percentage all plants will die and life will stop.

Ecological balance is to preserve nature, to keep the nature more natural.

In similar way, people try to save water or paper and many other natural and replenish able resources just to maintain the balance in the ecology.

These days many conventional techniques are implemented by the architects in their projects to show their minimum and essential responsibility towards the environment. The simple steps taken in architecture can reduce the excessive wastage of building materials  and the correct use of the nature for the construction .

The examples of such conventional techniques can be seen in f.l.wright’s falling water   

Was built complementing the nature there, in harmony  without disturbing the nature . Works of William Morris and John Ruskin which can be referred to as the early roots of modern environment design . Buckminster fuller also contributed with his works in the middle 20^th century. Pier luigi nervi designed a desert house which is a good example and can be suggested to the places like Dubai and other gulf countries. Works of Laurie Baker, Anil Laul can also be looked upto.

The best example for community contribution is Auroville – a global eco-village. The newly introduced techniques like rainwater harvesting, solid waste management. The compost pits and dumping yards can convert the waste lands into fertile lands in a period of time. Re-use of grey water new sanitary fittings that can be used to segregate the solid and liquid wastes can be introduced to the common man.

In earlier days, the ancient Greece planned its cities in grid patterns according to the sun path to use the solar energy instead of their fossils. Later the romans continued it and it was used by Le-Corbusier in Chandigarh city planning. The city has green belts, residential zones, commercial zones, bio-diversity zones, etc.

                               Though we have been following the conventional techniques from the history yet , they have been neglected today in the race for development . If this scenario continues, it is evident that there will be no place on earth to live in harmony with nature.so, it is always better to question one self and act accordingly at individual –community levels to give back to one’s environment.

As Mahatma Gandhi said ….”Be the change you want to see in the world.”

 “THINK GLOBALLY AND ACT LOCALLY”

-    Sasidhar Reddy, 

Kiran Kumar Varma & 

Rinda Devi.