Raghav's Blog

I have informed you that I had switched to my laptop as the desktop PC consumes more power. Unfortunately, while rendering the video I think I had killed my laptop. I got this notification in my laptop and it got switched off automatically half an hour later and never turned on. I learnt later that I had to replace the battery with a new one to continue the project. I didn't mean to disappoint you as I had informed that I will show off the video today. 

I will replace the battery as soon as possible and will continue the rendering and will upload the video in a couple of days. Meanwhile I didn't want to waste this day. Hence I designed a notice and took printouts and distributed to the people in our residential area. I hope it will make them aware of our environment. 

I am really sorry guys. I tried my best to complete the video in time. However as I took an oath on the Day #1 itself to continue to work for the goodness of our Environment, I will update here every week how I am making our Environment more sustainable. 

I had always wished to do something good for our Environment from my childhood and this Nokia Sustainability Challenge boosted me to begin my dream to save our environment. You can also do your part to save our Environment. You can join our group and organize campaign to create awareness. If you are interested to join, drop your wish below in the comments. I am always happy to hear from you. 

After the long journey that I have mentioned yesterday, I went to my cousin's home today. I never thought that this would be the beginning of today's sustainability challenge. There was an abandoned ground just at the back of his apartment and when I first saw that my face was *_* You will have the same expression when you see the below pics I took there. 

Click on the image to view in full resolution

It was full of litter. The apartments had almost 25 individual families and none of them came forward before to clean this. This place had a few trees including a mango tree and many flower plants. I can just enjoy inside the home as I am anyway going back to my home the next day. Instead I can utilize this day to take up the challenge to make this place beautiful and plastics free. I cannot nudge my cousin as he was busy at this work. Hence, its one man army to clean up this place and its up to me. 

While cleaning up the thrown away plastic bottles and dried leaves, I don't know its co-incidence but I found this smiley :| in a tree branch showing its expression on its current condition. 

I hope this will change into :) in a few days after I clean up this place. Hours passed by as I got into this task. I collected the dried leaves and other degradable wastes and kept at one corner of the ground wall. Meanwhile, I deposited the plastic wastes into the garbage truck. 

After hours of cleaning up, this place looked fabulous. 

I think the birds were happy to see their home clean. They circled this place and finally stayed up in the tress after I completed this task.

Thus I have successfully managed to turn a garbage land into a beautiful place in Day #4. Many adventures are coming by in the upcoming days.

Summary:

        I have taken up the Nokia Sustainability Challenge to do my part to make our Environment more sustainable. On the first day, I have planted some small plants with my 2 year old niece and also started a new group called "Go Green" and also a new blog called "Lets Go Green" to create awareness on sustainability of our Environment. On the second day, I created awareness among the people residing in nearby rural areas with "Go Green" shirt and also explained them the current condition of our Environment and measures that can be implemented to preserve them. This day is something special as I have almost spent the whole day to create a digital masterpiece video to create awareness online. 

Click on the image to view in full resolution :-)

Day #3 Going Digital

A couple of months ago, I began working on a short documentary film called "2050" back in 2011 to show how our world will be in future if the current problem like Global Warming continues. Unfortunately, I have stopped the project as there were not enough resources. But I am still having the project files that I have created for 2050. I can create awareness among 100-200 in a day on the critical conditions of our fragile Environment. At the same time, a short documentary video created to show the sustainability of our Environment can be uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo and can hit around 1 million views in a few days thus creating more impact on people and also each share will have a much greater impact. Although the rendering time will be long if I use my laptop, I preferred it as it will consume comparatively lesser energy. 

Below is a screenshot while taken during the making of "2050" back in 2011:

Lets skip "2050". Today, I opened the project file of "2050" and started to work on a new project called "Nokia Sustainability week" which shows the past, present conditions of our Environment and also visualize how our Earth would be in future if the present trend continues. The image that you can find at the beginning of the post is a snapshot of this new project. Time just flied as I sat in front of my laptop and got myself involved in this. After almost 5-6 hours of dedication, I completed making it but I haven't rendered it. The rendering will sure take at least 12-15 hours to complete. So I have to render this video tomorrow and then covert it to occupy less space and upload it later. 

Though I'm just 18 years old, I have always wished to have my very own business card and I fulfilled this dream today and also did something good for the Environment. After designing the card content, while placing the order I found an option in moo.com(the manufacturer of the cards) through which I can get my cards manufactured fully from 100% recycled things while the Classic cards are made from wood pulp. Hence I opted for "Green Cards" option while placing the order. This shows that one can make something good for the Environment through any means though it is a small business card.

Click on the image below to view in full resolution:

In my previous post, I have mentioned that the Rain Water Storage implemented in our apartment hasn't been properly maintained. My friend and I tried to fix it but it was too difficult. So We called the Professionals to do this task. Meanwhile I also mentioned that I will be going on a 5 hour long journey to a sub-urban region in my state. While reserving through the online Government site, a pop up just came up showing the below message:

This is a fantastic one. They have also mentioned that We can save upto 3 lakh papers a day if every passengers carries a digital copy instead of print out. Hence I transferred the e-ticket to my mobile rather than printing it. If everyone does this, We can save thousands of trees per day. New adventures waiting for me the next day :-) 

Stay tuned to check out tomorrow. Go Green. Save Trees. 

This morning my friend and I went on a ride to the nearby rural area to check out if the ecosystem is better there. But then We found that it was far worse than here. We came across a bridge where the river used to flourishing but now, its not but a dry land as you can see from the below picture.

The vast green farm lands turned out to none other than the dry crops. No words to explain. 

Later, We went to the residents of that region and inquired them what was the reason for this condition and their reply was "There was no Rain which turned this once evergreen land into a waste land. Moreover the cost of the fertilizers were too high to afford". Later we realized that they were unaware of the methods of Rain Water Harvesting and also the organic fertilizers that can be used. Unfortunately, I haven't taken my laptop with me during this travel. I would have made it more easy for them to understand on these eco-friendly methods if I had carried my laptop. 

Not much to worry though. I would give more effort in the upcoming days and prepare myself for more journeys to the rural areas to make the people more aware of our Environment. We will also be cleaning a big ground nearby our home this evening, collecting all the recyclable wastes found there and will be seeding more trees. 

Rain Water Harvesting methods had already been implemented in our apartment, but it hasn't been maintained properly and almost all the preserved water was drained and became useless. Hence a couple of my friends and I are going to clean the tank below and make it functional as the monsoon will start in a month. 

Yesterday, my niece and I have planted some small plants as I posted in Day #1. This evening after completing all the above tasks, I watered them with my niece and the plants seem quite happy. 

And these are the things I have done today to make our Environment sustainable. As I mentioned above, I will be going on a 5 hour journey to a rural land and check out the things there. I will remember to carry my laptop with me :) 

If you are interested in making our Environment more sustainable, you can join our Facebook group or even post on our blog. 

Earth is an unique planet on this Universe and none other planets discovered can sustain life. When NASA discovered an exoplanet called Gliese 581 g, every scientists' focus was there as they found the planet was in habitable zone just like Earth and predicted that it could host life. But later, they discovered that it was a dry land like any other one and cannot sustain life like our Earth. So, Why am I saying this? I want to make it serious that We all have only one home and it is our sole duty to do the best for our mother Earth so that our future generations can survive.