Page 91 - Shashwat - Let Nature Be: Sustainable is Affordable
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Photograph 1: (Top to Bottom) Kund and water scarcity in arid areas in India FEATURE ARTICLE 89
to monitor resource usage go a such as social affordability, moral They Paid the Most Who
long way, for that which cannot be affordability, and existential Had the Least
measured cannot be saved. affordability that have to be
accounted for when we discuss Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
There may, however, be human beings and resources. (2011),10 narrate the dilemma of the
valuable resources already lost to world’s poor in availing the benefits
us due to mindless exploitation There is a time to do the right of equitable resources repeatedly
and callous consumption. thing, but once that opportunity offered by the state and why the
Securing alternate resources, such is lost, advanced and financially poor continue to pay the highest
as cleaner energy, are perceived intensive technological price for basic necessities, such as
to be expensive due to the investments will be required water and sanitation. Development
associated capital cost. to manage the scarcity of cannot merely happen from the
resources. Some questions are state regulatory bodies. Making
Models of Affordability outside the purview of simplistic India slum-free by 2022 under the
economic equations and have dire ‘Housing for All’ urban initiative, will
Affordability frequently entails the implications and consequences, require more than government–
financial quotient; however, there one such being ‘Can we afford to private-sector participation and
are other aspects of affordability, live without water?’ ecofriendly technologies. To truly
hail a sustainable urban reality,
besides the ecological design
solutions, requires environmental
awareness and a genuine desire to
adapt in keeping with change.
If It Is Not Affordable,
It Is Not Sustainable
It is paramount to remember
that we are dealing with a nation
whose numbers, depending on
how we look at it, could either be
an impediment or a resource.
Singapore does not have
enough water and has launched
the ‘NEWater’ project to achieve
water self-sufficiency by 2061,
when its 100-year water contract
with Malaysia comes to an end.
Singapore’s ‘toilet-to-tap’ concept
converts wastewater into highly
purified water fit for consumption.
Sulabh International has
installed over 200 biogas plants
in public toilets across the
country which generate cooking
gas and electricity from human
excreta. Biogas-based electricity
from 2,000 persons per day can
generate approximately 65 units
of power.
10 Banerjee V A and Duflo E. 2011. Poor
Economics: A Radical Rethinking of
the Way to Fight Global Poverty. U P:
Random House Publishers India Private
Limited.
DECEMBER 2017
to monitor resource usage go a such as social affordability, moral They Paid the Most Who
long way, for that which cannot be affordability, and existential Had the Least
measured cannot be saved. affordability that have to be
accounted for when we discuss Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
There may, however, be human beings and resources. (2011),10 narrate the dilemma of the
valuable resources already lost to world’s poor in availing the benefits
us due to mindless exploitation There is a time to do the right of equitable resources repeatedly
and callous consumption. thing, but once that opportunity offered by the state and why the
Securing alternate resources, such is lost, advanced and financially poor continue to pay the highest
as cleaner energy, are perceived intensive technological price for basic necessities, such as
to be expensive due to the investments will be required water and sanitation. Development
associated capital cost. to manage the scarcity of cannot merely happen from the
resources. Some questions are state regulatory bodies. Making
Models of Affordability outside the purview of simplistic India slum-free by 2022 under the
economic equations and have dire ‘Housing for All’ urban initiative, will
Affordability frequently entails the implications and consequences, require more than government–
financial quotient; however, there one such being ‘Can we afford to private-sector participation and
are other aspects of affordability, live without water?’ ecofriendly technologies. To truly
hail a sustainable urban reality,
besides the ecological design
solutions, requires environmental
awareness and a genuine desire to
adapt in keeping with change.
If It Is Not Affordable,
It Is Not Sustainable
It is paramount to remember
that we are dealing with a nation
whose numbers, depending on
how we look at it, could either be
an impediment or a resource.
Singapore does not have
enough water and has launched
the ‘NEWater’ project to achieve
water self-sufficiency by 2061,
when its 100-year water contract
with Malaysia comes to an end.
Singapore’s ‘toilet-to-tap’ concept
converts wastewater into highly
purified water fit for consumption.
Sulabh International has
installed over 200 biogas plants
in public toilets across the
country which generate cooking
gas and electricity from human
excreta. Biogas-based electricity
from 2,000 persons per day can
generate approximately 65 units
of power.
10 Banerjee V A and Duflo E. 2011. Poor
Economics: A Radical Rethinking of
the Way to Fight Global Poverty. U P:
Random House Publishers India Private
Limited.
DECEMBER 2017
