Addressed Budding Architects on the Opening Day of the Academic Session 2014-15 on 31 July 2014.


    Dear Budding Architects,

First & foremost, I convey my heartiest congratulations to you all for successfully completing your 12^th certification examination, NATA exam and getting admitted to MIT for furthering your studies in the discipline of Architecture.

The years of toil and labour in pursuit of intellectual excellence has brought you today to MIT the gateway of all your future dreams and achievements. I also congratulate all the Parents, all the faculty members, staff members and other employees of the Institute, wherever you have studied as on date who has directly or indirectly contributed in this process. 

Gramodyogik Shikshan Mandal (GSM), Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India is the parent trust (Organization) established in 1975 under Bombay Public Trust Act and also registered under Society Registration Act {this is a pre requisite to start any educational, research & training institute in India}. Over last three and half decades, GSM has established 19 institutes and 5 centres of learning at multiple locations in India. GSM has grown organically in three important provinces of India, viz. Maharashtra (Western India), Delhi (National Capital) & Uttar Pradesh (Northern India). More than 12000 full time & 2500 part time students are on different campuses for primary to post graduate education and vocational training. This Institute, The Marathwada Institute of Technology (MIT), has a rich legacy of nurturing academic excellence. MIT is in the forefront of technical education on account of its wonderfully endowed campus with all the requisite facilities, its excellent academic environment, its distinguished faculty and its bright students from all over the country. The graduates of MIT quite naturally are, therefore, contributing in their chosen field of activity with distinction in different parts of the world.

The world is evolving fast and this time it is the fast growing economies like India which are being looked upon to create a new economic order, both progressive as well as equitable. India planning many infrastructure development projects in coming days, few to name 100 smart cities, wherein the Architects and Engineers have a major role to play. My dear young aspirants, I call on you to seek inspiration from the leaders in the domain of Architecture across the world by reading and understanding about their contribution in these domains.      

My dear budding Architects, Do remember that every particle of dust has some knowledge to impart, if only there is someone to ask for it, there are many doors longing to open, if only someone will knock at them. Hence inculcate the spirit of enquiry while undergoing course work in class rooms or drawing halls; enable the interactive mode with the faculty members during learning. The success comes to those who instill in them the commitment of lifelong learning. 

My best advice to you all is: Always make that little bit of an extra effort that is constantly required to be a better human being. Make progress every day, both personal as well as professional front.

My best wishes go with you. May you never stop the learning process, acquiring of new skills academic as well as non academic and most of all, always have the right attitude. I wish you success in all your future endeavours.  

Good Luck to all of you
Jagdish H Godihal

World Environment Day - 2014

Climate Change – Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

World Environment Day is held each year on June 5. It is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations (UN) stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The UN General Assembly declared 2014 as the International Year of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). World Environment Day (WED) 2014 will be celebrated under the theme of SIDS, with the goal of raising awareness of their unique development challenges and successes regarding a range of environmental problems, including climate change, waste management, unsustainable consumption, degradation of natural resources, and extreme natural disasters.

Climate change has different meanings in different contexts. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), defines climate change to be “any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity” (IPCC, 2007: 871). In contrast, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN, 1992: Article 1, Paragraph 2), defines climate change to be “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods”

For SIDS, sea level rise is arguably the most certain and potentially devastating climate change impact. According to IPCC (2007), during the 21st century, sea level will rise at least 0.18 m and perhaps as much as 0.59 m IPCC (2007), though, explicitly does not provide an upper bound to the maximum possible sea level rise, stating that the final maximum rise by 2100 might exceed these projections, partly because of inputs from ice sheet break up in Greenland and Antarctica.

In the small likelihood that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses raising global mean sea level by approximately five meters, the coastal zones of all SIDS would be entirely flooded, covering many entire SIDS and a significant proportion of most SIDS capital cities and ports. Even without that extreme scenario, under average IPCC (2007) scenarios, several SIDS are expected to lose significant proportions of their land due to sea level rise including Tuvalu, Tonga, Kiribati Marshall Islands ,Tokelau, and the Maldives Even larger SIDS with much land area well above potential sea level rise such as Fiji, Puerto Rico, and Samoa could have problems since most settlements and infrastructure are in the coastal zone while the hilly, inland regions would experience severe ecological changes in settling all the migrants.

Although Small Island developing States are among the least responsible of all nations for climate change, they are likely to suffer strongly from its adverse effects and could in some cases even become uninhabitable. This is what makes them such a special case requiring the help and attention of the international community. These island nations are found throughout the world, although most of them are located in the wider Caribbean and South Pacific regions. The land: sea ratios for the SIDS are largely skewed. Their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) are often larger than their land area. Nauru’s EEZ, for example, is nearly 15,000 times the size of its land area, whereas Samoa’s is eight. Many SIDS – the Maldives, for example – have solely or mostly low-lying land areas; others, such as Haiti, have a varied terrain, including mountainous areas.

References:

UNFCCC (2005) climate change, small island developing States

Green Cities are solutions to Climate Change crisis

Green Cities are solutions to Climate Change crisis

Earth Day 2014 will focus on Green Cities, mobilizing a millions of people to create a sustainable, healthy environment by greening communities worldwide. Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities.

The India’s population is expected to reach about 1.5 billion by 2030 looking at the current trends of population index.  This high population growth to concentrate in cities with higher economic output enables the migration from rural areas causing a tremendous impact on the existing urban infrastructure. It is predicted that India will have six megacities having a population of more than ten million each and 68 cities will each have more than one million inhabitants, by 2030.

The rapid growth of cities have challenged the urban infrastructure planners and designers how to resolve the burgeoning  issues like., inadequacy of water supply, overloading of urban drainage systems, insufficient power supply, unreliable public transportation systems and limited access to adequate medical treatment. To address these issues, a reliable and efficient urban infrastructure complimenting the population growth needs to be updated accordingly. As the urban population grows and the effects of climate change worsen, our cities have to evolve. However, this being highly complex requires creating a knowledgeable manpower to help the cities to become more sustainable and reduce their carbon footprint.  Wherein, the cities can accelerate their transition to a cleaner, healthier, and more economically viable future through improvements in efficiency, investments in renewable technology, and regulation reform in three key elements – buildings, energy, and transportation.

Green Cities the theme of world Earth day 2014; to emphasis on the study of complex behaviour of urban agglomeration, to impart the requisite skills for planning, designing and executing the systems responsive for reliable, effective and efficient urban infrastructures, which can reduce the Green House Gases (GHG) considerably, few to name are., Firstly; Energy, switching to sustainable and renewable energy sources. Secondly, Green Buildings: implementing Green Building Code (GBC) in the design and construction of buildings reduces one third of all global greenhouse gas emissions. Thirdly, Transportation: Transportation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, three quarters of which comes directly from road vehicles. To reduce these emissions and the resulting smog, by implementing car pooling to work, restraining private vehicle entry to busy commercial areas, emphasis be on  public transportation options, invest in alternative transportation, like mono rail, metro etc, and have dedicated lanes for Cycling and Walking.

It’s time for us to invest in effective, efficient, environment friendly mode of transportation, Green buildings, and use of Green Energy, like  renewable energy, to rebuild our cities and towns, and begin to solve the climate crisis. More than that, sustainability implies responsible and proactive decision-making and innovation that minimises negative impact and maintains balance between ecological resilience, economic prosperity, political justice and cultural vibrancy to ensure a desirable cities for all species now and in the future.

Lastly I would like to conclude with an appeal of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “I appeal to all people everywhere to raise their voices. Speak out on behalf of this planet, our only home. Let us care for Mother Earth so she can continue to care for us as she has done for millennia."

                     

References:          

UN International Mother Earth Day- 2014.

Liam Magee, Andy Scerri, Paul James, Lin Padgham, James Thom, Hepu Deng, Sarah Hickmott, and Felicity Cahill, ‘Reframing Sustainability Reporting: Towards an Engaged Approach’, Environment, Development and Sustainability, vol. 15, no. 1, 2013, pp. 225–43.