[GJM] Launching Movement for Sustaianble Cities /Fw: [FixGov] CITY TELLS RESIDENTS, DO YOUR SHARE IN MANAGING GARBAGE

Tue Jul 29 08:57:11 MDT 2008

Wonderful Mary. for supporting and inspiring the ecologically sustainable and socially inclusive habitats. I have launched Movement for Sustainable Cities . I would like to seek your consent for being a patron for the movement ..

I would also like seek expression of interest from GJM members in this movement.

Warm regards

Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam

AGENDA FOR ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAIANBLE CITIES :
 HALTING THE CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH TRANSFORMING UNSUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION, PRODUCTION AND TRANSPORT PATTERNS

CENTRE FOR ECOLOGICAL AUDIT, SOCIAL INCLUSION AND GOVERNANCE (CEASIG)

AN ORGANIZATION DEVOTED TO MULTIPLYING RESPONSES WITHIN AND ACROSS THE NATION/S FOR MITIGATING THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

C/O- LABOUR LEAGUE FOUNDATION
62-A, DDA FLATS, ASHOK VIHAR –III, DELHI-110052
Telephone: 0-9213978834, 09466284773
Email: labourleague at yahoo.co.in, ceasig at gmail.com

What is climate change? 

It is a change in the climate with rise in temperature of earth, change in rainfall patterns caused due to emission of gases that is raising the temperature of earth as the amount of green house gases generated is much more than the capacity of the green cover for absorbing. Impact are being felt everywhere with impacts beyond the national boundaries. There are several recorded evidences that has caused nations to take on the challenge of global warming .Since 1997 UN intergovernmental panel on climate change has been meeting and deliberating on the issue . There are several national responses and international agreements. Recently China and US has expressed agreement work on climate. Speaking on occasion of APEC summit in Sydney, Australia Mr. Hu Jintao maintained that “the United Nations Framework convention should remain the main channel for the international efforts” to address climate change (The Hindu, September 7, 2007). 

The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which emphasised the far-reaching consequences that continued global warming would have across the world, has given fresh impetus to finding solution to the problem. The summit meeting of the Group of Eight industrialised countries (G8) held  in June 2007 in Germany could saw the launch of new initiatives for collective action by both rich nations and fast-growing developing countries to combat climate change.  In its Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC, the international body that has the task of weighing scientific evidence on climate change, pointed to definitive evidence that global atmospheric concentration of key greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide had “increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750”. These gases were trapping the Earth’s heat that would otherwise have radiated out into space. If the build-up of greenhouse gases and the
 resultant warming of the planet was allowed to continue unchecked, there were be irreversible damage to 

What is being done? 

Lots of seminars and conferences have been organized for addressing the global challenge. There are Kyoto protocol emission targets for which national strategies have been devised. Kyoto Protocol formally known as intergovernmental panel on climate change. International agreements have been made for reducing the emissions by the year 2020. There exists a vibrant mobilization of civil society and m mobilization of youth groups. Several groups are working for the policy advocacy for implementing the binding targets for the emission of green house gases. There also exists a dynamic policy advocacy for R&D in renewable energy 

What are the instruments advocated for mitigating the climate change
Energy efficient technologies are being developed for minimizing the consumption of the energy. CFL lamps are being promoted and the distribution of CFL lamps for the scheduled caste household is an example of value on the energy efficient utilities and equipments for contributing in the reduction of green house gas emissions. There also goals for replacement of non-renewable energy throng renewable energy .Green party in Germany seek full scale replacement of non-renewable energy by renewable energy by the year 2020. Treaties signed but not religiously followed. More funding for research for globalizing renewable energy based services and utilities. Binding targets on emission reduction is not there as is evident from the aspirational recommendation of the APEC summit concluded recently in Sydney as part of the processes for the UN framework convention on climate change to be held in Bali in the month of December 2007. There are plans of Action devoid
 of binding policies and target for the emission of green house gases.

Problems in the strategies

Discouraging exhibitionist consumption parties 

Promotion of neighbourhood trade and education

Ecologically sustainable agriculture

Promotion of ecologically sustainable transport

Faith based measures for transformation of leisure use pattern

Promotion of ecologically sustainable habitats

Marketing of ecologically safe consumption production

Ecologically safe national strategy/ development paradigm

There are strategies that have been identified with global recognition of the need to reduce green house emissions. Even so, they get defeated as goals are set with contradicting outcomes and visions .For example, GDP calculation does consider the impact on environment and ecological costs are not therefore factors in the calculation of gross Domestic Product. Costs on environments are ignored following the conviction that all the resources are for the use and their non-utilisation is an indicator of low technological development. An ecologically sustainable habitat is not considered valuable with ecologically sustainable livelihoods. Quarterly reporting on the increase in the GDP does not factor the increase in green house gas emissions. 7th Generation Initiative in Canada with wellbeing measurement Act in an initiative for factoring the ecological costs and cost of women's work at home.. They believe that calculation of gross domestic product must
 include the cost on the environment that our actions in the present have www.sustainwellbeing.net. Mike Nickerson and Joe Jordon have been campaigning for years.

Political parties continue to be inspired by short term visions and it not quite their fault. SIMPOL is working with the voters globally for influencing the simultaneous adoption of policies. There is need to ensure more and more simultaneous actions globally for peaceful actions, decisions, choices that will contribute in collective ecological safety. Political parties need to be educated for supporting the policies that ensure protection of ecologically sustainable livelihoods and habitats. Labour League Foundation ,Sufi Trust and CEASIG has been part of National Forum of Forest Workers and Forest People supporting the rights of land in their traditional habitats through deleting the impact of colonial legislations that  deprived them their rights to homestead and agriculture lands. Green parties are concerned about the ecologically safe issues but their voters are few .Most of the political parties are concerned with issues that are more appealing to
 the elite and the middle class in the immediate present.

Another major hurdle experienced in the way of getting global responses for mitigating the climate change is continued marketing of fossil fuel intensive consumption patterns, urban habitats designs, development paradigm, competitive nationalisms for seeking the markers of fossil fuel intensive lifestyles, devaluation of the ecologically sustainable agriculture consumption patterns. There exists continued political support for cultural products and processes that are inimical to national and global ecological safety. While there are measures for ecological impact/ environment impact assessments but then there markedly exists absence of concerns for addressing the root causes of ecological and man made disasters. Marginalisation of the faith based groups by the atheistic intelligentsia continues to be problem that needs to be addressed.

Towards a solution

Reduction in the emission of green house gases through promoting measures and decision patterns that moderate the consumption of services and utilities based on the consumption of green house emitting fossil fuels. Following diagram attempts to demonstrate the relations that adoption of prayer 5 times a day on the consumption pattern. Men and women following the commands for prayer 5 times are not likely to indulge in consumption of lots evening post work engagements that required long distance travels as this would interfere in observance of the command for prayer /salah at the appointed hours. It can be easily seen that adoption of this command will ensure transformation of lots of consumption of fossil fuel intensive leisure such as going to bar and dancing halls. This can be adopted along with several other personal and community responses for reducing the emission of green houses. Faith based responses appear to be more effective and they need to be
 promoted as for this there is no need to make additional efforts. Association of ‘conservatism’ appears to be more one of the response that some men and women may have for communication of faith based measures. But then it is important to see the importance of the adoption of faith based measure for ecological efficacy, safety, suitability, desirability and validity. Faith based responses are common and they just need to be promoted for their contribution in the ecological wellbeing at the personal, community, social, national and global levels. There is an urgent need for the same.

Personal faith based responses

Prayer 5 times a day for transforming leisure use pattern recognising that leisure use patterns are one of the key social engagements that consume most of the fossil fuel based services and utilities .Command for prayer is common across the religious texts though it appears most prominently practiced by men and women following the communications of the last messenger.

Reduction in the consumption of fossil fuel based services and utilities through transformation of leisure use pattern

Prayer 5 times a day for transformation of exhibitionist consumption and leisure use patterns

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