S U N DAY H I N D U STA N T I M E S , N E W D E L H I
JUNE 05, 2011
generation YOUTH AND SUSTAINABILITY
THE CONVENIENT
ENVIRONMENTALISTS
HT-C FORE SURVEY Concern for the environment runs high
among India’s youth. But when it comes to action, convenience
trumps eco-friendly considerations. Explaining the gap
Abhijit Patnaik and Kamayani Singh
peopletree
T
■ research@hindustantimes.com
hey cruise around on bikes,
often travel on trains,
dream of owning big cars,
are still grappling with the
concept of organic food
and green products, have
insatiable appetite for new cell phones
and don’t care much for power saving
features when buying appliances. That
It’s incorporated into my daily in a nutshell is India’s youth and its atti-
tude towards its environment.
life. I ensure that I switch off A survey by Hindustan Times and C-
the fan and lights whenever I fore to find out how green is India’s
youth shows that like India, its youth
leave a room; close the tap, save too is full of contradictions.
water in all practical ways. Sample this — you have 57% of the
youngsters claiming to be very con-
NISHI JAIN,
cerned about global warming, but the
23, editor, Rupa publications
same generation that is going to fuel
India’s future growth doesn’t shy away
from burning fuel at traffic signals.
Three out of five young Indians don’t
switch off their cars/bikes at traffic red
lights and only 29% get the air pres-
sure in their tyres checked regularly.
Doing both saves fuel.
In a country of 1.2 billion with two-
thirds below the age of 35, such envi-
I use newspaper to wrap gifts in.
ronmentally harmful practices are omi-
I always carry my own jute bag nous.
with me, and never litter. So, is India’s youth apathetic towards
the mounting environmental concerns?
SANDEEP KAUR, “I don’t think climate change or glob-
2 4 , e d i t o r , Ta y l o r a n d Fr a n c i s al warming is overrated,” says Anwita
Khaitan, a 21-year-old medical student
in Delhi. “However, there are not many
methods available to the common man
to do anything about it — initiatives
such as Earth Hour are great, but most
things are not possible at an individ-
ual level.”
Indeed, the survey shows that the
Indian youth fails at going the extra
I prefer using buses, as they’re mile for the environment. Only one-
convenient. The environmental fifth of youngsters take care to switch-
off home appliances from the mains
friendly part also crosses my and an overwhelming 82% of young
mind while using public transport. India has never participated in a green
campaign.
SNEH LAKRA,
Aspirations for a better, more com-
24 , o f f i c e r, S t a t e Ba n k o f I n d i a
fortable living amongst the youth also
mean a larger carbon footprint. Fifty-
eight percent of the respondents said
theyrideabikebutthree-fourthsofyoung
DESPITE PRESSURE OF A
MODERN LIFESTYLE THAT
IS HIGH ON CARBON
I do think climate change is a FOOTPRINT, THE YOUTH
threat and will spiral out of control IS TAKING BABY STEPS
if we don’t do anything now. TO BECOMING
U M E S H G U P TA , ‘GENERATION GREEN’
22, pursuing CA articleship
Starting up
Green businesses are
On campus
How colleges across the
Green links
providing growth country are adopting
inside
opportunities like never eco-friendly features such
before. And young as recycling, using battery
entrepreneurs
powered cycles on campus
are and cutting energy use >> P13
cashing in
on it
>> P12
Going green is too cumbersome organic produce is better for you
BUSTING
and the environment.
■ Not when you hear of what you can
save. Not using a screen saver and
I’ll have to buy a hybrid car
NINE
switching off appliances may leave
you with R2,000 a year in power
Not if you’re driving an SUV! Hybrid
■
bills.
cars, such as the Toyota Prius, get
■ An average shower uses 80 litres of
MYTHS
significantly better mileage and
water that is enough to fill 16 produce far less emissions than
buckets of water. conventional vehicles.
■ A charger continues to draw
electricity even when not connected
■ However a standard fuel-efficient
economy car (such as a Maruti Alto)
to a phone or laptop.
still gets better gas mileage than a
hybrid SUV.
Organic food is expensive
■ Not only is locally produced food Screensavers save energy
healthier, it’s cheaper than most
■ Some fancy screensavers can
imported foods which travel
thousands of kms to get to the
actually use more energy than
simply leaving the screen on. This is
shelves.
especially true for older style CRT
■ Locally grown foods help farmers.
Buying fresh or pesticide-free
monitors, which use a lot more
| 11
green
How green
is our youth?
Most Indians still travel by
train. Is that an environment-
friendly lifestyle choice or a
simple matter of economics?
Here’s what our survey reveals
Lifestyle and habits Home
Habits inculcated during childhood play a big part
With energy guzzling
in making the lifestyles of young Indians relatively
more environment friendly appliances we are not
so green at home
Indians want to drive either a sedan or Do you prefer to buy organic food?
an SUV some day — both more pollut-
9% 39% 42% 10%
ing than motorbikes and small cars.
Technology too has helped the youth Are your air conditioners high on
go green. CFL bulbs seem to be the one
energy saving appliance which have power-saving ratings?
made inroads into the buying habits of Always Sometimes Never Don’t know (This question was addressed only to those who
the youth, with 42% respondents say- have air conditioners in their homes)
ing they use them at home.
But, advancing technology has its Do you leave your computer on
37% 52% 11%
pitfalls as well. The influx of cheap ‘hibernate’ or do you switch it off?
handsets has allowed two in every five
68% 32%
young Indians to change their cell
phone once a year or more, adding mil-
lions of handsets to the already high Yes No Don’t know
mountain of e-waste. This ‘use and
throw’ attitude is on the rise; particu-
larly troubling since 93% don’t com- Switch off Leave it to hibernate Do you switch off home
post any trash.
appliances from the plug point?
There were some shockers too: 10%
of the youth don’t even know what Do you have a shower or
54% 27% 19%
organic food is, and 23% think India a bucket bath?
has the highest CO2 emissions in the
9% 23% 27% 41%
world — in fact, we’re a distant fourth,
well behind China, the US and Russia.
Even Jairam Ramesh, arguably the Rarely Sometimes Always
most vociferous Environment Minister
India has seen, has failed to impress the Always have Mostly have Sometimes Always have
youth. Merely 20% think his actions are
genuine, with the majority 69% still to
a shower a shower have a a bucket Do you compost your trash?
shower bath
make up their mind on his green motives.
93% 7%
There are reasons to remain hope-
ful though.
Do you prefer buying ‘green’ or
The results show that despite grow-
ing pressure of a modern lifestyle that ‘natural’ toiletries?
is high on carbon footprint, the Indian No Yes
youth is taking baby steps towards
22% 51% 27%
becoming ‘generation green’.
Thankfully, a mix of age-old Indian
tradition has meant that lifestyles of the Which of the following features
youth are relatively green. “I turn off the does your home have?
tap while brushing my teeth and have a Always Sometimes Never
5% 95%
bucket bath instead of a shower,” says Solar water
28-year-old Chandrashekhar P Kaushik, heater
a software developer from Pune. Yes No
Transport
In fact, two out of every five young
Indians always has a bucket bath, which
8% 92%
consumes at least one-fourth the water
a shower does. Rain water
For 80% of the youth, fuel efficien-
The youth haven’t harvesting
Yes No
given up on public
cy is very important while buying a
transport; yet they
vehicle. Almost three of five youngsters
want to drive big
42% 58%
in India not only take public transport
fuel-guzzling cars CFL bulbs
once a week or more but also prefer
train travel over aeroplane and car
every time they step out of their city. Yes No
However, what remains to be seen Which car would you like to drive?
is the extent to which this generation
will go to save its environment.
Awareness
37% 38% 25%
Nikita Gupta, a Biotechnology stu-
dent at IIT Delhi summed up the cost
versus convenience dilemma faced in Concern is high but
making eco-friendly lifestyle changes awareness is low: the
aptly. “If there are two appliances of SUV Sedan Small car youth thinks India
exactly the same kind, both equally pollutes more
good, then I would pick the energy effi-
cient only if the cost difference isn’t
than China
huge or if the latest features aren’t com- Do you switch off the engine of Which country has the highest
promised on,” she says.
your car/bike at traffic signals? carbon emissions?
Online networking is not
15%
Always
24% 61% 16% 17% 3% 23%
Sometimes Never China US Russia INDIA
just spreading awareness.
41% don’t know
It’s also helping plant more
trees on the ground >> P14 How often do you use shared
How concerned are you of the
transport such as carpools or buses? threat of global warming?
46% 16% 18% 20% 57% 37% 6%
Daily Once a week Once a month Never Very concerned Not concerned It’s a hoax
METHODOLOGY: Research organisation C-fore conducted the survey in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad,
Lucknow, Chandigarh, Patna, Indore and Ranchi between May 5 to May 20, 2011. In all, a statistically selected sample of 1,522 persons in the age group
of 18-35 years were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The survey has a margin of error of 3% at 95% confidence level.
energy than the newer flat screen consumption is in the bathroom, Using paper cups is in fact more carbon footprint, the combined
■
monitors. with more than 50 litres being used detrimental to the environment in effort can actually make a
■ Turning off the screen also saves per person per day for personal this case. difference.
washing.
you laptops battery life. ■ Ceramic mugs made of degradable ■ In a workplace of about 1,000
■ Turning the tap off while shaving or substances are a better alternative, people, if everyone used two sheets
washing, saves more than five litres not to mention the trees being cut less per day, it would save a tree
Commuting costs are fixed
of water per minute. for the paper cups you use each day. each week.
■ Commuting is not a fixed cost if you
make simple changes to your
lifestyle — take public transport or
‘Standby’ is turning off the TV I’m too small to make a
carpool. ■ The standby mode is also known as difference to the world
■ Otherwise, simply having a new air phantom load or vampire power. It
■ The biggest myth of them all is that
filter can boost your mileage by is the power used to keep your TV,
you can’t do anything to save the
10%. stereo and other remote-control-
■ Keeping tyres inflated saves 2% of
operated devices in standby mode.
world! Each step, each effort counts.
The common view that one person
mileage. ■ Up to 10% of your electricity bill
comes from powering appliances
can’t do anything to combat a threat
like global warming.
and home electronics that are
One tap can’t waste much water ‘turned off’.
■ Emissions in the world caused by
natural processes are in natural
■ A single leaking tap can waste 5-10 balance, unlike those caused by
litres of water everyday.
■ More than two-thirds of our water
Paper cups are better than mugs human being. If only each person
made an effort to reduce his or her
TEXT BY TAANYA KAPOOR