ISTE WORKSHOP

The objective of the workshop was to offer a comprehensive knowledge about environment and its competitiveness to increase self-motivation and growth of conceptual learning in students.

On 2nd June 2015

Dr. Deepak B Phatak, Professor, IIT Bombay commenced the session with objective of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technologies (NMEICT). Prof. Kannan Modgalya explained the objective of course and basic concept of Environmental Studies.

Prof. Virendra Sethi then conducted a session on “Air Pollution”. He explained how to teach students and suggested that real time examples be taken from different domains to excite wider range of students. He introduced simple examples of air pollution. A Pre-course quiz was conducted at the end of this session.

In the last session of the day Prof. Nikhil Kothurkar described “Sustainable Development” in which he explained pool resources, production and significance of protecting and expanding pool resources. He explained how to solve the problem of unsustainability. He emphasized on the need for systematic thinking and planning for solving interconnected problems and common root cause for social and environmental problems.

On 3rd June 2015

Second day of the workshop started with the discussion of clean air and pollutant concentration in it by Prof. Virendra Sethi. He explained the need to identify the key source of pollution. Prof. Sethi discussed “Dispersion - Gaussian Plume Model”. He explained in brief the review of GPM to estimate the ground concentration of pollutants coming from a chimney.

Next session was on “Water Resources” by Prof. Nikhil Kothurkar. He explained the reason “why per capita availability of water is declining rapidly”. He discussed various un-acceptable social environmental impacts like why can’t we build more dams, why can’t we drill more borewells etc and need to develop innovative cheap water filter. The discussion on water shed management and flood management continued in the last session of the day.

On 4th June 2015

Third day of the workshop started with a discussion on “Air Pollution” by Prof. Kothurkar. He discussed the nature of air pollutants and the particles present in air. Further he emphasized on Energy Resources, their depletion and the risk involved with this. He explained that the socio-environment cost of depleting all the energy sources is serious.

In the next session Prof. Nikhil Kothurkar discussed country wise per capita CO2 emission, disadvantages of using coal and pros and cons of using nuclear energy.

In the last session Prof. D. Parthasarathy delivered a lecture on “Social Issues and The Environment”. In his lecture, he discussed Pedagogy, Sustainable Development, Justice, Values and Population Issues. He explained that it is not conservation or protection but social conflicts around natural resources as the central environmental problem.

On 5th June 2015

Fourth day of the workshop began with the session by Prof. Nikhil Kothurkar on “Food Resources”. He discussed Food and Health in India and threats to Future Food Security. Further he conducted a session on “Food Distribution”. He emphasized on Wars, Food Miles, Market Facilities and Management of Food Distribution. Next session was preceded by Prof. D. Parthasarathy on Social Issues and the Environment. He explained Values and Justice, Population Issues, Equity, Gender and Urbanization.

On 6th June 2015

Fifth day of the workshop was conducted by Prof. Virendra Sethi on Air Quality. He explained how we can measure size and concentration of particulate matter. Later, Prof. Munish Chandel started the session on “Waste Management”. He explained municipal solid waste management System (MSW), biomedical waste management, electronic waste management and Global Warming–Green Technologies. Prof. D. Parthasarathy continued the session on issues arising from problems of equity, access, and justice and struggles and conflicts over resources.

On 8th June 2015

Sixth day of the session started with the queries from the various Remote Centers. Some tutorial questions were also discussed by the experts. Prof. D. Parthsarthy explained basics of Environment and Society with interactive video. Post lunch Session was delivered by Prof. Munish Chandel. He conducted the session on “Waste Management” by explaining Municipal Solid Waste Management System.

On 9th June 2015

The Session commenced by Prof. Munish Chandel on Global Warming and Climate Change. He explained Green House Effect. Next Prof. K. Narayanan conducted a session on “Environmental Economics”. He discussed environmental issues involving many dimensions - scientific, economic, aesthetic, and ethical.

From 10th - 12th June 2015

Prof. Harish Phulerial discussed on “Water Pollutions”. He explained some practical examples of Water Pollution. He discussed water usage, contaminants in Water and Surface Water Quality Impairment. He also emphasized on how water is polluted by the industries and what step should be taken to control water pollutions. Further Prof. Ranjan Panda continued the session with discussion on Environmental Ethics. He discussed human interaction with ecosystems to maintain long-term sustainable resource yields. He also discussed various Human-Wildlife Conflicts. Prof. K. Narayanan‘s topic was on environmental economics in which he discussed various Political Economy Research Center and Laws.

Prof. Shyam Asolekar discussed on the topic “Law and Policy”.

The workshop concluded with the Feedback Session where the participants shared their experience about the workshop. Participation Certificates were distributed to the attendees.

Some Glimpses: