This interview is a part of the World Environment Day 2020 Interview Series. We welcome views from environmentalists, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders on present environmental challenges and request their innovative ideas to find sustainable solutions to solve them.
Dr. Gaurav Nigam
MD
Founder,
Intelligentsia group of schools.
(www.intelliegentsiaindia.com, www.intelligentsia.world)
Chairman
International Centre For Early Childhood Research
(www.icecr.org)
President
Icare Noble
(www.icarenoble.org)
Author, Pediatrician, Educationist
www.drgauravnigam.com
ST: According to you, what is the biggest environmental threat in the world at present?
Dr. Gaurav Nigam: in a world, which is so fast-paced, we seldom have time to think of what we are doing to the earth. To talk precisely, I would say “air pollution” is one of the most significant environmental threat that we are imposing on this nature. Air is something that we can not stay away from, its something that’s always surrounding us, no matter what. We sleep, we eat, we drink, even when we just take a casual walk, it’s with us. There is no escaping.
This air pollution not only creates an enormous amount of health problems but also is a leading cause of climate change, which again has a significant impact on natural flora and fauna, deranges climate cycles and worst calamities. Air pollution also contributes heavily to other forms of pollution as well.
ST: What do you think a common person can do to help the environment?
Dr. Gaurav Nigam: The list is endless. We all know what we can do and how easy it is. But the problem is, we underestimate the power of one person, we think that if only WE will do this, it won’t make a lot of difference, just one person; hence we don’t do it, we don’t do that simple task of switching the ignition off at the red signal, we don’t want to carpool with our neighbor even when we know that he goes to the same location, We don’t turn off electrical appliances after usage, we don’t plant enough number of trees, We don’t stop using plastic bottles, and we don’t stop littering away. I can go on and on because the real problem is not about what we can do, but about understanding the power of one person.
ST: What message do you have to the present and future generations?
Dr. Gaurav Nigam: I am into early childhood research, and as a pediatrician and scientist, I would say that a younger mind is super impressionable. So it’s imperative that if we start including the study of the environment at an earlier age, it will have a better impact on them when they grow up. It’s crucial at this age that the idea of individuality should be instilled in a good way so that they can understand that they matter.
The world is moving towards more ecological solutions, better sustainability in technology, creating the least amount of hindrance in nature, and such green engineering should be encouraged.
We need to change the idea of technology and teach the impact it has not only on an individual’s life but on the world as a whole.
ST: What is the significance of world environment day at present?
Dr. Gaurav Nigam: In the current scenario, everyone has been shocked by the unseen, unheard, and unimaginable pandemic that is going on. There is self-realization of where we had gone wrong. It is in times like these that people should come together for a better world. Everyone is seeing the natural climatic changes
that are happening around the globe: earthquakes, cyclones, and Floods. Awareness is a must.
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