Mumbai college students’ mantra: Go green for a better future

In the recent past, colleges have even hired companies to conduct green audits to measure their carbon footprints and find ways to reduce it.

Educational institutes, for long, have been encouraged to implement environment-friendly measures on campus in order to set a good example for students. In the recent past, colleges have even hired companies to conduct green audits to measure their carbon footprints and find ways to reduce it.

Students of UPG College participated in “Greenathon”, an event organised by the college where students were encouraged to bring a small plant to college, and keep it anywhere on campus. The aim was to increase greenery on campus. (HT Photo)

For instance, the Usha Pravin Gandhi College in Vile Parle has recently announced that no disposable plastic bottles will be allowed on campus. “An agency was hired to conduct a green audit on our campus, and they’ve made numerous environment-friendly suggestions that we are trying to implement, one at a time,” said Anju Kapoor, the principal. She added that teachers and students were made to go through awareness programs, conducted by National Service Scheme (NSS) students, over the past couple of weeks.

Over the next couple of months, many city colleges are up for a visit from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), and environment-friendly rules are an added advantage for colleges. While environment consciousness accounts for 3% of the total score, colleges said that the reason behind bringing about these changes was to achieve a larger goal of spreading the importance of reducing carbon footsteps, for the larger good of the society.

St Andrew’s College in Bandra conducted a green as well as an energy audit recently, to get a better idea of what changes will help the environment. For starters, the college has introduced waste segregation, and made place for compost pits within the campus to use the daily waste to produce compost for their gardens. “We’ve even planted more trees on campus and at the same time, our canteen has been informed to replace any disposable plastic items with bio-degradable items,” said Marie Fernandes, principal.

Based on a green audit, the management of Narsee Monjee College also recently replaced all conventional lights with energy-efficient LED lights. “This change has not only helped conserve energy but we have seen a drastic change in the electricity bills as well. It is win-win situation and we hope this encourages more colleges to take the positive step,” said an official from the institute.