Idling under the Neem Tree

  Bracing for ENSO A Climate refugee in South America.  By Malini Shankar, Digital Discourse Foundation UN Secretary General António Guterres reiterated his call for countries to move away from fossil fuels to renewable energy to "deliver climate security, energy security and national security". This is a desperate call given the wait for the El Nino Southern Oscillation set to commence later this year. Urban areas and administrators need to brace themselves to the impact of El Nino Southern Oscillation or ENSO given the already accentuated impact of Climate Change Era we live in. El Nino Southern Oscillation is the reversal of the Humboldt Cold Current on the western coast of South America which creates a reversal or unseasonal weather in every part of the world for about 18 to 20 months. ENSO currents are triggered by seamounts or sub marine volcanoes on the ocean floor accounting for reversal of ocean tides, eddies, currents etc that change weather patterns on la...

  Technology for Smart City Governance Tiled sloping roof augments rain water harvesting. Smart thinking is key to smart city governance, after all! By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation Much as some of us are so charmed by and swear by simple living on the lines of Gandhian Thought, technology is so wired and mired in our lives today that we can’t do without reliance on technology to run and better our lives. The current world economic order rests largely on the efficiency of technology – so much do we rely on it these days. These days infrastructure has come to rely on technology so much that we can barely distinguish infrastructure from technology. Broadband is central to isolated island communities. For land lubbers though ambulances search and rescue vehicles, urban surface transport, aviation, weather forecasting, traffic forecasting for micro and macro planning, logistical infrastructure, AI in policing apps, (Well AI is invading all spheres of the human l...

  Planning Water Management Traditional architecture is rich in natural resource management - Climate friendly and sustainable for energy and water consumption  © Malini Shankar By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation Karnataka Chief Minister presenting his record 17 th budget for the state has paid special attention to water supply in this year’s budget. The USP and special attention to this critical area of water management nevertheless still lacks attention to desilting dams and reservoirs and no emphasis has been laid on reuse of recycled water for primary usage.   The emphasis in the budget to development of more irrigation works lack sustainability. In today’s day and age the stage of nation building is over, we need to sustainably share resources today. How about creating a dam or reservoir only for harvested rain water Mr. Chief Minister? After all that would be sustainable and equitable redistribution of common property resources. The critical need...

  Planned Urban logistics Green Belt remains the most critical of common property resources in Smart City Planning  By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation While planning Smart Cities, we need to factor in future growth and optimum resource management to cater to current needs of the population in as effective a way as possible. Planning is undoubtedly central to sustainable resource management then. Land Use Policy is the starting point because it helps allocate land as a resource. Here policy guidelines is of critical value. Green Belt, Common Property Resources, Community assets and resources, Public Transport, Sewage and Sanitation infrastructure, Supply Chain management, Urban and Rural Logistics, Climate Change adapted infrastructure, each should be prioritised. For instance we need separate lanes for busses, ambulances, supply chain logistics, two wheelers. Spaces / separate designated areas for residential suburbs. That apart separate clearly designated bands ha...

  Climate friendly infrastructure Building disasters shelters in critical in the day and age of Climate Change By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation In the day and age of Climate Change we need to adapt to help mitigate the debilitating impact Climate Change will make not just on our lives but also on the lives of other Creatures, Great and Small. Every small source of global warming needs to be countered with cooling factors. Common Property Resources like transport infrastructure / public transport and emission from private transport,  water supply, Climate friendly agriculture, aviation and architecture, Climate Change adapted fuel and energy supply infrastructure,  constructed landscape, or areas of human footprint / Carbon footprint, total emissions in a micro climate,  are all to be ‘planned’ for Climate Change Adaptation. In short the human landscape as to be Climate Change adapted. Climate Change does not manifest as a single violent watershed ev...

 Solid Wase Management Guidelines Paper and packaging Ware, Glassware, manufactured / hazardous stuffs, and toilet wastes that can be incinerated ... are stashed away in colour coded containers as shown here in Germany - the leader in Solid Waste Management.  By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation One of the greatest challenges of modern city management / governance is solid waste management. It can almost wholly be rooted to plastics mismanagement. Although plastics less than 20 microns have been banned legally, it is practised most in the breach. This is perhaps due to lack of effective publicity for guidelines. Equally significant is the fact that packaging material have not been given policy guidelines. Lack of effective enforcement of laws is largely to blame too. Citizens’ lack of separation of wastes and their lack of knowledge seems to be another primary cause. The citizens’ lackadaisical approach to SWM (more in the breach) lacks penalties so it’s a vici...