Uday Salunkhe: Innovators with an Ecological Perspective

Innovation and Eco-responsibility: Once Gandhiji was asked if he wished to see India reach the level of prosperity of Britain, he said, “It took Britain half their sources of the planet to achieve this prosperity. How many planets will a country like India require?” Perhaps the great man had an inkling of things to follow. Today, it becomes our prime responsibility to adhere to his tenets and show the world a green and clean way of living; it has to be an alternative to the energy intensive development pattern that the world is embarking upon. Human Impact on the Planet: Industrial progress post World War II surpassed all the changes of human history put together.Unprecedented technological advance had the insidious capability of transforming the face of the planet. Since then the consumption of natural resources has increased manifold and so have the demands on energy resources leading to phenomenon like global warming as a part of the human impact on the planet. The human impact on the planet can be gauged simply by juxtaposing the present population,together with the technological advance and the growing level of affluence which is so very obvious. And we get a picture that sums up the eroding human impact on the planet. The impact has shot up drastically in the last 65 years, thus painting a very funereal picture of the days to come. And the gloomy fact is already acknowledged by the environmentalists. In the name of development we have adopted lifestyles which deplete the planetary resources. The Earth is choking with seven billion people. Technological advance is causing irreversible damage to the planet. The irrepressible human greed has overtaken nature when it comes to replenish the vital resources like water, soil, ozone layer and forests at the present rate of exploitation. Species are becoming extinct and biodiversity of the planet is in peril. Affluence of the human beings has given rise to over consumptive and waste oriented lifestyle. It will be tragic if we homo- sapiens, the most intelligent beings to ever walk this planet write our own obituary by our ecologically irresponsible acts. The pernicious practices which guzzle down our planetary resources should be condemned in the strongest possible words. Eco-efficiency: If environmental degradation has to be checked there must be an eco-efficiency revolution that can substantially bring down the use of energy and materials without compromising on living standards. It has to divorce the energy and resource use from economic activity. The messiahs for such change will be radical eco- innovators. We need eco-innovators who make better use of labor and natural capital as they move on the balance from capital-intensive products to labor-intensive services. We need them to innovate to make better, more efficient and pragmatic use of the available resources. Innovate with an eye on eco sustainability: The need of the hour is a rethink of our growth-model. We must focus our intelligence and enterprise in developing an all inclusive model of sustainable development. Here comes innovation as the savior. So managers and entrepreneurs while you learn the best craft and imbibe the latest set of skills passed on to you by the intellectuals who undoubtedly are gems in their own right,please remember that you have the added eco- responsibility on your young shoulders. Your commercial activities and ventures should leave the planet a better, safer and more beautiful place for the generation to come. Innovate but eco-sustainability should be the mantra of your business propositions. Some of the recent innovations are the LEDs, use of solar Power, and the list runs long. We need to innovate things that curb the damage done to the planet in name of technological advancement, innovate to slow down the depletion of the non- renewable resources of energyand finally innovate to put a smile on the face of the human kind. We need innovators in social,financial, health and all the sectors we can think of to ward away the ill-effects which have crept into human life.