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GARBAGE TO GOLD

GARBAGE TO GOLD: A public talk on ‘Zero Waste Management’

and environmental conservation on 10/31/2009

with environmental activist C.SRINIVASAN, President, Exnora Green Cross, Vellore, India.

AID Fellow Srinivasan will share with us his work that combines environmentalism and social development with sustainability and entrepreneurship. He will discuss how, "the top three most easily available resources - namely sunlight, man power and solid waste can be used properly to bring money in direct and indirect savings which we are losing every second. Environmentally friendly and user friendly practices should be converted into jobs, through which we can progress to the next stage of development -- one that is truly sustainable". He will also share with us the progress of his ambitious effort of reforesting the Vellore Hills.

More details on the topics he will cover:

1. Zero Waste Management: Vellore Srinivasan has implemented a sustainable model of zero waste management in the district of Vellore. He will give an introductory talk about the concept and its implementation. Recently UNICEF has made a documentary on his work which is available at http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5669832/14862779.

2. Working with the Government of India on waste management: Srinivasan's models in waste management have been applied throughout Vellore District and is being adopted widely by government agencies in Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, and also in the states of Gujarat and Tripura. Srinivasan will be updating us about his growing engagement with the government.

3. Vellore hill restoration project: Vellore is surrounded by several hills which have undergone severe environmental degradation in the past couples of decades. In association with Department of Forestry and with financial support from AID, Srinivasan has come up with an ambitious program of greening the hills, restoring the biodiversity, soil conservation and livelihood generation through ecotourism.

Read more about Srinivasan

Details about Srinivasan's waste management work

VENUE: 427 ERC

Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm on 10/31/2009

Refreshments provided at the break.

About the Speaker:

C.Srinivasan established the Vellore Hills Restoration Project and formed Exnora Green Cross (EGC) in 1995, as an affiliate of Exnora International, with a vision to “bring about socio-economic change through employment generation based on environmental conservation by enlisting people's participation”. Srinivasan's work integrates reforestation, solid-liquid waste management (SLWM), livelihood generation and cattle rescue. His models in SLWM have been applied throughoutVellore District and is being adopted widely by government agencies in Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tripura. United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT) has identified Mr. Srinivasan's approach as 'Good Practice'. He is supported by UNICEF, Government of India, AID and a number of other non-profit organizations. Srinivasan has designed an innovative and scalable solution to managing solid waste and has generated more than a thousand jobs, mostly for poor women, who form self-help groups.