Page 3 - Home Assignment-Environment and sustainable development

 Limiting the human population to a level within the carrying capacity of the environment.
 Technological progress should be input efficient and not input consuming.
 Renewable resources should be extracted on a sustainable basis, i.e., rate of extraction
should not exceed rate of regeneration.
 For non-renewable resources, rate of depletion should not exceed the rate of creation of
renewable substitutes.
 Inefficiencies arising from pollution should be corrected.

Strategies for Sustainable Development
1. Use of Non-conventional Sources of Energy India heavily depends on thermal and hydro
power plants to meet its power needs. Both of these have adverse environmental impacts.
Thermal power plants emit large quantities of carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas. If it is
not used properly, it may cause land and water pollution.

2. LPG, Gobar Gas in Rural Areas Rural households in India generally use wood, dungcake
(upla) or other biomass as fuel. This practice has several adverse implications like deforestation,
reduction in green cover and air pollution.

To rectify the situation, subsidised LPG is being provided. Besides it, gobar gas plants are being
encouraged through easy loans and subsidy. LPG is the clean fuel. It does not create any
household pollution and also wastage is minimised. For gobar gas plants, cattle dung is fed in the
plant to function which produces gas and slurry is used as organic soil fertiliser.

3. CNG in Urban Areas In Delhi, the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as fuel in public
transport system has significantly lowered air pollution and the air has become cleaner in the last
few years.

4. Wind Power In areas, where speed of wind is usually high, wind mills can provide electricity
without any adverse impact on the environment. The turbines moves with wind and electricity
gets generated. Its initial cost’ remain high but it can be recovered easily.

5. Solar Power through Photovoltaic Cells In India, solar energy is used in different forms for
agriculture products, daily use products and even to warm ourselves in winters. Through
photovoltaic cells, solar energy can be converted into electricity. This technology is extremely
useful for remote areas and for places where supply of power lines is either not possible or
proves very costly. This technique is also totally free from pollution.

6. Bio Composting In order to increase production, we have started using chemical fertilisers
which are adversely affecting the water bodies, ground water system, etc. But again farmers in
large numbers have started using organic fertilisers for production.

In some parts, cattle are maintained only because their waste production is very useful in form of
fertiliser. Earthworm can convert organic matter into compost faster than the normal composting
process.