Aarthy and Amit: Green Innovations - Motivations and the way forward

Hi all.

We are working on a project titled ‘Green Innovations: Motivations and the Way Forward’.

Any innovation which helps us create a more eco-friendly world is a ‘green’ innovation.

As you know, it’s becoming increasingly important (not that it wasn’t important earlier, but it’s kind of vital now) to help maintain a sustainable environment. Enough has been said about why this is important, so we won’t bore you with that. What’s different about creating a sustainable planet is that, unfortunately, this task can’t be done with the contribution of just a few people. Everybody needs to pitch in and do his/her bit.

Through our research, we’ve found that most organizations today have realized the importance of going green. Several of these go green as a part of their policy while several others do it as a part of their CSR activities. Either way, we found that motivation is not lacking when it comes to organizations. However, individuals are in an extreme state of inertia when it comes to innovating in this sphere or even simply accepting and making use of existing green innovations.

Through our project, we expect to find the major reasons for the existence of this inertia. We know of some individuals who are innovating in this field and we hope to get interesting insights from them. Our aim is to come up with some innovative solutions to help motivate individuals to create eco-friendly solutions and make use of them. We would also try to get information about existing solutions so that we can create greater awareness about them and encourage people to use them.

Of course, we would love to pick your brains on some stuff:

1. If you know of some people who are innovating in this sphere i.e. coming up with eco-friendly solutions, we’d love to hear about them. If you could put us in touch with them, it would be even better!!
2. Are you environmentally conscious? Do you use any green solutions? If yes, what motivates you? And if no, then why? We’d love to hear your perspective.
3. Do you have any ideas about how to implement this on the IIM A campus?

E.g. Is there any way to ensure that fans/lights are switched off in rooms when they are not occupied?

Since most people are on their laptops 24x7 anyway, isn’t it a better idea to do away with paper casemats and take the material online?

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Regards,

Aarthy

Amit