Career in Science Journalism

 Science and Technology have become an inseparable part of our daily life; hence creation of scientific awareness has now become the need of hour.  The aim of science communication is to engage and inspire people of all ages with science, engineering and technology. One of the basic objectives of communicating science is to spread the message of importance of science and its application among the people.  Science communication attempts at generating scientific minded citizens. Science has contributed a great deal for human welfare. On issues ranging from environment, disease eradication,  space exploration, energy security, information highway to name a few, science and technology has immensely benefited mankind. Biotechnology is making a major impact on agriculture, health, environment, industry and pharmaceuticals. Communication at lower costs, with greater accessibility, is another product of science and technology. Science communication helps in inculcating scientific temper among school children. It gives them opportunity of learning and experiencing science in fun way by actual participation in various hands on activities. The daily application of science like the use of safe drinking water, recycling of grey water, taking balanced diet, knowledge to eradicate contagious disease, the know-how of various agricultural practices to increase crop production, the usefulness of biodiversity conservation, etc., should be disseminated to the future generation. The goal of science journalism is to develop scientific temper and environmental sensibilities in common people. A dissemination of scientific facts could be done by any journalist using Wikipedia and other resources. But shaping the mindset of layperson cannot be achieved without proper training.  The following training programmes are available in India for science journalists.

National Council for Science and Technology Communication offers a one week course on skill enhancement of promising science writers and three months course on use of mass media for science popularization. NCSTC and Indian Science Communication Society (ISCOS), Lucknow has jointly undertaken a program to train science communicators, writers, and journalists in presenting scientific information in educating and entertaining manner.  ISCOS offers a one year training program in Science  Journalism through Distance Education mode.

Devi Ahilya University, Indore offers two programs. M. Sc.  and PG Diploma in Science Communication.    They are also planning to start a doctoral program in Science Communication. PG Diploma in Science Communication is offered through Distance Education mode. This is a two semester course.

The Institute of Mass Communication in Science and Technology, Lucknow University, is also running a similar course – M. Sc Mass Communication in Science. It is also a two-year full-time regular programme funded by the NCSTC.

 Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal has also started a one-year PG Diploma in Science and Technology Journalism.

 Madurai Kamraj University too offers an NCSTC-funded PG Diploma in Science Communication.

The National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR), CSIR, New Delhi organizes short-term science-writing training workshops.

Centre for Science Education and Communication Delhi University is involved in short term training and workshops related with science education and communication.

National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), an autonomous scientific and research organization under Ministry of Culture has also started a four semester M.S. course in Science Communication from 2005. NCSM’s MS course is meant for first class engineering graduates and science post graduates. Course contents include history and philosophy of science, mass communication, exhibit presentation and museum management. Course also includes the tools of Science Communication and writing scientific articles. The final content of the course is a dissertation. This program is conducted in joint collaboration of NCSM and BITS, Pilani on an off campus mode. The lectures and tutorials are held at NCSM, Kolkata.

                Career Prospect exists in mainstream media viz., Print (Newspapers, Periodicals, and House Journals), Broadcast media (Radio & Television) and organizations engaged in Science and Technology extension and outreach activities like NCSTC, NCSM, NISCAIR, HBCSE, Vigyanprasar and state councils of Science and Technology etc. Magzines like Down to earth, Teraagreen, science reporter, Hindu Survey on Environment specialize in science technology and environment. Science Journalists interested in making scientific documentary and CD can develop programme for Vigyan Prasar, National Geographic and Discovery etc. Training in science communication would also provide opportunities as curators of science museums. At present there are 27 science museums/centres under NCSM. There is proposal of setting district level science centres. Science centres along with Science and Technology Parks are great tool of informal education of masses. Large numbers of private sector companies and corporate houses are also setting up science museums and technology parks as part of their corporate social responsibility thereby increasing the demand of science communicators. 

Aur comet ISON bikhar gya!

Many a time teachers and students of science complain about lack of laboratory and learning resources. However night sky is a fantastic laboratory and teaching learning resource freely available to all of us. It is this laboratory which was used to a great extent by pioneers like Aryabhatta, Aristarchus, Hypatia,  Galileo, Caroline Herchel, Tyco Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Halley  and others. Many spectacular celestial events occur regularly which gives learners an opportunity to observe, enjoy and learn. Few recent magnificent astronomical events being the total solar eclipse of year 2009 and the transit of Venus of year 2012. Planetary Superconjunctions are rare astronomical events. Lunar and annular eclipses and super moon are other regular important celestial events to watch. However nothing can match the beauty of a comet. The arrival of the comet ISON into our horizon in late November this year provided us an exciting opportunity to gear towards involving children on a massive scale in a campaign to track the comet, and participate in the unravelling of its progression towards the Sun. Further, tracking the comet, which was visible in the early morning sky November 2013 onwards,  served to excite and inspire all curious beholder of nature. Comets are dirty snow ball made out of dust and ice. The word "comet" comes from the Greek word for "hair. Newton discovered that comets move in elliptical orbits around the Sun. He also thought that comets were members of the Solar System, just like planets, and that they could return over and over again. The appearance of comets became predictable after Halley, an English scientist correctly predicted the reappearance of the comet seen in 1683. Using the newly developed gravitational theory of Newton, he predicted that this comet would return in 1758. The comet indeed came as predicted and named as Halley’s comet. Comets come from two places: The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. Comets are the most primitive objects in the Solar System. Many scientists think that they have kept a record of the physical and chemical processes that occurred during the early stages of the evolution of our Sun and Solar System. A comet is an irregular body, assembled from millimetre sized dust grains coated heavily with ices. This is the nucleus of a comet. The most prominent ice is water ice, followed by carbon dioxide ice, ammonia ice and methane ice. The dust and the ices are so loosely held together that a comet has only the strength of a biscuit! Comets are named after the observers who spot them first and report to a central agency. If two observers spot them on the same night, it is named after both of them. Most comets are observed by amateur astronomers. Vainu Bappu discovered a comet in a routine photograph he was examining as a student. This comet was named Bappu - Newkirk – Whipple. About twenty comets are seen by telescopes every year. About 5 to 7 may be new ones while others have been seen before. Of the comets detected every year only 1 or 2 reach naked eye visibility. Comets are the oldest and least processed bodies orbiting the Sun and therefore constitute a unique source of knowledge about the birth and early evolution of our Solar System. Asteroids, comets and other cosmic debris have also had a fundamental impact on the development of planet Earth and the life on it, by bombarding it periodically. Comets colliding with the early Earth may have seeded our world with the chemicals necessary for life to begin. The icy nature of the comets almost certainly contributed to the quota of water that now exists in Earth’s oceans.

Comet ISON (C/2012 S1)  was discovered by Eastern European and Russian astronomers  on September 24, 2012 using the facilities of International Scientific Optical Network (ISON). Comet ISON  swung close by the Sun at the end of November and was expected to climb up the dawn sky in December. The comet  performed remarkably close Sun graze  at its perihelion on November 28th. It  flew less than one solar diameter past the Sun’s surface, with the dusty ice of its nucleus broiling violently. Astronomers tracking the “comet of the century” last night believed it had flown too close to the sun and had broken up. All the evidence suggests Ison's nucleus was torn apart in the close pass, in the same way that Comet Lovejoy was disrupted.Now it would not be visible by naked eye. Professional astronomers are trying to track the fragments with a telescope. Just before performing Sun graze it was observed by my friend Mr. Kulwant Singh an amateur astronomer from rural Punjab. I don’t know whether anybody was lucky in our state.

Comets will stay in the news, however. Next year, in October, Comet Siding Spring (C 2013 A1) will breeze past Mars at a distance of little more than 100,000km. Our spacecraft Mangal yaan will arrive at Mars one month before the comet's closest approach. And then in November, the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission will attempt to place a probe on the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Report on Techvaganza the annual technical festival of NIT, Srinagar (22-26 Aug 2013)

Techvaganza is an annual national level Technical Festival of National Institute of Technology, Srinagar. The fest is an attempt to make students,  acquainted with the current and futuristic technologies. Techvaganza was inaugurated by the director NIT Prof Rajat Gupta. The guests of honour during inauguration were Prof Tej Pratap Singh, VC SKUAST and  Mr John Samuels, CPMG J&K Circle.  The festival include workshops, guest lectures, LAN gaming, technical quiz, release of inaugural issue of IIM (Indian Institute of metal) –NIT chapter journal , competitive events based on various branches of engineering, and social awareness programs. The main technical events were Robotrix, Botorace, Structrite, mad for CAD, metalomania, circuit bizz, traffic planning etc. Workshops were conducted on Aeromodelling, building design, scilab, linux and android etc. Dr Arvind Bharti from DRDO, DR UK Chaterjee and Er Pugazhenthy  delivered guest lectures. There were lot of fun and creativity events. There were social events like career counseling for secondary and higher secondary schools, panel discussion on women empowerment.

On 22 August the  Director NIT Prof Rajat Gupta inaugurated the Techvaganza 2013, with welcome speech at Aerotrix workshop where students were taught basic principles of aeromodelling and designing and fabrication of wings of biplanes. The Aerotrix workshop and the workshop ‘Civil simplified’ were conducted by IIT Kanpur alumni at very subsidized rate. It was the first of its kind workshop in North India.  In ANDROID workshop Data handelling and button handelling were taught. Basic hello world application was created. In Robotic workshop Basic robotics theory, assembly of parts of robots and writing basic programmes and flashing it on ROBOT were  taught. Tutorial on Phython  and LINUX were conducted.

During Techvaganza, student chapters of Institute of Metals(IIM)  and Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) were formed at NIT Srinagar. The inaugural issue of the journal of IIM student affiliate chapter was also released by the Director. Guest lectures were delivered by Dr. UK Chatterji  on metals, Er. L Pugazhenthy on careers in metallurgy, Mr. Manoranjan Ram  on IIM related to metals, Dr. Arvind Bharti on  overview of DRDO and about planning and management.

Many schools and colleges participated in the fest. Specially the students from SSM, IUST, KU, and Amar Singh college participated in large numbers.  Govt College Of Engg And Tech, Jammu, MIET, Jammu, MBS, Jammu, Sankethika Institute of Management and Technology, Vishakhapatnam, Lakshmi Narain college of technology, Bhopal, Kongu Engg college, Perundurai, UIET, Punjab, Punjab University were among the Institutions who came all the way to Kashmir valley to be a part of Techvaganza 2013.

Under social awareness program (Social Awareness and Youth) career counseling on exams like Olympiads and kvpy were discussed by Dr S. Rubab of NIT Srinagar. Mr Zahoor Akram project coordinator of directorate of lifelong  learning, KU discussed on skill development courses. Mr Sajad Mir of BHSS Nigeen discussed about Children Science Congress.  For career counseling, students from BHSS Batmaloo, BHSS Hazratbal, KV and St. Pauls School participated in large numbers. Under the aegis of SAY an awarenes program on Man Bear conflict was conducted on third day of the festival by Ms Alia Mir and Mr. Tahir Ghazanfar of SOS Wildlife a not for profit organization. Mr MA Tak, Wildlife conservator of Kashmir also graced the occasion. Mr Tahir Ghazanfar urged the NIT students to provide technical inputs to control Man Bear conflict. On final day of the festival a gender equity workshop was conducted by Dr S Rubab and Dr Kowser Majid of NIT Srinagar. Dr Suraya of Medical Unit NIT and Dr Rana Hashmi of KU also took part in panel discussion. Ms. Zarqa of NIT elaborated on the field work conducted by the volunteers of SAY to gather information on  gender issues in less privileged communities of the city.

Apart from various technical events, there were technical fun events including treasure hunt, LAN Gaming, photography, video journal, skulk rider, Rangoli, a minute to win it and many more.

State Bank Of India, the Tribune, Gulzar group of institutions, 92.7 big FM, Aircel, sci fi labs, Technophilia, Cadd centre, College khabar, Twenty19 and Honda were among the sponsors of the festival.

Most of the events were won by NIT students except few. In smack down (an event of robotics) and LAN Gaming UIET, Punjab won the 1^st prize. Sankethika Institute won in maglev (mechanical) and  arduous(robotics). Structurite and brick wall erection of civil gained a lot of attention both from students of valley and outside J&K. In paper and poster presentation,  1^st position was bagged by NIT sgr and second by students from Andhra Pradesh. The Director  and Dean, students welfare gave away the prizes to all the event winners during Valedictory session. The best part of the Techvaganza was that it has been conceived and managed by students. They were ably supported by coordinator Er. Mushtaq Rather and the other faculty members.

Report on Science popularization in Urdu through Print media

Vigyan Prasar is a national organization under the department of Science and technology, working for Science popularization.Under its “Reaching to un-reach programme", it was envisaged of bringing out popular science literature in Urdu. A national level seminar cum workshop for development of popular science literature in Urdu was organized at  Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) Hyderabad from 9  to 11 April 2013. The seminar cum workshop was inaugurated by Prof Shamim Jairajpuri the founding vice chancellor of MANUU. The current vice chancellor Mohammed Mian also addressed the gathering. The chief guest was Prof S. Irfan Habib of NUEPA, New Delhi. He deliberated on history of science writing in Urdu in India. For the first time an abstract booklet of popular science writing in Urdu titled as ‘Talkhis’ was published and released during inaugural session.

The registrar of Vigyan Prasar Dr TV Venkatsewaran deliberated on the need to develop easy to understand scientific literature in Urdu. He stressed that present time being the time of technology and knowledge so a large population cannot be denied the benefits of technology. If scientific thought is presented in mother tongue a large population is going to appreciate it and they will be encouraged to express their views. Dr Irfana Begum who was the organizer of this seminar cum workshop stressed that  popularization of science through Urdu medium is need of hour. To appreciate the beauty of science and to avail the fruits of technology is the right of every citizen irrespective of their mother tongue. She urged those scientists and writers whose mother tongue is Urdu but they prefer to write in English and Hindi to write in Urdu as well. Dr Khalid Mubashiruzzafar the co organizer of the program from the Department of Translation, MAANU stressed on the role of translation in developing popular scientific literature in Urdu. Dr Monika Kaul from Delhi University who has done her schooling from the Kashmir valley and knows Urdu, discussed on the challenges in developing scientific literature in Urdu and  their remedial measures. Dr Gauhar Raza an eminent scientist from NISCAIR, CSIR and a talented writer of Urdu talked about scientific temper. He differentiated between science and non science. The meta question which differentiates between the two actually begins with why and how. The questions beginning with why leads to religion, whereas the questions beginning with how leads to science and scientific temper.

About forty participants presented their papers on following theme  (i) Content development (ii) Reach and circulation (iii) Inculcating reading habit and (iv) Sharing experiences. I presented my paper on astrolabe which was an effort in developing popular science content in Urdu. The other notable papers were on health by Dr Abid Moiz, Science in Urdu newspapers by Asad Faisal Faruqi, Historical perspective of scientific writing in Urdu by Dr Mohammed Junaid Zakir.  During second day, a workshop on writing popular science article in Urdu was conducted. Students of School of languages, linguistics and Indology of MANUU also participated in the workshop. Dr TV Venkateswaran of Vigyan Prasar,  Dr Gauhar Raza of NISCAIR, Dr Monika Kaul of Delhi University and Dr Seemin Rubab of NIT Srinagar acted as resource persons and shared their skills and tips with participants. The participants were then taken to the library to get resource materials and write a popular science article and submit it for evaluation. The articles were evaluated by me and all the participants received critical comments and tips on improving their writing skills on the third day. The valedictory session was chaired by Professor Mohammed Zafaruddin,  the dean of School of languages, linguistics & Indology and HOD department of translation. He emphasized on the need of regularly having similar kind of workshop. He assured the cooperation and role of department of translation  in developing popular science literature in Urdu. The department is offering a very innovative masters program in Translation studies. After valedictory session the participants were taken to Charminar, Makkah Masjid and Salar Jung Museum.

Rendezvous with Astrolabes

Although I am a student of Physics, my first rendezvous with astrolabe was few years ago through philately. I got a Spanish stamp with the image of astronomer Al-Zarqali / Arzachel, beside his astrolabe. Then I got a Syrian stamp on which astronomer Sibt al-Mardini who was also a timekeeper (muwaqqit) was busy doing some observations on his astrolabe. Another Syrian stamp which was released at the occasion of 2nd International symposium for the history of Arabic Science clearly shows an astrolabe. I became fascinated by its beauty and versatility and came to know about two libraries and a museum in India where ancient scientific instruments including astrolabes are preserved. A small collection of unique medieval scientific instruments are preserved in Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library at Patna. Another collection of instruments are preserved at Rampur Raza Library and yet another collection is at Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad. A small but unique collection of medieval astronomical instruments is preserved in SPS museum Srinagar. All these instruments have been catalogued by great Sanskrit scholar  SR Sarma. Last year I bought the album of scientific instruments preserved at the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library. The album has been edited by Imtiaz Ahmed on the basis of a paper by  SR Sarma entitled ‘A brief Introduction to the Astronomical Instruments preserved in Khuda Bakhsh Library, Patna’ published in Khuda Bakhsh Library journal in the year 1999. Recently I had the opportunity to see the astrolabes and other instruments at Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library.

The astrolabe is an ancient astronomical instrument/ analogue computer. Astrolabe is a very versatile instrument. It was first designed by Greeks to measure the altitude of a heavenly body. It was used to ascertain position of celestial bodies like Sun, Moon, planets and stars in the sky. It was also used for measuring height and distances in land surveys. It can also be used to simulate the motion of heavenly bodies at any locality and time. In fact it can also be used to measure time. The design, manufacture and applications of astrolabes were improved by Arabs in middle ages. It was used to calculate the Qibla and to find the times for Salah. Astrolabe was adopted for navigational purposes by the German geographer, Martin Behaim.

Several types of astrolabes have been made since antiquity. The most popular type is the planispheric astrolabe, on which the celestial sphere is projected onto the plane of the equator. A typical astrolabe was made of brass and was about 6-10 inches in diameter, although much larger and smaller ones were made. An astrolabe consists of a disk, called the mater (mother), which is deep enough to hold one or more flat plates called tympans or climates. A tympan is made for a specific latitude and is engraved with a stereographic projection of circles denoting azimuth and altitude and representing the portion of the celestial sphere above the local horizon. The rim of the mater is typically graduated into hours of time, degrees of arc. Above the mater and tympan, the rete or ankabut, a framework bearing a projection of the ecliptic plane and several pointers indicating the positions of the brightest stars, is free to rotate. The rete, representing the sky, functions as a star chart. When it is rotated, the stars and the ecliptic move over the projection of the coordinates on the tympan. One complete rotation corresponds to the passage of a day. On the back of the mater there is often engraved a number of scales that are useful in the astrolabe's various applications; these vary from designer to designer, but might include curves for time conversions, a calendar for converting the day of the month to the sun's position on the ecliptic, trigonometric scales, and a graduation of 360 degrees around the back edge. The alidade is attached to the back face. When the astrolabe is held vertically, the alidade can be rotated and the sun or a star sighted along its length, so that its altitude in degrees can be read from the graduated edge of the astrolabe.

The concept of astrolabe was introduced in India by noted polymath Alberuni through his writings. The medieval rulers Firoz Shah Tughlaq and Humayun patronized astronomy. During Mughal period some finest astrolabes were manufactured in Lahore.

Astrolabes have now been replaced by sextants, GPS and other sophisticated digital devices but their study and handling leads to insights into basic measurement, geometry, stereographic projection, astronomy, geography and design and application of instruments. There are about thousand Islamic astrolabes that survive in various museums throughout world. They are pieces of beauty and craftmanship for beholders. Not only men but women also excelled in designing of astrolabes. Mirium al Ijli from Aleppo was a famous designer and crafter of intricate astrolabes that’s why she is also known as Mirium asturlabi.

Report on Indian Science Communication Congress(ISCC-2012)

The 12th Indian Science Communication Congress (ISCC-2012) with the theme of ‘Risk Communication and Development’ was held at Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi from 17-21 December. The conference was being jointly organized by National Council of Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), Indian Science Writers Association (ISWA), Vidyadeep Foundation and Jan Sewa Ashram. The conference was inaugurated by Prof. Ved Prakash, Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) and Presidential address was delivered by Prof. Krishan Lal, President, Indian National Science Academy. Key note address was delivered by Dr. R. K. Bhandari, Former Chairman, Centre for Disaster Mitigation. Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari, Director General of Council of Scientific Research (CSIR) and veteran journalist Dr. Radhey Shyam Sharma graced the occasion as guest of honour.  Indian Science Writers Association (ISWA) conferred national awards and fellowships to fifty leading scientists and journalists of the nation. Around 250 scientists, science writers, academicians,  science correspondents and students participated in the congress. In his inaugural address Prof. Ved Prakash, Chairman, UGC, stressed the importance of quality education and research in the higher science education. In the presidential address Dr. Krishan Lal, INSA President suggested the importance of fact based debates and discussion between the scientists, communicators and common people. Dr. Manoj Kumar Patairiya talked about addressing the dilemma over emerging conflicting  issues on science and technology and role of scientists and journalists. Prof. Samir K Brahmachari stressed the importance of science communicators for bridging the gap between scientists and common people.

Several topics such as Risk Communication and Management, Nuclear Energy and Environmental Awareness, Public appreciation of Health Risks and Genetically Modified Organisms were discussed and deliberations made during the conference. The increasing public concerns on emerging issues in genetically modified organisms, nuclear energy, climate change, clinical trials, industrial hazards, etc., need to be addressed with fair, honest, and factual scientific understanding; this entire concept opens up a yet another area of science communication, i.e. “Risk Communication & Development”, which was the focal theme of ISCC-2012. The deliberations  covered a wide range of sub themes, such as: Communication for Sustainable Development; Awareness of Genetically Modified Organisms; Public Appreciation of Nuclear Energy; Public Understanding of Health Risks; Environmental Risks and Communication Strategies; Public Misunderstanding of Superstitions; Preparedness for Disasters - Natural and Human; Risk Communication and Mass Media; Scientific Temper and Risk Management, etc.

I presented my paper on Public awareness of directive on restriction of hazardous substances. We are living in an electronic age. We have e-mail, e-banking, e-business, e-books, e-medicine (telemedicine) and so on. The e-products like laptops and cellular phones have penetrated the society in a big way. However majority of users of these products are unaware of presence of hazardous chemicals in electronic goods. The Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment was adopted in 2003 by the European Union. The RoHS-directive, restricts the use of six hazardous materials (viz., lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, PBB and PDBE) in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. PBB and PBDE are brominated flame retardants used in several plastics. A long term exposure of these substances may lead to damage of Nervous system, Kidney, Bones, Reproductive System and Endocrine system. BFR release dioxins and furans which are neurotoxins.

The topics of the evening talks covered First Aid in Disaster by well known physician Dr. K.K. Aggarwal, Science and Art of Weather Forecasting by Dr. Akhilesh Gupta, Secretary UGC, Disasters and Public Awareness by Dr. K. J. Ramesh, Advisor, Ministry of Earth Sciences, and Nuclear Energy Debate by Dr. S.K. Malhotra, Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India. The deliberations emphasized the need of a Science and Technology Communication Policy.

Second session of the last day was dedicated for “Young Scholars” which was chaired by Dr. M Prithviraj, Executive Director, Karnataka State Council for Science & Tech. Variety of presentations were made and appreciated by the audience.

Discussion and conclusion sessions was chaired by Dr. S K Malhotra, Director, Public Affairs, Deptt of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India and Rappoteur was Mr. B P Singh, Journalist, Chandigarh. Dr. Manoj Pataria, Director, NCSTC, GOI also share the dais and answered the queries of the participants and delegates. This session was dedicated for the interaction, discussion, suggestion and further recommendation to the higher authorities for their kind consideration.

The valedictory session of the conference was graced by dignitaries such as Mr. Noorana, Sr. Manager, Corporate communication, India Oil Corporation, Mr. Anand Khati, JS, MoES, GOI, Prof Saroj Mishra, University of Houston Clear Lake, USA and Dr. Avinash Mishra, Chief Resident Commissioner, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh.

Beware of greenwash! Be aware of 'Green'

Going Green has become in thing these days. A new vocabulary where green is used as an adjective as well as a verb to show compassion to environment has emerged. It represents a wide and loosely defined spectrum of thought, attitude, philosophy and practice centered around the concern for the environment. We have green resources, products and processes like green energy, green buildings, green agriculture, green transport, green cities, green electronics, green computing, green chemistry, green pharmaceuticals, green fabrics to name a few.

Any product or process is ‘green’ if the emission of carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas is minimal during its fabrication and usage, it has consumed minimum of non renewable resources including energy and water, it has been made of recycled materials, it is recyclable after its useful life, it has utilized local resources, it respects other forms of life during its formation, usage and disposal. Going by this definition, there are shades of ‘green’ or degree of greenness. Getting completely green product or process is a mirage. A glossary of common green vocabulary is as follows.

A green economy is one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. The three pillars of a green economy are reduction in carbon emissions, improvement in resource efficiency and social equity.

Employment in low carbon sector is termed as green jobs.

Green sources of energy are those which are relatively free from the emissions of Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. The emission of carbon dioxide is negligible for renewable sources of energy like hydro, wind or Solar as well as for Nuclear energy.  It is however to be noted that renewable sources of energy are not fully green. The devices and technologies like water turbine, wind electric generator, solar cells etc. which are used to harness renewable energy, consume lots of conventional energy while fabrication and installation. This is known as their embodied energy. They become green only when they payback this energy. The issue of hazardous wastes makes Nuclear energy less green.

A green building depletes the natural resources to a minimum during its construction and operation. Green architecture is a wide ranging concept including solar passive design to minimize HVAC load, utilization of building materials having low embodied energy, recycled material and efficient water, waste and energy management during entire useful life of the building.

Green transport encompasses improving public transport system, running trains and other vehicles on biodiesel and ethanol, promotion of solar cars and battery operated vehicles and promotion of non-motorized transport like pedal bicycles. The ultimate green transport could be vehicles run on hydrogen as it produces water on combustion instead of carbon dioxide. 

Green buildings and green transport leads to green cities. The main features of a green city are that each house is to be built or retrofitted on solar passive concepts, is to be provided with solar water heaters, has  renewable energy based power generation plants, harvests rainwater, resorts to wastewater recycling etc. A green city has well developed rapid mass transport system and cycling and pedestrian tracks. The green city also has efficient waste collection and utilization system. The waste is segregated as biodegradable, non-biodegradable and toxic at household level and collected and disposed or reused likewise.

Green agriculture focuses on no-till farming, organic fertilizers, natural pesticides, rain water harvesting and drip irrigation.

Green Chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. It is an emerging philosophy which aims to protect environment by inventing new chemical processes that do not pollute. Anastas and Warner have proposed twelve principles of Green Chemistry which are now seen as a precursor to clean and green Pharmaceuticals.

Green engineering could be thought of as the transformation of existing engineering disciplines and practices to those that lead to sustainability The basic principles of green engineering include life cycle thinking in designing engineering products, minimization of depletion of resources including energy, proper handling of waste etc.

Green technology is intended to solve some of the environmental problem or at least should perform better than alternative ‘nongreen’ technologies. Nanotechnologies for providing energy, clean water and a good environment in a sustainable way are termed as Green nanotechnology.

Green electronics means design of energy efficient, safer electronic products with longer lifespan and recyclability potential.

Green washing is the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology or company practice. So beware of green wash.