The Hindu : National : $100,000 green award instituted

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National

$100,000 green award instituted

Special Correspondent

Mumbai: The Sierra Club, with the support of non-resident Indians in the U.S., on Thursday announced a new $1,00,000- “Green Energy and Green Livelihoods Achievement Award” in India for outstanding environmental success by non-governmental organisations, cooperatives, small businesses and labour unions working at the grass roots.

Executive director Carl Pope said a dozen NRIs were the main fund contributors for the award. This number was expected to go up to 50 or even 100 eventually.

The winner of the first award, worth Rs. 40 lakh, would be announced here in early 2009.

With 1.4 million members, the Sierra Club — established in 1892 by John Muir, naturalist, writer and conservationist — was the oldest and largest grass-roots eco organisation in the U.S.

Climate change

Mr. Pope said that with climate change becoming a real threat, it was a good time to switch to a low-carbon economy as India had little options in terms of fuels. It had all ingredients for a low carbon-based economy — sunshine, wind, lot of human brains and a hard work ethic.

The real test

The Sierra Club would establish a centre for green livelihoods in India and create a platform for various initiatives.

A low-carbon economy generated more jobs and the test of the award would be to see whether it really managed to engage a broad section of Indian society.

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