Documentary on Ganga stirs up a conversation on renewable energy sources

‘Pollution can be controlled through technology, public policy and cooperation’

Environmental activists, film makers and journalists came together to bat for renewable energy sources during the screening of a documentary at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) here on Tuesday.

Speaking at the screening of SuryaGanga by Valli Bindana, MSSRF founder and agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan said that air pollution can only be controlled through a combination of technology and public policy and cooperation.

“Every year we experience severe air pollution in north India due to burning of rice straw. This is unfortunate since rice straw can be enriched with urea and molasses and used as animal feed,” he said.

Energy justice

Poovulagin Nanbargal’s G. Sundarrajan said that it was also important to talk about energy justice. “The next 10 to 15 years will decide whether human existence would be there.” Film director Ajayan Bala said that local environmental issues like the degradation of the Pallikaranai marsh and the Cooum river needed to be filmed and taken to the people. Senior journalist Kavitha Muralidharan said that the film spoke of the issues and also the solutions.

Speaking via Skype, Ms. Bindana said that she wanted the film to be screened among communities and create awareness on issues of local importance.