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Invited Talk on Understanding Climate Change and Corrective Action in Daily Life by Prof Chetan Singh Solanki
Date: August 17 2026
Time: 11:00 am – 1:00 pm; 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Venue: Senate Room/Auditorium
Invited Talk on Understanding Climate Change and Corrective Action in Daily Life by Prof Chetan Singh Solanki
An interactive invited talk titled ‘Understanding Climate Change and Corrective Actions in Daily Life’, was conducted by Prof Chetan Singh Solanki, a distinguished scientist and retired professor at IIT Bombay, widely recognized as the “Solar Man of India” and the “Solar Gandhi” guided by objectives of sustainability and self-sufficiency. Prof Solanki interacted with students and faculty separately.
Prof Solanki founded the Energy Swaraj Foundation and has undertaken the ambitious 11-year Energy Swaraj Yatra (2020–2030), living and traveling via a solar-powered bus without returning home until the mission is realized.
To engage the audience, he introduced the event by performing the ‘Ascharyachakit Pranayama’ with students, awakening mindfulness and preparing the room for a thought provoking exploration of global climate change emergency.
Prof Solanki highlighted the alarming contradiction of modern progress, where non-essential commodities go through massive upgradation while vital lifelines such as clean air, water, and fertile soil face severe degradation. He warned that visible garbage is merely the tip of the iceberg compared to the invisible garbage of accumulating greenhouse gases, which have surged by over 50% and can trigger exponential global temperature rise which is irreversible.
Drawing attention to physical laws, he emphasized that every natural system has a definite breakdown threshold, a tipping point already evident in the sinking of coastal regions like Satbhaya village in Odisha and Jakarta, the fastest sinking capital city in the world. He warned about the unpredictable seasonal cycles, and widespread biodiversity loss.
Challenging the audience through thought-provoking queries, Prof Solanki argued that technological solutions alone are insufficient unless aggregate consumption by each one of us is radically disciplined. Drawing from Gandhian philosophy, he introduced the concept of “Climate Satyagraha”—a non-violent, personal commitment to live strictly within the Earth’s natural carrying capacity, beginning with mindful reduction in consumption of everyday essentials as basic as the humble toothpaste which can be seen to lead to water, energy and material conversation. He urged participants to join The Finite Earth Movement (FEM) and take the FEM’Us Pledge through portals such as thefiniteearth.org and energyswaraj.org to access learning frameworks and track personal reduction metrics.
He shared unique eye opening insights, an important one being human consumption is 1.8 Earths, implying that we use resources 1.8 times faster than what our Earth can renew in a year. He sensitised all faculty and students to become aware of their own consumption and urged them to consciously give up one small thing for a year.
The event concluded with an inspiring and reflective note, featuring stirring musical videos on sustainable consumption followed by an interactive Q&A session. NU students and faculty actively engaged with Prof Solanki on practical strategies for balancing academic and professional routines with carbon footprint reduction. Reinforcing the urgent need for localized accountability, he left the audience with a powerful call to action: to reject passive observation and become dedicated climate ambassadors championing self-restraint and ecological balance in their daily lives. The session ended with the audience taking a climate pledge and the gifting of a book authored by Prof Solanki to Maj Gen A K Singh, Dean Student Affairs and Chief Operations Officer.
