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Chillibreeze Interview with Urvashi Devidayal
1. Tell us something about the work you do. For the past five years I have worked for an international NGO on climate change, working mainly with the financial and corporate sector in mitigating climate change. I currently live in Mumbai and am passionate about sustainability, living a healthier life and learning. I am spending some time volunteering for a few NGO’s. I also write a blog called “Sustainability in My House”. 2. You have also worked for financial companies before. How was your experience and why the switch over to the development sector? My education and spiritual learning taught me that working for others has to be an integral part of life. I have always known that working in the development sector would be my eventual goal however I was unsure of where to start. After seven odd years in the corporate sector I knew I had to make the switch. With a big paycut, starting at the bottom again I have been able to work with some truly forward thinking organizations. The difference has taught me a tremendous amount of humility and a job satisfaction I doubt I could have gained elsewhere. 3. Tell us something about your penchant towards the development sector. It is a fascintating and intellectually challenging space to be in. I studied macro economics in college and a lot of development work that I have done has required a macro outlook. For example, a renewable energy project can be linked to energy security, women empowerment, health and also economic development. It is fascinating to understand the link between the finance and corporate sector to the MDG’s (millenium development goals) and understand the consequences of decision making and long term strategy planning.
A lot of the work I did was engaging senior level management of the corporate and finance sectors in a conversation around climate change. We organized high level roundtables of 20-25 senior (VP and above) management professionals to have peer discussions on how their strategies have an impact on climate change and how best to mitigate their impact. For example – most Indians will use a Tata, Reliance, or HUL product or service daily. So if you can influence the top 20 companies in a country to change, then the impact is far reaching. 5. Do you foresee any challenges? How do you intend to overcome them? Most of the change has to happen with long term strategy in mind. However, short term profitability is always a concern and therefore it is often hard to convince management to implement change. The best way to overcome it is to highlight sucessful case studies of companies that have implemented successful climate change strategies that have actually yielded them an increase in profits. 6. What are your thoughts on educating kids/young minds to address environmental or social issues? Do you think early emphasis will help in building a better future? How do you think we can revolutionize this? I think it is very important to educate children on environment and social issues. However, rather than making it a separate subject it must be incorporated into the teachings of every subject – it is most effective then. For instance, in an English book – a story on an environmentally and socially conscious, character is really important. In my niece’s school they are required to carry a small “litter” bag in their school bags for collecting garbage – small initiatives like this have a great impact. I have seen that often schools do teach good environment and civic sense but as adults the translation is often lost. It is essential that corporate and social organizations etc., continue advocacy on this. The revolution lies eventually in social entreprises and making them profitable. 7. What kinds of books do we need for children in this age of ecological changes? Action oriented books that are contextual to their lives would be great. It is also important to have books that show linkages between small actions and the consequences of our actions. Like for instances – if a book is about using less electricity, then it would be great if it also explains how electricity is produced and there why it is important to save it. There is a series called “The story of Stuff” - this is by far one of the best examples of this kind of storytelling. It would also be brilliant if students were encouraged to use libraries – there are very few of them and most kids nowadays rarely use them!
I used to absolutely hate writing when I was in school. I would cringe when we had to submit compositions but now I really love it! It is therapeutic in a way. Check the results of the writing contest for the First Quarter, 2012 Related links: Global Warming and Humankind - An Indian Perspective
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Urvashi works on environmental issues primarily concerning climate change. She is currently working on a book on urban agriculture. She holds a degree in Economics was a finance professional before she decided to work on sustainability projects.
