EarthTalk – Mithibai College Mumbai India
Talks on the environment are generally very dry and serious. With a promise to make it more interesting and entertaining, Saurabh Gupta, Founder of Earth5R, began his talk for the students of Mithibai college. The event took place on Feb 6th 2015 at Mithibai College, Mumbai, INDIA.
He briefed the students about how he got inspired to do talks on the environment while watching Ted Talks. The interesting personal experiences he went through which led him to quit his job and make a shift from the corporate world were narrated as well.
Students came up with their own answers as to what they thought a livable earth should be, like a greener earth with less pollution. Saurabh then explained that how making the earth livable would just be a far-fetched dream if issues like poverty, equality for all and ethical behaviour towards resources are not addressed. Students got more interested when they realized that as banking professionals, they held a huge responsibility towards this cause.
Next started a detailed discussion on how students could handle this responsibility. Saurabh explained that whenever a financial institution funds any company, they should look at the performance metrics in the ESG of the company. Students listened with rapt attention as they were briefed about ESG – environment, social, governance.
Environment included energy consumption, water availability, waste and pollution; making efficient uses of resources.
Social included human capital, things like employee engagement and innovation capacity, as well as supply chain management and labor rights and human rights.
Governance related to the oversight of companies by their boards and investors.
Concluding the above topic, Saurabh said that using ESG companies should drive hard business results.
Next, was an extremely interesting slot wherein examples of well known brands like Nestle and Starbucks were thrown in at the students and how their businesses were affected due to ethical consumerism. The students gained insight into the power of consumers and the importance of making socially responsible investments.
The session ended with a discussion of the five environmental values- Respect,Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Restore.
The impact of the talk and change of atmosphere was not surprising as the students who loved to laugh turned solemn and thoughtful as they realized the immense responsibility they held towards the environment.
Report by Nikita Shrawagi, Photograph by Sagar Kulkarni, EarthTalk Project Management (Mumbai) by Sagar Suba, Cover Photo: Agency- Saatchi & Saatchi, Creative Director- Magnus Olsson, Copywriter- Saatchi/Saatchi Tribe, Art Director- Saatchi/Saatchi tribe (Tim Bishop), Photographer- Calle Stolze
