To quote Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Mankind is on the pinnacle of advancement, with breakthroughs in science and technology happening every day. These developments have given us power, but we have a responsibility to wield this power with caution.

Today with earth’s resources strained more than ever before, humanity is coming together to reverse the negative impact development has had on our planet. On Earth Day, let’s take a moment to see how we as responsible citizens can contribute on an individual, community and organisation level to saving planet Earth.

• Save water: We all waste water in different ways. Sometimes we leave the water running while washing dishes or never get around to fixing the leaking faucet. These oversights that we think will make no difference have a huge impact in combination with the global population. Saving water in your home or office means more water for your community, and every little bit counts.
  At Akshaya Patra a technology to treat effluents called Porous Sulpha Sponge (PSS) has been identified. This technology is under consideration to be adopted in the kitchens.
• Reduce air pollution: Smog and dust have become a regular part of our lives. But we can reduce their impact by taking a few basic steps like planting more trees, using environment friendly ways of commuting like walking or cycling and using less electricity to reduce burning coal and natural gas.
  Using data analytics Akshaya Patra reduced the number of meal delivery routes by five, lowering the fuel consumption and vehicle emission each month.
• Manage waste better: Try and reduce your home or office waste by purchasing products that are reusable and composting waste food scraps to nourish your backyard or garden. This waste can also be used to generate power for your home or office.
  Taking into account the huge amounts of waste generated, Akshaya Patra’s Vasanthapura (Bangalore) and Vadodara (Gujarat) kitchens have installed BioUrja plants. In Bangalore the compact bio-waste to energy system has enabled the kitchen to generate fuel worth 70 cylinders a month. In Vadodara the plant takes care of 1/3rd of the LPG needs of the kitchen at less than five per cent of the current recurring cost.
• Reduce your energy usage: There are many ways to reduce your energy consumption. Some of these are to fit your home or office with solar panels to run your basic electric needs, use energy efficient appliances, and replace or clean air filters on time in your air-conditioner or heater to avoid them working overtime.
  The Vasanthapura kitchen has also had a solar plant installed which produces up to 70 units of power a day. This energy is used to power applications like fans, computers and other basic systems.

These steps can be implemented even on a mediocre scale in any home or office. If each one of us make these small changes to take care of our planet, we will soon see Mother Earth thriving once more.

Do you have any eco-friendly tips to share? Let us know by commenting below.

Through the year all our kitchens work tirelessly to make sure that the students receive nutritious meals, in sufficient quantity every day. But during the school summer vacation we turn our attention to getting geared up for the start of the next academic year, and focusing on other projects too. Here’s a taste of what goes on in our kitchens while our students enjoy their summer holidays.

Prashanth Kumar M B, in charge of our Vrindavan kitchen tells us that their kitchen will be occupied with regular maintenance and repair work, overhauling all critical machinery and undertaking new projects to increase cooking capacity. Aside from this the kitchen will continue to feed about 22,000 Anganwadi children under the ICDS programme in and around Agra city.

Sunil Kumar Mehta in charge of our latest kitchen in Lucknow says this kitchen will be gearing up for the coming academic year with maintenance work on the flooring and water proofing of the kitchen.

According to Chetan D, in charge of our Bangalore and Bellary kitchens, the two Bangalore kitchens will be operational during the summer vacations providing food to the drought prone areas of Bangalore, as per the request of the Government of Karnataka.

Tasks like these and many more are being meticulously planned and executed in all our 24 locations across India during these two months. While the children enjoy their reprieve from daily lessons, our kitchen staff quietly and happily continues to improve and provide the healthy mid-day meal programme for those in need.