New Delhi [India], June 8 (ANI/Mediawire): Not even in the wildest dreams could one have ever imagined what the human race has been through since novel Coronavirus surfaced in 2019. That a pandemic of this scale could not only disrupt lives, but also leave millions gasping for life-giving oxygen was unthinkable!
The last couple of decades have seen outbreaks of quite a few zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19, SARS, swine flu, to name a few, crossing over from animals into humans. While nobody could have predicted the devastation the Covid-19 pandemic has left in its wake, epidemiologists have been warning us for years that with mankind’s very casual approach towards environment, this might just be the beginning!
Experts believe that outbreaks are becoming more and more common just for the simple reason that humanity’s destruction of biodiversity is creating opportunities for the spill-over of new viruses and diseases. This coupled with the population explosion is a global catastrophe waiting to happen.
More people on the planet means need for more activities like agriculture, forestry, mining and oil exploration. World over, biodiversity is being degraded at an alarming rate, leading to depletion of our forests by phenomenal numbers; pushing the world onto the brink of a grave environmental crisis. Every day, on a massive scale, we are hacking our natural oxygen generators and less trees mean less oxygen to breathe!
Our ill treatment of the planet has also led to a wide range of environmental problems such as global warming, depletion of stratospheric ozone, acid rain, soil erosion, destruction of tropical forests, depletion and extinction of many species, and swift decline of biodiversity, all of which are linked to the influx of natural disasters and different weather patterns the earth is witnessing frequently these days.
Funnily the solution is in our hands! While all of these problems may seem physical or environmental in nature, their causes and their potential solutions are invariably connected to our attitudes, beliefs, values, needs, desires, and behaviours.
It is time we wake up and realise that every choice we make, has global repercussions and act and choose wisely. Adopting the Reduce – Recycle – Reuse policy; consuming fuel, electricity and water judiciously and using only environment-friendly products, are simple things we can easily do to make a huge difference.
Apart from these simple things, another thing you can do is switch to Green Cement. Here’s some food for thought… Did you know that an everyday product like cement that we use without giving much thought to, has major ecological impacts?
One of the foremost problems of the Cement industry is emission of CO2, which we all know is harmful for the health of all living beings. Studies show that the cement industry’s worldwide production of 1.6 billion + tons contributes about 7% of carbon dioxide’s yearly emissions.
The key lies in switching to Green Cement or Green Concrete that is produced with the help of a “carbon-negative manufacturing process” wherein the manufacturing process of cement is suitably altered to bring down the CO2 emission levels significantly. Nearly 60% less thermal energy is consumed when Green Cement is produced as compared to OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement). Green Cement also reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% for each ton of OPC. It also reduces the urban heat island effect by increasing the reflectivity of concrete.
At JSW Cement, Slag, produced during steel making process, is used to produce green cement. Slag is extremely effective in reducing permeability and helps increase the durability of concrete. Slag Cement can replace 70-80% of OPC in most common concrete mixtures, and up to 100% in massive concrete elements and other specialised structures.
JSW Cement is India’s first-ever cement manufacturer to receive the coveted GreenPro Certification for Portland Slag Cement (PSC) from the CII-IGBC (Confederation of Indian Industry – Indian Green Building Council) and are GreenPro Certified for three products, Portland Slag Cement (PSC), Composite Cement (CC) and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS).
JSW Cement has received GreenPro certification for the following initiatives:
* Reduction in CO2 emissions
* Use of alternate raw material
* Enhancement of mines life; conservation of Limestone
* Efficient Water management
* Restoration of mines
* Green belt development
* Biodiversity
Based upon the Life Cycle Assessment & EPD certification of JSW’s PSC product, it can be concluded that JSW PSC has less ecological foot print, covering the following key parameters with respect to OPC:
* Least global warming potential
* Maximum usage of secondary materials
* Less acidification & eutrophication potential
* Minimal non-renewable primary energy usage
(Embed Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDBY5A7cc-o)
The relationship between us and mother earth is dangerously unbalanced at the moment. The recent pandemic is just an indicator that our planet is in red and the rapid environmental changes taking place every day are wreaking havoc on the social and economic wellbeing of the entire human race. The bottom line here is we should stop taking nature for granted and start making intelligent choices like switching to green cement to help protect our future!
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