Climate change is not only an environmental challenge. It is a challenge of awareness, responsibility, human behaviour and the choices we make every day.
My interest in climate change and sustainability grew from a simple village tree plantation initiative in 2015 into a deeper personal journey of environmental learning, reading, writing and action.
Over the years, I have come to believe that lasting environmental change requires more than planting trees or discussing climate change. It requires people to understand their environmental impact, recognise the consequences of their choices and take practical steps towards a more sustainable way of living.
Through my environmental writing, personal research, awareness activities and participation in community initiatives, I seek to contribute to a wider culture of environmental responsibility.
My approach is guided by three interconnected ideas.
A future where environmental responsibility becomes part of everyday life.
I believe climate awareness should extend beyond scientific discussions and policy commitments to reach individuals, families, educational institutions, businesses and communities.
Explore My Climate VisionKnow your carbon footprint. Understand your impact. Take responsibility.
Carbon Consciousness is the idea that people should understand how their daily activities contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and how informed choices can help reduce their impact.
Explore Carbon ConsciousnessTurning awareness into meaningful participation.
My environmental journey began with tree plantation and gradually expanded into community awareness, environmental education, writing and personal contributions towards environmental and social causes.
Explore Environmental ActionUnderstand the challenge.
Measure your impact.
Reduce what you can.
Take meaningful action.
Inspire others to do the same.
"A sustainable future begins when environmental awareness becomes personal responsibility."
Making Environmental Responsibility Part of Everyday Life
My climate vision is rooted in a simple belief:
A sustainable future cannot be achieved through policies, technology and institutional commitments alone. It also requires informed and responsible participation from people.
Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. Its consequences extend far beyond rising temperatures, affecting water resources, agriculture, biodiversity, human health, livelihoods, cities and future generations.
Addressing these challenges requires scientific understanding, effective policies, technological progress, responsible institutions and changes in human behaviour.
I believe every individual has a role to play.
My vision is to see a society where climate and environmental responsibility are not occasional subjects of discussion, but natural parts of how we learn, consume, travel, work, build and live.
Environmental awareness is important, but awareness alone is not enough.
People may know that climate change exists without understanding how their daily activities contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
They may support environmental protection in principle while remaining unaware of the environmental consequences of their consumption, energy use, transportation and waste.
I believe the next stage of climate awareness must focus on helping people connect global environmental challenges with their own everyday decisions.
The transition I envision is:
When people understand their environmental impact, they are better positioned to make informed and responsible choices.
Climate knowledge should not remain limited to scientists, policymakers or environmental professionals.
Students, teachers, families, working professionals, farmers, business owners and communities should have access to understandable, credible and practical information about climate change.
I believe climate education should begin early and continue throughout life.
Everyday activities such as electricity consumption, transportation, food choices, shopping and waste generation can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
My vision is to encourage people to become aware of these impacts, understand their carbon footprints and explore practical ways to reduce emissions.
Knowing our impact is an important first step towards reducing it.
Climate action must also recognise the importance of trees, forests, wetlands, water, soil and biodiversity.
Healthy ecosystems support human well being, ecological resilience and climate regulation.
My environmental journey began with trees, but my understanding of sustainability has gradually expanded to recognise the interconnectedness of natural systems.
I believe protecting existing ecosystems is as important as restoring degraded landscapes and planting new trees.
A sustainable society requires thoughtful use of resources.
Energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction, responsible consumption and sustainable mobility are practical areas where individuals and communities can contribute.
Not every sustainable choice requires a major financial investment.
Many begin with awareness, habits and a willingness to change.
Individual responsibility matters, but collective participation can create wider change.
Schools, colleges, communities, businesses and public institutions can help make sustainable practices more accessible and effective.
My experience with community plantation activities has reinforced my belief that environmental initiatives become stronger when people participate together.
India's journey towards sustainable development presents both significant opportunities and challenges.
As the country advances towards its long term Net Zero ambition for 2070, I believe climate consciousness should become part of everyday life across urban and rural India.
I envision a Climate Conscious Bharat where:
The objective is not to expect everyone to become an environmental expert.
It is to encourage everyone to become more environmentally responsible.
My climate vision did not emerge from a single event.
It developed gradually through village plantation activities, conversations with teachers and environmental enthusiasts, community participation, personal reading, research and environmental writing.
The more I learned, the more I understood that environmental challenges are deeply connected with the way society develops and consumes resources.
This understanding continues to shape my writing and personal environmental activities.
I do not claim to have all the answers.
I consider myself a lifelong learner who believes knowledge should lead to responsible action.
I hope to see a future where children understand nature before they learn to take it for granted.
Where people know that electricity, transport, food, water and consumption have environmental consequences.
Where trees are protected as living ecological assets, not simply counted as plantation statistics.
Where sustainability is understood as a shared responsibility rather than a concern for a small group of environmental advocates.
And where environmental awareness becomes a lasting part of our social values.
Making Carbon Awareness Part of Everyday Life
Most of us make hundreds of decisions every day without knowing their environmental consequences.
We use electricity, travel, purchase products, consume food, generate waste and depend on services that require energy and resources.
Many of these activities directly or indirectly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
Yet few people know the approximate carbon footprint associated with their lifestyle.
I believe this gap between everyday consumption and environmental understanding is one of the important challenges in building a climate conscious society.
This belief forms the foundation of my interest in Carbon Consciousness.
Carbon Consciousness means being aware of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with our activities, understanding the factors that influence those emissions and making informed efforts to reduce avoidable environmental impact.
It does not mean eliminating every emission from our lives.
It means recognising that our choices have consequences and that better information can support better decisions.
For me, Carbon Consciousness begins with a simple question:
"Do We Know Our Carbon Number?"
A carbon footprint is generally expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e), a measurement that brings different greenhouse gases into a common unit based on their warming effects. Understanding this footprint can help us identify major sources of emissions and explore opportunities for reduction.
As I researched and wrote about carbon footprints, particularly while working on my book “The Carbon Footprint”, I began thinking about how ordinary people could move beyond reading about emissions to understanding their own environmental impact.
I felt that climate information would become more meaningful if people could estimate the emissions associated with their daily activities.
This thinking inspired me to conceptualise a Carbon Calculator framework designed to make carbon footprint estimation more accessible across different areas of life.
The framework covers six categories.
Understanding emissions associated with personal lifestyle choices, including transportation, energy use and consumption.
Estimating the environmental impact of household energy consumption, transportation and other relevant activities.
Exploring greenhouse gas emissions associated with agricultural activities and farming practices.
Helping organisations understand relevant sources of operational and value chain emissions.
Encouraging educational institutions to understand emissions associated with their activities and operations.
Estimating emissions associated with organising and conducting events.
The purpose is to make carbon measurement easier to understand and encourage more informed environmental decisions.
Carbon footprint estimates depend on the quality of activity data, emission factors, calculation boundaries and assumptions. They should therefore be treated as informed estimates rather than perfectly precise measurements.
Understand climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental consequences of everyday activities.
Awareness is the starting point.
Estimate your carbon footprint using appropriate information and calculation methods.
Measurement helps make an otherwise invisible environmental impact easier to understand.
Identify practical opportunities to reduce avoidable emissions.
These may include energy efficiency, responsible transportation, reducing waste and making thoughtful consumption choices.
Translate knowledge into consistent personal and collective action.
A sustainable lifestyle is built through repeated decisions, not occasional declarations.
Share knowledge, encourage responsible behaviour and help others begin their own sustainability journey.
Climate consciousness becomes more powerful when it spreads through families, workplaces, educational institutions and communities.
Climate change can sometimes feel distant or difficult to relate to everyday life. Understanding personal and household emissions helps connect the global challenge with individual activities.
Carbon footprint information can help people identify areas where changes may have meaningful benefits.
Understanding the environmental implications of products, services and activities can encourage more thoughtful use of resources.
Carbon measurement can become a practical educational tool for students, families, professionals and institutions.
When carbon awareness spreads across communities and organisations, it can support broader sustainability initiatives.
Although individual awareness is important, responsibility for emissions cannot rest on individuals alone.
Governments, industries, businesses, infrastructure providers and institutions influence the choices available to society.
Effective climate action requires both personal responsibility and wider systemic transformation.
I believe Carbon Consciousness can help connect these two dimensions.
Individuals can make more informed choices, while institutions can improve the systems, products and services that shape those choices.
I hope Carbon Consciousness will gradually become as familiar a concept as financial awareness, health awareness or digital literacy.
People should be able to ask not only:
"How much does this cost?"
But also:
"What is its environmental impact?"
The goal is not to create fear or guilt.
It is to create understanding, encourage practical choices and make environmental responsibility more accessible.
You cannot manage every environmental impact perfectly. But you can begin by understanding the impact of your choices.
Know Your Carbon Number.
Understand Your Impact.
Reduce What You Can.
Inspire Others.
"A climate conscious society begins with climate conscious decisions."
Planting Trees. Creating Awareness. Encouraging Responsibility.
My environmental journey began with a simple belief:
If we care about the future of our planet, we must be willing to contribute through our own actions.
On 3 July 2015, with the support of members of my village club, I began a tree plantation initiative in my native village of Gomundia, in the Parikud region of Odisha.
Parikud is a coastal island region comprising 96 villages, connected with the natural landscapes of Chilika Lake and the Bay of Bengal.
What began as a modest village initiative gradually developed into a broader personal commitment to environmental protection, community participation and awareness.
Over the years, my environmental interests have expanded from tree plantation to climate change, carbon footprints, biodiversity, sustainability education and responsible lifestyles.
The early plantation activities in Gomundia were undertaken with the participation of village club members and local supporters.
As the initiative developed, teachers, students, villagers, women from Self Help Groups, volunteers, social workers and other community members joined different environmental activities.
The initiative became known as Green Parikud.
For me, its greatest lesson was not simply about planting trees.
It was about discovering how a small personal initiative could encourage people to participate in a common environmental purpose.
Environmental change becomes stronger when individual responsibility becomes collective action.
Trees have remained an important part of my environmental journey.
My interest extends to native trees, fruit bearing trees, palmyra palms and species that can contribute to local ecosystems and community well being.
I believe plantation activities should consider the ecological suitability of species, appropriate planting locations, maintenance and long term survival.
Planting a sapling is an important beginning.
Protecting it and helping it grow is equally important.
PLANTING IS THE BEGINNING. SURVIVAL IS THE IMPACT.
In 2016, I chose to celebrate my elder son's first birthday differently.
Instead of organising a grand celebration, my family held a simple Satyanarayan Puja and distributed 2,000 hybrid mango and lemon saplings, valued at approximately ₹1 lakh, among relatives, friends, villagers and well wishers.
The idea initially led to differing opinions within my family, but my parents and brothers eventually supported the decision.
That occasion strengthened my belief that important personal milestones can become opportunities to contribute something meaningful to society and nature.
A celebration can last a day. Its positive impact can continue for years.
My environmental activities have also included participation in awareness programmes and community engagement.
I believe students and young people have a particularly important role in developing an environmentally responsible society.
Over the years, I have supported and participated in environmental discussions, educational activities and community initiatives intended to encourage greater understanding of nature and sustainability.
An environmental awareness initiative at Gopinath Dev Bidyapitha, Charichhak, Krushnaprasad, Puri, encouraging student participation different school and colleges, and environmental responsibility.
A subsequent environmental awareness initiative at Trilochaneswar Bidyapitha, Tichini, Krushnaprasad, Puri.
These experiences reinforced my belief that environmental awareness should begin at the community and educational levels.
As I continued learning about environmental challenges, I realised that tree plantation is only one part of the wider sustainability journey. Environmental protection also requires attention to:
This understanding gradually shaped my interest in environmental research, writing and public awareness.
In January 2020, I began a more structured journey of environmental reading and self directed research.
During the COVID-19 period, I devoted additional personal time to studying environmental books, scientific publications, articles and research papers.
My writing gradually expanded across subjects including climate change, trees, carbon footprints, air, water, soil, waste, biodiversity and sustainability.
I believe books and educational content can contribute to environmental action by making important knowledge more accessible.
Plant a tree, and you may transform a place.
Share knowledge, and you may transform a mind.
Both matter.
My respected schoolteacher, Sri Simanchal Sahoo Sir, encouraged me to consider dedicating a portion of my earnings to social welfare.
Inspired by his guidance, I initially began setting aside 15% of my monthly salary for social causes.
In April 2018, following important professional milestones earlier that year, I decided to strengthen this commitment.
Since April 2018, my personal commitment has been:
20% of my monthly salary
and
50% of my annual bonus
towards social causes, with the majority directed towards environmental activities.
This is a personal discipline, undertaken separately from my professional employment.
I do not regard it as extraordinary philanthropy.
For me, it is a reminder that giving should be part of how we live, not merely something we consider after meeting every other expense.
Meaningful action does not always require large resources. It can begin in a village, school, neighbourhood, workplace or home.
Environmental responsibility becomes more effective when people contribute according to their abilities and circumstances.
Conserving mature trees, natural habitats and ecosystems is essential alongside new plantation activities.
Environmental initiatives should consider survival, maintenance, ecological suitability and sustained community engagement.
Environmental awareness should encourage practical behaviour and informed decisions.
Lasting change requires continued effort rather than occasional enthusiasm.
I remain a full time banking professional.
Alongside my professional responsibilities, I continue to support environmental and social causes through personal resources, pursue environmental learning and writing, and participate in suitable environmental activities whenever possible.
I am grateful to my family, teachers, mentors, friends, volunteers, students, villagers and other community members whose encouragement and participation have shaped different stages of this journey.
My environmental contribution has never been an individual achievement.
It has been strengthened by the involvement of many people who share a concern for nature and future generations.
There is still much to learn, much to improve and much more to contribute.
Whether you are interested in speaking engagements, professional correspondence, or simply sharing a thought, I welcome your inquiry.