15 Sep 2015|Noida | Amity Campus, Sector-125, Noida
Amity Institute of Environmental Toxicology, Safety and Management (AIETSM) and Amity Institute of Environmental Science (AIES) organise "World Ozone Day"
On the eve of “World Ozone Day”, Amity Institute of EnvironmentalToxicology, Safety and Management (AIETSM) and Amity Institute of EnvironmentalScience(AIES) organised “International Day for the Preservation of the OzoneLayer” at Amity University, Sector-125, Noida to raise awareness aboutdepleting ozone layer and to initiate corrective measures to check the same.
Dr. R.B Lal, Joint Director, Scientist F, Ministry ofEarth Sciences, Dr. Sonu Singh-Deputy Director, Ministry of Environmentand Forests and Prof. TanuJindal, Director, AIES & AIETSM graced the occasion and shared theirdistinguished views with the gathering.
Welcoming the audience, Dr.Ambrina Sardar Khan- Amity Institute of Environmental Sciences said that World Ozone Day celebratesthe 30th anniversary of the Vienna Convention for theProtection of the Ozone Layer, an important milestone in the series of effortsinitiated for the protection of Ozone. She briefed the audience that the themefor the celebration of Ozone Day 2015 is “30 years of healing the ozonetogether”. She expressed her hope that the discussions and deliberation duringthe day will help educating the youth to restore the health of ozone layer forassuring a better and healthier planet for coming generations.
Addressing the gathering, Dr. R.B Lal, Joint Director,Scientist F, Ministry of Earth Sciences saidthat the global community is celebrating the year 2015 as the 30thAnniversaryof the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, that came intoexistence in 1985. He stressed that the celebration of “World Ozone Day” is agood way to disseminate awareness amongst all sections of the society about theprotection of Ozone Layer and phasing out of ODSs (Ozone DepletingSubstances).He informed that currently, in MoEFCC, Ozone Cell is engaged in phaseout of production and consumption of next category of chemicals which damageozone layer- “Hydrochlorofluorocarbons- HCFs”. He stressed that neitherGovernment nor an individual alone could save the environment and called uponthe students to work with the Government in conservation of Environment,Electricity and Prevention of Ozone layer.
Dr. Sonu Singh-Deputy Director, Ministry of Environmentand Forests, while sharing his views during theoccasion, stressed that neither development nor environmental concerns could bephased out but certainly they cannot be pursued at the cost of each other. Hestressed that the chemicals which are resulting in the depletion of ozone layerhave to be phased out and the complete phasing out process might take upto 15-20years.Addressing the students, he shared that all the new products that arebeingl aunched in market have youth as their target audience and if the youthdecides to say NO to the use of such chemicals and heavy metals laden products,then the pace of ozone layer depletion will significantly reduce in the yearsto come.
Sharing her views on “Ozone layer depletion, implication of chemicals and health impacts, Prof.TanuJindal, Director, Amity Institute of Environmental Sciences (AIES) &AmityInstitute of Environmental Toxicology, Safety and Management AIETSM said that Ozone layer, situated inthe Stratosphere, protects living organisms by absorbing harmful ultravioletradiation (UVB) from the sun. She briefed audience that ozone, when inhaledeven at very low levels, can lead to acute respiratory problems, aggravateasthma, significant temporary decrease in lung capacity, inflammation of lungtissue and can even impair the body’s immune system defense. She informedaudience about UVA, UVB and UVC and the potential harmful effects they have onplants and human beings with special reference to UVB which could result inCataracts, Cancer, Deformities and accelerated aging of skin in human beings.She stressed that with although Montreal Protocol and The EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA), there has been a decline in several known ozonedepleting gases but the recovery of ozone layer is slow. She called upon theyouth to join hands and accelerate the recovery of ozone layer in whateverhumble ways they could.
During the event, CMS –Vatavaran, a group ofenvironmental activists screened 4 Award winning documentaries and short filmson Environment to sensitize the audience with their importance of conservationof environment and to create a ripple of never ending care for nature.
A “PhotographyContest “on the theme of Environment was also organised for the students.Over 88 entries were received for the Contest and after a thorough screening ofall the photographs, ShubhankarSharma from B. Tech – Computer Science and Engineering, Amity School ofEngineering was declared First, Shraddha Kumar from MSc.- Environmental Sciencewas declared Second and Kartik Gupta from BA –Journalism and Mass Communicationwas awarded Third Prize.
In the “Slogan Writing Competition”, Shaurya Mittal fromB. Tech- Computer Science and Engineering was awarded First Prize and DebratiChandra from MSc.- Environmental Sciences was given Second Prize.