blog Wetskills-India 3 January – by Tim Verbeek (University of Groningen)
Today we made teams for the different cases and went on excursion to the waste water treatment facility of industrial waste water.
These excursions are a great way to get to know each other better, because we are all strangers to each other, both the Indian and the Dutch teams. We saw how the “treated” water was discharged into the river. As we were watching (and smelling) this a man dumped his garbage from the nearby bridge into the river like it was nothing. This is quite illustrative about how people here treat the environment. At moments like this it is hard not point the accusing western finger saying “this is bad” and you should do it like this and that, but we should refrain from doing so, instead, awareness raising and schooling should be seen as key towards a more sustainable future.
This example, like the man on the bridge, reinforces the importance of collaboration, knowledge exchange and understanding. Only through collaboration can we find fresh directions for cleaner solutions.
