Tulsi Tanti of Suzlon Energy and DP Dobhal of Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology are awarded the title by Time magazine
NEW DELHI: Two Indians have made it to Time magazine’s global ‘Environment Heroes’ list. Tulsi Tanti, chairman of wind power firm Suzlon Energy and DP Dobhal of Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology will now rub shoulders with other prominent names like Nobel Peace Prize winner and former US Vice-President Al Gore, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prince Charles and former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Tanti, chairman of Suzlon Energy, the fourth largest wind turbine maker in the world, has been named one of the ‘moguls and entrepreneurs’, while Dobhal, a glaciologist, is part of the scientists and innovators category.
“The environment isn’t bound by borders on the map and neither are our heroes. So we selected candidates from developed countries, where environmentalism has had time to take root, and from developing nations, where tomorrow’s green battles will be fought,” the magazine said in the cover story of its latest Asia edition.
Quoting Tanti, who is convinced that wind energy will emerge as the energy of the future, and that his company will help launch it into the market, the magazine says, “... green business is good business. But it’s not just about making money. It is about being responsible also.”
Incidentally, Tanti switched to wind energy when he had to buy two turbines to meet the energy needs of his textile company in the late 90s. Upon reading a report that some of his favourite destinations would be affected by carbon emissions and that islands like Maldives would be underwater by 2050, Tanti had a vision.
“If Indians start consuming power like the Americans, the world will run out of resources. Either you stop India from developing, or you find some alternate solution,” Tanti is quoted as saying. In 2001, Suzlon sold off its textile manufacturing firm and entered into the field of wind turbine generators.
The other hero, Dobhal, 45, works for the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, one of the few organisations studying high-altitude Himalayan glaciers. “Glaciers are very sensitive to climate change. Their state indicates or helps diagnose the state of surroundings,” says Dobhal. Interestingly, Dobhal makes use of bamboo sticks to measure the rise and fall of glacial mass.
His work is all the more important since Himalayan glaciers have been studied by lesser number of scientists than those who do glaciers in Alps, the Rockies and the Arctic, points out the report.
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