Robert Swan is currently in India for the Project Search environmental programme, a joint initiative to raise awareness on the cleaner living practices in our daily lives.  The programme encourage students, teachers and our communities to practice the 4Rs – refuse, reuse, reduce and recycle while discussing the issue of waste.

Now in phase III and in it’s third year, Project SEARCH international and touched 1,70,000 students across seven cities in India and Bangladesh .

Working with Robert on the launch was Supriya Singh, IAE 2012 Team Member and an Associate Fellow from Teri. Ashish Banga and Sameer Pathak, IAE 2012 Alumni Members were also in attendance.

While Robert is in India, he is also joining part in an  initiative called ‘Cycle for Recycle’ where he will bicycle around cities in India, encouraging people to recycle for a cleaner environment and to promote the importance of the practice.

Joining cyclists, an educator, geophysicist and people full of inspiration and cutting edge ideas, Robert Swan spoke of his experience as well through his talk, “From Words to Action- Lessons from Antarctica.

Both Robert Swan and keynote speaker, former President Bill Clinton spoke at the Eye on Earth Summit in Abu Dhabi  to address “the crucial importance of environmental and societal information and networking to decision-making… to convene thought & action leaders of the worldwide community, converge consensus on the key areas of mutual importance, and finally collaborate towards strengthening existing initiatives and filling the gaps into the future.”

Over 800 students from local schools, institutes, universities and participants from 87 different countries convened, converged & collaborated for the inaugural Eye on Earth Summit.

To see the outcomes from the Eye on the Earth Summit, click here.

Maitha Al Kaabi, Reem Al Junaibi and Masdar Institute members meet with Robert Swan.

See the complete Masdar Institute article on how these two incredible women came to be a part of the 2012 IAE Expedition Team here: Masdar Institute News

The E-Base, Pench- India is a center for educating the community, living in and around Pench on conservation and sustainability. Through the showcase of renewable energy, a series of monthly weekend workshops have been sponsored by the Ashok Piramal Group and conducted by Chandini Chabbra

The first workshop was held on January 21-22, 2012 with more than 200 students from three different district schools in Pench, Madhya Pradesh. Chandini, presented a talk on Antarctica and Robert Swan, who inaugurated the E-Base in November. Different activities that included information about Antarctica, solar powered E-Bases, different species living in Antarctica and how we can make a difference to help protect the last greatest wilderness, were eagerly understood by the children who participated in these workshops.

Chandini using ice and gloves to teach the kids about how penguins keep themselves warm in Antarctica and how human bodies cannot adapt to the cold easily

The children were excited and thrilled to learn about a new continent; they showed tremendous team work in outdoor activity and were able to easily identify and answer questions asked at the end of the workshop.

By engaging community children, we hope to instill a sense of protection for the environment and at the same time create a model that we can replicate in national parks and tiger reserves across India.

If we can have educational workshops run entirely on renewable energy for these students, we can successfully communicate and promote clean energy to the tourists who visit the park and persuade them to be sustainable back in their respective cities.

On 15 January, Robert Swan completed the Standard Charter Mumbai Half Marathon in 2:12:51.  The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is India’s biggest marathon. First held in 2004, the Mumbai Marathon is part of “The Greatest Race on Earth”, an event sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank.
Great job Rob!!!

This video is a preview of  the complete 2041 Ganges Expedition.  In 2011, Robert Swan and 2041 embarked on the Ganges Expedition in India, from Gangotri to the Goumukh Glacier. The Glacier is the hub for India’s mother river, the Ganges, which supplies clean drinking water throughout India. This Expedition focused on clean water, sanitation and renewable energy in schools, homes and the workplace as well as the importance of water in the Indian Tiger Reserves.