Planet Impact

Dr. Arunabha Ghosh is a celebrated public policy professional, adviser, author, columnist, and institution builder. In this warm conversation, we chat about Dr. Ghosh's Inflexion Points, which is also the name of his monthly Business Standard column. From making documentaries with Jay Z, and working with the United Nations in New York, to coming back to New Delhi, and starting a policy think tank from scratch, Dr. Ghosh has done it all. While his TED talk crossed over 250,000 views, this podcast episode is the only show that opens you to the person behind the genius.  

As founder-CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, since 2010, he has led CEEW to the top ranks among Asia's leading policy research institutions (8 years in a row); and among the world’s 20 best climate think-tanks. He conceptualized and designed the International Solar Alliance. He conceptualized and is a founding board member of the Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN). Co-author/editor of 4 books and with experience in 45 countries, he previously worked at Princeton, Oxford, UNDP (New York), and WTO (Geneva). 

In 2018, the UN Secretary-General nominated him to the UN's Committee for Development Policy. In 2020, Govt. of India appointed him Co-Chair of the energy, environment, and climate change track for India’s Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP2020). His 2019 TED Talk on air quality (Mission 80-80-80) has crossed 240,000 views. He is co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Clean Air and a member of the international high-level panel of the Environment of Peace initiative.

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Caitlyn is the author of You Are Where You Go: A Traveler’s Coming of Age Journey Through 70 Countries and 7 Continents During College. 

She wrote this book to inspire others with her personal stories of how travel has changed her perspectives about the world. Her goal is to prompt readers to see travel as a tool for personal development and to spark readers’ desires to learn and grow outside of their comfort zones because everywhere you go becomes a part of you!

From visiting penguins in Antarctica to riding motorbikes in rural Vietnam, from camping in eastern Africa to solo traveling in Australia, she has done it all. 

Caitlyn Lubas is a graduate of NYU Stern School of Business and a former Product Specialist at Instagram who recently quit her full-time job to pursue her dream of being a travel author, content creator, and entrepreneur full time.

Mr. Allavaru is a lawyer by profession who has been associated with student politics since his days at the University of Delhi. He deems the youth as the catalyst of societal and political change. He spearheads the Indian National Congress's initiatives on all fronts, be it in taking on the government on any issue or making outreach programs in different parts of the country. 

He has an LLM from Georgetown University and an MBA from INSEAD. Formerly, he worked at KPMG in India, and The Boston Consulting Group in Singapore for many years before joining politics. At Indian National Congress, he shares the responsibility of drawing the roadmaps of the organization.

Kiran Bir Sethi is the Founder-Director of the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India and the Design for Change organization. She has a design background, having received her diploma in visual communication from the National Institute of Design (NID).  She is also the Founder of “aProCh” – which stands for “A Protagonist in Every Child” – an initiative that is attempting to make Ahmedabad more child-friendly, for which she was made an Ashoka Fellow in 2008.

Kiran ma'am developed a Design for Change curriculum for middle school students, which is being piloted in 64 schools in India and 5 schools in Spain, Peru, the USA and Taiwan. The related Design for Change (DFC) School Challenge was initiated in 2009 and has since spread to over 72 countries, challenging children to design and implement solutions to problems they see around them. DFC has a collection of over 50,000 stories of change by children across the globe and involving 2 million young students through their programs.

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Felix Finkbeiner is a German environmentalist and the founder of the international tree-planting and environmental advocacy organization Plant-for-the-Planet. 

Starting in fourth grade, he attended Munich International School from which he graduated in 2015. After living in London for three years, he graduated with a BA in International Relations from SOAS, the University of London in 2018. Since September 2018 he is a PhD student of environmental sciences at the Crowther Lab of ETH Zürich, where he studies the most effective approaches to forest restoration under Prof. Tom Crowther.

In January 2007, when Felix was nine years old and in fourth grade, he gave a class presentation on global warming in which he suggested to classmates that children should plant one million trees in each country of the world. Together with many of his classmates, Felix planted a tree on 28 March 2007 and launched Plant-for-the-Planet. After three years, the initiative planted its millionth tree. At age 10 he spoke in the European Parliament and at age 13 at the UN General Assembly.

The organisation currently restores 22,500 hectares of forest on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico by planting on average one tree every 15 seconds. Furthermore, Plant-for-the-Planet leads the UN Billion Tree Campaign, as part of which 14 billion trees have been planted so far by contributing companies, organisations and governments.

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Riddhima works with Goldman Sachs’ Sustainable Finance Group in New York, which partners with the firm’s global businesses to drive sustainable solutions related to climate transition and inclusive growth. She is also a Non-Residential Fellow at Aspen Institute for the Energy and Environment Program. Riddhima has experience working on climate policy at the United Nations, World Bank and the Global Commission on Economy and Climate. She graduated from Yale University in 2018 with a B.A. in Ethics, Politics and Economics. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the We Are Family Foundation.

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[https://www.linkedin.com/in/riddhima-yadav-35a44290/]

Dr Girish Kulkarni is the founder of Snehalaya, an NGO based in Ahmednagar, India. Snehalaya means 'Home of Love', and was founded in 1989 to provide support for women, children and LGBT communities, who have been affected by HIV and AIDS, trafficking, sexual violence, and poverty. In India, 93 women are raped every day. It is estimated that 135,000 children are trafficked every year. Over 120,000 women a year will suffer domestic violence. There are 2.1 million people living with HIV, and an estimated 130,000 people die of AIDS each year.  At Snehalaya they believe that grassroots outreach and education is the key to drastically reducing these figures. Their mission is to provide rescue, rights and rehabilitative services to the communities in most need and to offer a safe exit point to women and their children trapped in the crippling cycle of poverty and abuse.  Thus they aspire to develop the awareness and capabilities of individuals who have been deprived of their fundamental rights as a result of the inequalities that exist in our society. They provide services to over 45,000 beneficiaries and are a strong and passionate family, united in the belief that no one should stand alone.

About Dr Girish Kulkarni: He grew up in Ahmednagar enjoying life in a middle class, loving and supportive family. A former journalist with several graduate and postgraduate degrees to his name, he now combines working as a political science lecturer with driving Snehalaya, which he founded in 1989. For the past 32 years, he has been connecting with other NGOs, social workers, politicians, celebrities and anyone else who can help raise awareness of the plight and make positive changes for those who society would like to ignore.

Quote: “I was motivated by my own burden of guilt. I found that working to satisfy that, was much more sustainable than being moved by compassion. To me, that creates unrealistic expectations and places the burden on others. Ultimately their responses to your actions remain out of your control which can lead to frustrations and dissatisfaction, it’s much more rewarding to be clear and focused on your own purpose.”

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Contact:

Volunteer for Snehalaya link

Email: [email protected]

Dr Girish Kulkarni is the founder of Snehalaya, an NGO based in Ahmednagar, India. Snehalaya means 'Home of Love', and was founded in 1989 to provide support for women, children and LGBT communities, who have been affected by HIV and AIDS, trafficking, sexual violence, and poverty. In India, 93 women are raped every day. It is estimated that 135,000 children are trafficked every year. Over 120,000 women a year will suffer domestic violence. There are 2.1 million people living with HIV, and an estimated 130,000 people die of AIDS each year.

About Dr Girish Kulkarni: He grew up in Ahmednagar enjoying life in a middle class, loving and supportive family. A former journalist with several graduate and postgraduate degrees to his name, he now combines working as a political science lecturer with driving Snehalaya, which he founded in 1989. For the past 32 years, he has been connecting with other NGOs, social workers, politicians, celebrities and anyone else who can help raise awareness of the plight and make positive changes for those who society would like to ignore.

Quote: “I was motivated by my own burden of guilt. I found that working to satisfy that, was much more sustainable than being moved by compassion. To me, that creates unrealistic expectations and places the burden on others. Ultimately their responses to your actions remain out of your control which can lead to frustrations and dissatisfaction, it’s much more rewarding to be clear and focused on your own purpose.”

Links: 

Contact: 

Volunteer for Snehalaya link

Email: [email protected]

Varsha is the author of the best-selling title 'Wonder Girls'. She is currently driving a nation-wide classroom movement by the same name. 

Previously, Varsha used to work at a venture capital firm in Bangalore named Kalaari Capital working on their seed fund. Prior to that, Varsha spent four years at a media startup YourStory. Her most formative years were spent at the Goa campus of BITS Pilani. 

About Wonder Girls: Wonder Girls showcases to young women that no matter who they are, where they come from, and what they look like, there are diverse career choices and life paths available to them. When young women see others like them pursuing dream career paths, they know they too can emulate those steps in a far less intimidating way.

Wonder Girls has a singular mission: to enable young Indian women with access to relatable role models, diverse career paths, and comprehensive resources.

Matthew is the host of the West Coast Radio Podcast (WCR). WCR is a Seattle based talk show featuring artists, performers, hustlers, creators, & wanderers. All are to reach out to him and hear his podcast. Email: [email protected]

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