Today’s expert speaker session was conducted by Ms. Raagini Gopi. Armed with a master’s degree in environmental policy and management from the University of Adelaide, She currently works as a Solar Consultant for Bridgestone Solar and as a Research Intern at Whirl, where she is engaged in research to ensure that consumers understand all they need to know about electric vehicles. During the session, Ms. Gopi discussed her passion for the environment, the interest it holds to her, and its importance to her. The session was incredibly interactive with participation from students and filled with a variety of questions and solutions to tackle the environmental problems we currently face. Ms.Gopi educated us all about the Paris agreements and the international targets set for all the 197 countries who have signed this agreement. She explained to us the importance of this agreement and how vital it is to reduce carbon emissions and our own carbon footprints to prevent mass destruction of our planet, some of which has already started such as coral reefs dying, sea levels rising, and great droughts and floods due to global warming. She then focused on renewable energy and gave the students a chance to discuss the various resources available to replace fossil fuels, she gave a detailed explanation on each source and why it would, she showed us how India, in particular, is further ahead in using renewable energy than most countries and the wind farms built on coastlines and area’s dedicated to solar farms. She continued on the uses of electric vehicles and discussed with the students how the energy source for electric vehicles also matters. She shared the various courses available to students on the studies of environmental engineering, environmental science, and forestry although the students seemed slightly apprehensive about these courses she shot down these doubts with the various “green” job offers and opportunities available to those who major in environmental sciences as most companies have the need to go green.
Lastly she shared with the students a plethora of global environmental non-profit organisations in which students could intern or work to aid in the fight against the destruction of the environment. The session ended with a lively exchange of views between the students and the speaker filled with a variety of methods to battle the environmental problems we face.
By, Erin Dea Sequeria – 11D, Vice-Head Girl
