ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2022
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. Over 31,000 young leaders on 2,400+ campuses across 140+ nations applied to join the Class of 2022. 200+ campuses worldwide (just 8%) were selected to host the 3,000+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT ADITI PATIL, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2022.
Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture for Women | Pune, India | Advancing SDG 12 & UNAI 9
" I'm excited as I've never been a part of such a Fellowship before and think that this is a good opportunity for me to enhance my skills and give my share of contribution towards sustainability. I've always only talked about sustainability but now I actually get to do something about it and also get to work with like minded individuals. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: GreenRec- A Green Reclamation
The GreenRec team was formed with the Millennium Fellows of the BNCA campus. Every college and school produces a large amount of paper waste every single day, which is thrown out most of the time without being recycled. Thus, our goal was aligned with SDG 12: responsible consumption and production. and a waste management project took place.
CEREMONIES -
The GreenRec team was formed as a part of the Millennium Fellowship 2022. Along with the SDG hub and UNFCC hub, the formal inauguration of the Millennium Fellowship theme and the unveiling of the Millennium Fellows of 2022 took place on October 3rd on the college campus at the hands of Ar. Ojas Hirani, Founder, CSRD, and National Functionary; Sanskar Bharti; and Mr. Siddharth Desai, Environmental Engineer, Jt. MD, Kishore Pumps
On the following day, under the aegis of ISDS and in collaboration with the Millennium Fellowship, SDG Hub, UNFCCC Hub, and BNCA, a National Symposium on Sustainable Development was held in BNCA on the topic of sustainable development. It consisted of two panels: youth actions and SDGs, and current actions and SDGs. The moderator for the first panel was Prof. Piyush Girgaonkar, and the panel comprised of guests Madhish Parikh, National Youth Awardee, Govt. of India, Sarika Mahotra, CEO, Tarpan Foundation, Mumbai, and Anugrah Nagaich, Asst. Prof. Urban Planning at NIT Bhopal and Dr. Priya Nagraj, CEO of the Pune Knowledge Cluster The next panel was moderated by Prof. Namrata Dhamankar and consisted of Dr. Jyoti Kiran - 5th Chairman of Rajasthan Finance Commission who joined via a Zoom call, Meghna Bordikar - Member of Legislative Assembly Maharashtra, Dr. (CDR) Arnab Das - Maritime Strategist, founder of Maritime Research Center and Indraneel Chitale - Partner at Chitale Bandhu. Pune and co-founder of Herbea. Hon. Smt. Poonam Mahajan graced the valedictory function of the National Symposium on Sustainable Development.
SURVEY
A survey was done to gather information and increase our awareness regarding the current waste management practices in our college. Here, we visited the wood workshop, fab lab, material museum, and library to see the amount and type of wood dry waste that is generated. We then had a discussion with college authorities about the management of this waste.
A survey was also done gather information about how this waste could be turned into useful construction materials and create small prototypes. But after discussions with faculty, we concluded that creating prototypes is not feasible considering the scale of the project. But we proceeded with exploring and researching the applications of reused waste in the construction industry.
HANDS-ON ACTIVITY –
The paper waste generated in college was all gathered and cut into short pieces. It was mixed with water and left to soak for 24 hours. On the next day, the soaked papers were ground to make a thick paste. The paste was further processed to make recycled papers and seed balls.
The paste was spread in moulds that were made from steel jaalis and left under the sun to produce recycled paper. Another product, i.e., the seed balls, was produced, and tulsi seeds were added to them. We later planted these seed balls on a nearby hillock.
About the Millennium Fellow
Aditi Surendra Patil is an architecture student who is currently in her final year of B.Arch at Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture. She was born in Pune, India and has lived there her whole life. Throughout high school she had always heard of climate change and how humans are affecting the environment, but in college she noticed all these effects considerably. She thinks that architecture can be very influential in making cities more sustainable and thinks that the Millennium Fellowship is the perfect opportunity for a student like her, to achieve her goals. She feels that architecture as a field is always underestimated and that it is so much more than just designing structures. She hopes that this platform will be her first chance to contribute and take the first step towards her goal.
