<p class="title">Religions need to be updated to make modern forms of violence like environmental destruction a sin, engineer, educationist and conservationist Sonam Wangchuk said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In his acceptance speech after receiving the TN Khoshoo Memorial Award here on Friday, Wangchuk - the inspiration behind the character Phunsukh Wangdu in the 2009 Bollywood flick Three Idiots - said sustainability should be made simpler for easy understanding for common folks.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I'm pained to see sustainability and environment conservation becoming the luxury of the intellectuals," he said. "It's not touching many people." He said sustainability should be presented in a way in which ordinary people, especially students, can easily relate to and develop an emotional connect with.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The award was instituted by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in 2004 to honour contributions in the fields of environment, conservation or sustainable development.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Wangchuk has been chosen for his most recent work on creating ice stupas or artificial glaciers to tackle water scarcity in the mountain deserts of Ladakh.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The idea is to freeze excess water into mounds of ice in winter, whose gradual thawing would enable water supply for farming in the summer months of April and May.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Besides Khan playing his role in the movie, Three Idiots also featured Wangchuk's alternative school Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL).</p>.<p class="bodytext">At the function, Wangchuk also spoke on the need to relate the events happening daily with the values we uphold.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Anshu Mehta, founder of the non-profit Goonj, which works in the area of urban waste management to fuel development in rural areas, delivered the keynote address.</p>
<p class="title">Religions need to be updated to make modern forms of violence like environmental destruction a sin, engineer, educationist and conservationist Sonam Wangchuk said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In his acceptance speech after receiving the TN Khoshoo Memorial Award here on Friday, Wangchuk - the inspiration behind the character Phunsukh Wangdu in the 2009 Bollywood flick Three Idiots - said sustainability should be made simpler for easy understanding for common folks.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I'm pained to see sustainability and environment conservation becoming the luxury of the intellectuals," he said. "It's not touching many people." He said sustainability should be presented in a way in which ordinary people, especially students, can easily relate to and develop an emotional connect with.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The award was instituted by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in 2004 to honour contributions in the fields of environment, conservation or sustainable development.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Wangchuk has been chosen for his most recent work on creating ice stupas or artificial glaciers to tackle water scarcity in the mountain deserts of Ladakh.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The idea is to freeze excess water into mounds of ice in winter, whose gradual thawing would enable water supply for farming in the summer months of April and May.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Besides Khan playing his role in the movie, Three Idiots also featured Wangchuk's alternative school Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL).</p>.<p class="bodytext">At the function, Wangchuk also spoke on the need to relate the events happening daily with the values we uphold.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Anshu Mehta, founder of the non-profit Goonj, which works in the area of urban waste management to fuel development in rural areas, delivered the keynote address.</p>
