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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nikishka Iyengar
Date: 18 February 2010
Subject: Please vote for my team in the Dell Social Innovation Competition!

Hi! :)

My team just entered our idea in the Dell Social Innovation Competition and we're now looking for your support! To vote for our idea if you like it, please visit: http://bit.ly/9KAsy8 It will require you to create a login (which doesn't take more than 5 seconds) and then click the Promote button on the left of our idea.

Our proposal

Our idea stemmed from our team’s interest in sustainably improving living conditions for the urban poor in a dense city like Mumbai. Our proposal also addresses a growing concern of how developing cities should improve food security while reducing food miles, by developing an innovative urban farming project. The 7 million urban poor in Mumbai form 54% of the city's population but just occupy 6% of the city's land. Among many of the slums that occupy the neglected fringes of the city, we picked the Gorai landfill to situate our project. We imagine this land-intensive and profitable system to be scaled up and replicated in other slums, engaging and uplifting the squatter population through productive work that contributes to city's food security.

Gorai Landfill in Mumbai has recently been closed by the city and plans of building a LFG (landfill gas) plant are underway. The plant will basically use the methane emissions from the landfills to generate power. While this plant will be an asset to a city that currently faces both an electricity shortage problem and a massive problem in dealing with toxic dumpsites, it excludes major stakeholders like scavenger communities that depend on the landfill for a livelihood (albeit a meager one). In order to tackle this problem, and ensure the entire Gorai community benefits from this power plant, we propose initiating an Aquaponics project that employs the scavenger community and generates produce and fish for the community’s consumption (the surplus can be sold for additional income). Furthermore, the resources for the Aquaponics plant (power and heat) are primary and by-products of the LFG plant, making our system a circular sustainable loop. Our project will help transform a community whose socioeconomic status has been affected by the dumpsite.

Your vote means a lot to us! If you would like further information about our project, we would be glad to send you our detailed proposal. This competition is a great opportunity for socially relevant projects to be executed. I hope all of you will vote!

Love,
Nikishka