March 21 was World Forestry Day. Befittingly, the Ministry of Environment & Forests laid down certain concrete objectives for the year, its theme being “Sustainable Forest Management”. The ministry has resolved to:

• Bring 33% of the landmass under forest or tree cover
• Forests to be managed holistically for their ecological, economic and socio-cultural roles
• Forests to play a key role in climate change amelioration

Kudos to the ministry. Hope they have worked out the strategies to achieve these objectives and are also able to put it into action!

Tags: environment conservation, Save Earth, save nature, save tiger, Sustainable Living

Last night on my way to Gurgaon for an outing, I noticed all these beautifully lit up office complexes on the highway. They looked attractive from a distance, orderly lit and their interiors shining through the glass walls. It was all calm inside, not a soul could be sighted and one felt compelled to imagine the frenetic pace of activity therein during the day. And then it struck – why were all offices in these buildings so well lit up when there wasn’t a soul working at that time? Who pays for their electricity bills? What a sheer waste at a time when all companies are looking to cut costs!

And think of its repercussions on the environment. It is a colossal loss of energy. We all know there isn’t surplus energy in the country. Why keep thousands of lights switched on at night in offices where people work during the day or atleast not after 11pm? Can’t that energy be used to light up villages in the state that are often plunged in darkness?

Tags: Global Warming, green living, Save Earth, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living

At a time when everyone is trying to tighten one’s purse strings, at a time when we need to sit up and take notice of global warming and reduce unnecessary consumption and hence wastage, there is a lot one can save by following these very simple tips in the kitchen.

• Given the fast paced lives we lead today, we tend to cook food and then store in the refrigerator for consumption later. Or we tend to use packaged food that we buy and store in the fridge. When we take out this food and put it in the microwave or on a kitchen stove, it takes up a lot of fuel to warm up the food. This can be saved on drastically if we take the food items out of the refrigerator well in advance and let them get to the room temerature before heating them.
• Soak pulses in water well in advance before cooking. This will reduce cooking time and hence help save fuel.
• After you are done with making chappatis, use the hot tawa to warm anything that you might have taken out of the fridge for heating. You will be surprised how much residual heat is still there in the tawa.
• A few drops of oil or a small piece of butter, added when steaming pulses speeds up the cooking process. I have tried this while cooking dal, rajma and channa and it works.

Tags: environment conservation, Global Warming, green living, Save Earth, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living

How beautiful!

Photo credits: diko1967

Sadly, the fragile underwater ecosystems today are threatened by:

• Ocean acidification: which occurs when CO2 released by humans enters sea water. The impact has been studied by scientists studying Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
• Oil spills.
• Pollution – garbage from the cities flowing into the seas, including polythene bags.
• Decreasing levels of O2 in seas, which in turn is causing the formation of  ‘underwater deserts; in tropical oceans. When the oxygen levels are low, nitrogen can-not react with oxygen to form biologically available nitrate – needed by underwater organisms at the base of these fragile ecosystems.
• Reckless fishing.
• Dredging for urban development, fishing.

Tags: environment conservation, Global Warming, Save Earth, Sustainable Living, underwater world

Now that we are ready to say goodbye to winters, its time to start packing woollens and bring out the summer clothes. And this time, instead of the standard napthalene balls, why not try a natural moth repellant? Neem leaves which are abundantly available (almost every neighborhood has a Neem tree) can be dried and used in place of moth balls. I have been using them over the last couple of years and find them great as there is no residual napthalene smell when I take out the clothes next winter season. Has anyone else tried them? Tried anything else?

Tags: green living, natural cure, natural repellants, neem

The strike by oil refinery employees some time back has thrown up a few questions. Infact these questions have been around for quite some time now but we have been ignoring them. Concerns have been raised that oil stocks won’t last beyond a few years and authorities have been asking us to use it wisely.

What became really evident was that we are moved only when we are subjected to discomfort. It is human nature to get used to the comforts of life and in that comfort zone we are not giving due attention to the issue. A few days of strike threw life out of gear across the country. there were queues on almost all petrol pumps and most ran out of stock in the first couple of days. While we waited for our turn at the petrol pump, we cursed the oil sector employees (for being so indifferent to our sufferings) and the government (for its failure in resolving the matter quickly). However, it was time for some deep thinking also. We have to understand that oil supply is limited and the only way to make it last longer is to use it wisely.

Also, each one of us has to take the initiative. We can’t shirk our responsibility by thinking that if others don’t use wisely, how will I alone solve the problem. 

Imagine life without oil/gas/fuel. Difficult!!

Now think about life without water. Nigh impossible.

Let’s respect nature for what it has given us and not take it for granted.

Tags: Save Earth, save oil, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living

Ever noticed how many times we open a wrapper, see a gift and then later rewrap in a new shiny gift paper and keep aside to pass on to someone else? Most of us know gifts are a terrible waste – you end up giving and receiving things one is not likely to use and the gifts often get recirculated or shoved away somewhere for use later and are just forgotten about. Yet, we all buy gifts – and yes it causes global warming in the production and distribution of the smallest of products. And then we drive down to a mall and waste time, energies and money (and increase our carbon emissions) in buying a gift and wrapping it up in one of those fancy, non-biodegradable wrappers. I feel its against the diktat of common sense and thankfully most of my friends and family agree with the view. We have, with mutual understanding, stopped exchanging gifts at general get-togethers, dinners, festival times. And in the rare case that I do buy a gift, I wrap it in newsprint or used A4 sheets.

Till about two decades back, most people I knew would use natural homemade cleaners at home, primarily because at that time it was rare to find on the shelves, the now widely available range of branded chemical household cleaners. And then we were barraged with these nicely packaged and wonderfully marketed chemical cleaners that promised to make our lives easy. And they did make our lives easy, for all these years. No mixing of stuff and creating homemade cleaners. No hard scrubbing. Just pour a bit of stuff on to a piece of cloth and wipe – that easy! However, we are all now waking up to the fact that most of these chemical household cleaners contain harmful chemicals, including carcinogens that cause cancer. 

And that gets one thinking – for a little bit of convenience, is it worth risking your and your family’s health? Although I am not yet completely off these wonderous cleaners, I have started moving towards homemade cleaners whenever and wherever possible. Ofcourse I still use Harpic for all toilets, but say to wipe a fridge clean, I have gone back to what my mum would use – baking soda.

Here are a few alternatives I discovered – most of it is like going back to what we did a score of years back or what our moms and grandmoms used all the time. Even if we can follow a few of these household cleaning tips, it would reduce our exposure to these harmful chemicals. If you know of any other cleaners, do share. Would love to hear!

• Use baking soda and a wet cloth to scrub and clean refrigerators, mixers and kitchen stove.
• Use Imli (tamarind) or lemon peels as scrubs to give shine to brass or copper decoratives.
• To clean silver, take a used toothbrush. Take some warm water in a small bowl. Dip the toothbrush in warm water and apply some toothpaste. Scrub the silver with the brush.
• To clean silver chains and small objects, I just dip them in a mixture of baking soda and warm water and keep overnight. Take it out in the morning and wash in clean water.
• When something spills, wipe it off immediately. Don’t let it dry and make it worse for you to clean later.
• Put a bit of salt in the water to be used for cleaning floors.
• To give shine, use some vinegar instead to the water used for mopping floors.
• To bleach clothes, don’t throw away the lemon peels that have been squeezed of juice. Put them in a bowl of water. I do so for the whole week and then on the weekend I use this water to soak any clothes that need to be bleached.
• Instead of a chemical starch, use rice water to starch clothes.
• To deodorize bathrooms, I put a big blob of rock salt in a glass in one corner. I also keep half a glass of vinegar with some decorative artificial flowers in it.
• To give a no-streak look to glass surfaces, I wipe with a wet cloth and then wipe the surface dry with old newspaper. 
• For furniture, I wipe wood surfaces with a bit of mayonnaise when need be.

Again, if you clean your home and equipments regularly, and not let the dirt and gripe settle, a damp cloth is more often than not just enough to clean. And I can’t underline enough the importance of everyday cleaning in keeping one physically active. The days when I start my day lazy and skip household cleaning, I feel nearly drained of energy at the end of the day and a whole ot of inertia. Its almost like what happens when I skip my morning walk or yoga session. I don’t feel active as much.

And come to think of it, doing the above also helps us save money and positively impacts global warming by the simple virtue of reduced consumption!

Tags: environment conservation, green living, healthy eating, homemade cleaners

The Delhi Government on January 9, 2009 effected the ban on use, sale and storage of plastic bags in Delhi. Green campaigners have welcomed the move, terming it as long-overdue. Earlier the Government had banned the sale and use of plastic bags less than 40 microns in thickness and those that did not use eco-friendly dyes. The problem with plastic bags is that they end up in landfills or sewage and worse get consumed by stray animals, including cows with their food, often causing death of the animal in the process.

The ban on plastic bags is applicable to:

• Four star and five star hotels
• Food stores with a capacity of more than 50 seats
• Liquor vends
• Shops in shopping centers and main markets
• All Mother Dairy outlets
• Hospitals with 100 or more beds
• Shopping malls

Excellent piece of news and will be great if the Government can actually impose the ban. Remember the maximum penalty for using a banned plastic bag is a  monetary fine of Rs. 100,000 or a 5 year prison term. 

What are the alternatives available?

• Paper bags
• Jute bags
• Non-woven bags
• Cloth bags

Pros and cons of paper bags

• They are expensive as compared to plastic bags and while the big stores can afford them, for small shops it may not be economically feasible to give a Rs. 10 paper bag for someone making a purchase of goods worth Rs. 100. The alternative in such a case is to charge customers extra for the bag. This will ensure eventually that shoppers will bring in their own bags for shopping. A compromise on shopper’s convenience and a step back in time, some would say BUT lets not forget that environment is as much the responsibility of the person dispensing a plastic bag as it is of the shopper who happily takes it, uses it and throws it into the trash can. We must and will learn to carry our own bags when we step out.
• A lot of paper bags being given out by stores  today come with thin coatings, which definitely make the bags look fancier and stronger BUT are not eco-friendly. Most of these coatings are apparently not bio-degradable.
• An explosion in the use of paper bags will mean an explosion in the demand for paper. The direct consequence will be felling of more trees. A good alternative therefore will be to ensure that paper bags are made of recycled paper. 

Other options

Jute and simple cloth bags are sturdy and you have plenty of very nice designs available in the market now. Most jute and cloth bags come from the small scale organizations, often NGOs that support and help keep alive local handicrafts like jute making, embroidery, sewing, patch work craft etc. 

Of all the above, paper bags, though being largely touted as the next alternative, have the shortest life and are the least eco-friendly as compared with other options. Agreed, non-woven bags aren’t bio-degradable but then they hardly snap or break and can be easily washed to be used again. They have a pretty long life and the issue in their case is more of proper use – if people adapt the use-and-throw instead of use-keep/wash-use policy, then non-woven bags will pose a huge disposal problem.

Tags: alternatives to plastic bags, green living, Save Earth, say no to plastic, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living

Not just global warming but also higher costs for corporations. A recent report by McKinsey & Co. suggests that data centers are grossly under used leading to tremendous wastage of energy on a global scale and causing major cost inefficiencies at the corporation level. With one of the companies which they studied, they observed that a third of their 500 servers had utilization rates below 3%; and about 2/3rds had utilization rate below 10%. Wow, what a waste of power. If not for global warming, then atleast to pare their costs, companies need to work out processes to better manage their data center capacities.

McKinsey’s research brings up interesting findings like, almost every company can double its data center energy efficiency through better, cohesive data center management, better planning, and increased accountability. And this will lead to more efficient energy usage, cutting down in terms of both capital investments for setting up or expanding a datacenter (including expensive real estate) and recurring costs, and, a good level of reduction in CO2 emissions! Plenty of incentives to do what is necessary. And indeed I can’t help saying that common sense isn’t so common after all. While it would seem to be common sense to expand capacity only when the current set up is fully utilized, it appears that companies end up spending billions more than necessary because of poor management.

Tags: Global Warming, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living