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

Well, now that we are officially heading towards times when cost-cutting and reduction of overheads will be the key to survival, I thought it was a good opportunity to initiate some steps in our small office as well. I checked up with a friend who owns a mid-sized firm and they are well on their way to making such changes a way of life at his workplace. The good thing is that each of these measures also has the potential to reduce greenhouse emissions. Heres a partial list of what they have started doing:

• Switching off computers when not in use. Atleast switching off monitors. Its a waste of energy if the system is on and not in use. And switching off computers when not in use, can pare energy usage by two-thirds.
  According to an estimate by the research firm Gartner, PCs account for some 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions coming from IT & Telcom.

• Reducing drastically on personal meetings with clients and vendors they have worked with in the past. And relying on phone and email for business communication instead.
• Installing power saving flat screen monitors in place of the old TFT monitors. And boy, do they look good!
• Switching off extra lights.
• Allowing natural light to come in through windows. Earlier, the blinds were always drawn.
• Turning off the coffee dispenser when not in use.
• Printing only when imperative.
• Making slip-pads out of one-side used paper.

What’s your office doing? Any other ideas?

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

Reckless texting, net surfing and emailing is killing the planet! Surprised? Thats exactly what my reaction was when I heard it for the first time. This gentleman, I met last year, heads a Cooling solutions company that specifically looks after Data Center cooling. During the course of an informal conversation, I learnt facts that were appalling. Like everytime I forward a fun sms to a friend, somewhere at some data centers it is taking up energy enough to light up a football field!

Data Centers, typically the size of a football field, house servers which work behind the scenes everytime we send that sms, or email or access the internet. They are power hungry and generate immense heat, green house gases. According to a study by McKinsey, by 2020, the greenhouse gas emissions from data centers would have surpassed those by the airline industry. Data Centers will be major contributors to Global Warming!

And so understandably, there is immense interest in innovations for Green data centers. However, while that happens, lets do our bit to save the planet:

• Lets think twice before we forward that totally unnecessary sms to friends.
• Lets think twice before we while away hours on a social networking site. I am going to just hop over and see friends who live close by. Nothing like chatting with a friend in person, over a good cup of coffee
• Lets get a DVD to watch a movie and if its new, watch it at a movie hall with friends and family. In the long run, it will turn out to be cheaper than mitigating the effects from Global Warming that result from downloading or watching a movie online.
• Lets reduce the number of spam mails we send…yes, we all spam our friends’ mailboxes with fun email forwards.

The information technology has impacted our lives, and, more importantly, the way we communicate with each other, radically. But in our enthusiasm, lets not forget that until further advancements ensure Green Data Centers we’ll be better off if we keep our ‘data center footprint’ to what is necessary.

Its difficult – ask me! I make a living out of internet services – but possible.

Tags: Global Warming, green living, Sustainable Living

As a child, I used to marvel at and be at awe of the amazing steel, glass and concrete buildings one would see so often on trips abroad. Now that there are plenty of these at home, I have begun to feel sick at their sight. All that one longs for now is to see loads of green cover in the city, birds crooning, butterflies, flowers… and not barren stretches of land interspersed with solid concrete structures looming into the sky (read Gurgaon). O for something far removed from these impersonal alienating structures surrounded by a cacaphony of horns! Homes and offices that are an extension of nature around us, that make us feel at one with nature and yet are practical.

Ofcourse I can’t afford to buy a large enough piece of land in Delhi to construct a home but what can stop one from some wishful thinking And so I tried to figure how to make such a home on my imaginary piece of land…virtually. I was happy to find that there are others who want and infact have gone and gotten themselves homes and offices that I can only dream of…people are even using mud houses as natural habitats. Awesome! Indian architects like Chitra Vishwanath, Eugene Pandala, Yatin Pandya are known for their sustainable architecture and eco friendly design.

The most surprising finding of my research, however, was that Bamboo, yes the humble bamboo is increasingly being used in modern construction. Bamboo which is five times as strong as concrete is being used to build even bridges! Houses built with bamboos are said to withstand even hurricanes! Wonder why it isn’t being used extensively despite its known benefits… If you are really facsinated by the idea of sustainable architecture, then what these experts say will interest you.

It is interesting to note that while the eco-friendly housing and construction is more sustainable, it is also more affordable and requires lesser maintenance. Eco-friendly construction uses natural materials like bamboo and other natural resources, viz., sunlight, harvested rainwater, natural ventilation, gray water recycling and attempt to cut down energy usage. Eco-friendly houses typically have maintenance free exteriors and interiors. So while eliminating or reducing the use of solvent based paints on one hand, they are also easy on your pocket on the other. Eco-friendly construction is the way to go!

Tags: eco friendly construction, green living, Save Earth, sustainable architecture, Sustainable Living