SOME years ago, Navdanya's Slow Food Café at Hauz Khas in south Delhi was a novelty. A few committed souls would trek to it for freshly cooked vegetarian meals. There would be refreshing juices to wash down the food. In the right season you could get delicious mangoes from an orchard in the hills. It was all so new then that it was worth a story. But look around today and the “organic” label is just about everywhere. There are innumerable eating places. You can get organically grown vegetables, wheat, rice, tea and so on delivered to your door. When we covered the Annam Festival in Kerala earlier this year, we found that old-style cooking had many new loyalists across south India. A significant shift was taking place to traditional ways of making meals and eating them. So haunted are Keralites by hypertension and diabetes that they have no option but to hark back to the past. Going organic is not just about food. It is a different orientation. More and more people want green housing, holiday destinations in the midst of nature, lead-free paint in their homes, water harvesting structures, natural remedies, battery-operated vehicles and much more. It is a long list of new preferences that have transformed some homes and offices. Garbage is being broken down through vermi-composting. Plastics are being taken out of daily waste and recycled. Grey and black water is separated for recycling and reuse. Architects who wish to remain relevant are expected to be conservationist. They need to know how to incorporate special insulation into their designs to conserve energy. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WE live in the environment age. Everything we do has to centre around how much we are using of which natural resource. Everything you touch around you – from the paper you use, to your table, your computer, your building, the food you eat… all come from Earth. Nature's resources are finite, but we do things as if these resources were inexhaustible. It is time we began to live differently. But if you believe that governments and power and water utilities can bring about that change, you need to think again. The change has to begin with us. We have to be the change without governments telling us what to do. Without laws and regulations compelling us to change our ways. The trick is to stop looking up to the government, but to look at ourselves for solutions that we can create for meeting our own needs as much as we can. That is a kind of return to production and consumption at the same place which defines this new age of prosumption. If you can be a prosumer and can persuade a few of your neighbours and colleagues to also become prosumers, you will have begun to make that big difference to your cities. It will make you the change that you want to see happening in the rest of the world. By making our homes more sustainable we can help our cities be self-sufficient. And how can we help our cities while first helping ourselves? Here are a few simple things that you can adopt in your own home if you are really keen on being responsible. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THERE is nothing on Earth more organic than water. You can have a synthetic version of just about anything, even milk, but when it comes to water you need the real stuff. Nothing else will do. You can't get water from the private sector or the public sector. It can't be produced by an Ambani or an Amul. There is just one company that produces it and that is Nature Inc. So, core to the organic lifestyle is an understanding of the importance of water and how it should be used as a sacred source of energy for all things living. If we can't get our equations with water worked out, if we can't understand where it comes from or how it can be saved, then we have to concede that we have placed ourselves on the edge of extinction. Inherent in the search for an organic lifestyle is the understanding of how Nature works. This is not an understanding that comes from formal education. It flows from the core of a society's values – those instinctive, unexplained, unplanned, untaught sensibilities that communities nourish for the sake of their survival and the well-being of their future generations. So, it is a big crisis for all of us when we get out of tune with water. It is a disconnect that finally results in a resource gap that divides people and destroys the social fabric – apart from the more obvious inconveniences that the absence of water may cause. The organic lifestyle is nothing if it can't be inclusive. If some of us have mineral water and the rest of us only get access to contaminated water there is something wrong in the lifestyle we have chosen. It is necessary that there be a commitment to uniformity, an equalness. The symbol of all genuine aspirations to being organic should be bubbling streams and freeflowing rivers. It should be the community tap and step-well. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BY some estimates, more trees have been chopped off in the past decade than probably in India's recent history. Along newly broadened national highways, new roads, new constructions, trees have been brought down without a thought. In Delhi alone it is estimated that over 200,000 trees have probably been hacked for various projects leading to the Commonwealth Games, 2010. The same destruction is taking place in cities all over the country. In Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Lucknow, trees are being cut. Many of these trees are old, even ancient and are part of our heritage. Recently, while travelling in the US, a native Punjabi cab driver bemoaned after learning where I came from: “They have cut trees everywhere. Delhi is not the same anymore.” In Delhi the skyline has changed in visible ways. Roads which were green and shady are now bereft of tree cover. As the city becomes a crisscross of roads and metro rail tracks, transport corridors have taken precedence. ‘Efficiency' has become the sole driver of this change. No thought is given to keeping the city's character intact. At the same time, the State has been acting in a non-transparent manner. There is little information about the number of trees that are to be cut or the places from where they will be cut. More often than not, this is only discovered once it happens. Public protests about tree cutting have been dealt with subterfuge, instead of openness and concern. When the tree campaign, Trees for Delhi, was at its peak and the media was glaring down at the government, trees were simply cut in the dead of the night. The government formed a Tree Authority advisory body and included NGOs. But promises to provide public information, street marking of trees, etc have not been kept. It now appears that the public campaign was dealt with as a government public relations exercise. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SIX years is a fair amount of time for a magazine to be around. Apart from what it might tell you about our ability to hang in, it is also an indication of the market for our kind of straightforward journalism. If we come out from one month to the next it is because we have readers and they find value in what we publish. There are corporations, NGOs, CEOs, activists, doctors, lawyers, schools, colleges and libraries across India who subscribe to Civil Society. We are especially heartened when individuals take us into their homes because ours is the kind of magazine they want to spend time with. We have a long shelf-life wherever we go. The popularity of our website has far exceeded our expectations considering the limited investments we have made in it. So it feels pretty good to be six. This has been a very nice way to spend our time. For sure there are concerns about the journey ahead. Nurturing a media business these days isn't easy. Clearly, what the future holds no one can ever say for sure. But for now we invite you to join us in celebrating our success in proving that start-ups like ours in the media can be viable and influential. In the past six years we have taken the lead in reporting on issues which came to be recognised as stories long after we had run with them. We like to believe that being small gives us the freedom to explore our world differently. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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THE original headquarters of Development Alternatives (DA) was made of mud. It had an iconic status among early votaries of green buildings. After years of wear and tear, the old building started crumbling. So DA pulled it down and is constructing a new one, employing all its knowledge of green architecture. The new building will surely be a landmark too. Over the years, Development Alternatives, a nonprofit which promotes eco-friendly technology and jobs and skills for the poor, has built a reputation for being a flag-bearer of green architecture. In making its new office, DA and its architect Ashok Lall, have assiduously followed 10 mantras of green architecture:
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MORE than 7,500 plant species are used across the country to treat an array of ailments. Bangalore-based Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), a non-profit, is working to sustain and revitalise this rich medical heritage. To help city dwellers forge a bond with healing plants, FRLHT launched the Amruth Home Garden programme in Bangalore in February 2005, aimed at promoting self- reliance in primary health care. Through the programme, urban homes are introduced to carefully selected healing plants which can meet a family's primary health care needs. Around 20 minor ailments like cold, cough, indigestion, child care and relief from stress can be treated. Ease of use, safety, efficacy and the ornamental appeal of the plant have also been taken into account. The 21 plant species selected under the programme have been formed into three different packages – A Basic Package of seven species for Rs 150, an Advanced Package of 14 species for Rs 225 and a Complete Package of 21 species for Rs 300 keeping in mind space availability in different households. “Having a home herbal garden means you can have a 24x7 green pharmacy right at your doorstep. Plus, the garden offers an aesthetic ambience with flowers, fruits and green foliage. Gardening is also healthy and therapeutic,” explains Govindaswamy Hariramamurthi, a senior programme officer with FRLHT. Begin planning your herbal garden by choosing the primary health conditions for which you want medicinal raw materials in ready supply. In fact, FRLHT gives one free health check-up by expert vaidyas at its clinic in Bangalore to all subscribers of the Amruth Home Garden programme. Second, evaluate the space you have for the herbal garden. It is also important to factor in your region's climatic conditions. The aloe vera plant does very well even in extremely dry and hot conditions but will not grow at all in extremely cold or wet regions. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THE office of Daily Dump is located on a quiet, leafy side street of Bangalore which must be one of the most pleasing in town. Along the wall, next to the entrance is lined up what looks like earthenware vessels piled one on top of another, each set forming a brightly painted post box-like pillar and the sets coming in different sizes. But Daily Dump is not an ethnic artifacts outlet working out of a comfortable suburban home. As mainline business stories go, it is hard to beat. In its three years of existence its turnover has risen from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 4 lakh to touch Rs 12 lakh in 2008-09. And it is projected to treble again (as it did last year) in the current year to reach Rs 36 lakh. While sustaining this exponential growth, it is able to meet its costs and research expenses. Last year it even made some money though Poonam Bir Kasturi, the innovative spirit behind the business, is not yet taking a salary. What is exciting to her is that the business already has eight clones (those who have adopted its model) across the country in Delhi, Goa, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Channapatna and Bhiwani, with Kolkata and Pune on the way, and the drawings that are the key to the business have been sent to 58 countries. In this attempt to spread the idea across the country and the planet, Kasturi is not seeking to earn revenue through her intellectual property. All she is asking for is an acknowledgement which will enable others to access the concept through a “creative commons licence”. She has chosen this route because she is keen to develop a “replicable business model” which will promote sustainability. But “sustainability implies equity”, hence the decision to make the know-how easily accessible and affordable. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
IT is Saturday evening and business
is brisk at Navdanya’s organic store
in Hauz Khas market. Regular shoppers
know what they want and tick
things off their grocery list deftly.
Those who come here occasionally are
surprised at the store’s expanding
inventory. Over the last two decades, since it first began retailing its direct-from-thefarm produce, Navdanya has acquired a formidable reputation as an organic, bio diverse brand. Founded by one of India’s best known environmentalists, Dr Vandana Shiva, Navdanya began in 1987 as a programme of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology to safeguard India’s agricultural traditions. It has pioneered organic agriculture by working with local farming communities across several states. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ About Us | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | ©2007 Civil Society....................................... .Webmaster Vishwanathan ( vishu4@rediffmail.com ) |
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