Annadana:

The Gift of Food

C o n t ent s

D e c e m b er, 2 009

Project Based Learning

Food and Health

Agriculture

Annadana

The Cuba Experience

Lore molortie magnibh eum zzril ulputatie te dolore volorpe rilismo dolobortie dipis dolore

volorpe rilismo dolobortie dipis dolore feugue deliqui

dolobortie dipis dolore feugue deliqui scillao rercing

..... p 8

Navdarshanam Food Workshop Tum erit nullutat wisi. Sed moloreet nibh ent ad dolum irit autat alit dunt ulpute dolore

Communit y

Tum erit nullutat wisi. Sed moloreet nibh ent ad dolum irit autat alit dunt ulpute dolore dui

Forest Life

Ice-Cream or Ice Chemicals?

Pit praestrud tet, quamet vel dunt lum dolenim

..... page 30

Organic Kitchen- FTII

Pit praestrud tet, quamet vel dunt lum dolenim qui blam iureet nulputat,

..... p 15

GM Food Appeal Sed moloreet nibh ent ad dolum irit autat alit dunt ulpute

..... p 18

Dolum irit autat alit dunt ulpute dolore dui

..... page 32

f

o p

Malls and Monoculture Sandreet wis nosto conse commod magna facil dunt vel

.... p 50

Are you Recycling? lum dolenim qui blam iureet nulputat, vendignibh elit dui te

.... p 51

.... p 38

Gardening

Biomimicry quamet vel dunt lum dolenim qui blam iureet nulputat, vendignibh elit dui te dolor ad tat. quamet vel dunt quamet vel dunt

.... p 40

Snippets

A hundred Soppus Sandreet wis nosto conse commod magna facil dunt vel

.... p 52

Announcements A hundred Soppus

Community of Schools

Biomimicry

Lore molortie magnibh eum zzril ulputatie te dolore volorpe rilismo dolobortie

dolobortie dipis dolore feugue deliqui scillao rercing ea cortiniamcon

.... p 34

.... p 44

.... p 48

Pit praestrud tet, quamet vel dunt lum dolenim qui blam iureet

..... page 28

dolore volorpe rilismo dolobortie dipis dolore

lum dolenim qui blam iureet nulputat, vendignibh

We are Gaia

Sandreet wis nosto conse commod magna facil dunt vel

Project Based Learning

Gautam’s Philosophy

Van Utsav- Celebrating Forest Life ..... page 26

Resources Sustainable Living

.... p 36

Science & Te c h n o l o g y

What is Craft? ..... p 11

Pit praestrud tet, quamet vel dunt lum dolenim qui blam iureet nulputat, vendignibh elit dui te dolor

..... p 22

..... p 5

Going the Alkaline Way

Education

.... p 42

Lore molortie magnibh eum zzril ulputatie te dolore volorpe

.... p 54

C o n t ent s

D e c e m b er, 2 009

Project Based Learning

Food and Health

Agriculture

Annadana

The Cuba Experience

Lore molortie magnibh eum zzril ulputatie te dolore volorpe rilismo dolobortie dipis dolore

volorpe rilismo dolobortie dipis dolore feugue deliqui

dolobortie dipis dolore feugue deliqui scillao rercing

..... p 8

Navdarshanam Food Workshop Tum erit nullutat wisi. Sed moloreet nibh ent ad dolum irit autat alit dunt ulpute dolore

Communit y

Tum erit nullutat wisi. Sed moloreet nibh ent ad dolum irit autat alit dunt ulpute dolore dui

Forest Life

Ice-Cream or Ice Chemicals?

Pit praestrud tet, quamet vel dunt lum dolenim

..... page 30

Organic Kitchen- FTII

Pit praestrud tet, quamet vel dunt lum dolenim qui blam iureet nulputat,

..... p 15

GM Food Appeal Sed moloreet nibh ent ad dolum irit autat alit dunt ulpute

..... p 18

Dolum irit autat alit dunt ulpute dolore dui

..... page 32

f

o p

Malls and Monoculture Sandreet wis nosto conse commod magna facil dunt vel

.... p 50

Are you Recycling? lum dolenim qui blam iureet nulputat, vendignibh elit dui te

.... p 51

.... p 38

Gardening

Biomimicry quamet vel dunt lum dolenim qui blam iureet nulputat, vendignibh elit dui te dolor ad tat. quamet vel dunt quamet vel dunt

.... p 40

Snippets

A hundred Soppus Sandreet wis nosto conse commod magna facil dunt vel

.... p 52

Announcements A hundred Soppus

Community of Schools

Biomimicry

Lore molortie magnibh eum zzril ulputatie te dolore volorpe rilismo dolobortie

dolobortie dipis dolore feugue deliqui scillao rercing ea cortiniamcon

.... p 34

.... p 44

.... p 48

Pit praestrud tet, quamet vel dunt lum dolenim qui blam iureet

..... page 28

dolore volorpe rilismo dolobortie dipis dolore

lum dolenim qui blam iureet nulputat, vendignibh

We are Gaia

Sandreet wis nosto conse commod magna facil dunt vel

Project Based Learning

Gautam’s Philosophy

Van Utsav- Celebrating Forest Life ..... page 26

Resources Sustainable Living

.... p 36

Science & Te c h n o l o g y

What is Craft? ..... p 11

Pit praestrud tet, quamet vel dunt lum dolenim qui blam iureet nulputat, vendignibh elit dui te dolor

..... p 22

..... p 5

Going the Alkaline Way

Education

.... p 42

Lore molortie magnibh eum zzril ulputatie te dolore volorpe

.... p 54

Annadana:

The Gift of Food ? Vandana Shiva

The sanctity of food is being erased by the commoditization of culture. I think the very first thing to recognize about food is that it is the very basis of life, and this is something that ecologists often forget. They treat food as one thing and Nature as wilderness somewhere else: the assumption is if you produce food you cannot have Nature, if you have Nature you cannot meet human needs. And so we build up these amazing dualisms that force us constantly into more destructive routes towards meeting our vital needs,

fooling us into believing that the more resources you consume and destroy through intensive agriculture, the more you ‘save’ Nature. But food isn’t merely a vital need; it is the basis of being. An entire Upanishad is dedicated to the giving of food; if someone was to ask me to name the one text in the world that is about the ecology of food as a sacred trust, I would say, ‘Just read the Taittiriya Upanishad’

From food (anna), verily, creatures are produced, Whatsoever (creatures) dwell on the earth… For truly, food is the chief of beings.

(Ref: Taittiriya Upanishad 2.2, trans. Robert Ernest Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads (2nd English ed: Oxford University Press 1931, pg 284)

D e c e m b er, 2 009



Not only is food sacred, not only is it living, but it is the Creator Itself - and that is why even in the poorest of Indian huts you find the little earthen chulha, or stove being worshipped; the first piece of chappati is set out for the cow, the next piece for the dog, then you find out who else is hungry around. In the words of the Maha Ashwamedhika: The giver of food is the giver of life, and indeed everything else. Therefore, one who desires well-being in this world and beyond should specially endeavour to give food…Food is indeed the preserver of life and food is the source of procreation. The very possibility of our being here, of our living, is based on the lives of all kinds of beings that have gone before us- our parents, our mothers, the soil, the earthworm, and that is why the giving of food in Indian thought has been treated as everyday yagna or ‘sacrifice’ that one has to perform. You do not give something as extra; you give because of your interdependence both with the human beings who make your life possible in your community, and with the non-human kith and family that we have. One of my favourite images in India is the kolam that women make in front of their homes. During Pongal, which is the rice harvest festival in South India, I have seen women wake up as early as three in the morning to make the most

‘There is no daana greater than annadana and tirthadana, the giving of food to the hungry and water to the thirsty.’ The violation of that ethic is in my view, the beginning of all nonsustainability and all injustice. Our current situation of more and more people being denied their basic needs, denied the possibility of engaging in creative productive activity and of getting enough food, is linked to our strange search for a very false sense of growth by alienating the sacred basis of food, and turning it into a mere commodity. I come from the Himalayas - people have for centuries traded the wool they produce, or the amaranth seeds they grow, for the salt and oil which the plains people can bring them. In high-altitude villages those are still the only things they depend on from outside; everything else they produce themselves. Trade today is no longer about the exchange of things which we need and cannot produce ourselves. These days trade is an obligation to stop producing what you need, to stop looking after each other, and to buy from somewhere else. It is this system which we have been coercively and violently locked into by the WTO, by the World Bank and the IMF, rather than mutually independent companies and people making ethical choices and engaging in ecologically responsible

‘Because there is this amazing ‘owing’ of the conditions of our life to all other beings and all other creatures, giving - to humans and non-human species - has been a part of this amazing gift of food.’ ‘We have more and more food stocked in supermarket aisles, while 820 million people go hungry.’ beautiful art work outside their huts, and it is always made of rice. The real reason they do that is to feed ants, but it ends up being such a beautiful art form that everyone tries to put in their best effort for the offering- which in this case was actually an offering to ants. Because there is this amazing ‘owing’ of the conditions of our life to all other beings and all other creatures, giving - to humans and non-human species - has been a part of this amazing gift of food. A better word for it would be annadana, the giving and the gift of food. All other ethical arrangements in society get looked after, if everyone engages in annadana on a daily basis. According to an ancient Indian saying,

actions of buying and selling. It is this very nature of buying, selling and globalised trade that concentrates power in the hands of three or four players. So instead of daana we have profits and greed as the highest organizing principle. If you look at what is happening in the world, we have so-called surpluses that are growing simultaneously with hunger. We have more and more food stocked in supermarket aisles, while 820 million people go hungry. As an ecologist, I see these surpluses as pseudo-surpluses. They are pseudo-surpluses because the overflowing stocks and packed shelves are the result of production and distribution systems which take food away from the weak and marginalized, and from other 

beings. Each time I see supermarkets, I see how every community’s and every ecosystem’s capacity to meet its food needs is being undermined, so that a few people in the world can have an appearance and experience of surpluses. Everything we have learned about respecting food, venerating it, producing it safely and sustainably, ensuring that everyone has a right to food, is being erased by a new commoditization of culture. This commoditization is feeding an economy in which species are being wiped out, small farmers are being wiped out and our health is being wiped out; in every way violating the sacred trust which recognizes food as the basis of life. Extract from a series of lectures on “A Sacred Trust: Ecology and Spiritual Vision” organized by Prince’s Foundation and the Temenos Academy, U.K., 2003 Vandana Shiva is one of India’s leading scientist-activist and the Director of Navdanya and Foundation for Research in Science, Technology and Ecology. She is a visionary who has been battling for India’s Food security and to uphold farmer’s rights. In 1993 she received the Right Livelihood award. She is the author of several books on Agriculture, Biodiversity, the politics of food etc.

— Extract from a series of lectures on “A Sacred Trust: Ecology and Spiritual Vision” organized by Prince’s Foundation and the Temenos Academy, U.K., 2003. Vandana Shiva is one of India’s leading scientistactivist and the Director of Navdanya and Foundation for Research in Science, Technology and Ecology. She is a visionary who has been battling for India’s Food security and to uphold farmer’s rights. In 1993 she received the Right Livelihood award. She is the author of several books on Agriculture, Biodiversity, the politics of food etc.

Bhoomi

Annadana:

The Gift of Food ? Vandana Shiva

The sanctity of food is being erased by the commoditization of culture. I think the very first thing to recognize about food is that it is the very basis of life, and this is something that ecologists often forget. They treat food as one thing and Nature as wilderness somewhere else: the assumption is if you produce food you cannot have Nature, if you have Nature you cannot meet human needs. And so we build up these amazing dualisms that force us constantly into more destructive routes towards meeting our vital needs,

fooling us into believing that the more resources you consume and destroy through intensive agriculture, the more you ‘save’ Nature. But food isn’t merely a vital need; it is the basis of being. An entire Upanishad is dedicated to the giving of food; if someone was to ask me to name the one text in the world that is about the ecology of food as a sacred trust, I would say, ‘Just read the Taittiriya Upanishad’

From food (anna), verily, creatures are produced, Whatsoever (creatures) dwell on the earth… For truly, food is the chief of beings.

(Ref: Taittiriya Upanishad 2.2, trans. Robert Ernest Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads (2nd English ed: Oxford University Press 1931, pg 284)

D e c e m b er, 2 009



Not only is food sacred, not only is it living, but it is the Creator Itself - and that is why even in the poorest of Indian huts you find the little earthen chulha, or stove being worshipped; the first piece of chappati is set out for the cow, the next piece for the dog, then you find out who else is hungry around. In the words of the Maha Ashwamedhika: The giver of food is the giver of life, and indeed everything else. Therefore, one who desires well-being in this world and beyond should specially endeavour to give food…Food is indeed the preserver of life and food is the source of procreation. The very possibility of our being here, of our living, is based on the lives of all kinds of beings that have gone before us- our parents, our mothers, the soil, the earthworm, and that is why the giving of food in Indian thought has been treated as everyday yagna or ‘sacrifice’ that one has to perform. You do not give something as extra; you give because of your interdependence both with the human beings who make your life possible in your community, and with the non-human kith and family that we have. One of my favourite images in India is the kolam that women make in front of their homes. During Pongal, which is the rice harvest festival in South India, I have seen women wake up as early as three in the morning to make the most

‘There is no daana greater than annadana and tirthadana, the giving of food to the hungry and water to the thirsty.’ The violation of that ethic is in my view, the beginning of all nonsustainability and all injustice. Our current situation of more and more people being denied their basic needs, denied the possibility of engaging in creative productive activity and of getting enough food, is linked to our strange search for a very false sense of growth by alienating the sacred basis of food, and turning it into a mere commodity. I come from the Himalayas - people have for centuries traded the wool they produce, or the amaranth seeds they grow, for the salt and oil which the plains people can bring them. In high-altitude villages those are still the only things they depend on from outside; everything else they produce themselves. Trade today is no longer about the exchange of things which we need and cannot produce ourselves. These days trade is an obligation to stop producing what you need, to stop looking after each other, and to buy from somewhere else. It is this system which we have been coercively and violently locked into by the WTO, by the World Bank and the IMF, rather than mutually independent companies and people making ethical choices and engaging in ecologically responsible

‘Because there is this amazing ‘owing’ of the conditions of our life to all other beings and all other creatures, giving - to humans and non-human species - has been a part of this amazing gift of food.’ ‘We have more and more food stocked in supermarket aisles, while 820 million people go hungry.’ beautiful art work outside their huts, and it is always made of rice. The real reason they do that is to feed ants, but it ends up being such a beautiful art form that everyone tries to put in their best effort for the offering- which in this case was actually an offering to ants. Because there is this amazing ‘owing’ of the conditions of our life to all other beings and all other creatures, giving - to humans and non-human species - has been a part of this amazing gift of food. A better word for it would be annadana, the giving and the gift of food. All other ethical arrangements in society get looked after, if everyone engages in annadana on a daily basis. According to an ancient Indian saying,

actions of buying and selling. It is this very nature of buying, selling and globalised trade that concentrates power in the hands of three or four players. So instead of daana we have profits and greed as the highest organizing principle. If you look at what is happening in the world, we have so-called surpluses that are growing simultaneously with hunger. We have more and more food stocked in supermarket aisles, while 820 million people go hungry. As an ecologist, I see these surpluses as pseudo-surpluses. They are pseudo-surpluses because the overflowing stocks and packed shelves are the result of production and distribution systems which take food away from the weak and marginalized, and from other 

beings. Each time I see supermarkets, I see how every community’s and every ecosystem’s capacity to meet its food needs is being undermined, so that a few people in the world can have an appearance and experience of surpluses. Everything we have learned about respecting food, venerating it, producing it safely and sustainably, ensuring that everyone has a right to food, is being erased by a new commoditization of culture. This commoditization is feeding an economy in which species are being wiped out, small farmers are being wiped out and our health is being wiped out; in every way violating the sacred trust which recognizes food as the basis of life. Extract from a series of lectures on “A Sacred Trust: Ecology and Spiritual Vision” organized by Prince’s Foundation and the Temenos Academy, U.K., 2003 Vandana Shiva is one of India’s leading scientist-activist and the Director of Navdanya and Foundation for Research in Science, Technology and Ecology. She is a visionary who has been battling for India’s Food security and to uphold farmer’s rights. In 1993 she received the Right Livelihood award. She is the author of several books on Agriculture, Biodiversity, the politics of food etc.

— Extract from a series of lectures on “A Sacred Trust: Ecology and Spiritual Vision” organized by Prince’s Foundation and the Temenos Academy, U.K., 2003. Vandana Shiva is one of India’s leading scientistactivist and the Director of Navdanya and Foundation for Research in Science, Technology and Ecology. She is a visionary who has been battling for India’s Food security and to uphold farmer’s rights. In 1993 she received the Right Livelihood award. She is the author of several books on Agriculture, Biodiversity, the politics of food etc.

Bhoomi

Why an Ice-cream Puts me off… The ice-cream industry has 100 chemicals to choose from while making your favourite ice-cream

The simple truth is that an ordinary ice candy or ice-cream is loaded with chemicals, which are added to make them look colourful, appealing and even taste better! The headaches and skin rashes that I experienced after eating even one ice-cream too many now begin to fall in perspective. Do you particularly like the chocolate coating of one, or the bright pink strawberry shimmer of another, and the creaminess of a third? Chances are that what you’re consuming is nothing but a combination of chemicals, with the waffle cone being the only nutritious part of it! There are a staggering 1,400 kinds of flavorings, stabilizers, colors and emulsifiers, some of which may go into your favourite ice-cream. Most ice- cream companies mix natural and artificial Some of the other chemicals used are:

? Priya Narayan As a kid, endless summer holidays were spent in anticipation of the icecream man and his cart which held the promise of many feasts. The tinkle of the bell through the lanes brought us out to our verandahs, where we waited eager to try out the latest exotic flavor.

D e c e m b er, 2 009



My craving for ice-creams even led me to pester my mother to make them at home and I remember puzzling over why they never turned out as yummy as the ones from the carts. Now twenty years later, my research on food and healthy eating has subsequently led me to uncover the unpleasant facts about ice-creams.

Name of Chemical

Industrial Use

What they are used for in ice cream

Health Impacts

Peperonal

Used for killing lice

Vanilla Flavour

Irritation of the eye, Indigestion in the stomach

Benzyl Acetate

Nitrate solvent

Strawberry Flavour

Causes Diarrhea, Vomiting

Ethyle Acetate

A cleaning agent for leather and textiles

Pineapple Flavouring

Causes Kidney, Liver Damage

Aldehydce 17

Used as inflammable liquid for aniline dyes in the manufacture of plastics and rubber

Cherry Flavour

Coal

Petroleum

Food Additives

Propylene Glycol

Gel coats Sheet molding compounds (SMC) Synthetic marble castings

Anti- freezing agent

flavors or use only artificial flavors. For instance; Vanilla, considered one of the most preferred flavours, is divided into three categories. Category 1 is commercial vanilla made entirely from the actual vanilla extract of the plant, Category 2 is a mixture of both, natural and artificial flavouring that is classified as ‘vanilla flavour’ and category 3 is entirely artificial and in the label may be written as artificially flavored vanilla. Most companies don’t use natural vanilla simply because it is expensive; instead they use sweeteners like aspartame and saccharine instead of regular sugar which lowers the cost of production and ultimately increase profits.

next time you’re tempted by an ice-cream think of it as ingesting petroleum or nitrate solvent, and it will definitely put you off. Or better still, stick to natural options and make them yourself at home.

—

Pneumonia, Throat infection cancer of the stomach, kidney, Liver and other organs Irritation of the skin and eyes. Indigestion.

In India, the Prevention of Food and Adulteration Act of 1954 put down some restrictions on the use of chemicals as emulsifying and stabilizing agentsEmulsifiers incidentally are used to mix together ingredients like oil and water that would normally separate; while stabilizers prevent them from separating again- But ice cream companies seem to be using them liberally. Diethyl Glucol, a cheap chemical used in paint-removers, is often used as an emulsifier instead of eggs. Research shows that India has a very low per capita consumption of ice-cream, limited to around 2 liters of ice cream a year as opposed to an average of 24 liters a year that Americans consume! So the 

Bhoomi

Why an Ice-cream Puts me off… The ice-cream industry has 100 chemicals to choose from while making your favourite ice-cream

The simple truth is that an ordinary ice candy or ice-cream is loaded with chemicals, which are added to make them look colourful, appealing and even taste better! The headaches and skin rashes that I experienced after eating even one ice-cream too many now begin to fall in perspective. Do you particularly like the chocolate coating of one, or the bright pink strawberry shimmer of another, and the creaminess of a third? Chances are that what you’re consuming is nothing but a combination of chemicals, with the waffle cone being the only nutritious part of it! There are a staggering 1,400 kinds of flavorings, stabilizers, colors and emulsifiers, some of which may go into your favourite ice-cream. Most ice- cream companies mix natural and artificial Some of the other chemicals used are:

? Priya Narayan As a kid, endless summer holidays were spent in anticipation of the icecream man and his cart which held the promise of many feasts. The tinkle of the bell through the lanes brought us out to our verandahs, where we waited eager to try out the latest exotic flavor.

D e c e m b er, 2 009



My craving for ice-creams even led me to pester my mother to make them at home and I remember puzzling over why they never turned out as yummy as the ones from the carts. Now twenty years later, my research on food and healthy eating has subsequently led me to uncover the unpleasant facts about ice-creams.

Name of Chemical

Industrial Use

What they are used for in ice cream

Health Impacts

Peperonal

Used for killing lice

Vanilla Flavour

Irritation of the eye, Indigestion in the stomach

Benzyl Acetate

Nitrate solvent

Strawberry Flavour

Causes Diarrhea, Vomiting

Ethyle Acetate

A cleaning agent for leather and textiles

Pineapple Flavouring

Causes Kidney, Liver Damage

Aldehydce 17

Used as inflammable liquid for aniline dyes in the manufacture of plastics and rubber

Cherry Flavour

Coal

Petroleum

Food Additives

Propylene Glycol

Gel coats Sheet molding compounds (SMC) Synthetic marble castings

Anti- freezing agent

flavors or use only artificial flavors. For instance; Vanilla, considered one of the most preferred flavours, is divided into three categories. Category 1 is commercial vanilla made entirely from the actual vanilla extract of the plant, Category 2 is a mixture of both, natural and artificial flavouring that is classified as ‘vanilla flavour’ and category 3 is entirely artificial and in the label may be written as artificially flavored vanilla. Most companies don’t use natural vanilla simply because it is expensive; instead they use sweeteners like aspartame and saccharine instead of regular sugar which lowers the cost of production and ultimately increase profits.

next time you’re tempted by an ice-cream think of it as ingesting petroleum or nitrate solvent, and it will definitely put you off. Or better still, stick to natural options and make them yourself at home.

—

Pneumonia, Throat infection cancer of the stomach, kidney, Liver and other organs Irritation of the skin and eyes. Indigestion.

In India, the Prevention of Food and Adulteration Act of 1954 put down some restrictions on the use of chemicals as emulsifying and stabilizing agentsEmulsifiers incidentally are used to mix together ingredients like oil and water that would normally separate; while stabilizers prevent them from separating again- But ice cream companies seem to be using them liberally. Diethyl Glucol, a cheap chemical used in paint-removers, is often used as an emulsifier instead of eggs. Research shows that India has a very low per capita consumption of ice-cream, limited to around 2 liters of ice cream a year as opposed to an average of 24 liters a year that Americans consume! So the 

Bhoomi

FOOD for THOUGHT A four day cooking workshop at Navdarshanam, in Bangalore emphasizes that healthy food can be yummy ? Santhinam Krishnan

D e c e m b er, 2 009

Working with a group of rather diverse 15 participants, we made salads out of all kinds of readily available vegetables like ash gourd, chow chow, ridge gourd etc and were quite surprised when they turned out yummy. Who would have imagined that the ordinary gourd could be so flavourful? Ananthu, who conducted the workshop, probably described it best when he said ‘Raw salads are sun-cooked foods, for they have been cooked by the sun while they were still on the plant’; he also described it as “Fireless Cooking”. The next best way to eat food, is to steam it; eg., idlis made with urad dal (whose skins have not been removed), unpolished rice and methi seeds. After raw foods and steamed foods, the next healthy option is boiling and roasting, and last in the order is frying.

Of Chips and Coconuts Understanding digestion is as important as cooking. At the workshop it was explained that the enzyme ptyalin which breaks down carbohydrates is present only in the saliva in the mouth while the enzymes that digest proteins comes from the stomach, and the fats are broken down at the duodenum. This helped me understand the difference between eating fried chips and say, raw coconut. Chips have fat in the outer layers while raw coconut has it in the core. When one eats raw coconut the carbs

It’s only when we are pushed into a corner, do we wake up and decide that we have to change. Just like any other urbanite pressed for time, I have always eaten food for its taste and presentation, rather than for the nutrients that were present in it; if it looked and tasted good I was sure to have it. Then my health collapsed and I was forced to look for healthier options and examine what I was mindlessly eating. Manipulating food by adding chemicals to it can have a profound effect on the biochemical balance of our body; these chemicals alter our taste so much that even good home cooked food seems very bland in comparison. These poly-syllable chemicals are the reason why one can never seem to replicate the Chinese food from the stalls at home, or even stop at eating just a single chip. A four day organic food workshop at Navdarshanam, located about 50 kms 

are broken in the mouth and by the time it reaches the duodenum only the fat is left to be broken down, after which it is completely digested. In chips, this process is almost reversed; the carbs are surrounded by a film of oil so the carbohydrate digestion doesn’t take place in the mouth and it moves in the undigested form to the deodenum, whereas the juices find it difficult to reach the fat as it is still surrounded by carbohydrates. Thus a lot of undigested carbohydrates and fats go into the small intestine often causing poor digestion and settling in the body as foreign matter. Other interesting experiences in cooking included baking whole wheat breads with honey and jaggery syrup as well as making health drinks with wheat grass and various herbs and vegetables. Navadarshanam aims at maintaining ecological balance within the body thereby enabling good health, believing that food has to be digested in full for good health rather than end up undigested, which is often the starting point for “Dis-ease”. Below is a fun, nutritious recipe that I learnt during my workshop at Navadarshanam:

Ashgourd, Chow Chow, Ridgegourd Salad Ingredients: • Chow-chow or ridgegourd or ashgourd ( cut into small pieces) - 3 katories • Tomatoes (cut into small pieces) - 3 • Grated coconut – 1 katori • Dhania leaves/ coriander - 1 small bunch Salt and pepper - to taste Mix all the above ingredients together just before serving.

Sprouts Bhel Method Soak a variety of whole grams for 12 hours in water. Drain. Cover with a damp cloth and leave till sprouts appear. Clean the sprouts. Add salt and boil till tender. Drain and cool. Make the sweet and coriander chutneys as for bhel puri. In a bowl, put the boiled sprouts. Cover with chopped boiled potatoes, grated and finely chopped raw vegetables like carrot, capsicum, cabbage, onion etc. Add curds. Sprinkle both the chutney, jeera powder. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve immediately.

from Bangalore changed my belief that anything healthy would not be welcome to the taste buds. The Navadarshanam way of cooking is wholesome, healthy and most importantly-for a foodie like me- also very delicious. The kitchen at Navadarshanam works on principles that have evolved from the Ateetha Ashram established by Swami Sajananda, which has been working towards creating awareness about the Natural Way of Living. The masalas are ground in stone and not in electric gadgets while organic food is grown within the vicinity. I have come to understand that the secret of good and healthy food is to eat those food items which are easier to digest and least acidic in nature. Raw foods are given top-most priority, as they are highest in alkaline content and in that form, bursting with nutrients, vitamins and all other goodness. 

Bhoomi

FOOD for THOUGHT A four day cooking workshop at Navdarshanam, in Bangalore emphasizes that healthy food can be yummy ? Santhinam Krishnan

D e c e m b er, 2 009

Working with a group of rather diverse 15 participants, we made salads out of all kinds of readily available vegetables like ash gourd, chow chow, ridge gourd etc and were quite surprised when they turned out yummy. Who would have imagined that the ordinary gourd could be so flavourful? Ananthu, who conducted the workshop, probably described it best when he said ‘Raw salads are sun-cooked foods, for they have been cooked by the sun while they were still on the plant’; he also described it as “Fireless Cooking”. The next best way to eat food, is to steam it; eg., idlis made with urad dal (whose skins have not been removed), unpolished rice and methi seeds. After raw foods and steamed foods, the next healthy option is boiling and roasting, and last in the order is frying.

Of Chips and Coconuts Understanding digestion is as important as cooking. At the workshop it was explained that the enzyme ptyalin which breaks down carbohydrates is present only in the saliva in the mouth while the enzymes that digest proteins comes from the stomach, and the fats are broken down at the duodenum. This helped me understand the difference between eating fried chips and say, raw coconut. Chips have fat in the outer layers while raw coconut has it in the core. When one eats raw coconut the carbs

It’s only when we are pushed into a corner, do we wake up and decide that we have to change. Just like any other urbanite pressed for time, I have always eaten food for its taste and presentation, rather than for the nutrients that were present in it; if it looked and tasted good I was sure to have it. Then my health collapsed and I was forced to look for healthier options and examine what I was mindlessly eating. Manipulating food by adding chemicals to it can have a profound effect on the biochemical balance of our body; these chemicals alter our taste so much that even good home cooked food seems very bland in comparison. These poly-syllable chemicals are the reason why one can never seem to replicate the Chinese food from the stalls at home, or even stop at eating just a single chip. A four day organic food workshop at Navdarshanam, located about 50 kms 

are broken in the mouth and by the time it reaches the duodenum only the fat is left to be broken down, after which it is completely digested. In chips, this process is almost reversed; the carbs are surrounded by a film of oil so the carbohydrate digestion doesn’t take place in the mouth and it moves in the undigested form to the deodenum, whereas the juices find it difficult to reach the fat as it is still surrounded by carbohydrates. Thus a lot of undigested carbohydrates and fats go into the small intestine often causing poor digestion and settling in the body as foreign matter. Other interesting experiences in cooking included baking whole wheat breads with honey and jaggery syrup as well as making health drinks with wheat grass and various herbs and vegetables. Navadarshanam aims at maintaining ecological balance within the body thereby enabling good health, believing that food has to be digested in full for good health rather than end up undigested, which is often the starting point for “Dis-ease”. Below is a fun, nutritious recipe that I learnt during my workshop at Navadarshanam:

Ashgourd, Chow Chow, Ridgegourd Salad Ingredients: • Chow-chow or ridgegourd or ashgourd ( cut into small pieces) - 3 katories • Tomatoes (cut into small pieces) - 3 • Grated coconut – 1 katori • Dhania leaves/ coriander - 1 small bunch Salt and pepper - to taste Mix all the above ingredients together just before serving.

Sprouts Bhel Method Soak a variety of whole grams for 12 hours in water. Drain. Cover with a damp cloth and leave till sprouts appear. Clean the sprouts. Add salt and boil till tender. Drain and cool. Make the sweet and coriander chutneys as for bhel puri. In a bowl, put the boiled sprouts. Cover with chopped boiled potatoes, grated and finely chopped raw vegetables like carrot, capsicum, cabbage, onion etc. Add curds. Sprinkle both the chutney, jeera powder. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve immediately.

from Bangalore changed my belief that anything healthy would not be welcome to the taste buds. The Navadarshanam way of cooking is wholesome, healthy and most importantly-for a foodie like me- also very delicious. The kitchen at Navadarshanam works on principles that have evolved from the Ateetha Ashram established by Swami Sajananda, which has been working towards creating awareness about the Natural Way of Living. The masalas are ground in stone and not in electric gadgets while organic food is grown within the vicinity. I have come to understand that the secret of good and healthy food is to eat those food items which are easier to digest and least acidic in nature. Raw foods are given top-most priority, as they are highest in alkaline content and in that form, bursting with nutrients, vitamins and all other goodness. 

Bhoomi

? Bharat Mansata

Why Cuba is the only nation on earth to achieve sustainable development.

Cuba’s Organic Revolution One may wonder what significance an agro-ecological resurgence in Cuba has in India, located on the opposite face of the earth; when it’s night here, it’s day there. Cuba is a sparsely inhabited island nation with 74 percent of her people concentrated in a few cities, while India is a near sub-continent; populous, polycultural and predominantly rural, a land with a ten millennia history of farming now in a stseroidal rush to industrialise and urbanize – even on fertile land! And of course, there are more differences. Yet, the insistent ‘sustainability’ demands of our churning times suggest that there are valuable lessons India and the rest of the world can learn from that small Caribbean nation. In 2006, the international ‘Living Planet’ report of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Global Footprint Network declared: Cuba is the only nation to achieve

sustainable development! Its agroecological model and high forest cover also serve as a highly efficient ‘carbon sink’, ameliorating global warming. With the impending multiple crises of food, fresh water, fuel, climate change, social unrest simmering globally, the Cuban experience has wide relevance. In India, the blithe devaluing of the agricultural livelihoods of small farmers by policy-makers cutting across party lines sorely needs to be challenged with a fresh agro-ecological focus. While the outstanding achievements of individual organic farmers like Bhaskar Save (in southern coastal Gujarat) are increasingly recognized, people also need examples of success on a larger scale. Cuba’s remarkable agricultural transformation – against formidable odds – following the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in 1989 provides a shining case-study

Crisis – the Turning Point Landing on the isle of Cuba, half a millennium ago, Christopher Columbus described it as “the most beautiful land human eyes have ever seen.” Much of it was then inhabited by the Arawaks, who grew maize and nutritious tubers like cassava, sweet potato, taro; also tobacco and cotton. All farming in that era was totally organic. The polyculture of diverse foods provided more balanced and complete nutrition than modern mono-cropping. In the subsequent centuries, Cuba became the headquarters for the Spanish crown in the Americas. The colonizers found it profitable to grow monocultures of sugarcane and tobacco for export to Europe. Later America too imposed embargos, which made Cuba turn to the Soviet Union and depend heavily on it. In 1989, the Soviet system began to unravel - Cuba’s favorable terms of trade were abruptly terminated. Soon, the Berlin Wall collapsed and the Soviet Union totally disintegrated. This meant the loss of almost all of Cuba’s import sources and export markets, devastating its economy. Factory closures became common, and much of the petroleum driven transportation came to a standstill. Tractors were grounded – for lack of both fuel and essential spare parts. Agrochemicals were just not available. And food scarcity became widespread. The severe crisis was felt across the nation and cities were the most affected, especially Havana. To make matters worse, the US tightened its embargo. It banned ships that had been to Cuba from docking in the US. Simultaneously, it clamped several conditions on Russia and the newly independent states as they scrambled for U.S. aid: one of these was to end all trade with Cuba. But rather than roll over and die, a new revolution began to foment in Cuba, an organic one…

Transition: the Early Years of Re-organizing

In 1990, a survival economy was put in place. Growing more food was the primary challenge. Castro announced that no piece of potentially cultivable land should be left unplanted. Since agro-chemicals were extremely scarce, people had no option but to use whatever biological inputs they could source locally. Cuba thus embarked on “the largest conversion from conventional, industrial agriculture to organic

An organoponico in the outskirts of Havana, Eduardo Martino Photography : Havana

D e c e m b er, 2 009

10

farming that the world has yet seen.” The government began to decentralize food production and link it directly to consumers, minimizing transportation. Work places and institutions with any open spaces started growing their own food. For those lacking land, the local government helped provide cultivation rights to accessible plots. Farms began to deliver directly to ration stores, hospitals, and other consumption sites. Many new markets were built where deregulated prices could be governed by demand and supply. This acted as a key incentive to increase food production. The people seized the opportunity and dug their hands into the soil. State institutions too jumped into the actAn organoponico in the outskirts of Havana, Eduardo Martino Photography : Havana the Ministry of Agriculture tore up the front lawn at its Havana headquarters, and planted lettuce, bananas, and managed collectives. While land vested beans. Employees working behind in the State, the workers had free, desks began watering and weeding to permanent use rights to cultivate it. supply their workplace lunchroom. The Everything above the ground—buildings, country’s Defence Minister affirmed: machinery —henceforth belonged to “Food production is our principal task.” the workers’ collectives. This proved a Instead of doing one year of mandatory critically important step towards more military service, youth were given decentralized self-governance and self-financing of agriculture in Cuba. Indeed, the smaller farms were more Swedish Parliament easily managed and better able to adopt presented the Right sustainable agriculture practices. Livelihood Award – or the The small farmers became the backbone of Cuba’s agro-ecological ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ - to movement. Cultivators were allowed to the Cuban Organic Farming sell directly to consumers after meeting Association “for showing any contracts they had with state agencies. The absence of price controls stimulated that organic agriculture is a increased production. Many farmers were key to both food security and able to triple or quadruple their net profits! environmental sustainability.” Most rural homes now grow their own staples – rice, beans and root crops (cassava, taro, sweet potato) -- common in the traditional Cuban diet. Similarly, the the option of working at one of the cultivation of vegetables, plantains and 93 army farms across the country. other tropical fruit, together with herbal In 1993, the Cuban government medicinal plants, has spread widely. broke up its state farms to create smaller worker-owned and autonomously 11

Bhoomi

? Bharat Mansata

Why Cuba is the only nation on earth to achieve sustainable development.

Cuba’s Organic Revolution One may wonder what significance an agro-ecological resurgence in Cuba has in India, located on the opposite face of the earth; when it’s night here, it’s day there. Cuba is a sparsely inhabited island nation with 74 percent of her people concentrated in a few cities, while India is a near sub-continent; populous, polycultural and predominantly rural, a land with a ten millennia history of farming now in a stseroidal rush to industrialise and urbanize – even on fertile land! And of course, there are more differences. Yet, the insistent ‘sustainability’ demands of our churning times suggest that there are valuable lessons India and the rest of the world can learn from that small Caribbean nation. In 2006, the international ‘Living Planet’ report of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Global Footprint Network declared: Cuba is the only nation to achieve

sustainable development! Its agroecological model and high forest cover also serve as a highly efficient ‘carbon sink’, ameliorating global warming. With the impending multiple crises of food, fresh water, fuel, climate change, social unrest simmering globally, the Cuban experience has wide relevance. In India, the blithe devaluing of the agricultural livelihoods of small farmers by policy-makers cutting across party lines sorely needs to be challenged with a fresh agro-ecological focus. While the outstanding achievements of individual organic farmers like Bhaskar Save (in southern coastal Gujarat) are increasingly recognized, people also need examples of success on a larger scale. Cuba’s remarkable agricultural transformation – against formidable odds – following the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in 1989 provides a shining case-study

Crisis – the Turning Point Landing on the isle of Cuba, half a millennium ago, Christopher Columbus described it as “the most beautiful land human eyes have ever seen.” Much of it was then inhabited by the Arawaks, who grew maize and nutritious tubers like cassava, sweet potato, taro; also tobacco and cotton. All farming in that era was totally organic. The polyculture of diverse foods provided more balanced and complete nutrition than modern mono-cropping. In the subsequent centuries, Cuba became the headquarters for the Spanish crown in the Americas. The colonizers found it profitable to grow monocultures of sugarcane and tobacco for export to Europe. Later America too imposed embargos, which made Cuba turn to the Soviet Union and depend heavily on it. In 1989, the Soviet system began to unravel - Cuba’s favorable terms of trade were abruptly terminated. Soon, the Berlin Wall collapsed and the Soviet Union totally disintegrated. This meant the loss of almost all of Cuba’s import sources and export markets, devastating its economy. Factory closures became common, and much of the petroleum driven transportation came to a standstill. Tractors were grounded – for lack of both fuel and essential spare parts. Agrochemicals were just not available. And food scarcity became widespread. The severe crisis was felt across the nation and cities were the most affected, especially Havana. To make matters worse, the US tightened its embargo. It banned ships that had been to Cuba from docking in the US. Simultaneously, it clamped several conditions on Russia and the newly independent states as they scrambled for U.S. aid: one of these was to end all trade with Cuba. But rather than roll over and die, a new revolution began to foment in Cuba, an organic one…

Transition: the Early Years of Re-organizing

In 1990, a survival economy was put in place. Growing more food was the primary challenge. Castro announced that no piece of potentially cultivable land should be left unplanted. Since agro-chemicals were extremely scarce, people had no option but to use whatever biological inputs they could source locally. Cuba thus embarked on “the largest conversion from conventional, industrial agriculture to organic

An organoponico in the outskirts of Havana, Eduardo Martino Photography : Havana

D e c e m b er, 2 009

10

farming that the world has yet seen.” The government began to decentralize food production and link it directly to consumers, minimizing transportation. Work places and institutions with any open spaces started growing their own food. For those lacking land, the local government helped provide cultivation rights to accessible plots. Farms began to deliver directly to ration stores, hospitals, and other consumption sites. Many new markets were built where deregulated prices could be governed by demand and supply. This acted as a key incentive to increase food production. The people seized the opportunity and dug their hands into the soil. State institutions too jumped into the actAn organoponico in the outskirts of Havana, Eduardo Martino Photography : Havana the Ministry of Agriculture tore up the front lawn at its Havana headquarters, and planted lettuce, bananas, and managed collectives. While land vested beans. Employees working behind in the State, the workers had free, desks began watering and weeding to permanent use rights to cultivate it. supply their workplace lunchroom. The Everything above the ground—buildings, country’s Defence Minister affirmed: machinery —henceforth belonged to “Food production is our principal task.” the workers’ collectives. This proved a Instead of doing one year of mandatory critically important step towards more military service, youth were given decentralized self-governance and self-financing of agriculture in Cuba. Indeed, the smaller farms were more Swedish Parliament easily managed and better able to adopt presented the Right sustainable agriculture practices. Livelihood Award – or the The small farmers became the backbone of Cuba’s agro-ecological ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ - to movement. Cultivators were allowed to the Cuban Organic Farming sell directly to consumers after meeting Association “for showing any contracts they had with state agencies. The absence of price controls stimulated that organic agriculture is a increased production. Many farmers were key to both food security and able to triple or quadruple their net profits! environmental sustainability.” Most rural homes now grow their own staples – rice, beans and root crops (cassava, taro, sweet potato) -- common in the traditional Cuban diet. Similarly, the the option of working at one of the cultivation of vegetables, plantains and 93 army farms across the country. other tropical fruit, together with herbal In 1993, the Cuban government medicinal plants, has spread widely. broke up its state farms to create smaller worker-owned and autonomously 11

Bhoomi

ancestors who never used any chemicals.”

Photography : Havana

Unused Cuban tractors gathering rust, Eduardo

Urban Organic Food Gardens One of the most important strategies for increasing food self-reliance was to support the booming urban gardening movement. To do this, the Agriculture Ministry made another unprecedented move and created the world’s first coordinated urban agriculture programme that integrated: access to land; extension services; research and development; new supply stores for small farmers; and new marketing arrangements for their produce – all with a focus on urban needs. By 1999, thirteen provinces of Cuba had broken their historical aggregate production records. Nationwide sales of vegetables and fresh herbs reached an average of 469 grams per day per capita, well above the 300 grams per day recommended by FAO. In December 1999, the Swedish Parliament presented the Right Livelihood Award – or the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ - to the Cuban Organic Farming Association “for showing that organic agriculture is a key to both food security and environmental sustainability.” By 2003, the number of household patio gardens exceeded 300,000. In 2006, Cuba grew 3 million tones of food within the city!

From Input Substitution to Agro-ecology

The non-availability of agrochemicals from 1990 forced greater use of locally produced ‘bio-fertilizers’ like compost and earthworm humus. By 2003, the supply of vermicompost was one million tons, while that of various other types of compost reached 15 million tons. Cuban farmers diligently regenerated D e c e m b er, 2 009

other fertility enhancing ‘bio-agents’, including naturally occurring strains of bacteria such as rhizobium, azotobacter and azospirillum, which ‘fix’ atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, thereby replacing inorganic nitrogen. Surface biomass and the organic content of the soil rose significantly with the mulching of crop residues, the use of green manures and the planting of locally suited leguminous cover crops, shrubs and trees. This in turn supported growing populations of useful bacteria in the soil. Further, the increased use of oxen to plough the land- as tractors lay idle in the absence of fuel and spare partsenhanced the availability of dung manure. Collectively, all this greatly hastened the regeneration of soil fertility. While the initial thrust was on substituting agrochemicals with locally produced bio-inputs, a broader agroecological approach began to evolve.

Reinstating Traditional Practices and Polycultures In the early 1990s, it was observed that only the small farmers, following traditional methods, could sustain their yields. They were far more productive than others. Dr. Fernando Aguilar recollects, “We thus began to revive the old traditions, restoring everything our ancestors had taught us, those same

Cuban farmers across the island found themselves adopting practices like manuring, inter-cropping, crop rotation, fallowing, the use of oxen for ploughing, and the selection of traditional crops replanted from farmers’ own seeds saved from the previous harvest. Old, time-tested multiple cropping patterns, suited to local conditions, offer numerous synergistic benefits. For example, the legumes in the system provide nitrogen for the other crops to draw upon. The near complete vegetative cover on the land aids the regeneration of soil fertility, resists erosion, and creates favourable micro-climatic conditions for crop growth by buffering against strong wind, rain and sun.

The Emerging Global Scenario

From December 1998 to July 2008, the price of crude oil rose fourteenfold! Though it fell back again, it is sure to rise sharply in the coming years, making the energy-inefficient model of industrial agriculture virtually impossible to continue. Last year also saw the release of the remarkable 2,500 page IAASTD report (International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development), following four years of study by a global panel of more than 400 scientists and 1,000 reviewers from 60 nations. It concluded: Business as usual is no longer an option. Without doubt, organic farming is the path to a sane future. As Dr. Peter Rosset, Director of ‘Food First’ Institute of Food and Development Policy, Washington, states: “Cuba offers the very first largescale test of sustainable alternatives, before environmental realities mandate the rest of the world embark on a sudden, wholesale switch to organic agriculture.”

Van Utsav-Celebrating Forest Life A ten-day forest festival gives a glimpse of how enriching community life is.

— A fuller account may be found in ‘Organic Revolution: The Agricultural Transformation of Cuba since 1990’ by Bharat Mansata, Earthcare Books 2008. (www.earthcarebooks.com) Email: [email protected], [email protected]

? Text and Photographs by An urban farm in Havana Photograph by Eduardo

12

Pooja Nayak

My eyes were slowly adjusting to the morning brightness when a shape emerged out of the nearest tree. The creature moved sensuously in its descent, one clawed foot at a time, an elegant slow motion- very much like a panther on the prowl. Eyes half-closed, almost meditative, it didn’t seem to be in a hurry. It inched towards a brown leaf, 13

effortlessly gliding from tree trunk to the precarious stem of an adjoining plant. It was undoubtedly the biggest chameleon I’d ever seen. Only last evening, a baby snake, black with yellow markings, had slithered across my path on my way to the stream. In one day, I’d spotted frogs, crabs, earthworms, large spiders, moths, red dragonflies

Bhoomi

ancestors who never used any chemicals.”

Photography : Havana

Unused Cuban tractors gathering rust, Eduardo

Urban Organic Food Gardens One of the most important strategies for increasing food self-reliance was to support the booming urban gardening movement. To do this, the Agriculture Ministry made another unprecedented move and created the world’s first coordinated urban agriculture programme that integrated: access to land; extension services; research and development; new supply stores for small farmers; and new marketing arrangements for their produce – all with a focus on urban needs. By 1999, thirteen provinces of Cuba had broken their historical aggregate production records. Nationwide sales of vegetables and fresh herbs reached an average of 469 grams per day per capita, well above the 300 grams per day recommended by FAO. In December 1999, the Swedish Parliament presented the Right Livelihood Award – or the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ - to the Cuban Organic Farming Association “for showing that organic agriculture is a key to both food security and environmental sustainability.” By 2003, the number of household patio gardens exceeded 300,000. In 2006, Cuba grew 3 million tones of food within the city!

From Input Substitution to Agro-ecology

The non-availability of agrochemicals from 1990 forced greater use of locally produced ‘bio-fertilizers’ like compost and earthworm humus. By 2003, the supply of vermicompost was one million tons, while that of various other types of compost reached 15 million tons. Cuban farmers diligently regenerated D e c e m b er, 2 009

other fertility enhancing ‘bio-agents’, including naturally occurring strains of bacteria such as rhizobium, azotobacter and azospirillum, which ‘fix’ atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, thereby replacing inorganic nitrogen. Surface biomass and the organic content of the soil rose significantly with the mulching of crop residues, the use of green manures and the planting of locally suited leguminous cover crops, shrubs and trees. This in turn supported growing populations of useful bacteria in the soil. Further, the increased use of oxen to plough the land- as tractors lay idle in the absence of fuel and spare partsenhanced the availability of dung manure. Collectively, all this greatly hastened the regeneration of soil fertility. While the initial thrust was on substituting agrochemicals with locally produced bio-inputs, a broader agroecological approach began to evolve.

Reinstating Traditional Practices and Polycultures In the early 1990s, it was observed that only the small farmers, following traditional methods, could sustain their yields. They were far more productive than others. Dr. Fernando Aguilar recollects, “We thus began to revive the old traditions, restoring everything our ancestors had taught us, those same

Cuban farmers across the island found themselves adopting practices like manuring, inter-cropping, crop rotation, fallowing, the use of oxen for ploughing, and the selection of traditional crops replanted from farmers’ own seeds saved from the previous harvest. Old, time-tested multiple cropping patterns, suited to local conditions, offer numerous synergistic benefits. For example, the legumes in the system provide nitrogen for the other crops to draw upon. The near complete vegetative cover on the land aids the regeneration of soil fertility, resists erosion, and creates favourable micro-climatic conditions for crop growth by buffering against strong wind, rain and sun.

The Emerging Global Scenario

From December 1998 to July 2008, the price of crude oil rose fourteenfold! Though it fell back again, it is sure to rise sharply in the coming years, making the energy-inefficient model of industrial agriculture virtually impossible to continue. Last year also saw the release of the remarkable 2,500 page IAASTD report (International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development), following four years of study by a global panel of more than 400 scientists and 1,000 reviewers from 60 nations. It concluded: Business as usual is no longer an option. Without doubt, organic farming is the path to a sane future. As Dr. Peter Rosset, Director of ‘Food First’ Institute of Food and Development Policy, Washington, states: “Cuba offers the very first largescale test of sustainable alternatives, before environmental realities mandate the rest of the world embark on a sudden, wholesale switch to organic agriculture.”

Van Utsav-Celebrating Forest Life A ten-day forest festival gives a glimpse of how enriching community life is.

— A fuller account may be found in ‘Organic Revolution: The Agricultural Transformation of Cuba since 1990’ by Bharat Mansata, Earthcare Books 2008. (www.earthcarebooks.com) Email: [email protected], [email protected]

? Text and Photographs by An urban farm in Havana Photograph by Eduardo

12

Pooja Nayak

My eyes were slowly adjusting to the morning brightness when a shape emerged out of the nearest tree. The creature moved sensuously in its descent, one clawed foot at a time, an elegant slow motion- very much like a panther on the prowl. Eyes half-closed, almost meditative, it didn’t seem to be in a hurry. It inched towards a brown leaf, 13

effortlessly gliding from tree trunk to the precarious stem of an adjoining plant. It was undoubtedly the biggest chameleon I’d ever seen. Only last evening, a baby snake, black with yellow markings, had slithered across my path on my way to the stream. In one day, I’d spotted frogs, crabs, earthworms, large spiders, moths, red dragonflies

Bhoomi

and even grasshoppers that made themselves comfortable on one’s shorts. It’s always been that way at Van Utsav, the yearly forest festival that celebrates community living at Van Wadi. Located a two-hour train ride away from Mumbai, this naturally regenerated forest farm can be viewed as a modern day sacred forest. The ten-day festival is usually organized at the end of monsoons, when land is lush, the natural rock pool overflowing and organically grown vegetables are chubby and ripe to eat.

Creating Van Wadi Sprawled on the cool mud floor at Van Wadi, peeling a fresh cucumber that’s eaten barely a two-minute walk from where it was grown, it is difficult to imagine that fifteen years ago the land wasn’t a full-fledged tall forest. Vegetation was thick, but short- and it was cut regularly for use as firewood. Streams were non-existent when the rains stopped and hand pumps would run dry in the downstream Vara village during summer. Today more than ninety percent of the sixty-four acres is a forest , with ten percent of planted vegetation, after a group of twenty-four people pooled in contributions with the aim of earth-care and healthy living. Bharat Mansata, a co-owner, says the group decided on specific objectives such as retaining half the land under tree cover,

avoiding agro-chemicals completely, practicing conservative water-usage, shunning monocultures and working towards bio-diversity through integration of various edible and local varieties. In the early years, they concentrated

son Daulat work hard and their knowledge of forests is invaluable. Bua’s vigour can put a youth to shame. He’ll patiently answer all queries about what to grow where, what seeds to plant when and even which creature those tiny drop-shaped

Sprawled on the cool mud floor at Van Wadi, peeling a fresh cucumber that’s eaten barely a two-minute walk from where it was grown, on planting lots of forest and medicinal plants suited to the conditions. Later, realizing they had plenty of these, they began concentrating more on food/fruit species like black jambu, custard apple, mango, cashew, mahua, drumstick, especially evergreens, which were (and still are) much fewer in the forest. Useful species like bamboo and also some fastgrowing native species like gavti god (sweet) nimbara were also introduced in the forest. Today scores of bottle gourds swing cheekily on their trellises, lady’s fingers wave from their stalks, and cucumbers peek shyly from the ground. There’s aloe vera for scraped knees, and lemongrass and tulsi for our herbal tea.

The ‘Adivasi’ backbone A local Adivasi family takes care of the land all year round. Sixty year old Madhu Bua, his wife Ambi Bai and their

eggs nestling cozily in the soil belong to. Give Ambi Bai half an hour in the forest and she’ll be back with all sorts of delectable herbs and plants that you didn’t know could be cooked so deliciously. Nothing fills the stomach better than her hand-ground spicy chutney with steaming bhakris (ragi chapattis), accompanied by few slices of raw onion. Creating useful items from the most basic materials is an ability that comes naturally to twenty-five year old Daulat. Bamboo baskets still fresh with the smell of peeled barks, a sturdy water-ladle made with the hollow of a coconut shell, his wooden tool-belt with neat grooves and even an elegant waterproof hat made of dried palm leaves are casually strewn around the house. Daulat visits the city now and then, but finds it too noisy and cramped for his liking; he prefers his forest home where he can wander and work at will.

Living the forest way Pit autat il irilla faci bla aut eum dolore minibh esenim vele

D e c e m b er, 2 009

After the noxious fumes, never-ending construction and jostling for space in Mumbai, Van Wadi, as a space signals the immense potential if one wants to experiment. As soon as one crosses the makeshift rusted gate, the difference is obvious. The air is significantly cooler, tree branches are meshed thickly, grass threatens to take over the mud path and all around the insects are trilling, though it’s broad daylight. Basheer, a visitor from Kerala to this year’s Van Utsav suggests that the temperature difference should be recorded scientifically; the carbon-absorption, groundwaterrecharging and biodiversity must all be measured to show how such projects are important in the context of the ecological crises we are faced with. The land has no electricity, no modern conveniences- just one brick house built with a mixture of mud and gobar. An open shelter with a strong bamboo roof near 14

the rock-pool also houses the kitchen. The latter is the main congregating-point during Van Utsav. The rock pool dug to contain water draws us like a bunch of water-buffaloes and the cool clean mud collected around the edges due to the flow of the stream beats any face-pack on the supermarket shelf. Even going to the spacious compost toilet is an experience and a lot of fun: take a bucket of water from the stream, watch the open blue sky and hear the trees rustle.

Sharing and Creativity Over the years, Van Utsav has seen people of all age groups drawn towards community life. There is cooking, planting, discussions, music; the adults and children are all on common ground. There are diverse lessons to be learned from a six year old who dives into water with assurance and a forty year old who sits quietly for hours, working a delicate pattern on a bamboo piece. Last year, one of the most interesting sessions was a night forest walk led by a 15-year old snake-catcher and his younger brother. With torches in hand, we walked through the forest and got to see hairy moths, a tiny lizard-like creature

Feugue con euipit nibh exeraestio odio et acilit nulputpat.

a computer, working directly with soil is therapeutic. Feeling the moisture, breaking the clods between your fingers to find an earthworm wriggling, spreading the mud evenly with a spade and scattering seeds – everything is enjoyable. Scraping wood for the scaffolding of tree house under construction teaches you the rhythm of tools. It gives you a settled feeling that goes well with the mild breeze and the overhead September sun.

Over the years, Van Utsav has seen people of all age groups drawn towards community life. There is cooking, planting, discussions, music; the adults and children are all on common ground. that froze under the glare of the light, a plant infested with sleepy caterpillars, mammoth female spiders stiff on their webs, and even a toad which came along for the rest of the walk in someone’s palms. It was moving to watch a long line of eager adults lap up various animal facts with unbridled enthusiasm. Every evening, in the flickering shadows of the lamps, ending the day with music seems to be the most natural thing to do. Against the backdrop of a crackling battery-run tanpura, diverse instruments like the flute, the sarangi, the didgeridoo, Bua’s dhol and our voices complement one another for hours. How do they catch the beat? How does one musician know where to join in? How does improvisation work when all are playing together for the first time; are they even connected? There’s an open night sky and clean air to ponder. Then there is planting- this time we helped prepare the spinach bed. After spending months relentlessly keying on

everything that Van Wadi stands for. Perhaps even this served a purpose: It was reminding us that it is only a brief respite from city life and also of humankind’s interminable quest for development. Yet, Vanwadi is an attempt to find some meaning and ‘do one’s bit’ for the planet. I remember a quote by Robert Allen, ‘Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone’; You need to go outside your comfort zone to create a Vanwadi; or even to join a forest festival there – but you certainly get what you want – a magic space, a nourished soul and awareness of some carbon absorption.

—

There are some questions which come and go; if we’re romanticizing this experience because we’ve forgotten how natural, a natural way of life is? Wondering how we became so disconnected from engaging with our surroundings and its elements, so much that the idea of a community and life in it has become exotic?

Contrast and Learning Adjoining Van Wadi is a barren clearing exposed like a bleeding wound in the earth. The mud is red and the sun beats down on the cracked surface. A few stalks of wild grass struggle despite the merciless deforestation-attempt. The land has been bought by builders for development. Their idea was to bulldoze the existing vegetation and construct plots for vacation homes. With it they planned to bring truckloads of concrete, lay pipelines and roads and construct swimming pools; undermining 15

Bhoomi

and even grasshoppers that made themselves comfortable on one’s shorts. It’s always been that way at Van Utsav, the yearly forest festival that celebrates community living at Van Wadi. Located a two-hour train ride away from Mumbai, this naturally regenerated forest farm can be viewed as a modern day sacred forest. The ten-day festival is usually organized at the end of monsoons, when land is lush, the natural rock pool overflowing and organically grown vegetables are chubby and ripe to eat.

Creating Van Wadi Sprawled on the cool mud floor at Van Wadi, peeling a fresh cucumber that’s eaten barely a two-minute walk from where it was grown, it is difficult to imagine that fifteen years ago the land wasn’t a full-fledged tall forest. Vegetation was thick, but short- and it was cut regularly for use as firewood. Streams were non-existent when the rains stopped and hand pumps would run dry in the downstream Vara village during summer. Today more than ninety percent of the sixty-four acres is a forest , with ten percent of planted vegetation, after a group of twenty-four people pooled in contributions with the aim of earth-care and healthy living. Bharat Mansata, a co-owner, says the group decided on specific objectives such as retaining half the land under tree cover,

avoiding agro-chemicals completely, practicing conservative water-usage, shunning monocultures and working towards bio-diversity through integration of various edible and local varieties. In the early years, they concentrated

son Daulat work hard and their knowledge of forests is invaluable. Bua’s vigour can put a youth to shame. He’ll patiently answer all queries about what to grow where, what seeds to plant when and even which creature those tiny drop-shaped

Sprawled on the cool mud floor at Van Wadi, peeling a fresh cucumber that’s eaten barely a two-minute walk from where it was grown, on planting lots of forest and medicinal plants suited to the conditions. Later, realizing they had plenty of these, they began concentrating more on food/fruit species like black jambu, custard apple, mango, cashew, mahua, drumstick, especially evergreens, which were (and still are) much fewer in the forest. Useful species like bamboo and also some fastgrowing native species like gavti god (sweet) nimbara were also introduced in the forest. Today scores of bottle gourds swing cheekily on their trellises, lady’s fingers wave from their stalks, and cucumbers peek shyly from the ground. There’s aloe vera for scraped knees, and lemongrass and tulsi for our herbal tea.

The ‘Adivasi’ backbone A local Adivasi family takes care of the land all year round. Sixty year old Madhu Bua, his wife Ambi Bai and their

eggs nestling cozily in the soil belong to. Give Ambi Bai half an hour in the forest and she’ll be back with all sorts of delectable herbs and plants that you didn’t know could be cooked so deliciously. Nothing fills the stomach better than her hand-ground spicy chutney with steaming bhakris (ragi chapattis), accompanied by few slices of raw onion. Creating useful items from the most basic materials is an ability that comes naturally to twenty-five year old Daulat. Bamboo baskets still fresh with the smell of peeled barks, a sturdy water-ladle made with the hollow of a coconut shell, his wooden tool-belt with neat grooves and even an elegant waterproof hat made of dried palm leaves are casually strewn around the house. Daulat visits the city now and then, but finds it too noisy and cramped for his liking; he prefers his forest home where he can wander and work at will.

Living the forest way Pit autat il irilla faci bla aut eum dolore minibh esenim vele

D e c e m b er, 2 009

After the noxious fumes, never-ending construction and jostling for space in Mumbai, Van Wadi, as a space signals the immense potential if one wants to experiment. As soon as one crosses the makeshift rusted gate, the difference is obvious. The air is significantly cooler, tree branches are meshed thickly, grass threatens to take over the mud path and all around the insects are trilling, though it’s broad daylight. Basheer, a visitor from Kerala to this year’s Van Utsav suggests that the temperature difference should be recorded scientifically; the carbon-absorption, groundwaterrecharging and biodiversity must all be measured to show how such projects are important in the context of the ecological crises we are faced with. The land has no electricity, no modern conveniences- just one brick house built with a mixture of mud and gobar. An open shelter with a strong bamboo roof near 14

the rock-pool also houses the kitchen. The latter is the main congregating-point during Van Utsav. The rock pool dug to contain water draws us like a bunch of water-buffaloes and the cool clean mud collected around the edges due to the flow of the stream beats any face-pack on the supermarket shelf. Even going to the spacious compost toilet is an experience and a lot of fun: take a bucket of water from the stream, watch the open blue sky and hear the trees rustle.

Sharing and Creativity Over the years, Van Utsav has seen people of all age groups drawn towards community life. There is cooking, planting, discussions, music; the adults and children are all on common ground. There are diverse lessons to be learned from a six year old who dives into water with assurance and a forty year old who sits quietly for hours, working a delicate pattern on a bamboo piece. Last year, one of the most interesting sessions was a night forest walk led by a 15-year old snake-catcher and his younger brother. With torches in hand, we walked through the forest and got to see hairy moths, a tiny lizard-like creature

Feugue con euipit nibh exeraestio odio et acilit nulputpat.

a computer, working directly with soil is therapeutic. Feeling the moisture, breaking the clods between your fingers to find an earthworm wriggling, spreading the mud evenly with a spade and scattering seeds – everything is enjoyable. Scraping wood for the scaffolding of tree house under construction teaches you the rhythm of tools. It gives you a settled feeling that goes well with the mild breeze and the overhead September sun.

Over the years, Van Utsav has seen people of all age groups drawn towards community life. There is cooking, planting, discussions, music; the adults and children are all on common ground. that froze under the glare of the light, a plant infested with sleepy caterpillars, mammoth female spiders stiff on their webs, and even a toad which came along for the rest of the walk in someone’s palms. It was moving to watch a long line of eager adults lap up various animal facts with unbridled enthusiasm. Every evening, in the flickering shadows of the lamps, ending the day with music seems to be the most natural thing to do. Against the backdrop of a crackling battery-run tanpura, diverse instruments like the flute, the sarangi, the didgeridoo, Bua’s dhol and our voices complement one another for hours. How do they catch the beat? How does one musician know where to join in? How does improvisation work when all are playing together for the first time; are they even connected? There’s an open night sky and clean air to ponder. Then there is planting- this time we helped prepare the spinach bed. After spending months relentlessly keying on

everything that Van Wadi stands for. Perhaps even this served a purpose: It was reminding us that it is only a brief respite from city life and also of humankind’s interminable quest for development. Yet, Vanwadi is an attempt to find some meaning and ‘do one’s bit’ for the planet. I remember a quote by Robert Allen, ‘Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone’; You need to go outside your comfort zone to create a Vanwadi; or even to join a forest festival there – but you certainly get what you want – a magic space, a nourished soul and awareness of some carbon absorption.

—

There are some questions which come and go; if we’re romanticizing this experience because we’ve forgotten how natural, a natural way of life is? Wondering how we became so disconnected from engaging with our surroundings and its elements, so much that the idea of a community and life in it has become exotic?

Contrast and Learning Adjoining Van Wadi is a barren clearing exposed like a bleeding wound in the earth. The mud is red and the sun beats down on the cracked surface. A few stalks of wild grass struggle despite the merciless deforestation-attempt. The land has been bought by builders for development. Their idea was to bulldoze the existing vegetation and construct plots for vacation homes. With it they planned to bring truckloads of concrete, lay pipelines and roads and construct swimming pools; undermining 15

Bhoomi

Biomimicry A science inspired by the art of emulating Nature’s best biological ideas is helping solve human problems ? Sinduja Krishnan

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shinkasen Bullet Train_Sean O’Connor

Our architecture takes immense inspiration from nature. The tallest trees help us vision the world’s tallest buildings and the flying pattern of a dragonfly gives us the wisdom to build helicopters. Most of our achievements have been from nature and yet, we barely understand it. Janine Benyus, an activist, thinker and creator has made it her mission to acknowledge and return what we take from nature- she and other scientists D e c e m b er, 2 009

at the ‘Biomimicry Institute’ based in Montana in the US have taken it upon themselves to help us re-learn a way to do things that are akin to principles of nature. Benyus feels that observing and understanding nature’s best ideas and imitating these designs and processes can solve a lot of human problems sustainably- she calls this ‘Biomimicry’. Imitating life and mimicing it is the essence of biomimicry. The rising of 16

the sun signifies a beginning: flowers bloom, life starts. A butterfly flaps its wings optimally, achieving maximum thrust and lift, as does a bird and we learn from these creatures and reproduce it in our quest for flight: aeroplanes. Biomimicry revolves around a few core principles, and it is these principles that inspire active solutions. It is interesting to observe the disparity between the definitions of what

nature recognizes as ‘optimal’ and the human version of it. The human understanding of ‘optimal’ is to extract as much as is possible out of very little, nature on the other hand finds a way to optimise inadequacies and compensate for these deficits. Nature is not all “red in tooth and claw”; fawns might get eaten up if they wander too far from their mothers, a carnivorous pitcher-plant traps its prey in

‘The human understanding of ‘optimal’ is to extract as much as is possible out of very little, nature on the other hand finds a way to optimise inadequacies and compensate for these deficits.’

the leaf and at the same time a Mimosa pudica (touch-me-not) folds inward and droops when touched or shaken even slightly. There is variety and there is acceptance of this diversity while human nature in the 21st century, ironically, seems to be encouraging homogeneity. Biomimicry and Real Life Biomimicry allows us to learn from nature using what we perceive as most efficient. A solar panel is based on the design of a leaf, with intricate design that converts solar energy into usable energy. In the leaf the energy is stored as food, while in solar panels it is converted to electrical energy. A spider’s web that is so effortlessly weaved, is also an inspiration: considered one of the strongest natural substances, the web is the basis of the Kevlar jackets (bullet-proof vests), which are made from a material that is in imitation of the silk woven by spiders. The fastest train, the Shinkansen Bullet Train in Japan travels well over 300 kilometres per hour, however while exiting a tunnel it used to make such a loud noise that residents over a quarter of a mile away were well aware that the train had left the tunnel. This got Eiji Nakatsu, an engineer, thinking about the possibilities of examples of organisms that travel effortlessly between different mediums and his first thought was of the kingfisher bird that is able to dive

into water with hardly a splash. He modeled the front end of the train after the kingfisher’s beak that resulted in not only a quieter train and saved 15 percent more electricity, but also moved faster. A classic problem that we face in a tropical country like India is the weather in the hot summer months. We are quick to flip the air-conditioning button on and solve our problem, in the process consuming even more energy! Luckily for us, nature has a wonderful example of how to tackle this problem. The answer is the termite mounds in Africa, Macrotermes michaelseni, where the termites are able to maintain the temperature of their mound to within one degree irrespective of what the temperature outside is (often varying from 42° C during the day to 3° C at night). According to the biomimicry website, operation of buildings consumes 40 percent of all our energy, therefore it is obvious that sustainable buildings are necessary for our energy needs. The Eastgate building at Harare, Zimbabwe is a great example of a building using 90% less energy than a conventional building of its size. Observing chimps, whose knowledge of local plants is incredible, can help the medical community a great deal in identifying and preserving species that these animals turn to when they are ill. Trees from the Vernona genus, which chimps seek out, are known to contain chemical compounds that show ability to treat infections from hookworms, pinworms, and other parasitic infections in humans. These instances refresh our memories, about how we often forget that we come from nature and that all our discoveries

have been from its critical observation. Our violence may be mirrored on nature’s law of ‘survival of the fittest’, but that is only one part. There are many more facets and we need to encourage better working by taking inspiration from nature, rather than attempting to conquer it in the form of imposing hydroelectric power projects, oil refineries and transforming acres of land into crop monocultures. Biomimicry is not a new concept, it

Principles of Biomimicry Nature runs on sunlight Nature uses only the energy it needs. Nature fits form to function. Nature recycles everything. Nature rewards cooperation. Nature banks on diversity. Nature demands local expertise. Nature curbs excesses from within. Nature taps the power of limits.

is nomenclature. With changing needs it becomes an evolutionary imperative to adapt, and what better way to adapt than with lessons learnt from millions of years of evolution, living and thriving. Janine Benyus rightly has the last word when she points out that “The more our world functions like the natural world, the more likely we are to endure on this home that is ours, but not ours alone.”

— References: The Biomimicry Institute http://www. biomimicryinstitute.org/case_studies.php

WoodlandKingfisher_Fry K & FryHC (2000) Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

17

Bhoomi

Biomimicry A science inspired by the art of emulating Nature’s best biological ideas is helping solve human problems ? Sinduja Krishnan

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shinkasen Bullet Train_Sean O’Connor

Our architecture takes immense inspiration from nature. The tallest trees help us vision the world’s tallest buildings and the flying pattern of a dragonfly gives us the wisdom to build helicopters. Most of our achievements have been from nature and yet, we barely understand it. Janine Benyus, an activist, thinker and creator has made it her mission to acknowledge and return what we take from nature- she and other scientists D e c e m b er, 2 009

at the ‘Biomimicry Institute’ based in Montana in the US have taken it upon themselves to help us re-learn a way to do things that are akin to principles of nature. Benyus feels that observing and understanding nature’s best ideas and imitating these designs and processes can solve a lot of human problems sustainably- she calls this ‘Biomimicry’. Imitating life and mimicing it is the essence of biomimicry. The rising of 16

the sun signifies a beginning: flowers bloom, life starts. A butterfly flaps its wings optimally, achieving maximum thrust and lift, as does a bird and we learn from these creatures and reproduce it in our quest for flight: aeroplanes. Biomimicry revolves around a few core principles, and it is these principles that inspire active solutions. It is interesting to observe the disparity between the definitions of what

nature recognizes as ‘optimal’ and the human version of it. The human understanding of ‘optimal’ is to extract as much as is possible out of very little, nature on the other hand finds a way to optimise inadequacies and compensate for these deficits. Nature is not all “red in tooth and claw”; fawns might get eaten up if they wander too far from their mothers, a carnivorous pitcher-plant traps its prey in

‘The human understanding of ‘optimal’ is to extract as much as is possible out of very little, nature on the other hand finds a way to optimise inadequacies and compensate for these deficits.’

the leaf and at the same time a Mimosa pudica (touch-me-not) folds inward and droops when touched or shaken even slightly. There is variety and there is acceptance of this diversity while human nature in the 21st century, ironically, seems to be encouraging homogeneity. Biomimicry and Real Life Biomimicry allows us to learn from nature using what we perceive as most efficient. A solar panel is based on the design of a leaf, with intricate design that converts solar energy into usable energy. In the leaf the energy is stored as food, while in solar panels it is converted to electrical energy. A spider’s web that is so effortlessly weaved, is also an inspiration: considered one of the strongest natural substances, the web is the basis of the Kevlar jackets (bullet-proof vests), which are made from a material that is in imitation of the silk woven by spiders. The fastest train, the Shinkansen Bullet Train in Japan travels well over 300 kilometres per hour, however while exiting a tunnel it used to make such a loud noise that residents over a quarter of a mile away were well aware that the train had left the tunnel. This got Eiji Nakatsu, an engineer, thinking about the possibilities of examples of organisms that travel effortlessly between different mediums and his first thought was of the kingfisher bird that is able to dive

into water with hardly a splash. He modeled the front end of the train after the kingfisher’s beak that resulted in not only a quieter train and saved 15 percent more electricity, but also moved faster. A classic problem that we face in a tropical country like India is the weather in the hot summer months. We are quick to flip the air-conditioning button on and solve our problem, in the process consuming even more energy! Luckily for us, nature has a wonderful example of how to tackle this problem. The answer is the termite mounds in Africa, Macrotermes michaelseni, where the termites are able to maintain the temperature of their mound to within one degree irrespective of what the temperature outside is (often varying from 42° C during the day to 3° C at night). According to the biomimicry website, operation of buildings consumes 40 percent of all our energy, therefore it is obvious that sustainable buildings are necessary for our energy needs. The Eastgate building at Harare, Zimbabwe is a great example of a building using 90% less energy than a conventional building of its size. Observing chimps, whose knowledge of local plants is incredible, can help the medical community a great deal in identifying and preserving species that these animals turn to when they are ill. Trees from the Vernona genus, which chimps seek out, are known to contain chemical compounds that show ability to treat infections from hookworms, pinworms, and other parasitic infections in humans. These instances refresh our memories, about how we often forget that we come from nature and that all our discoveries

have been from its critical observation. Our violence may be mirrored on nature’s law of ‘survival of the fittest’, but that is only one part. There are many more facets and we need to encourage better working by taking inspiration from nature, rather than attempting to conquer it in the form of imposing hydroelectric power projects, oil refineries and transforming acres of land into crop monocultures. Biomimicry is not a new concept, it

Principles of Biomimicry Nature runs on sunlight Nature uses only the energy it needs. Nature fits form to function. Nature recycles everything. Nature rewards cooperation. Nature banks on diversity. Nature demands local expertise. Nature curbs excesses from within. Nature taps the power of limits.

is nomenclature. With changing needs it becomes an evolutionary imperative to adapt, and what better way to adapt than with lessons learnt from millions of years of evolution, living and thriving. Janine Benyus rightly has the last word when she points out that “The more our world functions like the natural world, the more likely we are to endure on this home that is ours, but not ours alone.”

— References: The Biomimicry Institute http://www. biomimicryinstitute.org/case_studies.php

WoodlandKingfisher_Fry K & FryHC (2000) Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

17

Bhoomi

‘I know what to do… but don’t do it.’

? G. Gautama One of the questions that man has always had to live with is about the nature of his actions. On the fringe of one’s action choices we may have doubts – was it truly the best I could do? Or do I really know all the other solutions that have been tried? It is time to check our bearings. Human civilization started a few thousand years ago and we can say we are young as a species or old as our civilization. A reality that we need to grasp is that, as a civilization, we seem to be compounding the mistakes of past years. Human folly seems to be gathering more energy and volume, much like a snowball on its descent down a mountain. It is time to check if we have learned something in the course of our journey, something that we can apply now, as a sensible solution to our problems which also holds some promise of sanity and ecological well-being. Not only do we have knowledge about the follies, we now have knowledge of the parameters of ecological living. Should the manufacturer not take responsibility for the life cycle of the product? We know with certainty today that if we produce something, we need to see it to its end. We know now that if we do not do this, we bestow a legacy on future generations that will only attract their curses. Nuclear waste, chemical waste, oil spills, mining wastes, polluted atmosphere, dead rivers and sad oceans are not things that any human being, however loyal to development, will condone or accept as a legacy. D e c e m b er, 2 009

This statement outlines the existential dilemma of human beings especially when it comes to ecological living Unfortunately our journey on earth has made us very sluggish, very resistant to change. The settling down that took place during the agricultural age, seems to have robbed us of the vital adventure that was part of the hunter-gatherer phase of our evolution. When we see something sensible and essential for our well-being or survival even, we don’t seem to be able to embrace it. The time has come when change will be a much bigger part of our life as a species and for each individual human being. The technological and information revolution have shown this. What we did yesterday we can’t continue today. So the die has been cast. The game is on. Will the human being, supposedly Nature’s prime creation, accept the discomfort of breaking habits and adapt to a new lifestyle cheerfully or will he have to be dragged, squealing and shouting, towards an inescapable destiny. The way we use water is completely untenable. The precious drops that come in torrents or as snow, filtered through the beautiful soil into underground aquifers, cannot be used as we have till now. We have to use water in a sustainable manner. Adding poisonous chemicals, to clean our floors and bathrooms cannot be continued with impunity, however much we like snow white tiles. Water for flushing of toilets also does not have much of a future. We now know that human waste can be made free of pathogens in 6 to 8 months just through storage and desiccation, and then used to enrich the soil; and that human urine forms a sterile nutrient that can be 18

between nations. Human beings and animals slowly experienced division between the left and the right and felt stranded, anxiously, on one side of the highway. Is this fragmentation the best that we have learnt from our history of togetherness in communities and villages? There is a bigger problem that our civilization faces. Even if individuals are able to make the shift in terms of perspective and lifestyle, the large mass of humanity continues almost untouched except superficially. Human beings are finding it extremely difficult to work together and decide together collectively, with a deep sense of cooperation. What we now call cooperation is mostly deal making, compromise, adjustment. The ideal of cooperation represents functioning as one body, one Life. Unfortunately Society is far from this realization. For human society to live with a

Capitalism is manufacturing needs for the goods we’re producing ­ a disastrously far cry from producing useful goods to meet real human needs

harnessed for plant growth – replacing chemical fertilisers. The mode that the Romans used of getting running water to take away human waste cannot continue very long through the 21st century. Must we not discover our legs walking, cycling, running? Must we not use more public transport which is less polluting, less devastating in terms of waste generated than private cars? There is no way except for us to reorganize living around the biological energy that we all have. Yes, we will have to accept that fast and exciting shiny cars are not viable for the 21st century. But more importantly, we will have to see that the roads that make the automobile possible, divide land in a manner that nothing else has done, not even frontiers

sense of environmental sanity, a sense of the whole, fears of the marauding neighbor, the tribe, the nation, other human beings would have to subside. Death, calamities and the compulsions of other human beings may not be in our hands. We have built walls, barriers and weapons of war because of our fear of them. As long as fear and killing occupy our hearts there can be no environmental sanity. Krishnamurti succinctly said “you are the world, and the world is you.” Unless there is a fundamental transformation in our way of relating to ourselves and others, little may change. The challenge of environmental sanity today is no longer an absence of good ideas, ignorance of the past or of being able to obtain information and know-how. We can pick out, as if from the palm of our hands, the wisdom of mankind and avoid its stark follies if we wish to. It is time to speak about the individual and the impact that individuals have on the largest crisis of mankind. After all each of us has only that space in our hands, the space of our actions within the constraints of our times.

Human civilization faces a dilemma of knowledge. Knowing and knowledge places a great burden on the person who knows. I am reminded of the words of a young ten year old student, Prashanti.

She said, “I know what to do, but I don’t do it. I want to do it, but I can’t do it. These words symbolize the human existential dilemma. Has knowledge become a burden? Have we assumed that with knowledge right action will flow? The words “but I don’t do it” is merely a statement of fact. Extrapolated to mankind or a global scale it is as true as it was for that young student. The aspirations of thinking human beings, that we live sanely on this planet, inclusively, without violence and growing in wisdom, is a statement of hope. The most poignant statement is “I can’t do it”. I am reminded of Gulliver, strapped by little strings, unable to move. Or the statue of Colossus of Rhodes - huge, powerful and yet unable to act. The challenge is to the spirit. It depends on whether we, as a society, as a civilization manage to resolve the existential situation that we find ourselves in. There are no easy answers. We are driven as much by primordial conditioning as by habits acquired recently, as recently as a century ago, or even the last decade. Last not least, the present situation poses a big challenge to attitude and well-being. We are challenged to be cheerful in the face of this situation and to meet it with what wisdom and resourcefulness we can muster. Also challenged to face ourselves and our fellow human beings with a sense of compassion and understanding, knowing that all human beings are frail and fallible. We know now that quick solutions can lead to new dangers and vulnerabilities. We need to walk carefully, slowly studying the impact we have when we take a new step. It is also possible to take the extreme position that those who are not willing to walk an ecologically sane line must be eliminated, or not 19

have a voice, period. The ecological crisis is also about how human beings have responded to the multiplicity of all views and opinions, the meta-text of conversations, is about material things – soil, water, air. No one has articulated the subtle issues involved in our journey towards ecological, same living better than EF Schumacher. E. F. Schumacher advocated production and manufacturing from local resources for local needs. It is not a question of choosing between modern growth and traditional stagnation, Schumacher advised, but rather of finding the right path of development, the Middle Way between materialist heedlessness and traditionalist immobility. If we move from need to desire as the prime motivator, then we are only a short step away from saying that the citizen needs to consume to prove his patriotism and democracy means ‘a

Should the manufacturer not take responsibility for the life cycle of the product? bewildered herd’. Gandhi’s’ words are a reminder - that the earth has enough for all our needs but not our greed. But how do we choose our needs? And choose we must in the labyrinthe of words, feelings, opinions and compulsions – “Each person must define what his needs are.” “How can another define my needs?” “Do you say that I should not be comfortable?” Distinguished author and senior fellow at Demos (www.demos.org), Benjamin Barber offers an incisive portrayal of global capitalism at its worst. It¹s what he calls ‘Push Capitalism’: Manufacturing needs for the goods we’re producing ­ a disastrously far cry from producing useful goods to meet real human needs. Barber explains in his 2007 book, “Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole”, that capitalism seems quite literally to be consuming itself, leaving democracy in peril and the fate of citizens uncertain. In it he offers a vivid critique of the market’s fabrication of needs and its branding and commercialization of just about everything. The struggle for the soul of capitalism is a struggle between the nation’s

Bhoomi

‘I know what to do… but don’t do it.’

? G. Gautama One of the questions that man has always had to live with is about the nature of his actions. On the fringe of one’s action choices we may have doubts – was it truly the best I could do? Or do I really know all the other solutions that have been tried? It is time to check our bearings. Human civilization started a few thousand years ago and we can say we are young as a species or old as our civilization. A reality that we need to grasp is that, as a civilization, we seem to be compounding the mistakes of past years. Human folly seems to be gathering more energy and volume, much like a snowball on its descent down a mountain. It is time to check if we have learned something in the course of our journey, something that we can apply now, as a sensible solution to our problems which also holds some promise of sanity and ecological well-being. Not only do we have knowledge about the follies, we now have knowledge of the parameters of ecological living. Should the manufacturer not take responsibility for the life cycle of the product? We know with certainty today that if we produce something, we need to see it to its end. We know now that if we do not do this, we bestow a legacy on future generations that will only attract their curses. Nuclear waste, chemical waste, oil spills, mining wastes, polluted atmosphere, dead rivers and sad oceans are not things that any human being, however loyal to development, will condone or accept as a legacy. D e c e m b er, 2 009

This statement outlines the existential dilemma of human beings especially when it comes to ecological living Unfortunately our journey on earth has made us very sluggish, very resistant to change. The settling down that took place during the agricultural age, seems to have robbed us of the vital adventure that was part of the hunter-gatherer phase of our evolution. When we see something sensible and essential for our well-being or survival even, we don’t seem to be able to embrace it. The time has come when change will be a much bigger part of our life as a species and for each individual human being. The technological and information revolution have shown this. What we did yesterday we can’t continue today. So the die has been cast. The game is on. Will the human being, supposedly Nature’s prime creation, accept the discomfort of breaking habits and adapt to a new lifestyle cheerfully or will he have to be dragged, squealing and shouting, towards an inescapable destiny. The way we use water is completely untenable. The precious drops that come in torrents or as snow, filtered through the beautiful soil into underground aquifers, cannot be used as we have till now. We have to use water in a sustainable manner. Adding poisonous chemicals, to clean our floors and bathrooms cannot be continued with impunity, however much we like snow white tiles. Water for flushing of toilets also does not have much of a future. We now know that human waste can be made free of pathogens in 6 to 8 months just through storage and desiccation, and then used to enrich the soil; and that human urine forms a sterile nutrient that can be 18

between nations. Human beings and animals slowly experienced division between the left and the right and felt stranded, anxiously, on one side of the highway. Is this fragmentation the best that we have learnt from our history of togetherness in communities and villages? There is a bigger problem that our civilization faces. Even if individuals are able to make the shift in terms of perspective and lifestyle, the large mass of humanity continues almost untouched except superficially. Human beings are finding it extremely difficult to work together and decide together collectively, with a deep sense of cooperation. What we now call cooperation is mostly deal making, compromise, adjustment. The ideal of cooperation represents functioning as one body, one Life. Unfortunately Society is far from this realization. For human society to live with a

Capitalism is manufacturing needs for the goods we’re producing ­ a disastrously far cry from producing useful goods to meet real human needs

harnessed for plant growth – replacing chemical fertilisers. The mode that the Romans used of getting running water to take away human waste cannot continue very long through the 21st century. Must we not discover our legs walking, cycling, running? Must we not use more public transport which is less polluting, less devastating in terms of waste generated than private cars? There is no way except for us to reorganize living around the biological energy that we all have. Yes, we will have to accept that fast and exciting shiny cars are not viable for the 21st century. But more importantly, we will have to see that the roads that make the automobile possible, divide land in a manner that nothing else has done, not even frontiers

sense of environmental sanity, a sense of the whole, fears of the marauding neighbor, the tribe, the nation, other human beings would have to subside. Death, calamities and the compulsions of other human beings may not be in our hands. We have built walls, barriers and weapons of war because of our fear of them. As long as fear and killing occupy our hearts there can be no environmental sanity. Krishnamurti succinctly said “you are the world, and the world is you.” Unless there is a fundamental transformation in our way of relating to ourselves and others, little may change. The challenge of environmental sanity today is no longer an absence of good ideas, ignorance of the past or of being able to obtain information and know-how. We can pick out, as if from the palm of our hands, the wisdom of mankind and avoid its stark follies if we wish to. It is time to speak about the individual and the impact that individuals have on the largest crisis of mankind. After all each of us has only that space in our hands, the space of our actions within the constraints of our times.

Human civilization faces a dilemma of knowledge. Knowing and knowledge places a great burden on the person who knows. I am reminded of the words of a young ten year old student, Prashanti.

She said, “I know what to do, but I don’t do it. I want to do it, but I can’t do it. These words symbolize the human existential dilemma. Has knowledge become a burden? Have we assumed that with knowledge right action will flow? The words “but I don’t do it” is merely a statement of fact. Extrapolated to mankind or a global scale it is as true as it was for that young student. The aspirations of thinking human beings, that we live sanely on this planet, inclusively, without violence and growing in wisdom, is a statement of hope. The most poignant statement is “I can’t do it”. I am reminded of Gulliver, strapped by little strings, unable to move. Or the statue of Colossus of Rhodes - huge, powerful and yet unable to act. The challenge is to the spirit. It depends on whether we, as a society, as a civilization manage to resolve the existential situation that we find ourselves in. There are no easy answers. We are driven as much by primordial conditioning as by habits acquired recently, as recently as a century ago, or even the last decade. Last not least, the present situation poses a big challenge to attitude and well-being. We are challenged to be cheerful in the face of this situation and to meet it with what wisdom and resourcefulness we can muster. Also challenged to face ourselves and our fellow human beings with a sense of compassion and understanding, knowing that all human beings are frail and fallible. We know now that quick solutions can lead to new dangers and vulnerabilities. We need to walk carefully, slowly studying the impact we have when we take a new step. It is also possible to take the extreme position that those who are not willing to walk an ecologically sane line must be eliminated, or not 19

have a voice, period. The ecological crisis is also about how human beings have responded to the multiplicity of all views and opinions, the meta-text of conversations, is about material things – soil, water, air. No one has articulated the subtle issues involved in our journey towards ecological, same living better than EF Schumacher. E. F. Schumacher advocated production and manufacturing from local resources for local needs. It is not a question of choosing between modern growth and traditional stagnation, Schumacher advised, but rather of finding the right path of development, the Middle Way between materialist heedlessness and traditionalist immobility. If we move from need to desire as the prime motivator, then we are only a short step away from saying that the citizen needs to consume to prove his patriotism and democracy means ‘a

Should the manufacturer not take responsibility for the life cycle of the product? bewildered herd’. Gandhi’s’ words are a reminder - that the earth has enough for all our needs but not our greed. But how do we choose our needs? And choose we must in the labyrinthe of words, feelings, opinions and compulsions – “Each person must define what his needs are.” “How can another define my needs?” “Do you say that I should not be comfortable?” Distinguished author and senior fellow at Demos (www.demos.org), Benjamin Barber offers an incisive portrayal of global capitalism at its worst. It¹s what he calls ‘Push Capitalism’: Manufacturing needs for the goods we’re producing ­ a disastrously far cry from producing useful goods to meet real human needs. Barber explains in his 2007 book, “Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole”, that capitalism seems quite literally to be consuming itself, leaving democracy in peril and the fate of citizens uncertain. In it he offers a vivid critique of the market’s fabrication of needs and its branding and commercialization of just about everything. The struggle for the soul of capitalism is a struggle between the nation’s

Bhoomi

RECYCLING?

ARE YOU A small organization, run by homemakers in Mumbai is taking small but significant steps towards spreading ‘a green wave’.

I live in Mumbai and have a farm in the coastal town of Umbergao, around 150 kilometers away. We have a delicious organically-grown chikku and mango plantation that provides for wholesome feasts during the season. At the farm we live in a cozy mud home; our bathrooms have water-proof composite roofing recycled from used tetra pack cartons and it’s powered by solar energy. Over the last two decades, I have seen Mumbai and Umbergao evolve in many ways- be it the increasing concrete constructions, the latest cars or even the consumers. But what struck me most, were the ever evolving (and increasing) piles of waste from Dadar station in Mumbai to Umbergao station. Recalling those journeys were instrumental in the realization that we’re creating a lot of waste on the planet: there was therefore an urgent need to reduce and recycle. My desire to take up the recycling cause manifested in the form of ‘RUR: Are you Recycling?’. RUR is an

D e c e m b er, 2 009

20

challenging to find a suitable place to manage wet waste like vegetable and fruit peels inside the home. Will it smell? Will it be in the way? We finally ended up putting it in the window grill where there was adequate sunlight and air. Nature did the rest! It was satisfying to see our daily waste reduce considerably. Simultaneously, we began to look for ecological alternatives to buying many goods. These days lemon peels clean our bathroom tiles instead of toxic cleaners, soap nuts have replaced shampoos, cloth bags as opposed to plastic bags- even resources like power and water are carefully monitored. Now every time we wash vegetables, the water is collected and reused for our plants instead of letting it simply wash down the drain. The two simple questions we can ask ourselves are, ‘Can we put what we’ve consumed back into use or do we just have to trash it? Can we move towards biodegradable and reusable from non-degradable and disposable? ( see table on lifespan of waste)

Educating eco-sentiments

? Monisha Narke

environment forum that works towards creating eco-friendly families who make their waste worthwhile for the planet by adopting sensible green practices.

Reducing, Reusing and Recycling

Studying the waste stream at home, I realized it all ended up in two big bins which went directly to the dumping grounds. My first green goal was to reduce the quantum of waste from our home. I got in touch with the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) office in our area and they helped me get in touch with people who could help me recycle on an individual basis. I invested Rs. 700 in a vermi-compost bin from a firm called Kalpatru that designs compost systems for wet waste-management amongst other things; the pit is a rectangular shaped bin with holes for aeration. In an urban apartment in Mumbai there’s always a space crunch. It was

Being green is contagious; many young mothers from my kids’ school have joined me. We’re now a core team of six members- Jashvi, Malavika, Sumegha, Sejal and Yamini - and are lucky to have many eager volunteers helping us with our initiatives. We function at the grassroots level and practice everything we share; so there is a lot of experimentation done in our homes. We conduct a lot of workshops for homemakers where our aim is to communicate that there is always a ‘greener’ way to do something. A friend who makes homemade cakes has been inspired to change her business and has formed what she calls “Gateaux in Greens”. The first time I ordered brownies from her they came in cellophane wrapping; now we get brownies in banana leaves which even stay fresher longer! For a school project, a student was required to construct a toy ship. We suggested using a cane basket rather than thermocol, which is non-degradable and lasts forever when dumped; it worked wonderfully.

The Sahakari Bhandar story

A core area we decided to work on was doing away with the shopping plastic bags. Even at a global level,

Brownies in Banana Leaves

the consumption of plastic bags is a staggering 500 billion per annum, an average of one million per minute! And only one percent of it is recycled. In fact when dumped in landfills like Deonar, these non-degradable plastics last for ten lakh years, causing much harm to our ecosystem. We began by distributing around a thousand recycled cloth bags in our neighbourhood but soon realized that gifting one bag free did not make the other realize that they must stop using plastic bags altogether. In order to have more effect, we needed to put it in a system. We approached many supermarkets, only the Sahakari Bandar outlets took up the challenge. Mr. Vinay Adhye, head of Sahakari Bandar was instrumental in beginning the process. On 5th June 2009, World Environmental Day, we launched the ‘GO GREEN’ project at each of their twenty stores. We talked with hundreds of customers personally and flagged the movement by distributing 30,000 cloth bags free of cost. There are frequent training programs with the staff to communicate the right message to the customers; with barely a minute or two available to interact with customers at the checkout register, it has to be simple, sincere and moving. We have implemented a scheme to motivate customers to bring their own cloth bags by giving Rs. 1 off on Waste Lifespan Long After You Are Gone, Your Waste Will Still Be Around! Life Expectancy Of Some Of The Items Dumped. Banana Peels : 3 To 4 Weeks Paper Bags : 1 Month Cotton Rags : 5 Months Woolen Socks : 1 Year Wood : 10 To 15 Years Nylon : 30 Years + Leather Shoes : 40 To 50 Years Tin Cans : 50 To 100 Years Aluminium Cans : 200 To 250 Years Plastic Bags : 10 Lakh Years Glass : 10 Lakh Years Styrofoam Cups : An Eternity

every Rs. 200 purchase; even setting up an award system for customers who are dedicated green customers. To discourage plastic bags, we levy a ‘green tax’ of Rs. 2 per bag. We received mixed reactions to this- some were excited about the green tax and said we should charge higher, while some who easily spent about Rs. 2000 on their shopping made a fuss about Rs. 2 charge for a plastic bag, as they were used to having them free. The bottom-line is that this type of green- model is both an ecological and economical win; the stores have saved on manufacturing costs of plastic bags and we’ve been able to reduce the plastic bag consumption by around seventy percent in the last four months.

Creating Opportunities Our recent initiative was organizing a ‘Hara Bhara Jhola Mela’ in Mumbai where we showcased green solutions from variety of cloth bags to handmade paper products and products from recycled tetra pack cartons. There was also an organic food stall where people could source their raw ingredients, from millets, to jaggery and pulses. We also collected old cotton duppattas, sarees, and bed sheets from the Mela participants to convert these into reusable cloth pouches that we can subsidize to vegetable vendors in markets. Moreover, the bags are stitched by women from some city slums who need to be empowered with work; it’s a green act with a social impact. We are a bunch of home-makers and friends who’ve come together to reach out to other home-makers and try make these little shifts in our attitudes; even if it is only substituting plastic with cloth bags. We are working to find many more creative ways to spread the ‘green wave’ and are hoping it eventually snowballs into a mass movement. For as I see it, it’s a choice between convenience and collateral damage - and every single green act, big or small, has exponential gains for our planet.

— Monisha Narke is the founder of RUR: Are you Recycling? She has a Masters in Industrial Engineering & Engineering Management from Stanford University, U.S.A. For more details on RUR activities you can contact her at [email protected]

SOURCE: ABC

21

Bhoomi

RECYCLING?

ARE YOU A small organization, run by homemakers in Mumbai is taking small but significant steps towards spreading ‘a green wave’.

I live in Mumbai and have a farm in the coastal town of Umbergao, around 150 kilometers away. We have a delicious organically-grown chikku and mango plantation that provides for wholesome feasts during the season. At the farm we live in a cozy mud home; our bathrooms have water-proof composite roofing recycled from used tetra pack cartons and it’s powered by solar energy. Over the last two decades, I have seen Mumbai and Umbergao evolve in many ways- be it the increasing concrete constructions, the latest cars or even the consumers. But what struck me most, were the ever evolving (and increasing) piles of waste from Dadar station in Mumbai to Umbergao station. Recalling those journeys were instrumental in the realization that we’re creating a lot of waste on the planet: there was therefore an urgent need to reduce and recycle. My desire to take up the recycling cause manifested in the form of ‘RUR: Are you Recycling?’. RUR is an

D e c e m b er, 2 009

20

challenging to find a suitable place to manage wet waste like vegetable and fruit peels inside the home. Will it smell? Will it be in the way? We finally ended up putting it in the window grill where there was adequate sunlight and air. Nature did the rest! It was satisfying to see our daily waste reduce considerably. Simultaneously, we began to look for ecological alternatives to buying many goods. These days lemon peels clean our bathroom tiles instead of toxic cleaners, soap nuts have replaced shampoos, cloth bags as opposed to plastic bags- even resources like power and water are carefully monitored. Now every time we wash vegetables, the water is collected and reused for our plants instead of letting it simply wash down the drain. The two simple questions we can ask ourselves are, ‘Can we put what we’ve consumed back into use or do we just have to trash it? Can we move towards biodegradable and reusable from non-degradable and disposable? ( see table on lifespan of waste)

Educating eco-sentiments

? Monisha Narke

environment forum that works towards creating eco-friendly families who make their waste worthwhile for the planet by adopting sensible green practices.

Reducing, Reusing and Recycling

Studying the waste stream at home, I realized it all ended up in two big bins which went directly to the dumping grounds. My first green goal was to reduce the quantum of waste from our home. I got in touch with the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) office in our area and they helped me get in touch with people who could help me recycle on an individual basis. I invested Rs. 700 in a vermi-compost bin from a firm called Kalpatru that designs compost systems for wet waste-management amongst other things; the pit is a rectangular shaped bin with holes for aeration. In an urban apartment in Mumbai there’s always a space crunch. It was

Being green is contagious; many young mothers from my kids’ school have joined me. We’re now a core team of six members- Jashvi, Malavika, Sumegha, Sejal and Yamini - and are lucky to have many eager volunteers helping us with our initiatives. We function at the grassroots level and practice everything we share; so there is a lot of experimentation done in our homes. We conduct a lot of workshops for homemakers where our aim is to communicate that there is always a ‘greener’ way to do something. A friend who makes homemade cakes has been inspired to change her business and has formed what she calls “Gateaux in Greens”. The first time I ordered brownies from her they came in cellophane wrapping; now we get brownies in banana leaves which even stay fresher longer! For a school project, a student was required to construct a toy ship. We suggested using a cane basket rather than thermocol, which is non-degradable and lasts forever when dumped; it worked wonderfully.

The Sahakari Bhandar story

A core area we decided to work on was doing away with the shopping plastic bags. Even at a global level,

Brownies in Banana Leaves

the consumption of plastic bags is a staggering 500 billion per annum, an average of one million per minute! And only one percent of it is recycled. In fact when dumped in landfills like Deonar, these non-degradable plastics last for ten lakh years, causing much harm to our ecosystem. We began by distributing around a thousand recycled cloth bags in our neighbourhood but soon realized that gifting one bag free did not make the other realize that they must stop using plastic bags altogether. In order to have more effect, we needed to put it in a system. We approached many supermarkets, only the Sahakari Bandar outlets took up the challenge. Mr. Vinay Adhye, head of Sahakari Bandar was instrumental in beginning the process. On 5th June 2009, World Environmental Day, we launched the ‘GO GREEN’ project at each of their twenty stores. We talked with hundreds of customers personally and flagged the movement by distributing 30,000 cloth bags free of cost. There are frequent training programs with the staff to communicate the right message to the customers; with barely a minute or two available to interact with customers at the checkout register, it has to be simple, sincere and moving. We have implemented a scheme to motivate customers to bring their own cloth bags by giving Rs. 1 off on Waste Lifespan Long After You Are Gone, Your Waste Will Still Be Around! Life Expectancy Of Some Of The Items Dumped. Banana Peels : 3 To 4 Weeks Paper Bags : 1 Month Cotton Rags : 5 Months Woolen Socks : 1 Year Wood : 10 To 15 Years Nylon : 30 Years + Leather Shoes : 40 To 50 Years Tin Cans : 50 To 100 Years Aluminium Cans : 200 To 250 Years Plastic Bags : 10 Lakh Years Glass : 10 Lakh Years Styrofoam Cups : An Eternity

every Rs. 200 purchase; even setting up an award system for customers who are dedicated green customers. To discourage plastic bags, we levy a ‘green tax’ of Rs. 2 per bag. We received mixed reactions to this- some were excited about the green tax and said we should charge higher, while some who easily spent about Rs. 2000 on their shopping made a fuss about Rs. 2 charge for a plastic bag, as they were used to having them free. The bottom-line is that this type of green- model is both an ecological and economical win; the stores have saved on manufacturing costs of plastic bags and we’ve been able to reduce the plastic bag consumption by around seventy percent in the last four months.

Creating Opportunities Our recent initiative was organizing a ‘Hara Bhara Jhola Mela’ in Mumbai where we showcased green solutions from variety of cloth bags to handmade paper products and products from recycled tetra pack cartons. There was also an organic food stall where people could source their raw ingredients, from millets, to jaggery and pulses. We also collected old cotton duppattas, sarees, and bed sheets from the Mela participants to convert these into reusable cloth pouches that we can subsidize to vegetable vendors in markets. Moreover, the bags are stitched by women from some city slums who need to be empowered with work; it’s a green act with a social impact. We are a bunch of home-makers and friends who’ve come together to reach out to other home-makers and try make these little shifts in our attitudes; even if it is only substituting plastic with cloth bags. We are working to find many more creative ways to spread the ‘green wave’ and are hoping it eventually snowballs into a mass movement. For as I see it, it’s a choice between convenience and collateral damage - and every single green act, big or small, has exponential gains for our planet.

— Monisha Narke is the founder of RUR: Are you Recycling? She has a Masters in Industrial Engineering & Engineering Management from Stanford University, U.S.A. For more details on RUR activities you can contact her at [email protected]

SOURCE: ABC

21

Bhoomi

Meeting Fukuoka San Masanobu Fukuoka’s wisdom of natural farming applies to almost every reality ? Vijaya Venkat D e c e m b er, 2 009

Clad in a Japanese blue sarong, a bag of rice grains in his well-worked agile fingers and straw slippers on his feet, Masanobu Fukuoka appeared like a proverbial Zen Master in my life. Like the Japanese style of painting with simple but spontaneous strokes, Fukuoka opened up so many ideas in a clear way. Many of my beliefs as a nutritionist were kindled, others abandoned, while some reinforced by his koan-like philosophy. His philosophy integrated nature, health and farming; and more importantly incorporated the reality of everyday living. It was in 1988 that Fukuoka visited India for a month on an invitation to address the Plantinum Jubilee of the Indian Science Congress; and in the same year also received the Magsaysay award for his contribution 22

in the field of agriculture. To the world at large he was better known as the founder of natural farming, which he propagated through the international modern classic One Straw Revolution. The book, considered radical then, has been inspiring and motivating thousands all over the world. Natural farming advocates a policy of minimum interference with nature which is considered the ultimate source of wisdom. His view was therefore in stark opposition to the modern industrial

agriculture, which is bent on exploiting nature for bigger, better and more. Fukuoka’s three-day stay in Mumbai was the turning point of my life. Simply spending time in his company was immense learning in itself; whether it was visiting the nearby farms of Bhaskar Save or Poonamchand Bafna (practioners of natural farming) or at the Bombay College of Health and Nutrition where we hosted a programme for him or even just sitting cross-legged in my apartment sipping bitter-sweet Japanese tea. Fukuoka’s experiments with the soil, his strategy of minimal interference and careful observations about the cycles of nature were fodder to my own early observations and experiments on healing. Fukuoka-san always espoused ‘donothing’ weeding where one lets Nature take its own course and the avoidance of chemicals and over-weeding. I contrasted this idea with the ‘do-everything-atany-cost’ methods of modern allopathy. Modern agriculture is in fact the perfect analogy for allopathy; one uses high intensive methods to treat the soil, gradually depleting it of its own vitality while the other relies heavily on testing, surgery, antibiotics, tonics and medicines (like immunizations) to cure the body, robbing it of its natural healing abilities. Ultimately like Nature and like Soil, our body knows best. This deep realization, coupled with my involvement and experiences with the Narmada Bachao Andolan (in the 80s) led to the birth of The Health Awareness Centre (THAC) in September 1989. No amount of theory or intellectualization would have been able to provide the proof of nature’s ability to

progress in harmony for me as Fukuoka’s experiments did. Fukuoka’s insight and convictions gave me the determination to share the wonders of nature in a formal way. Thus was born the slogan of THAC: Self-care is health care is Earth care. Fukuoka San had his own way, he taught me what not to do! He said, “It would be well if people stopped troubling themselves over discovering the true meaning of life. We can never know the answers to great spiritual questions,

etched in my mind. His simplicity was endearing- he insisted on making a meal especially for me. I never searched or planned to learn from him. He came my way, just like his books, just like the trip to Japan which I undertook to stop ODA (Official Development Assistance) funding for the Narmada. It seemed that I was led to him, as organically, as naturally as his teachings. Through him, I discovered the truth and learnt to live by it.

Modern agriculture is in fact the perfect analogy for allopathy; one uses high intensive methods to treat the soil, gradually depleting it of its own vitality while the other relies heavily on testing, surgery, antibiotics, tonics and medicines (like immunizations) to cure the body, robbing it of its natural healing abilities. but it’s all right to not understand. We have been born and are living on earth to face directly the reality of living.” I integrated this wisdom and applied it to the five white poisons (salt, sugar, oil, milk, and refined/processed foods) which I believe need to be avoided. Other things we need to do without are irradiation/immunization and these days, GM foods; we need to work with an understanding that we cannot isolate one aspect of life from another. I was fortunate to experience life in his simple village in Southern Japan. Memories of his semi-primitive hut amidst the abundance of one and a quarter acres of rice fields and 12 ½ acres of mandarin oranges are still

His life lives on, in the work and enduring efforts of all those who are listening and living and experiencing reality directly. Our own work at THAC is a daily homage to him-the man we knew as Fukuoka San.

— Vijaya Venkat is one of the pioneers in holistic nutrition in India. She set up the The Health Awareness Centre (THAC) in 1989. THAC is based on the principle that Health is the inevitable result of healthful living that is according to the laws of nature. The emphasis is therefore on Health through Nutrition in its correct perspective, without destroying our ecology in the process.

Natural farming advocates a policy of minimum interference with nature which is considered the ultimate source of wisdom. 23

Bhoomi

Meeting Fukuoka San Masanobu Fukuoka’s wisdom of natural farming applies to almost every reality ? Vijaya Venkat D e c e m b er, 2 009

Clad in a Japanese blue sarong, a bag of rice grains in his well-worked agile fingers and straw slippers on his feet, Masanobu Fukuoka appeared like a proverbial Zen Master in my life. Like the Japanese style of painting with simple but spontaneous strokes, Fukuoka opened up so many ideas in a clear way. Many of my beliefs as a nutritionist were kindled, others abandoned, while some reinforced by his koan-like philosophy. His philosophy integrated nature, health and farming; and more importantly incorporated the reality of everyday living. It was in 1988 that Fukuoka visited India for a month on an invitation to address the Plantinum Jubilee of the Indian Science Congress; and in the same year also received the Magsaysay award for his contribution 22

in the field of agriculture. To the world at large he was better known as the founder of natural farming, which he propagated through the international modern classic One Straw Revolution. The book, considered radical then, has been inspiring and motivating thousands all over the world. Natural farming advocates a policy of minimum interference with nature which is considered the ultimate source of wisdom. His view was therefore in stark opposition to the modern industrial

agriculture, which is bent on exploiting nature for bigger, better and more. Fukuoka’s three-day stay in Mumbai was the turning point of my life. Simply spending time in his company was immense learning in itself; whether it was visiting the nearby farms of Bhaskar Save or Poonamchand Bafna (practioners of natural farming) or at the Bombay College of Health and Nutrition where we hosted a programme for him or even just sitting cross-legged in my apartment sipping bitter-sweet Japanese tea. Fukuoka’s experiments with the soil, his strategy of minimal interference and careful observations about the cycles of nature were fodder to my own early observations and experiments on healing. Fukuoka-san always espoused ‘donothing’ weeding where one lets Nature take its own course and the avoidance of chemicals and over-weeding. I contrasted this idea with the ‘do-everything-atany-cost’ methods of modern allopathy. Modern agriculture is in fact the perfect analogy for allopathy; one uses high intensive methods to treat the soil, gradually depleting it of its own vitality while the other relies heavily on testing, surgery, antibiotics, tonics and medicines (like immunizations) to cure the body, robbing it of its natural healing abilities. Ultimately like Nature and like Soil, our body knows best. This deep realization, coupled with my involvement and experiences with the Narmada Bachao Andolan (in the 80s) led to the birth of The Health Awareness Centre (THAC) in September 1989. No amount of theory or intellectualization would have been able to provide the proof of nature’s ability to

progress in harmony for me as Fukuoka’s experiments did. Fukuoka’s insight and convictions gave me the determination to share the wonders of nature in a formal way. Thus was born the slogan of THAC: Self-care is health care is Earth care. Fukuoka San had his own way, he taught me what not to do! He said, “It would be well if people stopped troubling themselves over discovering the true meaning of life. We can never know the answers to great spiritual questions,

etched in my mind. His simplicity was endearing- he insisted on making a meal especially for me. I never searched or planned to learn from him. He came my way, just like his books, just like the trip to Japan which I undertook to stop ODA (Official Development Assistance) funding for the Narmada. It seemed that I was led to him, as organically, as naturally as his teachings. Through him, I discovered the truth and learnt to live by it.

Modern agriculture is in fact the perfect analogy for allopathy; one uses high intensive methods to treat the soil, gradually depleting it of its own vitality while the other relies heavily on testing, surgery, antibiotics, tonics and medicines (like immunizations) to cure the body, robbing it of its natural healing abilities. but it’s all right to not understand. We have been born and are living on earth to face directly the reality of living.” I integrated this wisdom and applied it to the five white poisons (salt, sugar, oil, milk, and refined/processed foods) which I believe need to be avoided. Other things we need to do without are irradiation/immunization and these days, GM foods; we need to work with an understanding that we cannot isolate one aspect of life from another. I was fortunate to experience life in his simple village in Southern Japan. Memories of his semi-primitive hut amidst the abundance of one and a quarter acres of rice fields and 12 ½ acres of mandarin oranges are still

His life lives on, in the work and enduring efforts of all those who are listening and living and experiencing reality directly. Our own work at THAC is a daily homage to him-the man we knew as Fukuoka San.

— Vijaya Venkat is one of the pioneers in holistic nutrition in India. She set up the The Health Awareness Centre (THAC) in 1989. THAC is based on the principle that Health is the inevitable result of healthful living that is according to the laws of nature. The emphasis is therefore on Health through Nutrition in its correct perspective, without destroying our ecology in the process.

Natural farming advocates a policy of minimum interference with nature which is considered the ultimate source of wisdom. 23

Bhoomi

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