the green den

fer auld lang syne...

2011-12-31T22:06:00.009+05:30

GDC's Holiday Greeting Card. GreenDen Consultancy ©

This time of the year always puts me in a reflective mood, as I take account of everything that has happened. I'm filled with gratitude for my friends, family, colleagues and my work. This year, the most significant thing I have done was start GreenDen Consultancy and make the first big step not only towards entrepreneurship but also towards taking a stand in changing things.

This year has been an extremely hard for many reasons. It has seen its share of natural calamities, a nuclear disaster, oil spills, the European debt crisis, the Occupy Movement, Anna Hazare's hunger strikes in India, the Durban climate talks and environmental problems. Reaching 7 billion people in terms of population has put population control back on the map - AIDS, cancer and malaria research also made tremendous headway. In many ways, this year will set the trend for the coming decade as many issues have reached the boiling point.

The most inspiring trend to be seen is that socio-environmental issues have come to the fore-front not just in the Western world but also in Asia. These were visible demonstrated in several instances and I reckon that this is going to continue.

One of the biggest deciding factors for a better future will be how we manage our resources. This will have to start this year - oil, natural gas, coal, metals, and minerals will take front and center position in terms of sourcing as well as creating opportunities for companies to be more thrifty. Conserving other resources like water, forests, wildlife, and agricultural land will create even more pressure on the way we live. Overarching conservation policies for all of the above are needed to forge ahead into a world that places the least strain on the environment.

A couple of weeks ago, I just finished reading Amanda Little's book Power Trip and although the book was published in 2009, it is still pertinent. It renewed my faith that the world of the future is possible with consolidated efforts starting now, not only in terms of consumer trends but also government policies. There needs to be radical changes in the way we view energy usage, food security and production as well as resource utilization. Emphasis is required not only on creating new technology to reduce impact but also improving existing technology to make it more efficient.

For now though, let us take some time to reminiscence, gather our strength, mourn, laugh and welcome with hope, a new year as we respectfully lay the last to rest.

of dal lake and saffron

2011-11-04T22:26:00.009+05:30

I recently returned from a trip to Kashmir. It is everything people say it is. There are several things that are uniquely Kashmiri and saffron is one of them. Saffron is probably the most expensive spice in the world and there is a reason why.

Apart from Kashmir, the spice only grows in Iran and Spain. Although Iran supplies up to 70% of the world's saffron, Kashmiri saffron far surpasses it in terms of quality.

The soil required for cultivation is rather dry and bulbs are introduced into the soil in September which give rise to the saffron flowers towards the end of October. These flowers stay alive for just fifteen to twenty days, during which time they must be harvested. Saffron farming therefore, only provides a single crop per year. Many farms in the area use organic practices, both to enrich soil and keep away pests.

I visited Pampore, one of the two saffron growing provinces in Kashmir. Over the last few years, production of saffron has dramatically declined. Most of the saffron farms are family owned and are small plots which are managed by the family for generations - the younger generations have started migrating out of Kashmir and out of the trade which is now seen as unrewarding.

The flowers themselves grow only a few inches off the ground. Each purple flower has three vividly coloured stigmas. These stigmas are the spice, which are plucked, graded, dried and packed.

It surprises me that the Indian government has taken such little interest towards investing in the future of this spice. It also amazes me how other countries take such pride in the native produce be it cheese from Camembert, pasties from Cornwall and so many other foods that have a direct connection from the place of their origin. It is not just an emotional connection, but one of pride and tradition that should not be forsaken.

Kashmiri saffron certainly deserves this recognition and it also deserves the protection placed on heritage foods. The sad fact remains is that if nothing is done about it now, there may not be anything left to protect a few years down the line.

Photo Credit: Saffron Crocus. Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

7 billion and counting

2011-10-31T19:34:00.012+05:30

Today the world reached 7 billion. It is quite fitting that the 7 billionth baby was born in India, in a place called Lucknow and is a girl - there seems to be a poetic coincidence in all this. Beyond the celebration of a new life, there is a darker reality of how the world is going to support 7 billion people.

Stanford University's Paul Ehrlich, the author of The Population Bomb recently gave an interview that emphasized how population growth is adding to many ecological problems. Population growth is leading to rising food prices, loss of biodiversity, deteriorating ecosystem services, water shortages, contributing towards epidemics, and scores of other problems. By 2050, it is projected that the Earth will support an additional 2 billion people.

These 2 billion people will not enjoy the same comfort of life as the last 2 billion. In order to support the excess population, we have to start farming poorer land, mine from even-poorer ores, drill deeper for water -- all of these will be exponentially more energy intensive.

Talking about population control means talking about sex education, women's empowerment, education of the girl child and scores of other social issues. I believe in India there is a cultural pressure to reproduce - this needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, although birth rates do seem to be falling, it is falling in the urban middle-class. Birth rates have remained the same in rural areas which means that poverty is also on the rise and the rich/poor divide continues to grow larger.

Enforcing a one child policy in India would be disastrous as it would further skew sex ratios. The solution therefore, needs to be the old one of education and awareness. Availability of contraception and birth control measures is one option. Adoption needs to be encouraged, especially in India as an alternative to IVF. The craze for IVF needs to be discouraged - maybe falling fertility rates is Nature's way of telling us that we need to slow down.

Although reproduction is a personal choice - it is not something that can be taken lightly. Bringing children into a world with increasing socio-enviro-economic problems, more diseases, less biodiversity, less natural resources would be selfish on our part.

There are theories that suggest that population will level off, mid-century and then there will a gradual decline. In this case, economic productivity will also decline, but it would be good for the environment. However, if we take care to ensure that we keep our numbers in check, we might be able to have both. Wishful thinking?

food security, maternal deaths and 685 crores

2011-10-15T13:49:00.009+05:30

This country never fails to amaze, astound and embarrass me. The limits to idiocy that India and its politicians can reach knows no bounds. I'm referring of course to Mayawati's megalomaniac display of utter crap. 685 crores, is the price tag for showing what a Dalit woman politician can achieve. Does this actually improve the lives of the dalit community? Absolutely not.

On the one hand, we have India's astounding economic growth. On the other hand, our food security falls behind Rwanda. Rwanda, for crying out loud! Something is wrong. Something is very very wrong. 685 crores could be better spent through community outreach programs, women's education, children's welfare and hoards of other schemes that would actually improve lives of countless people.

By the end of October, the world's population will have reached 7 billion. India contributes a large portion of this number. What are we doing in terms of family planning, planned pregnancy, children's welfare and child labour? There is absolutely a severe lack of grass-root development in a country where the vast majority of the population is grass-root.

India boasts the highest rates of maternal death during childbirth and pregnancy. Every seven minutes, an Indian woman dies bringing new life into this world. 78% of these cases are preventable. And what about after the children are born? Does every child get an education? Does every child get adequate nutrition? Does every child get a childhood?

One of the saddest things I saw recently was on a trip to Mumbai, not long ago. There were two girls maybe around the ages of 8 and 5. The little one was beating on a plastic drum while the bigger one was doing cartwheels in the middle of the street during a traffic-light stop, begging for money. There are scores of children like these. Looking into their eyes is painful. I do believe that a country who is unable to take care of the poorest of its poor and its natural resources has no right to boast about its economic progress.

Recently I was exchanging ideas with New Zealand's former Prime Minister, Helen Clark who is now administrator with the UNDP. It was opined that India's demographics and gargantuan rich/poor divide makes it a key battleground towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. She also said that, "private sector plays an important role in development but quality state and subnational governance is important too." The world will not and can not meet the MDGs, if India does not.

Poverty elimination is the key. Education is key. Woman's welfare is key. This is the same song that has been sung for the past so many years and yet no one has bothered to learn the true meaning of its lyrics. Instead we allow someone, to spend 685 crores on a park in a country where earning Rs. 32/- a day means you're not poor.

Go figure.

the power of one

2011-08-28T21:30:00.010+05:30

Change. 6 letters and such profound implications. Change is not easy for many of us and changing anything be it behaviour, thought process or a political system requires huge momentum. Today Anna Hazare broke his fast and the government has finally conceded to the Jan Lokpal Bill (People's Ombudsman Bill) . For a country struggling under a form of modern tyranny, this is the stuff of legends.

Indians for the most part are a passive lot and it can be argued that this is part of the reason why the country has survived its very long, and often bloody history. Like reeds along the river that bend when the water rises, the people of this great nation have always stooped to conquer. What Team Anna has shown us is that, sometimes we must stand up to fight.

In his defiance to accept less than what is deserved, he has awoken a listless nation to a full frenzy. Activists always talk about the power of the people when it comes to a social, political or environmental cause. However, we have forgotten what it entails. We have forgotten the passion it demands, the frustration it needs, the belief it creates and the revolution it can awaken.

Change is difficult for many reasons. As human beings we are set in our ways and rarely venture out of our comfort zone. However, throughout history we have witnessed that it often takes only one individual to stand up tall and firmly say, "Enough!" - and magically people follow. There is a saying in India, in fact it is inscribed on the national emblem which reads Satyameva Jayate which literally translates to 'Truth Alone Triumphs'. Ironically, it was adopted as the Indian national motto after Independence but since then it appears that we have forgotten what it means. It turns out that we needed a smiling old man from the time it was initially adopted to remind us.

And oh! what a reminder it was. Not only did Anna Hazare go out to achieve his aims but he has also reminded us all about the power of one. Like I said change is difficult; and memories are short but hope springs eternal. So let us hope that we remember that revolution is not dead and change will come when it is ardently wanted.

earth day message from the trenches

2011-04-22T16:33:00.016+05:30

As you know these days I have been busy with my new venture. We finally have a website up and running and you can check this out - would love to hear your thoughts.

I have re-emerged for this blog post on Earth Day as it seemed fitting to break my silence today. The Green Den has received overwhelmingly positive responses from the CSR community and I've been totally blown away.

We are now of course actively seeking clients, networking and getting our name out there. It's been exciting so far but the real work starts now. We also have our blog up and running which you can check out here. While you're at it, you can also sign up for our bi-monthly newsletter.

Last year in my Earth Day post I said that I wanted to make an expedition to a rainforest and grow my own organic vegetables. Happy to report that I have achieved one of those goals. My organic garden with its own compost is happy and thriving. I even got a bumper crop of tomatoes a couple weeks ago. I plan on adding more vegetables over the next month. The expedition is still in the works!

What has really changed in this year? On the onset, perhaps not much. The BP disaster has left many people still reeling - a year from that and the US congress still wants to push for offshore drilling. No real progress has been made in climate talks, new laws etc. In India, the environment ministry is finally waking up to the fact that there is an environment to protect. There was also a report of increasing tiger numbers but unfortunately, there were also stories of elephants encroaching on farm lands. Or is it the other way around?

There are many environmental challenges that are still solve and still many others to even acknowledge. One of the biggest new developments in India is the acknowledgment that corruption is so wide spread. Recent scandals have rocked businesses and made investing in Indian business a high-risk venture. This scenario needs to change because without a stable economy, we cannot talk about environmental protection and social progress.

This year I have no goals, except to work really hard on GDC. I'm all geared up to change 'business as usual' because I believe the time has finally come to think about things differently.

We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them

- Albert Einstein

greenden consultancy

2011-03-06T19:21:00.015+05:30

Photo: GreenDen Consultancy Logo ©

This blog has been getting no love from me and finally now I am feeling rather guilty. I have been incredibly busy the past month. Part of the reason is that I am starting up my own consultancy. It is called GreenDen Consultancy and you only have to guess what inspired that.

I have been mulling over GDC's core business plan the past few months and it finally all came together the last couple of weeks or so. To put things succinctly, we are a global network of environmental experts and will be offering cutting edge services for businesses. GDC provides services which will establish a culture of sustainability from ground up by providing businesses with various eco-solutions to maximize profitability:

Consulting, report and CSR policy writing
Eco-friendly cost saving solutions
Environmental services with strategic advice on climate change, biodiversity, waste management and pollution abatement
Stakeholder engagement and community development
Communication of environmental initiatives
Training and learning opportunities

Our team of consultants include experts from Europe, US and India to bring truly global solutions to socio-enviro issues in the business context. Having a business strategy based on sustainable development sees great returns in terms of maximizing brand image, profitability and market share. At GDC we want to help tap into the true potential that every business has because we believe that 'business as usual' is on its way out.

Please follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheGreenDen

And also on Twitter: @TheGreenDen

Please check out our website or follow up on social media. Thank you for your support!

composting 101

2011-01-12T13:20:00.010+05:30

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan © Mycompost heap .

This year I started a fresh batch of compost. I hadn't composted in about 4 months and was beginning to feel rather guilty about it. Once I started I remembered how totally easy it is. My compost bin is about 10 days old and it smells really really good. This might be a weird thing to say about garbage but a well-balanced compost heap really does smell like a forest.

Composting is confusing for many people and it is understandable but it really is easy. You literally need no special equipment - get started with a plastic crate or a big plastic bucket, with a lid. I repurposed a big plastic crate and covered it with a sheet of thick cardboard. You can also purchase composters like Daily Dump if you fancy but all you really need is something sturdy to put the compost into.

I started with a whole bunch of pea pods, dead New Year roses, banana peels and egg shells on Day 1. Gradually I added vegetable peelings, orange and lime rinds, more egg shells, coconut shells (broken into smaller pieces), corn cobs, corn husks, tea leaves, spinach stems etc. Then I added in sawdust - what I'm trying to do here is to add an equal mix of 'green' and 'brown' matter. You can also add grass clipping, leaves, wood shavings, torn pieces of paper, coffee grounds etc.

As I've mentioned before but will also say here. Composting organisms require four equally important things to work effectively:

Carbon ("C" or carbohydrates), for energy - the microbial oxidation of carbon produces the heat. High carbon materials tend to be brown and dry.
Nitrogen ("N" or protein), to grow and reproduce more organisms to oxidize the carbon. High nitrogen materials tend to be green (or colorful, like fruits and vegetables) and wet.
Oxygen, for oxidizing the carbon, the decomposition process.
Water, in the right amounts to maintain activity without causing anaerobic conditions.

So in order to ensure that all these criteria are met in addition to ensuring that your heap is properly balanced. You also would need to stir it everyday to ensure aeration. The pile should not be too wet or too dry - it should have the moisture content of a wrung out sponge. Avoid putting in rotten food, cooked leftover food especially it if contains spices, meat, fat, grease, oil and your heap will be fine.

As you can see from my picture - the older food has already started to compost - the corn husks and onion peels are relatively fresh. It takes about 3 months for the pile to be fully composted. If your pile starts smelling like the forest you know you are on the right track! And as long as you avoid the few "dont's" it most likely will.

The reason why garbage heaps smell is because anaerobic respiration takes place. A compost heap uses aerobic respiration and apart from attracting fruit flies, which are a normal part of the process it does not attract house flies, maggots, worms, cockroaches, rats and other critters. These will appear only if you add meat to your heap (egg shells are fine).

Now that you know that composting is easy as pie, get started and keep me posted on your progress as I would love to know!

end of year wrap-up 2010

2010-12-30T16:15:00.022+05:30

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

The year of biodiversity has ended with a lot of up and downs, just like any other year. 2010 has marked the hottest year on record, it is also a year with untold tragedies of the Haitian earthquake, the BP spill, Icelandic volcanic ash, Chinese earthquake, Pakistani floods - all of which has contributed to severe loss in economy and of life.

Over all international news seemed bleak with little causes for rejoicing. However when it comes to biodiversity, the news is a little more encouraging. It all started with the UN declared this year international year of biodiversity. Then the TEEB report finally put a monetary value on biodiversity loss, thus putting it in a political radar - this report did for biodiversity what the Stern report did for climate change.

The CBD conference that was held in Nagoya, Japan saw delegates agreeing to adopt Biodiversity Targets which will guide national strategies and enhance cooperation among developing countries.

Post the Cancun climate-conference governments have agreed on plans to save forests which will not only halt climate change but also aid in biodiversity conservation. In addition to preserving existing rainforest cover, tiger protection also received a boost. Governments of India, Russia, China and S.E Asia joined hands for the first time to make serious inroads into the protection of the tiger.

Just today I read the news that nine species previously declared extinct were re-discovered. British fauna and flora seem to be thriving in spite of the extreme cold weather. All of these little signs are symbols of hope that Life is fighting back. However it does still remain that we are rapidly reducing the Planet's regenerative capacity.

According to UN Under-Secretary General Achim Steiner, "We are destroying life on Earth. The plants and animals, fungi and micro-organisms that produce and clean our ait, generate drinking water, hydro-power and irrigation; provide food, shelter and medicines and also bring joy and a spiritual dimension to our daily lives need a helping hand - if not for their sakes, but for our own."

Psychologists are of the opinion that children growing up these days spend too much time indoors with computer games and suffer from 'Nature deficit disorder'. E.O. Wilson the famed biologist reckons that all humans have a natural affinity for nature which he calles 'biophilia' and current lifestyles are suppressing this. Therefore finding more ways for people to connect with nature may lead to more of it being conserved.

As a New Year's resolution, let each one of us make the effort to appreciate, to be awed, to enjoy and preserve the wonderful world around us.

CSR and STEM graduates

2010-12-15T17:13:00.014+05:30

Recently I was asked by Aman Singh of Vault's CSR blog to contribute a piece about CSR and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. A version of the piece was also posted on the Forbes blog which can be read here. As a STEM grad myself, I think that the topic needs more coverage so here's my piece that I originally wrote for Vault:

One of the biggest drawbacks in environmental management is the lack of holistic thinkers. Breaking up the environment into bite-sized bits and attacking problems associated with only those specific areas will create more problems than actually solve issues.

Everything in the environment is linked to something else and it needs to be thought of as a whole system in order to arrive at solutions. By some quirk of brain mechanism, a certain kind of people are drawn to science, technology, engineering and math(STEM) fields and through natural inclination and academic training, graduates from these fields are taught to think holistically. These are the kind of people that need to be given opportunities in the environmental field.

STEM & CSR: An Obvious Career Gap

Environmental issues are no longer the custody of politicians, governments, economists and business leaders alone. Graduates trained in systems thinking need to be able to step forward to lend a hand in solving some of our most pressing problems. Of course, there is no one single solution. But to arrive at a combination of solutions, there needs to be many more people working on the problem. Right now, there is a dearth of talented systems thinkers that look at the environment and its problems holistically.

We see this even within company operations. CSR is a field that is not affiliated strictly to the right-brain or left-brain talent. It sits smack-bang in the middle requiring both creativity as well as logic in order to solve problems. Ironically, most STEM graduates already have the skills to solve logical problems creatively.

Connecting Molecular Biology with CSR

Speaking as a STEM graduate, my academic training in molecular biology has not only sharpened my ability to accurately assess the whole picture but also helped me make logical connections between parameters and arrive at solutions from a holistic lens—all of which are incredibly important skills for a CSR analyst.

CSR Is Unattractive to STEM graduates...

CSR is primarily thought of as a 'business' field and because of this misperception, it does not draw many people from STEM fields; however professionals with a background in marketing, HR, and PR migrate to it much more easily with their people skills. Taking away nothing from the importance of these expertise, corporate social responsibility desperately lacks people who are able to look beyond the business functioning.

Here's the thing: At its core, CSR tries to address how to increase the positive influence of business. Think of it as throwing a net: this figurative 'net' covers the full sphere of its activities from social influence, environmental impact, a business's many stakeholders, supply chains, consumers, etc. CSR then involves looking at everything under this net, studying their interactions and fine tuning each of these 'mini-systems' in such a way that the main-system benefits.

...But CSR is Really Just Another Word for Scientific Systems Thinking

Putting one of these optimally functioning micro-systems into the macro business world as well as extending and adapting the 'net' to serve every kind of business is a model of sustainable business. The close ties that CSR has with business can put off many STEM graduates, however, the function of CSR in reducing externalities and boosting brand value is simply business speak for scientific systems thinking!

The economic world is a sub-set of the ecological world just like the biological world. The base that the modern economic system is sitting on is getting shakier. We need people to fix the foundation before skyscrapers can be built. And these people can only come from science, technology, engineering and math fields.

Thank you Aman for the opportunity to present my piece on Vault and also on Forbes.

the green student

2010-12-13T22:22:00.002+05:30

Take a look at my friend's blog where she talks about her own green journey. She has just newly started it and asked me to comment on a few questions that she had.

The Green Student: The Green Den- 6 Questions with a fellow blogger: "My own blog has (in part) been inspired by the articles I've read in TheGreenDen. A blog by my friend, and CSR practitioner- Akhila Vijayaraghavan..."

my take on 'no-growth'

2010-11-18T21:29:00.012+05:30

In my last post, I talked about the no-growth economic model which could be the model of economics the world is forced to follow due to growing environmental constraints. The US Congress can deny climate change 'til they're blue in the face but the fact remains that we're already seeing negative effects on our economy due to climate change. I choose to listen to the wiser economists and scientists, like Nicholas Stern perhaps.

The way I see it, the no-growth model is already happening. Or at least happening in part of the world. Economical growth in the Western world is beginning to taper off. More and more people are choosing to distance themselves from the rat-race, live alternatively and are seeking to discover that 'lost part of themselves'. In the 1970s they were called hippies; now they are the new radicals, the so-called pioneers of the environmental movement. Basically however, they are the category of people who have realized that economic success is not the real measure of happiness.

In the 1950's, at the peak of American industrialization everything was hunky-dory, people reported an all-time high in happiness. Since then standard of living has grown but happiness quotients have dropped. Something changed: perhaps the measure of happiness itself? Lives became busier, parents had less time for children, for friends, for hobbies - all the things that give us happiness. Instead people bought stuff to fill a void and subsequently landfills became bigger and bigger.

So now all of this is happening in the East, in the 'developing' world. People are working more, earning more, buying more and yet every single high-flying career person I meet isn't exactly happy. We now live in a post-recessional, climate-change laden, biodiversity-decreasing world full of majorly unhappy people who want to buy stuff but can't really afford to. But this view of mine changed when I met a few people recently who work but not crazy-hard, live on a farm, grow their own vegetables and have time for the things that matter. They were happy, like radiating bolts of joy just bouncing off of them.

This is the product of no-growth. It is not entirely bad. However, the bigger question remains: the people in the less-developed world, who want to aspire for the rat-race and fancy gadgets - do they realize what awaits at the end of this rainbow? Or are we just going to go around the wheel and realize that the place where we started from was the best place after-all?

Seems a waste of time to me.

the 'no-growth' model

2010-11-11T17:16:00.005+05:30

It is almost blasphemous for an economist to consider a 'no-growth' model, the very subject itself is the study of economy and no growth = no money, right? Traditional economists propounded that the earth could support endless growth. However, current economics proves that this is not possible - destruction of the ecological system, leads to eventual collapse of the economic system.

It seems to be a Catch-22 situation. Without growth, we spiral into poverty. With growth we head towards ecological collapse. To address the tantalizing question of whether we could have a healthy economy that doesn't grow, Prof. Peter Victor of York University, Toronto created a computer model of the modern Canadian economy. He then adjusted the model so that elements like consumption, productivity and population gradually stopped growing after 2010. He then shortened the workweek to 4 days to stave off unemployment. He also set up higher taxes on the rich and more public services for the poor. He imposed a carbon tax to discourage the use of fossil fuels. According to the model, it took a couple of decades but unemployment fell to 4%, much lower than what it is today, standards of living rose and GHG emissions decreased well below Kyoto levels.

The idea of a 'no-growth' economy is not new. Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill and John Maynard Keynes have all acknowledged that when maximum growth is reached, man would devote his time to "non-economic purposes". Industrial-age economists did not have to face the problem of resource crunch. The ones that did worry about resources running out where so far ahead of their times and it was not considered to be an issue of concern.

The biggest problem that the post-modern economic system faces is the use of GDP as a yardstick for the measurement of economic growth. GDP is an often baseless figure which is based solely on economic growth, completely disregarding 'unmeasurable' but often important components of actual growth. In terms of growth, the majority of the world's population has hit the point of no return vis-a-vis monetary wealth and real happiness.

In the end, resource scarcity, price hike and climate change will cause global conflict and no-growth thinking could become a realistic economic model. Do we dare hope?

perspectives: post-travel

2010-11-07T11:04:00.009+05:30

Yes I know, this post has been a long time coming. I have been on blogging sabbatical and now I'm back. Over the past month I made a massive trip through Malaysia and IndoChina mostly on work. In Malaysia I attended the AFCSR and met a lot of eminent CSR personalities. It was all very exciting.

Vietnam and Cambodia were both a revelation. Cambodia was only 3-day break during the whole trip of networking and meeting people. So I stayed in a quaint little place in Siem Reap and visited the famous Angkor temples. The people in Cambodia are incredibly friendly and live in abject poverty. Yet for some reason, are more hopeful and optimistic than most Indians I know. I also noticed that even if they were poor, they weren't starving mostly because they grew their own vegetables and fished in the three large lakes in the town. Siem Reap is a gorgeously green little town and is under conservation in Cambodia. The country is not without problems; apart from the mentioned poverty, it also has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world.

The point of food self-sufficiency kept striking me as something obvious that every government should be striving for. The government of every developing country is moving in the opposite direction of introducing a centralized food production system that is taking away from something basic in the lives of most people.

My next stop was Vietnam. I was in Ho Chi Minh City which is very much like Mumbai. It is so much better planned, cleaner and developing at an unprecedented rate. However, unlike in India I saw a plan in their growth and development which was forward-thinking and heartening. Vietnam, like India is an SME-based economy and also many MNCs have entered the market, awareness of sustainability issues are not that high. However, I did have the chance to speak to a few people and through them I learnt that many companies are becoming more and more aware, which is encouraging.

Overall, the trip was fruitful and insightful especially in gaining new perspective about development in other countries. More to follow on here and also on Justmeans.

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan © View of Saigon with the Saigon tower.

growth, development and garbage

2010-09-17T12:54:00.015+05:30

Lately there have been many questions that have been bothering me. I wonder why we have to rely on someone else to come and clean up our mess after I read the story of the Garbage Girl. Don't get me wrong, it's great someone is making an effort but are we so fundamentally socially backward that we cannot even insist on basic civic sense? I wonder why we don't have in place a system of municipal waste collection that actually works - this is infrastructure at its most basic. We are the civilization that invented the zero and consequently are one of the biggest players in the IT field. We have a space program that a lot of developed nations can be proud of. We have a culture and history that is unparalleled.

But we also have so many social problems - poverty, malnourishment, the highest rates of maternal death, female infanticide, a garbage problem threatening to mask all our accomplishments. In the eyes of the world, we are still seen as a filthy country in many aspects. When are we to get rid of this image?

Behind the glitz and growth of new malls, multiplexes, supermarkets and all the trappings of the west the real India is being swallowed up in piles of garbage. All of our resources are stretched, our cities are choking with pollution, drowning in filth with not enough water or electricity for the burgeoning population. Do we not deserve more? I'm tired of trying to find a reason for the way things are - corruption, government, politics etc can only get us so far. What about individual accountability? What about you standing up to say that you don't like the way things are and doing something to change it? The father of this great nation, based our independence on the power of singular change... and things went rapidly downhill from there.

I remember reading a chapter in biology in school entitled 'growth and development' and remember thinking that they are two entirely different things that are so easily confused. The understanding of 'growth' and 'development' is not just a study of semantics but there are entire philosophies, economic policies and government principles involved in the distinction. India is sadly an example of growth without development.

This country needs to be built from ground-up. All we are currently focusing on is embellishments whilst nations like China and even Brazil are focusing on grass-roots development. They have similar problems as us, so why aren't we at least trying?

For India to take its rightful place in the world, we must invest in infrastructure, education and focus on growing holistically, sustainably. The kind of imbalanced growth we are seeing will only lead to more social problems and eventual economic collapse. The center cannot hold. The center will not hold. I wonder how long we are going to try to drive this horse with a broken cart until the wheel gives way to complete irreparability... and then what?

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake - Rabindranath Tagore

the not so golden triangle...

2010-09-11T18:22:00.008+05:30

I know I have been terribly neglectful of this blog lately. It's been a month since my last post, the longest gap yet! But rest assured that I have been working hard on my Justmeans blog and have been writing about a lot of things there and now write for two categories - CSR and ethical consumption.

I recently returned from the famous 'Golden Triangle' tour covering Delhi-Agra-Jaipur and it is extremely strange to be a tourist in your own country. Travelling in India is an experience beyond anything that can written about. It is uncommonly hot, difficult, tiring and everything about the place assaults you in a myriad different ways. The kind of tourist attractions it offers is on a gargantuan scale of its own and in many ways pales the rest of the world in comparison.

In the space of 5 days I saw the largest gateway in the world, the Buland Darwaza; the largest sundial in the world in Jaipur; several forts, an entire city of red stand-stone and of course the Taj Mahal. This smorgasbord of sights is difficult to top.

For me, it was also deeply disheartening in many ways. For all the beauty on offer, the monuments in India are dismally maintained. Akbar's tomb in Sikandra which was absolutely gorgeous on the outside was a sad let-down upon entry. The intricately painted walls were peeling and in need of desperate restoration.

The whole city of Jaipur was extremely forlorn in appearance and did not seem at all like a capital city of a large state. The roads were appallingly bad and the rains did not bode well with the ancient sewer systems. The Amber Fort was gorgeous in bits but many of the walls were defaced by visitors and again several areas were in need of maintenance.

I can moan on about the fact that people in India are in desperate need of civic sense which for most part is true but who is to teach this valuable lesson. Without a sense of pride for national treasures how can preservation be insisted upon? Indeed, without civic sense how can environmental consciousness even be comprehended?

We cannot boast of trying to be an emerging super power, our IT prowess, space program etc etc when our basic sense of a civilized society is misplaced. Travelling India filled me with a deep sense of pride and an equally deep sense of shame. I wonder if things are ever going to change for this country so filled with potential and yet so encumbered with blindingly obvious faults.

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

what's with all the oil spills?

2010-08-12T13:14:00.006+05:30

The BP oil spill of course eclipsed the others that followed due to its sheer size as well as location. The oil spill in Kalamazoo in Michigan didn't receive as much coverage in comparison because well... it happened in Kalamazoo.

The Enbridge Energy pipeline burst and dumped nearly one million gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River which runs directly into Lake Michigan. The pipe that burst is the part of one of the largest networks of pipeline in the world. It carries dirty tar-sands oil from Canada to distribution points throughout the Midwest.

Tar-sands is the most pointless exercise of oil extraction in the history of oil extraction. First the ancient boreal forests were cleared then jaw-dropping quantities of energy and water are required to extract the thing that is supposed to provide more energy and create more pollution. The process is so toxic and leaves a sludge so big that it can be seen from space.

Closer to home the Mumbai spill has been officially declared as an ecological disaster today. Having occurred off the coast of the Elephanta mangroves, it poses a risk for spawning fish and sea turtles which use the area as nesting grounds. The spill coincides very unfortunately with nesting season for endangered turtle species. It will also affect other ocean life like lobsters, sponges, bivalves as well as marine animals and birds. This morning it was declared that the slick had reached the high tide mark and the "slow poisoning has begun". In addition to this, $4bn will be lost by this weekend if the port continues to be inoperational, what with being one of the busiest ports in the world. If the situaiton continues, the city of Mumbai could run out of fuel.

Trickle down effects include losses in the fishery and tourism industry. Already 500kg of fish were found to be contaminated and fishermen in the area are woeful about future prospects. The spill in Mumbai occurred after two Panamanian carrier ships collided and the on-going inquiry will tell us why this happened. However, as with the aftermath of every disaster the reasons why it happened gives little comfort because it did happen.

Everyday we are faced with reasons to wean ourselves off of petroleum. Its about time we started.

the new Justmeans CSR writer

2010-08-03T21:40:00.008+05:30

I have started writing for www.justmeans.com and will be their new CSR writer. For those of you who don't know Justmeans is the largest community of people interested in social and environmental issues. It is full of relevant 'green' news and great articles by a bunch of talented writers who are experts in their fields so jump on there if you are interested. You can connect with the site on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

So far I'm loving it because it means I have one more reason to research CSR news and think about it all the innovative stuff that companies are doing in the world of CSR. I no longer write for the Examiner though because I felt with Justmeans I am able to reach a better-defined target audience.

You can find my writing here - there is also my RSS feed which you can use to receive updates. You can also connect with me on Twitter or just get updates through the Justmeans page.

If you think I should be covering any CSR news or initiative then drop me a line and let me know. I look forward to your thoughts and comments.

Just holler! Thanks for the support.

reintroducing the cheetah

2010-07-29T19:44:00.005+05:30

I first read the proposals of the cheetah reintroduction scheme in India back in 2009. Today it is in the news that the Central Government has approved of a $65 million plan to bring the cheetah back to India.

Cheetahs became extinct in India in the 1960s as they were excessively hunted. The plan is to import the cats from Africa, Middle-East and Iran. Kuno Palpur and Nauradehi wildlife sanctuaries in MP and Shahgarh area near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan have been selected as the reintroduction site. The program will take about 3 years to complete in various phases and will have IUCN involvement along the way.

Jairam Ramesh the Indian Minister of Environment has been quoted saying that the reintroduction of the cheetah will improve the health of Indian grasslands. Grasslands are one of the most productive terrestrial ecosystems and have been severely exploited by over-grazing and agriculture. Restoring the balance of this ecosystem will mean that other species depending on the grasslands will also flourish. The endangered imperiled great Indian bustard and caracal among others will benefit from the reintroduction of an apex predator whose role is to restore balance to the ecosystem.

One of the most successful reintroduction programs to date is the Yellowstone program to bring back the wolves. It was fraught with complications and almost did not take off, the cheetah program will face similar challenges. Animals that are reintroduced suffer various degrees of stress from transportation to adaptive problems that can affect their reproductive abilities.

If this program is successful, it will be a great boost to Indian wildlife as well as tourism in these areas. The ecosystem of the grass-lands will also benefit greatly due to the introduction of an apex predator. This reintroduction program should also be done without diverting funds away from other conservation programs in the country, most importantly the tiger conservation.

This is something that has been promised by the MoEF and only time will tell if the program can be deemed a success. With only 10,000 cheetahs left in the wild world-over, increasing their range is essential to the species' survival. Cheetahs unlike other cats don't breed well in captivity and are prone to various genetic ailments and diseases due to less diversity and inter-breeding.

Introduction of the cheetah in India will see that the species thrives as a separate sub-species in the years to come. The Asiatic cheetah thrives only in Iran and it is critically endangered - this is the same species that was once abundant in India. With the reintroduction, India can boast that it is the only country in the world that hosts 6 of the 8 big cat species.

I'm skeptical and hopeful at the same time. It seems to me that Indian wildlife authorities are trying to open a new can of worms without figuring out methods to deal with existing wildlife problems. All of the big cats in India are endangered - with this kind of track record, can the cheetah hope to survive?

Photo: Painting of Akbar hunting wiht locally trapped Asiatic Cheetahs c. 1602. He was said to have had 1000 cheetahs assisting in his royal hunts.

elliott bay café

2010-07-24T13:37:00.006+05:30

When I was in Seattle recently, I came across a very good example of sustainable business in action. The historic center of Seattle in located in Pioneer Square and tucked away in a little corner is the Elliott Bay Café - which is most commonly linked to the TV series Frasier, great coffee and good food. It can be very easily missed if you don't actually look for it. Luckily for me, I was.

This Zagat rated gem is owned by Tamara Murphy and run by her very enterprising chef/manager - Zephyr Paquette. Zephyr made the time to speak with me about the café's principles. Her dedication to making a difference in her own way is obvious from the way she approaches food. The café features a small, carefully selected menu that is seasonal, so it is often updated. The food that is served is locally-sourced, seasonal, fresh and more often than not, organic. The beef is grass-fed, the chicken is free-range and sourced from small farms. The tofu is from a local tofu maker in Seattle.

Zephyr sources all her fresh produce directly from local farmers in the Seattle area. She makes sure that the staff are fully invested in the preparation of food and know where the food comes from. Her "teaching kitchen" extends to encouraging her staff to work on the vegetable garden at her home. She believes that supporting local businesses, eating seasonally and organically makes a big difference not only to the taste of food but also a huge impact environmentally. "It is a lifestyle change, it is how I do my job", she says emphatically.

This is an example of how independent businesses incorporate CSR into their practices. Zephyr's commitment is a testament that even small businesses can work a business strategy with key-stone principles of sustainability concepts. These principles of course are industry specific - the identification of where a business can create the highest impact is essential in order to act upon it.

The power of CSR is such that you do not need to be a big business with a million dollar budget to make a difference. It is the simple matter of analyzing the way you want to run your business and then doing it. Zephyr obviously engages all her stakeholders - employees, customers, local businesses as well as as part of the community. This rapport, is the key to all CSR engagements - it is not just what you do but how you do it.

If you are ever in Seattle, swing by here and see for yourself.

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

the story of stuff

2010-07-22T15:40:00.010+05:30

Annie Leonard the author of The Story of Stuff tells us the story of how excessive materialism is hurting the planet and affecting our happiness. The Story of Stuff Project's mission to educate and transform the way people use things and make them more aware of where things come from. The underlying message is that when you start examining the whole life-cycle of stuff, you begin to realize how environmentally harmful many of the things you use can be.

After the success of the 20 minute web film entitled 'Story of Stuff' where Annie does a detailed LCA of where stuff comes from and where they go, she has done several other short films. She has done a video of Story of Cap and Trade, Bottled Water and most recently Story of Cosmetics.

The Cap and Trade story talks about why it is not the solution to reduce carbon emissions and why people should not buy into it. This is the simplest explanation of C&T that I have come across and would recommend the video for anyone who wishes to understand what it is. The Story of Bottled Water is rather poignant because it talks about the globalization of trash. Annie mentions how plastic water bottles that are manufactured in America end up in landfills in Madras, India. Pollution outsourcing anyone??

The story of cosmetics was done in conjunction with the Safe Cosmetics Campaign and highlights many of the things that I talked about in my earlier post about cosmetics. Annie's environmentalism was sparked when she visited a landfill in Staten Island when she was in college and saw with her own eyes, the effects of consumerism. Reading Annie's article on abcnews gives a detailed picture of how her upbringing and her 20 years of research shaped her into the 'systems thinker' that she is today.

Thinking about the environment requires this kind of brain-power. It requires knowledge of free-market economics, marketing, manufacture of products etc to know that consumerism is a phenomenon that is not innately human but it is a learned behaviour that has been reinforced by marketing strategies to make consumers dependent on the cycle of use and throw. Why is this done? - to ensure that manufacturers can carry on with 'business as usual' i.e., make more stuff so people can buy more stuff. This the basis of economy - "manufactured demand" which pushes what we don't need and destroys what we need the most.

The story of stuff is powerful in its message and a consolidation of painstaking research into an easy to understand video. So watch and learn. The next time you buy something really ask yourself whether you need it.

greenwashing, greenblushing

2010-07-20T17:09:00.008+05:30

There are a host of enviro-biz terms being tossed around and specific to CSR and marketing there are two that come to mind - greenwashing and greenblushing. These are terms often used to describe companies that either over-talk their CSR credentials or under-talk them. Greenblushing is the most recent of the two was coined by Gregg LaBar. Greenwashing has been around since 1986 and was coined by Jay Westerveld.

From a PR perspective, both are bad news for the company. For consumers who are trying to make the right choice, it can be disheartening. So how can you be a smart shopper and tell the difference? Your first clues are to read the label and be discerning. Top words that should set off alarm-bells are "eco-friendly, all-natural, organic, biodegradable" etc. These words are being used on a variety of products that are simply not what they claim to be.

There is a limit to green, eco-friendly product design. Not every aspect of every product can be green. The first way to cut through the jargon is to ignore the packaging, regardless of whether is it made of 100% post-consumer recycled paper, hemp or bamboo. While you're at that, don't even look at the pretty pictures of rainforests and baby animals that may be on the product. This is a visual 'green-sell' to the uninformed.

Second, look at the product itself - how 'green' can garden pesticides be? or your supposedly "all-natural" shampoo? or cigarettes? or diapers?

Third, look at the company that makes the item. All of this should give you a clue. Whilst you're looking at the company, also look at the list of ingredients that go into the making of the product. Rule of the thumb: for processed food products - the list should not be over 5 items. For all other products - if you cannot pronounce the name of the ingredient, do not buy it because you most likely don't know what it is and what it does.

Finally, the best way to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys is to keep abreast of the news. Corporate policies are not the place that gives you information. Most companies embellish their websites with green marketing jargon. When it comes to CSR, what companies don't do is as important as what they do.

Take all this with a pinch of a salt. because there are companies that do mean it when they say that they are eco-friendly. The greenwashers make it harder for these companies to compete freely. I often find that the best organic, all-natural, most eco-friendly products are from small-scale companies, so focus there.

Farmer's markets and local trade fairs are an excellent place to start. There are several small business owners who sell products like soap, shampoo etc which are made in their own homes using organic ingredients - what can be more eco-friendly than that? Not shopping in super-markets is the single greenest thing you can do. If you must shop at a super-market, then be brand conscious and also price conscious. The cheaper you buy, the less 'green' it is. Aim for a happy medium in terms of price.

Shop with brands that have consistently met industry standards for being green - Johnson & Johnson, Burt's Bees, Gap, Dell, HP etc. The list is endless when you really delve into it. If you are here, reading this post then you must be on your way to becoming a smarter shopper because information is key.

More power to you!

but all food in India is organic right?

2010-07-12T20:50:00.008+05:30

I have been asked the above question several times and it baffles me every time. Why would anyone assume that conventional agriculture is organic? The great illusion of Indian agriculture is that all produce is grown on small-medium sized farms and farmers use traditional methods of cultivation. It is true that most farms in India are small but 'traditional' methods as with everywhere else has been replaced with a fertilizer intensive, hybrid heavy form of production.

Agriculture remains the cornerstone of the Indian economy. There is a need to ensure maximum production to support the growing population as well as ensure export targets are met. All this needs to be achieved in the face of monsoon vagaries and diminishing agricultural land. This has naturally led to the increase in the use of fertilizers and pesticides. The manufacture of both is one of the biggest contributors of greenhouse gases. Synthetic fertilizers contributes 6% of India's total GHG emissions. A shift to ecological fertilizers will reduce this contribution to 2%.

The Indian government has been subsidizing fertilizers in order to make them cheap enough for farmers to afford and although the use of fertilizers have been increasing, yield in certain places have been dropping. The average crop response to fertilizer use was around 25 kg of grain/kg of fertilizer during the 1960s, this has reduced to 8 kg/kg in the late 1990s. High use of chemical fertilizers is also associated with high levels of water consumption and micro-nutrient deficiency in the soil leading to subsequent decline in the water table and deterioration of soil health. Furthermore, fertilizer and pesticide run-off has caused various secondary problems to water bodies.

Every year the central government spends crores of money on fertilizer subsidies. The figure for 2009-2010 alone was Rs. 49.980 crores. The good news is that organic farmers are making their voices heard and are disgruntled that the Government spends so much money on an environmentally harmful method of food production. Several bodies like the Karnataka Organic Farming Mission, Greenpeace etc are lobbying with the government to ensure that organic products are also subsidized.

It remains however that India has one of the highest usages of fertilizer in the world. The sooner we realize the potential of organic food not just to restore out diminishing soil resources but also in terms of health, the better for us.

sporting green

2010-07-10T17:22:00.007+05:30

Sunday is the big day for the beautiful game. All the drama and passion of such an event also makes me wonder about the footprint of sports. It is a large category to cover as there are many kind of sports but for the purpose of the post, I shall limit it to spectator sports in giant stadiums.

In June this year the F1 teams said that they aim to reduce their carbon footprint by 12.4% over the next three years as well as increase fuel efficiency of the cars. There is a discussion of whether motor-racing should even be allowed at this conjuncture but I shall leave that debate to the extreme environmentalists.

The sports industry is mega-bucks. From the designing of sporting equipments, transportation, distribution, marketing, disposal and various other steps in between the LCA of a sporting event is mind-bogglingly complicated. Just thinking about LCA and footprint of a major sports company like Nike or Adidas proves this point. The amount of resources that goes into major events like the Olympics or the World Cup rests this case.

The organization of events of this magnitude puts enormous pressure on both renewable and non-renewable resources, creates noise and light pollution, disturbs local ecosystems and creates new waste-streams. UNEP has categorized environmental impacts of sport and lately there are several spotlights on the topic of greening of the sporting experience.

Several teams in the NFL, Major League and NBA have made attempts to green their teams. The Boston Red Sox have plans to 'green' Fenway Park and Philadephia Eagles have been touted as the greenest team of the NFL. Games with year-round seasons have a higher footprint than games with shorter seasons. Energy used in the stadiums also count - for this reason, basketball is better than hockey.

The FIFA World Cup is being touted as being one of the greenest world cups ever played. However there is evidence to the contrary that suggests that this may not be true. According to the article in CNN, this cup has a footprint 6 times larger than the one played in 2006. Although several initiatives were taken there was a lot more that could've been done to make this cup a greener, more eco-friendly event taking a cue from an enterprising businessman who makes vuvuzuelas from kelp.

The 2012 London Olympics are said to be the most eco-friendly sports event ever planned. The planning committee is looking beyond the games to see how the new facilities can be put to use in the future. The planning committee has won awards recently for commitment towards health, safety and environmental standards. The website has a whole section devoted to the sustainability initiatives in place and worth is having a look at. The Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi later this year is also doing its share to reduce the footprint of the event. The organizers have also tied up with UNEP for guidance and advice.

There are several things that spectators can do to reduce their impact and as with everything else starts from being eco-conscious about your personal impact.

my take on Yosemite...

2010-06-22T15:40:00.011+05:30

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan © View of the Yosemite Valley

Photography has been a great passion and I am an ardent hobby photographer. I pretty much make photographs of everything although there are moments that are truly sublime. These moments usually happen when I catch the light at the right time or am suddenly able to 'see' differently. This shift of perception is tangible and it usually happens when I'm photographing landscapes or doing macros.

Art is an accurate barometer of the socio-political and economic atmosphere . It not only reflects these events but also in some way has the ability to influence or change. All great artists know this, which is why they intuitively realize that they have a responsibility towards something bigger than themselves.

In the forum of art and environmental protection, there are countless artists who have made their contributions known. In the era of Woodstock, several musicians sprang forth with anthems that are still popular today. There are others who has made their mark by extrapolating their love of Nature in their work and for me, one of the greats in this category is Ansel Adams. His photographs of America's National Parks pushes past the black and white images and seeks to lodge itself deep inside the retina. Of all the places he photographed, he loved Yosemite the best and it's not hard to see why to anyone who has been there.

Yosemite is one of those places on Earth that seems to have rolled right off of God's hands. Its magnificence is of a scale unto its own - ethereal, sublime, majestic and yet playful. I was in Heaven with mouth-open awe the whole time I was there and couldn't stop snapping away. The beauty of such places cannot be adequately described in words, photographs or even through merely seeing but only by feeling.

Adams' is one of the people who understood this and his work not only manages to convey the silent grandeur of such places but also equally firmly suggests at conservation. The National Parks in America saw an influx of visitors through Adams' work and this still continues to hold true. This was his most important contribution to the environmental movement - to make people go and appreciate their natural surroundings. All conservation starts from the inward retreat upon confrontation of beauty and this is something that he understood very well.

There are so few places on Earth untouched by human activity and National Parks are meant to be protected habitat. Stresses felt on the rest of the world will be felt even in these places. Respect for the natural environment will go a long way to ensure that these little oases of Paradise remain protected.

Sometimes I get to places when God is ready to have somebody click the shutter - Ansel Adams

big oil and CSR

2010-06-07T11:19:00.013+05:30

Big Oil and CSR are about as compatible as chalk and cheese. Having said that it must not be forgotten that one of the pioneers of employing CSR was oil megamoth, Shell. Shell's sustainability reputation now remain in tatters and that is a testament to how much companies can get by with green-washing the public.

Operating in one of the most polluting businesses requires there to be certain environmental and social boundaries. The BP disaster is a proof to this fact - it provides not just environmental problems of massive proportions but also makes an interesting case study from a CSR point of view. CSR is not public relations but public relations is CSR. This is the point of balance on which BP dances as it strives to hang onto whatever little reputation is has. Industry analysts predict that due to rapidly dropping BP shares, it will be easier for another company to buy out the British petroleum giant. After over a hundred years in the business with various controversies, it is hard to imagine that the company will cease to exist if it does not recover.

The clean up operation is said to cost the company anywhere between $20-25bn. Its overall revenue is in the range of $120bn which has now dropped to $80bn. For a giant corporation to pay out $20bn in clean-up charges is no big deal. It is a certain bad luck that the spill occurred off the coast of United States and affected American fishermen. If the same spill of the same magnitude had happened, say off the coast of Africa, the pay out charges would have been far less and any environmental impact could have been swept clean under the carpet.

Consider this: BP's CSR campaign has a budget of $125 million which is not even 10% of their annual revenue. BP is a classic example of 'green-washing' where it has positioned itself to be seriously investing in alternative energy sources etc, but in fact their main revenue source is from petroleum. Throughout their years in operation, BP has been hit by CSR disasters:

An explosion at a Texas City refinery in March 2005 killed 15 workers
Price fixing in the propane gas market in 2007
Corrosion in the Alaskan pipeline which caused a leak and shut down production in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in August 2006

Big Oil is in desperate need of CSR reform. The mistake that most oil companies make is to get CSR hopelessly muddled up with 're-branding' and then continue business as usual. To put a new face on the oil industry, there needs to be far-reaching consistent action in operations at every level apart from investment in alternate energy sources.

Currently the industry faces a severe lack of sustainability innovation and have fallen into the trap of talking more rather than doing more. There is not a single company that is serious about CSR even though they operate in one of the most harmful businesses. This is simply because there is not enough regulation. There is also increasing demand for petroleum products - these facts are something that Big Oil takes complete advantage of. Plus, they have infinite financial resources to pay their way through any situation.

Big Oil CSR is sleazy and non-quantifiable. However after the worst oil-spill in the world, it is a shame if it has to remain that way.

praying for rain...

2010-06-06T14:13:00.010+05:30

Yes I know World Environment Day has come and gone and I have failed to acknowledge it. Indeed I am being very belligerent posting this today. The newspapers have gone back to being normal coloured and the TV channels are not compelling you to 'tune in for World Environment Day'. The day after yesterday is really just back to business after a day of green hoopla. This is precisely my point now and in previous 'environment day' posts.

Today I am reflective, the glorious red flame of the forest trees are in full bloom and the monsoons are around the corner in India. It always brings back memories of splashing around in the rain after school and then tucking into some hot chai. It has been 10 years since I graduated from school - in those years, rainfall patterns have perceptibly changed. Summers have gotten measurably hotter, rainfall less intense and duration of monsoons have also gotten shorter.

Last year Greenpeace hung a banner off the Mumbai-Thane bridge to bring to attention to the sporadic monsoons. It was covered in the last world environment day post. This year Greenpeace has released a video which in true style is creative and stresses again a call for action. Watch it below.

A whole year has passed and there have been no milestones or remarkable achievements, then again a year is not enough to undo decades of damage. But where is the start that we have been hankering for?

Bonn climate negotiations have started, which is the follow-up to Copenhagen. It is anybody's guess as to what will come out of them. There is no use worrying or feeling hopeless.

Right now, it is stiflingly hot. The sky is making lots of noises and there is a gloom of heavy rainclouds that will not burst open in welcome showers. Why? We do not know, but I suspect its because the number of trees in the city has dwindled. So like that guy in the Dean Martin song, I too am praying for rain; for very different reasons...

gray shadow of infinite mystery

2010-05-31T19:28:00.006+05:30

Anyone who has been to Northern California in July or August knows that the fog is part of the landscape. Photographers call it atmosphere, it has been a back-drop to many movies and adds a certain romance and mood. The only thing that can be seen for miles around in San Francisco would be the two lights on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. The very fog that made this particular area very dangerous for shipping a few decades ago also plays an important role in climate control. Without fog there would be no redwoods and no salmon.

This fact was reinforced when I visited the woods a few weeks ago and a park ranger was generous enough with her time to explain to me the dependence of the ecosystem on fog. To anyone who has been to Muir Woods, the thought of no redwoods would send them into a mild panic. Muir Woods is a natural haven north of Sausalito and named after Sierra Club founder and famous environmentalist - John Muir. Walking through the groves of redwoods of indescribable proportions opens your senses to the over-whelming silence and that fresh forest smell. Quiet simply beautiful.

Before I get carried away, I was talking about fog. The formation of summer fog in a rather unique phenomenon influenced by the difference in temperatures between Central Valley and the coast. There are several factors responsible for the fog every summer and now with global warming, the fog is changing as well. Fog enables all life in California acting as a natural air-conditioner.

The redwood trees in Muir Woods and elsewhere require a cloud cover in order not to become desiccated. During the summer months, the trees absorb moisture from the air in order to survive as ground water levels are too low. The trees themselves are rather inefficient reservoirs of water and because of their size lose more water than they can hold. Reduction in summer fog can dry out the forest so much that it becomes vulnerable to forest fires. Fog also influence Coho salmon spawning and the survival of amphibians like salamanders. It is also one of the essential components for wine-making in Napa and Sonoma Valleys.

Current climate predictions are not sophisticated enough to accurately say whether the rising temperatures will result in an increase or decrease of fog. We do know that fog in addition to adding a certain beauty to the coast, also acts a vital thermostat. In The Sea Wolf, native San Franciscan Jack London compared the fog to "the gray shadow of infinite mystery, brooding over the whirling speck of earth". Since the beginning of the century when London wrote that line, we know a lot about how fog behaves and what causes it. However we do not understand everything and it remains a gray shadow of infinite mystery - as perplexing now as it ever was.

Photo: Muir Woods. Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

springing food

2010-05-08T06:15:00.013+05:30

Spring has sprung and it is decidedly an excellent season for some fresh food. Spring vegetables and fruit are coming into their own now and farmers' and local markets are brimming with countless varieties of freshness. A pretty comprehensive list about what is in season can be found here and it is further broken down into region as well. Another good place to look is here which also gives you some recipes to try. My seasonal favourites include the berries, asparagus, morrells and artichokes.

Eating seasonally is a very good method to ensure nutrients in the food are at their highest. When you buy local and organic, it also drastically cuts down the 'foobon footprint'. This is a term I coined and in a previous post I write about the benefits of eating locally, organically and seasonally. So you may wonder why I'm posting something similar again.

Well, I have read a lot more, learnt a lot more and understood a lot more about the industrial food-chain to advocate a kind of eating that is most natural. There is nothing natural about strawberries in December or out-of-season asparagus flown in from Peru in October. I'm not even attacking the whole meat debate here as I am saving it for another post. The British Council started a SOUL food project in Ireland and it advocates eating the way food should be eaten. SOUL (Seasonal, Organic, Unprocessed, Local) is a concept that we have moved away from and it is now proving to have drastic consequences not only on our health but also the health of our planet.

I have spent the last couple of weekends visiting farmer's markets and talking to the farmer's themselves about the methods they use to cultivate their produce. Every farmer that I have spoken to uses a method that creates a holistic ecosystem on their land. None of these growers advocate factory farming of animals or growing fruits and vegetables out of season. They possess a deep understanding of the limits of the natural systems and also knowledge of how best to coax these systems to give them the best yield. The sense of pride that any farmer feels for his produce and farm, regardless of where they are from is a palpable energy they exude.

Most of these farms have more yield per acre than monoculture farms. In addition, they also have better soil health, animal health and use absolutely no chemicals and generate no waste. Many farms advocate an 'off-grid' method of cultivation where their produce can sustain not only the people living on the farms themselves but also the local community. This may seems like an Uthopian ideal to many city-dwellers but all agriculture started off this way before monoculture, GM crops and factory farms. All the industrialized methods of food production use pesticides, fertilizers, hormones, antibiotics and an array of chemical arsenal to ward of diseases and boost health.

Health is a default state of Nature - most small organic farmers understand that when their animals exhibit poor health, then there is something wrong with the system, not the animal. The same goes for plants. By encouraging this mass industrialization of food we are compromising on at least 30 different kinds of health. We are also encouraging government subsidiaries to promote 'cheap' food and are not entirely realizing the real cost of it.

Spring is a season brimming with newness and possibilities. So start a new movement today, eat local, eat seasonal and eat organic. Head out to the nearest farmer's market, speak to the people who grow your food and learn where it comes from. Your food bills might increase a little but remember that you are paying for quality, health and well-being which is something you cannot put a price on. Also, did I mention that fresh, unprocessed, organic food tastes a whole lot better?

Photos: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

eco paper

2010-05-06T23:49:00.014+05:30

Take a moment's pause and think about the amount of paper all around you. Everything that is packaged uses some from of it. Today there are so many kinds of it with a multitude of uses. It's hard to imagine that it started off so humbly - when someone in ancient Egypt used papyrus to write upon.

The closest link to modern day paper-making is from China. In the 13th century it spread from China and entered medieval Europe where water-powered paper mills were built. This introduced the mechanization of paper-making and soon mills increased their capacities which made paper readily available. The paper business started to boom with the invention of the printing press and hasn't slackened since.

Paper was most commonly made with wood, silk and cotton pulp. Today most printing grade paper is made exclusively with wood pulp. This fact alone does not make paper unsustainable and like anything else, the sustainability 'quotient' or 'factor' has a lot to do with the whole life-cycle.However, the perceived lack of sustainability of paper has led to many innovations and some of them are very creative

My first encounter with alternate paper came from the Auroville Press in Pondicherry, India who make excellent hand-made paper with vegetable fibers and no toxic dyes. Recently I have been reading a lot about paper made from elephant dung which was a process started in Sri Lanka and India. The power of globalization is such that my first encounter with it happened to be in the UC Davis campus bookstore!

This innovative idea started in Sri Lankan elephant sanctuaries and profits from sales were pumped back into taking care of abandoned/abused elephants. Haathi Chap in India and PooPoo Paper in America use the same method to make writing paper from elephant dung. In the same store, I also encountered banana paper made from banana fibers. In the same method, paper can also be made from bamboo, hemp and other sources. Bamboo is supposedly the most sustainable source as it is a fast-growing grass.

Hand-made paper has a nice texture and feel, making it ideal for photo-albums, scrap-books, invitations, greeting cards etc. It requires very little embellishing to make it look ornate. Improvements with organic dyeing technology means that it is available in pretty much any colour. Some are even made with embedded flower petals and are scented. Think of a more sustainable alternative for your paper needs the next time. With Mother's day around the corner; perhaps a hand-made, eco-friendly paper card expresses the proper sentiment to mothers everywhere.

Photos: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

all carrots are not created equal

2010-05-06T10:03:00.022+05:30

The great debate about organic food has been whether it has significant health benefits over conventionally grown food. (There are other great debates about organic food as well, but one at a time) In order to better answer this question, a little bit about soil biology is essential.

My first encounter with serious biology was as a microbiologist , this has instilled in me a great respect for soil and the myriad creatures that work to create it. Healthy soil is an ecosphere in its own right containing various species of bacteria, fungi, worms, insects and other critters which we do not fully appreciate. It smells wonderful, is rich, loamy and contains high levels of organic compounds, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK). It has the capacity to hold water in suspension and regenerate itself season after season if managed properly.

Traveling back to the 1940s - the English agronomist Albert Howard's groundbreaking study 'An Agricultural Testament' made its appearance with strong claims that synthetic fertilizer with artificially produced NPK will deplete soil fertility in the long run. This was a man who understood soil biology profoundly and has often been quoted since in other organic literature such as Wendell Berry and Rodale. These lions of the organic food movement understood way back then that the health of soil is intricately connected with human, animal and environmental health.

Fast forward today - agriculture is heavily industrialized with a lack of understanding or respect to the limits of the natural world. In a well-managed farm, there should be no need for fertilizer or pesticides with wastes being recycled and each system nourishing the other in a continuous loop. Today even organic farms have given in to intensive agriculture, demanding supply chains and the term itself can be often misleading. More about this later.

Coming back to the question of whether organic food is healthier for you: the answer is, yes. This was confirmed in 2003 by a study in UC Davis where varieties of corn, berries were grown in neighbouring plots using different methods. They were then compared for vitamins and polyphenols. The scientists found that sustainably cultivated crops had higher levels of these nutrients. Why are polyphenols important? These are secondary metabolites manufactured by plants, in other words, they are antioxidants and we all know why these are important. The reason why organic foods contain more polyphenols is this: these compounds are released by plant to ward off pests, diseases and insects - when ingested by humans, they continue to act in much the same way. These products then are results of natural selection and the coevolutionary relationship between plants and humans.

In our modern system of agriculture we fail to respect this. Plants grown with fertilizer/pesticide intensive methods fail to produce high levels of polyphenols because they simply do not need to and also because soil fertility inspite of chemicals is less than optimal. Rich, healthy, naturally managed soil adds a subset of polyphenols called flavonols which impart characteristic taste of a fruit or vegetable.

All carrots are therefore not created equal - the way we grow it, the quality of soil, what we feed that soil all contribute towards the qualities of a carrot.

The title of this post and a lot of its material is adapted from 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' - Michael Pollan. To anyone who has not read this book, it comes highly recommended.
Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

first encounter with a living roof

2010-05-06T09:03:00.008+05:30

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

A few weeks ago, I spent a day at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. With little planning, it turned out to be a pretty green day. I took the public transport and ate organic food at their cafe as well as spent a lot of time appreciating science and the natural world in general.

The academy is big on sustainability and the first impression of this is when you walk in to be greeted with a revamped building with lots of natural light and clean lines. The second is found on the back of their maps: "printed on 100% recycled post-consumer paper "and "please return after use to help the museum save resources". The many other signs include the climate change exhibit, the organic food served in their cafe, eco-friendly items in the gift shop, including organic cotton T-shirts, solar panels on the roof, water-saving toilets and their carefully chosen exhibits. Best of all was the 2.5 acre living green roof - I have previously blogged about green roofs but that was well before I saw one of this proportion. It was covered in little hills of native Californian wildflowers which are endangered, supported bees, butterflies and birds as well as a massive installation of solar panels. It was a treat for sore eyes and it made me hopeful again about the possibilities of technology. More information about the green roof can be found here.

The academy is housed in the largest LEED Platinum-rated public building and it is the greenest museum in the world. The innovative use of materials and energy efficiency have made it a model for green buildings.

The other thing that blew my mind was the planetarium. The Morrison planetarium is the biggest all-digital dome in the world with a 75-foot projection screen tilted at a 30 degree angle. The kind of imagery it produces gives you the feeling that you are flying in space especially because everything is happening above your head. To celebrate Earth Day they were show-casing 'Fragile Planet' narrated by Sigourney Weaver - truly goose-bump inducing stuff, stressing the importance of protecting the only home we know.

For anyone living in the Bay Area or visiting, the Academy is a must-see and provides an enjoyable day out for everyone in the family.

another reason for alternate energy

2010-04-30T10:43:00.008+05:30

Photo Courtesy: www.euronews.net

There are many many reasons why we should wean ourselves off of petroleum and advocate for alternate energy sources. One of the reasons has been all over the news. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill might be worse than the Exxon Valdez spill nearly twenty years ago. NOAA has concluded that oil is leaking from the rig at the rate of 5,000 barrels or 200,000 gallons a day. The Gulf of Mexico is a key area for the seafood industry and one of the world's richest fisheries and it could be badly affected, perhaps for years to come.

Oil spills are devastating to the environment. Oil once spilled onto the ocean forms a thick layer called the slick, which depending on the weather can split or get thinned out further to become the sheen. An oil spill far off the coast can be carried to the coastline due to wave action and can therefore affect coastal marine life. Coastal spills, unless cleaned up will stay around until it is broken down by weather or decomposed by bacteria - this takes a very long time. The gooey black tar-like substance coats everything it comes to contact with. On the surface of water, it is not only toxic but also cuts of oxygen supply to the waters below.

Coastlines and estuaries act as important nesting grounds, marine nurseries and oil spills in these areas prove devastating to birds, animals, juvenile fish, larvae and reefs. Microscopic diatoms and plankton are most severely affected and so are organisms like mussels, clams, crabs, other arthropods and burrowing animals. Birds and marine mammals when coated with oil can die by ingesting the oil trying to clean themselves or due to the toxic chemicals present in the oil. The effects of a spill this size might damage the ecosystem for years to come according to some biologists.

Burning the oil to clear it from the water faster which is what might be done will release more pollutants and GHGs into the atmosphere. Oil spills, volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, forest fires - all man-made and natural disasters are no more localized events of catastrophe. Harm to a part is harm to the whole.

BP PLC the company responsible for the spill has stated that it will "take help from anyone". What happens to the people who depend on the Gulf for their livelihood, the ecosystem and the fishing industry is anybody's guess...

Every a****** who ever chanted 'Drill baby drill' should have to report to the Gulf coast today for cleanup duty - Bill Maher

my latest news

2010-04-29T06:07:00.004+05:30

I have recently started writing for www.examiner.com and will be writing exclusively about corporate social responsibility. You can follow me here. You can also follow me on Twitter. I posted my first article on Examiner today and would love your feedback.

On here, I will continue posting issues relating to general sustainability and green living.

Thanks for the support and keep reading!

why CSR is important to SMEs

2010-04-27T23:56:00.007+05:30

Last week I said that I will write a post about how small-enterprises can gain by employing principles of CSR and here it is. In a previous post I talked about how CSR plays an important role in current economic times and how companies that employ these principles have an edge over others.

First of all it must be stressed that CSR is not just policy, it is a principle of doing business. It is not something that is done as an add-on, it is something that is incorporated into your way of doing business. In this scenario, it offers businesses many benefits in terms of better shareholder relationships and also acts as a powerful tool for word-of-mouth advertising.

As mentioned in my last post, it offers SMEs added benefits in terms of strengthening their relationship within the community and acting as an example to make people's lives better. The most important reason why small companies should engage in CSR activities is to improve their export markets. Acting as a part of the supply chain means that export products to a big company needs to meet certain standards all along the chain. This is the single more important competitive benefit that SMEs have by incorporating CSR into their business. It is especially important for small businesses in emerging economies supplying to companies with multiple supply chains.

Secondly, mainstreaming CSR into any business is a challenge. By incorporating the principles of CSR in the early stages of growth, SMEs have another advantage over companies that have already reached a certain size. Forming principles, processes and structures becomes easier along with reporting and policy writing. Developing a culture of sustainability within the organization becomes more streamlined and employees know what it means to be sustainable.

Finally, it makes business sense. This is something that the larger companies are beginning to understand. When the small companies jump on this idea, the limits to green business has no bounds. Infact, the term might just become obsolete along with the term 'business as usual' because every business will be ethical, sustainable and profitable. This is a dream worth working towards...

goldilocks planet

2010-04-22T21:56:00.010+05:30

Earth Day is becoming a big deal everywhere and we're all a happy bunch of treehuggers. I am always rather cynical about these things which seem to be a big deal one calendar day of the whole year. If you recall my post for Earth Hour last year, I expressed the same sentiment. This year Earth Hour came and went whilst I was in Chicago.

For Earth Day, I am in California - home of hippy-chic and the original renaissance center. Celebrations are set to take off everywhere this year. Recently I have been pondering our incredible planet aided no doubt by copious amounts of documentary watching. It fills me with this goose-bumpy feeling of belonging as well as paralyzing frustration. Somewhere in between the two is also a calm place that feels hopeful.

It feels so odd to be hopeful in the midst of chaos and yet I am and there are reasons why:
1) More and more businesses are taking note of sustainability issues and incorporating these principles into their activities
2) Small green-start ups are pushing the envelope in terms of technology and innovation forcing the big guys to get their act together
3) Most people are aware of the fact that there is something terribly wrong with our planet and something must be done. They are changing their life-styles, getting involved in their community, asking their government to make positive choices - all excellent signs
4) Governments are taking notice with EU rapidly pushing for better, cleaner, greener-everything
5) America has finally woken up from the dark Bush years and although the country is in serious debt, they are investing in increasing green jobs which is something they cannot out-source. Many cities in America are now making recycling and composting mandatory. Chicago recently started a recycling program which up until now, did not exist!
6) Emerging economies - India and China, are investing in greener technology; this combined with their already lower carbon lifestyle is a powerful move
7) Consumer awareness is at an all-time high, not only about planetary health but also of human health and these two are intricately connected. Meatless Mondays anyone?
8) NGOs and businesses are finally finally learning to work together and realizing that they are on the same side
9) Everyone is talking about it! The information out there is incredible, almost to the point of overload.This is great because it hastens the tipping point
10) The recession is forcing people to have some free-time to think, reflect and figure out what they want to do with their lives. Some of this reflection means that people are getting in touch with what really matters to them. Unemployment is not all bad!

My wish-list for the year:
1) More businesses to jump on the green-wagon especially SMEs who have the immense power to change the world around them and don't even realize it yet
2) More empowerment so that people have an easier time being green - education, awareness, tax-breaks, incentives, information - all of these will hasten a revolution yet to come
3) More docu-movies like Age of Stupid, Blue Planet, Sharkwater, End of Line etc to be made and publicly screened. These work in two ways: to educate, increase awareness and also to create within us a sense of wonder for the natural environment which is key to protecting what it so precious
4) More funding to discover new technology that can be used to improve quality of life everywhere
5) Less war, stable governments and less poverty - all of this provides an ideal environment for our focus to shift elsewhere

In addition to this, this year I want to:
1) Travel to a rain-forest and do a small expedition
2) Grow my own organic vegetables

Mars is too hot and Venus is too cold... Earth is just right. Anyone else reminded of the story involving a little girl and porridge? We live on an Goldilocks Planet - nobody knows if it is too far gone already, but I believe we can still try. We can still hang on to what we know is right and make choices that are least harmful.

Have a greener, cleaner year everyone. More power to you!

CSR and SMEs

2010-04-21T08:09:00.012+05:30

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been around for a long time and has evolved to its current form after great many mutations. It is one of the key components of business today and addresses interaction of a business with its people, environment, customers and employees. It is also almost always talked about in the context of MNCs and big businesses. However it is time that even SMEs start taking notice of this business formula. One of the best ways that CSR can help SMEs is by influencing competitiveness and may also increase production and productivity. The idea is to start thinking of CSR as a part of business and not something you do as an add-on.

This concept was further explored in the CSR Practitioners workshop conducted by the Center for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE), Chicago. CSE offers an IEMA (Institute of Environment Management and Assessment) approved professional certificate to become a CSR Practitioner. Some of the concepts covered in the workshop included how CSR acts not only as an enhancement to business as usual but essentially how it is rapidly becoming business. As an aside, I highly recommend the workshop for its pace, content, presentation and the extremely helpful directors of CSE who conducted it.

It was only when I was working on my post-workshop project that I realized the far-reaching impacts of CSR practices on small-business models. Without over-simplifying CSR, smaller companies have a lot to take away from this concept; not only as a method of doing cost-effective business but also to create a USP for themselves in the market. According to recent reports, nearly 50% of all EU small business follow a sustainable business model. This proves that if capacities and competences in business intermediaries are increased; it will go a long way to help mainstreaming CSR in the SME sector.

If the four pillars of CSR are responsibilities in the workplace, marketplace, community and environment; SMEs play a pivotal role in all four avenues. 90% of the world's business comes from SMEs and they employ about 50% of the world's population. The kind of change they are capable of is community-based, continued investment to uplift their key stakeholders. This is something that CSR models based on big companies can never hope to achieve. Change at the grass-root level is what every ethical business dreams of and this is where small enterprises stand to gain enormously.

Diverting away from the kitschy big-business idea of CSR, small business have the advantage of direct interaction with the community from out of which they operate. What they need to be convinced about is whether or not it makes business sense for them to be 'socially responsible'. The answer is a resounding yes! Watch this space and I'll tell you why.

Picture: Tom Fishburne ©. Used with permission

upcycling in the windy city

2010-04-17T00:06:00.010+05:30

My last weekend in Chicago was spent going to a craft fair and checking out various handmade things made from unwanted items - upcycling in effect. I must say that my first encounter with 'turning junk into funk' in a land of plenty was met with delighted surprise. Some of the creativity on display was rather cool for want of a better word. One stall in particular stood out for me.

Nancy Maize is a jewellery designer making creative pieces like necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings using old watch gears and other items commonly termed as 'junk'. As they are hand-crafted all her pieces are one of a kind and quiet creative. She said that she started of making beaded jewellery for her son's project in school and has now graduated towards using bits of old watches, buckles, drawer handles etc to create artistic, wearable pieces. You can check out her website here.

Upcycling is not a new concept - it can be defined as creative recycling or value-added recycling. Every time you convert a piece of 'junk' into something of value, you are upcycling. At the fair I also met a woman who converted bottle caps into miniature portraits and magnets. Another used zippers to express her creativity by converting them into rosettes for hair-bands. She also used designs on old crockery and cut them out to convert into pendants.

With upcycling, the creative potential is limitless as you can convert, change, modify literally anything into something of value. There is lots of information out there on upcycling and how to convert something that is worn-down, worthless and old into something new and of use. It may even lead to new business ideas or attractive presents for family and friends.

Many of the women at the fair used their upcycled products as a means of additional income . As they always say, "one's man trash, is another man's treasure". I walked away from the fair with a fairly strong impulse to rummage through all my old stuff and get creative.

Photos: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©
Image 1: Necklace made of old watch parts
Image 2: Headbands made of zippers

parking with dogs

2010-04-08T19:35:00.010+05:30

I must say that I am a big fan of urban greenery. One of the things that I miss terribly whilst living in India is the lack of green spaces within cities. It does the getaway to the wilderness all the more meaningful but I think all cities should have a space for people to walk around in and enjoy greenery even if it is in the form of a small park with grass and a bunch of trees.

Most western cities have this concept down-pat with excellent parks sometimes several acres in size and almost always incorporating water-bodies. These urban ecosystems play an important role in preservation of those species that have evolved along-side humans like foxes, several species of birds, butterflies and other insects, as well as various kinds of plants and trees. Apart from this, these open spaces create a sense of equilibrium to the city and offer important aspects of recreation in the form of walking, running and biking trails.

Many cities take this concept further and incorporate within these parks an area for dogs and their owners. An enclosed area or a dog park where dogs can run around off-leash and 'socialize' with other canines. Whilst in Chicago, we took my friend's dog for one such jaunt and a merry time was had indeed.

It is curious to observe dogs off-leash and as an ardent dog person myself, it was fascinating to watch dog-dog interaction up-close. What was even more surprising, contrary to common belief is that dogs hardly ever fight once a certain hierarchy has been established. Some bigger parks also permit their owners to run around with their dog and play with them off-leash and this is not only great exercise for you but also a very good bonding ritual with your pet.

I believe human-animal interaction is very important not only to understand the environment better but also to reinforce our instinctual connection with Nature. Animals never lose this connection no matter whether they are wild or domesticated and through them we can regain the lost world of the vast wilderness.

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

farmers in the windy city

2010-03-29T02:02:00.010+05:30

Long silence I know - I have been travelling but more on that later. I'm posting from The Windy City on this fine Sunday afternoon. Today I decided to do an off-beat thing and check out the local Winter Farmer's Market. This is the first farmer's market that I have been to in America and it was a good experience. Being indoors, it wasn't massive and the perfect size so you don't get overwhelmed. Upon entering you are immediately assaulted with delicious smells of cinnamon and herbs. I later followed my nose to the smell of cinnamon and found a farmer selling organic apple cider donuts and promptly gave in.

The string band that was playing provided a lively, country feel to the proceedings. I was surprised at the amount of organic produce on offer - apples, mushrooms, honey, herbs etc. A few of the farmers I spoke to were very upfront with the fact that they did not want to eat chemically treated, processed food and were very concerned about human, animal and environmental well-being. Many of the produce were also converted into home-made pickle, jam, pasta, salsa, bread etc - all laden with organic, natural goodness without of a trace of chemicals in sight.

I also met a free range meat farmer who had grass-fed beef on offer - much healthier than the grain-fed, hormone-pumped options found in regular supermarkets. He also had free range chicken and pork on offer. There was another farmer with free range eggs and yogurt, milk, ice-cream on offer. There were plenty of food samples to go around as well as things like organic tea and bread which you could buy. One of the couples that I spoke to were based outside the city and kept bees. In addition to harvesting their own honey, they also made products from bee-wax like lip balm, soap etc. Another farmer was selling fresh herbs like basil, rosemary, sage etc - I resisted the temptation to buy it all and reined myself enough to only walk away with a heavenly smelling pot of basil.

In a country full of super-processed, chemical laden food with a penchant for over-eating and obesity; a farmer's market in a small testament that America is finally learning to eat right. I have noticed this time around that there are a lot more organic produce on super-markets shelves, better labeling and healthier food choices. The rest I believe, will follow - hopefully soon.

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

pale blue dot

2010-03-07T21:39:00.008+05:30

Photo Courtesy: NASA ©

The images of the Indian Ocean and North America were produced by researches at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center using images from the Terra satellite more than 700km above the Earth's surface. This is part of the Blue Marble series which is pieced together from thousands of images taken over many months by the satellite's remote-sending device Modis, of every square kilometer of the Earth's surface. These are the most true-colour images of the Earth released to date.

Looking at these images I can't help but recall Carl Sagan's words from his book 'Pale Blue Dot'. It is also the name of a photograph of the Earth taken by Voyager I in 1990 from a record distance . It features the Earth as a small blue dot in the black vastness of space suspended on a sunbeam. Below is an excerpt on the subject from a public talk he gave at Cornell University on October 13, 1994.

Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every ’superstar,’ every ’supreme leader,’ every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

I'm posting this here today to remind us why we do what we do.

eating the rainforest

2010-03-03T11:37:00.025+05:30

Photo Courtesy: Lush Cosmetics. Wash your hands off palm campaign

I have been thinking about how to talk about palm oil without actually saying, "Save the Orangutans" - I have previously mentioned and believe that conservation efforts should be based on economic facts rather than the sympathy factor.

First of all, it must be said that palm oil is everywhere. Up until 2008 in the lead up to the famous Greenpeace campaign against Dove, palm oil was thought to be found only in cosmetics. Today however, palm oil is being used widely in the food industry as well. There is no requirement for it to be labelled 'palm oil' and manufacturers can get away with labeling it 'vegetable oil'. According to Palmoilaction - it is being used in products by Sara Lee, Cadburys, Pringles, KFC, Maggie Noodles etc. The most recent Greenpeace campaign video (below) highlights use of palm oil in Nestle Kit-Kat Bars. I wonder how these companies justify this in their CSR policies.

A previous post on wide-scale deforestation in Indonesia talks mainly about illegal timber. Palm oil means even more money than timber to some people. Global demand for palm oil is now more than 40 million tons per year making it the mainstay of Indonesian and Malaysian economy. Much of the land used for the cultivation of palm oil was former rain-forest. The destruction of rain-forests not only means habitat destruction but loss of valuable carbon sinks.

China, India and other emerging markets are the biggest buyers of palm oil. Since it is a cheap form of vegetable oil containing no trans-fats, it is used widely in food preparations. It is also a feasible source of bio-diesel - the irony is not lost to me. There have been several reports stating that preservation of rain-forests mean more money than its destruction but palm oil means the money comes quicker. Intact rain-forests contribute in many ways to a nation's economy by means of eco-tourism, carbon finance, etc.

A study in Conservation Letters last month estimated that if REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) is included in a cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gas emissions, payments for "avoided deforestation" could range between $1,500 and $11,800 per hectare, depending on when the carbon credits are allocated and sold. In comparison, the oil palm market was estimated to generate a net present value between $3,800 and $9,600 per hectare over a 30-year period.

Although a vast proportion of the Indonesian economy is dependent on palm oil, there is a way to make it more sustainable and the key here lies in increasing productivity in the areas already under cultivation without destroying new forests. How is this possible? Consumer awareness. When demand for palm oil reduces, the destruction of forests for oil will taper off. When this kicks in and carbon finance money is paid out, some of this will be invested into sustainable options thereby uplifting people out of poverty.

I honestly do believe that people living in crushing poverty do not destroy the environment out of malice but simply because they have no choice. Unless nations that are better-off demand that exploitation cannot continue, local governments of poorer countries will not seek alternatives. A seemingly micro-issue like palm oil is connected to the much larger macro-issue of food production, global warming and the global economy. The next time you go shopping consider this: you might be eating the rain-forest without even knowing about it.

Oh! and Save the Orangutans...

flee fleas!

2010-02-17T18:13:00.012+05:30

My dog has suddenly become infested with fleas and ticks. I think ticks are the lesser of the two evils as they are easy to pick out and easy to kill. Fleas jump, don't die easily and cause my poor pup to constantly itch. In addition to his woes, he also has a bad case of doggy dandruff. The idea of using strong chemicals does not appeal to me for many reasons. First, his infestation is not so bad that it warrants the need of pesticides. Once before, I did use a chemical pesticide on him and he went into shock shortly afterwards which was a scary experience that I don't want to go through again. Second, I think it will make the dandruff worse. Third, most ecto-parasites are utterly immune to strong chemicals that it seems pointless to put him through the risk. The active ingredients in these solutions include chemicals such as imidacloprid, fipronil, permethrin, methoprene, and pyriproxyfen, all of which have caused serious health problems in animals in laboratories. Other forms of flea control - powders, collars, and sprays are no less harmful.

So with my arsenal of fighting tools reduced to the bare minimum, I began intensive internet searches for best possible herbal remedies. There were several things suggested among which:

Rub aromatic oils like eucalyptus, citronella, lavender, tea tree oil mixed with an almond oil base directly onto the animal if infestation is bad
If infestation is mild to moderate then dilute these essential oils and spray onto the animal or use as an oil bath and spray its bedding etc
Using a citrus repellent which involves cutting lemon into quarters and steeping in boiling water, cooling and then spraying onto the pet as well as its living areas
Feed animal with garlic, brewer's yeast tablets, apple cider vinegar as fleas don't like the smell of these
Using diatomaceous earth
Herbal flea and tick powders

So today I gave my dog a bath with herbal, chemical-free, human anti-dandruff shampoo and conditioner. The shampoo contained aloe vera and tea-tree oil in a creamy base. His last rinse consisted of a few drops of pure tea-tree oil in the bath water to take care of the dandruff. Once he was thoroughly dry, I rubbed a mix of turmeric and water into places where he itched the worse then dusted him all over with herbal flea and tick powder. After that, I let him sit for a couple of hours and I sprayed him and his bedding area with a mix of citronella and eucalyptus oil - I spray his bedding everyday anyway, in order to prevent mosquitoes from biting him. Essential oils like lavender and tea tree oil can be used only for dogs and not cats. Although these are good for control of flea infestation, prolonged use may result in lethargy and nausea.

I'm going to wait a week and see if this helps. In the meantime, I will continue with the spraying, dusting and watching for nausea. My next step will be rubbing him with eucalyptus and almond oil and perhaps the lemon spray. I have also been giving him vitamins to help with the dandruff. Perhaps, I will also try the garlic if he actually eats it. I have no idea where to buy diatomaceous earth so will skip that for now.

Previously, I have used a paste of neem leaves and orange peel for ticks post-bath which was very effective. He did look like a sad alien-type dog for a day until the pack fell off though. What I like most about herbal remedies is that even if he does end up biting himself, he won't be ingesting something that is harmful. The added eco-benefit is a big selling point.

Products used:

Himalaya anti-dandruff shampoo
Himalaya Protein Conditioner
Himalaya Erina-EP Powder

Himalaya is an Indian herbal drug company that makes herbal products for both animal and human use. Would love to hear from you about herbal remedies that do and don't work. Leave me your thoughts!

the business of cards

2010-02-11T17:05:00.012+05:30

My post today is inspired by the fact that I had to get business cards printed. As I am in the 'green' business obviously there is the need to walk the talk. In my quick, preliminary research for business card printers online I found two companies in the States that offered eco-friendly business cards. One called Greenerprinter offered cards printed on chlorine-free, 50% post-consumer waste recycled paper. They were printed with VOC-free, soy-based inks and cost a bomb (in terms of what you would expect to pay in India). I also found another company called Pixxlz which offered all manner of eco-friendly things including business cards. I also found the EcoPrintingGroup approved by the FSC that provided a lot of paper products. Ultimately, I wasn't terribly comfortable with the idea of getting them shipped all the way from America. I didn't find very many companies in India who offered business cards except for Printbell. An email to their customer service team confirmed that they offer only 310 GSM 60% recycled paper and no information on the inks they used or if the paper was chlorine-free.

Armed with these facts I did a quick, simple cost-benefit analysis and am going with Printbell. I'm still unsure if they offer VOC-free ink; but all logic suggests that air-freighting business cards from America surely is more harmful than VOC-full ink. I'm still waiting for the cards and hopefully the reviews on the site match up to expectations.

Recycled paper products form a number of varieties which is worth educating yourself about. Each ton (2000 lbs) of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 390 gallons of oil, 7000 gallons of water, and 4100 kwh of energy. It also eliminates 60 lbs of air-polluting emissions and saves 8 cubic feet of landfill space. Recycled paper often matches the characteristics of virgin paper and is available in a range of colours that does not compromise on print quality. Chlorine-free paper is unbleached and does not contain chlorine which means that harmful chemicals including dioxins are not released into water supplies.

How do you get started? First of all look for recycled paper. Recycled paper products usually contain a symbol that looks like this - which indicates that it is made from recycled content. This is not to be confused with which merely means that the product can be recycled. Secondly look for the highest percentage of post-consumer content in the paper. This indicates the amount of waste paper collected from consumers and reprocessed. Pre-consumer waste paper is also available and this is manufactured from paper trimmings from paper mill and printer, printed materials that never reach the consumer etc. Thirdly do not fall for labeling that proclaims paper products to be 'environment-friendly', 'natural' etc. The Environmental Defense Fund has an online paper calculator that you can use to figure out paper needs.

There is a gamut of information online about the benefits and importance of recycling. Recycling is one the most easiest, simplest ways of reducing wastes. With a plethora of recycled products available in the market there is no excuse for anyone to use virgin material be it plastic or paper. For a quick check-list of recycling facts, look here. If there is one green-habit you start today; make sure that is recycling and the use of recycled products.

100!

2010-02-10T18:50:00.003+05:30

This is my 101st post and the shortest one yet. I never really thought I would sustain this blog for so long. For the next 100 posts, I hope to increase readership and get some of this stuff actually published. Thanks for all the support - it kept me going! :-)

join the roar!

2010-02-10T16:34:00.016+05:30

Stripey the cub (in photo) has become the symbol of the tiger conservation movement and the recent Save our Tigers campaign initiated by Aircel*/WWF. The year of the Tiger rings in on 14th February and with this, there is predicted to be an increase in demand for tiger products.

India is working very closely with China to ensure that poaching is curbed on both ends of the supply chain. Beijing's co-operation is critically important in order to ensure the survival of the species. With only 50 tigers left in the wild in China, poachers are likely to intensify their efforts in India. Is someone addressing this issue?The site also gives information on tiger reserves and tiger density in each reserve - out of the 37 sanctuaries in India 17 face a collapse in tiger population. I have previously blogged about the plight of our national animal and since then nothing has changed really, in the overall scenario.

So what can you do? According to the website which is not very informative you can donate, blog, tweet, or join the Facebook page. The Aircel campaign has its heart in the right place and it is a great start to creating awareness; but its impact remains to be seen. Since Project Tiger which has been the most successful program in the 70s lost steam; tiger conservation has always had its lulls and rises. There has never been a concentrated effort to increase tiger numbers, reducing poaching and ensuring protected habitat remain that way. More importantly there has not been much transparency, advocacy or public involvement in the process. Every census releases varying numbers regarding tiger population - for example, does the site explain how the number 1411 was arrived at?

Latest technologies in animal conservation and expert consultations are the need of the hour. It is also highly essential for the public sector and civil society organizations to attack bureaucracy. More importantly it is essential that every tiger campaign, indeed every campaign keeps people in the loop. The newest WWF initiative is an interactive map that gives a status report of tigers all over the world. According to their latest numbers there are 3200 tigers are left world over in the wild. Like I have argued previously, conservation efforts are dependent on rate of biodiversity loss which is tied into economic losses. Stripey no matter how cute and how much celebrity support he garners, will not stir public sympathies for too long unless a holistic picture is provided. I hope someone from Aircel is reading this: more information is needed on their campaign objectives, how they plan on achieving them and where they're getting their numbers from - for starters.

* Aircel is a mobile phone service provider in India

Photo Courtesy: www.saveourtigers.com

eggplant interrupted

2010-02-10T15:39:00.014+05:30

I have spent a lot of time ruminating the phenomenal decision taken by Jairam Ramesh, India's Environmental Minister. I have concluded that in the face of corrupt politics and skewed ideas of agricultural progress: it is a monumental affirmation. It is more power to the GM Free India Coalition, to the science of right and indeed, farmers all over the nation.

Today I am slightly stunned because I doubted if this moratorium would actually happen - so clearly resounding its logical voice and based so solidly in scientific fact. This decision has come after public debates, back and forth consultations, news cycle after news cycle, protests and general chaos which is a confirmation to the power of people. The government will listen, it has to listen when what is being demanded is something as basic as safe food.

The hold on the commercial introduction of Bt Brinjal comes after key brinjal growing states announced their own state bans. The states of West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar which account for 60% of brinjal production announced a ban earlier this year. This was followed by bans in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand etc. The massive public pressure on the Environmental Ministry also has played an important role. Through a Greenpeace campaign alone; 40,000 emails landed up in Jairam Ramesh's personal inbox protesting the introduction of Bt Brinjal. These two important factors have worked together to lead to this triumph. It is a day of celebration for anti-GM campaigners, every sane politician (Sharad Pawar does not qualify), brinjal farmers, consumers and the glorious heritage of Indian agriculture.

Brinjal, eggplant or aubergine is indigenous to the sub-continent and India grows over 2000 varieties of brinjal in over 500,000 hectares of land. It has been doing so for almost 4000 years. I do wish the Indian government will take a cue from the outcome of the campaign and devise methods to change agri-policy by pushing for more organic food, less pesticide/fertilizer use and definitely no GM. The humble brinjal has become India's most talked about vegetable and I predict; the symbol of the country's anti-GM movement and hopefully from here, a desperately needed agricultural revolution. Jairam Ramesh has kept his promise for a "fair outcome", he is indeed the man of the hour and has restored a little faith in Indian bureaucracy.

However celebrations cannot last long and there is much to be done on the GE front. Currently there are several indigenous crops reaching the last stages of testing like rice, okra, tomatoes - all of which are widely cultivated and consumed. These GM 'events' are sitting in line waiting for approval. So the battle may be over, but the war still remains.

wake up and smell the contamination

2010-01-28T22:04:00.005+05:30

The risk of GM contamination with non-GM and organic crops has long been one of the standing contraindications of the technology. Involving H&M again, there has been an expose that the Swedish clothing chain's organic cotton clothing is in fact contaminated with GM. This not only is a reflection of H&M but also of the Indian organic cotton industry.

30% if the tested samples contain contaminated GM and the cotton has been traced back to India which supplied half the global supply of organic cotton. This means that roughly 107,000 tons of fiber could have been contaminated. Sanjay Dave, the head of the Indian agricultural authority, Apeda, said that fraud was occurring on a “gigantic scale,” and fines were issued to third-party certification agencies such as EcoCert andControl Union as recently as April 2009.

Organic Exchange states that while GM contamination in organic cotton is growing in India--where it is estimated that up to 70% of conventional cotton is produced using GM seed--this is also true for all other regions that grow both organic and GM cotton. Contamination can occur at the farm where GM and organic crops are grown too close together and cross pollination takes place. The resulting seed on the fringes of the organic cotton crop may then contain the Bt gene. Opportunities also exist for accidental contamination to occur as the majority of organic cotton is processed in the same machinery as conventional/GM cotton.

The original expose in the Financial Times, German edition also mentions C&A and Tchibo. Wal-Mart is currently the biggest buyer of organic cotton and should their produce be tested as well? How does this effect the Indian cotton industry?

Cotton accounts for upto 38% of the country's export and the area under cultivation in India is the highest in the world (8.9 million ha). This accounts to 25% of the world area and employ seven million people for their living. This also accounts to huge portions of revenue which will be affected if our certifying bodies are not rigorous enough. Firmer rules need to be in place and enforced along the organic cotton production chain, including third party certification. Clothing retailers as well will keep the industry in check with more involvement in the supply chain and this will work as an additional measure of quality control.

The dangers of Bt cotton are well documented and this is the first major scandal of contamination that could have severe consequences to the cotton industry. When is the Indian government going to wake up and stop pushing for more GM?

tossing clothes

2010-01-26T16:07:00.012+05:30

I came across something in the news recently that was rather shocking. There have been reports of Swedish clothing mega-chain H&M and American chain Wal-Mart are throwing away their unused clothing. Not just throwing them away, destroying them and then throwing them away. This story was covered in the New York Times and it is unsure whether it is the common practice of all H&M stores or just this one store on Manhattan Sixth Avenue.

On the H&M corporate responsibility website of course, there are claims that all unwanted clothes are donated to the needy. This however has its own consequences, the chief among which is that unwanted clothes affect local industries in the country in which they are donated. Although the intentions are good, the negative ramification include increased dependence of the West and downward spiral of the local economy.

In a follow up to the article, there has been another one run the next day with spokespersons from both companies claiming that "it will not happen again" and that the standard practice was to donate unwanted clothing to needy causes. The evidence pointed out in the NY Times article however is completely different. I'm only writing about this to high-light the vagaries in corporate social responsibility. CSR at the end of the day is a document of best practices followed by a company; it is a piece to paper that makes it looks like it is the greenest, cleanest, most ethical enterprise there is, which they well be. However, when even one store in a chain drops the ball, it leaves people wondering about the whole picture.

H&M is a favourite with many people that now needs some serious damage control if it wants to remain so.

close encounters with the endangered

2010-01-15T11:34:00.013+05:30

I spent the last couple of days away from the city in Valparai which is situated in the Western Ghats of Southern India and is famous for its tea plantations and wildlife. About 3500 feet above sea level it is as pollution-free as it gets with strong enforcement of anti-litter/plastic rules and surrounded by rolling walls of green hills all covered entirely in tea. The faint smell of pesticides and fertilizers however do linger in the air which makes me wonder how much is being used to cover all the mountains and mountains of plantations we saw.

This aside, waking up to greenery and the much needed fresh air is a splendid treat. En route, the Indira Gandhi National Park situated in the Anamalai Hills is home to many endemic species that this area of the world is famous for: lion-tailed macaque, the Nilgiri and the common langur, Malabar giant squirrel, elephant, gaur, bison, spotted deer, sambar, barking deer and wild boar. Many of these species are also highly endangered and are being actively protected through many conservation programs.

This area is also rife with hydro-electricity projects which require vast area of forests to be cleared. It also consists of some huge dams like Aliyar, Sholiyar etc. One of the main attractions for me at Valparai was to spot the highly endangered lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) which is also endemic to the area. Recent IUCN estimates place its numbers at 3000-3500. The lion-tail is an old world macaque and among the smallest of the macaque species and the most endangered. International trade is banned by their listing on Appendix I of the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and they are also protected by Indian law.

The lion-tail is shy and prefers to stay above in the thick canopy of trees hardly venturing to the forest floor which makes it not only difficult to spot but also means that it is unable to adapt to any other environment other than its natural habitat which is being rapidly destroyed. On the second day armed with my camera and other gear we ventured out in search of this elusive creature. Our guide got in contact with some wildlife wardens who constantly patrol the area from which they emerge around mid-day which is the forest on either side of the road. The patrol ensures that monkeys are spared from being killed by passing vehicles and people do not stop to feed them.

As we patrol with them they emerge slowly from the thick cover the bravest ones venturing forward first followed by the entire band. They were clinging to every branch and showing off their amazing acrobatic skills. This band of about twenty monkeys entertained and enthralled. They kept mostly to themselves and viewed us with curiosity and rarely kept still long enough for me to get a crisp picture. As they moved they stopped to feed on insects that they deftly pulled out from the hollow trees and shook branches to release seeds from the fruit. They also showed us how cautiously they cross roads to get to the other side.

We were told that this band was particularly adventurous and usually this species is not so forthcoming. Coming away later that day, what struck me most about the whole experience is that how rarely one witnesses endangered animal species in the wild and how much longer such meetings will last...

year of biodiversity

2010-01-04T11:16:00.004+05:30

The UN has declared 2010 as the year of biodiversity. 2009 was year of natural fibers and 2008 was year of the coral reefs. Public understanding and action are the clearest ways to halt loss of biodiversity. Even those climate change skeptics cannot deny loss of biodiversity that happens everyday on a massive scale. Biodiversity loss is even more irreversible than climate change even if one feeds the other.

The 2010 Biodiversity Target is an overall conservation target aiming to save biodiversity by the end of the year 2010. The UN has set a framework on how to achieve this. Prevention of biodiversity loss is a massive undertaking as most of it is linked to rapidly diminishing forest cover which is in turn connected with socio-economic balances within the country. Unfortunately most of the world's richest forests are found in the countries which means a high level of corruption exists which mars any conservation efforts. Governments and NGOs play a vital role is stressing that destruction of forests is not sustainable and instead expend efforts to show people a more sustainable method of using forest products for their livelihood. In a previous post I highlighted some of the factors that make conservation of forests very difficult. There are however, many success stories where forest area has been successfully preserved by involving the local community into its conservation.

I have blogged about biodiversity and its importance previously (here and here). I cannot stress enough the role that consumer choices play in the conservation of the ecosystem. It's a New Year and a new start: to your list of resolutions, add one eco-solution that you can keep and do it. It's easier than you think!

hope springs eternal

2009-12-25T21:04:00.005+05:30

There is one part of the world that has come to a stand-still in a despair of lost hope. There is a percentage that is unaware and still others who are still apathetic. The end of the year brings with it a morose close, of failed negotiations and still uncrossable geopolitical boundaries. The decisions made in the high-tables or the back-rooms of Copenhagen have a resounding implication that will affect every facet of human life.

No other environmental conference has seen this amount of turn-out which in itself demonstrates the high expectations of delegates, civil society organizations and governmental groups. No other environmental conference has garnered immense public awareness and pressure from almost every part of the world. Several events, protests, demonstrations and rallies in the months leading-up to Copenhagen has communicated the concern, worry and expectations of millions of people.

Yet for all the effort and the energy; the hopes of many thousands of people have been dashed. There has never been a moment in human history where so many people have been fighting for a different beat in every corner of the globe. Even the smallest nations have fought for a platform to voice their opinions and are prepared to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the biggest giants. The fact that they have been let down does not nullify the gesture. It reaffirms that we can still come together inspite of our discords and if we stick it out long enough, differences can be hammered out.

This is the first time such a large number of world leaders have joined together to make monumental decisions. There are bound to be frustrations, anger, dashed expectations and false hope. However, there is a reason why we do this: we still believe that we can undo damages caused. Today, I am overwhelmingly optimistic and uncharacteristically hopefully that change will come. I only hope that when it does, it is not too late.

have yourself a merry green christmas

2009-12-21T20:42:00.005+05:30

I've always loved this time of the year - everything about it makes it conducive to introspection and time with loved ones. Everywhere, there is an intangible feeling of hope as old things come to an end and new beginnings commence. Like with most festivals, the true meaning of Christmas has always been enveloped in a frenzy of commercialism. How can we remove ourselves from the mall-madness and get in touch with the true meaning of this season?

"Peace on the Earth and goodwill towards Man" can also be extended to mean: more eco-consciousness during the season of festive joy. There are plenty of areas where you can choose to go green and here is a small list:

Trees: Real or Plastic? I hate the thought of plastic trees no matter how convenient or re-usable. Real trees always add more the holiday atmosphere but are not the greenest option; a good compromise is to buy a potted tree that can be replanted in your backyard or donated to parks. There are several options to even rent a real tree and even choose the same tree year after year. If you must buy a real tree then consider recycling it and look into local recycling services in the place where you live.

Lights and Candles: Change your Christmas light to LEDs. They're more expensive, but last much longer and use 80% to 90% less power than conventional mini bulbs. LEDs, which cast a bright white light, also stay cool to the touch so they won't singe the tree - or your fingers. Reconsider the amount of lighting you may use - do you really need to light up your entire house? Consider candles made with bee, vegetable or soya wax which are more eco-friendly than paraffin which is a petroleum product.

Gifts, Cards and Gift-wrap: Think of eco-friendly or green options for gift giving. Click here for a list of green options. Consider home/hand-made presents and eco-friendly gift-wrap while you're at it. There are several sources of hand-made, recycled gift wraps available which do not use dyes and chemicals. Send e-cards or personalized emails instead of paper-cards. If all else fails, you can always donate to charity in that person's name. Tis the season of giving folks! Lap it up. Give the gift of your time and volunteer in a soup kitchen or simply make the effort to spend it with your close family and friends. This is really what Christmas is about.

Decorations: Keep it minimal, use natural sources. Stringed popcorn and satsumas still work as decorations as well as gingerbread houses. Be creative and make your own ornaments which all adds to Christmas fun. There are several green options of decor as a quick google will show you. Consider making wreaths of herbs or a branch of the tree decorated with fruit and natural material. Think of using natural, organic poinsettias, mistletoe and holly berries. With a little creativity the options are endless.

Food and Waste: Be mindful of what you are consuming over the holidays and also be mindful of what you throw out. Try not to over-shop and use all food items that you do buy - both can be achieved with a little planning. Plan a small menu of excellent food instead of a superfluous mediocre one. Go organic, shop in the local market. Think of ways to keep the washing up to the minimal. Keep recycling and composting through the holidays and remember to switch the lights off.

Use this as a guideline, but don't stop here. Be creative, thoughtful and considerate. Merry Christmas!

d'accord?

2009-12-20T17:03:00.009+05:30

The 'historic' Copenhagen conference ended after two weeks of dead-lock with a haphazard all-nighter resulting in an unfinished assignment. Remind you of college anyone? The last-minute agreement which is the Copenhagen Accord has been praised by China, currently the biggest carbon emitter. No prizes for guessing why: the agreement is nonbinding, which encourages major polluters to make deeper emission cuts but does not require it. If memory serves right, thats what happened the last time with Kyoto!

The only silver-ish lining in this whole debacle is that the rich countries have pledged $100 billion a year by 2020 in aid to poor countries in order to implement green technologies. This pledge spear-headed by America already generates several doubts, chiefly - in the midst of a financial crisis, where can they get this money to simply give away?

Whilst several countries have made declarations of internal emission cuts, none of them are legally binding. Developed nations may already have the infrastructure in place in order to commit to these emission cuts. However developing countries even India and large parts of China have no infrastructure in place to deal with rapid development and growth that they foresee - with no legal measures in place, where will responsibility towards the commons come from?

The good guys and the bad guys have not changed one bit and this is disheartening to note. The United States and China are the biggest emitters and they have somehow managed to walk away without any legal bindings in spite of pressure from Japan and the EU. India's over-ambitious plans have no bearing without solid directions for their enforcement.

Inter governmental negotiations are complex as admitted by several delegates and many have expressed disappointment at the current outcome. Many others are hopeful that this is the first step towards the goal of a legally binding treaty. Lack of accountability makes environmental processes haphazard either within international or national jurisdiction. This is further reinforced by the lack of transparency on the part of governing agencies.

Quoting UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon it is a "significant first step" although he admitted that, "much was left to be done"

the big Cop out

2009-12-20T16:12:00.009+05:30

I have purposely avoided writing about the Copenhagen conference because I decided to keep my sanity. Inter-governmental negotiations are almost always a waste of time and energy; however, as the world doesn't have a better method, we trudge on with it. Disappointments at Copenhagen have been a long time coming and reaching a decision on the last night of the debacle is hardly the way to go about it.

So far my impression on Copenhagen is the following: The Russians are defunct, Obama and his Nobel - big whoop! Brown is going, "Golly, this isn't working". China won't jump on the boat without US support, India won't do it without China. Brazil keeps topping polls as the country most concerned about climate change. The EU of course are the under-dog good guys. Japan is showing signs of commitment but who cares because they are so small. Hilary Clinton says on the last day after an all-nighter that progress is being made. Basically they've put out 46,200 tonnes of CO2 for this all-round joke of a meet and greet.

Copenhagen represents a classical geopolitical dead-lock, a socio-ecological conundrum. The last minute deal called the 'Copenhagen Accord' brokered by Barack Obama with China, India, Brazil and South Africa did not receive universal support from the 193 countries participating. The accord, which gutted a comprehensive agreement to pay poor countries to protect their forests, since the mass cutting of trees accounts for 20% of global emissions, is not binding and does not have a set date for capping carbon emissions. Sudan's chief negotiator, compared it to the Holocaust, while Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, said that the world is smelling of sulphur and referred to Obama as Satan.

Ian Fry of Tuvalu, the drowning island-nation that has become the poster country for the perils of rising sea levels, likened the accord to "being offered 30 pieces of silver to betray our people and our future".

Copenhagen in short, has become a playground of bullies calling each other names, refusing to play nice, not even acknowledging the bigger picture. Leaders of the world, grow up!

changing perception of business

2009-11-19T19:23:00.005+05:30

Growth at current rates cannot be supported on the precept of development. The definition of sustainability does not offer any explanation as to how this rate of growth can be supported because it assumes that resources are running out and that we are compromising the future generations’ ability to enjoy the current quality of life that we have. What it also fails to address is how sustainability can be a business model.

Businesses are equated with profit which is equated with growth. All growth demands destruction. The definition of sustainability in itself is anti-growth, which is why the incorporation of the concept of ‘sustainable growth’ becomes difficult. The previous generations were used to unprecedented rates of growth with little or no concern towards environmental issues.

The ominous environmental constraint that we feel now is changing the way we think about ‘business as usual’. The global impact we have on the environment is slowing making the phenomenon of globalization and by proxy its downstream implications like, off-shore manufacturing a redundant concept. The realization that there is a difference between ‘price’ and ‘cost’ is hitting all businesses hard.

We have effectively managed to push economic growth, societal well-being into a corner and using the concept of sustainability as the life-ring to ensure that business as usual can proceed. The concept of big business is on its way out. The new business model is one that consists of social entrepreneurship at its core, both in the service and manufacturing sector.

For a concept to be truly sustainable, it requires the involvement of the people in the grass-roots. Business decisions can no longer be made in the board-rooms of the world; it requires involvement from people on the ground in massive scales. This concept has long been idealised as social development. This is the concept that is going to be the future of business. Social development negates the phenomenon of the tragedy of the commons which is the root of environmental problems. If people are involved in the building of something, they will not destroy it. It encourages the exchange of technological advances and traditional knowledge. It is a concept that has a bottom-up escalation of ideas and encourages horizontal management.

In the traditional model of economics, pollution and thereby destruction of these was considered a ‘negative externality’. Now we know that the true cost of doing business also factors in this externality; in fact any economic model that still regards the environment as an externality is ultimately an anti-growth model. The time now is to devise concepts that will pioneer a new business model of true sustainability where the barriers between the developing and developed world are broken down and there is exchange of ideas between both.

The world of the future will consist of increasing population putting pressure on available resources. The challenge would be to ensure employment, education, accommodation, nutrition and health care at the basic level. Increase in level of prosperity and the rise of the middle class in countries like India and China will see further increase in energy consumption patterns. In order to meet soaring demand for commodities, the new business model will first have to address the question of supply in relation to price of products. Secondly it has to address whether cheaper manufacturing is necessarily better manufacturing and whether the price of goods today is worth the cost of resources tomorrow. Finally it will have to decide the kind of services that will enhance quality of life and ensure environmental protection and disabuse. In order to rebuild the world for a better future, it is not possible to be merely idealistic but also have a business idea to offer that is employable and benefits people of various regions.

In order to rebuild the world for a better future, it is not possible to be merely idealistic but also have a business idea to offer that is employable and benefits people of various regions. It is crucially essential now, to do business for the world.

fake plastic world

2009-11-19T15:05:00.006+05:30

I was having a conversation recently with a friend of mine who lives in London. She is endeavoring to grow her own vegetables in a little box on her terrace, have a bird feeder and plant flowers. Is totally convinced that being green is the new way to live and eschews all things non-organic, processed and packaged. She longs for an Utopian world where everybody grows their vegetables in little boxes and has cows in their backyard, composts and plastic is a thing of the past. She is one of those rare Londoners who makes it a point to cook, never visits a supermarket and buys all her food from organic shops or the farmer's markets. She longs for clean air and vegetables unlaced with London grime and exhaust fumes. Little does she know that her Utopian world exists - in Asia.

So I proceed to enlighten her about people who have cows in their backyard, grow their own vegetables without pesticides, compost and reuse everything they can lay their hands on. She is amazed at the extent in which people can be fatalistically innovative in reusing and recycling.

Here in India another friend in Bangalore who has been living abroad for a long time and has recently returned cannot stop gushing to me about how India has become 'like abroad'. Everything is convenient, you get ready-made meals that you can boil in bags, everything comes packaged so neatly - cereal, juice, milk in cartons. With an excited squeal she tells me nothing used to have cartons before she left which was about 15 years ago.

15 years ago, we all carried reusable cloth bags to carry our shopping back in. Nobody used plastic with abandon back then, it was expensive. 15 years ago it used to rain with unerring regularity every monsoon, people did not consume so much processed, packaged food, we drank fresh juice and nothing was 'ready-made' or 'instant'. I believe we were happier then.

There is this huge sector of population in the West who are desperately trying to live the 'Eastern' way and vice versa. What is sad about this is that in the East not only are we aping the Western way of life, we are also ignoring the problems that come with it, nor do we have the system in place to cope with the amount of stress it puts on not just the environment but also our basic way of life and our health.

Don't get me wrong, I think there are lot of Western ideas and ideals that are essential for progression. But they have begun to realize that there is something intrinsically wrong with the way they live. We will too if we go down the 'ready-made, instant everything' route, in about fifty years, by then it might be too late. It is essential to find a balance now between western conveniences and eastern traditionalism.

The point I'm trying to get at is this: there will always be trouble when you choose a way of life that focuses too much on the fake plastic world.

feminization of nature

2009-11-17T21:13:00.009+05:30

Everybody knows that plastics are bad, but have you ever stopped to wonder just how bad? I've decided to tackle a subject which is viewed as controversial by many but something that has been on my mind for the last couple of years since I read a phenomenal book by Deborah Cadbury. 'Feminization of Nature' is just as ground-breaking as Carson's 'Silent Spring' and I do hope that I am forgiven the use of the title for this post. In the book Cadbury talks about how pollution from plastic manufacture, use and degradation releases a class of chemicals called phthalates which mimic the female hormone, oestrogen. They are added during the manufacturing process to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability and longevity.

This chemical accumulates by biomagnification through the food-chain. This means that the top predators have the highest concentration of the chemical. The book was published in 1997 and it examines evidence and reads like a scientific detective story that uncovers adverse changes to human and animal reproduction. It starts off by stating a Danish study that reports a 50% drop in sperm count in fifty years, confirmed by similar studies in Edinburgh and Paris. It also questions the startling increase in hormonal cancers like testicular, prostrate, ovarian and breast cancers.

Not only are these chemicals affecting human reproduction but there are many species that are showing signs of 'feminization' that shows increase in hermaphroditism, reduction in sperm count and quality, production of eggs by males etc. All of these changes have been linked to these man-made chemicals that act as 'weak oestrogens'. Since hormones are the most potent chemical messengers in the body that act directly on the genes, they are crucially important for proper reproductive functions. What is truly frightening is that we are all eating, drinking and breathing in these chemicals and they affect babies even before they are born. They are literally changing the way we reproduce.

Recently BBC news ran a small article on the subject with the latest research findings by a team from the University of Rochester - phthalates have been termed 'gender benders' and they are found in literally any form of plastic. This new research shows that it affects the way that boys' brains function and shows that male foetuses exposed to high levels of these chemicals prefer to engage in more feminine play habits. The EU and California State have even banned toys containing phthalates for a few years now, but this does not stop it from showing up in milk bottles which are used to feed babies. Various forms of phthalates are used in every form of packaging (and non-packaging) you can think of including PVC flooring, shower curtains, paints, printing ink etc etc.

So what can we do? It boils down to a lot of things that I have been writing about so far: reduce the use of chemicals in every avenue of life. Reduce use of plastic, rethink your makeup, your clothes, your toiletries. Bring your own bag. Be kind to the Earth because what you throw out comes back to you somehow or the other.

holy fish!

2009-11-16T19:23:00.006+05:30

Photo Courtesy: www.treehugger.com

You may have read recently about a Japanese trawler capsizing as the fishermen were hauling up a catch of jellyfish. Scoff if you will, but the Nomura jellyfish or the 'giant' jellyfish can grow over 6ft wide and weigh up to 450lbs. They are one of around 200 species of coastal jellyfish that exist around the world.

Jellyfish swarms have been occurring with increasing frequency in the recent years. These swarms are detrimental to the fishing industry and already there have been numerous cases of financial loss. Entire catches of fish have had to be discarded because jellyfish poison makes it unsaleable. The invasions cost the Japanese fishing industry up to $332 million a year. Increasingly polluted waters off China boost the growth of microscopic plankton that the jellies feed on. Additionally construction around the harbours provide a safe-haven for jellyfish larvae to cling to. As adults they swim on the currents flowing in from China causing major problems for Japanese fishermen. Similar such spawns of Mediterranean jellyfish have also affected salmon farms in Ireland, causing large scale financial loss.

Climate change has resulted in the warming of oceans and has allowed some of the almost 2000 jellyfish species to expand their ranges. They have also started appearing earlier in the year and increase their overall numbers. This same phenomenon has also been observed in ticks, bark beetles and other pests which have spread to new latitudes, increase in number due to warming of temperature.

Increase in jellyfish numbers indicate an unhealthy ocean. It means that the predator-prey balance has gone awry. Overfishing has eliminated many of the jellyfish's natural predators - animals like whales, sea turtles etc which feed on jellyfish and actively reduce their numbers. Overfishing also means that there is more plankton available for the jellyfish to feed on thereby earlier maturity times and increase in their numbers.

In order to alleviate this problem there needs to be stricter laws concerning fishing and pollution control. Active culling of the jellies is a solution that attacks the symptom but not the root cause of the problem. Ocean ecosystems world over are under tremendous stress and unless the fishing industry, governments and consumers grasp this - problems much worse than this will prevail.

On the flip side, innovative entrepreneurs are trying to process and market the Nomura jellyfish as appetizing food choices. Would you eat a giant jelly?