fake plastic world

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.

talkin' 'bout a revolution

Music is an integral element of revolution. Many songs are born out of times where there has been a struggle for political justice and social liberation. From Vande Mataram in India to Le Marseillaise in France to We Shall Overcome in America, songs of freedom hold a special place because they signify something worth fighting for. The 1960s were a turbulent time in recent history and probably marks the entry of environmentalism in the main-stream. It has now been 40 years since the Woodstock music festival which saw some of the best musicians of that time perform for a crowd nearly half a million strong, and many of the ideas, philosophies, and dreams that grew from those fields in Bethel, New York are still paving the way today. More than just a concert, the event became a stand against war, a peaceful revolution, and a cultural forum for ideas and positive global change--including the environmental movement.

That was a time filled with turmoil but yet drenched in optimism and faith that change will come. I'm innately too much of a realist to ever be a flower child for much too long, but the music of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young etc rate much higher on my playlist than Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones ever will.

Apart from the music with social messages that came out from the sixties, there were also several other environmental warnings that triggered the movement. Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring which was published in 1962 which highlighted the hazardous effects of pesticide use served as the tipping point. Out of the same era also came James Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis and Paul Ehrlich's book The Population Bomb. Other famous names of that era are E.O Wilson, Lester Brown, David Suzuki, Ralph Nader - all environmental pioneers, blowing the clarion for this fragile earth long before Al Gore, Raj Pachauri or any one else.

Scientific evidence of climate change was already being found back then which spurred on the social activism that coincided with the Vietnam War and exploded into the hippie-movement and culminated in Woodstock. The voices of Woodstock were strong, clear, optimistic, perhaps even idealistic but they believed with many of them still active in the environmental movement today. Does music have the power to change? Do we need another Woodstock to shake things up? Do we even believe so purely anymore? Does art for revolution's sake even exist?

Whether music is a tool of activism or a precursor to action is a question to be answered. Whether or not any form of music can change the world is perhaps out there for debate. What is certain though is that music has always inspired the people who actually do change the world.

Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom

'Cause all I ever have: redemption songs

- Bob Marley

environmentalism in india

One of the casualties of climate change is the Indian monsoon. I have blogged about it before and currently Greenpeace in India is running a Rainspotting project in order to study change in monsoons to feed into the larger climate story. Coming in from London to report is Grace Boyle - she is interning with Greenpeace for the course of the summer and has been blogging about her experiences with her own blog that she writes for the Independent. Grace's accounts are often stark and unflinchingly realistic.

Recently she asked me to write a small piece on environmentalism in India and to read it on her blog, look here. Or just read on...

Environmentalism is kind of dead in India. This is my belief; mostly environmentalism in its most basic, intrinsic form is connected to the respect for the commons. Anytime someone teaches you not to litter, that someone is teaching you to respect the commons and by proxy igniting an environmental spark. In the absence of this education, both respect for the commons and environmentalism is a lost concept in India.

Environmentalism in India takes on many different forms however – with most of the urban population, it is something that is hyped and something that is ‘someone’ else’s problem. But they do not know who that someone else is and they refuse the responsibility of that someone else being them. Why should they? – with their fat paychecks, fancy cars and flash clothes?

Rural India – the ‘real’ India in so many ways, the India that is connected to the mysteries of this vast land and intrinsically connected to the many colours of her soil. They know. They notice; the changes, the peril that lies beneath those changes, the heart-break that goes with change that is unwanted. To them this change is almost perverse, like a clarion call before death finally comes.

There are some that embrace change and some that fight against it. On the side that fights, there are several organizations working in India to raise the profile of the issue. Public perception of this is varied from apathy to mild interest to outright support. The last category forms the smallest percentage – the apathy is most worrying. Consequences of global warming – the biggest battle that humankind faces barely brings a reaction to many people in India – surprisingly even the so-called informed young crowd.

So far this ‘green’ movement has been just that – a movement, something that can fade away, something that is ‘cool’ for now – like a fashion statement. The gravity behind it is lost somehow because the messengers are trivializing the issue, dumbing it down to reach across to the masses. My argument: concepts of environmentalism have enough there for it to cross over intellectual barriers – this dialing down is detrimental because it aims for a mass rather than a critical mass to hasten the tipping point.

Part of the reason for the inaction and apathy is that India has never been a revolutionary culture – it has been a culture that quietly hums along, taking everything that has been thrown in its way – accepting rather than rebelling. This has been ingrained in its peoples’ psyche so deeply that it will take much much more than threats of climate change to spur this mighty elephant into action.

death of an icon

To a child of the 80s with the big hair and flamboyance, there are some things that stood out more than others. The first album I ever bought was 'Dangerous' - on tape - which still reminds me of the start of my incredible journey through music, which is a never-ending search.

Armies of Jackson fans are already calling June 25th the day the music died. For me, not a lot has changed because the music still exists. What has somehow been altered is a perception I cannot fully understand yet.

In the 90s when Michael was singing about environmentalism, it was new and radical. In many ways, it still is - but then there wasn't this sense of urgency we feel now. This is exactly what his songs were predicting: that the day will come when we look back and wonder why we didn't do anything about it then.

He was one of the few artistes in that era who sang about socio-economic-environmental issues in the wide, convoluted forum of pop music. He was an intelligent lyricist and a sensitive performer who often got ridiculed for portraying emotion in his songs. The material he chose to sang about always encompassed a lot more than what empty pop portrays today.

Setting aside (as if it is possible) the moonwalking and the thrilling and the unique voice and the incredible dancing and the 'wacko' image and the bling and the plastic surgery, there was a marked dichotomy between the man and the myth. There are those songs that cannot be forgotten and some that are still relevant and others that make us think and still others that make us feel. For me, apart from contributing the much needed originality to the 80s, the king of pop was the headliner of a mass environmental movement. Even if nothing else, it made people aware of socio-enviro issues through his songs.

Death is both dramatic and dramatized even if dying isn't. Heroes are born after they die and the way to immortality is what you leave behind. For someone who has been the icon of a generation, death will be hard to live down. For those of us who call themselves fans or claim to have cut their musical teeth on Thriller or Bad or Dangerous - forget about the images for a second and focus on the words that is still a much needed refrain.

abstracting ourselves from reality

All cultures have grown from the same seed. Every form of rudimentary religion arose from the admiration, observation and study of Nature. Primordial calendars and timepieces were based on the lunar cycle or solar cycle. Ancient Gods were representatives of natural elements like the Sun, Wind, Fire etc and also animal forms. Without the aid of global communication systems every culture stumbled upon the same form of worship in every far part of the globe without even knowing that other forms of human civilization existed. The obeiance of Nature has been the common belief system before the onset of organized religion. Now the practice of the most instinctual form of spirituality is termed 'alternative'.

Poets have written about the subject of Nature for millenia. Wordsworth proclaimed Nature is my guide, guardian and philosopher. Tagore said Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven. Artists from have drawn inspiration from nature for countless centuries with Monet declaring The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration. Scientists from Galileo to Newton to Einstein to Stephen Hawkings, Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins have been overwhelmed by nature's playfulness, mystery, precision, thoughtfulness and endlessly perfect symmetry. The contemplation of Nature is not merely romanticism but the most fulfilling lesson there is. Charles Lindberg has aptly described this by saying In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.

In midst of the fine thoughts and overwhelming respect and reverence by a select few there are others who have not contemplated nature's enormous depth. The loss of the natural world represents the loss of an intrinsic source of inspiration and the loss of the trigger to creativity. The natural world is amazingly resilient. Life is amazingly resilient but both have boundaries that need to be respected if we are to ensure the survival of the human species.

James Lovelock with his Gaia Hypothesis suggested that the Earth has several self-calibrating methods to ensure the survival of life. This mechanism does not pay heed to human species but answers only to the laws of the Universe. When the tipping point of destruction is reached, the Earth will set to restore itself regardless of whether humankind survives or not. Whether we're heading towards self-destruction or not, is a question that is out there for grabs.

This deterioration in our connection with the world around us can be attributed to many things. It could be blamed on the advent of technology, industrialization, fast paced lifestyles, the decline of suburbia, the loss of woodlands, increase in cityscapes, poverty, rise of packaged food and supermarkets etc etc. The fact remains that the vast majority of us have lost this connection and some of the younger generation never have had it. Respect and awareness of natural surroundings does not come from watching television or playing with a Playstation. It comes from having a tree-house, making a bird feeder, having an ant-farm and playing outside. These are the precepts of childhood or at least, the way childhood was. Interaction with natural surroundings on such basic levels is meant to give us a better sense of who we are and make us less prone to depression, obesity and discontent. Today we have everything and more but yet there is a high degree of unhappiness which can only be attributed to the fact that we are abstracting ourselves from reality.

Industrialists are only just realising that free market economics is by and large based on sustainability. In our quest to strive, to seek and conquer we've ignored the first law of viral infection: Don't destroy the host. This is exactly what we are doing. We have essentially forgotten what John Muir said those many years ago When one tugs at a single thing in nature; he finds it attached to the rest of the world.

So what can we do about this? Go back to the basics: ditch the TV remote, take a walk in the park, take up bird-watching, go camping - aim to interact with your surroundings, engage all your senses and observe. Aim to be overwhelmed. This is a connection so instrinsic to every human being that it cannot be lost for ever. Learn from the ones that came before and the ones that still depend on nature for their basic sustenance. We say we are the so-called advanced civilization and yet there is so much that we don't know and some things we may never learn. Do we just choose to ignore our ignorance and instead revel in our baseless superiority?

its not easy being green...

Everybody knows the environmental problems faced today unless they've been living in caves cut off from civilization. The pundits have waxed eloquent about polar ice melting, ozone layer deteriorating, coral-reefs dying, animals becoming extinct, floods, famine, drought etc etc so much so, that the general public is left wondering what the white noise is all about. The environment has become a specialist subject when it need not be so.

Social responsibility as far as the environment is concerned is left in the hands of 'the big guns' with people left floundering especially in countries where the general public can do more. The movement to protect our natural resources has yet to reach the momentum of a revolution that brings 'power to the people' -- until this happens, these issues cannot be tackled holistically.

The idea is to break it down into bits and realise that the world we live in is intricately connected. Harm to a part is harm to the whole, where the converse is also true. Once this is done, the subject of tackling environmental problems becomes easier to handle. Not everybody can do everything right by the so-called book of Laws of Being Green... Kermit had it right - it's not easy being green! Part of this reason is because there is too much information - this blog aims to address the problem of over-abundance of information and break everything down to bite-sized chunks which are do-able.

Doing a few things right ultimately is better than doing many things wrong or worse, not doing anything at all - apathy is the worst kind of negligence there is. I'd like to leave you with that thought for now...