jumping back

So a little while ago, as I was deciding to re-start blogging on this blog, I accidentally managed to delete a bunch of my old posts. So it says that the last time I updated this blog was in 2011, so the posts in the interim have disappeared into the dark space of blogosphere. I've given up trying to retrieving them - anyway, new year, new start and all that so I shall start by updating you with what's been happening.

I moved to Madras, city of incredible humidity, gorgeous winters, and endless beaches. Right now, it is the said gorgeous winter and therefore you won't hear me complaining about the weather for awhile. The city had recently been battered by a 100-year flood in December 2015 and amidst all the chaos and wreckage, there were stories of incredible humanity to be found. I was safely out of town during that time and all I could do was coordinate a bunch of relief trucks with the essentials.

It got me thinking about the fragility of this built up thing that we call Life. It also got me thinking about how often we actually take stock of what we have and what we're grateful for. More often than not, its not about the things that we lose in the flood but the things we discover.

So this little post is a step-back into the world of blogging. I have lots more news, updates, and thoughts to share and will keep writing back as often as I can.

fer auld lang syne...

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 forefront, not just in the Western world but also in Asia. These were visibly 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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'

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

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

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

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...

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?

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

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

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.