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.

elliott bay café

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

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

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?

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

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...

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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.