An eco example

Typing the words Chennai and `eco' in Google, or Google news fetches far few results than for cities such as Bangalore and Mumbai.

It's heartening then, to note that there are green stories out there too after all. This one appeared in The Times of India some days back. But am pasting it along anyways, because we as humans need such green examples to lead us. In every city. Every village. And every sphere.

Indra Kumar is a machine operator turned green activist.

He didn't have to read rocket science to turn his residence into an "green" home. He is inspired by the simple, age-old chemical process that every housewife in India is familiar with. "If you leave a bowl of milk behind for five days, how will it smell when you come back? Rotten, right? But if you put a drop of buttermilk into it before you leave, you'll find fresh curd!" beams Indra Kumar (59), whose 1986-built house has now become a pilgrimage for those wanting to do their bit for the environment — be it farmers from Arakkonam or school students from Chennai.

Bishwanath Ghosh who has penned the piece goes on further to add:

"Here, smell it," says Indra Kumar, as he opens the lid of the septic tank in his garden. One instinctively recoils, but its contents look as harmless as accumulated rain water. "Is there smell?" No. "Do you see any mosquitoes?" No. "That's because I treat sewage with a certain bacteria," he declares. The bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, neutralise the sewage to turn waste into manure for plants in his garden.

Then, the earthworm takes care of the liquid waste from the kitchen. Under the drainage pipe, Kumar has buried some worms which not only digest the organic matter but also feed on mosquito eggs. And at the spot where water from the bathroom drains out, he grows cama plant, whose roots treat the soap water.

Solid waste from kitchen is collected in an earthen pot and dried cowdung sprinkled on it periodically. "Any smell?" Indra Kumar asks. No. "Any fly?" No. "In 60 days this will turn into beautiful compost," he exclaims. He treats leaves from the garden similarly: collects them in drums and sprinkles dried cowdung on them till they turn into compost. "This way, you give back to nature what it gives you. People often burn dry leaves, which only causes pollution." 

Wish Chennai had 100 such people who set the ball rolling and turned the city green. It's an uneasy feeling when one notices a daytime oven turn into a cool haven at this time of the year. Global Climate Change's little symptoms!

Please define `eco'

It's overdone. The precarious one-third of a word - `eco', that has come to define character these days.

In reality it has to do with anything that brings about balance and harmony in nature. In market reality it has become a victim of greed by companies out there to outsell their products and brands.

Let's consider three examples.

Eco-housing for instance. What exactly does an eco-house mean? How exactly do you define a Green home? Should we as suckers for image politics get stuck up with that self placating tag and become convinced that the label will somehow thwart off disastrous global climate change?

What is an eco-friendly house? One that minimises energy alone? Global market forces are trying hard to bury under the carpet, effects of mortar and chemical material in construction by merely focussing on energy efficiency.

Ideally, an eco-friendly house should use only local material for its construction, be it bricks, sand, tiles, flooring, or even plastering. If the soil dug up to lay foundation is re-usable as bricks, there should be every effort made to do so, by making cement-and-soil bricks. Solar lighting (the unfortunate poorer word) or home windmills should be made compulsory just as solar water heating is mandatory. Rain-water harvesting should be the norm, not an option. I am not talking of individual homes alone here. The need is urgent, to incorporate mass housing that is eco-friendly.

The unfortunate thing: Builders try to pass off any and every project as `Green' by introducing a token environmental-friendly feature, but sticking to those lawn-scaping structures that do not have even rainwater harvesting to speak of. Not able to believe? Just look out for those glossy Sunday realty ads in the newspaper.

As for products, we have `energy saver' refrigerators, energy `efficient' lighting, washing machines that `conserve' water and what not. Why are we forgetting the the plastic that still goes into making these products? A refrigerator is made of plastic, and so is a washing machine. Hardly any talk is focussed on completely alternative ideas.

We still advertise bath-tubs and showers in the name of luxury and status. Isn't it about time we spoofed at them and reverted to changing the language there. Using a bucket and mug to bathe, or even having a sponge bath instead of a shower should be clamped down as a value, not a choice with that `I am doing you a favour' attitude.

Finally, let's talk of recycling. What exactly is recycling? Does picking up a plastic cover from the supermarket every month and looking at ways and means to reuse it really mean recycling? Why do large scale super bazaars insist on thrusting their branded plastic covers on customers? It may cost them a little more, but they can always give the option between cloth bags and plastic bags! In cities like Mumbai, it is a breather that reselling furniture is a rage even if out of necessity. But to what extent can you reuse a material, specially if its quality is pathetic? And in a largely conservative society, is there any effort at all to introduce recycling as a religious value?

Computer vendors tell me that the flatscreen monitors selling these days have a life of hardly three years as against box monitors of 10 years ago that would last about five years. Where does a refrigerator go after it has outlived its use?

Our problem is chronic. We as humans settle for anything below a certain quality, forgetting that it also means more burden on resources. We believe in the standard business attitude of profiting from a sale with reduction in product quality, rather than selling a product that lasts longer.

You only have to look around at all the cheap material products around to understand.

The starkest bit of such image exploitation is of course those realty ads with magic words like `eco', green and ultra poetic words such as heaven in the hills.

Panacea to Home Pollution

All the hoopla on global climate change is turning more into a diplomatic battle between superpowers of the world and poorer countries.

In the melee, something as serious as pollution and temperature rise outside of homes - indoor pollution, is not talked about. Save for those `how to' manuals online and reams of newsprint that insist on clean homes, there is hardly any material available on how to keep dirt in the air away at home. Or to keep pollution at bay. And air fresheners do not suffice in cleaning up such atmospheric grime.

New research has thrown up something really interesting. It is true research must be looked at with some suspicion in this age of market driven and at times company sponsored research. Something published in the telegraph today however hardly needs any authentication. It's something the back of our heads know, but are not willing to acknowledge.

UK's Telegraph reports about findings of a research that goes thus:

New research shows that ornamental plants can drastically reduce levels of stress and ill health and boost performance levels at work because they soak up harmful indoor air pollution.

Researchers have now identified five "super ornamental plants" which every workplace should have to clean up indoor air.

They include English ivy, waxy leaved plants and ferns.

According to a World Health Organisation report in 2002, harmful indoor pollutants represent a serious health problem that is responsible for more than 1.6 million deaths each year.

Tens of thousands of such plants are available in India too. Hardly any research goes into them however. If research gets done at all, the world outside of those labs does not know it. It's about time we looked at the value of such plants around home to save ourselves. In times when even terraces have become out of bounds for apartment residents, indoor flora becomes the last resort. And for good reason.