An Inconvenient Truth (inspired by U.S. Vice President Al Gore)
Childhod memories
I remember from my childhood in Mumbai how everything was recycled. In our balconies, we collected newspapers and magazines, empty glass bottles and cans and actually sold it to ‘Pastiwala’.
Soda was only available in bottles and empty bottles were returned to the ‘Storewala’. Old clothes were collected and passed on to servants or exchanged for steel utensils. Old textbooks were given to poor students or libraries. Leftover food was given to the neighborhood ‘cow’ and other animals, or left in a corner of the garden for the crows to come and have a feast. We were fortunate to feed the underprivileged from the nearby hutment dwelling. No one used plastic or even paper bags. Bags made of Khadi material were very popular with Moms to get fresh vegetables and fruits from the Bazaars. Baskets made from jute or coconut fiber were used. Delivery came in bicycles. Only Fiat and Ambassador cars were available and the ratio of cars/per household was very low – traffic was not a big problem. The trains were running on time (especially during the Emergency). Pollution was under control. Garbage was minimized. We enjoyed the monsoons, and looked forward to a downpour or two which flooded the streets by a few inches so that we can get a day off from school. Going to Juhu Beach was a pleasure with clean beaches and water. A few vendors were selling chaat and coconut water. In the science class, we learnt about the benefits of ‘gobar gas’ and how it could solve India’s energy problems. Economic necessity dictated recycling; not necessarily because we were enlightened about pollution. The extremes and excesses of development and progress had not yet touched India. The term ‘global warming’ was not even coined yet.
Vedic heritage of pollution control
Mr. M P Mohanty wrote in Hinduism Today, “India has a culture and heritage of holding every form of life in esteem. Indeed, even the unloving aspects of nature, the rivers and the mountains, the rocks and the forests are imbued with divine significance. These beliefs had long been incorporated in our acts of daily living, making all the civilizations of this sub-continent which have preceded ours, eco-friendly in a manner hard for the present-day world to appreciate fully” Dr J N. Puri, an environmentalist and social activist says. “yes, we have a great tradition. After taking our bath, we offer water to the Sun God, plants and trees. We used to live in Joint Families, waste little, eat vegetarian food. We used to live in houses made with local, environmentally-friendly materials. Now plastic bags choke our drains. Temples were built in such a way that we could listen to the sages without loudspeakers. Nowadays, noise pollution has penetrated. Before eating we used to offer a portion of our food for animals and birds. That is preserving nature. We are forgetting our tradition.
The price of development
Economic development has taken over without any checks and controls. Many things have changed in India. Plastic cans and bottles (especially water) have become ubiquitous. Recycling is going backwards. A few years ago the smog in Delhi and Mumbai was unbearable. Record proportion of the urban dwellers has breathing problems or related diseases. Though disrespectful, it was not an easy task to take a dip in River Ganges at Haridwar or Varanasi. Going on walks at Juhu Beach became an obstacle course of avoiding garbage. Trains were overcrowded. Road traffic was worse than on LIE (Long Island Expressway). A 20 minute car ride to downtown Mumbai now takes over 90 minutes. Even noise pollution was a big problem. Population had increased dramatically. Garbage per capita has also increased. But, a viable garbage disposal or recycling policy has not yet been developed. The year before last, Mumbai recorded the worst rainfall in a few hours and broke all records. In places where historically we did not have more than a few inches of flooding, now we had a few feet. The whole city came to a standstill. I was in Mumbai last monsoon for a family wedding. Again, we had record rain (though less than the year before). When I had left home in the morning, it was drizzling. When I was returning home after an hour, the drizzle was a downpour. I was stuck in a rickshaw. I saw the water collecting on the roads. The rickshaw driver still had nightmares from the year before, and advised me to walk home so that he could return to higher ground. As I was walking home, Linking Road began flooding – in less than fifteen minutes the water had risen to my knees. All cars were marooned on this main thoroughfare. I walked home in the water. In a few hours, the water had risen to a few feet. Power lines were disconnected. Phone lines were dead. This was Mumbai in 2006 – a far cry from the Mumbai of the 70’s and 80’s which I had left behind. Global warming had impacted India too. We have contributed to this phenomenon too. I have, and you the reader have. How can we make amends?
An inconvenient truth
At last we have a political leader in the US to take lead on a real issue impacting humankind. Global Warming is not a figment of someone’s imagination anymore. It has already touched (in a negative way) almost everyone in the world – and if we do not do anything about it, the future generations will definitely blame us for creating it, and not doing anything about it. Al Gore writes in his book, “Each one of us is a cause of global warming, but each of us can become part of the solution: in the decision we make on what we buy, the amount of electricity we use, the cars we drive, and how we live our lives. We can even make more choices to bring our individual carbon emissions to zero.
What can we do about it?
Here our some examples from his book on how we can contribute positively:
1. S ave energy at home – choose energy-efficient lighting and appliances; heat and cool your house efficiently; insulate your hose: conserve hot water; reduce standby power waste; switch to green power
2. M ove around on less – use mass-transit where possible, drive smarter; buy hybrid cars; telecommute form home; reduce air travel
3. C onsume less and conserve more – simplify your life and consume less of everything; buy thins that last; reduce waste before you buy; recycle; do not waste paper; bag your groceries and other purchase in a reusable tote; compost; carry your own refillable bottle for water or other beverages; modify your diet to exclude meat; buy local
4. B e a catalyst for change – learn more about climate change; let others know; encourage your schools or business to reduce emissions; support an environment group
Take the mesage to India to: India needs to wake up too and take the leadership too – and draw upon its rich history of minimizing waste. Vasundhara Naryanan summarizes aptly, “The Earth belongs to us only in our egos and avaricious hands. In reality, it is we who belong to Earth, and by wrongly usurping what is not ours and what should be shared with the future generations of human beings, we are indulging in ‘adharmic’ unrighteous behavior.
Let us reverse this trend. One human being at a time – in our own home, family, community and village!
