Scenarios
The word "sustainability" is commonly referred to mean the resilience and sustenance of current practices without impacting the environmental and social balance.
Here are a few environmental and social scenarios facing us all - we call it scenarios as some of us may not see these as issues unless we ourselves understand or experience it in our daily lives. Amongst these scenarios, you will see a common thread running across all of them. The issues are complex and interlinked. We don't believe there is one single solution out there to 'fix' these "problems". Look around your school or college, your home, your community. There could be similar scenarios developing which concerns or intrigues you or which you are curious about. Your entry can address one or more of the scenarios presented here. OR, you can write about other related scenarios beyond the ones presented here. For more on participating guidelines, visit the guidelines for participation.
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Garbage Dumps - One day they are all going to blow on our faces..
images/thumb1-big.jpgDo we really know what happens with our trash? Do we care? What would we change now to know and be sure that waste management is really handled and sorted like how we know food processing-knowing where each component is utlilised and how the cycle completes itself?
Now I know that you don't do this. But doesn't it just get you hassled when people throw their garbage out of their kitchen window or even throw their plastic packets out of a train window or on the side of the road? In India, if the waste leaves my sight, that’s enough, even if it is just on the streets outside my house.
Do you know that these massive dumps of garbage create methane gas in their insides that is periodically let out to stop large explosions from happening? This is the kind of thing we are dealing with really.
Is there a solution? After all, cities are growing bigger and more people are generating more waste that needs more management. Perhaps, small local initiatives to at least segregate our organic and non-organic waste would be a good idea? (There would be no methane explosions if our garbage dumps were only plastic and paper). Perhaps we can carry out local composting in our colonies? I don't know.
And what about all that plastic and paper and newer materials and packaging that end up in waste dumps every day? I am sure all this needs a good hard look and some follow up action. Or let me make a statement: Recycling plastics is not a solution at all! Can you find out why I am saying that? There are many such interesting details about the things that we consume and throw away. Then again, do you know what happens to garbage in the place you live? All this is still the story of garbage in cities and towns - is it very different in villages? What say - want to dig around in the dirt a bit?
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When is it enough food ?
images/thumb2-big.jpgUnited Nations Human Rights Commission says: "The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, have the physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement".
When we try to implement that great ideal in a country like India though, we find the realities pretty troubling. You might have read or heard about the right to food debate in the media. We have, for example:
• Green revolution made India self-sufficient in food requirement
We produced too much from little land
• Fertility of soil is affected by excessive use of fertilizers
• Land is decreasing Vs. Population and we stil 300 million are without enough food
• Surplus food rotting in food godowns
• People who produce the food also ironically being the ones who don’t have enough food for themselves
• A public distribution system (PDS) for essential supplies which is considered a problem or a solution, depending on which side of the debate you are on
• In the PDS there are different kinds of cards like BPL, APL (Below or Above the Poverty Line) etc and not all poor have a card of any kind
• A huge debate about whether government should give people subsidized food or money or both, or enable people to earn so they can grow or buy their own food
• Yet another large debate about whether genetically engineered food or organically grown food is the way to solve the problem of hunger, can organic farming sustain our demand??
To make sure that people of India have a right to a minimum amount of food the government has drafted a National Food Security Bill. Go out and see what is happening in your city, town or village. Find out what people from different sections of the society - your parents and neighbors, teachers, councillor or panchayat member, news reporters, government officials - have to say about this.
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What tales of times and places does water around you tells you?
images/thumb3-big.jpgIt’s Simple:
Track your Water from Source to Sea/River where it is disposed as sewage.
Track all related details in the path of your water.
And it’s not just about where water is coming from, it’s also about where it goes after use. In my city, most of the sewage from houses and apartments end up in the lakes of the city.
It is all somewhat messy and I am convinced that there is a reckoning that we will all face soon. It needs a radically different approach for the city to address its water woes. And this is not just about everybody conserving water. One needs to look at the complete cycle of water consumption and figure out ways to manage it sustainably. Want to take it up?
Do you live in a city or town where you get municipal/corporation water from a tap? Do you know where this water has come from? This is a fascinating subject if you take the time to look at it in detail. Let us look at the various water sources that people use. These may include: Streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, springs, rain water, canals, open wells, bore wells
Have I missed out anything? Did you notice that the list started from natural sources and then moved on to artificial sources? Also did you notice that except in bore wells, in all the other sources, we can see how the water level is going up or down? In Bangalore, India where I sit writing this, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board brings the water from the Cauvery river 100 km away and raises it up 3000 feet to get it to its consumers.
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Perhaps the answer is blowing in the wind, in the sun?
images/thumb4-big.jpgWe get our electricity from the following sources:
Thermal power plants that burn coal or oil or gas
Hydroelectricity from water stored behind big and small dams, Nuclear power from well nuclear fission
Now potentially all of the above have huge impacts on the environment. The large hydroelectric projects would have already done the damage they had to do when they displaced villages or submerged entire ecosystems under water. The thermal plants continue to degrade environments for their fuels and create their pollution for every unit of energy we consume. And the nuclear - particularly after the Fukushima disaster, people everywhere are questioning how safe nuclear power is and are protesting against setting up nuclear plants!
Governments and industries and people have been trying to produce energy from various sources - some have even done it from rice husk! But, nobody is very clear about how this will all finally play out and I will let you investigate this in more depth on your own. And tell us what you find… Is there a way - or combination of ways - in which we can manage our energy needs?
Oh before we think is over, I said, "energy needs"? What are these "energy needs"? Where did they come from? Did our grandparents need so much? How and why did it increase? In above analysis, where you play the Energy Strategist, is it also possible to analyse these needs and think of ways to reduce them?
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Energy : how much is enough ?
images/thumb5-big.jpgEnergy is a big word. But let us just look at how we use electricity and fossil fuels in our daily lives. I have been noticing more and more people sitting inside parked cars with their AC on. And there are more and more air-conditioned buses also in the city these days. And this is Bangalore - the city which everybody agrees has a pleasant climate, at least comparatively. What would be the case of other cities, then?
Now, do you know where the electricity you consume comes from? How far does it travel before it reaches you and can you find out what losses happen along the way? What kind of energy is converted in your part of the country? Hydro, coal, oil, gas, nuclear? How much oil do you use as fuel for your vehicles every month? How much cooking gas is used every month? Where does the fuel and gas you use come from? So, do you know what environmental pollution your consumption of electricity and gas and oil help to create? The thermal power station that lets me run my appliances is polluting someplace far away from me - that means I am okay, right?
How about putting down how much energy we consume in its different forms? Is it the same for everybody in a city or do different sections of the society consume different amounts of energy? Is it the same across cities - what might be causing the differences? How about the smaller towns and villages - where power cuts are more the norm and people still walk or cycle to places? Are the needs of villages, towns and cities, then different? How much energy does each household essentially need to live what you would call a good quality life?
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Transport, Travel - How do you decide ?
images/thumb6-big.jpgTravelling to work, in own car/ SUV is product of modern values and status symbol developing a model of highly efficient public transport.
We can learn from models like Tube-train in London!!
It's a tricky territory, shouldn’t government develop a public transport system or may be it already exists but the issue is personal and behavioral?
We are not saying no to your car, we are just asking for a more sustainable model of daily commuting. Can you suggest any solution/idea or a more pragmatic approach??
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Malnutrition, what a shame
images/thumb7-big.jpgWhat do you feel when you see the image of a hungry child? Is this still a reality in India? After all, global power, growing economy etc are the words used for India these days.
What is malnutrition? Is it a serious problem in the country? Why do you think this is happening? Is it because our farmers are not able to produce enough food? Or is it that there is enough food, but it is not reaching everyone adequately? (In fact, how do you think food from farms reach people’s homes?) Have our crop patterns and food habits changed? Could this have anything to do with hunger and malnutrition? Is lack of education or awareness in some ways related to malnutrition? Is malnutrition a problem of the poor, or can rich people be malnourished too? Find out more and tell us about it…
Have you heard of HUNGaMA report??. The report was about Hunger and Malnutrition (and so, HUNGaMA) and it says that in the 100 districts across 6 states, 42% of the children under the age of 5 are underweight and 59% are stunted (chronically malnourished). Releasing the report, Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh called this a national shame.
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Can we coexist peacefully on the planet with other species?
images/thumb9-big.jpgBy design of nature, there existed an unsaid understanding between man and animal. Lived happily in own abode.
But today we hear stories like animals increasingly coming to human habitat and creating havoc..
There are stories from almost every forest, from villages, from cities all across the world about how the human-animal conflict is playing out. The basic problem is easy to understand. Animal habitats are being systematically destroyed or fragmented. So, humans and animals are forced into conflict situations.
What went wrong? In quest of urbanization.. did we assume our moral right over planet and took animal who are equally important stakeholder of planet for granted ??
Man-animal conflict.. is it a old territorial fight humans fought among each other.. this time it’s between man- animal ??
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How green was my valley and will it remain green?
images/thumb16-big.jpgEver wondered what is the ecological history of place where you live or study??
May this very piece of land could have been a lake or a forest till recent past??
What is the damage to the bio-diversity we have caused so far??
Any ideas on how we could keep the world from further damage or pass it on to future generations in a better state than it was handed to us?
Over the years, I have noticed how the various landscapes have been changing. The visible symptoms, like the lack of density of the forest, are pointing to the devastation of the local biodiversity. I can only guess at the levels of damage that have been done..
"If today is a typical day on planet Earth, we will lose 116 square miles of rainforest, or about an acre a second. We will lose another 72 square miles to encroaching deserts, as a result of human mismanagement and overpopulation. We will lose 40 to 100 species, and no one knows whether the number is 40 or 100. Today the human population will increase by 250,000. And today we will add 2,700 tons of chlorofluorocarbons to the atmosphere and 15 million tons of carbon. Tonight the Earth will be a little hotter, its waters more acidic, and the fabric of life more threadbare." That was David Orr, a professor of environmental studies, talking in 1991. If you know what that means, you will find it truly frightening and today, in 2012, things have only become worse.
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All the "stuff" that we consume has a story to tell
images/thumb17-big.jpgOk, the first question here is, have you seen this wonderful 20 minute animated movie called ‘The Story of Stuff’ that is available on the internet. If you have, then you don't need to read the rest of this note. If you haven't then you should. This is what the description of the movie says on its website.
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
So what are you waiting for? Take a look at the video and then you may discover that there is a lot you can do about the story of stuff. For example you may suddenly see through the advertisements of soft drinks and potato chips and special shoes and hear what they are very carefully not saying about their products. Think about a typical day in the life of the average human being - the stuff he buys, consumes and throws away. Is there a solution coming to you as you analyse the situation?
http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-stuff/
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As we embrace modernity, will local cultures necessarily vanish?
images/thumb18-big.jpgNature is infinitely creative and diverse. And so were local cultures across the world. Until the juggernaut (do you know where this word came from? Find out. Very interesting!) of modernity came rolling along, slowly displacing the local cultures and erasing the diversities - even in a land like India which is celebrated for its diversity.
So, is modernity bad? The truth, as always, is much more complex and interesting. Modernity came with its inherent problems like all other socio-economic systems in human history but it also came with some great fundamental advancements for humanity. And I am not talking just about cell phones, but of historical developments like the abolition of slavery across the world. If you start looking through the various viewpoints that people have about modernity and its blessings and ills, you begin to get glimpses of the truth.
Modernity may be really okay. In any case, it’s here and we are all part of it. But the vanishing of the diversity of local culture seems like a sad thing - there are so many traditional systems of knowledge, medicine, celebrating nature etc. . What do you think? Can modernity prevail while local cultures also remain within the fabric of our societies? How do you think that can happen?
Ideas for further research:
Modernity vs local culture
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Nature has beauty and brains
images/thumb10-big.jpgFrom amusing stories of migratory birds to fig stories and the fig wasp* to how animal communicate. Ever wondered why birds of paradise are called so ?does nature have brains too?
Nature is designed to be perfect in many unique ways.
Why don't you go and figure out many other fascinating stories of nature’s cleverness, while I go out into the evening to watch the birds come home to roost? Don’t forget to collect more of these stories that you see around you and share them with us.
I love the story of the mutuality between the fig trees and the fig wasp. Have you heard this one before? It goes like this... the fig tree has covered flowers! Now how can a flower that is inside something be pollinated? Unless the bee is inside too, isn’t it? That’s the fascinating thing. The male bee hatches from eggs laid inside this cover and their whole job in life is to mate with the female bee that comes in through a small whole in the cover. The male bee is wingless and blind and never sees the outside world! When the egss hatch the young female bees leave from a small hole in the cover and that is where the pollens are so it takes it to another flower and pollinates it.
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Is development equal to urbanization ?
images/thumb11-big.jpgTo put in simple language, urbanization is what happens when the number of people in a place becomes very high and most people are engaged in non-agricultural livelihoods. Usually, we say a place is urbanizing when more and more people from villages or other places migrate to this place or when a neighbouring city/town expands into previously rural/village areas.
Here are some random facts and ideas:
• The livelihood patterns are changing rapidly in both rural and urban settings
• Cities are becoming bigger and bigger, often swallowing up rural areas around them.
• After migrating to urban areas, usage and relations to water, food, resources and houses change a lot. Some people say that people in the cities consume too much, consumerism is a name given to this phenomenon
Why is all this happening? People move in search of a better life, work, and education. Maybe, even government policies and big businesses have a role to play?
When I look at all the facts and ideas above, I see a collection of dots. Do you think you could help draw a picture by joining those dots to make better sense of the infinitely complex dynamics within society at large?
Ideas for further research:
The 2011 Indian census and its analysis in the media
Urbanization and its effects on families
The joint and nuclear family structures and their differences
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Energy – How much is enough ?
images/thumb19-big.jpgEnergy is a big word. But let us just look at how we use electricity and fossil fuels in our daily lives. I have been noticing more and more people sitting inside parked cars with their AC on. And there are more and more air-conditioned buses also in the city these days. And this is Bangalore - the city which everybody agrees has a pleasant climate, at least comparatively. What would be the case of other cities, then?
Now, do you know where the electricity you consume comes from? How far does it travel before it reaches you and can you find out what losses happen along the way? What kind of energy is converted in your part of the country? Hydro, coal, oil, gas, nuclear? How much oil do you use as fuel for your vehicles every month? How much cooking gas is used every month? Where does the fuel and gas you use come from? So, do you know what environmental pollution your consumption of electricity and gas and oil help to create? The thermal power station that lets me run my appliances is polluting someplace far away from me - that means I am okay, right?
How about putting down how much energy we consume in its different forms? Is it the same for everybody in a city or do different sections of the society consume different amounts of energy? Is it the same across cities - what might be causing the differences? How about the smaller towns and villages - where power cuts are more the norm and people still walk or cycle to places? Are the needs of villages, towns and cities, then different? How much energy does each household essentially need to live what you would call a good quality life?
