Time to Reduce, Recycle and Re-use...

I came across a video by Annie Leonard titled "The story of stuff" on facebook and I was completely taken over by it. It is a very sharp critique on consumerism and the mass production of "stuff". I found myself to be a part of this colossal system of mass production of goods and I was ashamed of how unaware I was of how mass consumerism is hurting lives of people and the environment and how unsustainable this system is. At a high level, the key steps which make up this production system are

• Extraction of raw materials - This step results in the exploitation of the earth and it's resources such as trees, wild-life etc. 
• Production of stuff - Raw materials get used in factories for creating goods for mass consumption. These factories pollute the environment by green house gas emissions, toxic waste generation etc. 
• Consumption of stuff - This step is where consumers (like you and me) come in and drive the entire system by buying and consuming these goods
• Disposal of stuff - The last step (which we think of as throwing stuff into the trash bin) 

One could argue that this system has been in place for a while now, so what is different about it now? The point is that in the last few decades things have fundamentally changed in this demand supply chain. One of them is that big corporations and the governments have systematically created an artificial "want" for stuff through advertising and other means cleverly referred to as planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence of stuff. This is key because consumer demand is the driver of the "system". The second one is that the price of the stuff is "rigged" and does not reflect the true cost of extraction, production and disposal of the stuff at an environmental level. The last thing is that the scale on which mass production of stuff happens has grown tremendously. I am quite sure that a few decades ago, by and large consumers bought what they needed (not wanted), the price of stuff accurately reflected the true cost of manufacturing it and the production economies were local rather than global (where consumers had to be aware of where stuff came from and how it had to be disposed). And, I think that this latter system, was far more sustainable and environment friendly.

In order to fix this system, what needs to happen is that consumers (who create the demand which drives this system) need to take the reign in their hands. We, as consumers, should reduce, recycle and reuse our stuff as much as we can...we live on a planet with finite resources and it's time to acknowledge that.

Final thought of the day --  We, as a society, give considerable thought to the next generation's well-being and future by planning for it today. Isn't it incredibly short-sighted of us to not view sustaining the earth and it's environment as something that needs to be invested in today? 

Food Matters...

It's impossible to not notice the current obsession with food, diet and nutrition that exists around us. No matter where we get our news feeds from, there is a constant bombardment of information regarding what we should and should not eat to achieve a certain health goal or in general to be fit. I used to wonder how to make sense of all this information which sometimes used to contradict itself! And then one day I came across a talk by Michael Pollan on TED...I started reading a little more about his work and ended up reading two of his books titled "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food".

It is not possible to summarize in a few sentences what Michael Pollan wants to tell us -- but let me try nonetheless. The first book is a detailed overview of the inner workings of the American food industry, it's somewhat scary and heavy dependence on corn for creation of all food products, the collusion of the government, news media, agribusiness and pharma companies which has created a plethora of corn based (at a fundamental level) "food like substances" and the enormous cost that we pay for these food like substances in environmental and health terms. The second book is an eater's manifesto, meant to be a guide to practice good eating habits. Michael provides some simple (and funny sounding) rules for this -- "Don't eat anything that your great grandmother won't recognize as food", "Avoid eating products containing ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable or are more than five in number", "Avoid food products that make health claims", "Shop at farmer's markets instead of grocery stores" etc. His advice can be summarized in own words as "Eat food (not food like substances). Not too much. Mostly plants". If you have some time to spare, you can listen to Michael's talk in the authors@Google series or read this article in the NY times or watch the eye opening, Oscar nominated, documentary "Food Inc.".

The bigger issue -- that sometimes we don't even realize -- is that we are unaware of how our eating choices as a society impacts our usage of environmental resources (land, water, air) in the production of food. As a society, we have been led to have a very myopic view of food -- where at an individual level we think that the cost of everything we buy as food accurately reflects it's "true" cost to us. We should view our choices with respect to what we eat everyday at breakfast, lunch and dinner as three votes that we cast each day. If we are callous and cast our votes injudiciously, we make choices that hurt us as well as future generations who will also rely on the same environment for food.

Lessons for Living

A few weeks ago, S (my wife, who shall be called "S" throughout this blog ;) ) decided to lead a reader's group discussion on a book titled "30 Lessons for Living"...I ended up reading it and am I glad I did! It changed my perspective of life upside down...I was beginning to get frustrated with the way things were going in all aspects of life. But, after reading this book, I realized what is and more importantly what is NOT important in life. I wish I had read this book earlier but it's better late than never... 

A little bit about the book -- the author, Karl Pillemer, a professor of gerontology at Cornell, undertook a project that involved interviewing fifteen hundred American people beyond their seventies to find out what advice they would like to pass on to younger folks based on their own life experiences. Their advice ranged on topics such as how to be happy on a day-to-day basis, the secrets to a successful marriage, tips on raising children, ways to have a fulfilling career, strategies for dealing with illness and loss, and how to grow old fearlessly and well. I have not read a book that has made me introspect as much in a while...I wish more people read this book and more importantly reflect and ponder on what our elders have to say to us!

Came across a TED talk by Pavan Sukhdev titled "Put a value on Nature". The talk makes the following point -- there is no "real" financial accounting of what we give and take from earth in our society at both the individual and corporate level. So, what if we started putting a monetary value to every resource we use from nature? Wouldn't we start being more judicious and wise with how we use natural resources? Food for thought...

Switching to lighter notes, have you heard Maroon5's "Payphone"? Nothing like that song to get your energy levels up and running in the morning...however, only after carefully hearing the song did I realize that the song was actually about a breakup! I find this a lot with pop/rock music...somehow the emotions conveyed by the music and lyrics are exactly opposite. Anyway, I just enjoy listening to this song...profanity alert though!

Hats off to Satyamev Jayate!

It's been a sad and difficult week...some close friends have moved on to places new and far. Visiting parents, my brother, SIL and nephew also left for their homes...but I convince myself that this is temporary and I can always reach them if I call them. But is it the same as having them around physically? I wish...

Finished watching the last couple of episodes of Satyamev Jayate. It was both inspiring and intensely (should I say?) spiritual...listening to the stories of "ordinary" people doing extra-ordinary things was mind boggling. Dashrath Manjhi, a villager, who chiseled away at a mountain for 22 years alone to fulfill his dream of making access to a nearby city easier, Subhasini Mistry, a poor uneducated woman, who founded Humanity Hospital to provide medical services to the poor, free of charge, Sunitha Krishnan, the co-founder of Prajwala, an institution that assists in rescuing and rehabilitating trafficked women and girls...and many many more whom we probably will never hear about. The message is clear -- anything is possible if we dare to dream, believe in ourselves and work single mindedly towards accomplishing our goal.

Came across an interesting article on the role of the microbiome in humans. It is well known that some bacteria are actually beneficial for us -- what was surprising was the sheer volume of the microbiome that inhabits our bodies and that they are essential for proper functioning of our bodies! They help in ways that we are just beginning to find out...simply fascinating.

Speaking of bacteria, came across another article which provided me with the following astonishing piece of information -- bacteria are allegedly essential for cloud formation and even more important for snow and rain fall. Whether a cloud will eventually cause rain or not is determined by it's bio-chemical content...how little do we know about life? Really??

Musical wanderings this week have revolved around the wonderful song "Darmiyaan" (1:00 to 1:06 being my personal favorite) and a beautiful tarana, "Tanom Tanom" in Raag Hamsadhwani by one of my favorite artists, Veena Sahastrabuddhe.