A scene from my lovely New Year morning

It has been more than 5 years that I never stayed more than 15 days in India and I almost forgotten how sustainable one can live in this land. There are many problems in the system, infrastructure, and government but apart from that people still live sustainable almost without knowing.

Generally you don’t have to use electricity in your home during the day. Though it’s apartment or villa, generally every building is built with a lot of strategic windows so that daylight can pass in abundantly. Thanks to fertile land, landscaping around the buildings and setting up new habitat in case of habitat loss happens almost on it’s own. Many people have a habit of turning off lights when not in use, in the attempt of saving electricity bill, if not for the love of mother nature. So occupancy sensors are not needed at all in at least these homes. There are not recycling stations or no easily available charity pick up points. But anything you don’t need doesn’t get wasted, you can always pass on these unwanted items including food, clothing, home items etc to less fortunate people you come across every day in the form of domestic help, watchman, cleaners etc. One man’s junk is other man’s treasure! You can always sell the unwanted papers including newspapers or other paper scraps. The metal scrap pays you more than plastic scrap. But still there is always somebody who buys any form of scrap material from your home and take it to the ultimate recycling point in industries (paper/plastic/metal production etc) to earn their bread and butter.

These very basics of Sustainable living or even Green Buildings are followed by people in India since years and that is the secret of India’s very less carbon footprint per capita.
On a personal level, my carbon footprint has reduced to record figure. I have started to walk more and use transport only when I have to travel far. Very interestingly here in India, once the residential buildings are built, many basic, as well as other services, start in that area. There is no aid from the government in this, the community and the services are set up by people themselves. Where there are new residential areas, people start their small businesses in and around that new area so the walkable community services are formed automatically.
So for me, most of my needs are fulfilled in my community and I can walk up to all those necessary services. We save electricity in many ways without taking any extra efforts. You can depend on natural ventilation throughout the year except for a couple of harsh summer months in Most of India. We don’t need clothes dryer during winter or summer, but you can’t skip it in rainy season :). When you can get domestic help abundantly here in India, this way you do not just save electricity in the washing machine, dishwasher or vacuum cleaners but you provide employment too.

The solar hot water system is widely popular and you get to see these units everywhere. Also, portable compost units are gaining popularity, where you can deposit bio-waste from home and compost is made in a few days, which can be used in your garden. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle is well penetrated in Indian culture since years. You get to see many examples of reusing items in every household and in every community.

There isn’t much pollution around my place, but this is not valid in any crowded road junction in any city of India and metro cities in India are highly polluted. There is big trouble with noise pollution along with air pollution. I don’t understand why people blow horns on any road though it’s main roads in the city or any small colony road, it is definitely related to the lack of road discipline.

One very serious problem I could see in my Sustainable India is water. Godavari river flows through my city and one of the serene parts of the river is walkable from my home. But when you actually start admiring the beauty of the river and floating lotuses in it, your attention is attracted by floating garbage near the banks of the river.  Here in India, there are many natural sweet water sources, I don’t think there must be any other country blessed with so many rivers, lakes and groundwater table other than India. So one expects that there won’t be any problem for drinking water. But because of all sort of wastewater including industrial waste and drainage black water is drained to these natural water sources without many processes, all natural water available is polluted. Not just that but even after a lot of dams are built on many rivers, the freshwater availability is still dependent on yearly rainfall. There isn’t anything done much on large scale to harvest rainwater. All of the rain falling in the city and in the country flows back to these rivers and lakes or on a good note forms groundwater table.
In cities, you can have 24 hours of flowing water taps only if there is a groundwater table in your building premises. The bore-well to this groundwater is the only solution. Otherwise building management or watchman has to do water management by cutting water supply to all apartments during specific times. The local authority supplies drinking water only two times a day, morning and evening. The same water is stored in water tanks in every residential building for all sort of water uses. There is no supply of gray water by local government for flushing toilets or watering plants. The plumbing systems in buildings also do not account for these kinds of facilities. Onsite water recycling is also not as popular.

The step for water conservation needs to be taken on the local level in every town, city, and village in India. All I can do at my home is reduce flow rates of taps and reduce flush tank capacity to save water apart from teasing my younger brother first thing in the morning if he keeps water tap open while brushing his teeth! 🙂

Wish you all a Happy and prosperously Green New Year 2013!

Flower from my window garden