ENVIRONMENT and ME
A relationship that starts with Sustainable Living

'Environment' and 'Me' need to have a mutually beneficial and lasting relationship that essentially demands a sustainable lifestyle that can endure the test of time. Therefore in my opinion, in addition to targeted or focused activities and special events for environmental conservation and spreading awareness, simple methods of sustainable living should be as much a part of our daily life, and as important for us as breathing itself!!!

I take the help of a Hindi proverb to explain my relationship with the environment and my take on sustainable living.

“Utanae Paon Pasariyo Jitni Lambi Sour.”

This old Indian proverb, meaning- “Stretch your feet, as long as your quilt is”- truly encompasses the concept of ‘sustainable living’. 

Earth provides for us and we must live within its limits, without stretching beyond the bounds of our quilt! Unarguably, humanity has to stop choking the very lifelines of its survival and adopt ‘Sustainable Living’ to subsist within one finite planet. Our impact on resources such as land, water, air, biodiversity and fossil fuels requires judicious control. Moreover, we need to do it as one world rather than country or region wise. Nature does not recognize man-made boundaries and the impending doom will not be country wise. Sustainability, thus needs to be considered as a global priority, rather than a regional one; requiring worldwide collaboration and coordinated efforts of individuals, institutions and governments. We must work as one to protect nature, for it to sustain us.

But, before targeting ‘WE’, I do realize that I must look at ‘ME’. Each individual, myself included, has to work towards achieving a sustainable lifestyle. In order to do that, we need to understand the meaning of sustainability and agree to a common definition of ‘sustainable living’.

By meaning, I donot imply the literal meaning, but rather the practical connotation. In more general terms, as per Wikipedia, sustainability is the endurance of systems. The word sustainability is means to uphold. It is derived from the Latin ‘sustinere’- ‘sus’ meaning ‘up’ and ‘tenere’ meaning ‘to hold’. However, understanding this does not help us much, to achieve sustainable living. For that we must go deeper into what impacts sustainability. It is important for us to realize that our food, transport systems, products we buy, every dimension of how we live or work, burdens the Earth. Besides practicing the 3 Rs, in the order 'Reduce', 'Reuse' and 'Recycle', 'Sustainable Living' demands perpetual awareness of sustainability principles in our daily routines.

I start by analyzing my own daily life. While brushing teeth every morning, I remember that less than 3% of world’s water is fresh and one in three people lack sufficient water to meet daily needs. This pushes me to ensure that faucets stay closed until needed and showers are short. Travelling to school by bus or walk, I am reminded that public transport or car pooling, uses lesser fuel per head, than travelling individually; and fuel combustion causes excess carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, responsible for global warming and climate change.

Once in school, I keep in mind that there is ‘NO’ wastage of paper while studying, as paper comes from trees and trees are our lifeline. Come lunchtime, I remember that meals with low food miles, from as lower down in food chains as possible, do not threaten biodiversity; and are healthy both for me and the environment. There is no food wasted from my lunch box either, to avoid undue stress on resources, used up in growing and getting the food from farm to fork. After the meal, I quench my thirst, thinking that every drop in my reusable eco-friendly water bottle is precious, well aware that disposable plastic containers add to landfills and decompose in centuries. I reiterate to myself that unsightly landfills and rotting organic waste are sources of methane, a highly potent green house gas.

Bach home after school, my studies are finished while there is still sunlight and I do not need to switch on the light fixtures. Evening play in lush greenery, reminds me about the significance of afforestation. Before saying Goodnight, electrical fixtures not in use are switched off, so that there is no wastage of electricity.

Evidently, we need to realize that every single action of ours impacts sustainability. Sustainable living therefore obligates an absolute way of life, rather than an ephemeral act or two.

Sustainability has to start from each one of us. However, we must also initiate action groups and share awareness about maintaining a balance between our natural, economic and social systems. Obviously, there are matters that require governmental action, such as ensuring that electricity comes from environment friendly sources, instead of coal; or that urbanization does not cause excess deforestation. However, as consumers, our individual lifestyle choices should entail limited use of resources, so that meeting our needs does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

"We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children." Let us work towards ensuring that, we do not exceed our credit limit and 'Environment' and 'We' can benefit from each other till eternity 

I hope it is noticed that in conclusion I decided to replace ME with WE!!!