Going Eco and Green

 

Waste dump to edible and oxygenating green

I was always in the path of minimalist, be it food, clothing, processes, resource utilisation, finance. Since a decade, the idea of being one with nature and using less synthetic and artificial products is instilled deep inside the mind such that there is always a tendency to " Refuse". Look deeply into all aspects of the refusal and decide to accept and go one step further to " Reduce" the use.

As an initial step it was, reducing the use of books and papers, using recycled materials, repair rather than discard, recycle old notebooks, textbooks and use hybrid ways to manage the literary aspect by using digital literary repositories alongside.

Next, the decision was on clothing, wherein use of cotton, jute, bamboo were the choices along with restitched, remodeled and recycled cloths. Old attires became new forms of attires, some turned into pillow filling, pouches, handbags, scarfs, kerchief, kitchen towels, mats and many more. Sharing, giving and receiving, not only for financial reason, but to promote the idea of reducing and recycling gave an extra thrust to the act.

Both these steps, reduced yearly as well as daily waste production to a significant minimum. Further embarking, was on the fast food containers, broken and damaged articles, which usually go into the waste basket without a thought. Remodeling some of them by moulding, cement, painting, decorating and changing the damaged articles to garden accessories, curios, plant vases and other accessories for cloth and dressing. The covers, bottles, containers all took different forms, went for recycling and stored for future use while buying groceries, stationery or  used as carry bags to transfer articles. 

Controlling the buying spree was the most difficult, where hands have to be tied and eyes closed, whenever going out or near shops. Turning to home- made stuff, as maximum as possible, from raw materials to processed materials was a challenge overcome partly. Kitchen garden, balcony cultivation, terrace gardening, helped to get the raw materials. The question of who first ' chicken or the egg ' was resolved by incubating seeds from fruits and vegetables, trying leaf, stem and root cultivation, manual seed dispersion, saplings to plants till fruiting and again recycling by seed germination. One of the challenges was soil contamination by fungus, moulds and erratic climate. Continuous monitoring is required to check the need for watering, tilling or change of soil. But in the run to achieve good yield, an interesting process which I stumbled upon was to turn the red soil and unfertile soil to fertil, cultivable soil by organic composts. The yield received after this conversion, such as beans, chilly  had extra taste to it due to the fact of personal involvement in each step which led to it. Unscrupulous throwing away of food, which was changed to throwing into pot with unfertile soil had triple effect of changing the soil fertile, getting compost and also germination of any seed in the thrown away organic waste.

The most interesting process was soap making, makeup making ( kajal, lipstick), shampoo making which made once, lasted for more than a year. The raw materials were all home based and natural, skin-type resilient and season adaptive. Germinating the seeds to the level of sapling and planting them was also very interesting with gaining of more information about similar examples from social media and adopting the right method for the weather, atmospheric conditions, soil conditions, sunlight, wind and water. Indoor oxygen producing plants were tried in bathrooms where carbon dioxide and other digestive gases are emanated. It has helped to reduce the bad smell and suffocation along with lush growth of the plant itself. Promoting the growth of primary producers of oxygen such as algae, mosses and fungi was another method to keep the air healthy. Planting carnivorous plant like pitcher plant was part of reducing the extra insects and mosquitoes which creep into the surrounding, disturbing our working space and spread disease; was an extra measure taken to keep a check on the environment which burden us with unwanted pests.

Making corners for our cohabitants such as birds and insects was also part of improving the biodiversity of the surrounding. Keeping water and food, not disturbing cobwebs which do not intrude our space, allowing lizards to be home with us, feeding ants and other insects, keeping pets to improve our connection with nature, building nests and providing shades, were all the acts which took me one step forward to being coexistent.

Sanitation and waste management was supported by pot composting for organic food waste, recycling of re-usable materials - plastics, paper, cloth,glass, use of cloth pads during menstruation, at the point of use- natural disinfection like lemon solution and decontamination like lemongrass water or oil, reducing use of water by using small sized buckets, low-flow pipe systems and rainwater harvesting, reducing the number of toilet flushing by water-level disinfection. Sun bath, decontamination in sunlight, sun-drying are other natural methods being used. 

Energy management initially was not part of the processes in the short term ways of going green. But at the inception itself, use of hybrid heating method for cooking such as match stick or lighter based ignition and electricity based ignition was included in the home system. Induction cooker is used for boiling water and for whichever cooking process which can adjust to its heating pattern. CFC free, efficiency driven electric equipments, frequent electric circuit check for factors which increase resistance and consumption, insulated electric points reduced consumption. Time adjustments of usage and reducing congestion at peak hours was another way to reduce the consumption, bill and other added resources which are utilised. 

Solar power plant installation was at the end of the list and a far fetched, unachievable idea for effective energy management. But, programmatic support of the government - PM surya ghar muft bijli yojana, helped in achieving that once thought, unattainable process and the on-grid system is in place to generate electricity, consume during peak sun hours and transfer the extra electrical energy to the general pool. More than the economic part of the system, the thought of having an inbuilt system of power generation with ability to contribute to the general electric power pool is really self- inspiring and self-motivating.

Electric scooter was also another embark as part of managing the mobility and transportation part in eco-friendly manner. This was also aided by the government's incentive program to buy electric vehicles. Moreover, keeping the existing fuel based vehicle on regular pollution check and keeping up with the latest standards which reduce the pollutants released (BS 6 type, hybrid vehicles) has also helped in reducing personal emissions. 

I have always been a digital minimalist too. Low- end gadgets, moderate quality, need- based gadgets and basic softwares- applications which support our daily life. My electronic gadgets are limited to low-end smart phone, notebook pad, accessories such as earphones, chargers, power banks, USBs. Softwares are limited to few online shopping apps, whatsapp, linked in, and few frequently, most commonly used apps to reach out to friends and public. I also use few academic softwares and applications to aid and contribute to the academic enhancement. Recently, I have made my phone a one-stop solution for time management, writing, reminders, sharing information, reading, meetings, film watching, and many more of my daily routine.  Presently, it has become part of my biological clock such that I doubt whether it is controlling my hormones too through AI.

Initially, I thought complete disregard for digital gadgets helps in going green in a better manner. But as time progressed, I realised that it will only increase the digital divide and would not impact positively in our vision. So, using it minimally, with maximum utilisation, has a progressive and contributory effect on the effort to going green. It helps in staying updated with information, new techniques, new technologies, climate change, innovations and showcasing good examples. It helps in understanding the mistakes and nuances in techniques along with corrective measures to improve the processes. Moreover, sharing your positive output, good examples and new techniques gives a personal good feeling and satisfaction in addition to supporting those with same vision. It also resolves the accessibility, availability and ignorance part of the non-digital world. There is more to include digitally in the green ecosystem such as Wifi (manual, voice, or any other modes) operated electric appliances, water management, cultivation aids and make digitalization inclusive of our ecosystem.

Going eco-friendly in recent times also requires to include disaster preparedness and climate resilience. Keeping the possibility of disaster in mind, knowing your surrounding from soil to humans, understanding the climatic variations in your region are important to be adaptive and adoptive of new suggestions for improvement along with the understanding to discard misinformation, misinterpretation and wrong suggestions. Some of the challenges which I experienced during my journey were; protecting the household cultivation during unpredictable and continuous rains, similarly unpredictable and high temperatures, waterproofing the habitat, insulating the electrical wiring, frequent maintainance of water, electric systems, home accessories and electronic gadgets.

With all its complex processes and efforts involved, continuous monitoring for the processes whether they are in place, taking corrective measures, developing on the basic system created and making it sustainable and part of our life is the road ahead to turn eco and green personally and share the processes with the journey to spread the vision. Persistent efforts, continuous self motivation, need to revive hidden knowledge and information, mixing cultural, traditional ways and accepting support from all possible sources to support your good cause paves the way to achieving your goal.