Hi Guys, It has been a long time since I have posted. It was high time for me on the field. Though I have been working on something of an improvement for Communicating Relevance. I am proud to introduce a basic level blog from one of the ideas called “BEING CURIOUS”. Do take a look at the new website blog.
LITTLE ABOUT BEING CURIOUS
Being curious is an upgrade for Communicating relevance and it will be doing all the creative posting in the field of sustainable and social development. The idea behind BC(Being curious) is to offer a platform for creative minded to present, play, write, display, sing, etc. about the issues that we are facing today in the social and environmental development.The idea behind BC is to increase awareness about the issues related to sustainable development in various segments of it. Such as consumerism, poverty, corporate dominance in economic development, environmental education, behavioral changes through various media, social development, etc. The issues are unlimited but related to each other and very much in various disciplines. BC will use various creative mediums to promote awareness about the issues.
Do spread the word as this is still in the beginning stage and it will become an organization and a community at a larger scale. For the blog follow the following link.
Do let me know at me@raahulkhadaliya.com if any inquiries, suggestions, participation,etc . I’d be happy to help depending on my capabilities.
Thank you and hope to hear from some of you soon.
Raahul Khadaliya
The premier environmental nonprofit shows the ways to transform our consumer culture into a culture centered on sustainability. For society to thrive long into the future, we must move beyond our unsustainable consumer culture to one that respects environmental realities. In State of the World 2010, the Worldwatch Institute’s award-winning research team reveals not only how human societies can make this shift but also how people around the world have already started to nurture a new culture of sustainability. Chapters present innovative solutions to global environmental problems, focusing on institutions that are the principal engineers of culture, such as governments, the media, and religious organizations. Written in clear, concise language, with easy-to-read charts and tables, State of the World presents a view of our changing world that we, and our leaders, cannot afford to ignore. .
Interview with the author : Erik Assadourian: our society needs some serious cultural engineering
For their milk, the cow is forced into yearly pregnancies. After giving birth she is milked for 10 months but will be artificially inseminated during her third month so that she is milked even when she is pregnant. The demanded of production of milk is more than her body can give. So she starts breaking down body tissue to produce milk. The result is an illness called ketosis.
Most of the day the cow is tied up in a narrow stall usually wallowing in her own excrement. She gets mastitis because the hands that milk her are rough and usually unclean. She gets rumen acidosis from bad food and lameness. To keep the animals at high levels of productivity, dairy farmers keep them constantly pregnant through the use of artificial insemination. Farmers also use an array of drugs, including bovine growth hormone (BGH); prostaglandin, which is used to bring a cow into heat whenever the farmer wants to have her inseminated; antibiotics; and even tranquilizers, in order to influence the productivity and behavior of the cows.
In the villages they practice phukan, a method of milking a cow. A stick is poked into the cow’s uterus and wiggled, causing her intense pain. Villagers believe this leads to more milk. In the cities they are given two injections of oxytocin every day to make the milk come faster. This gives her labor pains twice a day. Her uterus develops sores and makes her sterile prematurely. Oxytocin is banned for use on animals but it is sold in every cigarette shop around a dairy. Every illiterate milkman knows the word. In human beings, oxytocin causes hormonal imbalances, weak eyesight, miscarriages, and cancer. Recently, Gujarat started raiding dairies for oxytocin. In one day, they found 350,000 ampoules in just Ahmedabad!
Each year 20 per cent of these dairy cows are sent illegally by truck and train to slaughter houses. Or they are starved to death by letting them loose in the cities. Cows on today’s farms live only about four to five years, as opposed to the life expectancy of 20-25 years enjoyed by cows of an earlier era. No cow lives out her normal life cycle. She is milked, made sick and then killed. Even worse happens to her child. The male calves are tied up and starved to death. Or sent to the slaughter houses. Even Dr Kurien admits that in Mumbai every year 80,000 calves are forcibly put to death.
Perhaps the greatest pain suffered by cows in the dairy industry is the repeated loss of their young. Female calves may join the ranks of the milk producers, but the males are generally taken from their mothers within 24 hours of birth and sold at auction either for the notorious veal industry or to beef producers. Also, once the cow stops giving milk, they are sold to illegal traders and they end up as someone’s bag or shoes. Milk stables which do not have place for cows, leave them out on the road to forage in trash cans for food.
Getting the cows involved in the Urine therapy is not the solution. In China, bear gall bladders and bile products are used to treat a number of complaints, such as fever, conjunctivitis and liver disease. However as the demand for bile increased, Singapore now has a thriving trade, in illegal bear farming. Similarly, if the demand for cow urine increases, we could be facing a similar trade in India, where cows become machines and are kept in tiny cramped sheds with no proper food or water.
In traditional India, the cows roamed free and were milked by hand. The males were castrated (this turns a bull into a steer), and then used to plow the fields. The animals were revered. Their manure sweetened the soil, and was also dried and used as a cooking fuel, and even a building material. The animals were part of the ecosystem, part of the culture, part of the spirituality, and part of people’s families. It can be painful to grasp how far we have strayed from a harmonious, credible, and sustainable relationship with these beautiful creatures.
For those who are curious to know the way animals are treated for human need, want and desire should consider watching a documentary called EARTHLINGS narreted by Joaquin Pheniex as well as THE COVE.
VIA A forward from a friend.
My intention through this post is to create awareness to make the event sustainable as much as possible and not to demote the sport because I know what it feels like to watch existing moments of a global sport. The sport is commercialized over its vision and capabilities by the corporate world. The amount of money and energy that goes into making the commercially valuable things, if companies put in the 1/4th of the same amount to create social and sustainable awareness/contribute to such campaigns, it will make a huge difference to the masses who do not have access to the basic survival facilities such as pure water, education, food, etc. After all what are the companies running after “profits and money”. now is the time to include new type of thinking for social and sustainable development in basic ethics and culture of a company and not just economical growth.
If you thought that those pesky vuvuzela were the worst thing about the 2010 World Cup, wait until you hear about the carbon emissions estimated to be released during the planet’s biggest sporting event. According to a study conducted by the Norwegian embassy and South African government on the eve of the games, this year’s World Cup will emit 2,753,251 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, which is roughly equivalent to the amount released by one million cars over the course of a year–and six times worse than those emitted during the last World Cup.
More details click here
Well this includes the direct co2 emission of the world cup, what about the indirect emission that it started emitting in form of promoting consumerism through media and other sources. Promos of soft drink, sports product, etc. featuring soccer players. It feels like the world media is attacked by soccer news and promos. The news that make less of a TRP is given less time or no time on news channels and small coverage in newspaper. Looks like the world no longer cares about the important things that matter, it’s running after passion, excitement and money, and what about human survival?
No doubt that FIFA is involved in social and sustainable development, here are the few campaigns of present and past. Click here to read up more.
FIFA Campaigns for social and sustainable development
Current FIFA Campaigns:
1) 20 Centres for 2010 (FIFA)
1) FIFA Fair Play: “My Game is Fair Play” (FIFA)
2) “Say No to Racism” (FIFA)
Previous FIFA Campaigns:
1) “Let’s Play, Let’s Build” (FIFA-SOS)
2) “Goals for Girls!” (with UNICEF for FWWC China 2007) (FIFA-UNICEF)
3) “6 Villages for 2006″ (FIFA-SOS)
4) “Unite for Children, Unite for Peace” (FIFA-UNICEF)
5) “Los chicos siempre ganan” (FIFA-UNICEF)
6) “Go Girls!” (FIFA-UNICEF)
7) “Red Card to Child Labour” (FIFA-ILO)
8, “Say Yes for Children” (FIFA-UNICEF)
9) “Smoke-free Soccer” (FIFA-WHO)
10) “Kick Polio out of Africa” (FIFA-WHO)
Have you ever felt neglected because of illiteracy? No because we were many of us never even thought of this as an issue of social imbalance. The whole system of money and social status is based on literacy rate and knowledge.
An incident today at the bank of Baroda, I was there to get a bank statement and the machines were down due to some reason and I was waiting for them to come alive and solve my problem. While I was seating their waiting a guy in his 20′s approached me to help him fill up the deposit-voucher for the bank he was holding. When I looked at the paper it was a withdrawal draft and not deposit, I asked him to get the deposit voucher from the cashier. He stood next to the counter of the cashier asking him for the right form. I was not surprised but curious of what the cashier replied to that guy.
The cashier : ” I do not have time to help you fill your forms, go get it done yourself. I am very busy here can’t you see.” Poor guy with neglected face wandering around the bank looking for an answer to his problem. He was a little shy to ask me again to fill in the form. As I nodded at him asking what happened he came to me asking for help. I then asked one of the guy in the bank for the right form and filled it for him as he didn’t know how to write or read. He wanted to send money to his father in Delhi and had money hidden in his inside trouser pocket. He carefully counted the notes and told me how many of which notes. I asked him to sign the form by himself when I finished filling it, he did it but in broken Hindi, hardly his first name. Once it was done he went and finished it with the cashier, happily left thanking for the help I did.
Now I am still seating there waiting for those machines to come alive, suddenly another guy approached me asking to do the same, fill up the deposit voucher. He was literate in local language but not national and international language. So again I helped this guy to fill up the form, He could not fill up the form because the form was in Hindi and English, and he only knew Kannada. So again a problem for those who do not know how to read or write Hindi.
There are two hidden social issues in these, what about those who live away from home and not literate? another how far does the design help those who only know local languages and not Hindi and English.
I see them as backward by the system not the region or religion. The issue of industries taking over to farmers and other villagers ways of making life and forcing them to look for new ways to earn their livelihood. The issue connects the complete cycle of poor people’s economy and life.
The question remains unanswered as Indian government wants to improve its economy by industrialization.
If we can not help the fellow humans how are we expected to help the next generation. The questions are big and so many. The system is designed for those who can use it by its terms not who needs it the most.
What about a blind guy who wants to send money to someone far away? Does the system have any answer to that? Think how can we solve these issues. Do comment any one.
Today at the moment there are 27 million people enslaved to inhuman conditions away from their family and home. Many of them tricked in to slavery by offering a job in far away land where they do not know the local language or any one else than the slave trafficker. Threaten to killed and violence, these slaves have no where else to go. Watch it your self on Free the slaves
Kevin Bales on how to combat modern slavery
Children bought and sold for their services for small labor. Female children sold for future prostitution aspects and these buyers are all over the world. Eating our society.
The government spends millions to save a child who fell down the drain of 9 inches last week but has no policy to save the children who are enslaved because of poor economic conditions of their family.
A picture is worth a thousand words and a video says millions of them. take a look.
You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I’ll buy you a new car. ~Harvey Diamond
What if we were all vegetarians. not possible if that happens vegetables and grains prices will touch the space not sky and there won’t be enough food for the 8 billion human population in the world. Humans were non-vegetarian in the beginning but later they learned the ways of agriculture, growing and harvesting food from land. Being a non-vegetarian is not that bad but there are consequences to that also. To much meat is not good for a person as well as the planet. and the meat is produced as any other industrial product, torturing animals and killing their habitat, I mean look at the product you are eating is it healthy. In some countries many kids don’t even know what a chicken or mutton even looks like, but they do like to eat chicken salad and beef jerky. Non-vegetarian risks their life span by 1/3. Meat production takes a lot more amount of energy and resources than vegetables and grains. For example 1 kilo of beef takes almost 15500 liters of water.
By being a weekday
vegetarian you not only help the environment but also save money, feel good about those animals being tortured, gain health and loose little weight if you are over weight. In Indian Vedas non-vegetarian food is considered the food of evil. Because of its properties that affect human body and mind. Non-vegetarian food has high proteins and high cholesterol. High protein and cholesterol it makes people aggressive and impatient, dramatically changing human behavior.
Graham Hill at ted talks explains why is it good for environment.
There are many article written on this issue. Meat production in today’s world is cruelty on a peak. The documentary “Earthling” focuses on the other species that ended up serving human in various ways.
There is an article which I found while surfing.
The twelve pigs were huddled together at the far end of the pen, standing quietly, looking apprehensive. One of the men in rubber boots pulled a metal chain down from the wall and advanced upon the nearest animal, approaching it from the rear. Then he bent down and quickly looped one end of the chain around one of the animal’s hind legs. The other end he attached to a hook on the moving cable as it went by. The cable kept moving. The chain tightened. The pig’s leg was pulled up and back, and then the pig itself began to be dragged backwards… the creäture was suddenly jerked off its feet and borne aloft. Shrill protests filled the air.
“Truly a fascinating process,” Lexington said. “But what was the funny cracking noise it made as it went up?”
“Probably the leg,” the guide answered. “Either that or the pelvis.”
“But doesn’t that matter?”
“Why should it matter?” the guide asked. “You don’t eat the bones…”
For more follow the link : http://www.lifepositive.com/Body/holistic-recipes/recipes/vegetarianism.asp
How many non-vegetarian have it in them to kill, clean, cook and eat an animal. Just because it is easy to buy it from a store in a fancy package does not mean it is easy on other things related to it. I am a vegetarian by birth but I have seen people killing a goat as a sacrifice and eating it as “Prasad”(a food/material substance that is first offered to a deity (in Hinduism) and then consumed) after the ceremony. Firstly they feed the goat too much food so that they can get more out of it as always humans have wanted. After that they tie its neck and rear feet and pull in opposite direction while the goat is standing and screaming for breath. Than one person will stroke its neck with a special knife to discard its neck from its body. Many times it’s done with a blunt knife and the goat ends up in enormous pain bleeding and screaming for death but they let it scream and die painfully. Once it dead they remove all the parts of its body and cook meat. And present it to the god made of stone and decorated with various metals. Afterwards the site is left uncleaned and flies will buzz over the left over meat parts and bloody mud. Where are the human ethics?
Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them. ~Samuel Butler, Note-Books, 1912
For starters being a vegetarian on weekdays might help towards becoming a vegetarian. I think it also promots spiritualism in some sort of way.
ONE HUNDRED & ONE REASONS TO GO VEGETARIAN
Sustainable packaging ideas, today according to many measures need of eco packaging has increased according to earlier years. Every packaging which has plastic is not safe either for us or the environment. The reason being its packaging processes, raw material used, after use pollution, weak recycling policies, etc. these reasons have a bad influence on our very own climate and environment. The need of the hour is new packaging ideas and technologies which can work similarly as the current solutions of packaging.
There are many existing bio materials for packaging available. The formulas are lying in the research papers and scientific experiment books. The real application requires it to be out in the market for commercial use. There are a few examples of packaging I found online. there are many I’m sure. The ideas are great and good to put them to test. But at last they have a purpose of selling what is inside them and that matters most in case of commercial products like food. Because the food in side the pack is not always good to have such as soft drinks are not good for health as they are full of sugar and other added flavors. Against that the packaging which can be converted into football after use is a good example of both social and sustainable design. as it targets those who actually need it and not want it. If we as designers look into the complete life cycle of a package and where all does go, it can create new ideas and interesting food for thoughts. Social responsibility is something we should start looking as one important part of out design process.
A universal packaging system, A flat sheet of recycled cardboard marked with a grid to fold and make containers.
For more go to http://www.packagingoftheworld.com/2010/05/universal-packaging-system.html
Dream ball designed by http://unplugdesign.com/ The aid box has a pattern printed on it which later can be concerted into a football after using it. This product targets to the third world children who can not enjoy football due to their financial conditions.
Coke bottle concept, A square profile bottle for saving space while transporting by that means utilizing all the space that is available.
Puma packaging idea for green design, package cum carry bag, Puma’s new packaging is made to reuse and recyclable materials
Return mailing system for recycling by Preserve tooth-brush. It serves more than it is doing now.
PACKED AT PRESERVE – SENT TO SHOPS – SELL – USE – SEND IT BACK TO PRESERVE – RECYCLING
A complete biodegradable packaging and handmade from palm leaves.
Few links to find sustainable packaging Ideas.
http://www.packagingoftheworld.com/
http://ambalaj.se/
http://www.sustainablepackaging.org/
http://www.dynamicgraphics.com/dgm/Article/28834/index.html
http://www.sustainablepackaging.org/
Few days back when I came back from a 2 days trip, I saw lunch box filled with rice, curry and dal (grams curry) lying on the kitchen platform. It’s been there overnight and most probably not suitable to consume. It kept me thinking all the day. I knew that it is not just the food that is wasted here but there is lot more than that. So I tried to understand what exactly is wasted here.
Here is the brief process to bring that food at one’s home. Try and understand the cost of energy at every step of the process.
Production process
- Seed/vegetable planting process : Consumes human energy/fossil based energy for planting
- Farming process : Water and energy(to get the water), pesticides if any used
- Harvesting process : Either human energy or machine energy(uses fossil fuels)
- Segregation/cleaning process : Segregating the grains from their covers and cleaning. Either human energy or machine energy(uses fossil fuels)
- Packaging process : Human energy / Machine energy (Fossil fuels) involves packaging materials
- Transportation : Transported to mass storage (again fossil based energy used to run those vehicles)
- Transportation : Transported to independent stores, shops, malls, etc.
- Either packaged in small packets of 1/5 kgs or sold in bulk to end consumers, Individual plastic packs of 1/5 kgs
- Consumer takes it home to cook
- Water used to clean the grains/vegetables
- Cooking (Fossil based energy consumed as a form of cooking gas)
- Cooking has other ingredients in small sizes like oil, cummin, mustard, spices, etc. All of these have their independent footprints while production.
- Edible food ready to eat/waste
The process requires a huge amount of energy at every level of its production. These process only mentions the directly involved processes and energy consumption for grains and vegetables. but it has many factors relating to other things like energy used to get the fossil based energy, energy used to produce vehicles, human energy comes from food, etc.
From 1 kg of rice produce how much is wasted depends on personal awareness and alertness. The food waste calculation is done on a general scenario.
From The green book : When cooking and baking, try to avoid wasting food by using perishable ingredients before they spoil, measuring carefully, and saving leftovers for future meals instead of throwing away. If you could cut the amount of food wasted in your house by just 20 grams per day(about the weight of a slice of bread), you’d save twenty pounds of food annually – roughly enough to make sixteen meals. If all US households reduced their food waste by this amount, the savings would be enough to provide three meals per day for a whole year to each of the 1.35 million children in the US who are homeless.
So think before wasting food because it costs more than you think. For e.g. 1 kg of rice take 3400 ltrs of water to produce, 40 ltrs of water for a slice of bread. For more water footprint please click here
Even the vegetables / vegetable peals which we think are waste has lots of water in it. And as one of the documentary of BBC says that when a country imports vegetables / fruits from another it is not only importing food material but also the water content of the exporting country, at large this means imbalance in under ground water level.
“Wasting food is a sin” as our parents tried to teach us and forced to eat all the food on the plate. I think there is a connection b/w that thought and these. Do not waste food otherwise it will haunt our future generation or may be ours.
Saving food is easy just don’t over cook and be aware to take care of the food that is left. Either store it or give it to the one in need.
Note : I’ll keep updating more information for similar issues as water footprint, till then avoid wasting.
Related Links
What a waste: Britain throws away £10bn of food every year
Food Waste: Canada $3-5+ billion, UK $10+ billion per year?
The key to sustainable development is through awareness, and awareness is easy to create through the medium of education. A conference at Mysore 22-23 April 2010. Organized by University of Mysore, ICCS (Institute of climate change and sustainability,Bangalore) and Institution of Engineers (India) in support with UNESCO, AICTE and Sri Jayachamarajendra college of Engineering. Prof Lawrence Surendra and Dr LV Muralikrishna Reddy are the key people to make this event possible and spread the word.
The primary aim of this conference was to prepare a base for an upcoming International conference for ESD (Education for sustainable development) and also to outline a possibility of a new course of sustainable development in science, engineering and humanities studies. The event was divided into 2 days of schedule of general and specific topic related seminars and workshops. Speakers were from a vast area of engineering and social science fields talking about various issues related to sustainability and social development.
The UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005 – 2014)
Sustainable development is a process of economic growth and development that meets the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations. We have to learn our way out of current social and environmental problems and learn to live sustainably.
Sustainable development is a vision of development that encompasses populations, animal and plant species, ecosystems, natural resources and that integrates concerns such as the fight against poverty, gender equality, human rights, education for all, health, human security, intercultural dialogue, etc. Education for Sustainable Development aims to help people to develop the attitudes, skills and knowledge to make informed decisions for the benefit of
themselves and others, now and in the future, and to act upon these decisions. The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005- 2014), for which UNESCO is the lead agency, seeks to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning, to address the social, economic, cultural and environmental problems we face in the 21st century.
The Scope of this workshop is to explore a method for introducing the new range of sustainability issues and strategies to improve the societal future in Engineering Education. This workshop was designed to incorporated into Engineering curricula rapidly, without significant redesign of existing programs. Workshop encourages academic institutions to consider integrating sustainability into their Engineering courses. It briefly discusses sustainability issues and the relationship between sustainability and business, particularly in regard to preparing students for the world of work.
- The workshop described the process and reasoning behind the methodology used for sustainability in Engineering Curricula.
- During the workshop participants had the opportunity to explore the familiarity with content and operation as well as to deliberate on features that would make the sustainability more useful in their curricula.
- At least one issue module of Sustainability was explored in detail, to learn how it relates to the other
issue modules and Curricula. - Discuss case studies, the lesson plan and other course support materials.
Expected out come
- Awareness of key sustainability issues in the context of Climate Change and the United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development.
- Ability to examine the inter dependencies among sustainability issues.
- Understanding of how to examine each issue at the global, regional and local levels.
- Approaches and Perspectives to implement sustainability in Engineering Curricula.
The workshop proceeded as planed and had around 200 participants in and around Karnataka and India. Speakers from Okayama University Prof. Hirofumi Abe presented a case study of SD(sustainable development) course implemented under UNESCO’s ESD program at Okayama university, which was enlightening and informative in its course. He was accompanied by his colleague Prof Yujji Takeshita.
As a part of the conference I got a chance to expose myself to a different idea of design and development of the society and culture. Design is an ability of those who understand its right values and work forward to get the right results.
Following are the catching words and ideas from the conference I could think of.
800 wars in 500 years, tanker mafia, water conservation policy, consumption limit, rain water harvesting, modern agriculture practice, recover, reuse, recycle, treated waste water, community actions, hamburger takes 2400 ltrs of water during it’s life cycle, 16000 ltrs for a microchip, energy cost of a call from the caller to receiver, ecology and environmental education, know your ecosystem, Renewable energy resources, KREDL Bangalore, CDM , Increasing population-decreasing water level-increasing deforestation, preventive ethics, sustainable society, economically viable society, markets and consumption rate. need based design not want based design.
The ideas that jump into my mind are how all the fields are related to each other and we have given them different names but all of them exist in to natural world even without us Humans. In natural world there is no concept of trade or money but in fact if any thing is born on this earth it has right to survive according till it can. This points out a thought which I keep repeating now and then that many people say that religion has been put upon us by gods than why don’t we see other species after the same for eg a Hindu dog, a Muslim cat, a Buddhist monkey, a Christian tiger., etc.
Well this can go on the point here is to get educated the right way with right process about the right results. Sustainable development through educating awareness into education.
