Imagine going outside and feeling like you’ve walked into a microwave. Scary, right? That’s not some wild sci-fi plot — it’s our possible future if we don’t take care of our ozone layer. Every year, on 16 September, we observe World Ozone Day to remember this invisible shield so vital to our survival, and how our every act can either protect it or hurt it.

The United Nations declared World Ozone Day to be observed on 16 September in 1987 when the Montreal Protocol, the first agreement to phase out ozone-depleting substances, was signed. This is a renewal of commitments towards safeguarding the ozone for generations to come.

You must be thinking, “What’s the big deal about the ozone layer?” Well, this thin, watery gas high up in the atmosphere protects the Earth from the harmful UV Rays of the sun – like sunscreen. These UV rays can cause skin cancers and cataracts, damage crops and disrupt the marine ecosystem.

Get the digital edition of the September 2024 issue to read the full article.

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You’ve probably heard about carbon offsetting, where companies or individuals can pay to remove carbon dioxide from the air to “cancel out” their emissions. But as we consider the next steps for our country, there are some important questions to consider: how exactly does it work and can we trust it? Is it actually helping the climate?

The idea behind carbon markets is simple. Companies that pollute can purchase ‘carbon credits’ from environmental projects that absorb or avoid releasing CO2, like planting trees or installing renewable energy. One credit equals one ton of CO2 removed from the atmosphere.

While this approach seems straightforward, investigations have revealed the risk of greenwashing — creating the misleading impression that a product or service is “environmentally conscious”.

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The 50th World Environment Day is around the corner, and it’s time to take a closer look at a critical issue that affects all of us: plastic pollution. It’s hard to fathom, but humanity produces a jaw-dropping 430 million tonnes of plastic each year. Even more concerning is that two-thirds of this plastic is made up of short-lived products that quickly become waste, contaminating our land and oceans and eventually entering our food chain. It’s crucial to join forces and address this crisis to protect the planet for future generations.

The painful reality of mountains, beaches and land being transformed into rubbish dumps due to plastic waste accumulation is becoming more prevalent. The mounting levels of plastic pollution are threatening the survival of life. Plastic is often mistaken for food by animals, which can cause harm to their health as well as ours. It is absolutely imperative to take proactive measures to prevent this situation from spiralling out of control. Failure to do so could result in catastrophic consequences for the environment, human health, and the Earth’s natural beauty.

But fear not! The situation isn’t all doom and gloom. Working together makes it possible to effect change and overcome this crisis. The 50th World Environment Day offers the perfect opportunity to raise awareness, initiate action and explore solutions to tackle the plastic pollution crisis.

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On the Origin of Species

The reflection on the universe leads us to its amazing variety and harmony. There have been any number of efforts to find the truth about how it originated, and we have the Big Bang Theory now for almost a century, which at best, is an effort at explaining it and not an established fact. We have versions with metaphysical roots like the Hiranyagarbha (Golden Womb) Theory of Rigveda 10:121 and Purusha Suktam of Rigveda 10:90 or the Golden Egg Theory in several cultures. I am more familiar with the Judeo-Christian tradition (Torah and Bible) creation narrative which offers a very interesting story of the origin and diversification of the universe. The narrative apparently tries to establish the proven role of humans as stewards responsible for the upkeep of this diversity with the command to ‘till and keep’. As the planet faces unforeseen cataclysmic events in the form of cyclones, typhoons, tornados, blizzards, torrential floods, unprecedented snow, heat waves, increasing melting of the polar glaciers, and a resultant threat to the planet and its diverse dwellers, we are faced with five-fold challenges:

1. The planet and its dwellers, including humans, require biodiversity to live peacefully on it.  
2. The diversity is to be understood, assessed, appreciated and protected for the benefit of the present generation and for posterity. 
3. While humans have great power to mould and manipulate diverse beings on the planet, after the point of balance is lost, no human technology or effort can withhold the disasters that entail, which would affect humans as well, increasingly without distinction. 
4. Humans have the great potential to protect and recreate, and thus be truly co-creators and saviours with the Creator, to re-establish harmony by restoring biodiversity. 
5. In the context of the all-pervasive and almost unretractable human interface with every aspect of planetary diversity, the great human responsibility is to cautiously and discreetly attend to the diversity of the species and systems, in promoting as well as regulating them, reviewing every step taken in this realm. 

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From the known history of humankind on this planet, what could be observed is that our relationship with Planet Earth had been one of dependence, extraction and exploitation. A few decades ago, it was a standard usage in development discourses and in geography lessons to speak about the ‘exploitation of natural resources’. However, these days, that term is very rarely used in terms of utilising the resources of the planet. Earth Day 2023 comes with a call to ‘invest in our planet’, setting aside the paradigm of extraction and exploitation. 

Earth Day brings to us a fiery tradition of environmental concerns with its origin in the United States of America. January 1969 saw the blowout of an oil well of Union Oil, resulting in a spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, which spread beyond 800 square miles and killed more than 10,000 seabirds, dolphins, seals and sea lions. It triggered initiatives like ‘Get Oil Out’ and the inauguration of an Environmental Rights Day, with a Declaration of Environmental Rights drafted by Rod Nash, a pioneering environment scholar and educator. This declaration, which came out before the concept of sustainability gained acceptance, starts with a mea culpa, accepting human crime linked to the planet, and stresses the need for an ‘ecological consciousness’ comprising of:

1. Acceptance of humans as members of a community of living beings that share the environment,
2. Ethics to concern relationship with all living beings and environment,
3. Individual responsibility towards the environment,
4. The right to private or corporate ownership to be so limited as to preserve the integrity of the environment,
5. The tremendous human power to impact the fragile earth,
6. The need to redefine progress from the angle of long-term quality, rather than immediate quantity.

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Indoor gardening is still enjoying a surge in popularity. It may endure longer than most because of the many ways houseplants improve health and well-being. Many people are taking to indoor gardening as there are long-standing benefits of the same.

Major benefits of indoor gardening

1. Indoor plants may help reduce stress levels
Plants in your home or office can make you feel more comfortable, soothed and natural. It has been found that the indoor gardening task lowered the stress response in people. Researchers have found that working with plants could reduce both physiological and psychological stress.

2. Real plants may sharpen your attention
Students who studied with real, live plants in the classroom were more attentive and better able to concentrate than students who did not have real plants in their classrooms.

3. Working with plants can be therapeutic
For people experiencing the symptoms of mental illness, indoor gardening can be helpful. Gardening increases feelings of well-being among people with depression, anxiety and other psychological conditions. Many therapists prescribe potted plants to patients with depression or anxiety symptoms.

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‘It is not wise to play fools with Mother Nature’ is an old saying, increasingly found true against the human foolishness in the quest for profit, proliferating pollution that threatens all forms of life. Leading among the ugly industrial disasters is the Bhopal Gas Tragedy (BGT) of 2nd and 3rd December 1984. It dwarfed other tragedies to become the mother of all industrial disasters, affecting around 7,00,000 citizens, killing more than 8,000 directly, injuring over 38,500 partially, and disabling 3900 severely and permanently.

1969 saw the establishment of the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) factory in Bhopal, in response to India’s quest to feed its hungry millions through its green revolution mantra of promoting chemical fertilizers to increase productivity and pesticides to check pests. UCIL produced ‘carbaryl’ which was considered a breakthrough in the pesticide industry with its effectiveness on insects. It was both harmful and beneficial to crops and it had been classified as a likely carcinogen for humans. Among the various methods of manufacturing it, the least expensive one involved the use of an intermediary, Methyl Isocyanate (MIC), a highly noxious gas. What turned out to be the villain in the hazard was MIC, with laxity in safety measures serving as its accomplice. It was revealed that this trans-world company did not employ the required preventive maintenance to ensure safety in spite of repeated warnings in this regard; apparently, the government machinery supposed to be playing the watchdog role, had gone slumbering.

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Bamboos are grown all over the world and there are over 1,000 species of bamboo. It is a type of grass and grows from roots. When it is cut, it quickly grows back, with most species maturing in 3-5 years. This amazing plant grows in a variety of environments and doesn’t need any pesticides or herbicides to grow well.

Facts about the sustainability of bamboo

• Rarely needs replanting.
• Produces more oxygen than most trees.
• Plays an important role in the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
• Requires no irrigation.
• Prevents soil erosion.
• Bamboo fibres have less environmental damage than synthetic fibres.

Strength of bamboo

Bamboo has a tensile strength greater than that of even steel. The beauty of bamboo is that it grows with the flow and has the ability to bend in a strong wind storm. This strength lends itself very well to construction applications. These include support beams for heavy lifting, jacking operations, and structural support in homes.

Bamboo and the Green Revolution

The bamboo’s green footprint makes it a plant that could very well shape our future. As forests continue to be cleared for wood production and other needs, bamboo offers us an alternative to clear-cutting. It takes in more carbon dioxide and produces more oxygen than your average hardwood tree. This makes it a valuable partner in fighting climate change.

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Ganesh Chaturthi is an amazing festival that brings immense emotion and devotion for devotees of Lord Ganesh. The selection of the idol starts almost three months in advance. Devotees’ homes are cleaned before Lord Ganesh’s arrival. Family and friends are invited over and treated to delicious food and prasad after taking His blessings. I fondly remember the pedas and white sugar flower balls we would receive after a darshan of our neighbours’ Ganapati when we were small.

There are many ways we can welcome Lord Ganesh into our homes in a more sustainable way. Thus we respect His mother as well. I always ask devotees: who do they think Lord Ganesh will bless more — someone who respects His mother or someone who abuses her?

Almost 3,00,000 devotees in Mumbai bring Lord Ganesh home and many of them still go for Plaster of Paris (POP) idols. The harmful effects caused by the immersion of POP idols at the end of the festival are unimaginable.

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Raksha Bandhan — the festival of love, bonding, togetherness. A special vow between siblings to be with each other during every phase of life that includes sharing, caring and growing up together. Who know us better than our own siblings?

Every Raksha Bandhan, my teenaged son asks me: “Mom, what gift do I give my sister when she ties a rakhi for me?” And the same question is asked by my daughter.

Being a woman entrepreneur, corporate gift manufacturer and someone who has been in the business of gifting since the past 27 years, this was a challenge we faced every day for every occasion. That gave birth to our venture MODO GREEN that stands for trendy, fashionable and, at the same time, green. It helped us solve the question of what do we gift our loved ones on various occasions — unique gifts that add value not only to our loved ones’ lives but also to our environment. 

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