Tuesday, April 26, 2011
I Wish I Could Remember!
Back to reading a bit lately. And once in a while I come across something that strikes a chord somewhere. Brings a smile or makes me ponder or maybe agree with the writer. But the sad part is, for the life of me, I'm unable to remember it for long! Maybe I should write it down somewhere and store it for posterity! With my iPhone it should be handy enough to do something! Maybe get a picture of the relevant passage?! Now there's an idea! Or maybe make my lazy fingers type it out :)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Green
Been noticing that being environmentally friendly actually turns out to be quite heavy on the pocket in the current age. Having at an early stage had the privilege to spend some time with my grandparents in our village, this seemed very counter intuitive to me. Till I started exploring it more.
Take your clothes for example. To be "green", you'd have to wear something locally grown and manufactured - you know less transporting around, less fuel, etc etc. So that would mean growing it on very pricey land, getting the fabric made using very expensive labor locally vs some sweat shop in a 3rd world country. No wonder all the clothes I saw at the "Green Festival" recently were so expensive! And they weren't even made locally! They had just used cotton/hemp - once the cheapest fabric!
Likewise, being vegetarian in India was so easy. With the variety of vegetables available and recipes to cook the same, it was quite natural to enjoy multiple meals without craving for meat. We had meat once a week back in the days. I'm sure that helped cut down on many a "caged farm". Talking about organic/cage free, everyone knows how expensive shopping at Whole Foods can get! And I'm not even sure the stuff there is made locally. Most likely not, just that they ensure "Fair Trade" happens - translate no child labour or sweat shops. Gas still gets burnt shipping across oceans! The flip side of this is that, the places where commodities originate from, have their own issues - they successfully provide the westerners what they want at cheap rates but in the bargain the local situation/economy gets all entangled!
In an environment like this, its very hard to sell "Green". Forget about selling it, I'm not sure I should be talking about it, given my hopes/plans for travel around the world! Have been trying to think differently, and stop looking at things as issues but rather as constructive avenues. And still trying to figure out how to get there. In a world that is so friendly to destroying itself how can one make "green" accessible? Not looking for any blase/pat answers. I guess I'm just trying to collect and make some cohesive meaning of what I've been looking at.
On a different note, I saw this TED video recently on gaming. Love how people have these amazing perspectives! I'm mean about video games?! Admire her for it. You'll see where I'm getting my "constructive" talk from :P
http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_
Take your clothes for example. To be "green", you'd have to wear something locally grown and manufactured - you know less transporting around, less fuel, etc etc. So that would mean growing it on very pricey land, getting the fabric made using very expensive labor locally vs some sweat shop in a 3rd world country. No wonder all the clothes I saw at the "Green Festival" recently were so expensive! And they weren't even made locally! They had just used cotton/hemp - once the cheapest fabric!
Likewise, being vegetarian in India was so easy. With the variety of vegetables available and recipes to cook the same, it was quite natural to enjoy multiple meals without craving for meat. We had meat once a week back in the days. I'm sure that helped cut down on many a "caged farm". Talking about organic/cage free, everyone knows how expensive shopping at Whole Foods can get! And I'm not even sure the stuff there is made locally. Most likely not, just that they ensure "Fair Trade" happens - translate no child labour or sweat shops. Gas still gets burnt shipping across oceans! The flip side of this is that, the places where commodities originate from, have their own issues - they successfully provide the westerners what they want at cheap rates but in the bargain the local situation/economy gets all entangled!
In an environment like this, its very hard to sell "Green". Forget about selling it, I'm not sure I should be talking about it, given my hopes/plans for travel around the world! Have been trying to think differently, and stop looking at things as issues but rather as constructive avenues. And still trying to figure out how to get there. In a world that is so friendly to destroying itself how can one make "green" accessible? Not looking for any blase/pat answers. I guess I'm just trying to collect and make some cohesive meaning of what I've been looking at.
On a different note, I saw this TED video recently on gaming. Love how people have these amazing perspectives! I'm mean about video games?! Admire her for it. You'll see where I'm getting my "constructive" talk from :P
http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sensibilities
I came across an article today which I thought was totally ridiculous. Not how it was written, but the work its was talking about. Anyway. As soon as I read it, I wanted to share with someone what I felt about it. And opened gmail after copying the link. And started thinking: whom should I send it to?
It all comes down to who shares the same sensibilities that I do and would understand where I was coming from. Seems like there are fewer and fewer people in that list these days. Which is a good thing I guess. A mix is always good to keep one balanced. But just got me wishing there was a default person I could email who understood everything I had to talk about!
For now chose one who would get it, but not necessarily think along the same lines.
PS: for those of you curious about it:
http://www.reuters.com/
instead of cutting down on our own carbon footprint, they are researching how to deprive some poor old cow! :P
Let me know what you think and I might add you to my "to email" list :)
It all comes down to who shares the same sensibilities that I do and would understand where I was coming from. Seems like there are fewer and fewer people in that list these days. Which is a good thing I guess. A mix is always good to keep one balanced. But just got me wishing there was a default person I could email who understood everything I had to talk about!
For now chose one who would get it, but not necessarily think along the same lines.
PS: for those of you curious about it:
http://www.reuters.com/
instead of cutting down on our own carbon footprint, they are researching how to deprive some poor old cow! :P
Let me know what you think and I might add you to my "to email" list :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)