Page 222 - Udaan Trial Book

Sustainable Living
Sustainable Living
Farah Diba Israfil
Farah Diba Israfil

When Dhirubai Ambani's children ran
In future, we might not be able to have the
to him for new pencils after having
same things because the raw materials and
used them up halfway, He would insist
resources could run out. To make sure that
that they use them right up to the stub
future generations enjoy the same benefits
before discarding them, before he
we enjoy today, we need something called
would buy them new ones Azim
“sustainability” in most areas of our lives.
Premji, founder of Wipro Industries
At present Humanity treats resources like
has a net worth of Rs 1,17,110 crore.
a piggy bank for an allowance that is
He travels in the economy class of
perennially full. No matter how much of
airlines and shares the same facilities
our allowance we take out, it keeps
as his colleagues.
refilling. As much as we would like it to do
The founder of Infosys, Narayan
so, the world doesn’t work like that.
Murthy is proud of being an Indian.
Since the year 2000, countries all over the
His culture is deeply rooted in Indian
world have tried to do something about
values of prudence and thrift. Along
waste. We must ask ourselves, how much
with his wife Sudha Murthy, co
stuff do we throw away? How much is
founder of Infosys and a successful
recycled?
writer of children’s books, Narayan
Waste that cannot be recycled goes into
Murthy lives a simple life. It is his
landfills that are simply growing at an
opinion that rich people should possess
exponential rate and becoming increasingly
the grace to be treated as ordinary
expensive to maintain. The simple wisdom
people in society.
of extracting the last bit of graphite out of a
We may not be as wealthy as the
pencil or toothpaste tube goes far in
examples given above but many of us
reducing the burden on landfills.
live a comfortable life and have almost
We are chopping down more forests to
everything we need. However, that
make way for more housing colonies and
isn’t always going to be true. It is
larger populations are using more water –
important to remember that the source
to drink, to put on crops and to wash . As
of all our goods and products come
the population just keeps getting bigger, we
from the earth. Just as there is a shelf
need new solutions. Have we ever
life to the perishables on a grocery
wondered about the dangers of carbon
shelf, there is a time limit to the
footprint that is an off shoot of increasing
availability of this planet’s resources.
consumerism ?

Background Photograph : Ms. Sonali Sen