What you can do

This document was written by Dr. R. Rajagopalan, a trustee of an NGO called Navadarshanam. In my opinion, it is a comprehensive list of activities/lifestyle changes that can make one’s lifestyle sustainable/ eco-friendly.

Kindly read the whole document and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the knowledge you’ll gain from it. The text has been posted as available on the original document.

Version 1.0, January 15, 2oo8

What You Can Do to Save Yourself, Your family, and the Planet

To the reader:

Here is a first list of things an urban Indian can do to conserve the environment. I have listed them under different topics such as energy, water, waste, etc. In most topics, I have also divided the actions into the following sections:

1. Easy things you can do today
2. Simple things you can do (Not difficult, but require some effort and expense)
3. Things worth doing (Require greater commitment, but very desirable)
4. Great things you can do (Not easy at all, but highly desirable)

I have used a variety of sources for making this list and I cannot vouch for the efficacy and accuracy of every single item. I await comments, corrections, new ideas, references, weblinks, etc. Please send an email message to rrgopalan2005@gmail.com.

R.Rajagopalan Navadarshanam

ENERGY CONSERVATION
Easy things you can do today to conserve energy

Home:

• Turn off lights and fans when you leave a room. Make it a habit and a practice in the family. Make it a game with incentives and disincentives.
• Shut off personal computers, television sets, music systems, set-top boxes, mosquito repellers, etc., when not in use. All appliances consume energy even on standby mode. The so-called zero-watt bulb actually consumes about 10 Watts!
• Replace all the bulbs in your home with Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL). If you replace one 60 W incandescent lamp with a 15 W CFL costing Rs.125, you can save about Rs.25 every month with six hours of daily use. You can thus recover the cost in 5 months. In addition, each CFL keeps up to half a ton of carbon dioxide out of the air over its lifetime.
  • Look for Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps, lanterns, and table lamps that consume much less power than CFLs (of the order of a few watts). They are now becoming available and their light output is increasing all the time thanks to research and development.
  • Buy a solar lantern as an emergency light: The lantern comes with a solar panel and connecting wire. Connect the panel to the lantern and place the panel facing the Sun. In a few hours, sunlight will charge the battery in the lantern.
  • If you use hot water, install a solar water heater in place of an electric geyser. This is now compulsory for new houses.
  • If you use a kettle to boil water, fill just the amount you need. Boiling a kettle half full instead of full four times a day could save enough electricity to power a TV set for four hours.
  • Buy energy-efficient appliances when you replace old ones or you need new ones. Check always the specifications for energy consumption figures and look for the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) star rating (access the website www.bee-india.nic.in).
  • Iron a pile of clothes at a time, instead of one or two at a time.
  • Run a washing machine only when there is a full load.
  • Avoid using kitchen machines every day. Grind spices once or twice a week.
  • Follow the advice given by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) with regard to energy conservation at home (www.pcra.org).

Transportation:

• Do not be carried away by the hype about cheap cars. More cars on the road will only increase traffic jams, air pollution, and carbon emissions.
• If you must buy a car, choose a more fuel-efficient vehicle or the electric one.
• Minimise the use of automobiles for your personal transport. Use public transport whenever possible: One busload of people takes 40 vehicles off the road during rush hour, saves 70,000 litres of petrol, and avoids over 175 tonnes of emissions every year.
• Keep your vehicles tuned for low consumption of fuel.
  • Check your tyres weekly for the correct air pressure.
  • Avoid idling your vehicle at signals and traffic jams: Ten seconds of idling uses more fuel than in restarting the vehicle.
  • Use bicycle or an electric two-wheeler for local work like shopping.
  • Arrange car pools for going to work and for taking kids to school.
  • Avoid air travel and go by train instead.

Simple things you can do to conserve energy

• Buy locally grown and produced foods. Avoid food items that have been imported or have come from long distances. They would have consumed considerable energy on transport.
• In general, buy things made locally or in the region.
• There is an alternative to boiling water for disinfecting it. Fill a plastic bottle with water and place it in the Sun with a black surface underneath. In a few hours, the water will be completely disinfected.

Things worth doing to conserve energy

• Install a solar lighting system and use solar power during nighttime. Apart from saving electricity, it will give you light during power breakdowns.
• Install auto-switch off devices for areas like staircases.
• Live near your place of study or work, if possible
• Buy a solar cooker and use it, say, for rice and dhal: It saves gas and the food tastes better.
• If you live in an independent house, buy a charcoal cooker. You can cook a family meal with low energy input.

Save energy through ecological architecture

If you are getting a house built or redone:

• Choose an architect who follows ecological principles, such as those of the late architect Laurie Baker.
• Minimise the use of materials like cement, steel, and concrete that use up lots of energy during manufacture; use earth blocks instead of burnt bricks, vaults and domes in place of concrete roofs, and so on.
• Provide skylights wherever possible to bring in natural light and reduce use of electricity.
• Take into account local climatic conditions for providing comfort while reducing energy consumption. For example, minimize the need for air-conditioning.

WATER CONSERVATION
Easy things you can do today to conserve water

• Start with yourself: Measure the daily water that you use and try to reduce the amount.
  • Examine the usage pattern of water in your family or in any one family. Educate them to use water with more care and efficiency.
  • Replace leaking taps at home.
  • Install shower outlet for kitchen sink. It will reduce the amount of water used for cleaning utensils.
  • Remove any bathtub you may have. (Use it to plant vegetables!)

Simple things you can do to conserve water

• Take the initiative to implement rainwater harvesting in your house or apartment block
• Take a sponge bath instead of a shower.

Things worth doing to conserve water

• In washbasins, replace ordinary taps with self-closing ‘railway’ taps. Or, remove the taps and keep a bucket of water with a mug.
• On a regular basis, check the public taps and pipelines in your area and arrange to plug the leaks.
• Use drip irrigation for your garden.
• Buy a front-loading washing machine. It uses 40 % less water than the top-loading one.

Great things you can do to conserve water

• Recycle bathroom and kitchen water (grey water) using natural methods like planted filters. (This requires space.)

• Install a composting toilet in your house. Collect the urine separately, dilute and apply on plants. The solid matter will decompose in the toilet and give you organic manure. (This requires commitment, but many have already taken this action in India and elsewhere.)

MINIMIZING AND MANAGING WASTE
Easy things you can do today to minimize waste

• Minimize the use of paper:
• Use both sides of each sheet.
• Collect and reuse sheets printed on one side.
  • Minimize computer printouts. Save messages and documents on the hard  disk.
  • Reuse envelopes.
    • Reduce junk mail by writing to companies to take your address off their mailing lists.
    • Send greetings by email and not through fancy cards.
    • Sell old paper, metal, etc., to the waste trader.
    • Buy recycled paper products.
    • Avoid heavily packaged products.
    • Donate old clothes, books, etc., to NGOs for redistribution.

If you are buying a car, buy a small and efficient one

Do not buy soft drinks in metal containers

Repair and reuse old bicycles

Simple things you can do to minimize waste

• Segregate waste: Keep separate bins for degradable and nondegradable waste. Compost kitchen waste and get organic manure for your garden.
• Reuse every possible item at home – paper, plastic bags, cards, envelopes, wood, etc. You can make artistic items out of waste.
• Minimize packaging waste by taking your own cotton bags to the market and the grocery store. Do not buy pre-packaged items. Buy reusable or refillable containers. Avoid supermarkets and if you do shop in them, take your own bag. Refuse the large plastic carry bag offered by the shop. Even better, support the small store, which uses old newspaper to pack groceries.
• Do away with paper tissues; go back to handkerchiefs and cloth napkins.

Things worth doing to minimize waste

• Examine every item of waste that is generated in your home. Find out where it came from and where it is headed. In each case, try to prevent the generation of that waste item. If it cannot be prevented, can it be reused or recycled in any way? Is there an alternative to throwing it in the garbage bin?
• Try to persuade supermarkets in your area to offer a small discount to shoppers who bring their own bags; tell them that they can benefit by spending less on bags and advertising their “green” concerns.
• Learn to make hand-made paper.
• Buy durable products that will last long.

Great things you can do to minimize waste

• Examine your buying habits. Buy only what is necessary. Do not be taken in by telemarketing, advertisements, and ‘Sale’ campaigns.

CHEMICALS AND HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES
Easy and simple things you can do today to minimize chemicals and hazardous substances

• Buy rechargeable batteries.
  • Avoid the use of chemical mosquito repellents in your home and in those of your friends. Chemicals like allethrin used in mosquito coils, mats, and liquids are toxic to the body. Covering windows with nets and using a mosquito net are far safer methods of protection against mosquitoes. If you must use a repellent, choose natural substances like lemongrass (citronella) oil available in the market.
  • Many household items like naphthalene balls, insect sprays, floor cleaners, detergents, drain cleaners, paint thinners, etc., are very toxic. Try to use safer natural alternatives like ammonia, bleaching powder, baking soda, mineral oil, and vinegar. (See list below)
  • Use natural colours for Holi (for example, use the flowers of the tree Flame of the Forest)
  • For Ganesh Puja, buy only mud idols without any chemical paints. After the Puja, immerse the idol just in a bucket of water and not in a pond or lake.

Household Cleaners

Avoid buying expensive and dangerous branded cleaners. You can save money and also avoid toxic chemicals by using simple substances as cleaners. The following four basic chemicals (2 acids and 2 alkalis) that are normally found in every household do a very good job of cleaning, as good as or even better than many commercially made products:

• Vinegar (acetic acid)
• Bleach (Sodium hypochlorite)
• Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
• Ammonia

In fact, most of the commercial products contain one or more of these four as their main ingredients, but are much costlier. Besides these four chemicals, lemon and salt are also useful in house-cleaning chores.

Here are some ways of using them:

• To clean drains in bathroom, kitchen, sinks etc: Sprinkle a handful of Baking soda down the drains and pour half cup of vinegar on top. You will notice brisk effervescence. Leave it to subside for half an hour. Then pour hot boiling water. This removes grease and keeps the drains clog-free and can be done weekly, twice a month or as necessary.
• Keeping an open packet of Baking Soda in the fridge and freezer removes smell accumulating from foods. Change the packets once in ₃ months and use the old packets for cleaning the drains as above.
• 10 % bleach is a good antiseptic cleaner. Prepare it in a spray bottle and use it for cleaning kitchen countertops. In hospitals and laboratories (where biological tissues and fluids are handled) 10% bleach is what they use for cleaning work surfaces in sterile rooms.
• Neat bleach can be used to clean toilet bowls, bathroom floors, bathtubs etc. This is acidic and one has to be careful handling it. If spilt on clothes it can discolour them.
• Baking soda or vinegar can be used to remove the calcium build-up in coffee makers and teakettles due to hard water. Once in a couple of months, add a cup of vinegar in the kettle and boil it. Then empty the kettle and boil clean water once more and throw that too.
• Besides being useful in cooking, baking etc., baking soda has amazing cleaning properties as well. (If you “google” on uses of baking soda, you will see!) To clean small silver articles like lamps etc, put them in boiling water with a tablespoon of baking soda and a few crumpled aluminium foils. Boil for a few minutes. Then wipe them dry with a cotton towel. This method works better than silver polish. Cleaning silver articles with a paste of baking soda and lemon juice also works.
• You can use a baking soda solution (a teaspoonful in a pint of water) to clean acidic deposits on car battery terminals.
• Health tip: Use a mixture of 95% baking soda and 5% salt to clean teeth as tooth powder, couple of times a week. It prevents cavities. Cavities are formed because of the acid in food. Baking soda helps to neutralize the acidity.
• If a kitchen vessel has burnt food, then boiling some baking soda in water in that vessel loosens the burnt food, making it easier to clean.
• Add vinegar or salt in water to rinse vegetables.
• Ammonia diluted with water can be used to clean windows and glasses.
• Always buy plain soap with no fragrances or additives for daily use.
• Cleaning washing machine and dishwasher: Once every few months, run the regular cycle with baking soda, vinegar, or bleach alone.
• Vinegar in water (a cup per gallon) can be used to mop wooden floors.
• Baking soda is great for removing tea and coffee stains from cups.
• Sprinkle baking soda at the bottom of kitchen garbage can to remove smell.

Things worth doing to minimize chemicals and hazardous substances

• Do not throw away toxic material like batteries, thermometers, and insecticides into garbage. Find out if the manufacturers will take them back or if any one would recycle them. Otherwise, encase them in something like concrete before burying them.
• Do not throw unwanted medicines or motor oil down the drain. If the medicines have not expired, donate them to any charitable hospital or voluntary organization that accepts them. There is a thriving industry in cities that recycles motor oil. If there are genuine recyclers in your city, collect all the oil in your neighbourhood and give it to them.

Great things you can do to minimize chemicals and hazardous substances

• Educate yourself about hazardous and dangerous chemicals. Examine every item you use at home and try to find out if it contains such chemicals or if it has been processed using such chemicals. If the answer is yes, try to replace the item with a more eco-friendly and safer product.
• Replace lawns by trees and shrubs that need little fertilizer and are drought-resistant.
• Use fertilizer sparingly, never near a body of water.
• Reuse every possible item at home – paper, plastic bags, cards, envelopes, wood, etc. You can make artistic items out of waste.
• Buy natural products like earthen cups, leaf plates, bamboo dustbins, etc.

MINIMIZING AIR AND NOISE POLLUTION

Things you can do to minimize air and noise pollution

• Discourage your friends or neighbours from lighting bonfires. Bonfire smoke is dangerous, containing highly toxic, and possibly carcinogenic, chemicals. Never burn tyres or plastics, which release deadly dioxins and poisonous gases. Join the police and NGOs to discourage people from lighting such fires during festivals like Bhogi in Tamil Nadu or Lohri in the North.
• If you must light a bonfire, burn diseased cuttings and branches. If you are at a bonfire, do not inhale the smoke.
• Say ‘No’ to crackers during Diwali and other occasions.
• If any group creates too much noise in your neighbourhood, especially between 10 pm and 6 am, try to persuade them to stop or reduce the volume. If they do not respond, feel free to go the police.

CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY AND FORESTS

(including adoption of healthier food habits)

Easy things you can do today

• Buy your food from local markets and small traders and not from supermarkets. The big supermarkets (and fast food chains) tend to offer a small variety of species and thus endanger biodiversity. They also drive out small businesses. You may be attracted by their current low prices, but ultimately it will all boomerang on you.
• Buy local varieties of food items, fruits and vegetables in preference to those that have come from abroad or from a place very far from your town. Buying local species ensures that the diversity is conserved.
• Save the forests by saving paper (See section on waste)

Simple things you can do

• Contribute to organizations that promote tree planting and have “adopt a tree” programmes.

Things worth doing

Plant trees yourself – in your compound, neighbourhood, park, streets, under power lines, on the denuded slopes of a hill, etc. Get proper advice on choosing the appropriate trees.

Change your food habits and start eating indigenous varieties of rice and wheat. You will be conserving biodiversity and at the same time eating more healthy food.

Great things you can do

• Do not buy any product made from killing endangered animal species. This includes products made from ivory
• Eat less meat, or even better, become a vegetarian or a vegan.
• If you have some land or even just a terrace, grow vegetables using organic methods.
• If you have more land and you cultivate any crops, vegetables, or fruits:
  • Plant only indigenous species
  • Prefer polyculture to monoculture
  • Do composting or vermicomposting and use mulch
  • Shift to organic farming
  • Use drip irrigation

o Plant appropriate trees wherever possible

• If you have no space at all, start a community garden for vegetables and herbs.

Buy only organically grown food and if it is not available locally, forma consumer group to procure and distribute organic food. Learn from groups and individuals featured on web sites like www.chennaiorganicfood.com

GENERAL

Great things you can do to save the environment

Individual level

• Reduce consumption and clutter.
• Try to reduce your ecological footprint by examining the source of everything that you consume.
• Live near your place of study or work, if possible.
• Find a job in which you can work from home on all or most days.
  • Follow the ‘one-store’ policy: if there is more than one of a store, do not patronize it. This means that you will avoid all chain stores and support small, local businesses.
  • Join a local environmental group or voluntary organization and work with them at the local level.
  • Join any group action (like the ‘Save Nilgiris Campaign’ or the Silent Valley movement) that is going on in your area.
  • Find out more about citizens’ movements aimed at conserving biodiversity and join one of them as a volunteer.
  • Join voluntary groups in your area or city that work to save existing trees and plant new ones.
  • If you are in a coastal town, join voluntary groups engaged in activities like beach clean up.
  • If there are ponds, lakes, or wetlands in or near your area, there could be groups trying to save them. If there is no group and if a water body is in peril, organise a group to make representations to the government and to create awareness in the community.
  • If you are running a hostel or community kitchen, get a large reflector-type solar cooker.

Group initiatives

• Cooperate with rag-pickers: Residents keep organic waste and recyclable waste separately. Rag-pickers collect the two kinds of waste at the doorstep and take them to a central location. They compost the organic waste and sell the manure. They also sort the recyclable waste and sell it to the traders. Such arrangements are working in many Indian cities.
• Cooperate with one another to keep the streets clean and to plant trees.
• Celebrate festivals like Diwali together minimizing toxic fumes and noise.
• Use car pools to reduce pollution, save fuel, and reduce road congestion.
• Acquaint yourself with the basic environmental laws and take action when you come across any violation. File complaints as a group with the appropriate authorities.

Beyond group initiatives

• Get together with like-minded people and set up an intentional ecological community.©