[Ananya Sangameshwar]

I feel sustainability is about looking at everything from a long-term perspective and also looking at the bigger picture.

[Ananya Sangameshwar]

The 3R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, are some important aspects of sustainability.

While following these tenets, we try to use things mindfully.

We don’t buy too much, overconsume clutter our lives with things we don’t need.

We prefer reusable options always, to single-use ones.

Here’s our campaign @byob_bengaluru encouraging the practice of reusables and BYOB – Bring Your Own Bottle/Bag/Box/others over single-use plastic.

https://instagram.com/byob_bengaluru?utm_medium=copy_link

While being sustainable, we try to optimise the usage of the things we have and prevent them from going to the landfill as much as possible.

Let us live responsibly.

[Guru Sangameshwar]

Sustainability to me means developing a conscience towards balancing personal needs against the needs of the rest of the world – both living and non-living. Our every action has a profound impact on our surroundings, hence we need to be conscious that our actions do not cause an adverse impact on nature, its inhabitants, its resources, and its complex interconnected systems. Sustainability to me means being in sync with nature and not having only an anthropocentric view.

[Guru Sangameshwar]

It is very tough to determine whether something is sustainable and eco-friendly in the true sense as there are many conflicting views and opinions, including false narratives peddled by strong lobbies promoting the causes or greenwashing techniques employed by clever marketing companies.

These are the few things one can do to evaluate the same:

1. Be informed. Read and understand the topics yourself. Do not restrict yourself to only specific sources. Multiple sources help you to remove the biases.

2. Be wary of paid research and lobbies.

3. Use common sense. It is uncommon in today’s age🙂.

4. Read the labels. Do not get carried away just by the marketing slogans, jargon, and keywords. For example, just one ingredient does not make a chemical product herbal. There are a lot of products that claim the power of lemons, tulsi, neem, or other herbal ingredients. When you read the labels, you will realize that rest of the ingredients are the same harmful ingredients as other products in that category.

5. Look at the impact on the whole system instead of parts or subsystems. Something might be more sustainable on its own but may cause greater damage when you look at the larger system or how it is used.

6. When looking for alternatives do not switch to something which causes a different problem. For example with the ban on single-use plastic bags, many brands, and retail outlets have switched to paper bags. Paper while being bio-degradable leads to cutting down of the forests and uses large amounts of water in the manufacturing process. Also, it is not very robust and not reusable. So it is equally impactful to the environment.

7. Just because something is recyclable does not mean that it is recycled. Brands often employ this technique to tout their green credentials. Only 10-15% of plastic is actually recycled even though brands make tall claims of it being recyclable.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by  Guru Sangameshwar. Reason: Typos

[Ananya Sangameshwar]

Insightful comments. Thank you for sharing.

Indeed, there is no easy answer.

Here’s an article from the TOI which highlights a similar dilemma.

Organic cotton bags were pitched as eco-friendly and even began to be used as a branding tool. They were much sought after when plastic was condemned. However, this article showcases the problems that arise without looking at the bigger landscape. Making organic cotton tote bags has a high ecological impact and the process is water-intensive. So it remains questionable whether they really are sustainable.

(Here’s a counterpoint to that article – https://magazine.promomarketing.com/article/the-internet-is-freaking-out-about-the-tote-bag-crisis/)

Also, as you said, I wouldn’t recommend paper bags as it’s difficult to reuse paper as it’s not durable. Moreover, it leads to more tree cutting.

Everything comes with an ecological impact.

Perhaps one way to navigate this is to keep reusing whatever we already have – whether it’s cloth or plastic or anything – but not to manufacture or get any more. Reduce and Reuse is the way to go.

What are your thoughts on this?

[Ananya Sangameshwar]

The podcast series #SIY (Speak It Yourself) is a part of the campaign #TapForChange, a campaign on sustainability, initiated by the Centre for Social Action (CSA), where I was a volunteer.

I’m the guest speaker for the #SIY Episode 3: People, Planet and Policy episode of The CSA Podcast hosted by Sanjana Mukund, another CSA volunteer.

Making lifestyle switches for sustainable living is the way to go… And how do we bring about macro changes?🏡🔧

Enjoy an engaging conversation as we look at economically viable sustainable solutions and precedents in this episode of #TapforChange! 🎙️✨👁

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Vbha2f3wLLMDlMWckwVCY?si=Ybw5pvSKRFejtL9OieyfEw&utm_source=whatsapp

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMwxYe5Dv9s/?igshid=v3iqxfwhghbd

Watch all the podcast episodes by various speakers here, and enjoy insightful and interesting conversations on sustainability!

https://open.spotify.com/show/1gOTbMIe0xdBXBfqYoto5z?si=JZS8M4YLSympe0qUU3tSAA

Happy Listening! 🎧

[Ananya Sangameshwar]

In this podcast episode, we discuss similar dilemmas, as mentioned in previous posts on this thread.

For instance, simply banning plastic doesn’t help without sensitisation and creating a proper ecosystem of alternatives.

For, when plastic was banned, then people just started using paper or NWPP, which aren’t sustainable either (and charged for them too).

Plus, small brands started shifting to multi-layer plastics (MLPs) for packaging. These weren’t banned, as there weren’t really alternatives for packing food. Moreover, big brands lobbied and campaigned for letting MLPs remain. However, MLPs are even harder to recycle. So the point of the measure of banning plastic was lost in the process.

Thus, while introducing an environmental policy, we need to look at the bigger picture, by nurturing the entire ecosystem.