Promoting Pathways to Sustainable Living

Rationale

In the modern world, the consumeristic behaviour suggests a yardstick for success: the more you own, the better your life will be. We tend to equate buying things with positive emotions. Subsequently, we think that purchasing new stuff makes us happy. While our lifestyles and consumption choices might fulfil our needs and aspirations; they also have important impacts on our environment and on our interdependent societies and markets.

Our consumption habits are putting our resource levels at great risk. The amount of stuff we use in order to live has exploded in many parts of the world, highlighted by the fact that the global extraction of materials has tripled over the past four decades, rising to an enormous 70 billion tonnes in 2010. If current trends continue, then this dramatic increase in the amount of material we consume will continue to rise as populations grow, the middle class expands, and incomes increase (UNEP, 2011).

Today, cities are associated with 60 to 80 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, consume 75 percent of natural resources, and account for 50 percent of all waste (UNEP, 2012). By 2050, the number of people living in urban areas is expected to reach 6.3 billion – roughly two-thirds of the global population. This will have a profound effect on what and how individuals and societies consume, especially when it comes to food, mobility, housing, consumer goods and leisure.

As a result, this urban shift carries with it immense social implications. The extra pressure these new urban consumers will place on the world’s increasingly scarce resources will exacerbate existing tensions between the world’s wealthiest 10 percent, whose lifestyles contribute half of global carbon emissions, and the growing numbers of urban poor, who are responsible for only 10 percent of carbon emissions (Oxfam, 2015).

If current trends continue, by 2030, humanity will need the equivalent of two Earths to support itself, according to some experts. This is clearly not viable in a world where climate change will make it even harder for the natural world to provide for our needs.

There are encouraging signs that society is beginning to understand the impact of our daily choices. Terms like “quality of life” and “sustainable lifestyles” regularly appear in the media, illustrating that people are already weaving sustainability into their daily decision-making. Carbon footprinting, food waste reduction campaigns, urban gardening, vehicle sharing models, and surveys to understand the values and motivations of youth are all ways that are helping people to live more sustainable lifestyles.

Yet these actions, in general, are piecemeal. They are not yet framed within a holistic vision of what constitutes a sustainable lifestyle. Living sustainably is not just about individual choice: it is also about ensuring that governments and businesses enact policies that guide people towards these types of lifestyles. Often ignored is the role that public sector institutions can play in shaping better policy and the role of businesses in providing more sustainable goods and services.

Fortunately, sustainable lifestyles are now solidly anchored in policy. The COP21 Paris Agreement made it clear that sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption and production (SCP) will be key in the fight against climate change. The goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and intergovernmental processes like the 10 Year Framework of Programmes on SCP give further support to champions of sustainable lifestyles by acknowledging the powerful role they can play in lifting people out of poverty, ending hunger, and reducing inequality while protecting the environment. At least two of the eight themes of the World Economic Forum 2016 in Davos, Switzerland, highlighted the impacts of climate change on our lives and the effects of increasing wealth inequality on economic development. This clearly shows that sustainable consumption and lifestyles are growing in importance on the international stage (Akenji and Chen, 2016).

With this solid foundation in place, it is now time to develop a more structured, life-cycle, and evidence-based understanding of sustainable lifestyles to facilitate global dialogue and measure progress. This will enable us to focus on the ‘hotspots’ on where critical action can be taken.

For individuals, this means understanding the impacts of their daily decisions and embracing more sustainable lifestyles. For governments, it implies setting a conducive regulatory context, facilitating and inspiring better citizen decision- making, creating market demand through sustainable public procurement, and supporting research, development, and innovation. For the private sector, it implies integrating sustainability into core business strategies to develop innovative ways to meet the needs of people while reducing the pressure on the world’s dwindling resources. This includes communicating about product sustainability performance to enhance informed decision-making.

VK-NARDEP’s perspectives of sustainable living

Inspired by the Eastern wisdom of the Samagra Vikas approach, we at VK-NARDEP have learnt a deeper and broader meaning of Development. Our understanding of development goes beyond materialistic and quality of life indicators. We see Development as the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth of man in consonance with his family, community, patriotic and global identities and relations, helping him to live in harmony with Nature and live without impoverishing or endangering future generations.

The Samagra Vikas approach greatly emphasises on development with a human face.The modern science and economies see the parts as divorced from the whole. This approach sees trees and misses the woods. This vision also failed to see the interdependence of the parts of Nature, their underlying linkages and the overall utility. Synthesis and holism lost out the race for a place in man’s scheme of things. Thereafter, the economies got divorced from the social concerns of man and became the study of the management merely of the materials and wealth.

In this paradigm, social units such as family, community and cultural entities suffered the most. The new science and economies promoted lifestyle and a thought-pattern that led to the atomisation of the community. This resulted in isolation of the individual from his emotional and biological provenance and cultural background. The modern science and technology is emphasising on production of ‘over concentrated useful things’ like vitamins through intensifying the technology and leaving the rest of the things as waste. This is the central cause of all problems of today. Life is natural and cannot be compartmentalised.

In earlier days, man was slow, land-loving, Nature-lovers and family and community centred. He led a subsistent way of life, which kept him self-contented. The values and norms promoted by the institutions of the early days, guided the man to live in harmony with fellow human beings and Nature through sharing and caring. Commercialisation of social transactions degraded community values and created orphans, who could not ‘purchase their way out’.

The present paradigm of development, for sure, is leading to an irreversible destruction to the mankind. It is the responsibility of every individual human being to change the present situation. Each individual’s role in restoring our ancient lifestyles is inescapable. Everyone should keep doing at his/her own capacity towards this cause and one should not wait the whole society to change. “Be, but don’t expect”.

VK– NARDEP is committed to translating the grand concepts of sustainable living into packages for application in day-to-day life and take the same to the masses.

Digital Exhibitions

VK-Nardep has established an exhibition entitled Gramodaya Park, in the headquarters campus of Vivekananda Kendra at Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. The exhibition gives insights into sustainable solutions to the problems encountered by the world. Presently Gramodaya Park has established permanent exhibitions on water management, agriculture, housing and health. The exhibitions are visited by thousands of  people per annum on an average.

Now, we propose to promote a digital exhibition in Gramodaya Park on “Promoting Pathways to Sustainable Living” with the following objectives:

Strengthening the individuals’ existing knowledge about sustainable lifestyles.

Motivating the individuals to adopt sustainable living practices.

Sharing best practices and partnerships among the practitioners, aspirants, implementing agencies, government bodies and policy makers.

Cultivating partnerships and networking among the different stakeholders.

To bring the contents of the exhibition to the knowledge of non-viewers, we have decided to present them simultaneously in print medium in the form of 3 volumes of Kendra Patrika with a title – “Promoting Pathways to Sustainable Living”. The first volume covers the five sections (i) Philosophical aspects (ii) Economy, Energy, Environment (iii) Inner Sustainability (iv) Thinkers and (v) Sustainable Development through stories.

The second volume will cover different verticals such as (i) Water (ii) Food (iii) Energy (iv) Forests (v) Agriculture (vi) Housing (vii) Mobility (viii) Markets (ix) Globalisation (x) Consumer Goods (xi) Communication (xii) Education (xiii) Health etc.

The third and the last is the most important volume – The Trend Setters which will have 4 sections such as:

1. Nations – Bhutan, Cuba, Germany, Costa Rica etc.

2. Movements such as Voluntary simplicity, Slow living, Slow cities, Minimalism, 
     Holistic Health, Organic Natural farming etc.

3. Individuals – Green Warriors, Sadhaks, Followers etc.

4. Book Reviews of a few important books related with Sustainable Development

Contributors of the first volume are mainly our colleagues who are practitioners of Sustainable Living such as:

Shri N.Krishnamoorti – who is our friend, philosopher and guide for the last four decades.

Shri Dileep Kulkarni, who worked for Vivekananda Kendra a few years before settling in Kokan area of Maharashtra and living in tune with Nature for the last 3 decades and motivating and guiding people of Maharashtra by conducting shibirs, giving lectures and writing highly inspiring books.

Shri T.Raghunandan who too worked for Vivekananda Kendra in the formative years, managed a 10+2 Senior Secondary School in Rajasthan for thirty-one years with his wife Vasantha and has now settled  down in Kerala for sadhana.

Shri Aravindan Neelakandan too is associated with Kendra since last two decades and who is now an associate editor of the famous magazine “Swarajya”.

Dr.Prakash Maithani retired as an advisor, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India is also closely associated with us since last three decades.

In addition, to cover the gaps, we have added articles of the few individuals to make the volume complete.

Our close friend and well-wisher Shri Venkataraghavan alias Keshav added value to the Kendra Patrika by designing the cover page and illustrations in the pages of this issue. Hope, readers will appreciate our efforts.

                                                                                                            G.Vasudeo