Who ever said Indians didn’t know how to live sustainably? Here are 30 desi eco-friendly alternatives to everyday products we use.
Living outside India has made me immensely more conscious of my cultural roots and I feel more attached to India! Every day I am reminded of the milkman’s cycle bell, the tarakari vendor’s call of “Soppoo“, the autorickshaw signaling someone coming in to our street, the Basavanna’s nadaswaram, the rhythm of Ali Jula, the microphone from the nearby temple blaring “Kausalya Suprajarama“, the adjacent mosque echoing “Alla hu Akbar” and children calling out “Ganesha ittideera“.
The smell of home-sambrani to dry my hair, mallige bushes in the front yard, freshly ground wheat flour at the mill, butter turning into ghee; the sight of people at home, people everywhere, colorfully painted houses of various sizes and shapes, traffic, cows chewing leaves at the city market, Gulmohar, Neem, coconut and drumstick trees, Kadalekai parshe, Karaga and Yakshagana…
And as far as an eco friendly lifestyle goes, most of the traditional Indian ways serve as a model example! Each region in India has its own set of eco-friendly habits It is important to educate our younger generation about these habits.
Here’s a list of desi eco-friendly alternatives to products that we buy from supermarkets that we can use in our daily lives:
1. Coconut fibre instead of plastic scrubbers
We all know that plastic is choking the earth. Why not go back to using coconut fibre to scrub dishes?
2. Soap nut/besan instead of soap bars
The bath soaps that we buy tend to have artificial fragrances and foaming agents that are harmful to the skin and the bath water mixed with the residue is harmful to the soil. Think about reviving the use of soap nut [antvalada kai], Besan and wholewheat flour make excellent skin scrubbers too!
3. Tamarind/rock salt instead of dishwashing soaps
Dishwashing soaps also have chemicals that are rough on your hands, and you may unknowingly be eating some of it if traces are left on the dishes after washing. Tamarind and rock salt and ash from your fire place make excellent scrubbers for even the tough and greasy stains.
4. Dhoopam stick instead of air fresheners
Instead of using aerosols that are harmful to the environment why not light a Dhoopam stick? Keeps away mosquitoes too!
5. Shikakai powder instead of shampoos
Chemicals and foaming agents in shampoos are harmful to your hair and scalp in the long run, and the residue is also harmful to the soil. Why not go back to Shikakai powder, which is also a natural conditioner? Try mixing Methi powder in coconut milk and apply on your hair before taking a bath, for that shiny, silky look! Or dissolve a teaspoon of baking soda in a cup of water, apply on hair and wash it off with water!
6. Steel bottles/travel mugs insted of plastic water bottles
If you drink regularly from a plastic water bottle, you ingest harmful substances too. How about steel bottles/travel mugs?
7. Copper vessels instead of nonstick utensils
It is better to use thick bottomed copper/steel/brass vessels than the non-stick cookware. They are safe and last forever whereas the nonstick cookware has to be discarded once the Teflon coating wears out.
8. Steel bins instead of plastic storage boxes
Grandma’s steel dabbas are best to store dry ingredients in your larder and to carry lunch!
9. Pots instead of water coolers
Remember the good old kooja? The water tastes delicious and is healthy too!
10. Henna instead of nail polish
Nail paints contain plastic and harmful chemicals. How about painting your hands with henna?
11. Ecosystems instead of manicured lawns
As more residential areas in our cities blindly ape the west and construct manicured lawns in front of their houses, precious insect and bird habitats are disturbed and are even going extinct. Did you know sparrows are vanishing from Bengaluru? Let nature be. Grow plants and grass that are native to your region to preserve ecosystems.
12. Cotton instead of synthetic clothes
Cotton clothes allow your skin to breathe and regulate perspiration. Nylon and other synthetic fabrics are nothing but different types of plastic! And please let’s not breed and kill anymore silk worms!!
13. Ghee instead of chapsticks
Apply a little ghee or oil when your lips are dry. You can eat it too!
14. Neti kriya instead of nasal drops
Neti kriya helps address the root of the problem, whereas nasal drops provide temporary relief, if any.
15. Natural composting instead of chemical composts
Don’t throw away your kitchen scraps along with your garbage. Collect them in a covered box, introduce a few worms, and soon, you will be making your own, all natural compost! Great for potted plants and kitchen garden.
16. Straw mats instead of carpets
Carpets that are mostly made from synthetic fiber gather dust mites, which can cause allergies. Our good old straw mats are best, and you can roll and stack them in a corner when you don’t need them. They are easy to clean too, without the need of a vacuum cleaner.
17. Slow cooking instead of pressure cooking
Pressure cooking is quick and efficient, but food can get overcooked and there is a lot of nutrient loss. Direct, slow cooking helps prevent this and food tastes better too.
18. Stone grinding instead of electric mixers
Grinding chutney, batter and powders in a stone grinder provides excellent exercise for the arms and the texture, aroma and taste of the food is unparalleled!
19. Leaf plates and cups instead of styrofoam ones
Styrofoam is worse than plastic. It is not only hazardous because it is not biodegradable and animals choke on them, but the manufacturing process itself releases hazardous chemicals that are very harmful to those employed in the industry. Let us go back to ‘plates’ and cups made of leaves and other plant products, especially when we serve food during weddings and festivals.
20. Yoga instead of gymming
You can exercise and strengthen your body at the gym but nothing can beat yoga when it comes to fitness of the mind and the body!
21. Meditation instead of medication
Meditate rather than medicate! Our ancestors have proven that meditation prepares the mind to face life’s ups and downs with equanimity. It is free, it is safe, it is non-invasive and has ONLY positive effects!
22. Farm produce instead of supermarkets
Supermarkets are convenient but food sits on the shelves longer, thanks to preservatives. Support local farmers and vendors by buying fresh produce directly from them, or subscribing to a co op. You will know where your food is coming from!
23. Neem/Somf/Mint insted of toothpaste
Toothpastes also have artificial whiteners and foaming agents. How about going back to chewing on the neem twig and using somf as a mouth freshner? Mint leaves do the job too!
24. Jaggery/Honey instead of refined sugar
We all know the ill effects of refined sugar, yet we use it because its convenient. Why not go back to jaggery and honey? I prefer to prepare savories using jaggery. The result is much more flavorful and healthy!
25. Community socialising instead of television
Instead of mindlessly surfing channels, why not attend live programs, or gather with friends/relatives for music sessions? Also consider supporting and preserving local traditions like the karaga and yakshagana. Find out what’s unique to your region.
26. Pickling instead of chemical preservation
Thanks to our ancient culinary traditions, we know how to preserve food naturally. Let’s go back to seasonal pickling, making papads and sandiges and vettals! No artificial anything there!
27. Natural fermenting instead of fermenting agents
Whoever discovered the recipe for idli and dosa knew about natural fermenting! No need of yeast or other artificial fermenting agents here!
28. Eating with hands instead of plastic cutlery
Eating with our fingers is a great art that we should be proud of! The way we eat even runny Rasam with rice is quite a skill that comes naturally to us, don’t you think? Definitely eliminate plastic cutlery from your kitchen.
29. Handmade grocery bags instead of plastic bags
Many places are banning plastic grocery bags, because animals forage on the ones we dump in the dumpsters. Why not make your own shopping bags out of old sarees, dupattas or curtains?
30. Biogas instead of commercial gas
Try installing biogas units for individual houses or groups of houses in your locality. Make use of free, yard waste and save on commercial gas!
Facing The Giants Reaction Paper
This movie, at first, is your typical sports movie. As it progresses, you will come to know that it is an uplifting story of hope against all odds, set on a high school football field. It teaches us different lessons that we may apply and use in our most difficult times.
Never give up. It is what we always hear from our friends and family when we have something that we want to accomplish, and we feel that we cannot do it anymore. It was portrayed excellently in the movie, and you will almost feel the achievement of the character. The coach put a blindfold on his player and ordered him to do the training that he did not finish at first. But when he was blindfolded, he even surpassed the given expectation. This is a simple trick we may use. If we are locked onto our goals and we feel we cannot reach them, I think not thinking of the goal but focusing on the process will be more effective.
Never back down. It is quite related to the saying, “An opportunity lost today is an opportunity lost forever.” We will never know when the windows of opportunity will open for us, so we must grab every single bit of it. If we are in a situation, then we should be full throttle in giving our best instead of backing down just because the thing we want to accomplish is almost impossible.
Never lose faith. This is the best lesson that the movie wants to convey to its viewers. Whatever we do, we are not alone, and we have God guiding us through it all. There are times when doubt creeps in, but the movie reminds us that we should not abandon our faith in Him.
Humans are fragile creatures. Problems push us to our limits, but God is there keeping us from falling. We may have big problems, but our God is bigger. We just have to give all our trust to Him because He is in control, always has been, and always will be.
The Views Of Goffman And Foucault On How Social Order Is Produced
In a community, some form of order is an essential foundation for people to live and interact together. ‘’Order is part of the way people both imagine and practice their social existence.’’ (Silva et al., 2009, p. 311) Taylor (2004, p.58) argued that ‘’ the human capacity to imagine order is at the foundation of society itself.’’ (Taylor, cited in Silva et al., 2009 p.311) Social order draw in imagination, practices, the fitting together of people and things, and ideas about the past and the future. (Silva et al., 2009)There are many explanations of how social order is produced, Erving Goffman (1959, 1971 and 1972) and Michel Foucault (1972, 1977 and 1978) attempted to explain how social order is created and part of their work will be discussed in this essay. Goffman’s theory of social order is that of a theater where the individual will act according to the situation.
As an example, he described how a waiter behaves in a restaurant, being polite and respectful in front of the customers but taking another character as he goes to the kitchen away from the client’s view and he can act completely differently. Sometimes very rude, complaining about the customers. The waiter postures and behaves would change depending on the demands and constraints of the scenario. Goffman concentrated his studies of social order in a micro-level examining ‘’the rituals of trust and tact in everyday lives, which provide the parameters of daily social interactions, trough control of bodily gesture, the face and the gaze, and the use of language.’’ (Silva et al., 2009 p. 317) Goffman involved himself as a participant-observer in different social interactions to analyze the roots of human interaction and social order without analyzing any link between the individual and social history. Goffman studied social life based on the idea that people interact in many different ways, sometimes cooperatively, competitively, or in conflict.
Goffman argues that society is people living their lives constructed by actions and interactions of many individuals and social order produced by patterns of interaction – interactional order. (Silva et al., 2009) Working as a participant-observer in establishments like restaurants, hotels, and hospitals, Goffman ‘’ drew on the metaphor of the theater designating the front stage as a setting for the demands of the interaction order and the backstage as the place where individuals could let go of their performance.’’ (Silva et al., 2009 p.317) Foucault’s work ‘’examines how social order is shaped and organized by authoritative knowledge, particularly forms of knowledge that are put to work in the social and political institutions.’’ (Silva et al., 2009, p. 319) Using the theory of discourse to investigate how knowledge and power are linked in the process of shaping what can be known, what can be thought and what can be said about social life. (Silva et.al, 2009)
He argues that institutions of power, such as schools, parents, priests, teachers, government, welfare systems and so on, exercise their authority through punishment, practices of law, management, parenthood education, and the like. (Silva et al., 2009) Power works in an ethereal way through discourses, shaping social manners and attitudes regarding appropriate behavior. There are three types of power executed by different organizations to shape human conduct: sovereign power, surveillance, and the capacity of punishment. Foucault argues that social control is internalized and becomes self-control. ‘’Individuals come to see themselves as self-directing, active, and choosing agents. This is what Foucault recognizes as liberalism – ‘’ a social order in which people see themselves as unique individuals as a result of having internalized social disciplines, social ordering and the discourse of individualism.’’ (Silva et al., 2009 p. 321,322) Monderman’s (Silva et al., 2009) thesis illustrates Goffman’s theory.
Mondersman argues that the best way to improve road safety is to put an end to traffic control, signs, roadside markings, and warnings. Mondersman called this ‘psychological traffic calming’ encouraging motorists to take responsibility for their actions instead of given them orders and telling them what to do. This flexible approach is built on the idea that a natural interaction between drivers and pedestrians would create a civilized environment without the imposition of the state through control, punishment, and power over what is correct to do, therefore, making human behavior central. It relates to Goffman’s examination of the ‘rituals of trust and tact’ in everyday lives that are mostly invisible to social order. Subsequently, the modernist approach of Buchanan (Silva et al., 2009) illustrates Foucault’s theory that ‘’the development of standardized uniform spaces commanding uniform behavior, leaving no room for individual interpretation, explaining everything with signs and texts.
The government and public authorities look after the citizens’’ (Silva et al., 2009 p. 339). In the modernist approach rules, orders and prohibitions enforce behavior demanding individuals to adapt to the system on the street. The individual conforms to rules and a state solves problems and looks after the people by setting up laws and prohibitions. In contrast, the flexible approach or shared space movement has the opposite outcome, making human behavior central and negotiating ‘shared space’ as emphasized by Goffman. (Silva et al., 2009) Another example to illustrate both Goffman and Faulcault’s views is disorderly/anti-social behavior in a society. Firstly, events highlighted in newspaper articles can be a very powerful discourse to influence how people see society. As a means of mediation radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and the internet can sometimes dictate many people’s ideas about what is going on in society.
By ‘blindly’ believing in what the media says Cohen (1973) argues that ‘’ the portrayal of folk devils in the media creates a moral panic in society at large whereby people are both terrified and outraged’’ (Cohen, cited in Silva et al., 2009 p. 370 ) which is often neither rational nor relative to the actual size of the problem. This is a good example of how power over public discourse informs how people think and behave in a society. Furthermore, under this media influence, people will demand from the government to come up with more enforcement of based solutions. New laws and severe punishments increase state control over the people whilst offering them the promise of security. As an example of this, and of Foucault’s theory the introduction of the Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) in the U.K. illustrates the way in which the state uses punishment to stop or control behavior that is deemed anti-social. On the other hand, members of the public are encouraged to report incidents to the ASBOs team which gives power to the individual of the society to judge what anti-social behavior is, placing the individual on the center of the stage as Goffman suggested.
In conclusion, Goffman and Foucault give only a partial theory about how behavior is shaped in society. For both, social life is made out of a similar combination of factors but ordered in different ways. Goffman’s main concern to analyze social order was ‘‘at the micro-level and in how people performed their roles within organizations and institutions.’’ (Staples et al., 2009 p. 51) Placing human interaction at the center of analysis focusing on how people’s actions and reactions are coordinated in everyday life therefore producing social order by individuals all acting and interacting in their self-interest, creating behavioral norms. These norms become the basis for socially-expected codes of conduct, which can sometimes go unnoticed unless they are breached or broken causing a disorder that can be repaired by the progress of the interactional order forming a constant process of building and rebuilding social interactions. (Silva et al., 2009)
Goffman is detached from the historical processes of social ordering and the ways of orders of interactions that are established by authority. In contrast, Foucault examined social life taken away the individual from the center of the stage and instead the ‘’central focus is on discourses which are sets of ideas allowing for certain kinds of thoughts to be thinkable, talked about, and made into effective tools for normalizing conduct, at different historical times. (Silva et al., 2009, p.324) For Foucault, people are not in charge of their destinies or actions; ‘’people are not the authors of society, there are not even authors of their own actions, as the scripts or discourses they are governed by are formed independently of anyone’s purpose.’’ (Taylors et al., 2009 p. 51) The individual is primarily governed and disciplined by internal discourses that organize knowledge and power ‘forced’ and imposed upon them throughout their lives. In modern society the individual is cooperating with its own subordination, accepting the increase of surveillance as a method that helps to create order under the concept chosen by the state of what is or it is not allowed to think, behave, speak about, and so on. (Silva et al., 2009)
Another important factor of Foucault’s work is the identification of liberalism a ‘’social order in which people see themselves as unique individuals as a result of having internalized social disciplines, social ordering and the discourse of individualism’’ (Silva et al., 2009, p.322) Clearly, both Goffman and Foucault are concerned to understand how society is created and particularly how social order is made and repaired, explaining the connection between the individual and the social but with different focus and concepts and what society is.