About Blog

I have been trying to understand the environmental issues of our time for a few years now. As is perhaps natural to humans, i started to look at solutions “outside”. Is it the economic system ? Is it lack of efficient technology ? Is it because of faulty political processes ? Is it about more hybrid cars ? Is it about solar cells ? Is it about clean energy ? Yes, all these factors have a part to play. But iam beginning to realize that at the core, is this factor — most of us are profoundly lacking in ecological awareness. By “awareness”, i don’t mean just scientific understanding of ecology, but also being-in and experiencing nature directly.

Have you ever grown your own food ? Name ten species of plants and animals, within 5km radius of your home. How are the species related to each other ? What role do bees play in pollination ? what role do forests play in earths cycles ? How is our consumption affecting earth’s ecosystems and cycles ? Most of us are ignorant about these things. No wonder we have current environmental policies, despite being democracies.

This is the outcome of our increasingly urban living. Because of food and energy surplus, we have moved into cities, and created manufacturing and service economies. And in the name of “comparative advantage” we have become highly specialized in our skill sets. So, even educated professionals focus mostly on their expertise. Just like we cannot see the stars right above our heads because of the fog of city lights, we forget our embeddedness in larger ecology of the earth, amidst the fog of urban activities.

Now, the larger question is, why should we develop ecological awareness ? why should we care about nature at all ? Do we need to preserve nature “for it’s own sake” , as is often said ? Do we need to preserve just about enough, so that we can continue our way of living — So that we don’t rock the boat too much ? I wonder if asking these questions itself points to the level of our disconnection. To me, its not just about saving something “outside” of us. It’s not a ‘us vs them’, ‘economy vs environment’ scenario. It’s a hint for us to to relook at our own lives and values. A call to take responsibility for our own actions. And ultimately, an opportunity to exercise a spiritual question, what is our relationship with the world around us ?

Anyway, we’ll talk all this in the blog.

Please take a moment to absorb the spirit of this quote. May we realize it in our lives.

The Indian mind never has any hesitation in acknowledging its kinship with nature, its unbroken relationship with all.

The fundamental unity of creation was not simply a philosophical speculation for India; it was her life-object to realize this great harmony in feeling and in action.(…)

The earth, water and light, fruits and flowers, to her were not merely physical phenomena to be turned to use and then left aside. They were necessary to her in the attainment of her ideal of perfection, as every move is necessary to the completeness of the symphony.

India intuitively felt that the essential fact of this world has a vital meaning for us; we have to be fully alive to it and establish a conscious relation with it, not merely impelled by scientific curiosity or greed of material advantage, but realising it in the spirit of sympathy, with a large feeling of joy and peace. (Rabindranath Tagore in Sadhana).

Acknowledgements

A lot of image work for this blog is made possible by freeware openoffice , irfanview and ghostscript. Superb software !

Update Feb 5th 2008

Renaming the blog as “Got Green ?” (In lineage of “Got Milk ?” and “Got rice ?” ).

Anyone want to trademark it, go right ahead !!

Update June 5th 2008 : Another title change. Not that it matters much

Keeping with what seems to be becoming a regular practice, blog title now becomes “Just a drop in the ocean”. The ocean of internet, that is. This is a pretty generic title, so hopefully i’ll stick to it. The reason i removed thematic titles such as Green is because iam using this as a regular personal blog with lot of posts outside the theme. Also, using titles such as Green attaches to me, popular ideological baggage associated with the term, which may not represent my position accurately.

Note from the Ministry of Truth on 14th Oct ‘08

Neo, This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes – Morpheus