Friday, June 11, 2010

World observed the 40th anniversary of Earth Day

While businesses have systematically and thoroughly abused and mutilated our earth, several companies have begun to implant and implement environment-conscious ideologies in their organisations. From a global perspective, the highest impact is being achieved by an Indian-American according to Forbes. Recently named as the greenest billionaire in the world, Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, has been pouring millions of dollars into innovative companies that are into sustainable building materials, solar power and advanced bio-fuels. Meanwhile, organic clothes that spare the earth the scourge of pesticides and chemicals are slowly gaining ground in the Indian market. While several designers have taken out eco-friendly lines, two major apparel brands have recently decided to tread the green mile too. These new lines from Van Heusen and Arrow present 100 per cent organic clothes made out of cotton, linen and have used natural dyes. Vandana Shiva, however, stresses on tying such projects with community-based initiatives to ensure that such ventures sustain in the long haul. Further, in dyeing a regular fashionable outfit, roughly 8000 chemicals are used, besides using heavy metals, creating toxic waste and consuming huge quantities of precious water.

Therefore natural dyes are an essential step for clothing companies. Herbal dyeing, which not only uses natural plants and minerals but also retains the medicinal properties of the herbs, is being seen as the next big trend by many. Says Arun Baid of Aura Herbal Textiles, “We will not speculate that the whole world will change and will go for herbal dyeing, but since the dedication to environment, global warming, carbon points are serious issues, in the near future anybody and everybody will have to be sustainable to survive.”

Going green is becoming so fashionable that at The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) green has replaced the usual red colour of the carpet at the entry. Where Amitabh Bachchan has for long been encouraging eco-friendly behaviour, the latest Bollywood celebrity to join the green bandwagon is Abhay Deol, who has signed up to become the official Brand Ambassador of The Climate Project – India, and for a start has decided to use two separate garbage bins – one for dry waste, and the other for wet waste. The project is aiming to present more concrete solutions through their Teachers Training Programme, where they plan on training teachers in every government and privately-owned school in Delhi about climate change, in time to help the capital get all squeaky and shiny for the Commonwealth Games 2010.

While there is a lot afoot to help our earth regain its lost vitality, each one of us needs to treat our planet with respect and love, and behave as a member of one big family. The Dongria Kondh tribe, the businessmen who own the factories, to the school children who planted saplings this Earth Day, are all an intrinsic and organic part of the same family. “We are the last generation that can make a difference. Our generation has a challenge to not only act in our own capacities to reduce our carbon footprints, but in addition we should also get our politicians to take the big decisions that are needed now,” says Vinuta Gopal. “We need to now think of the rights of mother earth, and how that defines our rights,” stresses Vandana Shiva, and leaves us with a thought that will hopefully resound in our readers’ minds long after, “We are an earth family, and this earth family is a child of mother earth, and her rights come first.”

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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