In my growing up years, soon after the annual examination ended, I and my friends would start scouting for second hand books, from our seniors, neighbors and friend’s friend. This was the norm. ‘No need to buy books; borrow it from others if you can, or buy them at half the price’ was the standard instruction given to us by our parents.
In our times, most parents scrimped and saved on schoolbooks and stationery, so that they could send us for higher education. Income was low and we lived on pretty tight budget. Most of my outfits were hand-me-downs from my elder sister. Sometimes I cribbed but eventually I came around.
But it was fun and I did not have much to complain.
In those days, cakes, sandwiches and muffins came with waxed paper wrapped around them. My early toys were usually made of rags. If I wanted a drink of water on a hot day I simply stuck my head under a tap or used a public fountain.
Straws were made of paper and had pretty much collapsed by the end of the milkshake.
We didn't think much about the long-term residual effect of packaging because it was not a big issue in those days.
There were a lot less of us on the planet, we had much less stuff, and we weren't concerned that most of what we owned was going to be around for another hundred years or clogging up the stomachs of birds and whales.
But things changed. Plastic entered our lives. And with that came the culture of disposables. Today we normalize short-term utility as the main criterion for evaluating the things around us. As a result, we have become more disconnected from a sense of the inherent worth of creation.
The more we cultivate this habit of seeing things as disposable once they no longer serve us, the less able we are to find the beauty and value in our relationships with each other, or even the intrinsic value in ourselves once we are no longer “productive”.
No wonder there are rising cases of depression post superannuation. Retirement, for many people, comes with feelings of emptiness, loneliness, and worthlessness, which can lead to clinical depression,” says Dr Aarti Anand, senior consultant – psychiatry, Sir Gangaram Hospital, New Delhi.
But disposables in the form of plastic continues to assail our lives. Everything we see as progress, is actually built upon the fossil fuel industry: a destructive, cruel and toxic cartel we’re all currently dependent upon. Human babies, sea creatures are born with their little bellies full of plastic. Our bodies of water are littered with plastic, oil, runoff from chemical fertilizers and animal waste from intensive farming factories.
The issue of plastic waste alone is acute. The problems deepen the more we stick our heads in the sand and refuse to face the need for rapid and fundamental change.
Indian philosophy talks of Ahimsa. The principle of Ahimsa is translated as nonviolence or non-harming. It calls us to think more deeply about how our actions (karma) may cause harm to ourselves, other beings, and the Earth herself.
Reducing the harmful impact we humans are having on the planet is, therefore, a part of our culture. Good Karma is about developing awareness, facing the truth, creating change.
However, looks like there is no immediate solution to the plastic pollution. The global plastic treaty at Busan, South Korea held in December 2024, failed. More than 3300 delegates including members from more than 170 nations and observers from more than 440 organizations came together to negotiate a global plastics treaty. The delegates left empty-handed, unable to bridge deep divides over critical issues such as production limits and hazardous chemicals.
At Ukhi, however,we will continue to raise our voice for reducing primary plastic production and address human rights issues linked to environmental justice.
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