As an urban planner with conscious heart toward sustainability I always try to find its core idea that leads to the path towards sustainable development. Is it the need of the hour due to environment degradation? Is it the recent fad? what makes our fraternity more conscious about this thing?
As a planner I tried to find answers to my above stated queries and it further led me to explore my beliefs and religion that I practice. As I read more on this aspect I began to realize that Hinduism is not a religion but its a way of life that one should lead in his/her lifetime. In this world there could be millions of material manifestations and forms, but the sustaining force for all is not material but spiritual. Everything has life, so all the life is reverent and has to be protected, upheld and sustained. Respect for the environment is the part of Hinduism where earth is our mother, the mountains are abodes of gods, trees are sacred, rivers are holy, and the animals are vehicles of the Gods, and above all, man’s sustenance has to be ecological.
Hinduism also talks about the essence of vegetarianism: eco-consciousness. There is no absolute truth in Hinduism, truth is relative, and so is our diet. The consumption of animal flesh itself is not non-vegetarian. If an Eskimo killed an animal and ate its meat to survive, or in the desert one kills someone for its flesh, he is still vegetarian. This is because, in the food chain, one consumes the least life form for one’s survival. But in case of tropical India, where there is plenty of vegetation, kill only vegetable, because it has a lesser life quantum than an animal. One doesn’t need to consume more than necessary; there is enough for everyone’s need.
Thus, sustainability can be defined from spirituality and Hinduism which is essentially a dialogue of values that defies consensual definition. This aspect is the strength of India and I am sure that this path will reveal a permanent path to sustainability to all architects and urban planners.
photo credit: Arun Katiyar
Tag Archives: Environment
photo credit: zedvox Would you betray your own …
photo credit: zedvox
Would you betray your own race?
If you watched the latest James Cameron blockbuster movie “Avatar” and were passionately backing the alien’s cause; then you have just become a “race traitor”.
The movie depicts human civilization as a group that is evil and greedy who destroy the environment without any consideration while the aliens live in perfect ecological harmony with their natural environment.
The Pandorans might be a figment of Cameron’s wild Imagination but in many ways the depiction of human civilization is almost bang on in the movie. Practically all of Earth’s ecosystems have now been destroyed or severely altered through human activities. According to the World Conservation Union ,784 extinctions have been recorded since the year 1500 (to the year 2004). At this point, The loss of global biological diversity is advancing at an extraordinary pace. According to some estimates, up to 150 species are becoming extinct every day. The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007b) has also predicted that if temperature increases exceed 1.5-2.5°C, 20-30% of plant and animal species assessed are likely to be at risk of extinction.
Earth as we know it might vanish. Our children and grand children might only be able to see plants and animals that make our world so special in videos and pictures in the future.
But will bio-diversity loss really affect us?
Yes. It will.
Scientists say that Biodiversity loss might in the end threaten the very existence of human civilization. Biological diversity is crucial for the life on our planet. Earth is more than just a home for 6.7 billion human beings. Today we often act in a way that assumes that earth is home only to humans. This attitude is going to threaten our very survival.
The earth’s ecosystem provides for and affects the food we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink. A diversity of animals , plants and other organisms perform critical ecosystems functions like distribute clean water to streams and rivers, hold soils together, maintain soil fertility, cycle nutrients, and shield humanity against harsh weathers conditions , pests and diseases. If we carry on losing biodiversity – Our children and grand children will have to deal with starvation, thirst, disease and calamity.
Bio Diversity loss is also intrinsically linked to one of the other great threats that humanity is facing – climate change. Our Ecosystems help in tackling climate change through carbon storage and climate regulation as well as shielding us from freak whether events associated with climate change. Climate change and temperature increases are also threatening existence of crucial ecosystems that are there to nurture and protect us.
Bio Diversity loss and Climate Change are fundamentally caused due to overexploitation of the natural capital. Both demand a radical policy response. In many ways, the ecological footprint of an individual is embedded in the way a city / town is built. You and I may aspire to live a sustainable life but the way the current social and economic structure functions might not allow us to. For instance, your ecological footprint will be dramatically higher , if the city that you live in doesn’t have a good mass transit that you could use; or if the apartment and office you worked in was fundamentally not ecologically friendly.
The cities we erect today have the potential to either lock the society into destructive over-consumption or allow its citizens to live within their fair share of the earth’s resources without giving up on a preferred lifestyle.
The solutions may not be easy to implement. But they do exist.
It is believed that with the current technology and systems, we could half our energy consumption, water use and the waste we produce. Real solutions are within our grasp and have the potential to create a path towards social, economic and environmental sustainability.
For instance, A citizen of Barcelona who either walks or uses mass-transit has a lower impact (an Ecological Footprint of 3-4) on the environment when compared to a citizen of Atlanta’s impact ( an Ecological Footprint of over 12) who has no option but to use an automobile even to run everyday errands. Policies should encourage and incentivize adoption of sustainable ideas. The land auction in UK’s largest eco-village called BedZED is a good model. It took into account the long term financial benefits while auctioning the land, even though conventional developers bid more for the site – the winning bid went to a developer with a eco development plan. The Feed-in Tariff used extensively in Germany is an incentive-led government legislation that encourages adoption of renewable energy.
But all these ideas require strong policy backing because these are ideas that are tough to implement and need support as they can often more expensive and work directly against the drivers of current economic development model (for example Cars or Oil) .
So even though we all recognize that Copenhagen was a failure. I am hopeful that leaders irrespective of the existence of an international treaty on reducing our carbon footprint will pursue policies that will allow us to reduce our impact on the planet.
Because even the strongest climate skeptics will have to concede the fact that the current model is not sustainable.
And if we continue to mindlessly pursue the current model – we will not just be betraying our race. We will be letting down our very own children and grandchildren.
photo credit: BOMBMAN The idea of reclamation …
photo credit: BOMBMAN
The idea of reclamation has been an area of debate for a long time. The judiciary’s verdict in the 1990’s against reclamation in Mumbai has turned into a kind of a bible. There is no question about the fact that reclamation hurts environment and doesn’t offer the same kind of ecological functionality as a natural forest. But so does urbanization – Today’s urban world contributes to environmental degradation in one-way or another. Therefore, it is important for us to develop in a more structured and organized manner so as to mitigate the negative effects of progress.
There have been prominent examples of reclamations around the world. Famous instances include Washington, D.C. which was built on land that was once swamp; Back Bay in Boston, Massachusetts; and the polders of the Netherlands. The southern Chinese cities of Hong Kong and Macau and the city-state of Singapore are also well-known for land reclamation. Large-scale land reclamation has been undertaken in different parts of Singapore since the 1960s. The entire East Coast Park in Singapore was built on reclaimed land and includes a man-made beach. By 1990, the total land area of Singapore was 633km square from 581.5km. There was an increase of 51.5 km square through reclamation, which made up 8.9% the total land area. Malaysia has reclaimed about 1,214 hectares of its coast
Monaco and the British territory of Gibraltar are also expanding due to land reclamation. In the recent times, man made islands have been another way of land reclamation. Kansai International Airport in Osaka and Hong Kong International Airport are instances of such a technique. The Palm Islands and The World close to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates are other examples of artificial islands.
When there are such outstanding examples of reclamation around the world, it is appropriate for India to look seriously at reclamation as a tool in improving urban centres. I believe reclamation is a way to shape public urban spaces which cannot be created within the existing fabric of dense cities. One cannot have a common coastal protection act across the length and breadth of the country. While it is critical to protect the coasts of less developed areas, one cannot use the same strategy for intensely developed areas lie Mumbai or Chennai.
I have time and again proposed water front promenades and green public concourses with reclamation along the coast of Mumbai. The Western Waterfront Development proposal is a scheme that attempts to rejuvenate the urban environment of Mumbai. The city with its continually ghastly-unplanned developmental pattern has devoured open spaces, thus affecting the citizenry’s quality of life. The waterfront proposal is an endeavor to bring the architects, the developers, environmentalists and the citizens of Mumbai to collaborate in an idea that touches the future of the city and the everyday life of its civic community.
What is now miles of under utilized and neglected waterfront area is envisioned as a new and vibrant community space, blessed and intertwined with a dramatic ribbon of sea front parks, walkways and waterfront esplanades. This new open space system was conceived as an integral part of Mumbai’s urban renewal program. The waterfront proposed experiences ranging from broad, sweeping greenswards and parks along a naturalized shoreline to large interpretive parks. Further, series of intimate social and active spaces for play; gatherings and events enrich the park experience. It has been conceived of as common ground for a new and diverse community integrating Mumbai’s cultural heritage narratives woven throughout in the language and traditions of 21st century recreation. When completed, these parks will finally link city’s downtown centre to its suburbia and, ultimately, reintroduce the citizens to their city’s once revered oceanfront.