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Sustainable consumption |
Earth's resources are scarce and Human consumption is rising by every passing year due to many reasons. This increased consumption is depleting our planet's resources. Therefore there is no doubt that this growth is not sustainable.
How can we then achieve sustainable consumption thus sustainable growth/development?
The most important aspects of sustainable development are food, energy and materials.
Developed countries with their desire to have more have over used and destroyed the natural resources and now for the countries who are in the process of increasing their standard of living the question is raised what will happen if they go on the same rampage? But don't they also have the right for a better living? Thus the impact on global consumption patterns and resources will be immense.
In developed countries, people have excess of consumer products and that shows in the way they live; their food habits, the things they use and how they use them. The result is they are over weight, they create non-biodegradable waste and they use natural resources and energy more than they can replenish.
This happens many times because of greed and carelessness and there are no laws to stop this even though it is bad.
Economic success is in spending through people would not like to run out of things and would surely go for sustainable development it does not receive much support. Why?
We can reduce consumption
With durable product?
With increased efficiency of the product?
With improved technology choices?
With reduction in population?
With controlled economic activity?
With upgraded Social values and Green policies?
For the best result all the aspects have to go hand in hand. We can't put blame on one and go in that direction. We are able to keep balance between food supply and population but at the cost of environment destruction At the same time we can't blame the population alone for this because we know that less populated countries have polluted many folds more than the post populated once.
If the environment disaster needs to stopped by new initiatives at every level and all directions.
The discovery of new knowledge, lifestyle and social systems change that lead to more equitable sharing of the energy and resources as well as new policy initiatives. The road to Sustainable Consumption is a global challenge we can't overlook. |
There was a king
called Jaising from the east. His kingdom was very big. The land was fertile, the air was
pure and the water perennial. But the people were not happy because there was not enough
to eat like before. The population was growing by every passing day but
the area of the land remained the same. The king started importing food from neighbouring
countries but that reduced the wealth of the kingdom and yet the food shortage continued
because the population continued to grow. The king was worried for his subjects.
What was meant to kill the harmful insects was killing |
He had heard that the kingdom in the west was prosperous and the people were very happy.
They had abundance of food. They were very progressive and lot of scientific research had
given them the advantage of using machines to ease their work. Their king called Josef was
popular and loved by all. |
So the king Jaising decided to visit Josef to find the reason of his kingdom's well being
and to learn from him so that he too could keep his people happy. |
Josef welcomed Jaising and they decided to work together to make the east kingdom as
prosperous as the west. Josef was cleaver and smart. He saw big gain in helping Jaising. |
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| He convinced Jaising
that the use of chemical manure and insecticides, and high-breed genetically modified
seeds to cultivate the land is the best method of cultivation, which would give him huge
harvest to feed his population. Josef made Jaising the same. |
Thus Josef sold Jaising the same for a good profit. Jaising knew that his dependence on
Josef will grow in the times to come but he had no choice. His principal worry was to save
his subject from starvation. |
Back home the hybrid seeds of wheat and rice were planted. The chemical fertilizers were
given for nourishments of the plants and chemical insecticides were spayed to protect them
and plenty of water was poured for it to grow.
The following months Jaising's kingdom saw a bumper crop. Bigger in size and very large
yield. People had enough to eat. Every body was happy and satisfied. They praised their
king. There was joy every were. The next year and year after that people rejoiced in the
success of the agriculture production. |
The population grew further. People believed that the nature takes care of every thing and
as the number of people increases the yield of the land also can be increased. The king
ordered low price for the chemical fertilizers and insecticides and less tax on water and
electricity for the poor farmers so they used it in abundance in the hope that more they
use it, more the yield would be. The land continued to give them high yield and the
country became self-dependent food wise. "Long live Jaising" echoed from every
direction. All seemed very well until.... |
A moment came when devoid of its nutrients and hit by the side effects of the chemicals,
the land degenerated and the yield started to fall. Land was over used and tired. |
Hybrid seeds given by Josef needed more fertilizers. Chemical fertilizer, which farmers
used, had nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium only. |
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| Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium
conquered their territory. |
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But plants also need micronutrients like zinc, iron, copper, manganese, magnesium,
molybdenum, and boron for healthy growth, which was not given to them. |
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| Zinc, Iron,
Copper, Manganese, Magnesium, Molybdenum and Boron leaving their land |
Irrigation water and artificial micronutrients stayed in the soil and started causing
Fluoride toxicity. The soil became weak and unproductive. |
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| Chemicals
found in fruits and aquatic life. |
Chemical insecticides sprayed on plants penetrated the fruits and grains and when people
eat the same, it went into their stomach and they began falling sick. Chemicals also got
mixed in the water during irrigation and same water flowed back into the rivers and lakes.
All the living being in the rivers and lakes like fish, frogs and others started dieing.
What was meant to kill the harmful insects was killi |
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| Mixed Crops |
Farmers had planted only single type of wheat and rice variety to get more harvest. They
did not sow the local varieties. Local type of crops was stronger than hybrid crops and
could stand the local weather. Local variety had properties that were needed for the local
people, therefore it was healthier but it had lesser produce. People wanted quantity.
Farmers sowed only wheat and Rice. They did not plant other crops like maize millets,
pulses and oil seeds. So when the floods or diseases attacked the fields, they killed the
weak plants like wheat and rice and people had nothing to eat because they did not plant
other strong type of grains.
Planting wheat or rice in one season and bajri millet in another is good for the soil too.
Some crop gives useful aliments like nitrogen to the soil, which is needed for other crop
to grow.
Planting two different crops at a time also was a good practise, which the farmers did not
follow. One crop's insects eat other crop's insect so they are useful to one another. This
way insect killer medicine use is less. |
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| Birds eating
paddy field insect with the help of bamboo plants. |
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| Different
crops have different properties. Our body becomes healthy when it gets little of every
thing and not too much of one thing. Also it is boring to eat the same food. |
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Khareep
Jwari |
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Chicpeas |
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Tur |
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Bajri |
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Sunflower |
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Moog |
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Wheat |
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Summer Bhuimoog |
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Rice |
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Khareep
Bhuimoog |
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Onion |
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The farmers in their greed for having more food to eat and to sell
forgot these simple nature's rules, which were followed by their forefathers and preferred
to adopt artificial methods of growing food. |
And before people could realize their mistake the land became barren, water and food
products contaminated with chemicals. There was little to eat and it was not good for
health. People panicked. Thinking of their survival they went to king and asked for
solutions.
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The king Jaising was once again in trouble. His solution did not last long. He called out
a meeting of experts. After seeing the aftermath and no other solutions to it they decided
to go back to their traditional ways of agriculture using many types of crops, organic
fertilizers like cow dung, vermicompost and compost and water in required need.
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Soon with lots of efforts by all farmers the land started getting healthy and the food
quality improved. The king gave public appearance. He took a balloon and started blowing
it. It became the size of a mango. People laughed. Then he blew it again. People cheered
and said oh god! now it is the size of a pineapple. He blew it even more till it was the
size of watermelon. As he put his mouth again to blow some more air into the balloon a big
noise came and the rubber broke open. There was a silence in the courtroom.
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Jaising looked at his subject and said- my fellow countrymen! every things under this sky
has a limited space and volume. Our land is big but not big enough to accommodate the
ever-growing population. If we all have to exist together in harmony and happiness then we
have to control the growth of our population.
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People looked at each other and nodded in acceptance. They went back
home with a new vision and resolution. |
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