What The Hell Are We Doing ? At All ?

Three things I caught on the great expanse of the WWW recently:

The Home Project has one of the best made videos I've seen on the planet and its issues. Its long, at 1hr 33mins, but totally worth a watch. Am planning to screen it in our apartment clubhouse over the next week.



This talks about the problems of the planet from the point of view of how it got formed, why life flourished in and helped accelerate the changes that happened over 4 billion years and what the impact that the the last ten thousand years' activities are having on reversing those changes that support life. A sense of whats holistic, whats important as a species as opposed to what matters in the day to day of an individual, and why these are sometimes at loggerheads, is strongly communicated.

Along the same lines, a more direct call to action is made by the Story of Stuff. (At 20 minutes, this is a much shorter video though there's a lot of new vocabulary thats). There's a direct linkage established between our consumption patterns (and the reasons those exist) to the unsustainability of the model.

And finally, the Onion did a satirical take on most people's stated concern about the environment, and congestion. Of course we all want better air, cleaner rivers, less crowded roads. But there are so many others who could do that for us! Of course we know that air-conditioning ends up causing more heat which justifies more air-conditioning .... but right now its a little warm and I'd rather feel cool.

The choices - often for that extra bit of "convenience" - we make today have costs. And the costs may be mounting rather more rapidly than we as a species can afford to.

Delhi loses 10000+ people to air-pollution related causes every year, and 4% of deaths in the US are linked to the same. If those numbers came off air/train disasters, we'd be gunning for so many heads it would shake up governments. But hey, this is not really immediate, is it ? Its just that a huge percentage of our kids will lead sucky, unhealthy lives.

If now is not the time to take dramatic, drastic steps, I don't know where we're headed as a species. Sure, you can argue that "global warming" might have happened irrespective, but the amount of carbon we helped free up (mostly in the last 50 year - just 50!) from its trapped pockets into the atmosphere is something thats not happened "despite us". And its something thats likely to have a huge impact on life as we know it.

But then, no species survives indefinitely. Its just that some of the pointers (listed below) hint that we're playing catalyst towards our own end.

• By the turn of the century, there'll be nothing left to mine!
• The population has trebled since 1950 - I'm actually wondering if lower mortality having been achieved before education/sustainability will really kill us all, and achieve quite the opposite.
  
• We continue to be carbon-derived energy dependent despite having realized its ills a long time ago
• Individually - we cannot seem to take "a little more sweat" or a little extra inconvenience of any form to reduce our impact. This is seen in choices people always make as affluence sets in.
• 2% people hold 50% of our wealth.
• Most poor live in resource rich countries!
• There may be no ice-caps left in the summers as early as 2015 (thats merely 6 years away!) or in the best case, by 2030 (our kids will be younf adults)
• Freshwater reserves, rainforests which recharge them, wetlands which clean it are shrinking dramatically, and we haven't shown signs of stopping-it-right-now!

By some estimates, in another 10 years it will be too late to reverse what we've done. One does get a sense that natural forces are beginning to deliver us the natural equivalent of "one tight slap". Its proving to be so tough to shake off our inertia and move towards common goals of saving our skins. Right now, we're busy adding neon signs and gloss for individual selves in whatever time we have left.

We - are - so - screwed. And we do not even acknowledge it! I might sound like a prophet-of-doom-on-a-pessimistic day, but I think its critical that - starting now - we err on the side of caution. This is one issue where a 100% proof of causes and effects may be available too late.

Update: What really matters to Bangaloreans ... ?

Help Park-A-Cycle

The RideACycle Foundation is a non-profit cycling advocacy group which aims to promote cycling for both commuting as well as leisure amongst Bangaloreans.



As part of this, we're rolling out a park-and-ride concept where people may use their cycles from their homes (off the trunk routes) to get closer to bus stops, park them safely there and take a bus. For this, we are requesting apartments, stores and other establishments which are closer to bus stops, shopping centers, etc, to donate 3-5 slots inside their campus for parking bikes and help promote this cause. We will maintain a list of such locations for all cyclists to access.

If required, RAC-F will put up a (movable) cycle rack to enable this.

We will be giving out id-cards for ensuring access control so no unauthorized people enter the premises, and users of this facility will be allowed only with these cards, and only if free slots are available. RAC-F will maintain updated contact details of all id-card holders.

The parking providers will have no formal liability towards the safety of the bikes inside their premises, and users will need to ensure they lock the bikes properly. [Of course, it would be great if we can request the security folks to keep an eye out, especially if these slots are located such that they are near a security post.]

It would be great if you could bring this up with your association, and let me know if we can get this rolled out at your apartment, or a store nearby.

Your Own Little Space ? Update on the Carmelaram EcoHomes

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dfps3jzd_98c85h84dd

We have 7 signups for the above so far, and that's enough to kick-off the project. The landowner has agreed, and the legal verification is underway.

However, this is not enough to go through completely with the self-funded model, and an alternative has emerged such that all willing to participate in the self-funded model continue to benefit from the prices worked out, and the developer, who will work out a funding/model for the rest will be free to price the rest to recover the costs of the additional funds and effort, plus margins. Of course, given that at the moment its a good 15% lower than market pricing will help ensure its probably still attractive, but we will not be managing that aspect beyond the first set of people.

We will continue to influence the design, features and philosophy for the project.

There was a call to meet the builder this Friday - but I'd like to give time to any other people who want to participate in this as part of the first group - so pushing that meeting out to sometime during the coming week.

The meeting will be to:

a) get an initial EoI in terms of a cheque and firm up the numbers of the seed group
b) get all your queries answered (financing, legal, model, etc)
c) draw up the list of "requirements" the initial group wants the builder to adhere to

The initial fund expectation from the early group will be in region of 15L over a few months.

Given the change in the model, the project will be branded under as a RareEarth project, and all subsequent interactions beyond this first group will be with RareEarth directly.

If you're interested, and would rather get it done cheaper, drop me a mail at getDOHTsameerAHTgmail

Be The Change : No longer a Corporate Cog

[ This is the second one I'm doing as part of stories about people who embraced change. ]

Sharath Raju was in a great place in life - bang in the middle of the IT story with a nice juicy salary, a modeling career in parallel and pursuing his love for cycles in parallel.

But then, TFN happened, and Sharath actually quit his job to go on the tour!

Around the same time, cycling started becoming a big thing around Bangalore and along came an interesting opportunity - Decathlon started operations in India and Sharath got in touch to explore if he could work with them. Lower salary to start off with, at least, an uncertain path (its still a small market, really) and surely not the usual climb up the career ladder for folks in IT. But the heart ruled, and the promise of being able to professionally pursue something he really enjoyed was a major draw.

Sharath now works for Decathlon as their Biz Manager. He cycles to work everyday and is also a trekker, rafter, and model!

Sharath speaks about his life altering decision:

What was the change, and how did it come about ?

It was more to do with my psychological self. It had been 3 years into the IT field and life just went on. When i started exploring new fun-filled activities like biking/running daily/weekend, reality used to strike me to re-look into my real interests. While i was deep into the organizing of the TFN event, i woke up one fine day to realise, i am not gonna do this job anymore. I put in my papers, and headed off on the tour! :) .I think i chose to follow my feelings and not what the world has to say.

After i started working on making TFN a success through partners and sponsors, i got in touch with the Decathlon guys to see if they would be interested. Edition '08 didn't receive much support from Decathlon, but the relationship was developed and we were appraising them regularly about the success of the event, and the execution. In Feb '09 i got an enquiry that they were looking for Technicians on their Btwin brand. I decided to apply as i saw that was fairly in line with my interests.

Got a call in March from Prajval, the then Business head for Institutional sales and marketing, to discuss my interests and areas i would like to contribute. And in was on board without much delay in April.

Why ?

Peer pressure, immediate and extended family pressure, my marriage, all played a influential role at different stages. Living a life just to satisfy a imaginary level of ego, restricted my liberty to explore new ways of living life. I had to give that up and was waiting for the right moment.

Impact ? Financially ? Lifestyle ? Etc...

I was 'unemployed' for 3 months, which was like a WHOA? especially when you're amidst close family ties. Yes it was tough, and the pressure psychologically and emotionally was surmounting. But that grind only could make me stronger and look at the long term. Considering i had some outstandings, yes i was wholly dependent on family. I think i've never saved enough money in my life than i did in those 3 months.

Early thoughts ? Others' comments ? Self-doubts ?

Yes, i had a mix of positive energy bursts and emotional breakdowns at the same time. Being in close family/friend circle boosted my level of confidence. I suffered in my mind trying to figure out my real interest in my life. One question that always lingered in my head all through the day was to figure out what gives me most joy in doing and can be profitable as well.

Experiment, or sticking to it ?

I also said to myself, why did i ever leave my job, I could've just stayed on and figured it out on the way. But the best part of this is, unless you're put into this vulnerable position, we're always unwilling to come out of our comfort zone and put ourselves to the test.

Why did u persist ?

Because knew this is the chance to prove myself as an individual, and set an example.

Isn't it scary ?

Very, very scary. I decided to laugh about it, live the good times by catching up with friends. This helped me get away from lonely or diverting feelings. And I even got valuable advice to help chase my dreams. I realised one thing though, 'Time is the healer'.

Biggest benefits ?

Oh, once you believe this is where you belong, the sense of achievement and confidence is unimaginable. It strengthens your humility and respect the simplicity of life.

Why should others do it ? When should they follow something ?

It is better to realize one's interest early to lead a happy and contented life. Because once you grow old, all you have time for is to reflect on the good old days, and wonder if it could have been better. At least i don't want to die an unhappy man!

Tips ? Advice ?

Keep your head up, event at the toughest of times. Because even your strongest belief of being strong would be put to the test, and you will be forced to doubt your capabilities. Contrary to these thoughts, if you fight these emotional swings, one shall come out a winner! Life's only worth living to the fullest!

Sharath's switch was a bold move, especially from where he started on the new path. A lot many folks I know have wanted to make such changes at multiple points, but the decision to dive right in is never easy or certain. The fuzziness, nervousness is always a part of it, as Sharath candidly points out. The important thing is go ahead and make the switch. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And its your dreams and your life at stake!

[ Oh, and now you know whom to ask for when you go over to Decthlon's huge store off Sajrapura Road to check out bikes and accessories :D ]

Sustainability : Needs, Possession and Sharing

The Story of Stuff video that I mentioned in my last post talks about how consumption was pretty much engineered to keep the ever higher production capacities going. It mentions that 99% of all stuff produced in the US gets discarded within 6 months! People are egged to buy, buy more and keep buying by messages that communicated the strategies of planned and perceived obsolescence to consumers.

Need ?

Some words thrown in this mix of marketing, messaging are cool, need, efficient, faster, cheaper, savings. Its either a sense of comparison with the rest of the world around you, and often a false sense of missing out on something thats started to define even what used to be basic "needs".

Brushes that tell you they're due for a change. Phones which are so out of date in year that you have not even used a small fraction of its features, but that new one is so much sleeker. Cars which drive perfectly alright, but hey we're not keeping parts available beyond 2010.

Water ? Yes, even good old h2o has gone aspirational with major lifestyle water brands!

Possess!

Even worse is stuff that we use maybe a couple of weeks in a year, but each of us must have!

We have a ladder at home that's needed once is a while. A couple of people asked how much it was, etc, and I suggested they could use ours since we didn't need it at that point. It now gets circulated a lot within our apartment complex and its saved a lot of people a lot of space, money and all of us a lot of needless products sold!

Sharing is a simple tool that will work for a lot many things like it worked for the ladder!

Kids, for instance, see a lot of toys with their friends, and there's an immediate follow-up at home with a demand that the same be mad available. Parents, especially those with busy schedules and decent disposable incomes, by and large give in to "not deny my kids simple pleasures". The alternative, which a few parents around where we live have started practicing, is to encourage kids to interact, and share whatever they have. Not only does it avoid unnecessary purchases (have you seen the number of toys that just live inside boxes and under beds once they're brought home?) - but also helps social interaction, negotiation skills, and a respect for valuation of considered needs and desires over every impulse to own this and have that.

What else can we share ?

Carpooling is a form of sharing as well. Taking a bus is sharing-nirvana!

I remember a whole bunch of us sitting around our neighbour's TV set during major cricket series when we were kids. It was actually a whole lot more fun than watching the matches alone, as is the norm now. Hand-me-downs still keep my daughter's wardrobe quite fresh and there's a minor freecycling movement of sorts in our apartment around kids prams, cots, clothes, shoes, etc!

Its sometimes economics that forces these choices. But I have increasingly felt a need for these choices driving our economics. Built it around services that work for sustainability, and not consumption.

The Story of Stuff, the Price of Things, Etc

Came across this awesomely done video that explains in brief what we've been doing wrong.

I'd written earlier about us not paying for the "real costs" and the need for building those into economic models so long term damage to the ecology, our health, our social structures is tougher to get away with. The video talks about that point, amongst other things. Its a very good way to understand what is really broken holistically.

The sad part is, the consumption led model and its associated economic, marketing theory was sold very aggresively through all the literature created around it, and all the institutions that sell it through multiple fora - both economic and social. Our world trade models, the basis of and assumptions for free trade, and even key economic indicators of growth, poverty and properity are influenced by these motivations and models. Its all pretty broken, and depressing. Modern economists are more or less at a loss when it comes to figuring out fixes that look beyond these problems that have led to ecological, social and more recently, even financial distress across the globe.

I think the solution is not top down, but bottom-up - like the video suggests as well. We need to move away from consumption at our individual levels, and stop identifying and defining our lives through the brands we own or consume and consumer choices we make all the time. It'll force a rethink and change at various levels, and best of all, will lower aspirational stress, improve our conenctions as producers and nourishers - not just consumers, and force the evolution of alternative models for economic success and growth.

The Big10 is a success!

Some good news at last - the Big10's are beginning to get used and have become operationally viable! BTIS has also added route maps such as the one for the Sarjapura Road one below on its Big-10 Page - including connections to major points from each stop! Pretty cool.

(click on this for a larger view)

Hopefully the Kendra Sariges will start to get popular soon as well. The more that Bangaloreans take to buses, the lesser of a traffic situation we'll have on our hands.

While on that - the frequency of Volvos on the ORR is pretty good - and on the (old) Airport Road its just astounding - you often see 2 within a few seconds of each other! Volvo tickets are also very very affordable now - with the minumum being a 5 then an 8, 10 and so on. No reason left to drive around yourself, find parking, waste fuel....

On my last bus ride to Airport Road - took a Volvo (the driver was real nice and dropped folks off at the base of the Marathahalli bridge after the scheduled stop at Innovative) and then a Big 10 - both conductors were women! Impressive to see a very good representation of the fairer sex in BMTC buses.

Shooting, but in the dark ?

Beijing has set goals for being more public transport dependent by 2015.

This goal-setting is what I think needs a serious rethink in urban plans. Delhi's trying to improve infrastructure so more and more cars can drive longer distances. Bangalore is - well - executing fast and nicely on a tonne of bandaids without any apparent set of goals and directions - at least not the right ones.

What would I love to see Bangalore shoot for ? Let's say, by 2015....
(These aren't calculated numbers, but more to emphasize the kind of goals we need to shoot for)

• 25% lesser distance travelled in private cars
• 30% increase in trips on cycles
• 50% more commutes by public transport. Integrated ticketing for trains/buses
  
• >50% people need to travel <10>
• Traffic free city core - except for public EVs, cycles, train
  
• 25% reduction is landfill-waste (70% is organic, we can try segregating)
• Revival/addition of raja kaluves for interconnecting lakes that formed a natural drainage chain
• 30% water needs met through rainwater harvesting
• 40% reduction in number of borewells
• At least 10 recharge wells per sq km for reviving the water table
• Revival of 15 lakes
  
• 25% increase in tree cover, addition of at least 10 "mini forests" inside city limits
• 10% electricity through solar/wind sources

There are ways to achieve each of those (and more such goals). Government initiative, legislation, citizen participation, activism, corporate CSR and incentives - there are many tools. But they will yield results if there is first a consensus on a set of goals that is persisted with, and against which "development" is frequently measured. At the moment, its the actions themselves that are considered good enough for a government showcasing itself as a development friendly one. The thrust and direction of the development is immaterial, and often harmful in the medium or long term without any goals driving the activity.

Edit: @sids says "Without such goals, development is self perpetuating". Well put!