Vitamin Green

Chemicals are an important part of technology that has added great convenience to our lives over the last half-century.

But we’re now finding out that many of the things we are using everyday, contain chemicals that have major long term health consequences…not a pretty picture

Read more here — Non-Stick and Stain-Free: The Soiled, Messy Truth

via Greenr

Megaprojects are the toast of this decade in India.

With financing becoming easier to obtain, and the government looking to push development (or is it industrialisation?) in a major way government and business are thinking big.

While conventional wisdom seems to suggest that economies of scale make this the only way to go, why do so many mega projects seem to fail (overruns in cost, time to completion or outright cancellation)?

Answer? The risks are often misrepresented or miscalculated…

MUST READ: Megaprojects and Risk (Book Excerpt)

Some interesting reading about these issues (and examples)…

25 power projects fail to materialise in Karnataka (via Rediff)

Consequences of Mega Projects (via JSTOR)

The real story of Dabhol (via Outlook)

Why mega-projects are falling apart (via Crainsnewyork)

Mega-projects: the changing politics of urban public investment (Book)

Bandra-Worli Sea Link: cost rose 6-fold to Rs1,600 crore new (via domain-b.com)

SEZs: Bumpy road to economic prosperity? (via The Hindu Business Line)

You can now get the complete digital collection of National Geographic (everything that they’ve ever published over 120 years), on one hard disk drive.

“…definitive collection of every issue of National Geographic magazine, digitally reproduced in stunning high resolution, brings you the world and all that is in it..”

Get it at National Geographic Online

Only available in the US, so get in touch with your friends

Mining has been an integral part of Goa for decades…and the results are showing. For those of us that are still in denial about the consequences of continuing at this rate, here’s a look into the future…

Read about the The Razing of Appalachia
(via  Yale Environment 360)

See the Video?

When we recently moved house, I found I was short a table for my computer. While my initial reaction was to buy a conventional desk, I decided to try and see if I could come up with a design that consumed less resources.

I felt that the important considerations were:

• What are the right materials to use? (they should be from sustainable sources or recyclable)
• How big would the workstation be? (bigger means more resources, including space)
• How reusable would the table be? (I should be able to take it with me if I move again)

Here’s what I came up with…(its a wall-mounted compact PC workstation)

For those who’d like details — the black table top is laminated particle board (thanks to Infiniti Modules, Pilerne); the silver-grey wall-mount brackets are metal and actually made for a microwave (from Luis Hardware, Panjim); the LCD wall-mount is also metal (not visible) and is ordered off eBay India.

Last weekend (the Independence Day weekend) we were at the Siolim St. Francis Xavier Plant Festival.

Lots of plant loving visitors come to this village event every year and there was a wonderful display of plants done by the students of the schools themselves (they have an Eco Club)…

Wish we had more of these village events, because they encourage an affinity to nature that our cities just don’t.

A below-average monsoon has made water an important topic once again in India.

But water shortages are inevitable if our national policy enables large-scale groundwater depletion for ZERO cost to industry.

CSE – the nation’s premier environment investigation agency – has an article that explains the issues in detail and shows how unregulated and un-monitored industrial water consumption is creating community-industry conflict and depleting our most valuable natural resource.

via CSE India

Becoming a ‘green consumer’ is a challenge. Here are 5 questions that you might consider before you buy ANYTHING.

Do I definitely need this?

Consumption is the environment’s greatest enemy. And there’s no substitute for lower consumption in reducing our individual and collective impact. This is the single most important step we can take.

What materials is it made of?

The materials in things we buy play the lead part in their impact on the environment. Ask yourself —Do these materials have negative side effects (chemicals)? Can they be re-cycled or re-used (plastics)?

Where does it come from?

Co2 emissions are widely accepted as a leading threat to our ecosystem. And transportation of goods is one of the largest contributors of Co2 in the global economy. Buy local goods to minimise your carbon footprint.

How long will its ‘usable life’ be?

Another way of minimising consumption is to extend the usable life of products that we buy. This can be done by evaluating its durability or by choosing not to replace it as often as we might like.

Can I safely dispose it?
Safe disposal isn’t usually something we consider while buying things. But given the poor waste disposal systems in Goa, this is a critical consideration. Is safe disposal for the item conveniently available to you?

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive crash course have a look at this Cheat Sheet

Hi, just a quick word about this blog. Its something that we hope will provide you with ideas for how you can achieve a more eco-freindly lifestyle. Just remember, its completely voluntary

Got some ideas that you can share? Please do write to us at info@greenessentials.in