my lifestyle contract.

This week the South Asian Youth Conference was held here in namma Bengaluru.  On Tuesday I braved the buses all the way to the far, far away campus of IIM-B to sit in on/help with Nithya's workshop on breaking down how we live our lives and how to develop a "lifestyle contract" for living a more sustainable life.

We had each delegate present draw a "map" of their daily lives, going over every aspect from where their food is grown to how they get around their towns/cities to simple things like remembering to turn off lights and fans when leaving a room.  In the end we made a list of promises to try to stick to in order to lead more sustainable lives.  The exercise got me thinking about how sustainable I am here in India, and how sustainable I hope to be once I return to the US.

This is a big issue mainly because the convenience of the US makes it so easy to be unsustainable, which is why the US has the largest carbon footprint of any country in the world.  And when you look at it, it can be reduced by leaps and bounds just by doing little things like turning off the water while brushing your teeth or unplugging a charger when you're not using it.

On one hand, there are some things that I know I am good about here in Bangalore:

• I turn off the tap while brushing my teeth or washing dishes.
• I have bucket baths instead of showers.
• I turn off lights and fans when I leave a room.
• I switch off outlets and unplug chargers when I'm not using them.
• I use public transportation.
• All the food we eat is locally grown [I don't necessarily know about how the chickens are raised, which I know I should]
• I carry re-usable bags with me to shops.
• Whatever plastic bags accumulate in the house I re-use as bin liners.  [one delegate from Nepal said that any plastic bags his family members bring home he returns on his next visit to that shop.  I found that an intriguing idea.  I can just imagine the look on the faces of the people who work at more. if I return a bag.  ha!]
• Any plastic containers that come from restaurants are washed and re-used for leftovers.
• I discourage - mostly by hitting or pinching - my friends from throwing trash on the ground and encourage them to wait until there is a dustbin available.  If they refuse, I keep it in an extra pocket of my bag until I find a bin myself.
• I walk whenever possible [which is really only in my neighbourhood or when I'm in the MG/Brigade/Commercial St area].
• I work for an organisation that tries as much as possible to be sustainable in its daily operations.
• I print documents only when necessary - usually permission letters for the Boys' Home - and try to print on both sides of a paper.  If we have any papers that have one blank side - either at home or at the Boys' Home - I save them for re-use.
• I dry my clothes in the sun rather than using a clothes dryer.
• I try never to waste food.  I only serve myself an amount I know I can eat.  Leftovers from eating out are either forced down - if it's not a lot - or else packed up and either eaten later or given to the dog.

All that being said, however, I know there are things I could do better.  We can all always do better.  The point is whether or not we can commit to it.  I've started thinking about commitments I can make once I return to the US, where it will be more difficult to stick to my guns about these sorts of things.  I don't want to get sucked back into living an unsustainable life again, but I know it won't be an easy road.  My commitments are as follows...

I promise to try to do the following:

• continue turning off taps when brushing my teeth and washing dishes [which I've done on my trips back to the States, so I think I should be able to keep up with].
• turn off the shower while I'm lathering and scrubbing.
• dry my clothes outside on sunny days [obviously I will have to use a dryer during most of the "winter"months.  and I will also have to convince my roommates that it is a good idea to put up a clothesline in the backyard].
• avoid using the dishwasher as much as possible [we hardly used it growing up, so I'm used to washing dishes by hand].
• encourage my roommates to carry re-usable bags when going shopping.
• buy locally-grown produce whenever possible.
• walk whenever possible [I'm pretty sure Little Rock doesn't have a public transportation system to speak of].
• look into buying a cycle for use around the city [cuts down on emissions from a car, cuts down on money spent on fuel - especially with gas prices being so high - and is a good form of exercise.  a win-win-win situation.  I like those].  only downside?  I haven't ridden a cycle in over 15 years.  eeps.
• remember to unplug chargers when I'm not using them.
• cut down on how much I eat out.  This is especially difficult whenever I travel back to Memphis, as the easiest way to catch up with my friends is to meet them out for dinner or a drink.  I also am usually a bit desperate to make sure I hit all my familiar haunts during the brief time I am in town.  I'm hoping that since I am back for a while, this won't have to be such a frequent happening.
• not keep the air conditioning/heat running 24/7.  I think this will most likely be my most difficult one, as once you feel that blessed air con on you, it's difficult to remember to be sustainable.
• recycle my used electronic goods.
• get back into the habit of recycling paper, plastic, etc.
• possibly look into a backyard compost?  I would need very understanding roommates for this one.
• not waste food.  This is especially difficult in the States, where portions are so big, but in the past I was always pretty good about packing leftovers - in college because I was poor and it meant I had one free meal for the week, and post-college because my dad would usually wait up to see what I brought home.  It will be something I have to get back into the habit of doing.
• do my best to buy fair trade products.  I don't yet know how feasible this is, as I really have no idea of how socially conscious the city of Little Rock is on the whole, so this will have to be something I work out once I move and can get the lay of the land.
• stick with my policy of printing as little as possible and re-using blank sides of paper.

Obviously there are many more things I could - and should - do, but I think this is a good starting point.  As I mentioned toward the end of my list, I don't know how socially conscious Little Rock is as a city, so a lot of things depend on that.  It was easy to recycle in Brussels because every train station had separate bins for paper, plastics, etc, while in Bangalore that's not the case.  [I know those are two very different cities generally, but you get my point]  So I have to get to Little Rock and see how many of these I can actually pull off [for example: I don't know yet how many cycle paths are, so I can't commit to buying one until I know how often I will actually get a chance to use it] and how many more I might be able to do.

What is your lifestyle contract for the next year?

xx