and such similar thoughts post World Environment Day
…and such similar thoughts post World Environment Day.
Bamboo trees at Kaveri Nisarga Dama near Coorg
Earth, in which lie the sea, river and other waters, in which food and cornfields have come to be, in which lives all that breathes and moves, may she confer on us the finest of her yield.
Earth, in which the waters, common to all, moving on all sides, flow unfailingly, day and night, may she pour on us milk in many streams, and endow us with lustre, May those born of thee, O Earth, be of our welfare, free from sickness and waste, wakeful through a long life, we shall become bearers of tribute to thee.
Earth, my mother, set me securely with bliss in full accord with heaven, O wise one, uphold me in grace and splendour.
Atharva Veda
June 5 is ‘celebrated’ as World Environment Day and here I was mourning over it. Reading about the global warming and how the environment in the big cities is slowly becoming irrepairable is reason enough to mourn. But it is also a reason enough to put our act together to bettering the environment, in our own small way.
What is Carbon Footprint?
A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.
Small changes in the way we work in the kitchen, can make a huge difference to the environment. Here are some of them.
1. Use **natural light** whenever available. No point keeping your curtains / blinds shut and then using lights indoors in the day time.
2. If you are using bulbs to light up your place, switch to **CFL bulbs** right now. CFL bulbs waste less energy, heat up the place less and last longer. Check [http://www.banthebulb.org](http://www.banthebulb.org)
3. Heating up water? If you need two cups water for tea, fill your** kettle** with only two cups. A lot of energy will be wasted heating up a kettle full of water and then throwing out the unused water.
4.** Solar heaters** are very popular in the South of India, with new constructions having their own solar heating devices. India has an abundance of sunlight and we must use it to our advantage, so must other sun rich places.
5. Do you keep the microwave, the blender/mixer, the laptop on** standby mode**? What is the cooling level in your refrigerator? I am guilty of not having paid attention to this until a few months ago.Keeping appliances on standby does consume a lot of electricity over time. If you are in the kitchen, don’t let fans, lights and TV be running in other rooms.
6. If you are using the **oven**, plan in such a way that you bake 2-3 dishes together, or for a smaller over, keep the next batch ready so that the oven doesn’t need to be preheated for the second cycle.
7. Please learn to use a **pressure cooker** if you don’t use it already. Cooking rice, vegetables, lentils gets done in almost 1/10 th of the time it takes to cook them by boiling. This means you would have consumed 5-10 times the energy by not using a pressure cooker.
8. If your city certifies that the **tap water** is potable, then go ahead and use tap water. Bottled water just increases the plastic load in the environment.
9. Use your **public market** as against super markets whenever possible. The stuff there is local, they haven’t be flown in (air travel increases carbon load in environment tremendously), besides all open air markets, especially in India, use natural air and lighting.
10. When you go shopping in outdoor markets, take your own **cloth / jute bag**. Say no to bringing in any extra plastic at home. I carry a huge canvas bag to bring in my veggies and fruits from the outdoor market.
11. Do a planned kitchen supplies **grocery shopping** so that you get things done in one trip. Carpool and go shopping with friends, you can enjoy, save fuel and also reduce emissions.
12. Use **steel or glass crockery**, avoid plastic plates and glasses at all costs. For picnics, carry paper cups and plates, these can be recyled into paper once again. The plastic will stay on for a million years if thrown around. When we were kids, there was hardly any kid in the class who would get a plastic lunch box, it was steel all the way and today I think even kids have been programmed to think of plastic as fashionable and steel as downmarket!
13. Please don’t run **dishwashers and washing machines** with a less-than-full load. This wastes a lot of power. If your kitchen sink has a hot water funtion, use the hot water judiciously.
14. Grow as much **greenery** as your house will permit. Use small earthern pots, plastic food containers that you’d throw away otherwise, broken tea cups to grow small herbs and plants. It will liven up your kitchen incredibly, give you a steady supply of herbs and not to mention all the extra oxygen supply – and all you need is a corner or a window sill.
The biggest problem we in India today face is the “Ek mere se kya hoga?” (in Hindi for -What difference will one person make?) mentality. But imagine, if everyone started thinking like this, then we would have successfully managed to sully our environment by several notches and imagine the vice versa would be true too. If each one just managed their house and its immediate surroundings, the day wont be far when we can boast of a clean, environmentally sound city.
If you have any tips on how we can better the environment, in our own little way, please add it on! We can all do with learning from other’s experiences.
More reading – Carbon Footprint , Bulb fiction
(Written for foodblogging community at Dining Hall)
You have come up with very valid points Nandita, will surely try to incorporate them. The bulbs are going to go first, I just hate that every apt here is lit with yellow light, makes the whole place gloomy too, apart from the heat and extra energy wasted !! Need to figure out a way to use lesser plastic bags too at the grocery store.
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good info there!hey, i tried ur black eye beans burger recipe and it turned out yum! just blogged about it, thanks!
———-http://feketefne.wordpress.com/2007/05/24
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post.
That looks so delicious! You should post your recipes at http://daily-cook-book.blogspot.com! It really sounds like the kind of recipes we are looking for!I can’t wait to try them!
Those are great tips for anyone, anywhere in the world! I have about 60 pots of plants and herbs in my house and am in the process of switching all the light bulbs to energy efficient ones.Can’t wait to try the mango coconut ice cream!
I read somewhere that it uses less energy to heat water in a pan on a stove than in an electric kettle.
And also becoming vegan is also great for the environment…It is very easy to be a vegan in western countries.I wish there was lot of meat and diary alternatives in India too.
Thank you so much for this post. This is so very informative and useful blog. Thank you for sharing.
Hey lady ST (Saffron Trail)I am too impressed with the post abt reducing one’s carbon footprints @ kitchen.. I reposted your post in Facebook page so that my pals can read and learn…! Also, thinking to make granola in ur style..!Regards and Best wishesAmtrips(Amrita Tripathy)
I do my part to reduce my carbon footprint. I even use a kitchen rock like my grandmother did. I tenderize meat and peel and crush garlic with it. I recycle plastic bags and crush ice with my kitchen rock and the used bag. I crack nuts and cut up whole chickens using my kitchen rock. These are small things, but I think they really make a difference!