Showing 12 articles

Towards Permanent Co-existence: Lessons from Permaculture

Author: Trishya Screwvala

March 28, 2022

The word ‘Permaculture’ was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970s to refer to the “consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fibre and energy for provision of local needs” . What began as an ecological movement towards ‘Permanent Agriculture’, over time, [...]

The Wisdom of Trees

Author: Manjula Nanavati

March 28, 2022

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.” – Herman Hesse (1) There is a relative uncertainty as to when our earliest human ancestors evolved [...]

Unity in Diversity – Lessons from the Animal Kingdom

Author: Dilip Jain

March 31, 2021

Om Purnamadaha Purnamidam Purnat Purnamudachyate Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnamewa Vashishyate This creation is whole and complete. From the whole emerge creations, each whole and complete. Take the whole from the whole. The whole yet remains, undiminished, complete. -Brihadaranyaka Upanishad I come from the limited world of business governed by ever-changing rules of finance and management. Hence, [...]

It’s Not About Producing Antibodies

Author: Delia Steinberg Guzmán

December 9, 2020

We live in a polluted world, and we have become used to it. The level of environmental pollution, especially in large cities, increases day by day, but because we cannot abandon them as our obligations are still anchored there, we have simply adapted to this situation. Our bodies have produced antibodies, and almost naturally, we [...]

A Diary of a Struggling Ecologist

Author: Ubai Husein

October 14, 2020

This journey started with my love for food, which prompted me to pursue a degree in Culinary Arts. There, in addition to simply cooking, I was introduced to the various aspects about growing and producing food before it enters the kitchen, including the entire mechanism of factory farming and the resulting destruction caused to the [...]

A Tryst with Mother Earth

Author: Vasant Sanzgiri

December 31, 2019

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” – M.K. Gandhi Very often I hear from friends, “I want to be one with Nature.” For most people this means visiting some remote forested place rich in wildlife, or vacationing at some scenic location like a hill station or beach. Usually, [...]

Chernobyl and the Inexorability of Karma

Author: Gilad Sommer

December 3, 2019

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. The Buddha The Truth doesn’t care about our needs or wants, it doesn’t care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait for all time. And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl. Valery Legasov in HBO’s Chernobyl The [...]

“Old into Gold”

Author: Barley Massey

January 14, 2019

At this time in humanity’s evolution, wealthy nations are living through a highly materialistic time. Vast amounts of resources, time and costs are invested into producing, marketing and acquiring “stuff” which then quickly losses its perceived value or becomes obsolete and is discarded. The excavation of ancient rubbish dumps by archaeologists reveals miniscule amounts of ash, [...]

Driving Down the Foodmiles

Author: Ubai Husein

April 2, 2018

Every living being on this planet, from the mineral to plants, animals, and man, has a role to play in maintaining the fine balance of our ecosystem. If even one of these does not play its part, it will cause an imbalance that affects the whole. Today, when we look at our planet and the [...]

Life Lessons from the Amazon

Author: Trishya Screwvala

April 2, 2018

“Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better.” – Albert Einstein The brief time that I recently spent in Peru’s southern Amazon Forest, really opened my heart to the beauty and infinite wisdom that nature has to offer. The potent combination of heat and humidity makes the Amazon the largest rainforest on [...]

Climate Change – Truth, Facts and Plenty of Opinions

Author: Florimond Krins

March 8, 2018

Climate change has been a hot topic for a long time, with some saying it is pure fiction, whilst others have pointed out the many signs of change and their likely future consequences. It is now well understood by the scientific community that climate change is and always has been a natural phenomenon, but many [...]

Sacred Groves

Author: Ubai Husein

March 23, 2016

“The forest is not merely an expression or representation of sacredness, nor a place to invoke the sacred; the forest is sacredness itself.  Nature is not merely created by God, nature is God.  Whoever moves within the forest can partake directly of sacredness, experience sacredness with his entire body, breathe sacredness and contain it within [...]