Greetings from ECO Desi

Hello, EcoDesi here. That’s right, EcoDesi.

Has a nice ring to it, I think.

So who or what is an EcoDesi? First off it is a who, not a what. And the definition (drum roll please):

It is an individual having ties to the Indo-subcontinent who has decided to incorporate being green into his/her lifestyle.

So for now it’s just me but if you’re cool enough I’ll include you in my club too. I know creepy right. On a serious note, what I want to do is incorporate a greener way of living into my lifestyle and see where it leads me. I’m going to use this forum to share my observations and any tips that I pick up along the way and hopefully inspire others to be EcoDesis as well. I’m already living greener than most people by carrying reusable bags every time I go grocery shopping and being vigilant about recycling paper products and anything with the recyclable label. But I consider these minor steps, I want to do more and truly understand why doing things a certain way can help the environment while the other way can impact it negatively. And in the process I want it to become second nature to me.

And I’m not doing it because I’m some long-haired, hippy, living off the earth, never shave my arm-pits type of girl. I’m really very hip and urban. Really I am. My reason for living greener is first because the planet is dying (and I’m sure everyone agrees with me on that unless you are an ostrich with your head buried in the sand) and secondly there are all these unexpected benefits that come with living greener that it’s a wonder nobody did it sooner.

But of course not everyone thinks this way. I’ve noticed that my friends and, especially the desi community isn’t really big on this idea of living green. Even with all the data out there and our ever warmer climate very few people take this issue seriously, much less do anything about it. And when I probe why, the reasons given vary from I didn’t think about it to it’s not a cool thing to do. For example, just a few days ago I accompanied my smoker work friends for a smoke break. The weather was nice and I felt like going outside and shooting the breeze (while standing upwind so as not to get their second-hand lung cancer causing smoke). So as we made our way down they decided to get some coffee from the café in our building. As we stood in line I asked them why they didn’t bring down their travel coffee mugs that we all got when we joined the company. And nobody really had an answer until one girl said that it was cooler to have the paper cups with the logo on them as opposed to the travel mugs. She said it half jokingly but I think there was some truth to that. Her answer kind of surprised me. I had never thought of those paper cups as a status symbol but then I don’t spend that much time thinking about status symbols so that might be just me.

So it got me thinking and I would be really interested in knowing why people don’t take the environment issue as seriously as I do. Is it because we don’t think the issue is real? Is it because thinking about the environment is inconvenient in our busy yuppie lives? Is it because we think that doing anything will be very insignificant so why bother? Let me know your thoughts. I am very curious to know.

Anyway until next time. Take care people.

Comments

Great article. Reading your blog makes me want to live a greener lifestyle.
Seriously, we are all aware of the environmental issues but we don't want to incorporate into our live because of convenience. Why carry around a travel mug if you can get your cup right from the store for free? Why take the bus if we can get to our destination at half the time on car? We rather be arrogant and leave the mess for someone else to pickup than take responsibility for our actions.

Posted by: Puneet A | 06/22/2010 at 02:41 PM