What is Sustainability?
Sustainability seems to be the buzz word we see everywhere these days. But how serious are we about it? We must acknowledge that Sustainability is a lifestyle shift and not just a #trend . It cannot be a one time act, its a mindset that needs to be inculcated in our everyday, right from what we eat to what we wear and carry to how we indulge ourselves.
Being a designer, I am often told it comes easily to me as I can think creatively about this. To be honest, yes I do thank my creative instincts but at the same time I have seen the most creative and privileged of people having the least sense of responsibility towards our society and environment and vice versa.
Professionally, working in the craft sector has enriched me with a lot of natural experiences which help me get closer to this lifestyle. Sharing some little initiatives that we can all do to imbibe and influence our families and friends towards a sustainable lifestyle. Recycling, reusing and reducing things around us is the best way we can inch closer to a bigger goal.
In my house one can find all kinds of mundane things converted into something desirable. Here is how anyone can bring some little changes in their daily life and turn around discarded stuff.
Pic 1.
A bunch of wire frames that I found lying around a welding shop as waste, all rusted. Checked with the shop guy, got it little fixed and got it home for about 200 bucks! It kept lying for a while alongwith a host of other things in my collection of ‘to do’! It was when I thought of adding some greens at my workshop, this popped up, cleaned it, painted and got some wall pots. The other one found a place in my balcony. And here is how it looks now!
The birdhouse and the wall shelf in the second pic is also made from the left over wood from our house woodwork. After every woodwork of the house there is so much waste that goes in dump. For me that’s simply treasure! We can use these to make so many things like Pot stands, small work tables, sitting stools, bird houses.
My family has literally been fed up of me collecting these scrap stuff from everywhere, tree trunks fallen by the roadside, bamboo, metal scraps, laminates wasted after woodworks, leaves and flowers just anything! I just pick them up, not really sure what to do with it at that point of time.
Pic 2.
This corner uses all the waste stuff from my earlier house. The bamboo used earlier as a partition in the open garden had got discoloured and spoilt at base. It kept lying as waste for a long time and found its new abode here, cleaned, trimmed and painted. The old broken shoe rack converted into a plant stand. Waste ply and laminates make a pot stand simply by attaching a base bush, easily available and super easy to fix. Luckily I get too much sun in my balcony but wanted a semi shade for some of my plants. This seemed to work at no extra cost using all recycled stuff.
Pic 3.
Coco shells make an amazing home for succulent plants. Can be installed anywhere and everywhere. Just drill 2 holes, wire it to any area with back support and plant. Succulents are the easiest plants to grow and nurture.
Pic 4
Composting. It is one of the best practices one can start anytime and anywhere with very little effort. Start it young for your kids, make them understand the dynamics around it and they will grow with that thought becoming action.
Giving our kids a little doze of nature every now and then makes a deep change in the long run. Going for nature walks,trekking a cliff or sitting by the beach or by a park is always a good break from the fast lives we live today. Start small but start young!
Pic 5
A sitting bench with base as coconut tree trunks which I picked from roadside! These were cut for road widening all around. The top from another waste from a timber shop, termite eaten . Cured them both, sanded and some varnish and paint…tada! Done and dusted. Had these even in the open garden area but that got eaten from inside by termites because of the direct contact with soil, though that also lasted for 2 years.
rashmiesiingh 