Page 127 - Vogue - India (January 2020)
P. 127
Over 906,000
hectares of and evolving, as dynamic and enduring
forest within as the seasons. The monsoons will
the Amazon come. The monsoons will go. And we
have been lost will be together still.
to fi re in 2019 Years ago, upon learning that 90 per
cent of global fi sh stocks were depleted,
I asked oceanographer Sylvia Earle
what to do. She reached for my hand,
squared her gaze and responded: “The
other 10 percent, we fi ght for what we
still have.”
Air pollution in India kills
about 25 lakh people each WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER
year. According to WHO, Sustainability is an opportunity and
Delhi is one of the most obligation that belongs to all of us.
polluted cities in the world So ask yourself: how will you deepen
your connection to our fi erce, tender
world? In what ways
will you hold the
institutions that un-
dergird your life ac-
countable and discern
their intentions from
impact? How will you
In 2019 alone, over 13 states cultivate community,
in India were a ected by nourish compassion
fl oods caused due to heavy and grow love? What
rains, leaving 500 dead and will you do to save
a million displaced what sustains you?
While quick tips
you can check off a list
are tempting, they are
their own needs.” Now, check the up- not enough. Get a good water fi lter and
dated defi nition. Sustainability, a term wean yourself off excessive plastic,
STEP UP that held visions of abundance, resil- take public transport, eat lower on the
Let these apps guide you to a more ience and justice has in many instanc- food chain and re-envision your ties to
sustainable life. By Ishita es become a corporatised abstraction: people and places. Sustainability is
Nirbhavne people, planet, profi t; earth ethics, eco- about our relationship with all that
nomics; three-legged stools and triple surrounds us. How will you move on
UZED allows you to responsibly bottom lines; stakeholders over share- this earth in a way that reveals your
dispose of and recycle plastics and holders. Nearly 30 years since its entry cares? Will your sustainability be
other items while winning gift cards. into global consciousness, the world we found in the folds of your kurta or the
THE PATH TO LUMA is an are leaving for future generations has items on your plate? Will it show up in
adventure puzzle game that teaches indeed been compromised. Sustain- how you support others or in the way
you about clean energy. ability means everything and nothing. you care for yourself? There is no sin-
Allow the rage that follows the grief gle answer, but what is clear is that we
AQI INDIA keeps a check on to ignite you. Accept that we cannot are in this together.
the Air Quality Index, helping you depend on institutions reliant on quar- Open your mouth, speak and act.
understand the air you breathe. terly returns or beholden to election The cost of doing nothing is too great.
cycles to manifest the world we need Step onto the path forged by Sunita,
ECOSIA is a ‘tree-planting’ browser and want. It is time for us to get to Ridhima, Greta and Wangari. We are
that uses money made from searches work and make vague notions of sus- the heroines of this story. We are the
to fund reforestation programmes. tainability concrete, to become curious ones who will mend what is broken.
OROECO is a carbon footprint about what sustains us: a quiet morn- Let this awareness seep into your skin
tracker that will help you make ing chai, the accomplishments of our and fl ood your veins. Manifest the
eco-friendly choices. loved ones, birdsong. Our relationship world you want and the truth as you
with the world around us is complex want it to be, as only you can. ■
www.vogue.in VOGUE INDIAJANUARY 127
