Disposable

It’s pretty amazing that our society has reached a point where the effort necessary to extract oil from the ground, ship it a refinery, turn it into plastic, shape it appropriately, truck it to a shore, buy it, and bring it home; is considered less effort than what it takes to just wash the spoon when you’re done with it.
-via TreeHugger

Mass production of disposable products for our convenience is the norm of the times. The more a society progresses the more the usage of disposable products. Look around you, probably 80% of products you use are the disposable kind. So, if we are waiting around for someone to solve environmental issues for us, then it’s not likely to happen. The problem is not someone else but us, unless we change our ways, the problems which have resulted from our desire for conveniences are not going away any time soon.

Each one of us could take a minute, review our dependency on disposable products, and cut back. Something as simple as washing and reusing a spoon can go along way. But remember karma, when we change our ways, it will impact things both in a good and a bad way. So if today we all stop using disposable spoons, then naturally, industries which produce these products will go out of business, people will lose jobs, and there will economic and social impacts. So when people say wash a spoon and reuse it, the impact of that action, in the big picture, is not as simple as it looks.

Another thing I have noticed is we sometimes justify use of disposable products by using recycling as an excuse. Well, when you get a chance, go to a landfill near you, and you will get a good idea of how much recycling actually goes on.

If you want to make a difference, make changes to your dependency on disposable products today, and show others that they can do it too.

Go Green Tip: Storing Paint

If stored correctly, leftover paint can last for years. Here are 8 paint storage tips from Earth 911 to extend paint life.

Go Green Tip

Conserver water by switching to powder detergents. Liquid detergents are mostly water (up to 80%).

via National Geographic

Two things I don’t do: worry & get mad

Every morning I wake up with a smile (except for the first few times I hit my snooze button) and every night I go to bed with a smile. This is regardless of what happens during the hours that I’m awake and independent of what day it is.

Worrying is a complete waste of time. Getting mad is also a big waste of time. I’ve been NOT wasting time for the past 8 years now.

You might argue that worrying and getting mad are natural human tendencies, but they are actually social influences that we’ve grown up with. Things happen all the time. Its the way we respond to them that truly identifies who we are. The more calm you are, the more likely that you will be able to make a rational decision towards anything in your life.

Dharma & True Freedom

Freedom, all of us want it, it’s protected once we think we have it, and it’s marketed to others who don’t have it, but are we truly free? What is true freedom? What would it take to achieve true freedom? What are the consequences of true freedom for us? What is the relationship between Dharma and true freedom? These are some of the questions we are going address in this two part series.
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Earth: Stressed Out

Is it time for us to stop worrying about life, death, after life, and all the other truths we are seeking, to stop everything we are doing and start listening to a planet under stress? Over the past few weeks, I have noticed a flurry of news articles addressing the state of the planet, and its rapid deterioration. Is the planet trying to reach us, tying to tell us there is a problem, and not everyone is alert and listening?
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The Commonwealth: A Post Colonial Club

Ignorant as I still am, I did not know anything about the Commonwealth until today. I was, at first, surprised when I read, “India picks three more gold”, but that surprise went poof after I read, India won 69 medals, including 30 gold, in the last Commonwealth Games in Manchester, in the same news article.
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A Historians Dharma

After seeing the response to the Aryan Invasion Theory post, I thought it would be a good idea to get some expert opinion on the issue. So I emailed Indian Historian, Dr. Nayanjot Lahiri, asking her if she would be interested in doing a blog interview on AIT, here is her response:

My schedule simply doesn’t permit this currently. Have to finish teaching and essay corrections!
All the best,
Nayanjot Lahiri

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Aryan Invasion Theory

Every time I read another debate or article on the Aryan Invasion Theory(AIT), I start to fume, not because I am mad at their opinions, but at the fact that, so called historians and scholars are still debating this bogus theoryâ€â€?which was created by people who had a religious, colonial, and race agenda. Any Indian knows what the word Arya means, but Max Muller—the man behind the theory had no clue—which he later admitted when his Sanskrit and historian skills were challenged.
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Night Terror

Night terror, recently I had a chance to observe this phenomenon, which I had never heard of or seen before. A friend’s ten month old son woke up from his sleep crying, there was this look of terror in his eyes, and there was nothing we could do to calm him down. Eventually he stopped, after a good 10 mintues of crying, but it was confusing and new to us. Later, we learned that what he had gone through was a night terror.

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