What’s okay and what’s not? Every day all year around you face this dilemma in your daily life. It does not matter if you are in India or Sweden, although spending a couple of weeks in a place like Auroville might get your mind spinning and your thought wrapped around these everyday dilemmas. The questions you have to decide upon vary depending on many different variables: cheap or expensive, quality or quantity etc. These are of course all complex questions but for me, but they have one common denominator, and that is to  always reflect upon your choices. For me it is important to have this mindset because without it you are already making the decision not to take action. You might end up with a perfectly fine lifestyle but not in all cases. I must admit that I often “don’t practice what I preach” and honesty I don’t know why. There are most probably a lot of reasons.
The point I am trying to make is that in a place like Auroville one begins to considering how one actually choose to structure everyday life, a bit more than in other places. And if you are not aware, you cannot act.

In Auroville you find a lot of interesting solutions which all could contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle and a smaller ecological footprint. If it’s working or not I don’t know, it’s probably not enough but at least they provide something that is different. There are stores which provide an alternative way of grocery shopping. There are restaurants that grow everything they serve on the menu, and there are companies that have a “zero waste” policy. This community is extremely small and the small changes here will never be noticed on any bigger scale, but if you want to change something you have to start with your surroundings. There are many different solutions found in Auroville which are smart and easy to implement. All of these things will maybe be hard to implement of a larger scale, but next time I go grocery shopping I will definitely bring my own bag. And unfortunately Lays chips will never taste as delicious as they once did 🙂 // Alex 2014-01-12