We went to the Chidambaram Temples and Mangroves on January 6th. The Nataraja Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva the god of dance. The temple itself showed a connection between spirituality, religion, and the arts. Just how much they are connected and the meaning behind them. It showed me and the group how much art is connected with not only Hindu culture but also Indian culture in general. The displays all 108 Karanas which is the basis of the classical indian dance Bharatanatyam. The current temple was built in the 10th century and you can see bits of the old 10th century temple and the renovations that are being made by contemporary artists. To me it’s quite interesting that renovation isn’t that big of a discussion because in the west when you see the Sistine Chapel or something that is considered to be a sacred piece of art it is always discussed in order to renovate it with the argument that the artists work shouldn’t be messed with, but in this case it is not about the artist it is about the story. When going in the temple we had a guide that explained all about the temple. The biggest thing I learned when experiencing the temple was that the idols of the gods are not necessary the gods themselves. It is a representation of the gods. the gods can go where they please and can come and go where they see fit. The statues are just representation of the spirits of the gods. When going in the temple it was a very magical experience, because meeting holy cows and having such a connection with them and then understanding why they are so sacred. When looking at them you see that they have personalities and maybe there is something magical about that animal.

When going into the temple it was an experience like nothing you would have before. To see the dedication to the religion is something you don’t really see that much in America. To see the people in the temple chanting and focusing and to see all of those people lined up willing to pay what little money they had for a blessing from a god. That just for a moment they would be touched for a moment by something that is beyond this world. In someways a visit to the temple is a space to really believe in magic. To see the belief and to see what belief and faith can do to people and what it does for people. Believing is the opposite of seeing, you don’t have to believe in something to believe in it or have faith in it, but all of those people lined up knew in their hearts that something was better than nothing and the possibility of a blessing coming through could be life changing. In some ways I feel like a blessing has been seen by those believers and their dedication for their religion and belief system is really a testament that being apart of something and the dedication and love you have for something brings people together and really does something for the soul.

Caring Cotton is a textile company that was started by Rhibu. It works as an agency for businesses outside of India to find sustainable and consciously dyed cotton. When manufacturers are looking to bring their brand more green friendly. The business focuses on textiles and defines itself as a fashion business. The brand also gives training to women in embroidery; continuing the idea of sustainability allowing women to earn money for themselves and their family. Giving women independence and new skills that can be passed down to generations. Rhibu has worked for 17 years to create relationships with artists and mills in India to keep her business going. The personal collaboration she has done with dyers and cotton mills in India gives her a unique position in the transport of cotton to Europe and the world. The business started in 2012 and has been a one woman job since then. Caring Cotton has become India’s second biggest exporters of organic cotton in India.

The company looks at where the cotton comes from and how the cotton is created in order to keep with their sustainable model. The company focuses on exporting rolls of cotton to make the transport as green as possible. When exporting the rolls of cotton they usually try to send it when the company is doing other exports; but when smaller brands are buying pieces of textile it is hard to avoid the issue of creating excessive greenhouse gas. Caring Cotton works with three to four mills; relationships she has worked to build over the last 17 years. Though she has worked for many years to create sustainable materials she has only been able to work with 1 house that uses natural dyes to dye their cotton. The cotton that she uses come from the middle of India. She is constantly working with the dye house to find new shades where you can create natural dyes.

When listening to the presentation I had many questions that I asked to the owner of Caring Cotton, but after the seminar ended I found myself wondering a few more things. Cotton is a natural substance that grows out of the ground. I wonder when did it happen that we started using synthetic cotton and what were the reasonings behind it? Something that is natural, that can create jobs for many people. Where and why is there a need for this industry of organic cotton. Why and when did cotton become inorganic in first place? Because I am from the south cotton to me is very accessible, you can walk down the street and pick some for fun. She said she ships her cotton mostly to Europe, but I’m wondering where it is shipped mostly. Why is India the main place where Cotton is being shipped from. What other places in the world have huge organic cotton industries. If cotton has to be shipped to other places can it actually be sustainable? Can organic cotton be curated within the homelands of the businesses that are using them? Do we really need to ship organic cotton places? And if so, isn’t that kind of counterproductive to ship things that we are trying to create that are good for the earth?

The Caring Cotton brand can be compared to the Upsana brand. The brand of clothing that tries to use sustainable cotton but admits to not being completely sustainable. Especially when using black dyes. There also isn’t a model of how to recycle or up-cycle and get rid of their clothes. To me there’s a thought of how the clothes are created, but not how they are disposed of.

Another thing I wanted to learn was difference between how and which the inorganic and organic cotton affects the farmers and the weavers process of creating the textiles. In Upsana’s presentation we talked about a bit how the farmers have a high rate of suicide. I am wondering if the Indian government has taken action about this? Is there a way to fix the issue of the cotton industry. Would it be beneficial to switch to completely organic cotton or would why has it been switched to mostly inorganic cotton? What has the biggest impact on the Indian people?

My main interests is how does the idea that inorganic cotton has become the norm. How in which, does that change the state of where we are in the world? The fact that for so many years we were using organic cotton, with unfair labor, but organic cotton non the less;and at this point in time we have decided to live off of synthetic cotton that stays on our bodies and absorbs to our skin. How in our human existence have we come to this?

Deaf Enabled Foundation

Ari Price

While a lot of Indian dances include beautiful storytelling through the hands, many deaf children in India still struggle to receive access to sign language and proper education. In the Indian Census of 2011, 1.3 million persons were listed as “hearing disabled.” They are faced with teachers in their youth who do not know sign language and do not make sure they understand all of the course material. However, in Pondicherry, adjacent to Auroville, there is one branch of an NGO which hopes to aid in the inclusion of Deaf adults in the Indian society through their programs in educational and professional skill building.

The Deaf Enabled Foundation (DEF) aims to achieve equal access for deaf people in every area of their lives. They are dedicated to work for the development of the Deaf community, enhancing the quality of life, providing educational facilities, promoting social and cultural awareness while working towards independence and barrier free communication for the Deaf.

I was lucky enough to sit down with a few students who shared their stories with me. One of which was Anusuya Ramasamy who will become a teacher for the Deaf Enabled Foundation in the near future.

“I grew up with hearing parents and a Deaf sister. I did most of my learning through reading and writing. Before, I was studying in a college with hearing people and struggling. That’s when I came to Deaf Enabled Foundation. They told me that I could go to St. Louis College for the Deaf. At this college, I still had many hearing teachers who were not fluent in sign language, but I was able to earn my Bachelor of Commerce degree. After I finished, I struggled to find work with all the barriers for the deaf in the Indian society. So I decided to enroll in the vocational training program at DEF to keep developing myself. I learned so much and improved my English and computer skills a lot. After finishing the program, I decided I wanted to become a teacher with the Deaf Enabled Foundation here in Puducherry and will soon complete my training!”

Stories like this show us that the work of NGO’s such as the Deaf Enabled Foundation can really aid in creating a brighter future and a sense of community. Almost everyone I talked to had told me about their great experience and the ease of learning through sign language rather than oral communication. Other students I talked to in the Hyderabad location are even working toward their master degrees!

Gabriel Green

Her Story

Margarita, founder of MGEcoduties, a.k.a. Probiotics House, started her presentation off with one of the most profound stories of all of the NGO introductions.

She made a made powerful introductory statement that “women are weapons in war”. She was referring to the mistreatment, rape, and abuse of women during wartime and highlighted that this plight and destruction is not ever addressed in the aftermath of war when considering casualties. I wondered what this had to do with probiotics.

She shared further that she herself had been a victim of rape and torture, and a prisoner of war for over 4 weeks. This experience resulted in extensive psychological and physical damage, that could not be healed with time or with treatment offered by professionals.

Despite the tragedies that Margarita experienced, she moved on to earn two graduate degrees, became the COO of Coca Cola South America, and was successful in the corporate world. How she came about founding MGEcoduties was somewhat accidental and resulted primarily from spiritual intervention.

She had already been to 66 countries and needed a vacation, a travel agency suggested that she visit India, starting in the South and then up to the North, unexcited, she agreed. She ended up in Auroville, a culture shock, as she was unfamiliar with the living conditions and closeness to nature and wildlife as she had been a corporate executive, use to luxury travel.

Margarita had been in Aurovillve for a few weeks, and would fall asleep in public places to be awoken by a presence and a tap on the shoulder, only to find that no one was actually there. She saw this as a spiritual sign, a sign that she should stay in Auroville. Her weeklong vacation turned into a 21 year long journey, and she has yet to make it to North India to visit the Taj Mahal.

Probiotics

Probiotics are simply as live bacteria and yeast introduced into the body for the stimulation of growth of microorganisms with beneficial qualities. 

According to Margarita, the top foods from which to obtain probiotics naturally are chickory, asparagus, onion, and beetroot.

Margarita stated that the human body is 90% bacteria, however, the human body is actually only made up of 3%  bacteria by body mass. Human DNA however is 90% synonymous with bacteria and about 10% non-similar DNA, every organism on the planet is +/- 90% the same in genetic code. Most of the genetic code is made up of regulatory regions for basic cellular metabolic functions, so this isn’t surprising. Though not directly stated, I think that she used this similarity as a defense for why microorganisms are one of the best ways to provide healing properties to the body.

She started working with probiotics in Auroville when she realized two major South Indian issues: a polluted septic system and too much plastic waste. She then began to produce household cleaning products that would clear the drains by getting “good” bacteria into the plumbing systems to help solve the water problem. Then, she moved on to soaps for the body, they smelled good and the soap would go down the drain when people washed themselves, therefore users would unintentionally and consistently contribute to solving septic system issues. However, these products were not enough. Margarita did not just want to solve systematic issues in plumbing, she wanted to use probiotics to solve issues in the system of the human body. After all, she herself had been suffering of physical pain from her past traumas. The development of the probiotic bracelet would follow this realization.

Margarita learned about probiotic technology through a Japanese physics professor, Dr. Higa, who worked with microorganisms and figured out how bacteria could survive in clay heated to 1000 degrees Celsius. This ability is astonishing considering bacteria stop reproducing at about 39 degrees celsius and start to die around 52 degrees celsius. Naturally, most of the proteins that make up DNA and bacteria denature at a similar point. She shared that due to this temperature dependent life cycle, powder probiotic pills which go through an extensive heating process are less effective and are generally placebos; liquid probiotics kept in cool environments are more effective. Dr. Higa’s inspiration to achieve his goal of harvesting and encapsulating bacteria came from top secret news from NASA that bacteria from the human mouth survived for years on the moon in a camera lens.

Margarita and Dr. Higa were able to capture and harvest probiotic bacteria, put it into clay beads through much processing, and then make the beads into bracelets to be worn by people to promote overall health. The clay material surrounding the beads protects the bacteria from UV radiation, which would kill the bacteria. The bacteria is collected only at the event of the Major Moon in the ocean between India and Sri Lanka, making the bacteria difficult and dangerous to collect. Why this particular bacteria is collected was not very clear. Once the bacteria is inside of the clay pods and made into bracelet form, they can be used for eternity, Margarita even suggested passing probiotic bracelets down through generations. Maintenance of the bracelet is simple; the beads should be washed with water and then placed in the sun to dry, the UV radiation does not get in, but infrared rays do and they allow the bacteria to “recharge”.

Her Message 

Maragrita has experienced personal healing from wearing her probiotic bracelet and using other probiotic products. While Margarita’s message is promote overall health through probiotics, she wants MGEcoduties to be recognized for its role as the organization responsible for clearing the septic systems in Auroville and for initiating a movement that caused Auroville to become 0% reliant on plastics and maintain a refillable and reusable system. She also wishes to share a message of human unity and equality, this can be seen in the organizational structure at Probiotics House, where everyone works on the same level and receives equal pay. While Margarita has been receiving partnership opportunities from large profitable corporations like Tata and Badger, she places her ethical and sustainable values over the potential for profit.

Overall, I think that the probiotic products provided by Margarita and her team are revolutionary and spiritually meaningful. However, the the science behind the product and how it works to effectively promote health is not clear. I do not understand how wearing probiotics inside of clay beads can have an effect on overall wellness. Also, Margarita did not explain the role of her partner Guidelma in the story, and it would be interesting to know more about their partnership. Her life story and ability to stay true to herself was very empowering. And so, for anyone looking to be the next head of Probiotics House, Margarita is in search of a worthy successor!

By: Shannon K. Henry

Cam Bartlett

“If you walked into a room flooded with water, would you first start mopping the water, or would you turn the tap off.” This was the question that Wasteless posed to us at the beginning of their talk to us on December 28th. Wasteless seeks to educate young students about their plastic use habits through fun, interactive activities. One of these methods is Garbology 101, which includes a number of illustrated games and activities. They provide this game for free for low-income schools in exchange for their feedback to improve the game. In this way their communication model is somewhat participatory and involves a dialogue between Wasteless and the communities they are trying to educate. They utilize a dialogic communications process—a process where the aims of a communication aren’t completely decided beforehand—to help shape their communications process. They also rely heavily on edutainment to keep children involved in lessons on waste management, using memory games and relay races to teach sustainable practices. Their communications outreach, at least as it was shown in their presentation, seemed to focus on Window 2 of the Jahari window: Wasteless’s hidden knowledge. This knowledge includes information about recycling practices and plastic use, as well as the harmful effects of some plastics on human health and the environment.

Wasteless seeks to mainly address three different Sustainable Development Goals. The first is 3: Good Health and Well-Being, and they address this by educating children and communities on the harmful effects of numbers 1, 3, 6, and 7 plastics on human health. This goal comes directly from the language in India’s Sustainable Development Goal 3: “By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water, and soil pollution and contamination.”

Wasteless also seeks to address SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, and 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. Throughout their presentations they emphasized the present and future states of the local communities through both raw and photoshopped pictures. The photo of them dining at the dump shows how out of hand and unsustainable current waste management strategies are in India, while the photo of the beach completely covered in trash elicited a response of alarm for the future of these communities and their beloved beaches.

What struck me most about Wasteless’s approach is the extent they were willing to do research to fine-tune their messages and games for children. They spent many extra hours testing their games to make sure their messages were received as they intended them. This led them to some insights. One of these insights was that children perceived the background color as contributing to the meaning of the cards in the memory game. However, I would have liked to hear more information about how they framed their communications, and if they used a social marketing approach to understand how to frame their information for the greatest impact.

At some times it can seem frustrating that the generation in charge isn’t doing enough to curb our effect on the environment and our local communities. Their response seems to be to hang their hope for change on the younger generations, who aren’t as set in their ways and are likely to adopt sustainable practices and bring them to their homes. With their outreach, Wasteless hopes that soon we can all collectively decide to finally turn off the tap.

Dr. Jacques Verre, who founded Auroville Dental Centre in 1982, introduced us to two main projects that he is using to transform not only the lives of children in the villages surrounding Auroville but the dentists as well. They both center around “0 Concept”.  The concept is centered around the idea to strive for “the absence of need”.

After a few years of practice, Dr. Verre was starting to develop bad back pains from his dental equipment and body position when he worked on his patients. Soon after his pain started, he was exposed to Japanese equipment that introduced to him a new way of conducting his dental work. This new equipment changes the positioning of the dentist and the patient to prevent strain on the dentist’s back. Auroville Dental Centre is the only dental clinic in India that uses the Japanese concept of having the patient lie down flat on their back while the doctor sits behind them.

It is a simple change but is a practice that helps provide comfort to both the patient and the dentist. The Human Performance Institute in Japan donated this equipment to Dr. Verre to help create comfort and confidence for those using the equipment at his office. The 0 concept aspect of his equipment is the idea that 0 represents optimal conditions and balance. 0 means “all” or “nothing”, and encourages medical professionals to focus on having complete control and comfort in order to provide their patients with the best service possible. The machines, designed in the 0 concept way, are based on natural human comfort and the harmony between mind and body.

While Dr. Verre was changing the way he worked in Auroville, he was also noticing that the villages around it lacked dental care. Discovering that 95% of Indians have oral problems he knew he had a social responsibility to those around him who were unable to have proper access to dental care. There was a very small amount of dental education and a huge need for cheap care for all. He wanted to reach out to the rural population, especially the children, to help promote oral health.

With the help of Mrs. Suriyagandhi, a nurse, they developed care methods for reaching the children in the villages, and the ADCERRA (Auroville Dental Centre Education Research Rural Action) was started. An example of the work ADCERRA does is the one-week oral health camp that they conducted in Bharuch. During this camp, over one thousand children were given check-ups and oral health education. They were also given treatments when needed.

On top of going into the villages to help the children, Dr. Verre is making sure his work is sustainable by training village women to do small treatments. 76% of the children that they gave checkups to and needed treatment could be treated by the trained village women with basic equipment. The 0 concept also means the absence of need for care. By providing education and by training women, Dr. Verre is reaching towards the symbolic goal of perfect health.

He is putting in place procedures and giving those in the villages the means to care for themselves and not be dependant on his work. This means that once the camps and checkups are finished, they are no longer needing to rely completely on Dr. Verre for dental care. This is so important with the current fad of voluntourism that often comes in to help communities and then abandons them without putting in place measures that help the community continue to grow. The children are educated, and some women are trained to help when there are problems. He is putting effort into building communities so that they aren’t forced to turn to expensive dental work but instead can treat small problems themselves.

The Auroville Dental Centre works to accomplish the third sustainable development goal of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all ages through the ADCERRA. Dr. Verre works on healing not only those in the villages who are in need of oral care but also the doctors who are working on the patients, by focusing on prevention and education. In the future, Dr. Verre wants to make the center self-sustaining, and he wants to train more women in the villages to do simple procedures.

“Les humains rêvent en permanence. Avant notre naissance, les humains nous précédant ont créé un grand rêve extérieur que l’on appelle le rêve de la société ou le rêve de la planète.” — Don Miguel Ruiz

When visiting Amirtha Herbals and learning about the organization, I cannot help but to recall author of Toltec spirituality and shamanism, Don Miguel Ruiz’s Rêve de la Planète in which he explains that the collective dream results from billions of individual dreams that together form the dream of the family, the dream of the community, the dream of the city, the dream of the country, and finally, the dream of all humanity.

This, though, is an illusion, or maya, as known in Indian Hindu culture. The belief goes: the world as we know it is an illusion of reality. Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you. You can change it. You can put a dent in the universe. That being said, should we continue to accept a ‘dream’ that is harming ourselves, other species and the planet?

After touring Pitchandkulam Forest, it is my understanding that Amirtha is overcoming the maya that has become a universal nightmare and detriment to existence, and here’s why.

A Capitalist Cauchemar.

Let’s talk neoliberalism. This Western dream became a global nightmare when renegades Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher introduced policies like outsourcing abroad, privatization and deregulation—an economy redesigned to benefit big business and capitalist gurus. The problem is, it was successful: neoliberal-capital became the main cultural identity and exotic products and spiritual customs became commodities for profit. Jeremy Carrette in his work Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion describes the shift towards free-market capitalism:

“Neoliberal ideology seeps into the very fabric of how we think, indeed into the very possibilities of our thinking to such an extent that people now live as if the corporate capitalist structures of our world are the truth of our existence. Capital determines thought, like Newspeak in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, and the very act of thinking otherwise becomes ever more difficult.” 

But doesn’t free-market capitalism mean freedom of trade? More consumer purchasing power? And economic growth? Does it not mean Western opportunity for underprivileged 3rd world countries? Does it not mean development and cultivation of rudimentary economies and ‘savage’ cultures? More wealth opportunity? Does it not?

Here’s the other side of the coin.

The ugly reality looks like global exploitation and subjugation of peoples and cultures all over the world for their resources—whether its diamonds in Sierra Leone, bananas in Honduras, or crude oil in Nigeria. It looks like the Dow chemical spill in Bhopal where no compensation was offered to the thousands of local people dead and injured. It looks like 300,000 and counting suicides of Indian farmers after Monsanto pressured them into loans for genetically modified seeds that didn’t reproduce, promising them dreams of Western success.  

“Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.”

John Lennon famously sang these words and now, some four decades later, the message could not be more urgent.

We can’t afford to live with eyes closed anymore. In an age where there is more trash in the sea than fish; in a an age, where in cities like Dehli, there is more gray smog than blue sky, it’s the time for an awakening.

Awakening, or samvegana in Indian Hindu culture, is when an individual undergoes a paradigm shift in his awareness and thinking. Samvegana is what happened to Buddha when he left the luxury and comfort of his palace to discover the sickness and suffering in the streets of Kapilavastu. Similarly, samvegana is what happened to Jesus when he confronted temptation in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights.

How Amirtha reenvisions sustainability in holistic wellness, beauty and community.

In India, the people practice a ritual called puja, worship of the Divine through idols performed to keep us in harmony with cosmic forces, our true nature. Not disregarding the idols, what matters here is the manner of executing the ritual, the way in which the people say: I love you, my God. Auroville was created to realize the ideal of the Karma Yoga of work. Through servitude, we achieve yoga’s goal of yuj, unison with the divine. Through work, we love and fulfill our dharma.

On that notion, Noam Chomsky in Requiem for the American Dream says, “The way things change is because lots of people are working all the time—in their communities, workplace, or wherever they happen to be, building up the basis for popular movements, which are going to make changes.” And Amirtha Herbals is doing just that.

The NGO promotes the sharing and cultivation of traditional, local “elder knowledge” in reliance on nature for sustainment. By building up the Pitchandikulam Forest with local vegetation, they created an “agroforrest” that supports their culture and practice in a sustainable and holistic way where food is medicine, no chemicals are used and composting is eco-friendly degradation and fertilizer.

The NGO’s team asks questions like can you eat your toothpaste? Can you ingest the shampoo you use on your hair, or the make-up you put on your face? The skin is the largest organ of the body the body and with contemporary products we are constantly absorbing dangerous chemicals and washing them away into the water system.

Not only is Amirtha addressing sustainability through wellness, but also beauty. The organization works to shift the paradigm around the idealization of western white beauty in Indian culture, and the dangerous effects of skin bleaching. In their Dark Is Beautiful campaign, they educate on the evolution of skin color, explain the beauty of the soul, heart and person, and work to change the mentality of dark skin.

But it doesn’t stop there. They are planting the seeds that give back to future generations. The NGO employs rural women as a sustainable social enterprise; children plant and make their own food;  jobs are provided for locals; and traditional Tamil healers distribute herbal medicines not only to people but also cattle.

In a land that was once barren 50 years before, the Pitchandikulam forest serves an exemplary model of sustainable development of and organizations like Amirtha’s Herbals working in unison with the rich biodiversity of nature, not against it. After all, when it comes to designing solutions to the problems of the future, authors Terry Irwin, Gideon Kossoff & Cameron Tonkinwise, in the article “Transition Design Provocation” argue that sustainable development should look to “design solutions that protect and restore both social and natural ecosystems.”

A prelude to a new dream: collectivism.

Just as Krishna is working to share his dream on sustainable farming and food, just as Upasana is redesigning the harsh reality of the fashion industry, Amirtha Herbals is tackling the wicked problem of harmful products for wellbeing in beauty.

Through community, solidarity, and advocacy, the people possess powerful agency to make change and restructure the future. After all, that is how society has accomplished many great changes before—from freedom of speech to women’s rights—people worked tirelessly in their communities and outside the commonly accepted infrastructure created by an in-egalitarian system. Chomsky claims the power ultimately rests in the hands of the governed, in which he advocates, “What matters is the countless small deeds of unknown people who lay the basis for the significant events that enter history. They’re the ones who have done things in the past. They’re the ones who will do things in the future.”

So, my friends, imagine. John Lennon has asked us to do it before. I’m asking you to do it now. Be a dreamer. Imagine how you, we, can work towards a sustainable world.

 “Imagine all the people sharing all the world/You may say I’m a dreamer/But I’m not the only one/I hope someday you’ll join us/And the world will live as one.”

By Marissia Tiller