The traditional and customary ways of living in South Asia, over the centuries, have always been practical with minimal wastage. This, in today’s world, is famously known as ‘sustainable living.’
Back in the day, this was not something that had to be consciously thought of. The core idea was not to waste, reusing almost all items of daily living. People did not have excess, the world was not commercialized, and individuals naturally lived within their means without even thinking of the word “sustainable,” A word popularly used these days. Our ancestors in India and other parts of Asia lived thriftily, subconsciously.
Plastic was hardly heard of in those days. Even water was stored in mud pots, brass or copper vessels, stainless steel or glass jugs. People did their shopping in their own cloth bags, which were used over and over for years. Many grocery items were wrapped in newspapers and then put into the customer’s cloth bags. Even bread, biscuits, and other munchings were packed in brown paper bags. Children ran outside the house and played with the few toys they had made of wood or metal, with plastic items being entirely out of sight. Then slowly, plastic came into the picture, becoming omnipresent. From grocery shopping to children’s toys, serving dishes, and packaging materials, suddenly, plastic was everywhere.
But these days, after realizing its damaging effects on the environment, governments and other agencies have started advocating alternatives to plastics.
We are ‘taught’ to do what our ancestors in Asia have always been doing. The modern generation, that preaches about being environmentally friendly, is not a ‘contemporary’ concept.
Even clothes were always opened out or lengthened and re-stitched for growing children. Hand-me-downs were not only popular within the family but were also passed on to younger cousins and neighbors. The idea of not wasting was subconscious, without the word ‘sustainable’ coming into the picture.
With a textile boom and increased purchasing power, most families now have excessive clothes at their disposal, leading to a subsequent decline of the hand-me-down culture. Often these families do not know what to do with these clothes, thereby piling up in landfills.
Talking about textiles, old nighties were cut & used to wipe countertops or dust furniture, old sheets were converted to cushion covers, and old cotton sarees were converted to hammocks for rocking babies. These practices were being followed for centuries in India.
Mats and rugs were made from natural materials like jute, coconut coir, or palm leaves. Furniture was often made out of cane. Again, all eco-friendly, and that was just simply the way they lived. Very often, these materials were sourced from their own compounds or from their locality. Cleaning materials such as brooms, scrubbers, and baskets to store things at home were also made from tree parts.
These are just a few sustainable ways that our forefathers lived by, and if only the following generations had continued to do the same, imagine how Indians and other Asians would be today. There would be no need for social media influencers, governments, NGOs, celebrities, and a whole lot of others telling us to change our ways, preaching to us the dangers of environmental degradation, explaining to us how to live sustainably, and so on.
Our ancestors were wise, and their daily living was sustainable even though they didn’t know it.
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