Ecological Wisdom I Social Justice I Holistic Thinking I Positive Action BANGALORE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 1, January - March, 2017 Rs 80/- Local Water Solutions Eco Spirituality can Revive a Lake Anupam Mishra: India’s Water Hero Seetha Ananthasivan Nivedita Khandekar We Can Cure Our Water Woes A Path Towards Wholeness & Sanity Philip Franses Helena Noberg Hodge January - March 2017 Eternal Bhoomi 1 It is sad and ironic that as we go to print, Shri Anupam Mishra, perhaps India’s foremost water conservationist passed away on the 19th of December 2016. Anupamji was known for his lifelong work to promote local and indigenous ways of water conservation. We affirm our deep gratitude to this gentle soul as we bid him Rest in Peace. Thousands have lived without love, not one without water - W.H.Auden If we pollute the air, water and soil that keep us alive and well, and destroy the biodiversity that allows our natural systems to function, no amount of money will save us. - David Suzuki Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth... these are one and the same fight. We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy solutions, global health, food security and women’s empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all. - Ban Ki-moon This magazine has been printed on wood free paper using soy based inks. 2 Eternal Bhoomi January - March 2017 Photograph by flickr cc /USAID We need: Local Water Solutions Typically today, we expect our Governments to ensure stress and water wars is what will surely follow in the years that our water and other basic needs are looked after. So to come. Clearly, while big projects may be needed in some Governments around the world run huge organisations with areas, the centralised mega scale management of water is centralised control for procuring and storing grains, putting not working today. up nuclear power plants, managing water and energy systems Localising part of the water - and many other solutions and so on. And we, as individuals and local communities have - seem to be an ecologically wise way forward. In this issue forgotten to take charge of basic essentials for ourselves. of Bhoomi we present stories from different parts of the The water solutions that Governments have focussed on country, where individuals and communities have decided since the 19th century are mammoth projects likes dams to take charge of being water prudent. We begin with the and often ecologically sad ones like the interlinking of rivers tireless work of Shri Anupam Mishra, whose untimely project. Huge sewage treatment plants by big businesses demise we just got to know of. He was truly one of India’s foremost water heroes who worked to promote ancient and in some cases have been launched. All of these are high water conservation methods. carbonlooking solutionsfor their andown can profits be unpredictably are also being dangerous talked about - like It is deeply heartening to see the gradual revival of the the dams in the Himalayas that are now seen as contributing water wisdom of the country - from the story of Rajendra factors to the escalated seismic activity that led to devastating Singh who helped revive 4000 Johads in Rajasthan to Piyush earth quakes in 2014. Manush who mobilised the people of Salem to bring back But there is an alternative narrative that seems to have life to its polluted lakes in the name of Maariamman - the been erased from our collective memory. The large scale popular goddess of the region; also the arrival of new centralised water management systems are only 150 years technologies that mimic Nature such as plant based sewage old. There were some dams built between 1400BC and 1500 treatment plants to promoting new inventions like the nano AD, but they were few are far betweeen. But largely, all over spray tap that can reduce water consumption by 98%. the world, communities took ownership and responsibility for their water needs, and hence took care of their water for them which create yet other problems. When we have bodies. communitiesIn multiple taking ways up we local create projects problems, to solve theirfind problems,solutions India did not have a huge number of natural lakes and working for their own wellbeing, we are moving towards ponds. Those we see today are tanks and lakes that were real Swaraj, towards being anchored in ourselves with our created by people to harvest rain and preserve the water available in the region. In Karnataka alone, 38,000 lakes Will Governments wake up and actively promote local and tanks had been created, beautifully connected and feet firmly on the ground. water solutions? Can we mobilise local communities as our solutions provider and also to campaign for our basic needs? Centralised control of water unfortunately led to many of suchnetworked lakes to to be manage neglected, overflows converted with for minimum use by buildingswastage. and other infrastructure. Today, climate change is making monsoons more erratic, bad agriculture policies are depleting ground water and our cities and industries are using and polluting water like there Seetha Ananthasivan is no tomorrow. In such a scenario, water scarcity, water ([email protected]) January - March 2017 Eternal Bhoomi 3 EternalBhoomi Issue No.29 January - March Eternal Bhoomi is committed to bringing you holistic perspectives on Nature and ecological livng from re- nowned writers and thinkers as well as practical ideas and examples of earth conscious living from people around the world. Local Water Solutions Countries around the world have adopted political systems that have been centralising control of basics like food and water . But where governments have failed we find projects that have localised control and responsibility have succeeded. In this issue we present information on innovative water solutions as well as stories where people have taken charge of their water needs. Vantage Point 6 A Path Towards Wholeness and Sanity On the growing localisa- tion movement Helena Norberg-Hodge 8 Anupam Mishra: India’s Foremost Water Hero Nivedita Khandekar Local Water Solutions 10 Eco-Spirituality can Revive a Lake Seetha Ananthasivan 20 Inspiring Water Tales Expressions Bhim Singh Rawat 12 We Can Cure Our Water 30 Water, River, Earth, Woes 24 Cauvery Row: when Being Philip Franses source is the Cause Manohar Prabhu Manu Moudgil 15 Traditional Water 32 Just Another Wake Up Conservation Methods in 26 Connecting Beyond Call India Boundaries: Nadi Dr. Murali Sivaramakrishnan Shikha Shah Festival Ajay Nayak Book Review New Technology for 18 Barefoot Hydrogeolgist: Water Solutions 28 34 The Book The Next Generation Cole Lehman Chicu Lokgariwar 4 Eternal Bhoomi January - March 2017 Eternal Bhoomi January - March 2017 Editor Seetha Ananthasivan Assistant Editor Adil Basha Associate Editor Rema Kumar Production Support Ananth Somaiah Design Consultants Chinmay Dholakia Ishita Bose Sarkar Design & Layout Support Aditi Somaiah Holistic Thinking Movie Review Marketing and Distribution Shyamala Madhavan 35 The Real Reason Behind 48 Before the Flood Murtuza Khetty Why Delhi is Choking Rob Hopkins Issue: January - March 2017 Pallava Bagla Pages 56: Including Cover Food Positive Action Printed and Published by 50 The Health Benefits of Seetha Ananthasivan (Editor) Intermittent Fasting On behalf of The Bhoomi Network 38 When Every Step taken is for Sustainable Living a New Discovery Joseph Michael Mercola P.B. No. 23, Carmelaram Post, Gagana N.V. Off Sarjapura Road, Recipes Bangalore – 560 035 [email protected] Perspectives 52 Drink Recipes Printed at: I.M. Pushpa 40 Fear of a Living Planet Colours Imprint Charles Eisenstein 150/9, 1st Cross, 8th Block, Announcements Koramangala, Bangalore - 560095. Ph: +91-9945640004 Education Website: www.coloursimprint.com 53 A Himalayan Project Published at: 43 How to Raise an Bhoomi Network for Sustainable Environmentalist 54 Bhoomi Green Schools Living Jill Suttie Programmes c/o Prakriya Green Wisdom School Campus, 70, Chikkanayakanahalli 46 Education for Real Life Road, Off Doddakanehalli, Rema Kumar Carmelaram Post, Off Sarjapura Road, Bangalore – 560 035 Ph: 080 28441173 [email protected] We wish all our readers a warm, Editor: Seetha Ananthasivan happy and meaningful New Year! /bhoomicollege Eternal Bhoomi is published by Bhoomi - The Bhoomi Team Network, /channel/bhoomicollegea unit of K.N.A.Foundation for Education, a Public Charitable Trust registered/ inBhoomiNetwork 1995. January - March 2017 Eternal Bhoomi 5 A Path Towards Wholeness and Sanity VANTAGE POINT Helena Norberg Hodge believes that a rapidly growing localisation movement which revitalizes the local can resist the corporate rule that is impoverishing people worldwide. Donald Trump’s candidacy – with corporatized and globalized economic that local economies in those countries its simplistic policy positions and its system that is devastating not only once provided. With locally-adapted undercurrent of racism and sexism planetary ecosystems, but the lives of ways of life systematically undermined – left most of us believing he couldn’t hundreds of millions of people. Over the by economic policies geared towards possibly win. Now his victory is a last three decades, governments have the big and the global, millions of visceral shock from which many unquestioningly embraced “free trade” have still not recovered. To better treaties that have enriched global themselves with just two options: to understand what happened – and why corporations while impoverishing their acceptdesperate minimal people wages in the and South appalling find – we need to broaden our horizons. If own citizens. By allowing corporations working conditions in industrial we zoom out a bit, it becomes clear that to move unfettered around the globe metropolises, or to migrate. So the Trump is not an isolated phenomenon; in search of the lowest wages, these loss of jobs in the US and the migrant the forces that put him in the White treaties have put workers throughout crisis in the South are two sides of the House have been growing throughout the industrialized world in competition same coin.