Together.We.Can

A coffee meet-up where –

If you are a brand that believes that is what will underline, justify and differentiate its existence...

If you are a corporation trying to align and re-align your operations, processes and essentially everything with what is sustainable (and the )…

If you are a social entrepreneur/ innovator/ disruptor trying to find for all things non-sustainable...

If you are a non-profit implementing programmes that are …

If you are a concerned /conscious/ conscientious individual always or mostly trying to lead a (but ever so often feel dejected by the state of affairs and left wondering if others are bothered at all about the environment, the planet, the future)...

– we meet and talk about all of the above and more. And go back home with something that feels like hope.

What I do to be
– MC Mary Kom, Indian boxer and six-time world champion

I come from a humble and down-to-earth family that has always had a close bonding with nature and Mother Earth. Using natural products, reusing and recycling are all a part of our lifestyle, and no one in my family buys things unless it is necessary.

I am glad that my children have inculcated some good habits themselves; they have started to be conscious about not wasting water and are quite particular about switching off lights and other electrical appliances when not needed.

At our training academy in Manipur, we are consciously making efforts to make it greener and will start with planting within the campus as well as on the roads and open areas in the vicinity. There’s minimal usage of plastic and every athlete at the academy is conscious about not wasting electricity and water.

MC Mary Kom
CauseBecause

What I do to be
– Arti Srivastava

I’ve been passionate about art for as long as I can remember. As my passion grew stronger and my understanding of the world deepened, I wanted to find a way to pursue what I’ve always loved doing while also fulfilling my duty towards protecting the planet I call home.

I began converting what would otherwise be considered waste into beautiful artefacts. My artistic philosophy doesn’t hinge only on the recycling of materials – rather, it is focused on reviving them. Using fallen barks of trees, old and worn-out pages, old bottles and other such items, I was able to give these objects a new purpose and form.

I took my passion for reviving old items online and joined Josh, a short-video app, wherein I was able to share my hacks for creating beautiful art, and with it the message of recycling and reviving. Through my journey, I’ve realised that it doesn’t matter whether you use the most expensive materials or fanciest tools to create beautiful art. Beauty is found in everything, even in what is considered waste.

What I do to be
Shreya Ghodawat, entrepreneur

Growing up, I had heard about , burning forests and extinct species. However, I could not establish a direct cause–effect relationship between my actions and . I grappled with the reasons, until I realised it was overconsumption leading us to where we are today.

I first began to uncover these truths when my Sociology studies intersected with my travels. I was intrigued by the intersectional impacts of generational discrimination and socioeconomic and gender disparities. I dug deep into this by studying feminism and sustainable tourism, and uncovering how sustainability and anti-oppression in travel work.

Having lived across six countries, I began to corroborate my learnings with real-life pieces of evidence and understand the cultural and indigenous nuances of sustainability. I incorporated eco-friendly measures in my travels – carrying and reusable personal items, opting for public transport, staying in eco-certified accommodations, eating , and supporting .

My travel experiences gave me revelations that one cannot find entirely in books, so this pushed me to launch a platform to educate people on how to travel sustainably. I penned down my journeys across various online media channels to reach out to my network worldwide.

My resolve to promote justice, equitable rights, and climate solutions strengthened. I organised a TEDx event on climate change while pursuing my Master’s at the Sustainability Management School of Switzerland.

The contribution to the climate crisis is just as unequal as the income distribution around the world. And the consequences are felt just as unequally, disproportionately by those who least contribute to it and have the least amount of resources to combat it. That is why each one of us must be given a chance to fight for the planet and minimise the environmental impact based on our individual ethics, circumstances, constraints and privileges.

What I do to be
– Sujata Pawar, cofounder & CEO, Avni

Tons of plastic waste accumulate solely from the use of commercial sanitary pads, mainly because there is no proper disposal mechanism in place. According to various reports, each plastic-based sanitary pad is made of non-biodegradable material that takes 500 to 800 years to break down. Besides the environmental risk, medical experts have expressed concern about the possibility of pelvic infection as a result of repeated use of these easily available plastic pads.

About 10 years back, I embarked on a mission to develop menstrual healthcare products that are skin-friendly, chemical-free, and environmentally friendly. I started with my own self and strictly followed a period routine of using cloth pads during the night, while at home, and on holidays and low-flow days. Eventually I became confident about adopting it on all my period days. This small shift away from plastic-based sanitary products led to the founding of Avni in 2020.

To educate people about the dangers of poor menstrual hygiene, I partner with environmental ambassadors who visit schools in underserved areas and conduct informative workshops. We also provide underprivileged girls with reusable cloth-pad kits containing organic pads and environment-friendly disposal bags.

My larger goal is to help build a world where menstruation is not considered taboo, where period poverty isn’t a thing, and every menstruator is proud of bleeding without causing any harm to Mother Earth.

MyAvni

What I do to be
Riya Vashist, makeup artist

a) I prefer to use cosmetic products in my work – these are organic and , and do not harm the skin or the environment.
b) I quit using my car for travelling to and from office. I travel on the metro.
c) I have this habit of collecting the seeds of fruits that I eat. I throw these seeds on road corners and dividers where plants and trees are growing already, hoping that some will grow into a new plant. I also gift plants a lot.

Riya Vashist

What I do to be
– Devesh Purohit, PR professional

During lockdown 2020, when I shifted to Valsad with my family, I turned a cyclist. I started cycling whenever possible. That doesn’t mean I don’t use the bike or the car – I do when required.

Cycling helped me as a stress buster as well. I have cycled for 40 km, 50 km and 60 km in groups in one go. I have also participated in cause-related cycling events and collected a decent number of corporate certificates.

Here, around Valsad, I have planted saplings with some of my town friends. In my personal life, I try to avoid using plastic as much as possible.

Being a PR professional has made me aware of aspects pertaining to the , the Paris Agreement, , , , and so on.

What I do to be
– Padma Pegu

Living/consuming sustainably is so much work in progress. The list (of things I do that are environment-friendly) is growing but I am afraid it's nowhere near the ideal point.

For whatever they are worth, here are some:

a) I shirk most things plastic – my kitchen is plastic-free (is the gas stove k**b plastic?).
b) I shirk clothing. If I am on the H&M or Zara websites, I filter the results for showing their 'conscious', recycled and organic products (limited in numbers but if it works, it works).
c) I refuse plastic bags at shops and make it a point to tell the shop people to not offer these bags to others either. (Which reminds me – I almost always walk up to people who litter when I am around, and request them to pick the wretched thing up; mostly I also ask them to not turn a blind eye to others who litter.)

What I do to be
Siyona Vikram, 11
Little Mind Chats

I am a podcaster working towards a cause. The cause is for children, about children.

As soon as we say “cause for children”, images of children on streets or in deprived areas struggling for food might come to your mind. You couldn’t be more wrong. My fight is for kids even in the most affluent of societies. It’s about and chemicals in our toys.

A lot of elders don’t see this as a threat yet. My research could prove you wrong and put you on alert immediately. More than 50% of the 360 million tons of plastic produced annually is used by the toys and games industry. No wonder that 90% of toys on earth right now are made of plastic. According to the material scientists I met at , plastic on its own, when new, is not a threat. The threat comes from the chemicals added to these toys.

Here’s a quote from a study done on toys: “Children absorb pollutants through the mouth, skin and by breathing them in. Since children have a larger hand-to-mouth activity and faster breathing, they absorb more pollutants than adults compared to their body weight. An important way for toxic chemicals to enter a child’s body is through toys.”

It was clear to me that the need of the hour was to remove and other household plastics from children’s living spaces. By collecting these toys back from children and getting them , one could also save a big chunk of plastic from entering landfills and water sources.

The challenge was HOW! How was I to convince families to turn in their plastic? I and my mom created a club for children. In the past 10 months, we tried different ways to reach out to them. Schools seemed our best bet to get the word out to children quicker. And it worked like a charm!

We piloted this effort in 5 schools and managed to collect over 1 ton of plastic. Most of these were plastic toys. Personally, I have swapped a lot of plastic items for sustainable options.


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Fridays For Future India

What I do to be
–Misha Paul

Stories, saris and sustainability have been my top passions since my childhood. As a child, though I wasn’t aware of the term ‘sustainability’, I saw it all around me – in handmade clothes, upcycled upholstery, a travel water bottle, no single-use plastic, mom’s vintage saris, homeware that survived the test of time, and more. Stories were my other passion because fiction allowed me to dream big and took me into a world more splendid than my imagination.

But somewhere during my college life and the ‘corporate years’ in my early ‘20s, I lost myself. I was still dreaming. But somewhere they had lost their imagination. It was in 2018 that I came face to face with sustainability again, this time equipped with much more awareness. I was never a single-use plastic user anyway. But as an ardent shopaholic, one of the bigger steps I took that year was going cold turkey on fast fashion. I started shopping less, and when I did, I shopped from slow fashion labels or thrifted my clothes. In 2019, a year from the month I quit fast fashion, serendipity (also my favourite word) landed me an opportunity at a summer school on sustainability (with UNESCO and CRI) in Paris. It was all surreal.

My stint in Paris and exposure to a plethora of earth-changing ideas filled me with a passion to do more. When I returned, I knew it was my time to act. To blend my passion for stories and clothes, with my love for the planet. And thus was born, in the last week of December 2019, Love Again – my clothing label of upcycled saris. Long story short, I used Love Again as a platform to make people aware of the benefits of thrift fashion (I sold all my fast-fashion clothes during my first sale) and provided them with an opportunity to see the magic of upcycled clothes. I was hustling round the clock but had never been happier.

Then the pandemic struck.

For someone who loved her job and her passion project, being locked inside took a toll on my mental health. Even though it forced me (and most of us) to slow down, I felt like I was falling down the downward spiral of gloom. This was the time when I found solace in stories again – in the form of reading and writing about them. In July 2020, I started my bookstagram account on Instagram. Over time, I combined my love for sustainable fashion and books and used my platform to talk about both. I wear a lot of handcrafted saris as well and raise awareness about the sari and its place in the modern world.

I've always been a traveller, but now I’ve embarked upon , and through my latest Mysore-Ooty trip, I managed a trip.

Sustainability isn't just a thing for me to try; it's my lifestyle. Of course I can do way better, but by thrifting, carrying my own water bottle, being an anti-cracker, shopping less and walking more, I keep doing my bit towards a happy and .



Misha's Instagram link: https://www.instagram.com/mishapaul_/

What I do to be
– Vikas Goswami, Head – Consultancy Services, Boundless Environment Resource Solutions

“I carry my own bottle of water when travelling. I ask for filtered water when eating at restaurants. (Please refuse the )
I use cling film sparingly.
I
(Eat what you have on your plate – it is sacrilege to not do that.) (Also, enjoy your meat but be vegetarian predominantly.)"

DO SHARE WHAT YOU DO TO BE ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY IN YOUR DAILY LIFE
And while at it, please join the TogetherWeCan community – on FB, Twitter or Instagram, or sign up here – https://togetherwecan.asia/

What I do to be
– Lijo Chacko, CEO, Sigachi MENA


As far as possible, I use the metro whether in Bangalore, London or Dubai. In Dubai some people think it’s not CEO ‘level’ to come by metro. But all the times that I have used the car while running parallel to the metro track, I have felt terrible. So I decided to let others feel bad about me not playing to the ‘level’ that they have imposed on me, and not to feel bad myself.
and
From food to electronics to packaging, I try to reduce waste consciously. Reducing consumption also reduces waste, so both go hand in hand. I have a cap-waala thermos cup, so I don’t have to take coffee in paper cups from shops. I go shopping with my own or backpack. I continue the usage of handkerchief so as to reduce usage of tissue papers. I do bucket baths instead of showers when at home. We have minimal furniture at home and own only essential gadgets, though these days the essential list seems to be growing
Washing/cleaning
I try to avoid unnecessary washing of clothes, plates, etc. Of course there is a balance to be struck so that one doesn’t stink or doesn’t serve in dirty crockery! But I look at the cup after I have had coffee/tea – if rinsed soon after, it is clean. I try to use one single spoon to serve rice and curry when only immediate family is around. My attempt is to send as little soap and detergent as possible to the planet. I also try to use the washing machine on low water mode.
Electricity
I disconnect appliances (except the fridge) from the plug if going from home for long durations. All lights at home are LED.
Food and clothing
I became a vegetarian about 25 years ago. In the last 4–5 years, I have been a and don’t use any leather products either.
In the last few years, I have tried to use , from the likes of Janapada Seva Trust, Mauna Dhwani, Tula, etc.

A small exercise that each one of us can do – write to customer care of any of the brands you use regularly (toothpaste, ketchup, clothes, everything in your kitchen) asking these 2 Qs:

–Is this product good for me and also good for the environment?
–Is the company making this product in an environment-friendly way (think waste management, think carbon emissions)?

Do let us know what response you receive.😊

When we talk of alternatives to plastic, what precisely are we talking about?
Well, there are plant-based plastic (for food-grade containers, drinks bottles), stone paper and palm leaves for packaging, packaging made with FSC-certified wood pulp, etc. Bagasse, a by-product of sugarcane processing, can be easily moulded into packaging suitable for food delivery. Sustainable biomaterials like cornstarch, tapioca, mushrooms and seaweed are also viable options when it comes to packaging.
Then there are those alternatives that have been around; glass bottles and jars are 100 per cent recyclable, and the glass in them can be reused endlessly, without any loss in quality and purity. Aluminium cans and metal tins are strong and can keep things like food and drink produce air-tight. In fact, there is no limit to the number of times aluminium can be recycled.
Let us please remember that if we as end-consumers start using the alternatives that are there, manufacturers and retailers will also have to look for alternatives.

What is your “one little act”?

This little blue planet that we call home is our only home. Unless you know of any other. :)

Let’s keep it clean, beautiful and safe. And one where future generations will be welcome.

One little act by each one of us will be a billion+ acts. For instance, I don’t buy water sold in plastic bottles. I don’t use plastic bags. I buy local food. And so on.

So, what do you do and don’t do – tell us here, because you never know how many others will follow your lead.

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