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Eco-Cultural Solution to the Challenge of Waste Generation at Individual Level: Case Study from India

Satya Prakash Mehra

Indian culture has the affinity for the conservation of nature and natural resources on the concepts of Aranya Samskruti (Forest Culture) and Prakruti Purush (Nature Man). The eco-culture could be observed through the ongoing customs and traditions prevalent in the Indian society. These age-old practices represent a symbiotic relationship of Man and Nature. The paper highlighted the philosophy of eco-ethics of the then society. The pace of development changed the life style of every human throughout the globe. The impacts were also observed among the Indian Society. High energy demanding society replaced the low energy demanding society. The eco-concepts lost their relevance. The rise in demand resulted into the consumerist society with the advent of “Use and Throw” mentality of human society leading towards a challenge of waste generation. The Indian System had the age old practices of 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) which was environmental friendly. With the advancement of consumerism, 3Rs lost their relevance and resulted into one of the biggest environmental challenges of waste production. The paper further highlighted the eco-compatible Indian cultural traits towards such issues. Learning from the customs, traditions and rituals, the paper discussed the relevance of those practices which could be the possible solution to cope up the challenge of waste management at individual level. Case study of the campus of the authors had been briefed where the age old conservation practices had been revived leading towards the natural solutions for the environmental challenges. In continuance of the present action oriented research, the authors lead a way to understand the relevance of waste for the avifaunal biodiversity through their extensive research in different parts of country. The detailed work had been carried forward in the other paper. The traditional ecological knowledge which is site-specific has the global application which needs to be converted into the sustainable developmental initiatives through policy formulation.