Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh are the three Gods in the Hindu pantheon which when considered together, as a triumvirate, cover all the three aspects of the life cycles in Nature – creation, maintainence and dissolution.

As we watch the natural environment around us degrade with dismay, we realise that what is required more than anything else right now is a deep healing.

A ban is not enough to change the situation. While a ban definitely helps, its implementation is tricky and not fool proof. Citizens need to take ownership of the ban, to recognise the importance of cleaning up our environment and of avoiding the use of single use plastic disposables.

We all have heard about how the cow is considered a sacred animal by the Hindus. In recent times, this has led to several debates with the ban on beef on the one hand and the growing efforts of the Hindu community to save every cow at all costs.

Here in India, we have just completed a week of celebrations in honour of Sri Lakshmi, the energy of manifestation and expansion, in Nature. But do we really understand who she represents? Do our practices of celebration do justice to her beauty and grace?

This issue of our newsletter looks at how online shopping and home deliveries, have impacted the scale of plastic pollution.

Daniel Goleman, a psychologist whose earlier book Emotional Intelligence was on the New York Bestseller list, turns his psychological understanding to the way consumers make choices, in the book Ecological Intelligence.

As plastic disposables start getting banned the world over, a new range of materials called Bioplastics are now emerging.

In the aftermath of the recent ban on plastic disposable bags, the markets are seeing a marked increase of non woven carry bags being handed out by retail stores.

Many of us have become dependent on the convenience of using a film of thin plastic to cover our leftovers or to wrap our sandwiches in – known as Saran wrap, plastic clingfilm, or plastic wraps – this thin sheet of plastic is yet another product that was designed without considering the consequences it would have on our health as well as on the environment.