The Indian Cow - An excellent example of Sustainabilty

We visited the Krishak Ashram couple of weekends back. Learned about the importance of cows and why/how cows play a very important role in our ecosystem and in our society.

COW-Pivot of Indian Society - Excellent example of why and how serves as an excellent example of sustainabilty. All the three E's Environment, economy and Euity or Society benefit from having cows - read on- 

Cow is an important and inevitable part of Indian culture and society and is interlinked in all walks of lives.

Cows play an important and unmatchable role in many segments of Indian Society.

1. Cows in Indian Household - Society/Equity

Cows have since eternity been part of Indian households. Most of the houses will have a Gau-shaala (cow-shed) mostly infront of their house.

A typical day used to start with Gau-pooja - paying respects to the Gau-matha and offering food and seeking her blessings.

It is most common in Indian house-holds even today (mostly restricted to rural areas)to apply cow-dung in front of each house. Many houses even now, have the floor laid with cow-dung to keep homes cooler.

Cow-dung as it is now scientifically proven, has high anti-bacterial properties and it protects from harmful radiations.

Cow provides milk and bi-products for the family.

2. Rituals and spiritual practices - Equity/Society

Cows are an inevitable part of any religious ritual in India. Gau with calf is looked upon as very auspicious and it is a practice to perform Gau-pooja on any occasion, especially on religious functions and spiritual practices.

In many Rituals like Yajna's, Gau-pooja / Gau-daan are considered integral for effective completion of the ritual.

3. Environment protection

Indian cows have the unique ability to absorb harmful radiations from the environment and they produce good vibrations, thus helping to cleanse the surroundings. 'Suryaketu' nerve on Cow's back absorbs all harmful radiations and cows body produces very serene energy which cleanses the environment.

Cow-dung possess very high anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and is used in Indian households to protect from harmful bacteria and harmful radiations.

4. Cow-products as Eco-friendly Energy source - Environment/Economy

Cow -dung is an excellent energy source.

Dried cow-dung, is a good supplement for firewood. The same is a widely used for Fire rituals in Indian tradition.

Cow dung is an essential raw material in production of Bio-gas, a supplement for cooking gas. The Slurry from bio gas plant is an excellent fertilizer, which can be used to grow crops.

Through the above, cow is helping in decrease the use of firewood thus indirectly help prevent cutting down more trees.

5. Livelihood - Economy

Cow gives milk and other products, which in turn enables the owners to have a descent livelihood by selling the Cow-products

Milk - Milk is one of the staple food products.

There are many other food products which can be prepared from Milk

Butter, Ghee, Curd which are produced from milk are extensively used in Indian cuisine and is much in demand always.

All cow-products are widely used in Rituals and religious worship - for applying on statues of Dieties, for fire rituals (homa/yaaga).

6. Cow in Agrarian Society

Vast Majority of Rural Indian society are dependent on farming and related areas for their livelihood. This is referred to as an Agrarian society. Cow and Ox play a pivotal role in this kind of a society.

• Oxen are used for ploughing the fields
• Bull/Ox-carts are widely used as mode of transport.
• Cow-dung is used as Fetrilizer for the crops and also used as Firewood suppliment.
• Cow-urine and Panchagavya used as highly effective and efficient fertilizers.
• Cow dung is used as Energy source - Bio-gas prepared from cow-dung, Dried cow-dung are used for cooking purposes.
• Cow dung is also used to decrease the acidity of soil and also in water. Crops grown using only Cow-products (Organic fertilizers) are much in demand, and fetch very good/better price for farmers compared to crops grown using chemicals.

All the above substantiate the claim that Cow plays a pivotal role in Indian society and also helps provide Economical stability and financial independence to our society.

Documentary on me by makechange TV

Dear readers,

Greetings from me, I have been busy moving countries, and setting up a new venture. So sorry I have not shared anything in about a month. But please see this one:

I received this piece from Julie Tran at make change TV.  

http://www.makechange.tv/videos/eduvation-e-1-green-school-becoming-green-leaders-part-1-indonesia

She wrote to me -

Once again, I would like to say thank you for allowing me to film your class and having you on my film. I really feel that your passion for teaching came through the camera and for me, it's a blessing to be able to show it so thanks for caring and sharing :-) My best wishes, Julie

Back 2 basics - Collaboration

I have started a small initiative called "Back 2 Basics - growing with educators worldwide".

As part of this initiative, I will be meeting several educators, create meaningful meeting/sharing opportunities to foster collaboration and then identify the needs of schools in training teachers appropriately to help integrate sustainability into the curriculums.

Because I think collaboration is most important in moving ahead with a clear vision and supported by the community, we hope that we can design interesting teacher/educator workshops.

Service and Enterprise learning

In my class we celebrated World bamboo day by all students and teachers participating in designing, and creating bamboo toys for early years. 

You may want to see their commitent for yourself at the link below. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTpD_cy3lrM&feature=youtu.be

Hi all, I have now added a link for you to be able to subscribe to my blog and get an email alert of any new posts:)
Thanks

Educating for sustainability: Raising whole children

Educating for sustainability: Raising whole children

Raising whole children

Fyodor Dostoevsky said, "Beauty will save the world."

Expanding on the above thought, I wanted to share a story I read in The "Ecological Literacy".

Here is a story by Michael Ableman in his essay on "Raising Whole Children Is Like Raising Good Food...." consider this:

           

        Every evening we wrap up our new born son in his favourite wool blanket and ever so slowly walk the length of our farm saying good night to the chickens, touching the leaves on the asparagus, rubbing our faces on various herbs and flowers, and quietly sneaking up on the thousands of frogs that inhabit our pond.

            It's the same route each evening, but every walk reveals something new. Most nights just as we reach the farm-gate and turn to walk back home, young Benjamin's eyes have started to close as he is lulled and calmed by the life on the farm, which is also drifting into sleep.

            These walks include no talk, no explanations; there is no reading or study required to understand and learn from our experiences. But I am sure that young Benjamin is absorbing it all., even when his eyes are closed and he is asleep.

            But just as I immerse my young son in the natural circles of the farm as I give him responsibilities to care for some of the animals and plant life that exists on it, and feed and nourish him from it, our society must find ways to offer similar experiences to all families and communities.

            We have to deal with the world of worry in which so many of our young people live and the constant struggle between hope and despair by focusing on the small successes: on local and incremental change; one handful of seeds, one child, one garden at a time.

References and readings:

Dewey, J. (1929). Experience and nature. New York: Dover.

Orr, D. W. (1992). Ecological literacy: Education and the transition to a postmodern world. Albany: State University of New York Press.