Where Does God Dwell?

The virtues of reverence and respect have always been fundamental to Indian culture. Irrespective of religion, caste, class, status or location every Indian accords great honour and veneration to divinity. We go to great lengths to ensure that nothing defiles the sanctity of a holy place. With actions like removing our shoes or covering our heads before we enter a place of worship we show respect to our deity.

And yet in a nation so full of love for God, we seem to detach the Creator from creation, giving reverence to the former and completely neglecting the latter.  Scriptures of various religions around the world stress the fact that the earth is God’s abode and the Creator is manifest in all of creation. If we really believe this, then every time we harm the environment we harm God’s creation and dwelling place. Shouldn’t we extend the same honour and respect that we give to a place of worship, to the earth and our environment?

Why do we fail to comprehend the connection between the Creator that we worship and his creation, our earth? How has a nation with such a tradition of appreciation of beauty, art and architecture failed to see how it has disregarded, neglected and even abused the environment? Are we so selfish as to believe that preserving and protecting the environment is someone else’s responsibility, not our own?

The earth has provided for us from the beginning of time; let’s pledge to protect the Creator’s creation! We are God’s instruments upon this earth and we have the responsibility and the ability to make the right choices. Let’s create a clean, beautiful and environmentally responsible nation. If we love our country and take pride in our heritage each one of us must strive to make India’s tomorrow better than today.

My country’s pride in my hands resides,
the home of God, the land on which I thrive,

I’ll bless her with my zeal

and work to make her glorious still.

And in her streets will dance trees and wind

and sing the sun in perfect sync

No not today! No not today!

No sewage dumps, no heap of waste

Nor stink of awful negligence

His home and house on this planet placed

Nature here will sway and twirl

and extend to kiss the brow of men;

Who for love of God served and toiled

and brought to blossom sun-scorched lands

-  Carissa Paul

Sustainable Water Security

Good water management is crucial to overcome the water crisis that threatens our country, expected to be severely water stressed by 2025.   The water treatment industry must necessarily go much beyond water treatment, to ensuring availability of water.  It  will, in fact, serve its own interests best by working to meet the basic need of people for water and protecting the environment on which life, and its business, depend.  The industry  must focus on  development  and promotion of  water efficient and water saving techniques that also reduce use of resources and thus the load on the environment;   it will need  to   promote watershed development and rain water harvesting which must receive top priority for  increasing seepage and storage, countrywide.  

We at Ion Exchange, with a mission of total water and environment management,are proud to be in a business which is of such beneficial service to society and the environment.


Water Conservation through Recycle
 
Water recycle is an effective and economical way of solving water scarcity.  Recycle of industrial effluent and domestic sewage, conserves vast volumes of water while saving on the cost of fresh water and protecting the environment by reducing pollution. As environmental concerns gain ground, more companies  are  seeking  solutions that incorporate water conservation, pollution control, energy saving and reduced chemical consumption.  They realise too that enhanced environmental performance also yields significant competitive advantage. 

 
10 milllion litres per day textile effluent recycle plant at a common effluent treatment plant

800   m ³/day sewage recycle (membrane bio-reactor) at a hotel

200 m ³/day sewage recycle plant( fluidised media reactor) at a hotel

World Ozone Day - September 16

Once upon a layer ….

The ozone layer is a layer of ozone gas which surrounds the earth.  Starting around 15 kms above the earth and extending to about 35 kms, its thickness varies seasonally and geographically. However, if the total ozone in the ozone layer were to be put under ground level pressure, though, it would occupy a layer only 3 mm thick!

Ozone (O₃) splits into a molecule of oxygen (O₂) and a single oxygen atom (O) when it reacts with UV rays and then combines again to form ozone. Thus, the total amount of ozone is maintained.  

Its depletion occurs due to increase of hydroxyl radicals, nitric oxide radicals, atomic chlorine & bromine and predominantly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that combine with the single oxygen atom, hence preventing the reformation of ozone.  

The ozone layer acts like a natural filter because it prevents most of the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays from reaching the earth. For every 1% depletion of the ozone in this layer there is an increase of 2% in the harmful UV rays that are able to reach the surface of our planet. This is dangerous because UV rays harm living beings, and can cause cataracts and skin cancer.   

Recycle Your Way Into The Future

“Wow, this house is so beautiful, just the way we want it to be" said my parents when we moved into our new home. We carried the memories of our old home to the new one, and you know how? My parents decided we should try to recycle and reuse most of the many things that graced our previous home.

Beginning with the major ones, instead of scrapping the old furniture and wood we recycled them into the new tables, chairs, closet doors, TV stands, beds etc. The curtains that blew in the breeze reaching out to us to let us know that life is beautiful - they are now turned into pillow covers, reminding us how much more beautiful life can be when we wake up every morning. The old jeans that my brother and I no longer wear but won't throw away, have been transformed into patchwork grocery bags - very trendy and very strong. What about the shower curtains? They are now spiceproof/waterproof aprons in the kitchen.

As for things like toys, lamps, clothes, carpets and blankets accumulated over the years? These were donated to Ashadaan (a home for the orphans, aged, ailing, handicaps, addicts, homeless)

When our electronic units - the TV, microwave, audio/video decks, washing machine and other gadgets give trouble, we first try to fix them; if that doesn't help, we either exchange them for new ones or sell them at selected scrap vendors (bhangaarwala). By the way, they also accept the bottles, jars and cans.

Our greeting cards are constantly recycled and reused as decorations during Christmas, as "strings" of wishes. Even the newspapers, magazines and thick unwanted papers are sold off to the local bread supplier, who reuses the same to pack bread. Even when packing our boxes before shifting, we were very careful to use packing tape and stickers sparingly as they cannot be recycled.

And yes, our old memories that were saved on VHS tapes have been transferred to DVDs and we have exchanged the tapes and other plastic items with the garlic vendor (lasoonwala) for garlic in return.

My folks have taught me a lot of lessons in making the best of the least that we have - a value that will pass on in family tradition.

Getting the most from our resources through reuse and recycle paves the way to an eco-friendly future - a road we all can travel.

- Nicolette Richard LeVillard