The Ultimate Measure Of A Man Is Not Where He Stands In Moments Of Comfort And Convenience, But Where He Stands At Times Of Challenge And Controversy. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life is full of challenges. Just when you think things are sailing, life hits you in the face with another challenge. However, instead of looking at challenges as a problem we should look at it as another opportunity to prove oneself.
Born and brought up in northeast India, nature has always been close to my heart. I feel at home in the mountains. It makes me realise how small I am and how much smaller my problems are. It gives one a sense of perspective. And as for the good times, one must know that it won’t last forever. Life always throws surprises when we least expect it. We may have the things better than ever but BANG! Everything changes.
Similarly, humanity is facing the biggest challenge it has ever encountered. The challenge to survive in a world that we ourselves are destroying every minute. And though the challenge seems impossible, I believe in us and in our ability to overcome challenges.
I think my love and respect for the environment stems from my parents and teachers stressing about the importance of the environment from a very early age. However, growing up, I saw that unfortunately not everyone was sensitive towards the environment. Seeing them, I felt helpless, powerless. At the same time I was frustrated by my own lifestyle choices. I was myself buying packaged foods, water, synthetic clothes etc. My ultimate aim was to reduce my carbon print and eventually get it down to zero. But there weren’t many greener alternatives available. I was in a lurch.
“Kehte hain agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho … to poori kainath use tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai” – Om Shanti Om
I was searching for gifts for my mom for mother’s day when I stumbled upon Aditya Birla Group’s Liva. Upon reading further, I discovered that the fabric promised to be environmentally friendly with a manufacturing process that included raw materials from sustainable and certified forests, lowest water consumption and low greenhouse gas emissions. Basically everything I was looking for and it was soon expanding to menswear! What seemed like routine online shopping quickly turned into a lifestyle change. Discovering “Liva” gave me hope and renewed my belief that I could make the change to environment friendly products in this age of plastics.
Since then, I have started using more of public transport, less of packaged foods, always carry a bottle with me and have also switched to only natural fabrics (hoping to switch to Liva soon). I even managed to convince my father to switch to a solar water heater. I am filled with a renewed sense of hope; hope that we will reverse climate change before it’s too late.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.”
There are some who understand the magnitude of this problem and are ready to face them head on. It’s commendable to see corporates doing their bit and taking more responsibility. Aditya Birla Group with its numerous initiatives for the environment and society, believes that sustainable growth is the only way forward. And that is more important in today’s era than anything else. Hence, I have immense respect for ABG.