2 October is celebrated every year as Gandhi Jayanti – the birthday of the Mahatma.
The question comes to my mind. Was Gandhiji Green?
The answer is a resounding, YES. Here’s why.
1. Gandhi prophesised that an economy built on material consumption would cause a serious threat to the environment.
2. He viewed man and universe or nature as interwoven, and very prophetically foresaw and warned the world of the monstrous consequences of so-called ‘development’, which ignored the essential balance in the relation of man and nature. Gandhi sought a return to an age, where the people were at one with their natural surroundings.
3. Gandhi set up Tolstoy Farm – an experiment in self-sufficient simple living.
4. He sought to show how a simpler way of life based on minimal needs, a basic lifestyle, collective endeavour, goodwill and spiritualism could work in practice.
5. He weaved his own clothes made from khadi and slept on the ground with pillows made from wood.
6. He travelled mostly on foot for most of his life. (He authored the Dandi March)
7. A strict vegetarian, when not fasting, he advocated the fruit and nut diet.
8. He stated, "A civilization built on renewable resources, such as the products of forestry and agriculture, is by this fact alone superior to one built of non-renewable resources, such as oil, coal etc. That is because the former can last, while the latter can not last."
9. Gandhi tried to carry the message to the mass through the life he himself led. This is what made him an environmentalist with a difference.
10. He summed it best when he said, "There is enough on Earth for everybody’s need, but not enough for everybody’s greed."
Send your comments to sharad@go-green.ae