Organic Habitat-9
5.3 Organic living.
Organic living.
Resources, finite.
Education.
Eco- nomics.
Population.
Forests.
Trees.
Vegan diet.
Agriculture.
Local food.
Food wastage.
Air pollution.
Eco- nomical, without pollution.
Water.
Renewable energy.
Circular economy.
Research.
Physical activity.
Preventive health care.
Web of Life.
Social integration.
Peace.
Summary.
We are blessed to live in our unique planet "Earth".
It is the only planet in the solar system, which sustains life.
It is the only place we know of, as of now, in the universe, which harbours life.
Unfortunately, we have taken our planet Earth, for granted.
We live in an extraordinary age, called the Anthropocene.
We have become the dominant species of life in the planet.
We ruthlessly exploit the resources of the planet.
We as a species, the homo sapien, have been around for 200 thousand years.
As a civilisation we have been around for about 6000 years.
During earlier times in our civilisation, we did not have a significant impact on the planet.
In the last couple of centuries this has changed dramatically.
Since industrial revolution, we have learnt to exploit the resources of the planet.
Our population as a species has also exploded.
In 10000 BC , our population, was 10 million.
At the beginning of the industrial revolution in 1800, it was 1 billion.
We are now racing towards a population of more than 9 billion.
This combine with a knowledge and tools to exploit resources,
has resulted in a situation where we are beginning to influence the planet itself.
This influence is overall negative.
If we continue to live and grow in the same way, that we have be doing for the last couple of centuries,
we are heading towards an inevitable catastrophe.
The planet is a delicate ecosystem, of both animate and inanimate things.
The climate of the planet is a result of a number of factors, which govern it.
We have reached a stage where human actions now influence the climate.
The imbalance that we are causing, is resulting in global warming.
This has very serious consequences, which could threaten our very existence, in the future.
We share this planet, with many other forms of life.
We are one small branch, in the tree of life.
The web of life comprises of thousands of species of animals, birds, fish, trees, plants, insects,
and micro organisms like bacteria.
All forms of life are interrelated in some way.
In the long term if we need to live in this planet, we need to learn to live in harmony,
with the ecosystem of the planet.
This requires a paradigm shift in our thinking, and our life style.
We can call this new way of living, as organic living.
One of the key things we have to realise, in organic living, is that the planet is finite.
Everything in the planet, is finite and limited.
The basic elements, which we take for granted, like air, water and soil, is limited.
Natural resources like oil, metals, and minerals are all finite, and limited.
If all people in the world use the same amount of resources, that people in the U.S. use,
we will require 6 to 10 planet-Earths, to satisfy this demand.
Even if we continue to consume resources, at the same level as we do today,
we will run out of the resources, that we use in the next 50 to 200 years.
We are well on course to bequeath, a bankrupt planet to future generations.
All the resources of planet-Earth are finite and limited.
This basic understanding is required for us to design a new way of sustainable living,
which we will call as organic living.
Organic living requires a paradigm shift, in our life style.
It requires a change in our culture, our thinking, our education, our economics, our behaviour, our design,
and our way of living.
We need to take an optimistic and positive view, that this is possible.
This thinking has to be introduced from childhood, at the nursery level.
Children are introduced to the ecology of planet Earth, at an early age.
This is reinforced throughout their education, and their life time.
To qualify as being literate, one has to be ecological aware and sensitive.
We need to have a society, where people are ecologically aware and sensitive.
Children are more open minded to fresh thinking.
Education of children, going upto education of adults, is a necessary foundation of organic living.
For any fundamental change to take place, people need to be aligned to the new way of thinking.
This is true for organic living also.
People need to feel, and think this way.
Economics became a formal theory, only a couple of centuries back.
These economic theories were developed, in the backdrop, of the industrial revolution.
The emphasis was on higher productivity, higher production and higher consumption.
Economic progress was linked to this.
A nation's economy was linked to its production and consumption.
Gross domestic product, or GDP was used to measure a nation's progress.
These economic theories were not ecology sensitive.
Using GDP as a measure of progress, is like stealing the future, and selling it to the present.
Organic living requires for us to develop new economic theories, which are ecology sensitive.
We will call this ecology sensitive economics, as Eco- nomics.
Eco- nomics give primacy to the ecological costs and benefits.
In Eco- nomics pollution is accounted as cost.
Consumption of non-renewable resources is considered as a cost.
Clean air, good health, quality of life, etc., is considered as a benefit.
Recycling is incentivised.
Eco- nomics works to encourage a circular economy.
For Eco-nomics to work, most of the countries have to adapt to the basic principles.
This is easier said than done.
We need to take an optimistic view, that such a consensus will emerge, in the global community.
Life on planet Earth is about 2 billion years old.
Many thousands of species have lived on this planet.
In the history of life on the planet, no one species has dominated.
The population of no particular species, has experienced unbridled growth.
Nature has built in checks and balances, so that no one species over populates the planet.
There is one notable exception.
Human beings, have managed to overcome, this limit imposed by nature.
This is specially true since the industrial revolution.
The population of human beings in the planet was around 1 billion in 1800.
In a short span of 200 years, it exploded to more than 7 billion.
In another couple of decades, it is expected to increase to 9 billion.
We are already on the verge of exhausting the natural resources of the planet.
If our population grows unchecked, planet Earth will no longer be able to sustain us.
One of the primary objectives of organic living, is to manage and limit our population.
We can meaningfully plan for the future, only if the population of human beings, is controlled and stable.
There is evidence that this is possible, with increased literacy and awareness.
Our planet is a fairly large planet.
Yet there is only a finite amount of land in the planet.
We need to share this land, with other forms of life, specially forests.
Not long ago, planet Earth had about 16 million square kilometers of forests.
Forest play a vital role in the eco system of the planet.
At one stage in the evolution of the planet, there was no oxygen in the atmosphere.
Oxygen is essential for most current forms of life.
Human beings need to continuously breathe in oxygen to live.
Oxygen is so plentiful that we take it for granted.
Oxygen and air, is not even considered as a natural resource.
The evolution of plant life, mainly in forests is responsible, for creating the oxygen,
which is currently present in the atmosphere.
Forest play a pivotal role in recycling carbon dioxide, and producing oxygen.
Animals and human beings breathe out carbon dioxide.
Forests take in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen.
This seemingly simple phenomena, is the essential reason, why animals and human beings,
are able to exist in the planet.
If we need to plan for the future of human beings, we need to plan to co-exist with forests.
Unfortunately humans have destroyed 10 million square kilo meters, of the 16 million square kilo meters,
of the forests that existed.
It is amazing that in spite of being educated, most people do not realise, the importance of forests.
Destruction of forests, is a sure way of committing slow suicide, of human beings.
For organic living we need to preserve as much of nature, that is possible.
We need to create nature reserves.
The remaining natural forests have to be preserved as 'nature reserves'.
Humans need land for living space, and for farming.
Once we stabilise our population, we can optimise the need for land, for living and farming.
The forests we preserve as nature reserves, can act as the lungs of the planet.
Apart from forest there could be other eco sensitive zones, which needs to be preserved, as nature reserves.
The Artic, Antarctic, glaciers, mangroves, coral reefs, are some other examples of places, preserved as nature reserves.
Apart from preserving the forests, we could consciously cultivate trees, in the places we inhabit.
Trees are an important unit of forests.
Trees take in carbon dioxide, from the atmosphere, and breathe out oxygen.
We need to consciously design to incorporate trees, in our habitat.
Our national highways could be tree lined.
Our rail lines are tree lined.
Our cities are designed with parks, with a variety of trees.
All the avenues in the city, are lined with trees.
Our farms incorporate trees, along with crops.
In this way if we design trees, into our way of life, we can benefit the environment.
This in turn will dramatically improve our quality of life.
It is well known that if we live close to nature, it improves our well being.
Trees can also be an important source of food.
By including trees in our habitat design, we can increase the green cover, of our planet.
Trees are valued so much, that a census is maintained of all trees.
Nations track and try to improve upon the tree to human ratio.
A higher ratio is taken to indicate, a better quality of life.
Organic living incorporates trees into our design of habitats.
Food is one of our basic needs.
We need more land for producing food than for living.
A large portion of the destruction of forests by humans, has been for producing food.
We need to share the land of the planet, with forests and other nature reserves.
This implies that we need to optimise the land used for farming, and living, - specially for farming.
The planet has 13.4 billion hectares of land .
71% of this land is habitable.
50% of the habitable land is used for agriculture.
37% of habitable land is forested.
11% of habitable land is shrubbery.
1% of habitable land is used for urban dwelling.
50% of the habitable land in our planet is used for agriculture.
Only 1% of habitable land is used for urban spaces.
We need to pay much more attention to the land we use for food production.
Global agricultural production doubled four times between 1820 and 1975.
Agriculture supported about 1 billion people in 1800, now supports more than 7 billion people.
The population is expected to reach close to 10 billion in a few decades.
Also there is expected to be a rise in the middle class, contributing to more demand.
We need to address many aspects of the efficient use of land to produce food.
The most striking aspect of this, concerns our food habits.
Currently a significant portion of our diet comprises of meat.
Rearing livestock to produce meat, is a very large industry.
Meat is not a eco-friendly way to provide nutrition.
The efficiency by which different animals convert vegetable matter to meat protein is very different.
Cows and sheep need 8 kilos of grain to produce 1 kilo of meat.
Chickens require 1.6kg of grain to produce 1 kilo of meat.
Currently world wide, there are 1 billion pigs and sheep,
1 billion cows, and more than 50 billion chickens.
The biomass of livestock that we breed, exceeds the biomass of all mammals and birds that live in the wild.
40% of the grain we produce now, goes to feed livestock.
If we don't alter our diets and continue eating habits as we do today, by 2050,
we will require twice as many animals to feed the increasing population,
and the greater demand from the emerging middle class of people in developing countries.
Most of the land that we use for agriculture, is used for producing food for livestock.
If we need to feed a population of 10 billion, with the same food habits, as we have today,
it would not be sustainable to find the land to grow food for both livestock, and humans.
Rearing livestock has other significant negative factors.
80% of the fertilisers that we use, goes towards production of food for livestock.
This has an impact on the carbon footprint we create for manufacturing fertilisers.
Fertilisers also contribute to soil and water pollution.
Livestock produces methane gas in its digestive system.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas.
It has 20 times more global warming power than carbon dioxide.
If we take into account all the factors, rearing livestock is the leading cause for global warming.
It makes more ecological sense to directly consume the food, that we produce from the land.
This would require a shift in our diet, to a much more vegetarian diet.
Animals are bred not only for meat but for all the diary products, like milk, curds, butter, cheese, etc, that we consume.
A vegan diet does not include diary products .
It requires 1/6 acres of land to feed 1 person, for one year, on a vegan diet.
It requires half an acre of land to feed 1 person, for one year, on a vegan diet.
It requires 5 acres of land to feed 1 person, for one year, on a diet similar to an average American.
Ideally from the ecological view point, we need to move towards a more vegan diet.
This we can imagine would require a dramatic cultural change.
We need to hope that this will happen, and people will voluntarily change dietary habits.
A mostly vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, can dramatically increase the efficiency of land use,
and have a phenomenal positive impact on the ecology of the planet.
In future it is possible for us to have a healthy diet, which has more vegetables, greens, fruits, and nuts.
It is possible with research to produce more proteins from plants.
Producing protein from cell culture is also a possibility, which can be a source of protein.
A mostly plant food based diet, is an important component of organic living.
Agriculture is as old as civilisation itself.
We still have many challenges to address to use land more efficiently, and in an eco-friendly way.
Recently we have been resorting to industrial agriculture.
The emphasis has been to increase the productivity of land.
This no doubt that this has dramatically increased the amount of food production.
Unfortunately this has been accompanied by undesirable side effects.
Use of chemical fertilisers, has impacted the natural qualities of soil.
Use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, has damaged the environment.
Many supporting species to agriculture like bacteria, bees, earthworms, pollinators,
has been severely harmed by the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides.
The challenge is to discover more organic fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides.
Currently monoculture is du jour in industrial agriculture.
Current economic models support this kind of agriculture, for cost effectiveness.
We need to explore possibilities of scientific polyculture.
Scientists are also exploring feasibility of cultivating food in the sea.
Many types of seaweed like some algae, kelp, are known to be edible.
Cultivating part of the oceans, could free up large tracts of land for forests.
Another exciting field for research, is genetic enhancements of plants.
Genetic modification of some species is already taking place.
These species have special features, like higher yield, better nutrition, pest resistance, drought resistance, etc,.
Further research is required to make sure, that genetically enhanced plants are safe to consume, over the long term.
The potential for genetically enhanced crops is enormous.
There are many new areas, which are yet to be explored, like cellular agriculture,
where meat can be grown in laboratories .
Agricultural technology offers many challenges and opportunities.
A special focus of science on agriculture, would be a priority for organic living.
Food is produced and processed in distant places, and transported over long distances.
Food needs to be produced, as much locally as possible.
Farm lands surrounding the cities should produce, most of the food required by the city.
This will significantly reduce the transportation and storage costs, of food.
It will also reduce the wastage that occurs during storage and transportation.
When we design an organic city, we also need to design the farm lands, and the food supply chain.
Larger food processing industries, could be located in the industrial suburb.
Smaller cottage food processing industries, could be located in the city itself.
To the extent feasible, food processing, where required, is done locally.
Organic living emphasises locally produced and processed food.
A enormous amount of food we produce is wasted.
A lot of slippage occurs between the farm and the dining table.
This could be for various reasons, like lack of cold storage, loss to pests, shelf life, cosmetic issues, etc,.
It is estimated that 30 to 40% of the food produced in the U.S. is wasted.
This might be representative of the wasted food in developed countries.
Effective use of the food produced is important goal in organic living.
The design of food storage and transportation, is important while designing organic cities.
Food needs to be collected at farms, scientifically stored, and transported to cities.
This is even more important in the case of fresh food like vegetables, greens and fruits.
These needs to go into cold storage on harvesting, and transport it in cold storage containers to cities.
Once it reaches the city, it is transhipped to the various communities.
From the community warehouse, it has to be transported by vahanas, to the mall, commune, and home.
There is a complex chain of storage and transportation, involved in getting food from the farm to the table.
Augmented intelligence can play a vital role, in the food transportation chain.
The goal in organic living, is to produce most of the food locally, and to eliminate or minimise food wastage, from the farm to the table.
Air, water and soil are precious commodities, from the ecological point of view.
In our current lifestyle pollution of the planet, is the norm.
The most glaring example of pollution, is air pollution.
Since the industrial revolution, fossil fuel has been the main source of energy.
Coal, oil and its derivatives, has driven the progress we have made, for a couple of centuries.
The combustion of these fuels, is what releases the energy.
Coal based power plants has been a major source of electricity.
These plants emit carbon dioxide, and other green house gases.
Many types of machinery use coal, kerosine, petrol, diesel, etc,.
These also emit green house gases.
A notable machine is the automobile, which came into use since about 1900.
They have now proliferated all over the world, specially in developed countries.
Vehicles are a major source of green house gas emissions.
All the factories, machinery and vehicles, together have succeeded in polluting the entire planets atmosphere.
In many cities of the world the air we breathe has become toxic.
The oxygen and air that is essential for living, has become a health hazard.
The pollution caused by green house gases is so large, that it is no longer a local issue.
It is a global issue.
We now live in the age called the anthropocene.
The industrial civilisation has caused a global change in the atmosphere.
The planet is now undergoing human induced global warming.
This is resulting in climate change, with disastrous consequences.
There has been a tendency to view air pollution as an inevitable by product of progress.
Surprisingly this is not true.
It is technologically feasible to control and even eliminate air pollution.
Air pollution from industries, vehicles and machinery continue to happen,
simply because air is free.
In conventional economics there is no cost for air pollution.
If some business tried to eliminate pollution, using appropriate, but expensive equipment,
the product they produce will become uneconomical and non competitive, because other producers do not do the same.
We need a paradigm shift, in our thinking and our economic philosophy.
In the new Eco- nomics, pollution has a prohibitive cost.
It is more Eco- nomical to produce goods, without pollution.
It is more Eco- nomical to produce vehicles and machinery, which do not cause pollution.
It is more Eco- nomical to produce food without causing pollution.
There is no doubt that this is easier said than done.
We need to take an optimistic view that global society will recognise the need for this in the new Eco- nomics.
Just like countries get-together to combat climate change.
They need to upgrade their Eco- nomics by which goods can be produced, without pollution.
The amount of fresh water in the planet is limited.
Only 30% of the fresh water is available in underground aquifers.
0.3% of the fresh water in the planet is available in lakes and rivers.
There is a natural cycle in nature, where water that evaporates from the sea, precipitates over land.
This water eventually flows back to the sea.
We intervene in this natural cycle to harness water for our use.
We need water for agriculture.
We need water for drinking and cooking.
We could consider these as essential needs.
Water is an excellent solvent.
This quality of water is misused.
Since water is free or almost free, an enormous amount of water is used by industry as a solvent for processing.
The used waste water is discharged, into lakes, rivers, or aquifers.
Cities are also major consumers of water.
Most of this domestic water is used for bathing, washing, flushing, etc,.
In the process good fresh water, is turned into dirty polluted water.
This water also tends to get discharged into natural reservoirs.
Basically we are drawing upon limited fresh water resources and polluting it.
If we continue this way of living, we will eventually exhaust our fresh water resources.
We will also succeed in polluting whatever fresh water that remains.
This will lead to a potentially catastrophic situation.
Surprisingly very few people are aware or concerned about this.
This is mainly due to the fact that conventional economics, does not value water.
In the new eco- nomics water is considered as a valuable and precious resource.
Agriculture is a major consumer of water.
New technologies have to be devised to minimise the use of water in agriculture.
Cities are the other major consumers of water.
Drinking and cooking water, is essential for living.
This water constitutes a very small percentage of the water consumption of cities.
It is likely that less than 1% of the water requirement of cities is for potable water.
The rest of water usage, is for its properties as a solvent.
Many industries use a large amount of fresh water, for industrial purposes.
Most of the domestic water usage is for washing, bathing, flushing, etc,.
We cannot afford to use fresh water for this kind of use.
We need to completely redesign the management of water in cities.
We need to protect the lakes if they exist, and create them if they don't.
Lakes act as reservoir for natural fresh water, available from precipitation.
Ground water present in underground aquifers, is another natural reservoir for water.
The water that precipitates as rain or snow, in the city, is channelised to recharge the lakes or ground water.
Most cities in the world receive adequate precipitation.
We will consider these cities for our discussion.
This would require a design, where rainwater is not mixed with, and polluted by waste water of the city.
Rain water is one of the cleanest source of fresh water.
The city is designed to harvest all the rain water, that it is blessed with.
This harvesting and storage of rain water in lakes and aquifers, is one of the cardinal principles,
in the design of water management systems in cities.
The lakes and aquifer would be more than adequate to supply potable water to the citizens.
The non potable use of water, requires a totally new design.
To illustrate the use of water for washing, we can take the example of a clothes washing machine.
In a typical home, the amount of dirt, in the clothes that we load into a washing machine, would be less than 1 gram.
To wash this off, the machine uses several grams of soap, and 50 to 100 liters of water.
This 50 to 100 liters is considered as waste water, and let out into the drain.
If we could remove the minute amount of dirt, and the little amount of soap from the used water,
the water would be good enough for the next wash, and every future wash.
With advances in technology, we could easily conceive of a washing machine, which recycles its own water.
It requires no supply of fresh water, and discharges no waste water.
The same principle could be used in a wash basin.
It could also be used in the bathroom.
It is possible to conceive of a home which recycles all non potable water.
This technology is not as far fetched as we might imagine.
For example, all the water that is used in the international space station is recycled.
The supply vessels to the space station do not carry any water.
Astronauts are spending months and years in the space station, without fresh water supply from Earth.
Surprisingly, here on Earth little or no water is recycled.
Traditional eco- nomics plays a prime role in this anomaly.
Water is sourced from natural sources like rivers, lakes, and aquifers.
It is made available to citizens at a very low cost.
There is no economic incentive to recycle water.
In the new eco- nomics changes this basic equation.
Water is priced in such a way that it makes eco- nomic sense to recycle it.
In our organic city, recycling would happen at several levels.
Machines and utilities would recycle some water.
Homes will recycle some water.
Community will recycle some water.
Industry will recycle all the water that it uses.
Fresh water will be available in lakes, and aquifers present in the city.
These are managed by the community and the city.
Rain water is harvested to replenish the fresh water in lakes and aquifers.
In essence each community would be self reliant for its water needs.
Energy has been one of the main driving factors, of progress of civilisation.
This is specially true since the industrial revolution.
The use of energy has been growing exponentially since the industrial revolution.
The amount of energy consumed has doubled between 1973 and 2015.
80% of this energy comes from fossil fuels.
Most of the fossil fuels was cooked inside the Earth over millions of years.
Civilised life existed for about 6000 years.
We can hopefully expect it to last for many more millenniums.
We will exhaust non-renewable fossil fuels resources in a century or so.
In the scale of human civilisation fossil fuels, as a source of energy, is an extremely short term solution.
Energy is required on a large scale, to support modern living.
We need to move forward to using renewable energy, for meeting our energy needs.
The most promising source of renewable energy is solar energy.
Solar energy has been sustaining life on Earth for couple of billion years.
Solar energy is expected to be available for several billions of years more.
Clearly it is the most sustainable form of energy.
At the start of the industrial revolution, we did not have the technology to harness solar energy.
Fossil fuels were so cheap, that traditional economics did not incentivise the research and development of solar energy.
Since then the situation has changed dramatically.
We have the technology to harness solar energy.
Even with traditional economics, it has become cost effective to use solar energy.
With the new Eco- nomics it will become imperative to use solar energy.
The Earth receives more energy from the sun, in one hour, then what human beings use for an entire year.
It is upto us to harness it and channelise it for the benefit of humanity.
Wind is also a source of renewable energy.
Wind energy is a by-product of solar energy.
Solar energy heats up the air in the atmosphere differentially to create air currents.
Wind energy can be harnessed from these air currents.
In future wind energy can supplement solar energy in a significant way.
Solar and wind energy will become the prominent source of renewable energy, in the future.
Organic living requires a sustainable source of energy.
Using renewable energy is one of the basic features of organic living.
Our current life style is characterised by a use and discard way of life.
We extract raw materials from the Earth, make products out of it,
use it, and discard it.
This a one-way habit, which has become entrenched in our culture.
This is a non sustainable way of living.
All the resources of the planet are limited.
For example, the metals and minerals that we mine and use, will last only for a couple of centuries.
We cannot afford to use and discard the products that we need.
This approach to living is simply not viable.
Where possible we need to reduce the amount of products that we use.
Where viable we need to reuse the product.
At the end of the product's life cycle, it has to be recycled, so as to recover the raw materials used.
Only then can civilisation hope to exist for many more millenniums.
Eco- nomics will drive the reduction, reuse and recycling of all products.
This will lead to a circular economy.
Organic living integrates a circular economy, in its philosophy.
Knowledge has been the foundation of civilised life.
The amount of knowledge we have acquired is growing at a phenomenal pace.
This amount of knowledge that we have acquired is so overwhelming,
it creates a delusion that we know almost everything that we need to know.
This is far from the truth.
What we know is a minuscule fraction of what is still unknown.
Future societies will spend much more time and effort in researching the unknown.
Organic living will support this research.
Research will become one of the major employers, in organic living.
Since the industrial revolution, machines have taken over,
much of the work, that used to be done manually, by animals and human beings.
This has resulted in the decrease of the number of blue collar workers,
and increase in the number of white collar workers.
White collar workers typically do not engage too much in physical activity.
Some how automation, and less physical activity, has been associated with progress.
Manual labour was looked down upon.
Science fiction movies depicted a future, where machines did all the physical work.
People who were financially comfortable, no longer felt the need to be physically active.
This has led to a large increase in the number of people, who lead a sedentary lifestyle.
Over hundred and thousands of years, evolution has designed human beings, to be physically active.
The sedentary life style, of modern life has resulted in an outbreak of a large number of related health issues.
Progress does not necessarily mean that we need to have a sedentary life style.
A healthy life style, requires human beings to be physically active.
Progress should co-exist with an enjoyable physically active life.
Organic cities are designed in such a way that physical activity is enjoyable.
One example is the roads in organic cities.
The avenues in organic cities, are lined with trees, it is scenic, comfortable, and designed to enjoy walking.
Pedestrians are at the centre of avenue design, vehicles are secondary.
Organic cities are designed to make it enjoyable to walk to school, to work, or to the club.
Enjoyable physical activity leads to a healthy and happy community.
Good health is paramount, in organic living.
Medicine is made tremendous progress in the last couple of centuries.
We are now able to cure a large number of illnesses which used to afflict people in the middle ages.
Millions of life has been saved by modern medicine.
Many advanced technique are being researched to cure some of the illnesses, which are not easily curable right now.
These efforts are laudable, and should continue.
Organic living emphasises preventive healthcare.
Every community has its own healthcare centre.
The community health care centre, is the nodal point, for all preventive healthcare measures, for members of the community.
A proper diet and appropriate physical activity, can lead to general well being.
This can be customised to individuals, with modern medical science.
The community healthcare centre acts as an advisor to community members for customised lifestyle changes.
With advances in medical science, it is possible to predict the potential onset of the vast majority of illnesses, that afflict humans.
Non invasive tests with samples of blood, urine, stools, saliva,
can predict a surprising number of illnesses, even before the symptoms become obvious.
The earlier an oncoming illnesses is detected, the easier it is to treat it.
It would be possible to prevent a oncoming illness using simple remedies, rather than wait for the illness to come,
and then use powerful drugs to cure it.
More serious conditions like blindness, can also be addressed by preventive healthcare.
Cataract and glaucoma are two of the major causes of blindness.
These are very much curable.
The community healthcare centre makes sure, to detect these illnesses at a very early stage,
and arrange for curing it.
There are many other illnesses like cancer, Alzheimer's, can be cured if detected early.
Community health centres take the responsibility for early detection of such potential illnesses.
There are many illnesses which are caused by infections by bacteria or viruses.
Vaccination has proved effective in preventing some of these infections.
Small pox, polio, diphtheria, etc., are some examples where we can immunise ourselves, by vaccinations.
These vaccinations help prepare and strengthen the bodies immune system.
In this way it can be considered as a preventive healthcare measure.
It is possible that vaccines will be discovered for more and more illnesses.
The community health care centre takes responsibility for immunising community members,
for known infections.
The mechanisms by which infections can occur are already fairly well known.
We can expect a deeper understanding of these mechanisms in the future.
For example we known that a certain type of mosquito is responsible for spreading malaria infection.
By preventing this mosquito from breeding we can prevent malaria or such illnesses from occurring and spreading in the community.
Some infections can happen due to contaminated water.
The community health centre takes responsibility for implementing preventive mechanisms of infections.
If an infection does occur, the next step would be to preventing it from spreading in the community.
Whenever people gather together, there is a potential to transmit infectious illnesses.
Encouraging people with an infection, to isolate themselves, is the responsibility of the community healthcare centre.
Air conditioning systems in public places like theatres, concert halls, stadiums even hospitals tend to circulate infected air.
This the potential source of contracting infections.
In fact hospitals are a seriously potential place to contract infections.
More research is required to filter out harmful bacteria and viruses from air conditioning systems.
With advances in medical science some organs can be transplanted from a deceased person.
Simple example is the cornea in the eye.
If we can donate healthy cornea's, millions of people can receive eyesight.
Hopefully in the future many more organs, can be transplanted from deceased persons.
Organ donation is part of the culture of organic living.
In the future augmented intelligence can be expected to play a significant role, in medical care.
AI can play an important role in maintaining and interpreting basic health data of a person.
It could possibly forecast potential health issues.
This could be an important means of preventive healthcare.
There are 8 million species of plants and animals in the planet.
We homo sapiens are one such species.
We need to recognise that we are a part of the intricate web of life.
We are yet to understand all the complexities in the web of life.
But we do recognise that our well being are inter-related to the well being of other species.
We are no doubt now the dominant species on Earth.
Unfortunately, we are also the species which is causing extinction of millions of other species.
One million species of plants and animals are likely to go extinct due to human activity.
This trend cannot be allowed to happen for a sustainable lifestyle.
In organic living, we need to learn to live on this planet, in harmony with other forms of life.
Human beings are diverse in nature.
This diversity is actually good for society.
Organic living would involve social integration.
A country or the world cannot exist optimally, with social tensions.
People belonging to different economic strata, cultural and religious background,
have to learn to live and work together.
We need to learn to adapt social inclusiveness, in our thinking, our culture, and our government.
Organic living strives for synergy, among diverse humans through social integration.
The history of civilisation, is punctuated by frequent conflicts.
It is understandable that people tend to have a pessimistic view,
that conflicts and wars are inevitable in society.
Nations spend a huge amount of funds and resources, on so called "defence".
The world as a whole spends an enormous $ 1.8 trillion on defence every year.
Almost every nation is paranoid that some other nation will attack it.
This notion is so ingrained, that most people think that expenditure on defence is an essential necessity.
In reality, apart from being destructive, it is the most wasteful expenditure of energy, effort, resources, and funds of a society.
The intellectual capability of human beings have evolved significantly over the centuries.
We no longer think in the same way as we did a few centuries ago.
Infact every new generation thinks a little differently, from the previous one.
If we extrapolate this trend, we can optimistic that our thinking will evolve in the future also.
This evolution can be multi-dimensional.
We are likely to become not only more intellectual, but also more wise.
It is possible to conceive, that differences between nations can be resolved through discussions, and not war.
Even if there are one or two outliers, or rouge nations, at some point of time,
the responsibility of defence against such nations is outsourced to United Nations.
Each nation spends only 5% of its normal defence expenditure, and maintains a small defence force.
This force is made available to the U.N. on request.
In the eventuality of one rouge nation, aggressing on another, the U.N. marshals the defence forces,
of some member countries, to contain the rouge nation.
In this way all member nations could feel secure, without wasting precious effort, energy and resources on massive defence expenditure.
Organic living hopes that nations will learn to live in peace with each other.
Summary.
Organic living has many aspects to it.
We recognise that the resources of the planet are finite, and plan accordingly.
We follow a new eco- nomics, which takes into account the ecological cost and benefit of goods.
We manage and contain our population, so that there is no increasing demand on resources.
We need to have nature reserves for our forests, and ecologically important areas.
We need to move to a more vegan diet.
Our agricultural practices have to change, to be more productive and less polluting.
We need to consume as much as local food as practical.
We need to reduce food wastage to barest minimum.
We need to move to a non polluting culture to maintain clean air, water and soil.
We need to derive most of our energy requirements from renewable sources.
We need to achieve near 100% recycling, and move towards a circular economy.
We need to have high priority for research which would make organic living feasible.
We should engage in enjoyable physical activity.
Our emphasis on healthcare should be towards preventive healthcare.
We need to sustain the biodiversity of the web of life in the planet.
We need to live in harmony with fellow human beings locally and globally.
Organic living means a paradigm shift in our thinking and lifestyle, towards a eco-culture.