India

[Andrea]

Sustainability and systems thinking are in the minds of the people so affected, (although not defined as such, simply enshrined in cultural practices) and apparently not in the minds of those inflicting the changes.

And it would be interesting to find out where those individuals "inflicting the changes" have been educated -- possibly in some Western university? David Orr states that it's not more education that is needed, but the right kind. One could reasonably argue that the people that have most to teach us about how to live sustainably are not Western academics, but indigenous peoples.

I think you're certainly in the right place for this...... and we might be joining you soon . if we don't get any funding this year to support the communities in Guyana, we'll be taking four months of leave to spend some time with the adivasis around Dahanu. we're desperate to get out of this western bubble and get a bit of a reality check....

.....in the meantime, we're off to Italy for three weeks on my family's farm. As usual, we're taking the train as I am adamant to continue my boycott of the aviation industry. So, I won't be around Systemsplace for a while, but I'll be back!

[Neill]

Hi Jim!
Are you still in India?
How is it going?
Neill

[jim_lewis1]

Hi, yes I'm still here. We're just back in Delhi after a fairly gruelling week trip to the foothills of the Himalayas, (in Himacahl Pradesh).

I'm suffering from lack of sleep, upset stomach and a constant headache, so not really firing on all cylinders.

I'll try to update more when I feel a bit more human.

[Neill]

Hi Jim,
Hope you get better soon.
I well remember wandering around the Himalayas with an infected wisdom tooth.
The last thing I wanted to be doing was informing people about my experiences.
Look forward to hearing from you when you are better.
Neill

[jim_lewis1]

Ok, I've improved a bit during the day.

Basically we headed off by night bus, (12 hrs) from Delhi to Shimla, a hill station that the British used as their summer capital to escape the heat of the plains. the British influence is obvious, and makes quite an incongrous sight as buildings that would not look out of place in Shrewsbury have monkeys climbing all over them.

We had a couple of days there, looking at the water harvesting system the British incorporated into the Viceregal lodge, as even they had worked out that ensuring a constant water supply was a necessity despite the mountainous location. We also had presentations from several people regarding the history of Shimla and the extent to which its problems could be traced back to its colonial roots, (a familiar refrain from several speakers!)

From Shimla we headed to Rekong Peo by jeep, stopping along the way to visit proposed and existing dam construciton sites. the roads are basically unmade so travel was at 40km/hr max. along roads with precipitous drops of hundreds of feet, which the drivers seemed to be drawn towards. 40km/hr seemed unnecessarily fast in the circumstances.

On return from one of the dam sites we were delayed for 5 hours by a rock-fall where a road construciton team were working. Returning to our hostel after midnight.

From Rekong Peo we travelled to Tabo, a high mountain location where the 1000 year old monastery is regarded as the second most holy site to buddhists.

We were presented there an area that a local official who had taken the initiative of greening the area over the last 10 years with his own money.

And finally returned to Delhi via a 16hour bus jounrey.

I'll have to come back to fill in the gaps, as my memory is a bit jumbled, (too much overland travel!). My laptop is also being requisitioned for use in preparing the magazine we have to produce at the end of the course. so TTFN, Jim