Eco-Cultural Solution to the Challenge of Waste Generation at Individual Level: Case Study from India

Abstract

Introduction Importance of the themeThe human being is distinguished from an animal through his culture. The culture of humans is well defined in the customs, traditions and rituals prevalent in any society throughout the globe. None of the indigenous culture is away from the nature's rule. The eco-concepts are primary feature of every culture of the human society. There should not be second thought in stating that every nation of the world had rich traditions embedded in the ethics of protecting nature. Historically, the ancient cultures presented a picture of the then communities who lived in harmony with nature and a tradition of reverence for the elements that constituted ecosytems, drawing their sustenance from natural resources and at the same time protecting the environment that sustained them. With the influence of cross cultural learning, the indigenous culture always goes change. The changes can be positive or negative. But generally, one can find the external influence as the foreign invasion which is not in accordance to the local ecological setup. This affects the local socio-ecological setup negatively. The subsequent paragraphs have tried to highlight the issue of waste linked with the cultural aspects of the humans with reference to Indian society. Indian philosophySince the earliest known literature, the Vedas under the aegis of the then saints, the philosophy of the Indian society was focused on the simple life paths which were treated basic rules to live with nature and its component. The rules were impartial for all the living beings based on the principles of symbiotic relationship, the Aranya Samskruti (Forest AbstractIndian culture has the affinity for the conservation of nature and natural resources on the concepts of Aranya Samskruti (Forest Culture) and Prakruti Purush (Nature Man). The eco-culture could be observed through the ongoing customs and traditions prevalent in the Indian society. These age-old practices represent a symbiotic relationship of Man and Nature. The paper highlighted the philosophy of eco-ethics of the then society.

The legal institutional model of community-based waste management to reinforce multi-stakeholder collaboration in Indonesia

“…Moreover, waste problems have become interesting businesses managed by the community organizations to change the community's logical thinking to be more aware of their own environment. This finding supports the study conducted by Crociata et al (2015), Mehra (2017), and Roberts and Okereke (2017).…”

“…The role of local culture in the community-based waste management is to unite the community feelings and local identities. Evidence has shown that waste management based on local culture can encourage pro-environmental behavior (Crociata et al, 2015;Mehra, 2017;Roberts & Okereke, 2017). Thus, the involvement of local knowledge and culture is needed to strengthen the community-based waste management.…”