Affordable and easy access to sustainable infrastructure, goods and services is one of the key drivers of a sustainable lifestyle. A growing number of businesses around the world are working to mainstream sustainable lifestyles by offering more sustainable products and services and engaging people to create more sustainable and resilient ways of meeting their needs. It is against this backdrop that the Green Finance for Small Businesses and Community Initiatives Toward Promoting Sustainable Lifestyles was launched. The project is funded by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, and carried out by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), the Energy Research Institute (TERI), Swechha India and OneEarth Canada. It studies the current status of small businesses and community initiatives contributing to the promotion of sustainable living and their enabling environment in cities across India, Canada and Japan.
Learn more about the role of businesses in promoting sustainable lifestyles through our special interview series with social entrepreneurs in collaboration with Swechha India.
Please contact us at [email protected] to share information about your sustainable products and services contributing to 1.5°C Lifestyles.
Millets of Mewar
Millet is a native crop to the Indian subcontinent and was once a local staple food. Despite its nutritional benefits and contribution to the local economy, it is often regarded as food associated with the poor. “ Millets of Mewar” in Udaipur started to promote locally produced and highly nutritious millets. Co-founder Sunny Gandharva shares his journey of starting Millets of Mewar and its promotion of innovative recipes using millet .
Millets of Mewar - Sunny Gandharva (Food Sector):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcI6KrAA5O0
Tenacious Bee Initiative
Beekeeping and honey gathering have been traditional practices in Himachal Pradesh, India for hundreds of years. However, the number of bee-keepers has declined, making access to Indian organic honey very difficult. The urgency of reviving the traditional bee keeping industry served as inspiration for its founders Malini Kochupillai and Kunal Singh.
Malini Kochupillai talks about the Tenacious Bee Initiative's journey, research, experiments and future.
Tenacious Bee Collective - Malini Kochupillai (Food Sector):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Q4m6haOOk
MAVI's : A Sustainable Beverage Enterprise
Drinks are an important part of social gatherings. People who prefer a substitute for alcohol or artificially carbonated drinks often have very few options. Promoting a sustainable and healthy drink motivated Vikram and Mashi to brew Kombucha. Vikram Mittal discusses how they decided to put a Kombucha stall at a farmer’s market in Mumbai, and since then have never looked back.
MAVI's Kombucha - Vikram Mittal (Food and Beverage):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ade2kGq9C2Q
Himalayan Hemp Industries Private Limited
The sanitary napkin industry produces a huge amount of plastic waste. Innovator and co-founder of Himalayan Hemp, Haneesh Katnawer, tells us how he and his colleagues at Himalayan Hemp developed Reusable Cannabis Hemp Sanitary Pads for women and the opportunities that the hemp industry offers to support the livelihoods of farmers and artisans in India.
Himalayan Hemp - Haneesh Katnawer (Goods):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxpSjTaAYU4
Tamarind Chutney
Tamarind Chutney's co-founders, Tanvi and Charanya, aim to preserve India's rich artisanal heritage and improve the livelihoods of artisans while producing ethical and sustainable fashion. Tanvi Bikhchandani shares Tamarind Chutney's journey and their interpretation of sustainable fashion - from ethical sourcing to modern designs based on Indian craftsmanship, sustainable packaging and advocacy.
Tamarind Chutney - Tanvi Bikhchandani (Fashion):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQo7xwVWs-Y
Carm Daksh: Women and Sustainable Mobility
Paratransit services such as auto-rickshaws are among the main means of transport in many small and medium-sized cities in India. These diesel-powered rickshaws are predominantly operated by men. In this highly gendered and ecologically unsustainable paratransit system, the NGO Carm Daksh started an initiative to train women as electric rickshaw drivers. From an initial group of 20-25 women , the initiative has now increased to over 100 women drivers of e-rickshaw s. One of these pioneers is Nita Diwakar, who has been an e-rickshaw driver for more than 3 years. She describes her path in promoting sustainable and gender-equitable mobility in Bilaspur, India.
Carm Daksh - Nita Diwakar (E-mobility):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwrOYdZNfoo
