Sustainability Is All About Choices We Make

Every year on 5 June, World Environment Day focuses on solutions to pollution caused by plastic waste. Global data has shown that more than 400 million metric tonnes of plastic waste are generated every year, mostly untreated.

Environment conservation today is not limited to just plastic waste pollution but has been impacted by almost everything that man has created for his own ease of life.

Though I started my career as an engineer, I always aspired to become a businessman while also conserving nature. In my initial journey to start my own venture, I was told that business and conservation don’t always go hand in hand. Thinking over complex ideas of doing business for a cause was answered when I coincidentally attended a seminar on the demand for natural textile dyes. It made me understand that natural textile dyes are an eco-friendlier solution than synthetic dyes.

Sustainable development will take shape when we prioritise sustainability in our choices. The choices would become habits, and such habits would lay the foundation for sustainable development.

I have always thought about revolutionising the textile industry by using natural dyes. The small changes that we make as individuals can have larger impacts on ecological, social, and economic sustainability.

Safeguarding the environment must not be limited to the exercise of planting trees; it should be inclusive. 

The children, along with adults, have to be educated about the need for sustainability and think of ways to adopt sustainable products in our day-to-day lives.

Our choices today have the power to save our environment. As humans, we will have to think beyond our needs and comfort and always think of sustainable alternatives. After growing in the area of developing natural dyes, which are an extremely eco-friendly solution for the textile industry, we continued with the research and development of daily-use products that are made from natural ingredients.

Sustainability will have to become a habit at large for which brands will have to come forward. Once the demand for eco- friendly products will become a part of the ecosystem, safeguarding environment will become a shared responsibility.

We do not intend to stop here, as we keep our minds open to ideas, discussion and inspiration to develop ways to bring people closer to sustainability goals and continue to keep the plant green which supports life like no other.

The author is the Vice President Indian Industries Association, Lucknow and Co-Founder & CEO- AMA Herbals. He has Named by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the 'Project Leader cum Convenor' of a special panel to prepare a certification protocol for household natural dye products.