Introduction

Sustainability and Urban living are often not seen as the best of friends.

As an example, in case of large metro cities, we don’t often get to choose where we live and where we work and are thus practically unable to choose the transport means with the least environmental impact which is to walk to work or not travel at all to work (work from home).

(On a positive note, the Covid lockdown however has made many organizations realize that work from home when feasible is not only a viable and efficient option for the same if not better work out put. Not only does this providing better work life but is also better for the environment, as a result of fewer automobiles on the road.)

The question we then ask is what is the next best thing? That is what finding the middle path to sustainable urban living is all about. It is not the same for everyone but changing and variable from person to person within a broader range of actions that we can take to change the way we live and move towards a more sustainable lifestyle.

As a family of 4, comprising of me, my husband and our 2 children aged 7 and 15, living in one of the largest cities in India, we are constantly trying to find the middle path to live a more sustainable life.

We experiment with our choices and actions to find what sustainable choices work best for us. Some we are able to sustain and some get regressed. It’s always a work in progress.

We don’t have a tiny jar to show the minimal waste we generate, but as a family we are aware and conscious of our consumption behaviour and are constantly trying to reduces our waste and live more responsibly.

For ease of understanding, I have staggered choices and actions based on their level of impact towards a sustainable lifestyle and have called them the three paths towards sustainable urban living.

The Three Paths to Sustainable Urban Living

I use the diagram below to illustrate the three path concept. This stacked venn diagram has three levels of actions.

1. 1. The Easy Way
   2. The Middle Path
   3. The Hard Way

The easy way is the smallest area, being what we can do easily or actions that are easy to adapt. The Middle Path area encompasses the easy actions and includes actions that need a little more conscious effort but is one that can be sustained for the long term and the final circle represents  The Hard Way including various best practices that we can work towards as our final goals.The larger the area, the more positive impact your sustainable actions will have!

Figure 1 – The Three Paths to Sustainable Urban Living

To illustrate this concept, we circle back to the choices we make to get from our home to our place of work.

In a city like Mumbai, the average distance between a person’s home and their place of work is in the range of 10-12 kms with a total commute time of around 2 hours. Using local transportation by train which a majority of people do is actually the next best thing. This is often not a choice for most people but a necessity.

For the person who chooses to go to work using their personal vehicle there are decisions and choices to be made to find the middle path. In increasing order of sustainability, the choices are to car pool which is the easiest or least you can do, use an electric vehicle if feasible, moving on to carpooling in an electric vehicle… you get the idea (the order may not be precise but is more a judgement call)

Now using the three path diagram our actions towards sustainable urban living in the case of getting from out home to our place of work will look something like the figure below.

Figure 2 – Example of the three paths to sustainable transport between home and place of work.

In the tables below I have laid out actionable points for a few of our lifestyle choices that impact how sustainably we can live. These actions have been graded based on the hierarchy of impact from the Easy way, the Middle Path to the Hard Way.

The Middle Path is more than what I consider as the path of least resistance or the easy way but choices and actions that can be sustained in the long term with a little conscious effort. The actions described below are indicative ideas of what can be our choices. These are examples and not an exhaustive list.

I have explored the following areas here 

1. 1. Managing the waste we generate at home
   2. Clothing Choices
   3. Reducing Plastic Consumption
   4. Urban Transportation
   5. Personal and Household Care
   6. Food Choices
   7. Supporting your local community

Managing the waste we generate at home

Figure 3 – Segregating waste at home 

Clothing choices

Figure 4 – Take care of your existing clothing

 Reducing Plastic Consumption

Figure 5 – Madhu Wrap reusable beeswax food wraps

Urban Transportation

Figure 6 – Using Local Mass Transport Systems

 Personal and Household Care

Figure 7 – Natural home fragrances

 Food Choices

Figure 8 – Local and seasonal foods

 Supporting your local community

Figure 9 – Support local business like your neighbourhood tailors

What we have learnt on the way to finding the middle path to sustainable urban living

Here is what we have learnt over the last few years of trying to live more consciously. Sustainable and conscious living is not just about living a low waste life style or buying organic clothing and eating organic food, it is all that and also about supporting your local community and small businesses. It is about treating people with fairness, kindness, and respect, especially people who form the backbone of our community support network are socially and economically dependent on us.  At its crux, it is about building a more healthy, resilient, and conscious community.