Why do they do this work?

Auralice: “For the young people, the change in India has been dramatic and alarming. Those of us who were born and raised here have witnessed this change and are shocked at what is happening. Waste is an indicator of environmental degradation that’s happening all over. Solid waste issues are also a movement, a trend, and there’s a lot of energy around these issues right now globally.”

Niranjan: (laughs) “Auroville is totally different from India. In India, young people try to earn money. In Auroville, people are always concerned about nature and the environment. In other places, young people will not be involved in these issues like they are here.”

Rajamani: “I don’t know the exact reason. I am guessing that Auroville is a place where people want to have a clean and hygienic living environment. Especially people coming from Western countries - they are worried about Indian sanitation conditions and want to be involved in any activity that tries to improve the existing situation. People that I’ve met in waste work here are never worried about credits or awards; they want to improve the quality of life in Auroville by creating a healthy living environment.

Chandrah: “From my own experience I think that a lot of us are faced with seeing waste everywhere, whether it is in our dustbin at home, or litter that is strewn along the main roads leading to Auroville, and also wild dumps sites that are usually in environmentally-sensitive areas. I think that because it is always in our face and we know that it is harmful to the environment and all living creatures (including ourselves) we want to do something about it. And, of course, Auroville is a city in the making and aspiring to be innovative, creative and experimental and wishes to come up with ways to tackle the increasing amounts of waste that we generate everyday, which includes looking at ways to change our behaviour and the way we ‘think’ about waste.

I think that another big influence and push for more people to care about and be involved with waste in Auroville was the Litter Free campaign in 2010. I believe that this put ‘waste’ on the map in Auroville and made more people want to do something about it. Another thing that got people into waste was the fact that for years we had to breathe toxic smoke coming from the Pondicherry dump. So a group of people got together and tackled this issue.”

Suryan: “I’d say that the fact that many of us in waste management fall into the 30-45 year old age group probably comes from people at that age getting to a point in their lives where they want to give something back to the community, because maybe now they have more time to do so, or are simply more inclined to take on responsibility in general. Another reason is that waste and its related problems are still quite a recent phenomena. I believe many of the older people are just not as aware or as clued in on the issues as the younger ones are.

Also, it’s a common trend that each new generation is more refined and encompassing in their outlook. And that’s clearly the case in our present day globally. ‘A youth that never ages’ said the Mother. So one could say that it’s actually a matter of consciousness, that the youth is simply more able to access higher frequencies, being less bogged down by the lower ones.”