Beloved, fortunate, sweet, and royal; an herb with a long and storied history in Asia and across the world. Called by many names, basil has featured in previous Green Prophet articles, so enjoy another serving, a brief history of basil. Humble yet vigorous, after Greek basilikon phyton or in English “royal plant”. Or basilikon okimon, which is the root of the Latin scientific name Ocimum basilicum.

Tulsi: Revered in India, Embalmed in Egypt

Yet the historical origins of basil are literally “matchless” among plants, the Hindu goddess Tulasi’s name means just that. She’s the namesake for the plant tulsi or as many know her, “holy basil”. Ancient Indians cultivated the peerless plant intensely, seeing her as the goddess Tulasi. Then she spread her roots and legends in every direction out of India. Rooted in romance and royalty, Tulasi is the beloved of the deity Vishnu who Vaishnavites see as the Supreme Being. Just like humanity, basil herself has a deeper origin as plant medicine in the mother continent of Africa.

Various African cultures traditionally use basil for both magic and medicine by various cultures. Herodotus the Greek historian documented her as a component of the embalming process for Egyptian mummies. Despite the proximity to Northern Africa, Greeks basil isn’t from the Egyptians. Note that off the coast of Tanzania in Eastern Africa, basil is mrehani on the island of Zanzibar. Mrehani is a Swahili word, Swahili being an Arabic-flavored Bantu language.

Pho Cups in Vietnam

Instead basil traveled east from India to Southeast Asia. This includes the common use of tulsi in Thai cuisine where it’s called krapow. Thailand also lends its brand to the strongly anise-flavored “Thai basil” called horapha. Horapha and related cultivars are used in Vietnam as well in the popular soup called pho. While tulsi is locally known as selasih in Indonesian, there is a lemon-flavored variety called kemangi. Both kemangi and selasih are common in Malaysian and Laotian cuisines as well.

Tokhm-e sharbati, a Cool Summer Drink

Traveling west through what’s now Pakistan, where sweet basil is niazboo in Urdu. Basil seeds are tukhmalanga soaked in water, creating a widely regionally-popular “cooling” beverage. Basil seeds as a beverage in Iran is tokhm-e sharbati, tokhm-e means “seeds” in Persian much like tukhmalanga in Urdu. Sharbati means a sweet drink like juice or syrup; this is a traditional and popular summer drink. Persia brought basil to West Asia, including the Levant.

In the Levant tulsi took on a new name from the Aramaic word ריחא or richa, meaning “smell” as in a scent. This became the basis for calling her rayḥān (Arabic), rayhān (Persian), and many other variants in Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Hebrew, Tajik, Turkish, and mrehani in Swahili as mentioned above.

You should not confuse rayhan with “Arabic basil” or habak, which is a mint plant from the mint genus Mentha. Both mints and basils are a part of Lamiaceae, somewhat confusingly called the mint family. Yet basils are from the genus Basilicum, the Latin for basilikon. Most of what we think of as mints are part of the Mentha genus. The wider Lamiaceae family contains many well-known herbs including rosemary, sage, oregano, hyssop/zaatar, thyme, lavender, perilla/shiso, catnip, bee balm, and many more.

From Moorish Romances to Pesto

From the Levant, rihan came to the beautiful volcanic island of Sicily where it became part of local magic, legend, and decor. Basil became basil there through Greek occupation as a calque the Greeks directly translated the Persian name meaning “kingly herb”.

Later on the Sicily, a custom rooted in old legends arose from the later Moorish occupation. Though often gruesome, the Moor’s Head is retold in many forms with both tragic and noble romances. In one such story a local girl falls in love with an invading Moor who turns out to have a family back home. She jealously beheads him, places his head in a decorative planter, then basil grows from it. In another story he’s still an invader but converts to the local religion and settles down to live happily ever after. There are other stories, some more tragic and others less so. Regardless of the story this is why you will find these oddly charming ceramic planters of a North African man and an Italian woman all over sunny Sicily.

And Pistare to Pistou

Emanuele Rossi concocted  pesto alla Genovese in 1852 CE, just over 170 years ago, the first common pesto to use basil as an ingredient. In Italian pesto simply means “paste”, a sauce properly made with a mortar and pestle to bring out the full flavor, based on the ancient Roman herb and cheese spread known as moretum and a more recent Ligurian garlic and vinegar innovation called aggiada. Likewise this is where French pistou originates; whether in French, Italian, or Sicilian we can see the common Latin root pisto/pistare that means “I pound”/”to pound”.

Two More Servings to Come

Delightfully, basil keeps growing vigorously wherever we plant her seeds, even in our heads! In each land the way basil spices up recipes varies as much as basil cultivars themselves.

The post A Brief History of Basil From India to Italy appeared first on Green Prophet.

In Mumbai, architects Bhakti Loonawat and Suyash Sawant are proving that furniture doesn’t always have to be cut, nailed, or welded together. Through their design practice Anomalia, the duo is coaxing mushrooms into consoles, blocks, and textiles—lightweight, durable, and fully biodegradable pieces that challenge the way we think about materials.

Step inside a sunlit Mumbai apartment and you’ll find a console table that appears sleek and conventional at first glance. Look closer, though, and its supporting columns are not wood, stone, or steel, but mycelium—the filamentous root network of fungi.

Related: a guide to making mushroom paper

Interior architect Huzefa Rangwala, co-founder of the studio MuseLAB, was among the first to experiment with these pieces. “We bought two consoles for a client project,” he explains. “They’re light, easy to move, and strong enough to hold everyday use, but they don’t dominate the space. The combination of mushroom bases with a wooden top feels familiar yet innovative.”

For Rangwala, whose work frequently intersects with sustainability, the appeal lies in supporting material innovation. “Design has to move beyond surface aesthetics,” he adds. “If new materials reduce waste and emissions, we all benefit.”

Globally, mycelium has been explored as an alternative for packaging, textiles, and even fashion. In India, however, furniture applications remain rare. Anomalia’s “Grown Not Built” collection changes that by offering modular blocks made from agricultural waste bound with mycelium.

Each block weighs only 1.5 kilograms, yet can withstand compressive loads of up to 1.5 tons—a tenth the weight of concrete with comparable strength. From these building blocks, Bhakti and Suyash assemble stools, tables, shelves, or partitions. A second line, “MycoLiving”, extends their experiments into textiles, producing pliable sheets of mushroom material as vegan alternatives to leather for seating and upholstery.

“The beauty of mycelium is its circularity,” Bhakti says. “Conventional furniture ends up in landfills. Ours can return safely to the soil within six months.”

The couple first tested mycelium during the pandemic, growing fungi in cupcake trays in their apartment kitchen. Realising its structural potential, they scaled up experiments into bricks, partitions, and eventually furniture. By 2022, they had launched Anomalia.

Just three years later, their mushroom furniture was showcased at the Venice Biennale in 2025, and in Seoul they unveiled a 4-meter-wide mycelium façade—evidence that fungi could go beyond interiors into architecture itself.

Sustainability Rooted in Waste

India’s agricultural sector generates vast crop residues, much of which is burned, worsening air pollution. Anomalia diverts this waste stream, binding it with fungi to create new material value.

“It’s biodegradable, strong, and avoids landfill,” says Suyash. “We don’t want our work to look like ‘eco furniture.’ It should feel elegant and timeless while also being regenerative.”

Designing with fungi isn’t like working with cement or timber. Mycelium growth is vulnerable to contamination and moisture, requiring controlled airflow and drying. Untreated, it doesn’t hold up well outdoors. To extend its life, Anomalia uses natural coatings like beeswax or lime plaster and bakes blocks to deactivate growth while preserving strength.

Financially, too, the process is demanding. The pair initially relied on savings and small grants, while running their architectural practice in parallel. “It’s bootstrapped but intentional,” Bhakti notes. “We want to grow responsibly, not mass-produce.”

So far, Anomalia has sold around 100 mycelium blocks and a handful of furniture units in Mumbai and Surat, with plans to set up manufacturing in India while collaborating with larger suppliers abroad. But the ambition stretches further.

“We dream of growing an entire house—walls, partitions, even the roof—out of fungi,” Suyash says. “That would demonstrate its true structural potential.”

For Anomalia, mushroom furniture is not just about creating new products; it’s about re-imagining design as a circular system. Materials, they believe, should serve their purpose and then return gracefully to the earth.

The post This furniture isn’t built, it grows from mushrooms appeared first on Green Prophet.

1. Anupama Kundoo – India’s Anupama Kundoo blends traditional Indian techniques with radical innovation. Her work in Auroville, including the “Wall House” and lightweight ferrocement structures, proves that low-tech can be high impact. Her philosophy centers around local materials, self-sufficiency, and zero waste, offering a path to sustainable urbanism rooted in community and place.

“My buildings grow out of the place. The idea is to make architecture a catalyst for social change,” says Kundoo.

2. AMUNT – Germany Winners of the AR Emerging Architecture Award, this German studio creates emotionally rich, low-carbon homes using passive design and recycled materials. Their JustK House shows how eco-housing can be beautiful, efficient, and emotionally sustainable, with hand-crafted timber and thoughtful details woven into every inch.

3. Alejandro Aravena / ELEMENTAL – Chile Pritzker Prize-winner Aravena leads ELEMENTAL, a public interest architecture studio famous for its incremental housing: homes that families can build onto as resources grow. These projects are affordable, expandable, and community-based—an essential counterpoint to the high-gloss, high-cost world of global architecture.

4. Patkau Architects, based in Vancouver, is known for their minimalist approach to eco-design, seamlessly blending architecture with the natural environment. They use innovative materials and sustainable techniques in a way that creates spaces that are at once functional and awe-inspiring.

Their projects, such as the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver, showcase how sustainable design can elevate community engagement while respecting the natural surroundings.

Bjarke Ingels is the founder of BIG, a renowned architectural firm based in Copenhagen. His approach to architecture blends bold, forward-thinking design with sustainability and social impact. BIG is known for creating structures that balance aesthetics with environmental and social responsibility.

Their iconic projects like the Amager Bakke Waste-to-Energy Plant in Copenhagen, which doubles as a ski slope, and the 8 House, a mixed-use development focused on sustainable urban living, show how architecture can address climate challenges while being playful and functional. Ingels’ work embraces the idea of “hedonistic sustainability,” where green solutions are not only efficient but enjoyable. His website reads: BIG.dk, so you figure out where he’s going with this.

Green Prophet readers know that architecture isn’t just about buildings—it’s about systems, ethics, materials, and how we relate to the planet.

Curious about eco-architecture in the Middle East?

? Read about desert-smart Nubian vaults in Egypt

? Or the zero-energy oasis by Tamer El-Sawy that rethinks how we live with heat and scarcity.

The post 5 Brilliant eco-architect alternatives to Foster + Partners appeared first on Green Prophet.

Medicinal plants have wide range of uses for mankind. Like clay jugs can clean water, plants can also be used to purify water in areas where sanitation is poor. Researchers from Kerela, India have found in a scientific study that certain local plant extracts “have the wonderful capacity to purify water and our environment due to the presence of various useful biochemical contents.”

An attempt was made to check the potential of selected medicinal plants to purify water. by researchers in Kerela, India.

Water pollution is a major environmental issue in India. The largest source of water pollution in India is untreated sewage. Other sources of pollution include agricultural runoff and unregulated small-scale industry.

The present study published in the Journal of Chemical Health Risks the researchers looked at the physical, chemical and bacteriological properties of water samples treated with coriander, moringa, azadirachta (neem) and ocimum (holy basil or tulsi), and compare it with properties of well water.

Plant extracts were prepared using the leaves of selected plants and were treated with polluted water. Their physical and chemical properites presence of e.coli bacteria and others were studied after treatment and compared with that of pure water which was taken as control.

The post Can neem and tulsi purify water? appeared first on Green Prophet.

There is no promising way to calculate the health of a country. The best one can do is to rely on metrics such as environmental factors, average life expectancy, and other signifiers to list one country on top of the other. It is the only way to determine the healthiest countries in the world. Other factors such as happiness and satisfaction with one’s life come into play.

It is not only about how developed a country is or what an average person’s annual income is either. Other factors such as alcohol consumption, smoking habits, obesity rates, and many other factors can also contribute to a country’s position in the list of healthiest countries across the world.

Keep reading to find out more about the healthiest countries in the world.

India

If you are looking for a meat-free ideal, you cannot overlook India, the most vegetarian country in the world. According to research, more than 40% of percent of people in India stick to a strictly vegetarian diet. Healthy vegetables are an unhindered part of every Indian kitchen.

Despite the high poverty rates, the country has one of the largest agricultural yields. The obesity rates in the country are on the rise. Yet, it remains to be one of the healthiest and most resilient countries in the world. This country can move above the list with better healthcare in the rural areas.

Switzerland

There is no competition when it comes to the highest life expectancy. Switzerland remains to be the country with the highest life expectancy. With a clean environment, exceptional health policies, and financial bliss, people of every age live a prosperous and healthy life.

In addition to a prosperous and comfortable life, Switzerland is also known to be the country with the lowest mortality rate. Looking at all factors, such as a healthy lifestyle and access to fresh food, it is not hard to see why people in Switzerland live a long, comfortable, and healthy life.

Indonesia

Thanks to tons of research and case studies, the disadvantages of alcohol consumption are not unknown to people anymore. Understanding the potential harm alcohol causes, it is fair to assume that Indonesia, a country with the lowest rate of alcohol consumption, will make it to the list of healthiest countries.

Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country with a strict ban on alcohol consumption. People who consume alcohol in Indonesia are frowned upon. In addition, the excessive taxes on alcohol also help in deterring people from purchasing and consuming alcohol.

Hungary

Vaccinations have made healthcare easier and more accessible for millions of people worldwide. While people have different points of view about vaccinations, Hungary remains the country with the highest vaccination rate, with more than 99.9% of children vaccinated against children. The benefits of reliance on vaccination have contributed to strengthening their overall health.

Experts agree that improving the healthcare system of Hungry can bring it to the top of the list. As the country’s vaccination efforts continue to strengthen, they may gain a lot of benefits from expert healthcare providers and dedicated nurses.

Iceland

Smoking is very detrimental to your health. It is a truth that has been established for decades. Keeping this in consideration, think about a country to advertise about banning tobacco on mass media. Yes, Iceland also has the honor of banning all promotions on tobacco products. This is a very positive forward.

Although Iceland is one of the most high-income countries in the world, entertaining smoking as a habit can be a challenge to your budget. Hence, it is fair to say that smokers must think twice before visiting or moving to Iceland.

With the highest cigarette prices in Europe to keep people away from the deadly habit, many people are unable to afford this life-threatening hobby. In short, Icelanders care about health, happiness and wealth. They also value renewable energy, keeping the skies clean and the carbon emissions low. 

The post Top Five Healthiest Countries in the World appeared first on Green Prophet.

Two years ago I took my family to India for a holiday. I didn’t have any expectations but I knew that something would change in me. India is the place for that people would tell me over the years, and as the birthplace of yoga it’s the ideal way for you to jump into yoga as a beginner or as a seasoned practitioner. People that do end up wanting to take their yoga to the next level do end up travelling to India –– to Pune or Rishikesh –– one of the spiritual centers. 

I found myself at neither of those places but at a cafe-cum-community center called Artjuna in Goa, where I met Ian, a yoga teacher. Two years ago I jumped into yoga again after leaving it for more than 15 years. Now in my 40s I see some amazing changes in myself. 

Since starting yoga and being with Ian every day for 5 weeks, first off it gave me a mission while travelling. I put my kids in a local school The Yellow School run by hippies and took my morning class. It was hot and sweaty and there were ants on the floor here and there, agriculture brush burning in the background every morning, but after the session I felt good and strong and found myself reaching for healthier food, like salads, every day. After 5 weeks there was a transformation. But it wasn’t only in the way I looked. 

Yoga helps you deal. 

Some months after we returned from India my dad who had travelled with us started complaining about a pain in his back. After some complicated weeks in the summer we found out that he had cancer and it would be a difficult and fast disease. We would lose my dad 5 months later. And I think that journey with him, from diagnosis to palliative care gave me post-traumatic stress that I am trying to deal with.

Yoga helped me deal with the crisis then, and still deal with the crisis now –– sometimes I even amused my dad from his hospital bed (and the nurses too) when I stood on my head. It helped us deal with the long hours of visiting each other and it helped me calm down to sleep through the night beside him.

I sometimes cry on my yoga mat in practice, and a few tears slipped out of the corner of my eyes this morning thinking about my dad. But yoga helps you deal in a few ways:

Yoga helps you look at the situation for what it is. 

Most of our life is spent running around with our lives. From here to there. Carpooling the kids if you have them; running from one meeting or social activity to the other if you don’t -– or also do! Life today moves faster than it ever did. Yoga helps you quieten, sit for a moment, listen to yourself and recenter. It gives you space to remember, face your fears or loss and look at it. Yoga helps us move in human-scale time. Not robot time, not AI time, not a NY minute.

Yoga builds your immune system. 

All of the asanas or yoga poses affect and stimulate your vagus nerve which runs from your head down your spine. It simply makes you healthier in stressful situations that might, God forbid, also cause you to get sick. 

Yoga helps you move forward. 

In a way, and this is probably a spiritual matter, beyond body resilience, practicing the asanas puts the mind-body continuum in its rightful place. Dramas no longer needs to be so dramatic. Other people’s problems irritate you less. You might have more compassion. 

One of the things I might like to do one day when my kids are older is take a yoga teacher training course in India. A simple one is 200 hours, but there are 300 and 500 hours too. Some people emerge with a Yoga Alliance certification –- depending on the one you want. Like in SCUBA diving there are different associations. Now I wouldn’t do it because I don’t want to be a teacher (I mean, well I am to my kids, I guess) … I don’t want to open a studio –– but I’d be interested in a teacher course because I crave that me time. A teacher training class, if you do it in a place like India, can be a 4-week vacation to yourself, not from yourself or your problems. 

If you are into yoga you will know what I mean. You can find classes for students of all skill levels, so no need to worry about how you are going to look in hot pink yoga pants from Lululemon. I wear Iyengar pants that look like an unsexy diaper. But I know that the serious yoga schools will not only help you with exercise and movement, they will give you life skills in how to eat, breath and basically live this one great life. 

The post Yoga teacher training in India? A great holiday for mind, body and soul appeared first on Green Prophet.

Planning on living on a bowl of rice a day in India, or under the age of 25 and hostel jumping in dorms with bed bugs? This article is not for you. Mature-ish, aging hipsters read on: Artjuna is your first stop in India

With the world at our fingertips, working remotely from anywhere, and more time for leisure as many of us skip the high-stress jobs, why not go to India? Home to yoga, ancient mystics, and the kindest people on the planet, India is one of those places that can change your soul and course of life. I was always dreaming of India but hadn’t managed to get there before I had kids. With 2 small ones, I wondered, how do I jump in? Known as “India Light” Goa on the coast is a perfect first stop to exploring India. Come in the fall when the weather is drier and less hot and make sure that you start everything off at Artjuna Cafe in Anjuna, Goa. This is what I did with my family of four and parents.

Moshe Inbar and his life partner Anastasia run the dynamic cafe-cum-community center cum-DJ hub. Even if you don’t love trance music and late night dance parties which the town is famous for, you will meet a wonderful community of kind souls from around the world who can help you navigate your first steps in India. Where should we go and when? How can we rent a house? Where should we eat, is it safe? Where can the kids go to school? I asked all these questions to Moshe before arriving to Goa and throughout our 6 weeks in Anjuna and Vagator he was the best ambassador to the region, connecting locals from Goa and Mumbai to a rich and varied international crowd. He gave his his best advice with all his heart and I feel with left Goa with a new friend.

Moshe’s cafe on one of the main streets provides healthy and clean sustenance in mornings and afternoons. Walk in and you will enter a quiet little kingdom with treehouses for kids to explore.  I appreciated the high level yoga classes run by his Iyengar teacher friend Ian Teger.

This is how it started before we travelled to India:

After hearing Moshe’s name a few times from my friends in Israel, I was on a quest to meet him. We connected by WhatsApp and he was answering any questions I had. I found a place on AirBnB, asked him if it sounded reasonable and after yes, booked. The first things we did after arriving to Goa, via Mumbai, was drop our bags, rent a car through our host, get a SIM card and then we visited Moshe.

We put his café in Waze and found it immediately. A kind guard helped us into a parking spot across the road from the café and there we would find our new home in India for 6 weeks at Artjuna Café.

Artjuna functions as the cultural center of India, a drop off point for newcomers, aging hippies, DJ’s, locals, Indians from Mumbai, yoga enthusiasts and people who value good, healthy food, health drinks and coffee. Back in the days when I was a backpacker I would sail from hostel to hostel asking the guy in town a week before me about what’s going on, what I should do. Today, 20 years later, I like my privacy, have an aversion to bed bugs most hostels aren’t for me anymore. This time around we would rent a small house with a bedroom and bathroom for everyone in the family.

Now we have the Internet beyond the Lonely Travel guides and travelling becomes less about being the lone wolf and finding new frontiers, and more about building community, the community you always wanted and how to have authentic experiences with people you meet along the way. In India, Artjuna is the place to start building those foundations.

At its core, Artjuna’s beating heart and brains is Moshe, and his less-public partner Anastasia who runs the boutique selling her own designs in clothes and jewelry, with a collection of things hand made by others. A couple for a couple of decades with two young girls, they both started in the trance scene in Goa years ago. Some fifteen years on with lots of lessons learned, they run the most successful café in the region, for many reasons. Great food, reliable information and advice you would give to your best friend, yoga, community events, and a great clothing shop if you want to avoid the overheated markets.

Food

There is really something extremely yummy for everyone. My daily meal after an hour and a half of yoga every morning was often a Greek salad with bread, or a granola bowl with fresh fruit. Moshe is from Israel so he really knows how to serve up fresh and healthy Mediterranean food. While it’s not hard to find fresh fruit and veggies in Goa, it is a labor making sure that you can eat them, that they’ve been cleaned appropriately. His staff is local. Try the ABC juice.

Vibe

Alcohol is not served at Artjuna and there is a no drugs policy. There is an annual art show where you can buy art made by Goans and travellers from all over the world. A woman in a yoga class (from Italy) gave me her pants. The people there are amazing.

Yoga

What kept me coming back daily to Artjuna was the yoga sessions, though about half of the cafe seemed to be just in it for the friendship. Like an Indian version of entering a Cheers set. Many are throwbacks from the 90s rave scene, but there is a great mix of ages, younger and older too.

I enjoyed Iyengar yoga sessions with in-house yoga teacher and good friend to Moshe, Ian Teger. He teaches multiple levels at once, from the just-past-beginner to the master class level student. The very beginners can start studying with Ian’s protégés (one has a great clothing shop too nearby – see Ondi) in a beginner class after the first of the morning.

The classes are challenging, restorative and a lot of fun. Ian takes the less serious route that most Iyengar teachers embrace. The class is full of jokes, sometimes in Yiddish. Ian is originally from the UK and was a close student of BKS Iyengar, a yoga guru who brought yoga to the western world.

While many people struggle to book week-long or longer detox of yoga sessions before they travel to India, I think the best way to get the most for your money and social life is to find a local place to stay (we stayed with a local Goa family) and spend most of your time at Artjuna with Moshe and his crew.

For those with kids, try the Holistic Yellow School, where hippy kids get educated. Drop-ins allowed, even for weeks at a time. Meet you there next winter?

::Reach out to Artjuna and Moshe via Facebook

The post Make Artjuna Cafe your first stop in Goa, India appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s a parent’s fantasy to get away for the winter, no? But not just for a week on a Disney cruise. That kind of holiday actually frightens me. Perhaps because I am a child of the 70s now with children of my own, I was seeking a holiday where I could enjoy myself, and my kids could too. I have a theory that when I am happy, my kids are happy. We all found the answer to our family needs in Goa, India. We decided to stay in a village called Anjuna, because a friend of mine Didi, said it’s the best.

Yes, I know, India has a wildness to it. It’s one of those places where you need vaccination shots, and you need to wash your hands and you can’t drink water from the tap, and yes, the roads are nuts. But think of Goa as “India light”. It’s a great place to enter the eastern wildness and awareness that India offers, but it’s a relatively safe place for children and women alike to settle in for a month or two or more. 

After I heard about the beautiful community in a small beach village called Anjuna, what made the whole trip for 6 weeks irresistible is that my children would be able to go to school there. Some established hippies, then with kids of their own, set up a school in Anjuna, which starts young at pre-school ages, up until Grade 6. It’s called the Holistic Yellow. Taught in English by local Indian and international teachers, you as the parent can have your days free to explore Goa, do yoga, work remotely, sunbathe, or sleep, while your kids enter a small paradise of freedom and fun.

The Holistic Yellow School, was founded by Karl John Shenton, a father of 2 boys – now both at the school. He’s studied and learned from many pedagogical systems over the years and has built his own style, where a kind of freedom and wildness prevails. While my 5 and 7 year olds were there for 5 weeks they met friends from all over the world, some speaking 5 languages; they got to swim, go to water parks, discos, played endlessly with glitter and crafts, planned a large dance festival, and most importantly were hugged and loved by the warm staff.

When we entered the children to the school, we told them that they don’t need to learn anything. I’d been homeschooling English, and they go to a slower-paced school in Israel where one of them is just starting to read and do math. We were under no stress for them to learn anything and the Holistic Yellow staff were gracious about that.

The kids felt at home from the first day and couldn’t wait to go to school the next day. While it’s hard to get my boy dressed in the morning in Israel, where we live, in India he was motivated to put on his clothes and his shoes well before the time.

Another great thing about the school is that there are vegetarian options for my kids who keep a kosher diet. For others, as vegans or vegetarians there is a strong awareness in Goa to other’s eating habits thanks to Hindu influences and a very multi-national community, many of whom are vegetarian.

The Holistic Yellow School won’t break your bank either. It cost us a modest 14,000 rupees a month, about $240 USD per child, making it a great alternative for parents and people who want a real holiday of a month or more to get into the vibe of India. They accept drop ins and cater to the travelling community.

Consider that what makes the school so charming and the kids so great is that they are the offspring of the Goa hippies, many from the trance scene that started in the 80s. The kids are world-travelled, balanced, fair and open-minded. Once you experience the Yellow School and visit there you will know exactly what I mean.

If you are lucky your children will connect to the others and you will have an instant community where you will meet other parents full of positivity. Not a “normal” one in the crowd. We were invited to birthday parties, disco parties, and unusually good dinner buffets with our new friends.

There is no simple way to sum up what the Goa experience is. It’s not Pura Vida like Costa Rica. It’s not Same Same, But Different like Thailand. It’s just amazing for the spirit. Because going to Goa is mostly like going to visit yourself, the version of you that you like in your dreams.

While I love my kids, I also love being my own person and the Holistic Yellow gave me the chance to be that too, on holiday.

For more information about the Yellow School in Anjuna, Goa, see their Facebook page. Or talk to Karl here. Check out Sam Rao for homestays in the Anjuna area. 

The post Sending the kids to school in India appeared first on Green Prophet.

The 2012 winners of a competition with a cringe-inducing name teamed up with a powerhouse plumbing manufacturer to design a self-contained restroom that could be deployed anywhere – it doesn’t require plumbing infrastructure or connection to a power grid!

Students from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) won the 2012 “Reinvent the Toilet Challenge”. Did you know that – according to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate toilet facilities? That stinks.

Caltech thought so too and teamed up with Kohler Company (best known for their plumbing products) to design a mobile restroom that could be used in remote areas – or in areas where infrastructure failed due to natural or man-made disaster. Their primary challenge was to develop a solar-powered wastewater treatment system that could be simply built with readily available parts.

They deployed the pilot project in India as Kohler had been working there for some time and had formed strong relationships with area architects. Local partners were also able to select plumbing equipment that could be fast acquired nearby.

As an added benefit, they advised on a decoration scheme that fit the cultural context, helping make the new technology more appealing to local communities – which was critical as the entire unit was housed in an unappealing shipping container.

Kohler’s global creative director Tristan Butterfield chose traditional Indian truck art for the concept and graphic design consultants Open Door Design Studio (ODDS) provided detailed design.The mobile restroom showcased at the “Reinvent the Toilet Fair” in New Delhi, but then would be permanently placed in a local community. Aesthetics would play an important role in encouraging community support.

Vividly painted flowers, birds, animals and scenery cover the exterior – inspired by the truck art of India – and there are inspirational messages broadcasting the unit’s sustainable features.

ODDS designers selected motifs that would propagate the project’s essential concepts of water conservation and environmental sustainability, then melded them with the stylistic quality of truck art.

“Illustrations of sun, girls worshiping the sun, oils lamps and introduction of solar panels in the village scene were some of the many design decisions we made to highlight the importance of solar energy in the project as well as everyday life,”  according to the ODDS website. Kohler hired local Indian artists to paint the exterior walls.

A statement by the Gates Foundation (who co-hosted the event alongside the Government of India’s Department of Biotechnology) noted that increasingly affordable mobile telephone services resulted in more people in India having cell phones than toilets. This fact was embedded in the design – a charging station has been included next to a built-in bench for visitors waiting to use the toilet.

No reason why this unit can’t be installed everywhere that screams for improved sanitation services.  It’s a non-invasive solution for eco-destinations such as Jordan’s Wadi Rum, the fab beaches along the United Arab Emirates coastline, or any of an increasing number of eco-destinations across the Middle East.

It can be used in public places (imagine exterior art promoting an ever-changing display of local talent) – or on any of the hundreds of construction sites replacing the horrid, filthy “Mr. John” or “On the Job with Mr. Bob” units.

Let us hear if you’re inspired to build something similar in your neck of the woods.

Images from Open Door Design Studio (ODDS)

The post Toilet of the future? Holy crap, it’s here! appeared first on Green Prophet.

The tragedy of two little girls dying from pesticide poisoning in Jerusalem, while their older brothers fight for their lives highlights the immediate daners of pesticides.  This tragic incident has finally succeeded in bringing to the forefront the seriousness of overuse of pesticides in a country whose best loved vegetables carry heavy pesticide loads.

Health issues from pesticides on crops and in the home is nothing new. Whether or not these toxic chemicals are directly sprayed on food, they eventually reach our underground water supplies and are present in the air we breathe as well.

The end result of exposure to various types of pesticides, especially DDT,  is now being ascertained in studies made by medical authorities in the USA which found correlations between people who had been exposed to the pesticide DDT having greater chance to be afflicted with neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia later in life.

Studies carried out by Jason Richardson, from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, New Jersey found that although the debilitating mental condition known as Alzheimer’s disease is linked genealogical and lifestyle factors, being exposed to pesticides like DDT may also be contributing to mental deterioration later in life.

Altzheimer’s patients had 4 times the amount of DDT vs control

“DDE can last in the body for a number of years,” said lead author Jason Richardson of Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “When you are looking at DDE levels, it is basically a snapshot of a person’s lifetime exposure to DDT as well as DDE in the environment.”

The findings were published in the journal JAMA Neurology.

Richardson said that while he expected to see a correlation between Alzheimer’s and DDE levels, he did not expect it to be so dramatic. The average amount of DDE in the serum of the 86 people in the Alzheimer’s group was four times greater than the average amount in the control group of 79.

The studies found that those people who were exposed to DDT and related pesticides had much higher levels of a substance called DDE, which is a broken down form of DDT.

“More than likely you’re looking at complex gene-environment interactions. What we found really gives us a starting off point. Now we can use that information to try to understand who is at risk, when and ultimately, why,” said Richardson.

“This is one of the first studies identifying a strong environmental risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease,” says co-author Allan Levey, MD, PhD at Emory University School of Medicine. “The magnitude of the effect is strikingly large — it is comparable in size to the most common genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s.”

Another researcher, Kathleen Hayden of North Carolina’s Duke University says that researchers would want to follow people prospectively to see whether or not they later  become afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

“DDT exposure is not destiny that you’re definitely going to get Alzheimer’s disease. These are things that might increase your risk,” Hayden adds.

The use of DDT was banned in the USA during the 1970’s; but is still in use today in many parts of the world.

People known as “baby boomers” in the USA who were exposed in their youth to DDT and other strong pesticides are now reaching their 70’s and this may account for the rise in mind related illnesses.

In Israel, many immigrants during the 1950’s were literally hosed down with DDT by health works when arriving, due to fears that these people carried lice and other forms of vermin in their hair and on their bodies.

By far, the heavy use of pesticides like DDT being sprayed on crops in some countries is an issue that requires public attention as to what affect these pesticides have on humans.

From the tragedy of the deaths of two little girls, aged 1 1/2 and 4 from pesticide poisoning, the effects on humans of pesticides can be very sad indeed. The take home message is support organic agriculture, and even better yet buy products that support organic regenerative agriculture. And if possible, grow your own food. Start with a Victory Garden.

More on pesticides, including those in food:

Pesticide Poisoning Kills Two Kids in Jerusalem

Sustainable Table Film Shows what’s on Your Plate

Israel’s Best-Loved Vegetables Carry Heavy Pesticide Loads

Pesticides in Pregnant Jerusalemites Higher Than NYC Counterparts

The post How pesticides kill your brain appeared first on Green Prophet.