By Priya Kasturi-

(Priya Kasturi is a wellness and fitness enthusiast, coach and facilitator with a passion for Vedic and contemplative tradition studies. Her global corporate career was in the Life Sciences industry in Switzerland and the US. The views expressed here are her own).
Earlier this year, I had extra recycling to handle—batteries, bulbs, plastic bulk items, cardboard boxes—and decided to drop them off at the main recycling center for my city. What I encountered there left a deep pit in my stomach. The sheer size and volume of the operation for just a couple of cities was overwhelming.
The facility was massive. Recyclers pulled up to different stations to unload their items. One station in particular stood out: a hangar-style building where plastics, cardboard, and paper were sorted, tied, and stacked to the roof. Workers in masks labored amidst mountains of refuse, and the air was thick with an unpleasant stench that made even a few minutes unbearable. I couldn’t imagine how the workers endured their work hours there.
Every year, humanity generates over 2 billion metric tons of municipal solid waste—enough to fill over 800,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Much of it ends up in landfills, where decomposing waste emits methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. Oceans, too, suffer as millions of tons of plastic find their way into marine ecosystems, choking wildlife and polluting water supplies. If current trends continue, scientists predict that by 2050, there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish by weight.
David Suzuki, the scientist, broadcaster, author, and activist, wrote, “The oceans are where life is thought to have originated, as is indicated by the saltiness of our blood. The oceans flow through our veins and continue to give us life. Half of the oxygen we breathe comes from the oceans. What we do to the oceans we do to ourselves.” This profound statement should make us stop, reflect, and commit to changing our lifestyles so that future generations can access the basic needs of life.
The sentiment expressed by Suzuki aligns with the millennia-old Vedantic credo “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” or “the world constitutes but one family.” This timeless principle can be applied at micro- and macro-societal as well as philosophical levels. Our destinies are closely intertwined; we are interconnected and interdependent, implying an essential unity. Let us take collective responsibility to halt environmental degradation.
Awareness and education are vital first steps to change. This holiday season, I invite you to offer a meaningful gift to our Mother Earth: a commitment to reducing waste. Let us start by becoming mindful of the trash we produce. Visit your city’s recycling center with your children and family members to witness firsthand and understand the scale of the problem. And while there, offer gratitude to the workers in your own way. Let’s ensure our children inherit a healthy planet, not one buried under the weight of our refuse!