Sustainable Learning & Living Community Article

I belong to Pakistan, where most of the time there is no electricity for almost 12 hours a
day or more at times. Due to the electricity staying off for so many hours, the water tube wells donot get enough water for long.

With the past experiences I had while I was back in my country, now that I am a part of the Sustainable learning community, I believe I can educate or learn more myself of how important sustainable living can be to me or my family in future as well as everyone else. I have spent hours without electricity, even days. Opening the windows for fresh airs with no AC turned on when the units got expensive that we couldn't afford. Using the fan, and if not that then using hand fans to refresh. Without water it use to be very messed up. But because water use to run out, we filled buckets and used them efficiently so it doesn't finish before we can get more water. We wore shalvar kameez with dupatta, which is our national dress. The dupatta being like a shawl was not used as much as the whole dress, so we used it to tie clothes in, or tear off and use as dusting pieces, or if it was in good condition we would sew shirts out of it or a dress for little girls.

Even recently, in our Fashion course, I designed a visual merchandise with maximum use of used resources. Newspapers as wallpaper, wood shavings as floor texture, and cardboard as frames. We even used old Abayas to make garment bags. Why throw away what can be reused and utilize more by wasting the previous non-recycled material. By having the privilege to be a part of such an essential learning community, I believe I can learn more of sustainability then I already do and make a better living without being so harsh to the environment. Saving electricity by keeping off what is not used. Why use an automatic orange juice maker when you can use a manual one and save electricity? Washing the dishes by hand as soon as you are done using is much easier than putting in a dishwasher.

We can use recycled paper to design as gift wrappers. Why throw away a sheet which was not suppose to be printed? Use the magazines as gift wrapping paper, by making it an abstract. And if you cannot make it, then buy recycled gift wrappers. Why tear off the wrapper from a gift you received, open it nicely and reuse for any other item or even gift.

Anything from soda cans and lids to perfume boxes, water bottles to cheese bottles, jeans to scarves, etc. All these can be reused in various things. A cheese bottle can be washed and used as a glass when it’s finished and washed. I kept old jewelry and used it in my art project. I have kept wooden pieces from the construction that was going on at our house while renovation and used it to make a beautiful mosaic.

Basra Khalid Bashir

Sophomore – VCUQatar