http://www.ecotippingpoints.org/video/rajasthan/index.html
The link includes a video of a response to environmental degradation in a small rural town in Rajasthan, India. Commercial logging and the development of new well technologies led to villagers ignoring their traditional source of water, johads, and created an environment that led to water shortage and environmental degradation.
The involvement of a local NGO helped return people’s attention to their johads as a source of water. The return of johads revived the water-deprived area. This effort along with work to replant the village forest restored the community. Agriculture was diversified, livestock herds recovered, and wildlife returned to the area.
This environmental solution was effective because the solution was something that people in the community remembered and understood had worked for hundreds of year. This traditional method acted as an innovation that revitalized the community. The use of traditional technology as a way of solving environmental problems is certainly replicable in other contexts. It may be difficult to adopt traditional methods in communities that are already too far beyond their traditions, like in much of the United States.
This means is not cannot be the only solution to global environmental problems. There are some places where it is not a practical option. However, knowing that there are solutions that are so simple makes me is a good sign for the future of humans working to better live in our environment.
This website, www.ecotippingpoints.org, has a bunch of very interesting and innovative solutions to environmental problems all over the world.
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