Flower Power and New Year 2019

2018 has been quite the year, a royal wedding between Hollywood and the British royalty, devastating floods in Texas and lovely Kerala, political mayhem, you name it! Let's face it, good news is hard to come by and I was heartened to read about an Indian start-up on the banks of the Ganges river in Northern India that has tackled flower-cycling.

The startup, "HelpUsGreen" employs over 1200 women who collect literally tons of floral waste from local temples in Uttar Pradesh. It amazed me to learn that flowers offered at temples in India accounts for about 800 million tons annually. Women working for "HelpUsGreen" create hand-crafted charcoal free incense, organic fertilizer and biodegradable packaging material from the floral waste blending profitability and usability at the same time. No wonder they were the recipient of the UN Nations Climate Award at the recent UN Climate Change Conference earlier this month.

It is hard to fathom that due to these efforts ,110 tons of chemical waste from flowers being thrown in the Ganges river have been offset and 365 families have been positively impacted by the increased living standards and income generated by this venture per BusinessLine Dec.13th edition. Lifestyle is not only about luxury and amazing aesthetic but also includes these inspiring stories where people's way of life and own lifestyle improves by doing the right thing. I hail to Flower Power and hope 2019 rings in more stories like these!