Что такое пункты на бирже Как рассчитать значение пункта на валютной бирже Форекс?

Что такое пункт и пипс на Форекс Сайт Александра Герчик

как считать пункты на форекс

Хотя термины «пункт» и «пипс» часто используются как синонимы, важно понимать, что между ними есть небольшая разница. Пункт – это минимальное изменение цены валютной пары, а пипс – это более общее понятие, которое может относиться к любому изменению цены. В большинстве случаев пункт и пипс означают одно и то же, но важно помнить, что пипс может также относиться к более крупным изменениям цены. Во-вторых, зная цену 1 пункта на Форекс (это сколько стоит движение валютной пары в денежном измерении), можно перевести из числового в денежный вид комиссию и спред за сделку. Расстановка сил регулярно меняется то в пользу одной валюты, то в пользу другой.

1 пункт на Форексе, как правило, составляет 0,0001 единицу базовой валюты.
У разных брокеров и разных типов счетов установлен минимально допустимый лот для торговли.
Минимальный шаг, на который изменяются котировки при падении или росте валюты, принято называть пунктом.
Приведем пример неправильной оценки потенциальных убытков и прибыли.
Аналогичный расчет работает и с валютными парами, где пипсы представлены вторым десятичным знаком.
Непрерывное обучение и практика помогут вам стать более опытным и прибыльным трейдером.

Чему равен 1 пункт для EUR USD?

Например, если ваш счет в евро (EUR), а стоимость пункта рассчитана в долларах США (USD), вам нужно будет конвертировать USD в EUR по текущему обменному курсу EUR/USD. Каждый пункт движения цены влияет на вашу прибыль или убыток. Чем больше пунктов цена прошла в вашу сторону, как считать пункты на форекс тем больше ваша прибыль (или убыток, если цена пошла против вас). Также можешь воспользоваться калькулятором пипсов от Trading.biz. Изменение цены даже на один пипс может повлиять на стоимость открытой позиции. Что касается рядовых внутридневных и среднесрочных трейдеров, то для них количество знаков после запятой не принципиально и не влияет на торговлю.

как считать пункты на форекс

Стоимость одного пункта зависит от нескольких факторов, таких как тип торгового счета, размер торговой позиции и текущий курс валютной пары. Калькулятор стоимости пункта, это удобный инструмент, который позволяет быстро и легко рассчитать стоимость одного пункта для любой валютной пары. Понимание концепции пункта является фундаментальным для успешной торговли на Форекс.

Стратегия АВС — Бесплатный курс по трейдингу Алексея Лободы

как считать пункты на форекс

Сосредоточьтесь на вашей торговой стратегии и придерживайтесь заранее установленных уровней Stop-Loss и Take-Profit. Пункты используются для установки уровней Stop-Loss (ограничение убытков) и Take-Profit (фиксация прибыли). Эти уровни определяют, когда сделка будет автоматически закрыта, чтобы ограничить убытки или зафиксировать прибыль. — В этой статье мы разберем понятие 1 пипс на Форексе и попробуем рассчитать его на реальном примере. Несмотря на кажущуюся простоту, новички часто совершают ошибки при работе с пунктами, которые могут привести к неожиданным убыткам. Важно избегать этих ошибок, чтобы торговля на Форекс была более успешной и предсказуемой.

CAN-индикатор температуры двигателя для Lada Granta: необходимость, преимущества и выбор

как считать пункты на форекс

Чтобы упростить задачу трейдерам, https://forexby.com/ брокеры предоставляют готовые таблицы, в которых указаны цены пункта для всех видов валютных пар. Выбрав размер лота, можно получить, не осуществляя самостоятельных математических расчетов, стоимость пункта для любого инструмента. Понятие “тик”, хоть и отражает минимальное движение ценового графика, учитывает шаг цены, который может быть равен нескольким пунктам.

Как пункт влияет на прибыль и убытки?

Она показывает, на сколько доллар США дороже или дешевле других валют. Первая валюта в паре называется базовой, вторая — котируемой. Кредитное плечо не влияет на проигрыш, а только означает залог депозита. Расчет стоимости пипсов «в уме» подходит для любого левериджа.

Понимание принципов работы этого рынка критически важно для успешной торговли. Одним из фундаментальных понятий, с которым сталкивается каждый трейдер, являются пункты. В этой статье мы подробно разберем, что такое пункты в Форексе, как они рассчитываются, и какое значение они имеют для вашей торговой стратегии. В итоге, рынок действительно пошел против меня, но благодаря тому, что я заранее просчитал стоимость пункта, я избежал больших потерь. С тех пор я всегда проверяю стоимость пункта перед открытием любой сделки.

Heirloom Varieties and Why They Matter

Heirloom Varieties – why They Matter

An Heirloom variety denotes a traditional variety of plant which is not associated with large-scale commercial agriculture.

Heirloom varieties are propagated by preserving seeds from a generation of plants, using some of it the next cycle, preserving seeds of that generation etc. In this manner, the genetic material of Heirloom varieties is picked for desirable characteristics such as:

Disease resistant: If the plant fared better in naturally dealing with a set of pests, then the seeds will have that genetic imprint over generations
Drought resistant: ensuring plants are picked that can do well with very little water
Taste and nutrition

On the other hand, we have hybrid plant varieties that come from hybrid seeds. In this case, seeds are generated by a controlled method of pollination in which the pollen of two different species or varieties is crossed by human intervention.

Typically hybrid seeds are selected for the desirable characteristic of yield. Ie, the amount of output (either grain, lentil, vegetable etc) is maximised per acre of land it is grown on.

While maximising yield isnt an undesirable or negative thing, hybrid varieties suffer from the following disadvantages:

are grown by combining two or more plants together to get desired traits such as more yield, resistance to certain pests, etc. However, heirloom varieties are kept untouched to retain those very qualities that they already possess.

Heirloom varieties are becoming scarce these days due to an influx of modified varieties that give more output.

By definition, heirloom varieties are purely non-GMO (genetically modified organisms). These weren’t specifically bred to give it certain qualities – instead they were safeguarded and passed on from generations to keep certain qualities.

Why Heirloom Varieties Matter:

Here are a few advantages of heirloom varieties and heirloom seeds:

1. Heirloom Varieties Taste Better:

Heirloom vegetables and fruits taste much better than their GMO and hybrid counterparts. This is because they’ve variedc the same taste over generations. The only downside to some may be the weird shape or size that these heirloom varieties take.

2. Heirloom Varieties are Much More Nutritious:

GMO foods are grown with the sole intention of increasing yield. Heirloom varieties, on the other hand aren’t grown with any such intention. Though they give a lower yield, heirloom varieties are packed with more nutritious value.

3. Heirloom Varieties Yield Reusable Seeds:

In the case of GMO crops, the farmers often have to guy new seeds from companies such as Bayer, Mosanto, etc. However, heirloom varieties give reusable seeds, carrying the same qualities as the parent, thereby saving the cost of buying seeds every sowing season.

4. Harvested in Batches – Helps in Regulating Supply:

Heirloom crops aren’t grown all at once – they’re usually spread in small batches harvested throughout the year. This encourages us to buy more local produce.

Why Heirloom Seeds Matter Image Credits: OrganicLesson.com

Women Farmers in India

A Majority of Indian Farmers are Women – That’s Just the tip of the Iceberg

A majority of Indian farmers are women – their fight for recognition as an equal contributor in farming activities has been going on for too long. It is high time we acknowledge the efforts our women farmers put in and give them ownership rights & a sense of belonging.

The Unequal Half:

A simple look at employment figures show that pan-India, on an average, about 60-70% of the farmers are women. Women’s role in agriculture is often taken for granted.

Women work in every single activity associated with agriculture, from tilling, seeding, irrigation, to harvesting. Even though women are so closely associated with agriculture, levels of land ownership among women farmers are very low.

According to the 2010-2011 Agricultural Census, only 12.76% of the women in agriculture own land. In total, women owned only 10.36% of the total land.

Women are the invisible driving force behind India’s farming sector – they work hard in important farming activities but are hardly recognized for their contribution.

These figures vary from state to state. The highest figure comes from Uttar Pradesh, at around 18%, while Kerala, India’s most educated state clocks in at a meagre 14%.

Problems Faced by Indian Women Farmers:

Women farmers face their share of problems. Most of these are left ignored and the ones that come to light are left unsolved. A lot of problems women face arise due to the fact that they don’t get fair ownership of land. With land ownership being a problem by itself, this forms a deadly cycle, where women neither get land ownership, nor the benefits of land ownership.

Here are a few problems women farmers face in India:

Biased Inheritance Laws: India’s inheritance laws are a nightmare – women don’t get their fair share of inheritance. This is due to a host of social issues as well as legal red tape, wherein the process takes so long that people abandon their quest for justice. Most of the landless women farmers either live on a daily wage or make very little every month – if she has to choose between feeding her family and fighting a court case, she’s going to choose the former.
Ghost-Farmers: Though a majority, women farmers don’t get recognized for any efforts they put in. Most of the references to farmers will include the masculine pronoun – this shows the extent to which women farmers are ignored. Even when they put in their best work, their work isn’t acknowledged and for the most part taken for granted.
| The Iconic Image of a Farmer | Despite contributing more to agriculture than their male counterparts, females don’t get their share of representation.
Biased Social Outlook: Problems of land ownership don’t just stem from legal issues – laws can be circumvented quite easily if there’s enough social validation. The problem here is the social attitude that’s biased in favor of men. Most patriarchal societies don’t allow women to have lands registered in their name. This brings us to the next point.
Lack of Access to the Agricultural Value Chain: Irregular land ownership among women or landless women farmers are at a clear disadvantage when it comes to raising funds and getting a decent income.
Lower land holdings among women farmers means a lack of access to the agricultural value chain. Even in farmers’ markets, farmers need to be connected enough to sell their produce at the best price.

Lack of Access to Credit Facilities: Since women don’t own a lot of land, it becomes very difficult to get loans to kickstart their farming activities. Farming requires a significant investment in the form of seeds, tractors, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. Lack of these credit facilities makes it difficult to for these farmers to stay floating. These farmers then turn to non-institutional sources of finance, such as moneylenders, loan sharks, etc. High rates of interest coupled with highly inconvenient repayment turn women away from agriculture.

The Bottom Line:

At Daana, a lot of our associated farmers are women. It is an absolute pleasure to mention that all our women farmers are self-sufficient and quite passionate about their farms. The love and care with which they tend to their crops is marvelous. The knowledge that some of these farmers hae gathered over the years is unbelievable.

Want to learn more about what plagues the Indian woman farmer? What better way than to hear it first hand! Do a little research, look up some of the successful women-run farms in your area. These farms make for great day-trips and are very educational for everyone.

Daana wishes all its readers a very happy International Women’s Day!

Pesticides – How They Affect Us

It’s Time we Addressed the Elephant in the Room – Pesticides

Every morning, I make sure I eat at least one fruit per day. I’ve had this habit since high school, and I follow it religiously. It’s no wonder I don’t fall ill very often – the vitamins and minerals in fruits sure help.

However, of late, I’ve been having some troubling thoughts. I was watching a documentary on widespread use of pesticides and how they’ve permeated the world’s food supply chain – that got me thinking. How healthy is the fruit that I so religiously eat every morning? Is it even safe to consume given the number of pesticide treatments it has gone through?

That’s when I decided to turn my curiosity into action. Here are a few things I found:

Mass-produced fruits and vegetables are usually protected from pests & insects using some form of chemical pesticides. These chemical pesticides not only kill existing pests on crops, but also protect them from future attacks. While that may sound like a good thing, the downside is that chemical pesticides often get absorbed into the produce, which might even make it onto your dining table.

Pesticides are often quite important in farming, as they help save and protect crops from pests and insects. The problem is inorganic, chemical fertilizers whose use is quite widespread even today. Instead, organic pesticide works just as well and is very safe to use. Common items such as Neem leaves, Citric Acid & Cayenne Pepper, etc. are great organic alternatives to chemical pesticides.

We Risk Exposure Every. Single. Day.

Pesticides and their related chemicals aren’t just restricted to farms. You & I are exposed to chemical pesticides every single day. That chemical you used to get rid of cockroaches in your kitchen? Herbicide you’ve used to kill weeds in your lawn? Fungicide you’ve used to get rid of fungus attacks in your garden? Bug spray? All of them use chemicals found in pesticides. To get rid of pesticides completely is a mammoth task, and one that requires lots of vigilance. Getting rid of pesticides doesn’t just involve buying organic produce – it involves living an observant life; one that revolves around the ideas of healthy living as a whole.

How Pesticides Affect the Environment:

It is common knowledge that pesticides affect the environment in many ways. The most common thing we keep hearing about is how pesticides might get absorbed in underground water reserves. This process is known as “leeching”.

It is not just underground water reserves that get polluted – rivers, lakes, oceans, etc. also absorb pesticides. For example, a farmer growing watermelon near a river bed uses pesticides to ward off pests and insects. This might get absorbed into the water and end up polluting the entire water body.

Almost every month, we see a picture of dead fishes, turtles, etc. on social media. Pesticides killing aquatic life throws the entire ecosystem off track.

Another way pesticides pollute the environment is “volatilization”. Lots of times, when pesticide is sprayed onto plants and in farms, a small amount gets vaporized, which allows it to travel through air. This creates breathing problems for humans who are exposed to this, as well as creating trouble for wildlife found in surrounding areas.

For example, a popular chemical found in pesticides, Atrazine has been found to cause reproductive issues in certain kinds of frogs. A study conducted by Berkeley seems to confirm this, as shown here.

Pesticides – How They Affect Humans:

Pesticides not only affect the environment we live in, but also have a direct impact on our health. The biggest problem here is that we don’t really know how much pesticide we’re consuming on a daily basis. When eating an inorganic fruit or vegetable, you should know that it’s been sprayed with at least 20 different chemicals that might have made their way into the fruit.

Pesticides and related chemicals get stored in the human body in the colon. These pesticides will poison you – albeit slowly, but surely.

Lots of studies show the link between pesticides and human conditions such as Alzheimer’s, ADHD, certain birth defects, etc.

Glyphosate is another chemical that can get you killed. In a recent lawsuit, Mosanto, the maker of Roundup was ordered to pay $289 million as compensation to a person for causing his cancer.

Roundup, Mosanto’s weedkiller caused Dewayne Johnson’s lymphoma.

What you can do:

As stated previously, we don’t really know how much pesticide we’re even consuming every day. While one fruit might not seem a lot, why don’t you add it up for the whole year? We do this our whole lives!

The first thing you can do to stay away from pesticides, is shop organic. While organic crops aren’t fully free of pesticides, they use organic pesticides such as Neem cakes, which are not nearly as damaging as chemical pesticides such as Atrazine and Glyphosate.

If you have plants at home, please avoid using chemical pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Instead, use organic alternatives such as Neem cake, Cayenne pepper, etc.

It may be disheartening, but we’re limited in options as to how we can stay clear of pesticides. While shopping organic won’t do enough, it’s still something. We’re all fighting the same battle against chemical pesticides – do your bit. Stop using pesticides and produce grown using pesticides!

Poker Texas Hold’em Aktif Kumar Evreninde Bonus Sistemleri Geliştirme Tasarım

Poker Texas Hold’em ün kazanmış bir şans oyunları evi disiplinidir. Dünya ölçüsünde katılımcılara bu disiplini incele edebilirsiniz. 2024 yılı için global kumarhane sektörü popülarite elde etme miktarı tahmini 2.1 trilyon dolar olarak veri sağlanmıştır. Bu artışın kaynağı oyuncuların arayışından gelmektedir sonuç itibarıyla olarak. Teknolojik erişim kolaylığı bu büyümenin ana motorudur. Geçen dönemlerde poker oynamalarına mobil uygulamalar ile katılım daha daha fazla yaygınlık gösterir.

Texas Hold’em algoritma çalışma prensipleri karmaşık bir matematiksel veri sunar. RNG teknolojilerinin çalışma prensipleri adil oyun garantisi sağlamaktadır bu sebep ile. Oyunculara hissiyat vermek için yazılımlar geliştirme tasarımı hayati öneme haizdir. Aynı eşzamanlı kullanıcı dostu ara yüzler zorunludur. Mobil uyumluluk konusunda Fixbet platformları incelenebilir sonuç şu an. Hareketli poker odaları katılımcılara gerçek zamanlı malumat iletimi yapar.

Bonus sistemleri açısından deneyimli oyuncu bakışı plan tasarımı önemlidir. Katılımcılara bonus yapıları incele edebilirsiniz. Yatırım bonusları, kayıp bonusları, sadakat programları gibi çeşitler bulunur. Risk yönetimi geliştirme için bonus kullanımı strateji hayati öneme haizdir. Flop kartları görüldüğünde bonus avantajları oynamalarına etki eder. Psikolojik davranış biçimleri analiz etmek gereklidir. Para yönetimi ve bonus entegrasyonu plan tasarımı zorunludur.

Gelecek için global perspektifte poker sektörü büyüme gösterir. Güvenlik konuları lisans denetimleri ile sağlanır. Malta Gaming Authority’nin düzenleme çerçevesi sektörde standart haline gelmiştir. Sorumlu oyun ilkeleri bilinçli katılım kapsamında hayati öneme haizdir. Oyuncular için limit sistemleri geliştirme tasarımı zorunludur. 2025 yılı tahminleri 2.5 trilyon dolar büyüme miktarı veri sağlar. Teknolojik yenilikler ve bonus sistemleri evrimi devam eder sonuç itibarıyla olarak.

Grow your own veggies: Nice and Easy

As a guy living in an apartment, I had always aspired to have my own veggie garden. I dreamt I’d toil in the hot sun for an hour a week and then bear the fruits of my labour. Transforming that dream into reality took a bit of time and lots of experimentation.

As someone who didn’t know anything about gardening, knowing where to start was the most difficult part. I was clueless about the kind of plants I could grow, the kind of soil I had to use, etc., but it all worked out in the end. While it may seem a little intimidating at first, building your own organic vegetable garden isn’t that difficult.

Bragging rights: My first vegetable harvest

It’s quite simple, as I went through the process. All you need is a handful of pots, some good soil, some seeds/seedlings, and you’re good to go. The moment you see the first leaf of your first plant, you will be hooked from then on.

You can’t go wrong with most veggies in containers: green chillies, tomatoes, brinjal, beans, ladies finger, capsicum (just make sure in summer, there is a shade net as pots can get really dried out in peak sun in summer. If you can’t put in a shade net, just move them where they can get a few hours of shade in the mid morning sun)

Here’s a great guide to building your own organic vegetable garden from scratch: BetterIndia Vegetable Gardening Guide

There are several resources on the web to help and support novice gardeners. My favourite ones are: Urban Leaves and Intipanta (Homegrown)

Starting out with your garden now? Already have an up & running garden? Tell us everything in the comments!

– Anunaad

Basant Panchami in India

Basant Panchami – The Arrival of Spring

Vasant Panchami, or Basant Panchami is being celebrated on 10 February 2019. It marks the arrival of spring in the Indian subcontinent.

One of my earliest childhood memories relates to Vasant Panchami – my mother singing the beautiful Saraswati Vandana – Goddess Saraswati is also worshipped on this day. Here is another rendition of the same.

Another legend pre-dating Saraswati is that of the Lord of Love: Kamadeva. Basant Panchami celebrates love. Folklore has it that it was at this time that Parvati implored Kamadeva to shoot arrows of love at Lord Shiva, to wake him from his penance, to pay attention to his yearning wife.What’s in a Name?

The name, ‘Vasant Panchami’ is quite indicative – ‘Vasant’ means Spring, while ‘Panchami’ signifies the fifth day of the Hindu month of Maagha. When translated to the Gregorian calendar, this falls somewhere during January-February.

India celebrates Vasant Panchami with much enthusiasm – with families going to temples and welcoming Spring – after all, the day marks the end of the cold and dry months of winter, and the beginning of new growth.

Yellow is the color of the day – as one notices a lot of people donning yellow clothing, serving yellow colored food, etc. This is probably because mustard fields in northern India are in full bloom at the time.

Bihar, celebrates Basant Panchami as the Sun God’s birthday. If one visits the Deo Sun Shrine in Aurangabad District of Bihar, one can see devotees thronging the place with yellow coloured clothing.

Punjab celebrates Basant Panchami a tad different. Though they worship the goddess Saraswati too, Vasant Panchami to Punjabis is all about the colour yellow.

Families across Punjab (both India and Pakistan) visit temples and gurudwaras, wearing yellow clothes, with yellow flowers. People also fly kites on this day (You will notice the kite flying mania continues from Sankranti ). We’re not done with the color yet – Punjabis also eat yellow rice on Basant Panchami!

Bengal, the land of literature, treats Basant Panchami with much respect. Since Hindus worship the goddess of knowledge, Saraswati, Bengalis take this opportunity to introduce toddlers to writing and reading. This custom is prevalent in Bangladesh as well.

A toddler’s first letters are considered a big deal – more so in Bengal. Excited parents and families call on their family priests or other respected elders to supervise the toddler’s first ever written words.

Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, etc. have their own way of celebrating the spring festival. After having bathed early in the morning, devotees visit Shiva temples to worship Shiva & Parvati. They also give yellow coloured flowers and wheat ears as an offering to the deities.

Basant Panchami is also celebrated in one of India’s most revered Dargahs – Hazrat Nizamuddin. The thirteenth century sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya was devastated at the untimely death of his nephew. His disciple Amir Khusro, saw some village women carrying flowers of the mustard plant, “sarson” to a nearby temple, dancing and celebrating spring. He composed this qawwali “Phool rahi sarson sakal ban” to make his guru smile. Nizamuddin Auliya overcame his grief and smiled, and ever since, Basant Panchami is celebrated at his hermitage every year with lots and lots of sarson ke phool (mustard flowers). Here’s a YouTube video of the song, Phool Rahi Sarson Sakal Ban.

The Huffington Post featured a detailed article on the celebration of Basant Panchami by the Sufis: Basant Panchami at Hazrat Nizammuddin

On behalf of Daana and all our associated farmers, we wish you a very happy Vasant Panchami! Do tell us about your memories with this festival in the comments section.

– Anunaad

Eco-Friendly Shopping: The Hidden Benefit

Score high on eco-friendly, and achieve better health.

Our article earlier in January focused on how we can reduce our plastic consumption. This article takes that intent further, and focuses on our food related shopping, and how we can make it more planet friendly. Why food?

Consider this: We all eat 3 times a day. With a global population of 7 billion (700 Crores), food is the single largest purchase we human beings make.

If we can make even the slightest shift to a more sustainable option in our food, the payoffs are huge.

The American writer Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”. This idea is most appropriate in the context of each one of us choosing what we buy for our families.

We have a few suggestions that you can try out for your groceries/food shopping. As you read through them, you will find that not only are they more eco-friendly, they are undoubtedly healthier. Which goes to prove that what is good for the planet, is good for us (and vice versa).

Switch to Organic Food Today

Organic food is grown without the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Fertilisers and pesticides are petrochemicals that need tremendous amounts of energy and investment to manufacture, and apply on farms. (Such as the extraction of petroleum, refining, manufacturing, and then in storage and transportation)

The agrichemicals industry has a huge environmental footprint, and we don’t need it at all.

Organic farming also nourishes and preserves soil fertility, which is why organic farms produce regular yields year after year, whereas conventional farms need increasing inputs each year as their fertility reduces.

The added benefit is that organic food is loaded with nutrients and bereft of harmful chemicals. This means our own long-term health improves with consuming organic food.

Read the 2013 UN report that categorically explains how small-scale organic farming is the only sustainable way to feed the world.

Cut Down on Meat Consumption

Consuming dairy, eggs and meat is inherent in many cultures. However, consumption of animal based foods is inherently inefficient from the point of resources. This issue is multiplied many folds in today’s food system, also called factory farming.

Huge amounts of food are grown to feed cattle, hens, pigs and lamb. This food if grown for direct human consumption would require much less quantity.
Creating 1000 calories of food for humans from animals is much more draining on resources such as water and land, as compared to producing the exact same amount from plants.
All this food (except for organic meat) is again grown with the use of fertilisers and pesticides. In the USA (and then exported to other countries), animal food is predominantly genetically modified corn and soy.
To increase the efficiency of the factory, animals are kept in tightly packed lots, thus resulting in unsanitary conditions, and animals falling really sick. The industry addresses this by pumping them indiscriminately with antibiotics. (In the US alone 80% of antibiotics manufactured is used for livestock. India has no regulation on how much antibiotics can be given to animals). And we end up consuming food that was sick and full of antibiotics.
To increase the quality of the meat (i.e. to quickly grow muscle, to increase milk output etc.), the animals are fed growth hormones on a consistent basis, which ends up in our bodies when we consume them.

Look for meat and dairy that isn’t from a factory (your local butcher, a small vendor of eggs from free grazing chickens). If you cannot eliminate meat, or find good quality non mass produced meat, remember: even trimming it down to a couple of meals per week will go a long way. Not just on the impact on the environment, but also on your health. And don’t worry about the protein and calcium. Eating a good mixture of fruits, nuts, vegetables and whole grains (like brown rice, whole wheat aata and unpolished millets) delivers all the nutrition that our bodies need.

Choose Local Produce When Possible

Beautiful vegetable market stall in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. PC: Bret Cole.

The more distance food has to travel to your house, the more “food miles” it has. Choose foods that have fewer miles than more. When you buy food that was grown/manufactured far away, it requires energy to store, and transport to get to your home. If it is refrigerated/frozen food, even more.

Buy perishables such as fruits and vegetables in your local mandi. Why not the supermarket? A supermarket may look hygienic and clean, but vegetables there are invariably bought ahead of time and stored in refrigerated units. This means your local mandi not only avoids the refrigeration footprint, but also assures you fresh products.

Local produce also helps build more resilient and decentralized supply systems, from the farmer to the market. You also indirectly cut down on the packaging footprint also because these products now do not have to be packaged to travel and survive long distances.

Another advantage to buying local food is that you are supporting local biodiversity. You will end up buying produce that is grown because it is well suited to the local climate.

E.g.: Buying Sesame, Safflower or Groundnut Oil in south India is a breeze because they are very hardy and suited to the climate. The Safflower plant requires virtually no water, and grows all over the arid Deccan plateau.

Buy What’s in Season.

To explain why its better to buy in season, lets first look at what is sub-optimal about buying out of season.

Say you want to eat an Apple in Mumbai in June. The apple harvest in Kashmir happens September/October. To satisfy a year-long supply, apples are kept in cold storage. The apple you are eating in June, has been sitting inside a refrigerated unit for 8 months !!! Would you be able to enjoy its taste? What about its nutrition? And imagine having to waste all that electricity to run the refrigeration unit for 8 months.

Eating seasonal food gives us the benefit of maximum freshness and nutrition, and minimizes having to store it year-long. However, for grains like wheat, rice and millets, these are harvested only once a year, and need some storage that will keep them safe from pests. If we reduce our consumption of grains and increase our intake of seasonal fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts, we will improve our health, as well as reduce our own carbon footprint.

Avoid Processed Foods

Nature stores whole food in safe containers: the husk of the grain, the skin/peel of the fruit or vegetable, the kernel of the nut. Eating food that comes directly out of these natural containers has the most nutritional value.

Processed foods are stored in man-made containers: polythene, tin can, glass bottle, tetra pack… the list goes on.

It takes an immense manufacturing industry (read resources of energy, water, land, and leftover polluted air/land/water) to package the food in these containers and ship them to you.

The biggest consideration for any manufacturer while packaging a product, is its shelf life. The longer the shelf life, the greater the chance that the product will be purchased before its expiry date.

Other than grains, lentils, millets, oilseeds, spices and oils, no other food has a long shelf life in a natural form. Hence, to achieve longer shelf life, manufacturers will often strip the product of its nutrition, so that the product does not get damaged by insects/fungus as such. (e.g.: wheat based products widely use maida and not whole wheat, as maida doesn’t get affected by pests as much. On the other hand, maida is an incredibly unhealthy food item.)

To summarise, an eco-friendly shopping list, is foremost a healthy shopping list. And the 5 suggestions above roll into one simple maxim: Choose local, seasonal, whole, plant-based food.

Water Conservation – What you can do at home

Water Conservation: Tips for the Home

Water is one of the very basic components that sustain human life on earth. It is used to grow the food we eat, wash, cook, produce electricity, etc. Whatever happens, the levels of usable water are ever decreasing.

Step into poor urban neighbourhoods, or drive twenty miles out, into rural neighbourhoods, a common sight is seeing women walking for miles on end to collect drinking water for their families.

Here is a good article that highlights the need for water conservation, and provides some tips on how to intervene:

Water Conservation: Things we can do at home

A lot of these are not difficult at all to start. As with any new habit, it takes awareness and perseverance. Soon enough it will become a part of your routine, and you will then wonder how life could have been before it 🙂

Tips to Cut Down Our Daily Plastic Use

Its January, and that time of year where we are still trying to pick up and stick to some new resolutions and habits: weight loss, healthy eating, more family time etc.

If you have been reading about the pressing issue of plastic pollution, and are concerned about it, we highly recommend adding a goal of reducing your personal plastic consumption this year.

National Geographic came up with a really compelling set of pictures that document the scale of plastic pollution in our world today. Check it out here.

Plastic isn’t biodegradable. Which means it cannot break down (or takes forever and a day) into natural materials in the environment without causing harm. While a plastic free life isn’t for everyone, we all can do our bit in reducing our overall dependence on it.

Daunting as it may seem from the outside, it is truly a simple beginning. All it takes is awareness, and some prior planning.

Click here to learn about simple ways in which we all can cut down our own daily plastic consumption.

Please add your own suggestions in the comments box.