A small resort in Bangalore, India, took up the gauntlet to create a near-perfect, eco-friendly outfit.
At the recent Wild Asia 2007 Responsible Tourism Awards & Seminar, Indian resort operator C. B. Ramkumar gave a talk on responsible tourism and social change. He said matter of factly: “We built a 100% eco resort.”
Call it a marketing ploy or a bold claim, but now Ramkumar had everyone sit up and listen.
This genial yet unassuming 44-year-old owns and runs a 24-room resort in a village 40km from Bangalore City in southern India. Called Our Native Village, the resort started operating in September 2006.
At the recent Wild Asia 2007 Responsible Tourism Awards & Seminar, Indian resort operator C. B. Ramkumar gave a talk on responsible tourism and social change. He said matter of factly: “We built a 100% eco resort.”
Call it a marketing ploy or a bold claim, but now Ramkumar had everyone sit up and listen.
This genial yet unassuming 44-year-old owns and runs a 24-room resort in a village 40km from Bangalore City in southern India. Called Our Native Village, the resort started operating in September 2006.
Aquatic plants are used to purify the water in the swimming pool.
Sitting on 4.8 hectares of land, the resort was constructed of bricks made with mud from the building site. The layout of the building allows natural light to filter through, and strategically placed windows create airy and cool spaces, hence the resort did away with air-conditioning.
The Village generates 80% of its electricity through solar panels, a windmill and biogas plant. Sixty percent of its water is harvested from rain and stored in underground tanks or tapped from bore wells. With its zero-waste policy, all food and animal wastes are converted into methane gas and electricity at the biogas plant. Slurry from the biogas plant is used as fertiliser for the resort’s organic farm. Reed waterbeds recycle grey water from sinks and showers for gardening. “Black” water from the toilets is fed into leach pits and later used as manure.
"All my water is used at least twice, if not three times,” says Ramkumar.“We use soap nut powder and ash for cleaning dishes and the water can be used for watering plants.”Specially handmade for the resort, the soaps and shampoos are biodegradable. Pretty clay bottles, water jugs and cups are sourced from local potters. Plastics go for recycling in Bangalore where they are made into pellets for paving roads.
Quality experience
Of course, tourists don’t stay at a resort solely for its eco-friendly slant.
“We can’t presume that everybody who comes here will appreciate the solar power or our waste management practices,” smiles Ramkumar. “So, we need to give people experiences.”
Guests get to pick from a smorgasbord of activities. The Village boasts the first resort in the world to issue a bullock cart-driving licence. Or indulge in traditional village games like gilli-danda (similar to cricket), top spinning and kite-flying. Guests can learn the art of rangoli (floor painting with intricate designs) or take short excursions to the Nrityagam dance school or to a 10th century monolithic temple.
“Urban kids get a thrill from milking the cows. Most of them thought milk came from cartons sold in supermarkets,” grins Ramkumar.
This innovative operator also revives traditional Indian arts. Murals painted by rural artists adorn the guestrooms and replicas of Hero stones dot the resort landscapes. Unique to Karnataka, the hero stones, or veerakallu, are stone engravings and sculptures of heroic kings and knights of ancient times.
How it all started
How did someone who spent two decades in the advertising industry decide to go green?
“It was out of necessity,” says Ramkumar who lived in the Middle-East for 17 years, working for multi-national firms. Ten years ago, Ramkumar bought a piece of farmland where the resort now stands. His crops were failing due to water shortage.
“I thought it was ridiculous to lose our crops because we didn’t have enough electricity to pump water from the bore wells,” says Ramkumar.
“I looked into renewable energy. It was clear that whatever we did had to be self-sustainable.”
“Once I get obsessed with something I do it 100%,” says the man with an indomitable drive. In 1995 and 2000 he cycled across Lebanon and then India to raise funds for charities.
It helps that Ramkumar came from a middle-class upbringing where “waste not, want not” was the maxim of his life.
“My father used to be upset with us if we left a light on in a room, or the tap running when brushing our teeth,” says Ramkumar. “The Village became a lifestyle option because of necessity and my upbringing.”
It took three long years before the resort opened on World Environment Day (June 5) in 2006.
Steep learning curve
For Ramkumar and his team, running the Village is all trial and error.
Managing three forms of renewable energy – windmill, solar and biogas – comes with problems.
“Till about four months ago, I was still sorting out these problems but now things have stabilised,” admits Ramkumar.
The resort stores its gas in five huge, 15-cubic-metre biogas “balloons” (the size of a medium-sized truck) instead of conventional gas cylinders.
Once they had a lunch booking for 100 guests and on that morning, the staff discovered the balloons were empty.
“We checked and found that the fifth bag had a hole in it. Maybe a rat had bitten into it,” says Ramkumar. “But because our balloons were all connected, every balloon emptied out!”
Now he’s changed the balloon piping to individual connections and has an efficient firewood stove for emergencies.
The initial investment to set up the windmill, solar panels and biogas plant was high. Ramkumar struggled to find investors.
Till now, the resort only has an average of 20%-30% occupancy due to lack of marketing.
“We live on a shoe-string budget. Every month, what we earn is put back into the resort. And we’re forking out our own money to fund the cash flow.”
The 100% question
“Eco sells today,” grins Ramkumar. “I don’t use the word just because I use energy-saving bulbs and treat a little bit of water. From renewable energy to waste management, we’ve taken the full 10 steps to call ourselves ‘eco’.
“My dream is to be able to put together a 100% self-sustaining model. If we can duplicate that model everywhere, we can use precious resources like electricity for other things and not just run a resort for people to have fun.”
A gratifying effort
Ramkumar is proud of his dedicated team. More than 70% of his staff come from the surrounding villages. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy.
“You get their loyalty and create a sense of belonging for them through respect, not through money,” says Ramkumar.
Of course, he has had to weed out the problematic ones who get drunk or don’t show up for work.
Though the Village keeps a relatively low profile, it has garnered some interest amongst local Indian media and the BBC World Service who plans to do a 30-minute programme on the resort.
“Through media exposure, our staff can see that this is not just another job but that we are in this together,’’ says Ramkumar.
Inspiring others
Not one to rest on his laurels, Ramkumar has set up a foundation called FEEL (Foundation to Enable Eco Living).
FEEL tries to demonstrate responsible living (waste management, renewable energy, etc) at the resort.
“Many guests have asked: ‘Can I do composting at home? Can I harvest rainwater?’,” says Ramkumar.
“There is a lot of interest but sometimes they lack knowledge or direction.”
The Village runs a two-day/one-night stay package for schoolchildren and teachers to learn about sustainable living.
What does the future hold?
“I’m the new kid on the block,” admits Ramkumar. “But now I know we’ve done something no-one else has. This experience has encouraged me.
“Like they say, the peacock would never have been recognised as the most beautiful bird if it hadn’t spread its tail,’’ smiles Ramkumar.
“If you do anything with passion and a clear conscience, you don’t have to sell it. It will sell itself,” he believes.
“I want people to come and feel it, and say Wow!”
Our Native Village
Tel: +91 80 41140909
E-mail: bookings@ournativevillage.com
http://www.ournativevillage.com/
Article from http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/12/1/lifefocus/19585158&sec=lifefocus
The Village generates 80% of its electricity through solar panels, a windmill and biogas plant. Sixty percent of its water is harvested from rain and stored in underground tanks or tapped from bore wells. With its zero-waste policy, all food and animal wastes are converted into methane gas and electricity at the biogas plant. Slurry from the biogas plant is used as fertiliser for the resort’s organic farm. Reed waterbeds recycle grey water from sinks and showers for gardening. “Black” water from the toilets is fed into leach pits and later used as manure.
"All my water is used at least twice, if not three times,” says Ramkumar.“We use soap nut powder and ash for cleaning dishes and the water can be used for watering plants.”Specially handmade for the resort, the soaps and shampoos are biodegradable. Pretty clay bottles, water jugs and cups are sourced from local potters. Plastics go for recycling in Bangalore where they are made into pellets for paving roads.
A solar water heater and a traditional Gujarat boiler provide hot showers for guests. The resort’s organic farm supplies fresh, chemical-free veggies for guest meals and herb oil extracts for the spa. Guests can also splash about in the chlorine-free swimming pool.“We use aquatic plants to clean and oxygenate the fully natural pool – a first in India and a rare one in a tropical climate,” says Ramkumar.
Quality experience
Of course, tourists don’t stay at a resort solely for its eco-friendly slant.
“We can’t presume that everybody who comes here will appreciate the solar power or our waste management practices,” smiles Ramkumar. “So, we need to give people experiences.”
Guests get to pick from a smorgasbord of activities. The Village boasts the first resort in the world to issue a bullock cart-driving licence. Or indulge in traditional village games like gilli-danda (similar to cricket), top spinning and kite-flying. Guests can learn the art of rangoli (floor painting with intricate designs) or take short excursions to the Nrityagam dance school or to a 10th century monolithic temple.
“Urban kids get a thrill from milking the cows. Most of them thought milk came from cartons sold in supermarkets,” grins Ramkumar.
This innovative operator also revives traditional Indian arts. Murals painted by rural artists adorn the guestrooms and replicas of Hero stones dot the resort landscapes. Unique to Karnataka, the hero stones, or veerakallu, are stone engravings and sculptures of heroic kings and knights of ancient times.
How it all started
How did someone who spent two decades in the advertising industry decide to go green?
“It was out of necessity,” says Ramkumar who lived in the Middle-East for 17 years, working for multi-national firms. Ten years ago, Ramkumar bought a piece of farmland where the resort now stands. His crops were failing due to water shortage.
“I thought it was ridiculous to lose our crops because we didn’t have enough electricity to pump water from the bore wells,” says Ramkumar.
“I looked into renewable energy. It was clear that whatever we did had to be self-sustainable.”
“Once I get obsessed with something I do it 100%,” says the man with an indomitable drive. In 1995 and 2000 he cycled across Lebanon and then India to raise funds for charities.
It helps that Ramkumar came from a middle-class upbringing where “waste not, want not” was the maxim of his life.
“My father used to be upset with us if we left a light on in a room, or the tap running when brushing our teeth,” says Ramkumar. “The Village became a lifestyle option because of necessity and my upbringing.”
It took three long years before the resort opened on World Environment Day (June 5) in 2006.
Steep learning curve
For Ramkumar and his team, running the Village is all trial and error.
Managing three forms of renewable energy – windmill, solar and biogas – comes with problems.
“Till about four months ago, I was still sorting out these problems but now things have stabilised,” admits Ramkumar.
The resort stores its gas in five huge, 15-cubic-metre biogas “balloons” (the size of a medium-sized truck) instead of conventional gas cylinders.
Once they had a lunch booking for 100 guests and on that morning, the staff discovered the balloons were empty.
“We checked and found that the fifth bag had a hole in it. Maybe a rat had bitten into it,” says Ramkumar. “But because our balloons were all connected, every balloon emptied out!”
Now he’s changed the balloon piping to individual connections and has an efficient firewood stove for emergencies.
The initial investment to set up the windmill, solar panels and biogas plant was high. Ramkumar struggled to find investors.
Till now, the resort only has an average of 20%-30% occupancy due to lack of marketing.
“We live on a shoe-string budget. Every month, what we earn is put back into the resort. And we’re forking out our own money to fund the cash flow.”
The 100% question
“Eco sells today,” grins Ramkumar. “I don’t use the word just because I use energy-saving bulbs and treat a little bit of water. From renewable energy to waste management, we’ve taken the full 10 steps to call ourselves ‘eco’.
“My dream is to be able to put together a 100% self-sustaining model. If we can duplicate that model everywhere, we can use precious resources like electricity for other things and not just run a resort for people to have fun.”
A gratifying effort
Ramkumar is proud of his dedicated team. More than 70% of his staff come from the surrounding villages. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy.
“You get their loyalty and create a sense of belonging for them through respect, not through money,” says Ramkumar.
Of course, he has had to weed out the problematic ones who get drunk or don’t show up for work.
Though the Village keeps a relatively low profile, it has garnered some interest amongst local Indian media and the BBC World Service who plans to do a 30-minute programme on the resort.
“Through media exposure, our staff can see that this is not just another job but that we are in this together,’’ says Ramkumar.
Inspiring others
Not one to rest on his laurels, Ramkumar has set up a foundation called FEEL (Foundation to Enable Eco Living).
FEEL tries to demonstrate responsible living (waste management, renewable energy, etc) at the resort.
“Many guests have asked: ‘Can I do composting at home? Can I harvest rainwater?’,” says Ramkumar.
“There is a lot of interest but sometimes they lack knowledge or direction.”
The Village runs a two-day/one-night stay package for schoolchildren and teachers to learn about sustainable living.
What does the future hold?
“I’m the new kid on the block,” admits Ramkumar. “But now I know we’ve done something no-one else has. This experience has encouraged me.
“Like they say, the peacock would never have been recognised as the most beautiful bird if it hadn’t spread its tail,’’ smiles Ramkumar.
“If you do anything with passion and a clear conscience, you don’t have to sell it. It will sell itself,” he believes.
“I want people to come and feel it, and say Wow!”
Our Native Village
Tel: +91 80 41140909
E-mail: bookings@ournativevillage.com
http://www.ournativevillage.com/
Article from http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/12/1/lifefocus/19585158&sec=lifefocus
0 green notes:
Post a Comment