By Freny Manecksha
Freny Manecksha is a Mumbai-based freelance writer with an interest in environmental issues.
LEH, India (AlertNet) - It is an unusual request. But Kunzes Dolma, when asked, is willing to show off her Ladakhi loo.
Dolma and fellow members of the Women's Alliance of Ladakh have been actively campaigning to retain the region's traditional dry toilet as part of a wider effort to use ancient adaptations - and a few newer ones - to help this desert region cope with climate change.
Tucked away at the western edge of the Tibetan plateau, Ladakh is a part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Himalayas act as a barrier to the monsoons and much of Ladakh is a cold desert with a climate of extremes: intense sunlight, a high evaporation rate and strong winds.
Despite the region's best efforts - including irrigation schemes and tree planting - there are ecological limitations to the availability of water.
In recent years this scarcity has become even more acute. Besides the burgeoning demands of tourism and the large presence of the Indian army, water scarcity has been exacerbated by declining winter snowfall.
Scientists may quibble over the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, but for the people of Ladakh, climate change is a reality measured in declining water availability. They are concerned over how the decreased precipitation will impact their lives.
Dolma, 57, remembers how during the very cold winters of her youth, kerosene or wood-fired stoves were kept burning all day.
"The mountains were completely decked with snow. Even indoors the water would freeze. Today there is much less snowfall. Glaciers are disappearing and we are worried," she said.
DRY TOILETS AN ANSWER, WOMEN SAY
For her and many of the women of Leh, the drying up of springs and the decreasing volumes of water in the city's reservoir are a major worry. They believe one solution lies in going back to the traditional dry closet toilet system, a Ladakhi adaptation that has long been sustainable in a harsh environment.
Built a few feet above the ground, these toilets allow waste to drop into a lower chamber where it can later be collected.
The toilets are eminently practical in Leh's frigid climate because there is no fear of water freezing in the pipes in the winter. The women say they are also hygienic because the dry cold air aids in rapid decomposition. The resultant human manure can be used in the fields.
The toilets are winning some modern converts. At the campus of the Students Cultural Movement of Ladakh, popularly known as Secmol, there are modern buildings with computers but also typical Ladakhi dry closets.
The toilets aren't the only area where Ladakhi ingenuity and ability to straddle the old with the new is on display. The ancient building technique of rammed earth or gyapak is being used along with passive solar design to construct buildings that are kept warm without burning any fossil fuels even when outside temperatures dip below 20 degrees Celsius.
Rammed earth was used centuries ago to build monasteries, castles and forts in Ladakh, said Rigzen Samdup, a teacher and technical assistant at Secmol.
Despite the ravages of time the earth structures - like those at the ancient palace of Basgo, in one of Ladakh's historic towns - are still standing 300 years later.
In this technique, walls are built by mixing sand and clay to get a very strong building material that is then filled into frames and rammed with pounders. These very thick earth walls are not just structural but also function as a thermal bank that holds heat.
Accompanying passive solar architecture aims at taking advantage of the sun's heat and retaining it as long as possible to heat the inner space of a building.
South-facing walls and large south-facing windows enable the buildings to capture the sun's rays and keep rooms warm both during the day and the night.
A network of local non-governmental organizations and other groups, organized by GERES, the Renewable Energy, Environment and Solidarity Group, has been set up to promote these eco-friendly technologies.
Secmol, a partner in the network, has developed considerable experience in energy efficient building construction.
At its campus in Phey, some of the buildings have floors built three feet below ground level. These bunker-like buildings benefit from the stability of the earth's temperature, staying cool during the day and comfortably warm at night.
The earth dug out to lower the floors also can be used to build the walls.
PLASTIC SHEETING, CHEAP INSULATION
In wintertime, huge ultraviolet-stabilized plastic sheets are used to encapsulate the buildings to create a greenhouse effect. The plastic sheets act as a solar heat collector for the building and are rolled up in the summer to prevent overheating.
Students sometimes play a game of ice hockey outside and then retreat back inside where the temperature remains a comfortable 17 degrees Celsius without any fossil fuel heating.
Insulation is another important aspect of the buildings' passive solar design. The material used is inexpensive, often wood shavings, crumpled newspapers or plastic waste like sweet wrappers and noodle packets. Insulation is also provided below the floor with layers of various size rocks that create insulated air pockets.
For cooking, bathing, powering computers and televisions and providing lighting, Secmol, like many other institutions, relies on a renewable energy source that is abundantly available in Ladakh--sunlight.
With an average of 300 days of sunshine a year and intense light because of its high altitude, solar energy is a natural choice for Ladakh.
A community solar cooker has been designed with a large parabolic reflector made of household mirrors. This focuses the rays of the sun to a secondary reflector under big pots inside the kitchen and provides energy equal to a large gas burner.
Such large solar cookers have had significant social and health impacts. Buddhist nuns in a retreat centre at Skidmang village, in Leh district, say they are no longer subjected to noxious fumes from kerosene or wood smoke since having one of the cookers installed.
Most of these technologies go hand-in-hand with a campaign that seeks to preserve what is best in Ladakh's unique cultural identity. The women's alliance is currently urging youths to do what their forefathers did - walk more and rely less on the cars that now crowd the bazaar and streets of Leh.
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