Diki Bhutia,

Director – Environmental Initiatives, Karma Lakelands Gurgaon

Sustainability has been the buzz word for some years, and often a claim from corporates to build a positive brand image, but we must understand, what does one mean by sustainability. As a nature enthusiast, I feel sustainability is about taking responsibility of the effects that our choices and habits have on the surroundings. Today, with our everyday consumption patterns and casual habits of littering, honking and wasting, planet earth is in the dire need for us to make better choices and help our environment thrive.

Karma Lakelands, since its inception has been an environmentally conscious golf resort. We practice the three major components of sustainable tourism: effective resource management, economic development and environment integrity. These components ensure that our practices as a part of the hospitality and tourism industry don’t make things worse for the planet.

One of the most important sustainable practices at Karma is water harvesting. We get water from neighbouring societies that it treated and used to irrigate the entire estate. The current rate of water pollution is alarming and as hotels and resorts we have high consumption and need to take major action towards educating ourselves and adapting to smarter ways of consuming water. We have been harvesting water for years. At Karma Lakelands, we have four kinds of forests – The Bamboo Forest, The Sacred Forest, The Ficus Forest and The Rewilding Forest – which are being nurtured with a recycled water.

At Karma LakeLands, we are proud to have been practicing sustainable tourism to its core for more than a decade, out of respect for the nature. We produce a lot of crops and vegetables that we consume in our resort kitchens. We are conscious of the waste we generate and it is our endeavour to recycle and reuse as much of our waste as possible. We are focusing our energies to become a zero-waste resort. We make eco bricks which are basically plastic bottles stuffed with non-recyclable plastics, which would otherwise have gone to the landfills.

We have made huts, benches and toilets using these eco bricks, and various schools and individuals who have donated this eco brick. Guests who visit here fall in love with the pristine nature and imbibe qualities and become loyal patrons.

At Karma, we are focused on providing authentic experiences to our guests and also help the locals in livelihood building. We educate and encourage our staff to adopt healthy practices and imbibe the qualities of nature. These values have helped all of us in the team to grow into better hoteliers, but more importantly a better human being. Taking care of the environment shouldn’t come with an expiry date, it should become a habit that stays with you as long as you live.