SUSTAINABLE LIVING
Living with the Earth.
At Jhamtse Gatsal, sustainability is part of everyday life. Children and adults grow food, care for soil and seeds, rethink waste, conserve resources, and learn that caring for the Earth is part of caring for one another.
EVERYDAY ECO-STEWARDSHIP
Sustainability is something we practice.
Everyone in the community is an eco-steward. Sustainability is woven into daily work, education, shared responsibility, and relationships with the land. It is not a separate program; it is a way of noticing how one choice affects the soil, water, food, materials, and people around us.
GROWING OUR FOOD
Care begins with the soil.
The community grows organic food through practices that care for both produce and soil: mulching, crop rotation, drip irrigation, vermicomposting, biodigesters, and bio-enzymes. Greenhouse NFT hydroponics adds another way to grow through harsh winters and limited water. Children take part through farm-to-table learning woven into daily activities, while seed saving and knowledge shared with nearby villagers help the care travel beyond the garden.
— Sonam DidiWhen I see my harvest doing well, I feel deeply satisfied.
RETHINKING WASTE
Nothing is simply thrown away.
The community’s four-part model connects everyday choices with care for the wider environment. Children and adults learn to look again at what is used, what can be prevented, and what can become useful once more.
Restore
Care for soil, plant trees, and join cleanups on campus and in public places.
Reduce
Grow food, buy in bulk, and carry reusable bags to prevent unnecessary packaging.
Reuse
Turn worn footballs, cartons, tins, jars, tires, and clothing into planters or useful objects.
Recycle
Sort plastic for recycling and return organic waste to the soil through vermicompost and bio-enzymes.
JHAMTSE FOR EARTH
When children carry the work outward.
In 2018, graduating students began Jhamtse for Earth after seeing waste and environmental degradation mark the hillsides around them. Their response started with reflection and responsibility inside the community, then reached outward through workshops, cleanups, plastic collection, and collaboration. The origin matters: young people did not wait for someone else to act.
BUILDING RESPONSIBLY
Building with place in mind.
Natural cob construction brings traditional Indigenous knowledge together with modern techniques. The approach uses earth-based materials, responds to the local climate and seismically sensitive setting, and invites community participation. Buildings become another place where cultural relevance and ecological responsibility meet.
ENERGY & WATER
Using what we have with care.
Solar power is part of the community’s renewable-energy effort. Rainwater harvesting and mindful daily water use sit alongside the DEWATS approach, which recycles black and gray water. These systems are not presented as distant infrastructure; they shape how resources are understood and cared for in daily life.
SEEDS & BIODIVERSITY
Protecting what comes next.
Saving local and Indigenous seeds protects agricultural knowledge as well as future possibility. Around that work grow fruit trees such as walnuts, peaches, and apricots, native pine varieties, medicinal Himalayan herbs, and apiculture. Together they show stewardship as a long relationship with food, habitat, culture, and the generations still to come.
LEARNING THROUGH STEWARDSHIP
Children learn by caring for what sustains them.
Children participate in growing food, saving seeds, sorting and reusing waste, caring for water, and restoring shared places. Adults working in gardens, kitchens, facilities, and sustainability teach beside them through patience, skill, and example - part of the wider Teachers of Life tradition. Environmental responsibility becomes education because children practice it with their hands, their choices, and one another.
Continue exploring the community.
Sustainable living is one part of how Jhamtse Gatsal learns, cares, and grows together.