UrbanMeisters is a green lifestyle blogazine for urbanites like you and me

Pollution is a universal problem for urban dwellers in all dream cities from New York to New Delhi. These places are amazing to live in. At the same time there are consequences to urban life that we all face- air quality, noise levels, stress and over-crowdedness etc. We juggle our busy personal and professional lives to the best of our ability. We often struggle to find time to take care of our health and protect ourselves from these menaces of being a city slicker. Pollution is an ever growing problem and not a topic of discussion limited to Greenpeace activists anymore. We are all personally feeling its effects- big and small!
But as « average consumers » we all feel a little helpless. That we don’t have any control or power over this issue that affects us so negatively and is so crucial to our well-being. Decisions are made by major international players and politicians. The time horizons that are discussed seem very far, not at all relevant to our everyday lives.
While we love the cities we live in, we have all at times wished to escape to a more green, clean & soothing oasis, haven’t we?  But we need to accept the reality – that the change needs to start with us. Which is why I decided to explore the issue of pollution from a regular person’s point of view to find a way to empower us in everyday life. The answer was UrbanMeisters – a common platform for all us to come together, collaborate and take control and protect our health and those of our families.

How did UrbanMeisters come about?

Pollution is a problem as old as human development and many of us, including me, have been given a robust ‘green education’ growing up. And while we’ve all been taught how delicate our ecological balance is and the need to protect it, we’ve mostly distanced ourselves from this pressing issue in some way or the other.
However, it was during a business trip to Shanghai in 2013 that I really sat up and took notice of how drastically pollution was affecting my health. This was the same period (Jan 2013) when Shanghai recorded its worst air pollution levels in history. For me this trip was marked by breathing trouble, headaches and severe skin allergy- all due to the poor air quality. But the story didn’t end there. While on my way back to Paris, I was felt a sense of relief about returning to the supposedly safe environs of Paris. I couldn’t be more wrong. As it turned out Paris was no better, in fact in March 2015, the beautiful French capital was the most polluted city in the world beating Beijing and Shanghai! Then came the news about New Delhi beating all world records in May 2015 in the pollution stakes. So was any city really free of this menace?
That question led me on a surge of discovery to counter this issue. It was not ‘somebody else’s’ problem anymore- it was affecting my health and making my life tougher in cities.

Getting relevant and useful information was not easy

  • Firstly, most of the information available talks about pollution in a very ‘technical’ fashion that is not relevant to us in an everyday use way.
  • Secondly, the information is presented in a much complicated manner using heavy jargon and scientific language that a lay-man has no use for.
  • Another pressing concern of mine was how all narrative and intelligence behind pollution was ‘alarming’, ‘dire’ and ‘depressing’. Understandable that this is a huge issue, but do we really need to always paint the doomsday scenario? The information sources came across as either ‘militant’ or ‘Earth is ending’ which actually puts out even the best intentioned person.

Thus was born the idea to start UrbanMeisters- an easy to consume and relevant information platform on pollution for everyone to partake in. I gathered the best, most talented and motivated team around me and the green adventure started.

What does UrbanMeisters mean?

  • Urban” stands for all men and women living in an urban environment.
  • Meister” is German for “master” (a wink to the country I grew up in) and stands for all of us taking charge and mastering the hazards of urban living.

The two words – UrbanMeisters –  put together perfectly express our mission and ambition:

Our mission

is to empower men and women to master their urban life for better health, well-being and joy. We make green living easy by bringing to you the best set of solutions to combat pollution.

We bring the green oasis you have been dreaming of, closer to your everyday urban lives. So, how do we do that?
At UrbanMeisters we believe in taking small baby-steps that have far-reaching positive impact. To make green living easier for you, we do the research, sift through all journals & jargons, and combine for you the best set of latest solutions against pollution. To fit UrbanMeisters smoothly into your daily lives, we try to be as easy and concrete as possible. And if there’s ever a situation where knowledge isn’t crystal-clear or no solutions exist as yet, we go and challenge the experts for you.
 

UrbanMeisters is the one-stop destination for green living made easy

We believe that “meistering” something needs a holistic approach. We ensure that by following green approaches based on

  • Protection: We collect and bring to you solutions that protect you and your family from pollution and its negative consequences on health and wellbeing.
  • Reduction: Since this is a U+Me platform, we also focus on reducing / removing any pollution we all may be causing. We do this through easy tips we all can follow for a greener lifestyle.
  • Covering all types of pollution: We not only focus on exploring and combating age old problems of air, water and soil pollution, but also turn the spotlight on new pollutants of our urban lifestyles like electromagnetic radiation, noise and light.

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