In an era defined by rising consumption and growing environmental challenges, 75-year-old Janak Palta McGilligan from Sanawadia, near Indore, has created a lifestyle that feels almost impossible in today’s world. Yet for her, it’s simply everyday life — a life without shopping, without garbage, and without an electricity bill.
Her home, often described as a “living classroom of sustainability,” functions as a completely self-sufficient ecosystem. The house is powered 100% by solar panels and windmills, generating enough renewable energy to run all essential appliances. There are no power outages, no dependency on the grid, and no monthly electricity bill — only clean, steady energy from nature.
What makes her lifestyle even more remarkable is her zero-waste philosophy. Nothing leaves her home as trash. Wet waste becomes nutrition for her soil, dry waste is reused or repurposed, and her lush organic garden thrives as a result. Vegetables, herbs, fruits, legumes — everything grows in abundance, eliminating the need for packaged goods or supermarket trips. For Janak, shopping is unnecessary when the earth itself provides.
Her journey, however, is rooted in resilience. As a teenager, Janak survived open-heart surgery — an experience that shaped her outlook on life and deepened her connection to nature. Over the decades, she has dedicated herself to environmental education, especially solar cooking and sustainable living practices. Her workshops and outreach efforts have empowered more than 1.8 lakh people across India and abroad to rethink how they consume, cook, and coexist with the planet.
Today, her home stands as a model of what is possible when knowledge, discipline, and compassion for the earth come together. Schools, NGOs, researchers, and young climate activists regularly visit her to learn how one person can drastically reduce their carbon footprint while still living comfortably.
